Our Crazy, Crazy Life

2011-11-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

Sarah's Vegetarian Adventures

2011-11-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

today's adventure

Pineapple Fried Rice

Today's inspiration is from the Neely's

without the ham of course.

Sarah's Vegetarian Adventures

2011-11-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

Today's latest culinary experiment

Stir Fried Sugar Snap Peas

Inspiration from here.

Next time I am thinking a small bit of orange zest and some orange juice in the sauce.

Sarah's Vegetarian Adventures

2011-10-18T11:22:00.001-07:00

Vegetable Chinese Dumplings

Filling: sauteed, carrots, green onion, mushrooms, zucchini, garlic, ginger

Sauce: Soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger, garlic, green onion, sugar, chili pepper

Sarah's Vegetarian Adventures

2011-10-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Vegetable Stew with Dumplings

carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, cauliflower, zucchini

Sarah's Vegetarian Adventures

2011-10-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Stuffed Pepper

Stuffed with precooked rice, feta cheese and sauteed onion, pepper and mushroom. Baked in a tomato sauce.

Sarah's Vegetarian Adventures

2011-10-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

Asparagus Lemon Pepper Pasta

Another yummy trial

Hannah's new style

2011-10-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

A new hair color and cut for Hannah

The red is gone. If you missed the red....... you are lucky.

Sarah's Vegetarian Adventures

2011-10-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

Spinach Mushroom Lasagna

Not too bad. Sauteed the sliced mushrooms before putting them in. I didn't think the jar of sauce would be enough so I made my own white cheesy sauce to add to it. Wish I had just used my own sauce and skipped the jarred sauce. Also need to remember to allow it to cool a bit before slicing.

Some Cricut Love

2011-09-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

I made Sarah a book bag today using my cricut to cut the letters. I am very pleased by the results.

My inspiration came from Courtney Lane Design

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary How does Your Garden Grow.........

2011-06-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

End of June and it is HOT. Currently 118 degrees today and I expect it to get a couple degrees hotter.
Garden is starting to struggle a bit. Really wilts down in the midday heat and it is so hard for me to get out and water midday.

After taking this pic I looked over at kitchen table and there are twice this many tomatoes in another bowl

Basil

Wish child would have stood in the corn for this picture.

Eggplant

I just do lousy at green beans.

The okra has started off lousy this year. I have tried seeds and plants. Everything has wilted and dies and this is all that is currently left.

Finally some okra blossoms.

Ihave never tried onions before. I picked up a package of onion sets from the store that looked half dead and I didn't expect to have any results. Except for the fact that a dog has walked thru them they have done well.

Another squash plant. Looks like I will have some small white patty pan squash soon.

Peppers

Redneck trellis with cucumbers on both sides and tomatoes on both ends.

Yello squash peeking out.

Massive tomato monster. Yellow pear tomatoes grow massive and they are very heat tolerant.

Yellow pear tomato, pulling trellis over.

Yellow squash

Sarah High School Graduation Pics.....

2011-06-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sarah is much more of a ham than Hannah so I have quite a few more pictures of her......

Hannah's 8th Grade promotion....

2011-06-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

The last kiddo leaving grade school. We will officially have two freshman next year. A high school freshman and a college freshman.

Stinker never once looked towards the camera during promotion.

Graduation.....

2011-05-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

What an incredibly exciting day. Hannah's eight grade promotion in the morning. Sarah's graduation in the evening. Stacey and Wyatt here to visit. We haven't seen Stacey for years and this is the first time we got to meet Wyatt. It turned out to be a great visit. Wyatt bonded with his grandpa immediately.

Mary, Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow......

2011-05-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

My motivation to have a great garden this year

Scrawny little beginning

Looking good!

The first two garden beds, built last year.

Whats that I spy, a brand new third bed this year. Please don't notice the nasty lattice. I can't keep it clean with the water hose splashing it all the time.

Very hard to tell from this picture but there are nine okra plants popping through the soil.

First section of corn. We are staggering the plantings so we won't be bombarded all at once.

Cucumber plants beginning to grow up my redneck trellis. Two more tomato plants here and swiss chard just beginning to pop through the soil.

Older picture, beginning of some great tomatoes.

These are the same tomatoes. Will have to anchor the trellis a bit better soon.

These pictures do not do the garden justice. I have a section of green beans just popping up and two eggplants as well.

Spirit Day.... Barbie Versus GI Joe

2011-04-20T09:17:00.001-07:00

What a relief......

2011-04-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Our taxes are done and it wasn't as bad as I expected.

Son's taxes are done and those came out better than we expected for him too.

FAFSA has been refiled with updated tax information.

What a relief to have those things off my mind!

Cheer Banquet Video........

2011-04-05T14:15:00.001-07:00

Last week was the final event for Sarah as a cheerleader..... the Cheer Banquet. Very bittersweet! Sarah got several awards including best dancer, best at jumps and Sarah gets the honor of going with the coach to the end of year sports banquet. The coach always gets to come and bring two cheerleaders with her so it is a real honor.

I was the lucky parent who got the honor of making the cheer video this year.

For your viewing pleasure....

2010/2011 spiritline video

the password is..... spiritline

Ahhh 2011 where are you going....

2011-04-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

I can not believe we are into April already. Time goes so fast. I had high hopes that 2011 would at the very least start out relaxing but not so. EVERYTHING as always revolves around the kiddos..... I need a vacation from anything school related. Where to begin... well lets start with oldest this time and move down.

Valet boy, hmmm, well the best of valet season is over so once again no income. He will need to hunt for ANYTHING to bring in some income. With college starting soon for Cheergirl we had to start harping on Valet boy to get a vehicle. He finally started saving and has bought a motorcycle. I am pretty unhappy about that situation. Not much else happening for Valet boy right now except that he had jury duty last week and really enjoyed it.

Cheergirl, I really need to think of a new name for her now. Cheer is over and I simply can not believe it. She has been in dance classes since about four years of age and cheer probably starting about eight years old. I have no clue what she will do with her time now. She does need to start looking for a job now to start saving for college expenses. My vote if for the new Joann's store that is coming into town so she can get me a store discount. Speaking of college....... oh so overwhelming. We have her signed up for her classes which was no easy job. The academic adviser explained what she will need to take and led us to the computer to figure out her schedule on our own.... NOT EASY! We are also waiting to hear if she will be qualifying for any grants, our fingers are crossed.

Origami girl seems to be the busiest of the kids right now. Very busy with mock trial. They are preparing a new case which will be kind of a performance for a couple grade schools. Origami girl also kept quite busy with her science project this year and a couple weeks ago her school had a science fair. Next week is the state science fair so she is supposed to be going to the city three days in a row...... SLOW DOWN Origami girl.

Hubby and I... nothing new. We work, work, work, trying to keep everyone fed.

Garden is off to a good start for the summer. Luckily I have most of the ground turned and cleared of bermuda grass so most of the work this year was just planting. With all my aches and pains I don't see how I could ever turn that soil with a shovel again. After seeing the price of squash at 3.50 a pound I had no choice but to get a garden in this year. Fingers crossed for an amazing crop this year.

Hmm wouldn't this be awesome

2011-03-25T05:55:00.000-07:00

I’m posting this to enter a contest on offered by Brad’s Deals at Sweetney! I want to win the white iPad 2!

www.sweetney.com

No post since December?????

2011-03-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

I was positive I had done some posting but I guess not. The beginning of the school year was so overwhelming and busy with all the fundraising that once Cheergirl took her trip to Florida I guess I crashed and burned.

Origami Girl remains as busy as ever. It is a fight to get the computer away from her. She loves editing her little movies that she puts on Youtube. If not making a movie she is always writing something. She has stacks of notebooks and keeps the word processor on the computers pretty busy. Origami Girl is also staying very involved at school. She has a mock trial class and a couple of weeks ago they went on a trip to the county courthouse to have a mock trial. Origami Girl played a witness and I thought she did very, very well. I couldn't have done it. With some of the students you could really see how nervous they were but Origami Girl seemed calm and collected and knew her answers and responded properly to the examination by the attorneys. Origami Girl is also in the book club at school and this past weekend they took a trip to Tucson to a writers festival. She was in seventh heaven. She was pretty pleased that she even got an autograph by an author.

Ahhhh Cheer Girl. It is kind of sad that I won't be calling her that much longer. Cheer season is actually over and she only really has two more events to help out with. Cheer try outs are next week for next season and as an outgoing senior she will be helping with that. Then will be the final cheer banquet at the end of this month. Maybe I will start calling her College Girl now. There is so much to learn and understand about college and I am trying to soak it all in. Trying to get guidance, well that is a joke. I really thought Academic Advisers were more helpful than they are. We took a trip to the college last week to get some guidance and she shows Sarah the class plan she will need to follow for her career choice and then takes us to a computer and says here you go, sign up for your classes. Ummm okay. It took us quite a while to sit there and figure it out but we finally did. So Cheer Girl is officially signed up for her first semester at college. Now just to figure out the finances... BIG SIGH. Cheer Girl qualifies for her first two years tuition free. She has to cover her books and supplies. We are waiting now to hear if she will qualify for anything in grants. She will need to get a part time job as soon as possible to start saving for the extras. Hoping and praying that she can find something.

Oh and you remember, pizza boy, casino boy, security boy.... well he is now valet boy. Not much else to say about that right now.

It's that time of year.......

2010-12-16T13:36:00.000-08:00

It's English Toffee time!

Pizza Boy.....

2010-12-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

Guess it is time to change Pizza Boys name since he hasn't been Pizza Boy for a while. Think we will change his name to Security Boy. Security Boy did work as a buffet runner for a while at a local casino but has now gone on to bigger and ?better? things. Security boy got his Arizona Guard card a couple months ago and is now working as a security guard. His current post is at the Scottsdale Waterfront. Crazy hours and a lot of walking. Maybe with all that walking we will eventually call him Toothpick Boy.

Mock Trial.........

2010-12-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

Origami girl is at it again. Always surprising me with the things she is interested in. This year she is in a mock trial class in school and a few weeks ago they had a practice session court. I took some time off work to go watch and it was very interesting. Poor Origami Girl had the misfortune to be the very first speaker of the day, no time to make herself sick with fear. Origami Girl gave the opening statement for the first case, she did a pretty good job of standing up and speaking. Way better than I could ever do. I simply have no desire to ever speak in front of a group of people.

Hoping to add the video later today of her opening statement.

Cheergirl's Winter Dance Performance.....

2010-12-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

Cheergirl had her Winter Dance Performance last Saturday. I can not believe it but I actually convinced Jack to go. Most of the dances were identical, same general movements, just different people and costumes so it did get pretty boring. Cheergirl's dance was a bit different from the rest though so it kept us awake.

Cheergirl has been absolutely giddy with excitement because she had a lead part in the dance.

LINK TO PERFORMANCE VIDEO

Florida Trip...

2010-12-15T08:26:00.000-08:00

Cheergirl's trip to Florida is over. Thank Goodness! She had an awesome time. This is the first time she has ever flown and thankfully all went pretty well. She did get a bit sick on the plane on the last leg of the trip. She had a snack of ice cream on her last layover in Atlanta and it didn't really sit well on her stomach once she was back in the air. Thankfully it passed and she didn't hurl.

The weather was nice while they were in Florida so the taping for the Christmas day parade went smoothly. I can't wait to see it on television. The CGUHS spiritline must have impressed the choreographers because they were positioned in the first few rows of the parade. Taping went so smoothly that they were left with quite a bit of free time to visit the Disney Parks.

I am so happy for Sarah that she got this experience, but honestly so glad that it is over. All the fundraising we did was absolutely exhausting.

Wednesday, December 15th

2010-12-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

Todays Goal.....

BLOG

Cold Stone Creamery Fundraiser..........

2010-10-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Cold Stone fundraiser from 6:00-7:00. I honestly didn't hold out high hopes for the fundraiser. The weather was a bit rainy and you have to admit they are kind of expensive. Turns out they had a steady line of people coming through buying ice cream. Cheergirl had a blast and took two shifts preparing ice cream and says that she would love working there. The singing part has me concerned though. They sing when there is a tip dropped in the tip bucket and I am pretty sure Cheergirl would be fired the first week. Love ya Cheergirl!

Seriously? No post since June?

2010-10-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

I was certain I had posted recently but I guess not. Life is incredibly hectic I guess.

Let's start from the top and work our way down.

Pizza boy - probably a good idea to change his name, need to think about that though. Pizza boy took a class a few weeks ago to get his Arizona Guard card. Now the wait for it to come in and hopefully find a job in security. Not sure what else to say about Pizza Boy right now, maybe a topic just best avoided.

Cheergirl - always my longest paragraph since the gal is so busy. Cheergirl went to camp at NAU in July. The team had an awesome time. They won a prize that in turn allows them to go to Florida to perform in the Disney Christmas day parade. They will be travelling and performing the first week of December. But ahhhh what an expensive trip. The team has been fundraising like crazy and a few of the parents are willing helpers, me included. As always there are some who just don't step up to the plate so it falls on others shoulders. Anyways..... we have had multiple fundraisers, girls made calendars, girls hosted a cheer camp, selling mardi gras beads for homecoming this week, several other events as well. It has been a blast but exhausting. Most of the trip has been paid for, now the goal is to just get the airline tickets paid off by the end of October.

Cheergirl part 2 - I absolutely can not believe this is Cheergirls senior year. We need to get on the ball and get organized with college prep etc, etc. What happened to my baby girl with the little alfalfa sprout on top of her head lol.

Origami Girl - I don't even know where to start with this girl. She has really changed a lot the last couple years. Her grades are excellent where in the past they were a struggle. She enjoys drawing and writing. She writes all the time. She has also know developed an interest in making little movies with stories that she puts on youtube. Her grammar is getting better and better as she works literally nonstop on this interest. We have to fight her for a turn on the computer. Origami girl is in eighth grade this year. I absolutely can not believe she will be in high school next year. Origami girl has also now decided that she would like to try out for soccer. Ugh... more $$ lol. Need to try and squeeze in a physical tonight at urgent care. Sadly it may end up being a waste. It has been years since she played soccer and you really need to have ongoing experience to make a team. Ahh well we will see.

I Am Not A Happy Camper........

2010-06-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Pizza Boy went tubing down the Salt River on Monday. Seriously doesn't make me happy, I don't see FUN, I see DANGER.

The river is about a 2 hour drive away. Pizza Boy was supposed to call and let me know they arrived but of course that never happened. He was also supposed to call and let me know when they got off the river and that never happened either.

Pizza boy had fun but there are a couple things that still just make me sick to my stomach. When you get to the river you have to take a bus up to the drop off point. So off they go with their tubes and ice chest and rope etc etc. When the boys got to the drop off point they got all tied up together. One of the brand new tubes he had just bought had a hole in it so that one was tossed in the garbage. They tied the remaining tubes and ice chest together and they were on their way. A little way into the trip the ice chest flipped! They lost all but two bottles of water and all of their snacks. This is the really stupid part. It is a four hour trip down the river and they recommend at two bottles of water per person per hour. So out of sixteen bottles they only had two, NOT GOOD! Of course being young boys they float on down the river anyways. I can't forget to mention it was about 117 on Monday.

And what do you think they forgot to do at the beginning of the trip? They forgot to put on sunscreen. They were fried. They are both so lucky they didn't end up in the hospital! And they are very lucky they had more water in the car.

So on the way home the boys stopped to get a burger. They are about 35 minutes away and I FINALLY get a call from them that I have been waiting for all day. Pizza Boy says, oh we had fun but I have a slight problem, I just locked my keys in the car. Sigh. I was still working so hubby who had just gotten home had to hop in the car and drive right back up to the city.

Ahh the stress. And the boys are planning on going again soon. They certainly need to come up with a better rig for the ice chest.

(these pictures were borrowed from the internet)

Cheer Baskets.......

2010-06-07T12:58:00.001-07:00

About a month ago the cheer squad had a fundraiser dinner with gift baskets that were bid upon. Each cheerleader brought at least one basket. I made a little cheergirl basket. It went over well enough that the coach asked me to make a few for the Kiddie Kamp fundraisers they are having this week and next.

The Unnamed Dog........

2010-06-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the family the as yet to be named dog. At least she will pose for the camera. Bandit, my big old border collie takes off running if he sees a camera in anyone hands.

Origami Girl found this creature in the back of our yard behind a shed on Wednesday. She went back to try and get her out but the dog was missing, we thought maybe she had gotten out of the yard and gone back home, wherever that is. Thursday my son saw that the poor thing as still in the yard. So we became her foster family. We called animal control to make a report and put posters all over the neighborhood. We have had no results sadly. If her true owner does turn up I will happily turn her over. But it appears the kids have bonded and she may be staying. Did I mention I do not like chihuahuas? So far though she is a very quiet dog. It seems that she may have been somebodies lap dog. It also appears that she has been hand fed a lot of people food which will have to come to a stop.

Give That Woman a TEN.........

2010-06-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

ugh what a clutz I am.

For months and months I have really been suffering from plantar fasciitis. For the past week it has actually been feeling better. Went to the movies on Sunday with the girls for Origami girl's birthday. The girls of course chose the top row. I ran to the restroom before movie started and the previews were just starting as I climbed the steps. Ugh, almost to the top and clutzy me didn't lift my right foot high enough. Tore up my poor foot again and the whole right side of my body strained and achey.

My girls of course put on their concerned faces and said are you all right mom, but I know cheer girl better than that. I just know she wanted to jump up and hold up all 10 fingers and give me a score. Ahh what a relationship we have!

She is a vegetarian AGAIN.......

2010-05-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

Note to self..... next time I am cutting up meat before cooking make sure cheergirl is nowhere near the kitchen. Cheergirl has now decided, once again, that she is a vegetarian.

Wonder how long that will last. Last time she pulled this stunt it was about a week before she caved in and devoured a turkey sandwich.

Cheergirl has a dance performance tonight, rehearsal more or less all day today. This is the meal I took her for lunch. Not a bite or turkey or ham on that sandwich, how boring is that? Simply, cream cheese, cucumbers, green pepper, fresh tomato from the garden, spinach leaves, and bean sprouts. Maybe she was a goat or rabbit in her last life.

Happy Anniversary to Us......I think...

2010-05-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

We never get the date right on our anniversary. I have had a couple years where we forgot our anniversary completely, about a week after the date we remembered.

So I THINK today is our anniversary. Twenty two years ago today we were married. Last year we celebrated on the 12th. I was pretty sure that was the day.

This year I am sure it is the 14th, at least I think so. Somewhere in my filing cabinet is a little piece of paper called a marriage certificate. Maybe I should pull that out and verify the day because we know it is of the utmost importance to celebrate special days on the correct day.

Gasp, can you imagine celebrating Christmas on December 27th. It just isn't right I tell ya.

Prom 2010...........

2010-04-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

Promtastrophe...............

2010-04-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

Well we experienced a near Promtastrophe today. Tomorrow is the prom. We found DD an awesome dress 2 weeks ago. DD has been very careful and has not been eating any junk food the last couple weeks and only drinking water. Not dieting, just being cautious.

So she gets home from school today and tries on her dress and it will NOT ZIP. OMG what are we going to do.I had a massive panic and crying attack. If anyone has bought a prom dress recently you can guess what I paid for it. I search thru my purse and find the receipt but the tags are missing from the dress. Thud, head hits the desk in frustration.

So I call Dillard's to see if there is any hope and there isn't, they need the tags attached. So after some more tears and distress we decide we will have to go buy another dress.... if we can even find one at such short notice.

So back to Dillard's we go. So DD is in the fitting room trying on new dresses and I tell the cashier what happened, I did not ask for any exceptions. So what does she do, she goes over to the telephone and calls somebody and gets permission to do an exchange for us. OMG I have never been so happy. Once we find dd a new dress and the cashier makes the exchange for us I immediately go to the customer service desk and talk to them about the wonderful service she offered. That woman needs a raise. I am seriously still in shock. Awesome customer service!

Stay Tuned..........

2010-04-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

Prom is tomorrow.... lots of great pictures coming soon.

OMG what is wrong with me......

2010-04-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

How can I have missed the best holiday ever created by man? Oh the Shame!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2010/03/the-theme-is-peanut-butter/

Something seriously wrong with Origami Girl........

2010-04-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder to those that don't know, Origami Girl is my youngest child. She is 13 years old and anyone who as ever had a girl that age can understand my concerns.

A couple of nights ago during dinner Origami Girl looked at me and told me I was a good cook. I must have had a deer in the headlights kind of look on my face because Origami Girl laughed and said "gosh mom, just because I never say it doesn't mean I don't love you". That whole incident really stunned me because over the last couple years she has lost all traces of being my sweet loving little child and just like most kids her age, she thinks I am a blooming idiot.

Last night, after a long day at work, I was in the kitchen starting dinner. Origami Girl was sitting on the sofa and looked at me and asked me if I needed any help. This time I am sure I had more than a deer in the headlights kind of look on my face. This time I am sure my body hit the floor as I lost conciousness. Hopefully her next offer of assistance will be to sweep and mop as I am still picking bits of rice and other crumbs from my hair.

So can you see my concerns? Where did this streak of kindness come from? Should I call to make her an appointment at Mayo? Do you think they would laugh at me ? : )

Ahhh the mighty Habanero.............

2010-04-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

We grow several different types of peppers in our garden. Hubby of course wanted to try growing habaneros. Surprisingly we found them to not be as hot as expected. I have used one whole habanero in a bowl of salsa.

We have a dish of peppers on our table, slowly drying, to be crushed and placed in a jar to be used when we need it.

Who knew.......... who knew that those little peppers would get hotter and hotter as they sat. And who knew that if a certain hubby were to crush one of those peppers and taste one tiny piece the size of a pin head....... who knew that tiny pepper could bring a man to his knees.

The Great Prom Dress Hunt of 2010....... (part 1)

2010-03-27T09:34:00.001-07:00

Well we are on the hunt for a prom dress and it is not proving to be easy. Cheergirl has a dress that I really love that we bought over the summer but it is short. She has decided short will not work, she want's a long dress. So far most stores we have visited have mostly short dresses and just a few long. We recently headed up to Phoenix and hit a mall with very little success. Currently we are just in the "TRY ON DRESSES" phase.

This is a dress we picked up in the off season at Dillards. We really love this one and she would be perfectly satisfied if it were long.

This one was very nice, very similar in coloring and gold glitteriness to the short one one above. The back lace up seems very strained though.

Hmmmm, cheergirl really liked this one but there are some obvious things I object to. Just a wee bit too much skin showing on the back and up the sides. There would be some serious issues when she dances. I call this one the Jessica Rabbit dress.

Not bad.

Hmmm, bit of skin showing on the low back on this one too.

My favorite. Good support up top. Good color with the red hair and skin tone.

Our Yearly Poppy Hunt.......

2010-03-25T15:21:00.001-07:00

Every year we take a short day trip to Box Canyon which is just northeast of Florence. Some years we are lucky, plenty of rain so plenty of poppies and some years are a dud. Last year was a dud so I was very pleased to find so many poppies this year.

A little ways before the canyon, but just shows there is actually a little bit of green in Arizona
The hill around this saguaro was covered in poppies

Adventures in Sourdough........

2010-03-17T17:08:00.001-07:00

I really enjoy baking and am always on the hunt for great recipes. I have found a basic sandwich bread recipe that I adore and have decided to now move on and experiment with sourdough. I have used had a sourdough starter before but it was never as active as the one I started this week.

I am a big fan of the breadtopia.com website and they have a fantastic sourdough recipe.

Sourdough by breadtopia

I chose to make sourdough pancakes for my first experiment with my sourdough.

The recipe starts the night before with a cup of sourdough and a couple cups of flour and water. I was really pleased to see the activity the next morning. This is a whole wheat starter hence the offwhite color.This recipe made some delicious pancakes. Everyone asked for more.

It's that time of year again.......

2010-02-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

Spring/ summer garden time.

A few changes in store. First off a couple raised beds.

I really missed having a decent winter garden this year but some health issues really prhibited me from getting out and turning the soil and doing the things that needed done. I had a few decent spots of soil so I did plant broccoli and got a few decent heads. Also planted brussels sprouts but they are being devoured by insects, ahh well, maybe next year.

I am hoping to really have a decent summer garden, I will just dig thru the pain :)

Coupons............

2010-02-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

I love when I get an awesome bargain with coupons. February is my favorite shopping month of the year. I have no idea why the grocery stores around here choose February but I can get the best bargains this month.

Awesome trip yesterday...

10 cans chunky soup (great for hubby to take to work for lunch)
4 very large boxes frosted flakes
2 packages hot dog buns
1 ramen dinner

all for just 11.00 and the boxes of cereal kicked out another coupon for me for 3.00 off next shopping trip

Gardening....

2010-01-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything about gardening in a very long time.

I didn't have much of a winter garden this year because of some foot problems. I did manage to get a few things in areas where the soil was already in decent shape.

Our peppers kept growing strong from summer, thru the fall and thru the winter. The only suffered when we had a couple freezing nights that we weren't expecting.

Still have a pear tomato plant that hung on thru the winter also.

I have a few long rows of sugar snap peas and hopefully will get a good harvest from those soon.

And finally..... picked my first nice head of broccoli today which will be served tonight. I have probably another 10 broccoli plants to harvest over the next few weeks.

Origami girl.........

2010-01-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

Origami girl has developed some interests over the last half year or so of her life. I kinda wondered if she would ever find her niche lol.

Pizza boy has always been slightly interested in sports, volunteering, JROTC.

Cheergirl has always been into cheer and dancing.

But poor little origami girl didn't have much interest in anything. She has always been good at origami but that doesn't occupy much time. Just recently she started writing. She writes all the time. She has done several short stories. She recently read a book and didn't like the ending so she sat down and wrote her own ending. She also recently started showing an interest in drawing. Some of her stuff has been pretty good for a beginner.To nurture here interest she received some drawing supplies for Christmas.

This Friday her school will be doing a walk. The theme of this year's march is "It's Time to Totally Fulfill the Dream of Dr. King". Students are able to submit art work dipicting which is appropriate for the occasion. Not really positive on how this works but I believe several students will be selected to present their work. Origami girl really wanted to draw something but was hesitant because she is afraid to present her work if she is chosen. She finally gave into her desire to draw and finished up her work this morning.

She chose to depict MLKs "I Have Dream Speech" in her poster. She even added the Washington Monument in the background.

Basketball Season is Here........

2009-12-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

.....and I have only made it to one game so far.

The cheerleaders always do a dance at halftime and on Monday they did their Christmas dance.
The video is a little too big for blogger to I put it on youtube instead.

LINK TO CHEER DANCE

I really wish I could cut the end of this one off, I taped way too long, but have no idea how to edit a video.

2009 Winter performance to Snow

2009-12-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

cheergirl is in dance again this year and they had their winter performance on Saturday. Of course I forgot to charge my camcorder so couldn't tape all the dances. I did manage to get most of cheergirl's number. She is pretty hard to spot because the lighting has a reddish tinge. Any other color to the lights would make it easier to spot her because her red hair would stand out. Sigh, but they didn't ask my opinion ;)

The video is just a little too big to upload directly to blogger so I just have the youtube link.....

Snow Performance

I had hoped to get a picture of her after the performance in her costume but unfortunately that didn't happen.

It's that time of year.....

2009-12-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

for parties and gifts and and pretty lights etc. I worked my fingers to the bone getting a few things ready for origami girls party today.

Aren't these just the cutest little marshmallow pops? I got the idea from Suzanne McMinn over at Chickens in the Road

Pecan Pie.......

2009-12-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

I am on a mission. I am looking for a pecan pie recipe for hubby. My hubby has always been a fan of Mrs. Smith's pecan pies. Nothing else compares in his mind. It has a smooth, creamy and light colored texture to the filling with just a light topping of pecans on top.

We can no longer find Mrs. Smith's pecan pies and looking at their website they no longer even have the pecan pie listed. I have tried many recipes over the years and none have been quite right.

Finally, yesterday I came closer. Hubby even requested I make a second one so he could give it as a gift. How is that for getting closer to success LOL.

Most recipes I have found call for equal parts sugar and corn syrup. The recipe I tried yesterday called for a higher amount of corn syrup over the sugar. I am afraid of going to high on the corn syrup because it might get runny, maybe I should use more egg in that case. Recipe also called for dark corn syrup but I just used light instead. I just don't know what else to change . If anyone has any suggestions they are greatly appreciated

2009 Christmas Light Parade.......

2009-12-13T18:23:00.001-08:00

I am so far behind on blogging.

Cheergirl was in the Christmas Light Parade a couple weeks ago. I try and I try and I try to get decent nighttime pictures but it is so difficult. Combine the challenge of getting a good night time picture and add motion into the problem. I only have a couple decent shots lol

Oops, forgot to update about the movie.........

2009-11-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Everything went fairly smoothly. We were one of the first groups in line so were seated in the first theatre. In all they opened 6 theatres for the movie. We were in a theatre that seats 300 and it was completely filled.

Luckily they didn't make us stand in line for hours, they allowed people into the theatres to sit and relax (and purchase from the concessions of course).

The movie.... well it was ok. As an adult it probably wouldn't be my top choice on my list. But the girls really enjoyed it and that was what the night was all about anyways.

Hmmm, what luck........

2009-11-19T16:35:00.000-08:00

Competition practice is cancelled tonight so we can line up for the movie extra early.

"New Moon" release tonight.......

2009-11-19T12:55:00.000-08:00

and I can not believe what we are doing. Cheergirls request for her birthday was to go to the opening of "New Moon". It opens at midnight tonight which just happens to be a school night and a work night. But I relented and bought the tickets a few weeks ago.

So I work 10 hours today, hope to get a short nap in after work, line up for the movie probably a couple hours before it starts, movie at midnight and work 10 hours tomorrow. Cheergirl swears she won't miss school tomorrow. If she has perfect attendance she doesn't have to take finals and she has a couple classes she dreads finals.

Oh and one monkey wrench in the plan... cheergirl has competition practice tonight from 7:30-9:30 :( . So origami girl and I will line up at the theatre and daddy will have to pick up cheergirl and bring her to meet us. It may be totally unnecessary but I think lining up early is the way to go to make sure we get seats together. But can I really handle a couple hours in line with a bunch of squeally teen girls...... ugh!

To be in your children's memories tomorrow you must

be in there lives today.

Cheergirls Blood Donation Experience..........

2009-11-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

Cheergirl is a big wimp who barely meets the weight requirement to donate blood, but she really wanted to donate this year.

Yesterday was donation day at the high school.

So cheergirl is sitting in her chair awaiting her turn and across from her is a lady being prepped for her donation. The needle of course is larger than they use for a standard blood draw at the dr's office. They couldn't find the lady's vein so of course they are rotating and digging in. All the while poor little cheergirl is sitting there watching and cheergirl suddenly breaks out crying.

Counselor "don't worry hun, they are just having a hard time finding her vein"

Cheergirl (to self) "I can do this, I can do this"

Mean Nurse to cheergirl "Okay it is your turn. If you jump....... you are outta here, if you cry....... you are outta here"

Cheergirl "Is it a big needle?"

Mean Nurse "Yes"

Cheergirl "I'm outta here"

The end.

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men..........

2009-11-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

(quote from John Steinbeck novel)

My best laid plans always go awry. Tried to get into the groove of blogging in October but was just way too busy. High school football is over now so maybe I can catch my breath.

Cheergirl is busy as always, regular cheer practice is a bit more laid back for the moment but competition practice is in full swing.

Origami girl tried out for soccer a few weeks ago and didn't make it but isn't really disapointed. She is busy as always with her writing and drawing and watching youtube singers for hours. The kid has a strong artistic streak.

Pizza boy..... sigh...... has hopefully given up on the one job he really wanted and is finally starting to put in applications again. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for him that he can find something soon.

And for your veiwing pleasure today................. I know it is kind of dark but origami girl would have know I was there if I turned on the light LOL......

Link # 2 for Breast Cancer Awareness

2009-10-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

http://ww5.komen.org/

Link #1 for Breast Cancer Awareness

2009-10-01T13:21:00.001-07:00

October 1st

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/BreastCancerAwareness/

Cheergirl's cake.........

2009-09-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Cheergirl is practicing her husband catching skills......

Friday Night Lights..........

2009-09-13T19:28:00.001-07:00

It is that time of year again. This year cheergirl is a varsity cheerleader so this is officially her first varsity game.......

I loved this picture, the sky came out so pretty. It just screams Friday night High School.Hey Band! Let me see you get down, let me see you get down!

Ice, Ice, Baby......

Dinner is served.............

2009-09-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

While daddy and pizza boy were out hunting last week they added a gourmet item too their catch of the day. Daddy and pizza boy were the only ones to eat this, although origami girl did take one nibble. Cheer girl and myself were too smart.

Fashion Show......

2009-08-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

Cheergirl's team participated in a fashion show at the local hot spot in our city. Before the show began her team got to perform. Unfortunately from my spot I couldn't get the whole team so I just had to aim the camera at the section where cheergirl was.

Camping August 2009..........

2009-08-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

Better late than never on this post I guess. We went camping up at Wood Canyon Lake last weekend and it was one of our best trips.

I really needed to get away. Lots of stress on the homefront including the death of our neighbor.

This trip was pretty much a last minute decision. When it comes to vacations camping is up there with one of the most frugal things you can do as long as you already have all the equipment you need.

We left for our trip on Thursday afternoon and arrived back home on Sunday before noon. I had totally forgotten that Friday was my birthday until hubby pulled a flowering weed from the ground and wished me happy birthday. We wanted to arrive home pretty early on Sunday since Monday was the first day of school and we wanted the girls to be well rested and ready to go.

It took us a while to decide if we would be going fishing on this trip. Originally I said no, let's just relax and sleep in and take it easy. We finally changed our mind and decided to go ahead and buy two day fishing licenses because some peeps in the family were afraid they would get bored.

Thursday night we took it easy but Friday morning we were up bright and early and bushy tailed at 4 AM (you can decide yourself how much sarcasm is in that sentence). I made a nice hot breakfast and we headed off. I usually don't make a hot breakfast before heading out for fishing as we like to be at our spot when the sun rises, so cooking this time did delay us a bit.

Friday morning we went to Willow Springs Lake. Ugh it was windy and cold. We didn't see any fish jumping like we usually do at our regular spot at Woods Canyon but we hung out for a few hours anyways. It was a total bust, no nibbles at all. As well as fishing being a bust cheergirl was suffering. She didn't sleep too well and when she got up (at 4 AM) her neck popped and she ended up being in pain all day Friday and early Saturday.

While at the lake Friday morning cheergirl didn't even put her pole in the water. She instead found a nice soft rock (more sarcasm inserted) curled up and slept. Not even her Twilight book could get her attention and that is saying something.

Darling big brother, always ready, willing and able to antagonize.Message for the ducks ........"Go ahead, make my day"
A couple morning shots at Willow Springs Lake

Get lost mom..... Sleeping beauty has awakenGuess I was wrong, she did pop her fishing line in the water for a bit....Friday afternoon at camp is spent, reading, eating, napping, and target practicing. No injuries reported. Friday late afternoon, headed back to our favorite fishing spot at Woods Canyon Lake. Victory was mine. Momma proved to be the fishing queen, I caught the one and only fish that evening.
Can you see the choppy waters in the pictures from Friday? Ugh is was such a terrible windy day. Almost a deal breaker, it wouldn't have taken much to convince us to pack and head back home. But we persevered......

Saturday morning we awoke to a much more calm day thank goodness. We again woke at 4 AM and I hustled to make breakfast burritos to take with us to the lake. We arrived at our favorite spot at Woods Canyon lake just as the sun was rising.

Look how still and calm the water is...

Origami Girl, kicking back and enjoying her burrito.

Cheergirl was fascinated by these two oak trees smack dab in the middle of all the pines. She liked the way they leaned towards each other making somewhat of an arch and feels it would be a great place for a wedding. No more pictures of the fish being caught, just a couple pics when we got home. Drumroll please. Momma ended up being the master fisherwoman this trip around. I caught THREE fish, the two biggest were mine, and then one of the smaller ones. I also reeled in origami girls fish as she was busy reading. Hubby brought in a fish and pizza boy brought in a fish. The debate is still out on who's fish was bigger. Poor Cheer girl, didn't catch a thing. By Saturday afternoon she was feeling much better and the kink in her neck was almost gone so she was eager to go back to our fishing spot again. Alas we had no luck on Saturday evening, not even a nibble. I think we were at the lake a little too early, should have waited a little closer to sunset.

One more side note....... Saturday afternoon hubby and Pizzaboy drove down to get water and chit chatted with the attendant about fishing. The attendant stated that people were reporting very poor fishing results, nobody was catching anything. HMMMMM, guess I was lucky or skilled.

Geocities is closing...

2009-08-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

so my solar cooking site will soon no longer exist.

It took a bit of work and I am finally done moving my site over to a blogger page.

http://solarcookinginarizona.blogspot.com/

Cheer Girl has returned.....

2009-07-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well Cheer Girl made it home safe and sound on Saturday. She has had bits and pieces to share with us but for the most part has slept a lot. She is simply exhausted, so much so that I am a bit concerned. I am thinking spinach served with liver and onions would be a great meal until she feels more like herself.

There were a couple very exciting happenings at camp.

The first exciting happening is that Cheer Girl was nominated for the All American Team. During camp the representatives from NCA keep their eyes open for girls that catch their eye and nominate them. The girls tried out on Friday night. Cheer Girl didn't make it but she was already in a state of exhaustion and had no voice. Kudos to her for trying anyways. If she had made it she would have been going on a trip to Hawaii and a few other places.

The second exciting thing is that Cheer Girl's varsity squad won a trophy. Out of about 30+ different squads only five trophies were given. By winning the trophy they have to option to go to Florida and participate in the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade. Kinda of scary thinking of one of my kids being all the way on the other side of the states but I have already talked to the coach and I am confident with her plans. It is her goal to have one adult chaperon for every 2-3 girls. Now comes the fundraising. The girls will be working their hiney's off the next few months trying to raise money for the trip. They will be learning what it means to work for something you really want.

New Name Assignments.......

2009-07-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

Wow sixteen days since my last post, shame on me.

Henceforth new names will be assigned to the characters on this blog. Oldest child, son, 18 year old creature from the planet Talkbackalot, shall now be called Pizza Boy. Middle child, daughter, 16 year old creature from the planet Textalot shall now be called Cheer Girl. Youngest child, daughter, 12 year old creature from the planet Moodyashell, shall now be called Origami Girl.

So Pizza Boy has now graduated from high school and is working. You guessed it.. at a pizza joint. He has already learned that there is a big difference from sitting at a desk for 7 hours compared to standing in a kitchen for 7 hours shaping pizzas, tossing wings, salads, etc. etc. He has been exhausted.... and usually quiet after his long day, which is a good thing. Pizza Boy has officially now opened his first checking acount, now he has to learn the joys of budgeting and trying to save for a car.

Cheer Girl, well we packed her off to cheerleading camp yesterday. This is her first time away from home. She has been to a few sleepovers with friends over the years but never any extended stays away with family or friends. Soooooo Cheer Girls highschool squad rode a schoolbus for 4 1/2 hours yesterday to their destination. I can only imagine what a miserable ride that was. They had been told they were getting a charter bus, no idea what happened with that. So here are all these cheerleaders, at least 40 girls, who each have a large suitcase, sleeping bag/bedding, and stuffed carry on bags. All of that stuff that would have fit nicely into a large compartment under a charter bus now has to be crammed into a small compartment under a school bus and in the back seats inside the school bus. I have been informed by Cheer Girl that the drive up to camp was pretty miserable too. As they climbed mountains the air conditioning had to be turned off on the bus, imagine, hot Arizona, hot sticky seats, two girls to a seat, no air, ick! So they finally get to the college where camp is being held and they arrive at their dorm rooms. The girls are on the fourth floor, no elevators, so they get to lug all their heavy gear up 3 flights of stairs. They get to their little rooms, they will be two girls to a room, and they find the rooms have no air conditioning. Not sure of the logic on that, this is still Arizona. Guess they figured nobody would ever stay in those rooms in the summertime. Luckily the cute little dorm rooms do have refrigerators so they can chill or freeze their water bottles. And frozen water bottles do come in very handy since Cheer Girls roommate has already been injured...... sigh fingers crossed everyone that Cheer Girl stays safe and unharmed because she is prone to being a bit of a clutz.

Now a bit on Origami Girl. It is a bit harder to come up with a paragraph on this kid. She isn't involved with any sports, no special interests except for origami and she is actually getting pretty good at that. She whiles away the summer hours, computer time, nintedo ds, and she is quite talented, sometimes she can do both of those at the same time. She did state yesterday that she will be happy when school starts back up, poor thing is bored. School does start in just a few weeks so that should make all of us happy.

Welcome to the Good Ole USA.........

2009-06-30T09:07:00.001-07:00

where speaking English appears to be optional......... Case in point, stop by your local motor vehicle department to pick up a learners manual so that your teen can study for their permit, only to be told..... sorry they don't currently have any manuals available in English, they only have Spanish available.

I am at a loss for words!

Walk cautiously and carry a big stick...........

2009-06-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

yes I have taken some liberties with Teddy Roosevelt's phrase "speak softly and carry a big stick" but when you read this little tale I believe you will forgive me.

Last night I had to take my oldest up to Phoenix to start his training for his new job. He was only scheduled to be there for a few hours so I stayed in the city. Some time during the evening I received a text from my oldest daughter. The message was something roughly like this "MOM, little sis just saw a snake in the house". Ok! That really got my attention, but really don't you think that was deserving of a phone call rather than a text?

I really, really, really wish I had a picture to add to this post, but the bad news is, hubby couldn't find the snake. Daughter saw it slither under the furnace door. So my ever creative hubby stuffed books around the opening of the furnace door in hopes of blocking it from coming out (shaking my head in awe, wonder, confusion, laughter).

Memories......

2009-05-31T21:25:00.001-07:00

End of May garden............

2009-05-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

And my favorite picture of the day, I love my Mexican Bird of Paradise

It is Official............................

2009-05-26T19:32:00.001-07:00

I never again have to ask him if he has done his homework!!!!!!

Notice anything missing over there - - - - - - ->

2009-05-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

The little floating baby in a box is missing because baby Wyatt was welcomed into the world last Monday. We are so happy for Tom and Stacey but really sad we live so far away.

Another layout.......

2009-05-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

these are addicting....

A New Layout.........

2009-05-25T08:43:00.001-07:00

Digital Scrapbooking..........

2009-05-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

Created a scrapbook page just for fun today. I used a free layout that I got from digitalscrapbookplace.com when I registered.

Dance Performance 1

2009-05-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

I do not have a digital camcorder, which is very evident from the quality of these little videos. I can use my standard digital camera for some very basic taping though. Last night the highschool had their end of year dance performance. It is pretty difficult to see who is who on these videos but just try to keep your eyes open for the palest student with red hair. At aproximately 00:53 on the clock you can see my daughter front and center.

Performance 1

Dance Performance 2

2009-05-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

When the lights appear on this video you can spot daughter's red hair on the far right.

Performance 2

Dance Performance 3

2009-05-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

On this dance daughter begins on the left, kinda looks like the second row back. As the dance progresses the curtain does block our view of her.

Performance 3

The Good and the Bad of Gardening.............

2009-05-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

First off we will start with the bad so we can end this post on a positive

When I was out watering my garden a couple days ago I notice that I had a huge amount of black ants in a small section where I have corn. The little buggers had sheared off a stalk of corn! This is WAR!!!!!

Looks like they are starting to work on another stalk.We try to fight pests as organically as we can so we blended up an orange in the blender, peel and all and poured it down any ant hole we could find. So far they just seem to think I am just offering them some party supplies.Moving on to some good garden pics...

Beautiful blossoms on one of my cucumber plants.

A yellow squash.

Another yellow squash.Peppers.

And todays harvest.

This is our first attempt at potatoes and it looks like we are going to have success. These little ones were popping out of the soil so I couldn't resist the temptation and pulled them out.

These will probably be the only berries we will get. I think I should frame them instead of eating them.

And this is my first tomato of the season. I waited until I had dropped daughter off at school for a dress rehearsal before eating it so I wouldn't have to share.

Look What We Put Together.........

2009-05-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

The spiritline at the local highschool has a new coach this year. She was actually they coach most of last year but she took over from the previous coach so she didn't get much of an opportunity to bring in her fresh new ideas. One of her fund raising ideas is for a boutique/party with a silent auction. All of the cheerleaders create a gift basket and bring to the event where they will be silently bid on. When I first heard of the event I jumped on the idea of chocolate and luckily when it came time for the cheerleaders to choose an idea from the list chocolate was still available.

CHOCOLATE DREAMOOPS Please don't notice the extra bits of chocolate on my face, conveniently there wasn't enough room for everything I bought.

April Garden.............

2009-04-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

The summer garden is really starting to take off. Lots of beautiful green.

Ahhhh my poor bababerries. I lost my first plant. It just started shriveling up just like this one. I am still trying to baby this one along. If these are the only berries I end up getting then these are some mighty expensive berries.

Pole Beans
Pole Beans

Corn

Cucumbers, really starting to take off and I am guiding it up the trellis.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Beautiful, beautiful RED

Pomegranate

This is the start of my new melon garden. In the center I will be propping up a teepee trellis for more pole beans. In the upper right corner next to the fence I have three okra plants just popping forth from the ground.

My Neurotic Dog has Struck Again!!!

2009-04-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

I have a very neurotic border collie. Any type of banging or popping sound drives him insane. Anything similar to fireworks or gunfire or a swinging screen door.

He has done some serious damage over the last few years. I can not leave the dogs outside when I leave the house to go anywhere because he panics and jumps the fence. When I leave the dogs in the house and I go somewhere I pray the wind doesn't pick up and cause a noise that will frighten him.

I have come home to some total disasters. He has torn down several mini blinds fighting to get out the windows. Now when I go somewhere I go through the house and make sure that every window is locked. A couple weeks ago when I went to town he jumped on top of my dresser, knocking down my huge tower of acrylic paints and a few other odds and ends and forced the window open. What a mess.

Once again he pulled another stunt this week. I had made sure that all the windows were locked but he again jumped on my dresser and managed to get my window unlocked and knocked over a stack of pictured in frames and a very large television. I havent tested the television yet to see if it is damaged but there was pieces of broken glass everywhere from the busted up picture frames.. what a mess.

Doggy valium is definitely needed.

Look at this innocent looking guy, surely he isnt the culprit.

I Have Good News and I Have Bad News..........

2009-04-25T15:07:00.001-07:00

The good news is ..... I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance with Geico.

The bad news is...... Family will be living on rice and beans for a while because teen daughter survived tryout week and is now a VARSITY CHEERLEADER!

Vertical Gardening.........

2009-04-07T16:57:00.001-07:00

I am experimenting with a lot of vertical gardening this year. In order to make the most of my limited space I am trying to force as many plants as possible to grow UP ......

This is my tomato trellis that I built all by myself.Tomato plants are in, trellis is just a wee bit lopsided but it will work fine.A few marigolds added around the tomatoes.Growing tall.

A Few March Garden Pics...........

2009-03-18T16:25:00.000-07:00

My very first success with seedlings, of course success comes after I already purchased 10 tomato plants from Home Depot.
Swiss chard is still going strong. Although I could really use this spot for some of my summer items I am letting the swiss chard go so that I can see how long it will last in our heat.
Sugar snap peas are struggling along. This is another spot I could use for my summer garden but I am waiting it out.
This is where my cucumbers will be growing, no seedlings have popped up from the ground yet.

My experimental tomato trellis. I built this so hopefully it will last.

Corn, Corn Mr. Golden Corn, please grow up real tall (sung to the children's song, Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun)

Our Family Nut Strikes Again..............

2009-03-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Sigh... never a dull moment!

Teen daughter had a black light in her room over the weekend. Monday morning dawns, it is time to get ready to for school and she can't see for the great makeup production so she decides to change the light bulb. Since she had already turned the light on when she woke up the black light was very hot already so she carefully used a t shirt to take out the bulb and tossed it on her bed (why on her bed I have no idea). After putting her regular light bulb in the socket she sat down on her bed............... can you see where this is headed? Yes, she sat on the very hot black light bulb................. and burned her butt. It is a pretty bad burn and I must be an extremely loving mother because I did help her place a large bandage over it. Wonder what her cover story was in school as she hobbled around for the day.

Homemade Ricotta, part 2................................

2009-02-28T14:50:00.001-08:00

Life gets hectic and I haven't had time to post my success with the homemade ricotta.

Ready to go into the oven.............

Things got rushed, this was supposed to be two seperate loaves.

Fresh from the oven...........
And the final production, homemade ricotta in the stuffed shells, homemade french bread, lettuce straight from the garden and homemade croutons.

Oh My Aching Adrenalin...............

2009-02-27T01:29:00.000-08:00

This post will probably be incredibly long so either turn off your computer and do something more meaningful or grab a coke and some popcorn and kick back and get comfy.

Where to start, where to start. Well how about the beginning of the day (Thursday).

Things looked pretty good first thing in the morning. My son who has had an extremely bad case of bronchitis this week and has already missed three days of school is up and showered and headed out the door to school, very medicated of course. So the highschoolers are out the door and off to their bus. I need to run an errand to the grocery store this morning so I offer to take youngest daughter to school which she kindly accepts. The word kindly is used very tongue in cheek because youngest daughter is eleven and a pile of grouchy, confused hormones.

So youngest has been dropped off at school, grocery store trip has been completed and I am now back home ready to start work for the day. It is a beautifully warm day here today, probably about 83 F so I crack a few windows and door and turn on the ceiling fans. Within a few moments I hear the booming, blaring, extremely foul music coming from across the street at a neighbor's house. Sadly our neighbor has taken up this hobby of trying to irritate the living daylights out of me with his music over the last couple weeks. I do have another post coming later with more on this subject. I had began writing this post earlier but had an emergency and unfortunately the post was lost (more on the emergency in just a bit too).

But back to the blasting music. I have become very distraught about this music, there are no words to describe how foul the language is in the music this man plays and we have often seen a baby sitting in a car seat right next to the vehicle the music is coming from. I can't even begin to imagine how much damage has been done to that poor babies ears (not from the foul words but the very high volume of course). In retrospect my next steps were probably not the wisest and I should have handled things a bit differently but too late to change things now. I honestly did try closing my windows and doors but I could still hear the booming and could even make out the words. Today was the straw that broke the camel's back. I had just simply had enough. I was sitting here practically in tears in my own home. I paused my work on my computer, grabbed my shoes (to put on my feet, not to throw at the neighbor) and headed out the door. The man across the street was standing at his vehicle leaning in and didn't see me coming. As I got close to the house across the street I kept shouting "excuse me sir". I must have said that about 10 times as I walked closer to the man. I was probably about 4 feet from him before he finally heard me. Immediately I could tell by his stance that this wasn't going to go well. And it wasn't the fact that he was standing there half naked in his very flimsy boxer shorts (ooh gross), nope it was just the defensive way he was standing that clued me in. In a very polite but maybe just a bit frantic tone I spoke to him "sir I have been trying to be a good neighbor and tolerate this music, but will you PLEASE, PLEASE turn it down". Well the man looked at me like I was insane, spat on the ground, and said "this is my yard I will do what I want". Okee Dokee then.............. I simply said "fine I will just call the sherriff". His reply was "go ahead". I turned and left his yard. As I walked away I could here his female step out of the house and yell at him asking what I had said to him. I could then hear her shout at me to get over there and talk to her face. She used a few choice words in there but I just kept on walking home.

I did make a quick call to the non-emergency sheriffs line to ask them about the noise ordinance. The person I first spoke to didn't have any answers for me but a very nice officer called me back within about fifteen minutes. He stated that they don't take noise violations lightly and any time there was a problem to call them. Neighbors would get a warning and if they don't comply they will get a citation. Something tells me these people will be getting a lot of citations. He did direct me to the exact spot on their website where I can read all the rules about noise, decibals, the distance the music can be heard etc. The noise my neighbors are making is definitely a violation. I thanked the officer for his time and let him know how much I appreciated him calling me back and told him I would call with any further concerns. You might ask, well why wasn't I concerned right now. Well because within five minutes of my speaking to my neighbor the music had been turned off and he had gone inside his house. Hmmmm, wonder if he has something to hide and doesn't care to have a sheriff's officer on his property.

First adrenalin pumping experience of the day ....... over.

Finally I had calmed down a bit and got back to work. A couple hours later my cell phone rings again. Honestly it is never a good thing when my cell phone rings. It is my oldest calling from school. His medicine has warn off and he is starting to feel pretty bad and can I come get him. I had fully expected this to happen so I had made sure that I had decent 'leaving the house' clothes on this day so I told him sure I was on my way, grabbed my purse and hopped in the car to get him. Nothing majorly about this of course except for a small amount of stress, trying to get to the school and back as quickly as possible so as not to miss too much work. I hate having to rush.

On the way back home who did we pass stranded on the road with a broken down vehicle......... none other than music blasting, spitting, rude, nasty neighbor. Kharma baby, Kharma!

Second very minor adrenalin pumping experience of the day...... over.

Well the day progresses and all is looking good. I have a nice dinner in the oven and I have moved to the bedroom computer to work as the kids are arriving home from school and hubby is home from work. The youngest gets home and quickly finishes her homework and asks if she can go bike riding with her friends. I give her a few quick chores to do and allow her to go. Oldest daughter has now finished her homework and heads down the road to visit her friends. Hubby, son and I grab dinner and I set some plates aside for the girls so that they can eat when they get home. And then of course I head to my computer for a few more shifts of work for the evening. The girls call me a couple times to check in, one of mommy's strict rules. At 6:13 PM my phone rings again, this time it is my oldest daughter and she is frantic. Her little Sis has been bit by a dog again (yes this isn't her first experience) but this time is bad. I pause my computer again and fly out the front door, a few steps behind hubby and son. We are all headed out to find youngest. Luckily she is headed home on her bike so I don't have to run far or we would have an entirely different medical emergency. We get to lil Sis and yep it is a dog bite, her calf is very, very bruised and there are several punctures and blood. I make the immediate decision that we are going to the emergency room.

Before we left for the emergency room I did take a moment to call the sheriff's department to find out if I should call animal control. The officer was so nice and genuinely concerned. He advised us to just go directly to the emergency room and the emergency room would call the correct parties from there. Before leaving the neighborhood I did drive past the dogs home to get the address for the animal control department. Very filthy yard. The owner did step outside her front door to speak to me but didn't seem overly concerned. She states that the dog has all it's shots and tags but who knows.

When we arrived at the emergency room it looked deceptively quiet. There were just a few people in the waiting room. Never be fooled by an emergency rooms waiting room appearance. I think we arrived about 6:45 but within 15 minutes of us arriving there was a steady stream of people checking in. I think a lot of people wait until their doctor's office is closed and head to the emergency room instead. A lot of people seriously didn't belong there, I even had doubts if we should be there, but I always second guess myself when we go to the emergency room. After waiting almost 2 hours in the waiting room we were finally called back. They cleaned daughter's leg up and prescribed antibiotics. Once they got her all cleaned up it really didn't seem as bad as I had thought (see I am second guessing myself again). Since her shots are up to date she didn't need a tetanus shot. They also explained what would happen to the dog. The dog would be picked up by animal control and quarantined for 10 days. Not enough for such an agressive dog in my opinion. We made a quick trip to a pharmacy after leaving the hospital and walked back into our house at 11:00 PM, almost five hours after the incident.

Third adrenalin pumping experience of the day.......... over.

The brown dog in the front in this picture is the culprit. Any suggestions on what kind of dog this is? Not that the type really matters, it is a very agressive dog.

This is after the blood was cleaned up a bit so probably not as bad as I first thought, but she did still need antibiotics.

Today's Kitchen Adventure, Homemade Ricotta Cheese.................

2009-02-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

When it comes to my kitchen I like to be able to say "I can do that" or at the very least "I have tried that". Last week I made homemade french bread which totally put store bought french bread to shame. After I made the loaf I started thinking about what else I can prepare from scratch for a nice Italian meal. I am not ready to try and conquer homemade pasta so I decided to try homemade Ricotta. I think I have had a success here but I will know for sure tomorrow when I use today's freshly made Ricotta in stuffed shells.

Ricotta Cheese

Ingredients: 1 half gallon of whole milk

2 cups buttermilk

The step by step instructions can be found here http://cheese.about.com/od/homecheesemaking/ss/making_ricotta.htm

175 Degrees

Cheesecloth prepared

Straining out the curds

Draining out some of the whey

Tied up and allowed to drain for about 1 hour

TADA!!! I have Ricotta

Update tomorrow with results of the Stuffed Shells

Never a Dull Moment................

2009-02-17T06:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I took the day off to hang out with my kids. The girls and I decided to hop in the car and run a few errands. So we are driving along, headed to wally world, minding our own business.

Off to my left on a side road we hear the chirp of a police siren and we glance over to see a police car attempting to pull over a white SUV. Assuming that the officer had everything under control our attention went back to the road we were traveling on. Moments later we noticed that the white SUV was now traveling behind us. As far as we could tell it was an older woman driving the vehicle and there were no passengers. The officer was flashing his lights and we could now hear the siren going full speed, we were starting to get a little nervous because the lady wasn't pulling over.

At this point we had pulled up to a traffic light, there was a car stopped at the light ahead of me, there was a car that had stopped just to the right of me. There was nowhere for me to go, I had to stop right there at the light and the white SUV stopped right behind me. The officer stopped right behind the SUV and started shouting at the lady to get out of her vehicle. She never turned her head and never made any indication that she was aware he was even there.

All of a sudden three more police cars come whipping in from all directions. One is just to my right , just inches from our front bumper, my daughter in the front passenger seat can surely see the color of his eyes he is that close to us. All of the officers hop out of their cars and draw their weapons and aim at the SUV behind us shouting at the woman to turn off her car, to get out of her car etc etc. The whole time the lady continues to seem oblivious to the action. The whole time my girls and I are sitting there, trapped between the SUV behind us and the car sitting at the light in front of us, sitting there saying OMG OMG OMG. An officer finally approached the ladies window, I am not sure what he said to her but daughter was looking out the back window and could read the ladies lips and she said "I heard you".

The light in front of us finally turned green again and the car in front of us hesitated not knowing what to do but finally decided to pull out. Well heck, I wasn't hesitating, I pulled out of there too!! But curiousity got the better of me, I whipped around to the parking lot of the bank just to our right so I could get a view of what was happening. At that point it appeared the officers had gotten control of the situation and had instructed the lady to pull across the intersection and to the side of the road. Well heck I wouldn't be able to see a thing from this parking lot, so I had to move on to another parking lot for a better view.

The four police vehicles escorted the lady and the officers spoke to the lady for a while before......... a fire truck arrived. The a bit later an ambulance arrived. The lady was loaded up and taken to the hospital.

So our theory now is that maybe something was wrong with the poor lady to begin with. Maybe she was driving erratically and was in a state that she just wasn't aware of the situation around her.

Anyways......... later in the day as we told hubby/daddy our story he asked why we didn't duck down in the car when we saw all the weapons pulled out all around us. Eleven year old daughter tells dad "well we wouldn't have been able to see what was going on around us if we did that" DUH!

A Trip to the Zoo..........

2009-02-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

On the day when we went on our trip to the mission we were finished much sooner than we planned so we decided to make a quick side trip to the Tucson zoo. Tucson has a very nice zoo. It isn't too large so you don't get exhausted from the walking. It also has beautiful landscaping creating a very nice atmosphere. I took a lot of shots that I am happy with so today's post is picture heavy.

Wait, wait...... let me turn so you get my good side!

The Capybara is the worlds largest rodent. That would take one very big mouse trap.
Just striking a pose.......

A Trip to a Mission......................................

2009-02-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend we took a trip down past Tucson to take a look at a mission. San Xavier del Bac is a fascinating building. It is over 300 years old and when built was in a very secluded area. Over time Tucson has crept closer to the mission. It is a very eerie feeling to be in a building that old. Your mind comes up with all kinds of thoughts of things that could have happened there. I am pretty sure that as I stood there taking pictures the ghost of a cowboy stumbled past me, blood dripping from his gunshot wound, seeking help from the inhabitants of the mission. Ok, Ok, I have probably read too many western Harlequins, but ya get my drift.

Link to the mission's website... http://www.sanxaviermission.org/Index.html

Link to a lot more of my pictures of the mission... http://travel.webshots.com/album/570040761IXRpLC

Storm Damage from Sunday's Hail Storm..........

2009-02-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

I just had my first opportunity to get outside to see what damage was done to my garden. I am pretty sad.

Ugh my poor pots
Spinach looks like I placed a heavy blanket over the entire bed

One of my poor broccoli plantsSwiss chard, sections flat to the ground

Very beat up salad greens

Oh my poor beets, they had actually been looking good before this storm

My favorite vegetable, my sugar snap peas, still edible but looking their worst

And a little glimmer of light in the chaos. My hardengergia is beginning to bloom

Amazing Hail Storm............

2009-02-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

This is seriously the heaviest hail I have ever seen here.

A very confused flower bed

Dangerous steps
Piled high on hubby's truck

A pummeled garden
Girls out taking a beating

Son headed home trying to dodge the painful hail
Daughter's makeshift snowman

Every family has a nut........................

2009-02-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

and mine is 16 year old, redheaded, darling daughter. There is never a dull moment with her around. Today she stumbled across a pair of undies that she had forgotten existed and she was quite delighted. So delighted that she popped them on her head. Now dd (darling daughter) is into the hair phase where the girls tease a bit of a bump on the crown of their hair, she actually looks kinda cute with it. Well her undies fit nicely over her hair bump.

Well we all went on to doing other things, I was off to prepare dinner, hubby sat at computer to read the evening news, dd headed off to who knows where. A short while later I stepped outside to grab some lemons from the tree and here comes dd from outside the yard with a beet red face. DD asks..... mom why didn't you tell me I still had underwear on my head?

Apparently a neighbor had driven by, slowed down, backed up and asked dd if she knew she had panties on her head. I am thinking dd will never wear underwear as a hair accessory ever again.

Bababerry.............

2009-01-23T15:37:00.001-08:00

Fall garden update.........

2009-01-12T13:50:00.000-08:00

Final harvest of summer vegies and a few fall vegies. One good freeze put a screeching hault to my tomatoes and eggplant.Collard Greens
Beets...... pretty scrawny looking. I will have to wait a bit to decide if I will waste the space on these next year.Green OnionsSpinachCarrotsSwiss ChardHabanero (forgot to rotate this picture but still unmistakenly a habanero)Side Garden.. brussels sprouts in back, then swiss chard, then greens and mesclun, and then in the very front is broccoli.Side Garden.......... mostly mesclun.Kohl Rabivery tasty............. kind of like eating a piece of raw broccoli, just a bit sweeter.

Sugar Snap Peas

Sugar Snap Peas......... the bottom frame from a bed makes a great trellis.

Sugar Snap Peas growing up a bamboo trellis. Brussels Sprouts........... I am very anxious to try these out.Broccoli! My favorite. They are even bigger than this now and we are beginning to harvest.

A funny little story.............

Youngest daughter LOVES broccoli. I told her I was getting ready to harvest some broccoli and she told me she wasn't going to touch it. She said she only wanted broccoli from the store. When I asked her why she said because they do soemthing special to it to remove all the germs. Gosh if she only knew the truth lol. I am much more confident that my broccoli is germ free LOL.

A Sad Event in our Neighborhood........

2009-01-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

This happened four houses away from us last night. Luckily the whole family escaped safely. The family had just moved in over the last couple weeks, daddy, momma, and four young children. The father had been trying to start a fire in the fireplace and sadly things went terribly wrong. the fire started about 7:30 and the last fire truck didn't get out of there until almost 1 AM.

This picture shows how dense the smoke was in the neighborhood.

Morning view, standing in exactly the same place I was last night.

I am amazed that this tree survived. This is pretty much all that remains of the house, the rest completely collapsed.

Kind of hard to tell what this picture is. There is a travel trailer to the side of the house that survived. I walked around to the side and crouched down to take this shot of some debris still smouldering this morning.