The Waiting Begins!

It's official!
The mission papers were turned in yesterday by the Stake President. Now the waiting game begins. Anyone care to guess where he might go? (I think he will enjoy hearing the guesses)

Nasty Critters!

We're back. But when I went to check on my garden, there were HUNDREDS of these guys:

All over my cucumber and squash plants. They were just thick everywhere!

I'm heartsick.

I had to use an insecticide as it was SO bad I don't know if I can even save the plants..........Cross your fingers. I'm so sad that I had to use a chemical in my garden, but I don't know if even that will help.....

Nice welcome home....huh......

Don't Think your Kids will Like Green Smoothies?

Take a look at that face after scarfing down her smoothie!

Proof Positive

Dateline: 6/20/09
Place: Fiesta del dia de los padres
Tall white girl
Yes people, I really do get up in front and speak Spanish, but inside I'm quaking and stressing.

A Good Read

Since I'm off galivanting around Denver, Co right now, I thought I would share a really, really good book I just finished about food storage. Booooorrring....right?


Wrong!

"I Dare You To Eat It"

By Liesa Card

Here's a quote:

"........Testimonies aren't cheap. They come to us only after consistent obedience. A testimony of food storage is similar. We learn in the doing." ".......And yet, growing up surrounded by good examples and having the opportunity to eat from my parent's food storage, I didn't actually come to my own testimony of it as being vital and founded on the principle of love until after I had taken my own steps to be obedient."

I absolutely loved the philosophy in her book. She is a "regular" person. In fact, she is an interior designer. She's not a "granola" type or a "survivalist" type. She outlines the reasoning, or the doctrine behind doing your food storage and then gives practical ideas on how to do it. I think it is a must-have in your food storage library. She even has a web site: http://www.idareyoutoeatit.com/

Go get it.

Bon Voyage

Hey-I'm off tomorrow to Denver, Colorado.
I was there once. I think.
When I was small.
TL has meetings all day for two days.
So I'm footloose and fancy free.
So what's there to do in Denver?

Friday Flashback-Clothing Optional

I'm not sure if this is true in less temperate parts of the world, but in my corner of the world, in the desert Southwest of the United States, it seems that clothing for kids was always optional.

As soon as they are old enough to take it off......it goes off...

It doesn't matter what they are doing,

Making a dog pile.....
coloring Easter eggs.....
eating.....
or even waiting for family prayer.....
It doesn't matter the season, the time of day, or even in the case of when they are really little, whether the place is public or not.
The clothes were always off.
Fortunately as they have gotten older, they have gotten more modest.
Thank heavens.
Unlike some of the rest of the world.
Where clothing still may remain optional.
(I've chosen not to post a picture to illustrate my point-you're welcome)

Jess-I have an Idea for Your Baby's Room!

My daughter, Jessica, is having a little baby boy in September. You can go here and see her baby's room..She's wondering how to finish decorating the room.

So anyway Jess....I kinda have this idea for you.

Why don't you just buy plain white sheets for the baby's crib?

I think they will match with this:

Here's the back. These kids are crazy ASU fans.....

And here's another quilt for the other little guy coming in October...

Love the colors!

A grandma's work is never done!

Something's Going on in the Cucumber Patch!

Because.....

Sheesh-the things kids do when mother is not looking!

And I just turn my back for a minute....


And the grapes ripen! (these are actually very small-macro lenses rock!)
And these guys just snuck up on me

Turning yellow overnight!

And you never know what might be hiding in the melon patch...

P.S. I planted some pumpkins a couple of days ago-cross your fingers!

Random Food Thoughts

***Since I'm still too lazy to make much effort, all these photos are from the internet. But for your viewing pleasure.......

When life gives you brown bananas,

Make Banana Bread (yummy recipe follows)




Lime + watermelon = Delish!


This oatmeal is yummy.....

Buy at Costco immediately.

Promised recipe:

Sour Cream Banana Bread (the activity of Sat. afternoon)

1 1/2 c sugar

3/4 c. butter

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1 c. sour cream (i've actually used plain nonfat yogurt-equally delish)

1/2 c. chopped nuts (opt)

2 large BROWN bananas

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

2 1/2 c. flour

Cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla. Add smashed bananas. Mix dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream. Stir in nuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hr (mas o menos) Makes two bread pans.

Pardon Me While I Crash & Burn

I don't know if the moon is full.

Or it is a clash of the hormones.

Or the stress of life pushed me over the edge.

But I'm just plumb wore out.

And Steve just left for BYU.

So I'm just going to crash and burn for a day or two.

A New Era Has Begun

My seventh and final child has just received her learner's permit to drive.
I ask for your faith and prayers.
That I might be patient and kind.
And safe.
And that my gray hairs may not multiply too much.

Edit** I can't believe what an idiot I am! The info on the driver's license has been deleted. Thanks Lori....duh me.....(better pray for her safety too!!)

Gardening Updates-The Last and The First

Time is marching on in the garden these days. It's a time of beginnings and endings....


The last of the carrots. {sigh} Carrots take a loooong time to grow but I needed the space for the melons to stretch out. Time to rinse off the sign and put it away....Bye carrots, I'll see you next fall! These are going to be sacrified this week to my Alabama Soup recipe and chicken pot pie.

The first of the potatoes! One of the plants had shriveled up and died, so being the impatient sort, I dug around and fished these guys out. They are a tad small. {dontcha think?} I think I'm going to try a different method of growing potatoes next year......I'm thinkin'. I'll let you know when I decide.....

The first ripe grape cluster!!! I just polished it off and it was mighty good! The grapes are very small but they taste nice and fresh and sweet.

Some things are good in the garden, some not so good. I have seen a few green critters munching away on my plants so every morning it's search and destroy time.....

My cucumbers STILL aren't producing the right flowers.......i.e. we need male and female flowers to make baby cucumbers.....So I have been meddling about, mixing the male armenian cucumber pollen with the sweet burpless variety....it may be interesting to see what we come up with! Burpless armenian sweets?????

The strawberries really haven't taken off like I had hoped. I have a few berries here and there, but not the basketfulls I want.

Many of you asked in the earlier corn post if I had grown the corn I froze. No. I'm going to be mighty lucky to get a half dozen ears from my little patch.

So there you have it....the realities of my garden life, the successes and the failures. Thank heavens there's always a new season coming up to try again!

Tuesday's Tip-A Harvest of a Different Sort

Last Saturday TL was dutifully doing his "honeydo" list, as every good husband does on a frequent basis. I had asked him to check the vent opening to my dryer. I was worried that it was leaking hot air because my laundry room/pantry seemed to be really warm while the dryer was running and of course since lots of my food storage is in that room, well, I was concerned about the extra heat floating around the room while the dryer was in use. He made an interesting discovery.....

UG! The dryer vent was clogged with about 5 pounds of lint! Not my usual "harvest." All this gunk was clogging up the vent and preventing the outflow of the warm air to the outside, where it should belong!

So here's my tip for the day-go have your significant other, main squeeze, man about the house help you clean out your dryer vent. I'd be interested to know what you find! I told him I bet our utility bill goes down $10 next month! We've decided this will be an annual event at our house-the cleaning out of the dryer vent......

See what a hard worker he is?

He has worn the bottoms off his shoes......Awwww. What a guy!

There's Carn in them Thar Hills!

Seeing's how AZ is such an overachieving state......(aka HOT!) the corn is being harvested as.we.speak.

And...because I'm basically obsessed with food storage and preparedness.....

My hint today is about how I prepare fresh corn for future use, when there is no fresh corn to be had.

After the corn is shucked and washed, I cut it off the cob. An old bundt pan works perfectly for holding the corn steady while my electric knife easily slices off the corn kernels.

It takes a lot of concentration not to slice off a finger while doing this, hence the mouth position.There's a camera hog in every situation.After the corn is cut off the cob, it needs to be blanched, or dunked in hot water. Basically what I do is steam the kernels for about 3 minutes.....Then plunge the container in ice water to cool it quickly.Then I bag up the corn in ziplock bags and pop it into the freezer.

I don't know if this is the Better Homes and Garden method of doing this, but it's easy for me to do. I know you can freeze it on the cob, but this takes less of my precious freezer space. I did 3 doz ears today. I got about 25 cups of corn, which divided by my cost is about 57 cents per cup. I don't think this is more economical than a can of corn but boy howdy, it tastes way better!

Now I only need to do about 20 dozen more.......

P.S. I love the way that people from Cache Valley, Utah say corn...carn, ward, narth...etc.etc.

Wet!

Summer is all about water!

And when you have wet little kids, you have wet bathing suits....

So when I was surfing the internet not too long ago, I came across this website:

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/05/wet-bag-tutorial.html

And being the OCD mother that I am, I decided that my grandkids needed wet bags too! So I followed the directions, super easy, and spent a minimal amount of money, just enough for two zippers and a vinyl shower curtain liner... (which I have a ton left over for more wet bags)..just some fabric scraps......and we have this:

P.S. They could also be useful when there are other times involving "wet" things.....Mommies-I'm sure you know what I mean!

So Help Me....I'm Trying to Have Patience...

But my kids at home are driving me crazy right now!!!

I know-this photo is enough to frighten anyone!

No school.
No jobs.
Having to ask them 5 times to do something for me, and then they get annoyed and wonder why I'm nagging them!
Sleeping in until 10 am.
Except for the one who has to get up at 5 am to get to swim practice (she gets herself up)
But then I'm awake until 1 am the night before waiting for the oldest kid to get home.
And it's only June 4th.
Nice.
Don't tell me to ground them. More than half of them are legal adults.
These guys are good kids, really........I'm telling myself this 100 times a day....
But then I see this:
Or this:
Or this:

Gosh, dang-it, how can you get mad at that cute face?

And Steve just got accepted to BYU for the summer.

So what's a mother to do?

{sigh}

The Perfect Marriage

Take some of these:

Add some of this:And Mix some of this in:

YUMMMM.