Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Congratulations on 44 years of marriage!

We love you!!!!!

Help!!! I Need Some Parenting Advice......

Kids quitting activities is the subject. When my daughter wanted to quit soccer a couple of years ago, which she thought she would love, I had her finish out the season because she had made a commitment to her team and she never had to play it again. My 7th grade son wanted to play football, so he is, but after loving it at first, now he says he hates it and wants to quit. When I ask him why, he throws out some reasons like his uniform pants are too big (I can alter them!) or he doesn't know the plays (So study them!). The thing is, he tends to want to quit things. He plays the sax and wanted to quit it this year. I didn't let him and he hasn't complained about it at all. I did let him quit summer school because it wasn't necessary, I signed him up to keep him busy and he hated it so after a lot of thought, because I did not want to give him the impression that quitting is taken lightly, he didn't have to be there so I let him quit. When he wanted to quit the sax, he told his sister that I would let him quit because I let him quit summer school. Ugh!

So my thinking is that they haven't even had their first game yet. I think he should finish the season, which isn't very long and the middle school team he is on only has like four games. If he still hates it, he never has to play again but at least he gave it a full chance since he wanted to play in the first place. Then again, I hate for him to be miserable and waste time that he could be using for something else more fulfilling. But perhaps the underlying message, which would be to follow through on commitments, is more important. Then again, maybe I am thinking too seriously about this and over thinking. :) I also think that maybe hubby or I should talk to the coach.

So what do you all think? How do you or did you handle your kids wanting to quit something? What would you do in my shoes? And where is that darn Child's Owner Manual when you need it? :) Parenting is definitely the toughest job in the world. Yet also the most rewarding! :)

Time Marches On....

Hello everyone! I have been reading and enjoying all of your blogs, but not posting many comments or on my blog lately. School started which means I started my part-time nurse job at the school and I absolutely love, love, love it! I haven't worked outside of the home for a good 5+ years, and I thought it might be more of an adjustment, but really it has been smooth sailing! Hooray! :)

My sister...she is home on bed rest now, no babies yet! Hopefully she can hold off on labor for another couple of weeks. Every extra day in there is a good thing for the babies! Yet if she were to deliver now, I am confident they would be ok, but spend more time in the hospital. I took her a big scrap booking kit and that has helped her occupy the time some.

The weather has been gorgeous and cooler so I have been able to have the house opened up, which I adore! But it is supposed to warm up for the next few days, so I'll probably turn the AC back on until later in the week when it is supposed to be back in the 70's.

The Dirty Diva's are still doing grand! No eggs, yet. My hubby tried an experiment...he left their gate open while he was relatively close by to see if they would go out. They didn't. He said they'd go check it out because it was something new, but they never went out. Suspicious they are! Curious they are! Brave and smart, they are not. :) LOL But we love them! No Guineas yet, still. I still go back and forth about getting them.

We did some outside work this weekend, got the pool drained and put away for the season. It was bittersweet, I'll miss summer, but I love Fall and I am so excited for this fall and winter! Round about January & February I will be drooling for Spring and Summer.

Hubby made some 'burn your taste buds off' hot salsa this evening. I didn't even try it! I plan to make some mild in the next couple of days. Thanks for the tomatoes Mom & Dad! And I am looking forward to some apples too! Mmmmm...apple butter! :)

Life is just clicking along and time's marching on. 123 days until Christmas! :) LOL I hope to get back into the blogging groove soon!

Requesting Prayers.....

My sister went in for her regular check up yesterday, she is at 31 weeks with boy/girl twins, and found out she was dilated to three. They put her in the hospital with drugs to stop any contractions and also did a series of steroid shots to help the babies lungs with the hopes that she would be in for 24 hours and then go home on bed rest. Today when the Doctor checked her she is dilated a little more so they are transferring her to a larger hospital, just in case. Hopefully the babies will stay put for a few more weeks, if not they will all be in excellent hands at the new hospital.

Please keep her and the babies in your prayers! Thank you. :)

And Then There Were Fifteen....

Well, for a few minutes anyway! One Dirty Diva accidentally flew over the fence while I was changing their water! They all took off for the opposite side of their yard when I walked up to them, a couple of them flying, and she flew right over the fence! She looked a little stunned, out in the tall grass, and went directly back to the flock, but she was stuck on the other side of the fence! She bumped into it a time or two and I went about dealing with their water and feeding them to see if she might make her way back over. All the while she stayed right next to the flock and in the flock, only separated by the fence - they kind of looked at her like they knew something wasn't quite right, but they weren't sure what it was. She continued to do whatever it was they were doing, but when they all started to abandon her for the fresh pool water, I went around and lifted her back over the fence.

It was definitely interesting! They truly are one unit, the flock. They only thing she knew to do was to get back near her sisters! :) Even if she couldn't quite make it back to them. She could have made a mad dash for the creek and showed off her freedom, but she didn't. Oh, and the black lab was nearby and saw her and left her alone. That made me happy!

What? Only 139 Days Until Christmas?

Yes, it is true. Only 139 days until Christmas. And holiday pumpkin pies are on my mind! I baked the pumpkins, then I scooped the meat out, pureed it in my brand new food processor, bagged it up and put it in the freezer. Each bag has enough for two pies in it. Yum! I was going to make some pumpkin bread this evening but got busy and ran out of time. I have only done these two pumpkins so far and they made enough for 7 pies! WOW! I remember my Grandma Edna baking THE BEST pumpkin bread in coffee cans! I wish I had that recipe...does anyone have a good Grandma one?


This recipe ROCKS! It is battered jalapenos and oh man, are they good! I made them last night and served them with some cheesy queso dip. Delicious! You can find the recipe here. I am going to slice up some jalapenos to freeze to make this recipe later this winter. I think this would be a perfect way to use up frozen peppers, and freezing is so easy.

Grating up Zucchini to freeze, for the ducks. Let me ask you....how did I ever live without a food processor? Don't laugh...I have been grating zucchini by hand! With one of those flat cheese graters! Until I broke it while grating all that gosh darn zucchini! : ) LOL The thought of grating up a gazillion more pounds was just a little daunting, so I invested in this baby and it has already earned it's keep between the zucchini and the pumpkin! I can already think of a ton of uses for it. I have no idea, however, where I am going to store it!

Some of the peppers I canned today. More mild jalapenos and cherry peppers.

Knitted Babe momma and boy/girl twins I made for my niece's birthday. Tomorrow is her party and I am very excited to give them to her! I hope she likes them.

I hope you have a great weekend! :) Next week I think I'll do a Christmas Is A Craft update....How are you doing on your Christmas preparations?

And the Harvest Continues...

Next year I will be sure to plant some pumpkins later too...these will be good for eating - I plan to bake, scrape, puree and freeze - but I am not sure if we'll have any around Halloween time for Jack-O- Lanterns! After hubby got home he brought 4 more up to the house. I'll salt and bake seeds too. And keep some seeds too. Especially from that perfect gorgeous one!

Tons and tons of peppers...cherry peppers, mild jalapenos, bells. I just put 13 quarts to brine overnight and will can them tomorrow. Then I am going to make stuffed peppers. Lots of stuffed peppers. After hubby got home he also picked a huge amount of hot peppers. I stick to the mild ones. He deals with the hot ones. All the peppers in these pics are mild.

Butternut squash. First year growing it...and excited to eat it! Next year I will plant less zucchini and more Butternut and some acorn too.

A Zucchini about as big as my baby! Those suckers sure do get out of control fast! These biggies are not going to waste...we have been grating them up and feeding them to the ducks! They love them!

More peppers....and a few tomatoes! My hubby got me all excited...he said there really are a lot of tomatoes down there...more than you think. Ummm, one Wal-mart bag full honey? One? From 55 plants? Last year I only had a fraction of the amount of plants and had laundry baskets full of maters! Oh well...we'll make some salsa and life goes on.

And more zucchini...and see that blue dutch oven? That is the cutie I got for my birthday!

And the Guineas....have yet to be ordered. I still have reservations. We have a ton of toads everywhere and apparently they will eat them too. That bugged me a bit, I like the toads everywhere! Hubby didn't think it was any big deal and said "Order them!". :) LOL We did talk about where we'd build them a house and how we would go about raising them. I imagine before too long we'll have some new babies around the house.

The Dirty Divas? Doing awesome! I need to take pics...hubby built them 3 nest boxes. No eggs, yet. I imagine later this month or early next. They fly, which they have been doing for a while now, but they don't fly out of their play yard, which really surprises me because they are right close to the creek, and as much as they love water, one would think they'd just fly down there and fly back up in the evening. They just fly into their pool, or out of their pool, or across their yard. But not out of it. Not so far anyway! And I am a little amazed that we still have all of the original 16. I thought for sure we'd lose a couple to illness or predators or small children...but nope, so far so good!

Pickling Tip of The Day...

Well, the pot that I used to brine/ferment the cukes in was stainless steel, but apparently the rivets that held the handles were not! So, now the pot is handle-less and I had used a lid from a smaller pot and a dinner plate to weight the cukes down and that lid's handle is off too! Oh yes, and it leaked out of the rivet holes!

I can't help but to laugh about it. It was hilarious! And what great chemistry lesson for the kids about the power of acids!