Red With Envy

Two of my blogging friends, Carmen and Sandi, have given me the nice matters award and I really need to say thank you to them.

Thank you for the award and I hope you feel the same after reading this. I also want to make sure you both read the fine print when passing this recognition along. I hope they understand that once it has been given it may not be rescinded under any circumstances (i.e. no backs).

That being said, I think now is the time to come clean. Here it is: I have been harboring feelings of envy toward my new blog buddy Catherine at Red Shoes. I know it is wrong, but I just can't help it. She has a store and I have always really wanted a store. As a child I never played with any of my toys because they were always on display in my "store" - price tags and all. I don't think my merchandising was all that great because I had lot of lookers, but not many sales. My brother was always good for 50 cents every once in a while, but the 6 kids that lived across the street were a much harder sell. Anyway, I have really always wanted a store.

Then, Catherine showed her fellow bloggers the vegetables she grew in her garden. Well, since moving to this place we haven't been able to grow a single vegetable in our garden. Okay, we did grow a few tomatoes in raised beds the first year we moved in, but they never ripened and some had these weird boils. Anyway, we decided to try again this year, but in pots on the deck positioned just right to catch the maximum amount of sun. Imagine my delight when this appeared:

Isn't she a beauty? I watched her turn a beautiful deep red and dreamt about the post I would write taunting my new friend Catherine. I was going to tell you that she may have a whole bowl of vegetables, but with a tomato as perfect as this, one was all that I needed. Well, before I could get the picture taken some ferocious beast ravaged my one and only red tomato.

Just look at those teeth marks. Can't you just see one of those masked bandits standing up on his hind legs sampling my prized tomato? Again, I was left with feelings of jealousy - thoughts of Catherine eating her vegetables in her store filled my mind... I got to thinking that maybe I had jinxed myself with all of those envious thoughts. Then we had a few days of sun and imagine my surprise when I looked out and saw these beauties:

Cachow! Catherine, feast your eyes on these. Not bad hunh?

*Don't believe everything you see - unless it is a nice award for me. No backs - remember?

The one on the right, the not so red one, that one is really mine. By the way, after investing well over $20 in pots, soil, plants and water, next year I think I'll stick with the hydroponic tomatoes for 89 cents a pound.

Thanks again Carmen and Sandi.