Grow Lettuce Grow: doctor visit not that bad/let's check on the garden

it's that time of year again, the "lady doctor" visit. not only will i have to suffer through the exam, but the waiting and waiting you have to endure in the lobby is horrible. this is why i really like my doc. my appointment was at 11 am, but i got there early and signed in at 10:30. i got through just a few pages of my book before my name was called. i went back, got weighed, peed in a cup, got my blood pressure taken, doc came in, did my exam, got dressed, checked out, got my paper work and headed down to the lab for my blood draw. i walked out of my doc's office at 11:05. ROCK ON! that's what i'm talking about. the only bad thing is that i had to fast for my blood work and by 11:30 when i was driving through downtown i was starving. i normally eat breakfast at 7:30, so it was a miracle that i made it that long. i stopped by the sewing machine store, but i didn't see anything there that i liked. i'm trying to decide on a sewing machine, so if anyone had a model that they really like, let me know.

after lunch at the indian restaurant downtown, i stopped at target to pick ray up some saline solution for his contacts, and then came home. not a very interesting day off, but luckily it is fairly warm today so i was able to get a few things done outside. i cut down the stevia plant to dry out the leave and grind them up to make a natural sugar substitute. i put more mushroom compost up around the leeks, watered the garden a bit, started working on another loaf of bread, and gave the pup pups a most needed bath. now i am gearing up to watch oprah. generally when i'm home on my day off, i have no desire to watch oprah. she bugs the crap out of me. something about her "i am the mightiest of all" attitude of hers kills me. but today, lisa ling (not really a fan of hers either) and the big O will be talking about where your food comes from. i'm assuming they will be chatting it up about factory farming and such. which is weird because i finally got a copy of the omnivore's dilemma from the library this morning. it's been checked out forever, but today it's mine. well, mine for a few weeks. also, i cashed in all my change at the machine in the grocery store and, if you get a gift card, they don't charge you a service fee. last time we got about $100 on itunes, which ray pretty much spent all on himself. i think i only download 1 album, zooey deschanel's record she and him. this time i am claiming the change!! all of it!! mine mine mine!! it turned out to be about $31 and i chose an amazon. i am planning to buy either sarah raven's or jamie oliver's new cookbook. later i will let you know which book i am ordering and what i think of the big O factory farming show. but for now let's check in on the garden...this is a gardening blog after all.

here is the basil that started it all. this basil plant is about 1 1/2 year old. pretty soon it will be coming inside for the winter.

sad little basil plant. don't worry, it will perk up with some water.
i grew this little baby from seeds.

boc choy from the seeds that i harvested. i'm not to sure about it. it looks weird. i just might leave the seed harvesting to the professionals.

swiss chard. i'm NEVER going to be able to eat all of this plant before winter. i keep cutting leaves off of it, and it keeps growing back.

carrots.

here is the garden on the side of my house. just think of all the food i could be eating from such a small area if i planned it out a bit. i still have a similar area on the other side of the house that i never got around to planting. doesn't take much space folks.