Falling off the wagon...

Bet you all thought you'd never hear from me again!  You should be so lucky!  Really, I don't think I've had a week this busy since I moved to Beach.  Even surgery week wasn't this crazy.  So, as you can guess, with a crazy week I haven't had much time for crafting, canning or anything else pertaining to myself or my home.  I did work on a doily I am making, but honestly it could have been done in a day if I had the time to sit down and do it!

I did get to go to garage sales yesterday with Lynn, and had a GREAT time!  I got a real deal on BHG's "Hip Knits" book as well as several others, got a new food dehydrator, some exercise equipment for this winter, and multiple other treasures.  It was really crazy going to some of these sales and hearing people say, "What is THAT?" knowing full well myself that it was a salad spinner.  Who can't identify a salad spinner?!  Is this what it's come to?  C'est la vie!

Growing things

So, Abby planted green beans in my window. It only took two days for them to start germinating. Leave it to her, 100% germination rate. Now, about 6 weeks later, we have green beans! Now, this did not go off without a hitch - there was the initial, "Wow, these are getting tall!" Then there was a secondary "Um, these are getting TALL!" Then they climbed the wind chime. And now they are everywhere. BUT TASTY TO BOOT!

So, I don't know how or why, but my bush beans were actually POLE BEANS. Marked wrong in the packet. Good thing it all worked out ok!

The tomatoes have been getting ripe lately, and they also are amazing! My girls sure can grow things! Kali was in charge of tomatoes this year. Can't wait to get Adrian planting this week!

As a parting comment, I thought I would remind you how beautiful sunrise can be... at 5:00 am...  from work...

Holy WOW!

So, the best thing to do when you're naseous is to eat chocolate cake, right?  'Cause that's just what I did.  It tasted amazing, but probably wasn't the right choice.  I had to try it because I just found this amazing recipe at http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#1pSFrD/baconconcentrate.blogspot.com/2009/02/most-dangerous-chocolate-cake-recipe.html/  - Chocolate cake in a mug, made in 5 minutes!  I would suggest if you decide to try this that you whip the egg first, and think ahead of what you may want to top it with...  I was looking for caramel ice cream topping, but found homemade cherry topping that my father-in-law made.  Mmmmmm....  but like I said, not so good on the stomach when you're sick...

Eeewwww... bugs!

So, the bugs have arrived, and I do mean arrived! We had a moth in our house that was just HUGE! I didn't know that they came that big! We have spent a lot of time getting rid of bugs - just in time for the kids to leave the door open for more bugs to come in... grrr...


We haven't been doing much this week in the way of kitchen tasks. (Lot's of visits from family and friends.) I did make some yogurt and also made homemade granola... mmm! I am so glad that I found the crockpot recipes for those items! It made the day SUPER simple, and made it almost impossible to screw it up. (Just what I need!)

As far as crafting goes, I have finished the main piecing part of my table runner - just have to get around to making the bias binding and actually quilting it. I asked Mike what he thought and he said, "It definatly looks fallish." Pretty sure that isn't a word. But I'll let it go.



Gacy and Bundy are doing well - if they could just stop breaking their chains! We had just bought new ones for them - they lasted less than a week. Man do I need a new plan.

Curtains and Quilts

That's right. That's what I'm going to be doing this next few days. Funny how the chill in the air brings on the need to do all things domestic. It has been getting into the lower forties at night here, and staying cool a little longer in the mornings. So, as happens every year, the domestic diva in me awakens! That is why I have spent the last few weeks canning, cleaning, baking, and quilting. I forsee a long and crafty winter.



In the spirit of cooking, I made the worlds best fresh tomato soup last night for dinner. Now I have to figure out how to trick my family into eating it every night until I run out of tomatoes. (That is after the seven thousand tomatoes on my plants actually start to turn red!)

Should have written sooner!

I know, you all thought I'd dropped off the face of the planet. No such luck! I just got very lazy with my posts. So here it is, canning season, and I have been one busy beaver! I have put up Peach Jam, Blackberry Vanilla Jam, Chokecherry Syrup, Sour Cherry Jam and made Refrigerator Pickles. Not to mention the batch of 40 homemade breadsticks. So, yeah, my kitchen has been crazy.


During all of this canning and baking my sewers backed up. SO... No dishes, no showers, no laundry. This is the second time. Lucky me, I have an awesome plumber! He is downstairs as I type cleaning my drains. Thank goodness for awesome plumbers! I can flush again! Vive la toilette!

Other than all of that, school started again for my two oldest kids. Back into the swing of things, and back to learning. I hope everyone has a great school year, and we all remember the last days of summer to hold us through this LONG winter!

Playing Guitar

So, I don't know if you knew, but I am a musician at heart. I love to play any musical instrment I can get my hands on, no matter how poorly. So about a year and a half ago my hubby bought me a guitar. And I fell in love with it. Shortly after he purchased the guitar, I bought the "Learn and Master Guitar" series. It has been an awesome help in learning to play this wonderful instrument.
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The problem is, I can never seem to carve out much time to practice. As a mother I find it hard to pull myself away from my kids! So I guess in the grand scheme of things, I will never be a rock star. (Not that that was ever my goal...) The reason I am writing about this is because even now I feel guilty for taking the time to blog instead of practicing. So if I don't write here regularly, just know that I'm am trying to balance all of the things that I have going on in my life right now. If you have any suggestions on how to juggle all of the little things a mom has to do, let me know! Don't keep those tips to yourself