I finally got pictures of the plants I was talking about in the last post.

Here are the very dead peas:


Here is the tomato planter. There is a tomato plant in the top and a tomato plant in the bottom. AND we have 2 tomatoes forming! So of course I had to include a picture of that:



I got tired of having dead plants/containers of dirt just sitting on the balcony so I put it all in the trash...all we have now is empty planting containers. Who knows, maybe at our next place they'll get more use.

Yesterday we happened to drive past an oil painting sale. I convinced Mark to come with me so we could go look at some paintings and we ended up buying a couple. The first one is my FAVORITE and it's hanging in our living room now:


We also got this one for Mark's mom since she really likes horses. It's in our dining room until we can get it to her though.


They are oil paintings but they look more like photographs. I love it when paintings look like that. The artist said that since the houses aren't selling his paintings aren't selling very well either. He was having a 75% off sale on them when we stopped by and wanted to make a sale bad enough that he said that HE would pay the sales tax on them. (If they weren't 75% off we wouldn't have bought them though. I'm too cheap to pay full price on something like that.) Normal price was any where from $15 to $90 each depending on the size. I think we got a good deal and we're very happy. Both of these paintings are 2 feet by 3 feet...so they're certainly decent sized.

I've been looking at our walls lately and they're pretty sparse as far as decorations go...so I've been keeping my eyes open for art/good pictures to put up. I'm really excited about these paintings.

Mark REALLY likes his new school (YAY!) and loves the classes he's in. Hopefully the 2 years or so he'll have to spend at this school won't seem so long since he likes the classes.

His pinky finger also seems to be healing well. At his last doctors appointment the doctor told Mark to grip his hand and Mark couldn't because of his pinky. He has another doctors appointment in a about a week and a half to see if it's completely healed yet. Mark hasn't quite been able to grip yet but he can move his pinky into a fist position which is more than he was able to do last week. He hasn't lost his finger nail either. Hallelujah that the body can heal it's own injuries in most cases! We're both glad that the injury wasn't any worse.

Mark changed schools. A few weeks ago Mark was getting ready to enroll for fall classes at the community college and found that the classes he needs to take for a networking degree are all offered when he can't take them. He talked to the counselor and the counselor told him that he needs to change what he's going to school for then. (I was like "What!?" when I heard that.)

So we decided it was time to look for a different school. After doing some research I found some info on ITT Tech and filled out a request for more information. Mark got a call the next day and was able to go on a tour and get more information about how it works and if it would be a good fit for our situation. From what we've heard it sounds like it will be excellent. Mark is excited to start classes, which is good, because class starts this Tuesday.

Their semesters aren't like other schools. The classes are year round and last for about 3 months each. The school chooses the classes he needs to take as well as the schedule. They are day time hours and they just tell him what day and time. (They're all finished by 1:30 PM so he will have time to get to work.) Once he gets a degree they'll also help him find a job to use the new degree at. Mark is working on an associates degree, and some of the credits from the MCC may transfer, which is fantastic!

On Thursday (June 10) Mark's left hand pinky finger got smashed at work. We thought it just got bruised because it was black and blue, bleeding slightly, and was pretty swollen. On Friday Mark went to work like normal and it started hurting a lot worse and swelling again so he decided to go to the hospital to get it checked out. After the hospital took x-rays they found he broke the bone in his finger tip. They put it in a splint and told him to tape it to his ring finger. (I didn't take a picture, it's really gross.) Also they are pretty sure the nail is going to fall off in a few days, but it should grow back within a month or so. His finger should heal in a month or so as well.

So Mark gets to start class with a broken finger. Hopefully it heals quickly and correctly.

Our potted plants are not doing well at all. The peas all died. :( (I'm almost embarrassed to post a picture xD!)
I think part of why the peas died is because the roots weren't able to get deep enough...maybe we put too many in the container as well, who knows. Container gardening is harder than it looks. The top soil seemed to help a little bit and then the next time I checked them they were dead. I can't remember if I forgot to water them or what. We decided we're not going to plant a garden again until we have a yard we can plant in.

Well, that's the latest. It seems like a lot has happened these past few weeks. Hopefully it calms down for a while. I honestly don't mind our life being so boring there's nothing worth blogging about :P