Doodles, Dogs and Bees

Food 2009 Mosaic

Food 2009 Mosaic, originally uploaded by doo010101.

This post has me giggling this morning, because I know my mother-in-law is going to think it's silly... and I'm doing it anyway! (she thinks I'm crazy, taking pictures of food...)

I've decided to sign up for another project. I think it's do-able with my new working life and I think it'll help me stay grounded and enthusiastic about crafting. It's a Photo-A-Day. Not sure how long I can keep it up before I slip or forget, but I'm going to try it. I've seen several bloggers doing similar things and it looks like fun. Most recently been enjoying looking at this blog: www.musingsofessjay.com  . (Very sweet girl, who I was lucky enough to meet at the Knit-In in Des Moines last year.)

So, it's back to work and school this morning. The fact that the boys are really bummed about it has forced me not to be, trying to cheer them up and look on the bright side, focus on the positive and all that crap. lol

Truth be known, there is a small part of me that's looking forward to life returning to normal... whatever normal is... Wish us luck.

Daybook

 

FOR TODAY...October 30^th from Tina's Daybook

 

Outside my window... a cold day, after a near blizzard. Fresh snow everywhere and no school or work today.

I am thinking... I have some mommy responsibilities that I can catch up on today... and maybe do some knitting.

I am thankful for... this day off with my boys and my sweet puppies.

I am wearing... jeans, black long-sleeve shirt, socks, slippers.

I am remembering... Jo... everytime I look at Boo.

I am going... to enjoy the moment and soak up every minute of today.

I am reading... Book #2 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series.  (almost done.  I hope #3 gets here today.  I ordered it on Amazon, with 2 day delivery four days ago...)

I am hoping... to stay away from the Halloween candy today

On my mind... everything's good!

From the learning rooms... trying out preschool crafts with the boys

Noticing that... trick or treating is going to be cold this year...
I'm glad I'm the one who stays home and passes out candy!

From the kitchen... good old ramen for lunch and shrimp and veggies for dinner. Might get some of the cookie dough out of the freezer for the boys today.

Around the house... everything is messy, in need of a wipe down and disorganized. But worth it to have a new puppy in the house.

One of my favorite things~ SNOW DAYS!

From my picture journal...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why did I never think of this before?

I stumbled on it kind-of by accident.  I wanted to crunch these candies up in big pieces...  but 5 pulses later in the food processor and I have peppermint flavored sugar!  Which isn't what I was going for, but good in all kinds of different ways! 

I know, for a fact, that's it's delicious in coffee and low-fat hot chocolate.  Safe to assume it'll be yummy in regular hot chocolate too...  I bet it would be awesome on top of ice cream!  (I don't eat ice cream anymore, so maybe I'll spike Scott's ice cream...)  I'm very pleased with myself right now!  {giggle, giggle}   

It Makes Me Feel Like a Good Mom

I've always loved going to the farmer's market.  Our little market here in BFE is just a pitiful little thing compared to the farmer's markets I've been to in the Southeast, when I was a little girl!  But it's better than nothing!

One of my fondest memories from childhood is  snapping green beans from the farmer's market, on the back porch with my mother.  Pee-Oui, Banjo and Missey (the three poodles) not-so-patiently-waiting for bites of raw beans.  They loved them!  My pups NOW really don't think much of raw green beans...  But if you're talking cheeseburgers, they're in!

Can't wait to eat this!  Green beans, potatoes, onions, garlic and a little Italian herb blend.  I'll put a little butter on it when we eat it.  Yes, as a matter of fact, the boys WILL eat it!

So, I bought the corn because the lady selling it told me how to microwave it...in the husk.  And look at those purple peppers!!!  I've got to find something special to do with those!  That one lone tomato was left out of the batch that I froze on Saturday, just in case we needed a fresh tomato.  (You never know when you're going to need a fresh tomato!)

Harvesting Basil

Live and learn.  After much research about growing, eating, cooking with, harvesting and preserving basil, I now know you really aren't supposed to let them flower.  Oops.  I've cut them way back now, but it may be too late in the season to reap much benefit. 

I found this lady, while doing research:  http://www.susanbelsinger.com/ and really enjoyed a couple of her educational videos about drying, harvesting, preserving herbs.

So I "went to town", trying to preserve what we have now and still hoping that we might get more this summer.  The experts say, if properly trimmed back all growing season, you should be able to get 20 cups of basil from a single plant!  I didn't get that much from 4 plants this year.  But I'm trying again next year.

I didn't know if we'd like drying or freezing better.  So I did both.  I think I'm going to prefer freezing, because it's going to be more like fresh and you can use it, when thawed out, in pesto and bruschetta, like fresh basil.

So, all the information I found said just to chop it up and add some olive oil and freeze.  Easy, huh?

I did what little rosemary we had too.  My kitchen smelled like pure Heaven! 

Basil is my favorite, though.  I don't think I could grow tired of it.

Just worth noting:  when pouring basil leaves into the cuisinart, make sure there's no movement.  While pulling the leaves from the stems, I had to deal with three little spiders.  I hate spiders...  even little ones.  So I must really love basil to deal with spiders!

This little pack of basil has been hanging by the kitchen window for 4 days and looks completely dried out to me now.  But all the research I found states to let them hang for 2 weeks, to insure no moisture is left.  Then put them in a air-tight jar for storage.  If there's any moisture left in them, mold will grow.  Yuck!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get one more batch before the end of summer...  I don't know...

 

Now...  what do I want to do with two bowls of these?

If You Ask Me...

This is what a tomato plant is supposed to look like ALL THE TIME!

A Boy and His Tomato

Yep, both pups got tomatoes, in the backyard today.  They were so happy. 

It's been a perfect summer Saturday, catching up on stuff around the house.  The boys have been working on the Soap Box Derby car for Cub Scouts. (the race is next weekend.)

It's been really hot and sunny today, not a cloud in the sky all day.  (that kind of super bright sunshine that starts this time of year, that to me, is the first sign of Autumn coming.)

Sometimes there's nothing better than the whole family staying home all day, doing our own things, but being home together.  It's been a really nice day.

An Unexpected Turn of Events

For a girl who HATED tomatoes the first 40 years of her life, I've really come around the last couple of years.

I wanted to like tomatoes, because I wanted to grow tomatoes.  I wonder if I would have loved them all along, if I had known about basil and balsamic vinegar... We used Brie instead of mozzarella, because it's what we had.   Here's our first ever Caprese salad and boy was it yummy! 

I tried, a few weeks back, to root our lemon scented geranium.  It had really gotten big and overgrown and ugly.  So I was going to start over with clippings.  Well, it didn't go well and the clippings never rooted, they just rotted.  So I cut the ugly, overgrown plant way back, in preperation for pulling it out of the dirt and trashing it.  Then yesterday, look what I discovered.   It's coming back.  I'm not sure how, but it's sprouting new, green growth everywhere, even from the roots and there are baby leaves coming up all over.  Scott really likes this plant, (for it's strong, sweet lemon scent) so I was very pleased to see it trying so hard to live. (along with a German thyme that I thought was gone too...)

Mmmmmm

Success, Kind-of

 I was pretty excited to see that every single one of my entries in the County Fair won a ribbon. And most of them got a purple ribbon, which is first place!! Then I looked around and realized that every open class entry won a ribbon.  And my feeling about that?  What's the freakin' point?  I know they want to encourage everyone to participate, but really, isn't it a contest?