August 14, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Our summer-long contest between ground-based tomatoes and the Topsy Turvy planter is over, and it’s not even close. This contest was kinda like the New York Yankees against a local T-ball team. The tomato plants that we put in the ground in our front yard are dominating the Topsy-Turvy plants … not to mention dominating pretty much everything else that’s growing around them.
Have a look:

The tomato plant is on the right, and is bigger and wider than I ever expected it to be. It was growing so big that I had to cut the branches of the bush to the left. So far, we’ve pulled four red tomatoes from this plant and oh my goodness, are they delicious! When I counted two nights ago, there were 17 tomatoes growing on this plant right now.
Meanwhile, the Topsy Turvy planter in the back hasn’t produced a single tomato yet — there are two growing on it and getting red, but we haven’t picked either yet. And there’s no sign of any more tomatoes to come from the Topsy Turvy planter.
Traditional growing FTW.
August 11, 2010 at 4:57 pm
These:

Special K Bars. Only 90 calories each (as you can see) and they taste delicious. Totally not like granola bars, which I don’t like. These have flavor. They taste like something between cereal and and a Rice Krispie Treat (which I don’t like, usually).
We get the variety pack above — chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry — but we buy the blueberry separately, and those are the best.
Did I mention they’re only 90 calories each? Love ‘em.
That’s all. Carry on.
June 26, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Okay, we have tiny little baby tomatoes, but they are tomatoes, nonetheless! Look at these:
Those are from the tomato plants in the front of the house. The plants in the Topsy Turvy gizmo are doing well, but are only about half the size of the plants in the front. And there no tomatoes anywhere to be found right now on the Topsy Turvy plants.
June 16, 2010 at 10:14 am
Yesterday marked one month since we planted tomatoes at Casa McGee: two tomato plants in a Topsy Turvy planter hanging in the back yard, and two plans in the rock bed that lines our front patio/walkway.
I’m positively giddy to report that all tomato plants appear to be alive and doing well!
Back Yard

The plants in the Topsy Turvy planter are now pointing in the other direction, so I had to take the photo from a different angle. But they’ve definitely grown over the last month. No signs of actual tomatoes as far as I can tell yet, though.
Front Yard

Meanwhile, the plants in the front are growing like gangbusters, like they have …. steroids or HGH or something like that. (TGH? Tomato Growth Hormone?) Super happy with how this whole experiment is going, but especially how these front-yard tomato plants are doing. I think we might actually have our own tomatoes to eat later this summer.
Amazing.
May 20, 2010 at 9:40 pm
We’re gonna need your help with this. If you pray, say a prayer. If not, wish us luck or send us vibes or whatever you’re into.
We’re trying to grow tomatoes.
As you can see, the plants are already grown. So, this should be easy. But no. I feel fortunate every morning that I wake up and see green grass. I have the least-green thumb of anyone on earth. Even though we bought tomato plants, not seeds, this will be an adventure of the highest magnitude.
I took those pictures last Saturday. We went to the local nursery and bought four tomato plants. They had, like, 75 different varieties to choose from! What’s up with that??! Ummm, I’d like the red ones. That I can eat. If they manage to survive having me as their farmer.
We put two plants into the Topsy-Turvy gizmo, which is now hanging in our back yard. I planted the other two in the rock bed that runs along our front patio/walkway. I’m sure an actual farmer/gardener would’ve known better where to put them, taking sun exposure and God-knows-what-else into consideration. I have no idea how often to water them, but we’ve had a few days of rain lately, so I think they’re doing okay. All tomato plants appear to be alive as of this afternoon.
But that could totally change by the time I wake up. Wish us luck. Or say a prayer. Or both. Definitely both.
March 26, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I woke up today, stood on the scale, and good news: I reached my weight loss goal!! Woo-hoo! I’ve lost 26 pounds since January 6 and now weigh what it says on my driver’s license.
Now, I’m no diet guru or health expert, and I’m really hesitant to write this post because it’ll look that way … but, a couple things:
- Whenever I mention my weight loss (including today on Twitter), people inevitably want to know how I did it.
- If, by sharing this, I can help even one other person lose some weight and get in better shape, it’s worth it.
So let’s throw caution to the wind, shall we? Here’s what I did…
Read the rest of this entry »
February 23, 2010 at 8:13 am
I don’t know the world record is for Longest Paper String Attached to a Hershey’s Kiss (or even if such a record exists), but I’m pretty certain this one is the winner:

We had a kiss in our bag that had a 20-inch paper string attached to it! I conveniently placed a normal kiss, with the paper string barely sticking out of the foil wrapper, next to it for comparison.
Crazy, I’m telling you. I should get the Consumerist on this.
August 6, 2009 at 10:36 am
Cari and T are back from their California adventure, and life is returning to normal already at Casa McGee. While the girls were gone, those coupons that magically appeared in our mailbox the day they left came in very handy.
Day 1

Day 5

Day 7

Not pictured is the dinner we had on days 2 and 3 courtesy of the Pizza Hut coupon. On the other days, we actually had home-cooked meals! So, it wasn’t a total culinary vacation or anything like that … but close.
July 29, 2009 at 7:21 pm
It’s as if he knew that Sean and I are home alone for the next week. Amazing.
June 11, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Who else would you expect to win in Zagat’s annual fast food survey? Of course, none other than In-N-Out Burger, the best fast food burger on the planet!
In-N-Out earned “Best Food” and “Best Service” among Large Chains (up to 5,000 locations), and also won Best Burger overall. Yes, indeed.
My last In-N-Out Burger meal happened on April 21, and my next one will probably be in October … unless I go to SES San Jose in August. But I doubt that’ll happen, so it’ll have to be October. And yes, it’s completely normal to track In-N-Out visitation like this. Shush now.
Here’s the full survey.
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