Everything Jensen

We strongly suspect that, aside from coating everything from doorknobs to electrical sockets in several layers of paint, the previous owners had an aversion to home improvement. Anyhow, like most of our appliances, the oven in our townhouse wasn’t in the best of shape when we moved in. And, it’s been getting steadily worse. In addition to one of the stove burners being unable to light and the oven charring anything near the top right corner, it recently developed a habit of shutting off after about 30 minutes of use. We’ll spare you a picture of what it looked like behind the oven.  Ewww… The delivery guys only laughed at Melinda a little when  she asked for five minutes to clean it out. Matt being the remarkably fabulous (and hungry) husband that he is, redeemed all of the credit card points he earned during his four month work stint in NY this winter for a massive Home Depot gift card.   Then he promptly traded it in for the oven of Melinda’s choice (Thanks Honey...

Any guesses what’s in that big box?  Matt turns the big two-SEVEN this year. This may seem like a number of little meaning, but it’s actually very important. The number 27 is a perfect cube (3 x 3 x 3). It’s the number of books in the New Testament and it’s the current number of amendments to the constitution. So you see, 27 just drips with significance. We celebrated grand style with presents and a pizza-themed cupcake collage. The next  Hello Cupcake Melinda is not… but we still think it turned out pretty good.

So, all this nasty, hot and humid weather has been great for our garden. The tomato plants are as tall as Matt. Today, we were able to harvest some fresh, delicious beets - the first of our mini-crop. The onions, jalap e ñ os , and bell peppers will be ready in a week or two. Jealous of that scrumptious bouquet of beet-y goodness? It's okay. If we were you, we'd be jealous too. Beets are the most delicious vegetable there is. Ask anyone, especially if they are one of the writers of this blog.

Tonight we were inundated with a whole pack of Parkers. They braved DC traffic and a tornado watch to trek down from Maryland to Virginia for a night of baked potatoes, peach cobbler, Wii bowling, and poison ivy. Sorry about that Colin…hope we washed it off in time. Special shout out to Grandpa Thomas, who wasted his grandchildren in Wii bowling from a recliner (with his feet up). That’s style! And here is one more picture, because whenever Angela and I get together, someone always wants to take one :). Angela is due on July 9. My due date hops about. It was supposed to be July 2, but at my last visit the doctor said Adelaide was measuring a week behind. So, looks like Angela and I will race to the finish!