The Voice Mail that nearly Gave me a Coronary during my Essential Oils class

In the middle of my class last Friday (more on that in another post), I got a voice mail from one of my daughters.....

"Mom!, MOM! Call me right away!
B. just got accepted into dental school!!!

OMFH!  (oh my freakin' heck-in Mormon-speak)

You see, these guys have been waiting and trying and praying and hoping for two years to get accepted. Thousands of prayers have been sent up in their behalf.
They had resigned themselves to waiting another year.
B. had already spent more money on applications for the year 2011.

When the call came.
Someone had dropped out/not shown up/whatever
And there was space for B!
And it's a LOCAL school.
They don't have to move across the country.
(Just drive across the valley)
I think they were a little disappointed that they weren't going to be having a new adventure in a new place.
But they got over that real fast.

YAY for the future Dr.Molar!

Yes, I would trust my teeth to him.
Well, maybe in a few years.....

Oh the Irony of It all

I just spent the last half hour putting 50 lbs of powdered sugar into storage containers. Because I'm trying to be self-sufficient and all that.

But the irony is, while I'm trying to eat healthier, I still have powdered sugar in my food storage. And white sugar. Right next to my gallons of agave nectar and honey.

Like I have hot dogs next to the organic unsweetened whole milk yogurt in my refrigerator.

So it's a process. 

Even though I desire to eat a whole food diet, real life intervenes. And I have family that doesn't necessarily want to eat a whole food diet. And frankly, sometimes a fudgy brownie with a little homemade powdered sugar frosting on top does wonders for the soul......

The only consolation is that at least the last time I bought 50 lbs of powdered sugar was in 2008.

So we'll see you again in 2012.

Now it's time to sweep up the powdered sugar mess.

P.S. Tomorrow and Saturday I'm going to an essential oils seminar. My family calls it "voo-doo" medicine....
Hmm.....I wonder what will be on the menu????
Fudgy brownies with powdered sugar frosting?
Ya' think?

Two is Always better Than One

These little guys came to visit me yesterday.

Their moms were busy planning their big birthday bash-
The one we're going to celebrate for the one-year anniversary of their birth.

So it behooves Grandma to follow them around with the camera.

We are learning to have lots of fun playing together......

Uh-oh......

Uh-oh!

We can't wait for you to see what other mischief we're going to cook up!!!

What Happened?

From this.....

To this.....

To this......

My baby is 17 years old today!
Where did the time go?

Happy Birthday to my sweet, talented, amazing youngest.
"La mas pequena."

1,000th reason why my Mom is Cool

She's 83.
It doesn't matter that she has a facebook account.
Or her own personal laptop.

But she told me the other day that
Mindy Gledhill is in her ward!!

I'm awed.


(someday my teenage daughter will think I'm cool too!)

The Cucumber Saga Pt. 2

Please don't hate me because of my beautiful cucumbers......

I love how pretty they are-with their scalloped edges, who knew such a homely thing on the outside could end up so purty?

So, what did I do with them?

I gave two three ***(see below)  away.
I cut up one and made a cucumber salad which is guaranteed transform a cucumber hater into a cucumber lover. And well, for cucumber lovers, well, it's over the top! (I'm one of the former)

Sorry-no photo, but the salad was DELISH....so here's the recipe....

Creamed cucumbers

5 cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced (uh in this case, about 1/2 cuke!-no peeling involved)
1 bunch green onions with tops, chopped
1 cup mayo
1/4 c. evaporated milk (I used real cream..mmmmm)
1/4 c. vinegar (I used Bragg's apple cider kind)
1/4 c. sugar (I used agave nectar-remember to cut the proportion in 1/2-it's sweeter)
2 drops hot pepper sauce  (didn't do this)
1 t. dried parsley flakes
1 t salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 t. garlic salt
1/4 t. onion salt  ( I used garlic powder and onion powder-less salt)

Combine cucumbers and green onions in a large bowl. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. Combine all remaining ingredients. Pour over cucumber mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for several hours.

I added some dill weed also. It's kinda watery because of all the water in the cucumbers after sitting-but I promise, you'll lick the bowl!

And yes, RhondaLu, I think older veggies are not as tasty, but I scraped out all the seeds from the center and these guys were amazingly sweet and mild. I think it's because of the variety-

Granny J-I'm going to try the recipe for the refrigerator pickles, except my family doesn't like sweet pickles. So I guess I'll hog them all for myself.

*****And guess what.....I found another one yesterday!  Yup, same size. 2 lbs.......

P.S.  Miss Liss has resumed blogging. Go make a comment and make her wonder where you came from. {giggle} (mother revenge).   Here's the link

Confessions of a very Naughty, Neglectful Gardener

Yesterday, I was out strolling in my neglected garden, weeding a bit here and there and these suckers had been growing right under my very eyes and I never saw them!

Now to give you a perspective of how big they really are, under great difficulty, I took this photo:

That, people, on the bottom, is my ELBOW.
Those, people, on the top, are my FINGERS!

Cucumbers gone wild!
Total weight:  10 lbs!!!
Now what the heck am I going to do with these ginormous babies???

Help!!!

Granny J: I need your relish recipe. Does it taste good with Armenian cucumbers??????

When It Rains, it Pours

My lot in life these days.
Last weekend it was clogged sinks and the garbage disposal went down.
This week it's the demise of the dishwasher.
Heaven help us, I hope it's nothing more serious next week!

(so what's up with the craziness of blogger??? new way of downloading photos???)

Que pasa, calabasa?

Not much really.
Just the usual.
The weather is having PMS.
Miserably hot days.
And then this morning it decided to be cloudy.
Rain maybe?

In any case, my leftover plants in the garden seem to be a little happier.
I strolled out there the other day and discovered a couple of these:

Everybody asks me what these are.
These, my friends, are Armenian cucumbers.
They tolerate heat better than other types.
And heat, people, is what we do best here in AZ.
They are very mild tasting, but strange looking.
And I have to be very convincing when persuading people to try them.

And......

My boy had a birthday Saturday.
I had a nice post all written up to publish at EXACTLY the moment of his birth,
but blogger screwed up...

No, he's not demonstrating how old he is.
He's actually 31.
Argkh!  It feels kinda weird to have a kid that is 31~
And he's not even the oldest!!!!
(hope it was a happy one!!)

And.....

You get a lot of quilt blocks done while chaperoning teenagers.
You know, you have to be present,
But not PRESENT.
Casually stroll through the room to refill your water glass.
Even though your bladder is busting.
Just to check out why it got suddenly silent in the room.
And to switch the light back on.

I did a lot of this because I needed to keep busy to stay awake.
Since I had not slept well the night before.
And I needed to be PRESENT.
Ya' know.

So the gorgeousness on the left is the guts of a new baby GIRL quilt.
The stuff on the middle top are more snack bags.
A little more girlie ones, for Miss Z.
Her cousin LOVES his pirate ones.
The stuff on the right are some blocks for a quilt I'm making for me, myself and I.
Sometime.

And....

I had to give an impromptu testimony last night.
In Spanish.
In front of about 150 people,
Including the mission president.

At least I don't get nervous and feel like I'm going to barf anymore.
At least until the musical number before me begins.

And that folks, is what's happenin here.

The Last of the Firsts

Today is the first day of school.
Yesterday my mom called me and said, "you ALWAYS call me on the first day of school! Did you forget?"  She didn't realize that we have a wacky school schedule here in the desert.

For the past 25 of 28 years, I've parked my kids in this same spot and taken their photo on the first day of school.

Today is the last time I will do that.
Today is the first day of my baby's last year of public school.
Next year she'll be off to new adventures.
College.....careers.....marriage.....

Today has always been a day of relief and joy.
There's a little more "me" time in the day.

Today it's kinda bittersweet.
The last of the firsts.
Now I gotta go call my mom.

Patter of Little Feet

It seems we have had these little guys around lots the last few days on my bloggie, but I can't help it, they are SO cute. Yesterday we had a little celebration of the end of the summer....

We swam and ate hot dogs.

I pretty much left my camera alone, except for a quick photo at the end.

One little person was having a melt down (can you tell which one?)

And we lost another little person down the hall.

And another one started school yesterday!

(and another one is still in the oven!!)

It was crazy but fun.

Lots of swimming,

playing with cousins,

and visiting for the mommies.

This guy came to visit me early.

Cuz his momma needs to use my washer and dryer.

And he loves to watch me through the glass of the office door.

Last weekend he came so he could check out all the recruiting for

ASU football.

Cuz he and grandpa and daddy are huge ASU fans.

And this little one had a birthday on Friday!

We combined a celebration and a party for the new little girlie coming!

They are growing by leaps and bounds, I can't believe how fast time is passing,

Our little ones that were born last year are coming up on their 1st birthday!

Or just had it.

It's fun being the grandma and watching them grow.

Ugg

Description of my evening last night:

Fall asleep on the couch watching BYUTV.
Wake up and decide to start reading and waiting up for youngest offspring.
Youngest offspring arrives.
Keep reading.
And reading.
And reading.
Finish book at 1:30 am.
Finally fall asleep sometime 45 minutes later.

Description of my morning:

can't.wake.up.
cobweb brain.
was finishing the book worth it?
probably not.

P.S. 
It was "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks
First of his books for me.
I knew how it was going to end.
Surprisingly enjoyable read.

I know, I know, it shoulda been the scriptures on Sunday.
Then I would have gone to sleep earlier.
Bad me.

Guess what Color?

Remember that Baby Bump photo in the last photo?

Well, we're thinkin'.....

Yay!!!

Getting Crafty wit' it

I keep thinking of these fascinating posts that I want to write, but then life intervenes and oh well, all creativity goes out the door....

But...

Last week the ol' sewing machine was pulled out.....
Here's a visual of a couple of projects in progress...
Or completed.

The first one, well, I can't share just yet.
Cuz tomorrow is going to be given as a birthday gift!
But I promise I'll post.
I've been savoring this project for almost a year!!!

This next one was a quickie...super fun...

They are snack bags for school lunches!

Any self respecting 2nd grader would be thrilled with his pirate lunch bags.
And he's saving the landfill besides.....
They were really pretty easy to make.
I have this cool lining stuff I found in Denver.
It's a washable, waterproof liner that can be used for lining the inside of lunch bags, snack bags, diaper bags, etc. etc. It's called PUL, if anyone is interested.
There's a velcro strip at the top to seal up the goodies.

This one is a work in progress.....

Waiting for the slicing, dicing and piecing to make it into a quilt.
LOVE the colors!

I have been keeping myself busy until tomorrow.....

Because that's when we find out if this baby bump is a pink one, or a blue one.
And then this grandma is going to be BUSY!!

Super and the Greats

Nope, it's not the name of Steve's new band.
Not even the name of a new blog.

Nope, it's SUPER grandpa

and his great-grandkids.

Yesterday was his 92nd birthday.

So we had a party and presents.

And Mexican food.

They are fascinated by him.

They can't believe that someone can be 92.years.OLD!

Bless him for his patience while they mauled him!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

And other important news..

Just got an email from a local member where Elder D. is.

He's getting transferred to Chugach, Alaska.

Today.

Huh?

We googled it.

Apparently it is a 22,000 mile Indian reservation.

Which includes the towns of Seward & Valdez.

Unless I'm mistaken.

But it looks pretty wild to me.

It's right up his alley.

More news when I hear from the Elder himself!