salsa anyone?

tomatoestomatoestomatoetomatoestomatoestomatoestomatoestomatotoestomatoestomatoes

ya, ok, you get the point. I have tomatoes. In fact, i have a TON of tomatoes. That is, i did have a ton of tomatoes.

I learned how to bottle over the week. I had a friend come over Monday morning and help me learn. My first choice, was salsa. She gave me a killer recipe to start with, and i took it from there. I bottled 18 pints of salsa. Crazy, i know.

But it didn't stop there. I didn't realize how many tomatoes i actually had! It's crazy to think i had that many. So we went on and bottled even more. This time i did just the tomatoes (for something later. Maybe salsa, maybe sauce, who knows). I did 12 quarts of tomatoes. Ok, so these ones didn't work out so well, and i ended up having, to take them out of the bottles and freeze a bunch.
But my options are there now. I've got the basics down. I know what to do... pretty much. I know when it is a complete failure... and when it works.

And, the salsa rocks! A little juicy but GREAT flavor. DarRell even loves it. So much to admit that he likes mine more than most store bought salsa he's tried. Either he's a great liar or else i make some pretty good salsa!

So, now my tomato crop is down to being manageable again. I have a pantry full of salsa and a freezer full of stewed? tomatoes (is that what they are now after trying to bottle them and failed, so i freeze them? either way, they are delish!!!). Not too bad of a way to start out the week. I actually feel like I've done something productive this week besides the two day clean up after my bottling lessons.


So my next question is... what's next?
Do i try my hand at bottling something else?
Or call it good and consider it experience enough?

planning my days accordingly...

yes, premere week is coming up. All my old shows are coming back with new episodes!!! Gotta figure out what i'm going to waste my time with and what i'm going to let slide so i can spend time with the family.

so far, it sort of looks like this:

Monday:
7:00: Big Bang Theory
9:00: Boston Legal
Looks like i'll have a good 1 1/2 hours to spend with the family. You know, the nightly bedtime rituals, maybe a little kitchen clean up.

Tuesday:
7:00: House
another looser TV night. Definately see family night in the future on tuesdays.

Wednesday:
7:00: Pushing Daisies (I'm quite certain Daylon will be watching with me!)
wow! another looser night! Wednesdays will be a great scrapping day... DarRell will be at Fire Meeting all night long anyways.

Thursday: GAHHH!!!!!! Thursdays are always the best TV nights!
7:00: Ugly Betty/Survivor
8:00: Grey's Anatomy
i hate having to choose between Ugly Betty and Survivor. I'm thinking that Survivor will win out and i'll be watching Ugly Betty Friday mornings on the internet.

Friday:
7:00: Crusoe looks pretty good... i'll give it a shot
another dead-end night... what happened to all the good shows?

Saterday:
BLECK! nothing on. That's ok... it's a Saterday. Good time to spend some fall evenings outside

Sunday:
9:00: Desperate Housewives


Seems to be a pretty sad TV schedule. Nothing like it seemed last year. Where'd all the great TV programs go to??? I guess looking back, not a whole lot has changed. I still have my favorites that i still watch, for the most part, that hasn't changed much.

I honestly can't wait till Lost comes back on. My Wednesdays (Thursdays?) will be TV exciting again! American Idol i'm sure will make it's way in too somewhere along the line. And i wish they'd really bring back Dexter for those loosers like us who don't get cable.

finially

It's been over 2 months that my scraproom got all stacked away and the dust started piling on from all the basement refinishing. I got free reign of my room back just a few days ago. I re-organized and set up again and today, for the first time, i got enough time to myself to sit and scrap a whole layout. It's nothing special. In fact, i'm a little rusty. It took nearly all day long to get just a few pictures down on a peice of paper. Partly because i'm blown away at how little Rianne used to be. These pictures are about 3-4 years old. I just sat there dazed, wondering how my little girl grew up so fast.

In any case, it's sign that things are getting back to normal around here again!

Too much help

The other day when DarRell was putting in the sink faucets in the new bathroom downstairs, he had his little side-kick tagging along.

It wasn't long before Sam was right in the middle helping out. He insisted on being right in there. I don't think he could get much closer to help out.

Someday he'll be a heck of a handyman, don't ya think?

Twilight

I, like most of the people who have grabbed the first book, got wrapped up in Twilight so tight that i haven't had enough time to even eat because i HAD to read it. I finished the first book within a day or two.

And started straight into the second book.

And then the third book.

And then the fourth book.

In a matter of two weeks i had read through all four books, still wanting more. I took in everything Twilight.
I watched the new Twilight movie trailer and sifted through websites. Then i went to her website. Stephenie Meyer's website*. I took it all in, every little bit. I was beyond giddy when i read that she was in the process of writing a fifith! book, Midnight Sun, from Edward's point of view. I read the first chapter that she has posted on her website and knew i'd go crazy waiting for it to come out.
*(which by the way is a great place to go. Lots and lots of insights and tidbits of info that aren't in the books but made better by just knowing just a little bit more)

And then there came this news. How incredibly disappointing and sad. And, although she's posted what she has done, all 264 pages which i am in the process of reading, i'm sooo sad that she's decided not to continue with the series.

I'm not exactly sure where i'm going with this. I just thought i'd put it out there because i'm just so upset over it. And just maybe because it's been so long since i found a book that i loved so much ((perhaps Kaye understands)) and someone has to go and ruin the fun.

!!!BLECK!!! on the party poopers!!!!

done done done

it's done!!! WHOOHOOOO.



with the exception of mirrors in the bathroom and a little bit of touch-up painting, the basement is done!

Our next dilemma...

we have nothing to put down there! We have a couch. A borrowed one at that. No furniture... nothing. So, i guess it ends up being a big playroom for the kids. Which means that not only do i get to clean the upstairs living room, i also get to clean the basement. Our ultimate goal is to have the upstairs as a nicer place to visit and have the basement for the media room. The place to play video games, watch movies and all that fun stuff.

Even though we have nothing to put down there, it feels so good to have it done

for those who didn't get enough....

of Michael Phelps in the olympics... LOL