Vacation?

Some might think that going to the beach with a husband (only 1, thankfully), 5 boys (11, 12, 15 & 2 16-year olds), a crazy brother & his Russian fiance' would not qualify as a "vacation". I might have to agree. We DID have a fantastic time, though! No one was terribly damaged by the sun (we all had crispy noses but there's not a lot you can do about that!). No one had any painful encounters with jellyfish (which is definitely a first!), rays or sharks (would have BEEN a first, but is certainly worth noting!) Several of the boys were accosted by hermit crabs - so there was a LITTLE blood, but nothing major. All-in-all a relatively pain free trip!

Kelly rented 2 long surf boards, so there were 3 total, and he and the older boys spent most of their time surfing. Who knew you could catch so many waves on Texas beaches??? I didn't even TRY to surf this year. Last year I tried...once. A wave rolled me and popped the surf board up... which came down and bonked me on the head so hard I saw stars and didn't know my name for a few minutes. That is enough for me. I'll stay on the shore and take lots of photos! :) Much safer for so many reasons - like there are NEVER any sharks out of the water! I'm not fond of sharks. Actually I'm not terribly fond of any animal that wants to EAT me...sharks, crocodiles, alligators...you know the ones - big with lots of teeth? Snakes, I can handle... spiders... mice... but not sharks. EXCEPT on TV... they're fascinating when they'e safe behind the glass of the TV screen. Even so - I still find myself trying to talk the people OUT of getting in the water with them. They don't listen.

I took a TON of photos, as usual, and if I was smarter than I am, I would put them on a slideshow as part of this blog entry... but I'm NOT smarter than I am and I don't know how to do that. Maybe someday.

Yesterday I...

made 7.5 gallons of YUMMY smoked salsa (which, just so you know, is a LOT more work than it looks like! lol)!

This involved the following:

1. Coring, quartering & seeding 3 cases of tomatoes

2. Peeling & quartering 16 pounds of onions

3. Roasting & peeling 22 heads of garlic

4. Removing seeds from 200 jalapenos (burned the skin on my hands, too - didn't have any gloves!)

5. Smoking tomatoes, jalapenos & onions on the big wood smoker outside (actually Kelly does this part :) YAY Kelly!)

After veggies were smoked I:

1. Removed skins from tomatoes & put through the food processor (82 cups of chopped tomatoes)

2. Put jalapenos & onions in food processor (14 cups of onions, 6 cups of jalapenos)

3. Chopped 2 bunches of cilantro

4. Pureed the garlic (about 4 cups)

All of these ingredients plus several bottles of red wine vinegar & canning salt - and voila! The BEST salsa EVER!

Of course... my work was not over. It all still needed to be put in jars and sealed. Luckily we had sterilized all of the jars the night before...several dishwasher loads!

The canner holds 7 jars at a time... this was a looooong process! LOL

What we ended up with: 3 Quarts, 48 pints & 9 half-pints of pretty-dang-spicy yumminess!!!! Yes, this seems like a lot, I know. But after my brother, Josh, takes his 20 or so jars, and we give the quarts to a friend's parents, and give out random jars throughout the year - by next summer it will be GONE!

LOVE this boy...

Don't you just love iPod's?????

My iPod is such a fun place to wander... such an eclectic combination of music! My favorite thing to do is to sort everything by song title - pick a letter of the alphabet and GO! I ran across this set of songs the other night...

Breaking the Rules - AC/DC
Brian's Song - Theme Song from Monty Python's Movie "Life of Brian"
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
Bridget the Midget - Ray Stevens (don't ask... it's best that way)
Bring It On - Kevin Fowler (didn't think we'd get out of this without a little bit of country, did you?)
Bring it on Down to My House - Asleep at the Wheel (MORE country)
Bring Out Your Dead - audio clip from Monty Python's Holy Grail movie
Bringing on the Heartbreak - Def Leppard

...now if that set list doesn't entertain you, I don't know what will! I don't know how I ever survived without iTunes. What a glorious idea! All the music you could ever want ALL IN ONE PLACE! Well... except the Beatles & AC/DC... but that's ok, because I have all of their CD's anyway (don't you just HATE Yoko Ono??? She's just EVIL.) I even found a NEW version of Melanie's "Brand New Key" by a punk band called The Dolly Rots... absolutely made my day (actually my week!) My children weren't so impressed by that one - but who asked them, anyway? :)

OK. Done going on and on about the wonderfulness of my iPod. Tune in next time to hear my take on paper shredders & pencil sharpeners. :)

Fun with the Quiltie Ladies

Photos from the quilting retreat I went to last weekend with some of my favorite Quiltie Ladies...

This is my friend Cindy and me - we used to spend every Saturday together at the quilt shop she worked at. I don't get to see her very often any more - but we sure make up for lost time! :)

We all worked on quilts from Eleanor Burn's new book "Night & Day" and for once, I did not make the smallest size. I SHOULD have made the smallest size...LOL - gosh what a lot of work! I finished all of the blocks and got them put together into top, but still have 3 borders to add... don't know WHEN because I am DONE working on this quilt for a while! Oh well - maybe I'll finish it this weekend? I really would like to see it done!

These sweet ladies are Mary (our hostest - the retreat was held at her beautiful Cimarron Ranch) and Angela (our teacher for the weekend.)

I only got 1 good shot of most of us together (Mary had to leave for a birthday party and I was taking the photo). Angela had us do Show & Tell, then we played a trivia game for fun quiltie prizes! We had so much fun! ;)

Today I am...

1. wondering why Mondays are so stupid.
2. wondering where my Monday WENT?
3. being proud of finishing 5 LO's this weekend (yay me!!)
4. trying to remember to have the photo of Kelly and me from Colorado that his mother took PRINTED... why am I not doing that right now?? (because I'm BLOGGING, that's why!)
5. wishing Burnet County didn't have some weird anti-rain barrier around it - it rained everywhere but here today - watched the radar and the big line of storms parted and went neatly around Burnet County, leaving us dry as a bone.
6. listening to Justin play his electric guitar... kinda fun to guess which solo he'll break into next.
7. loving having my kids home for the summer...NOT looking forward to school starting again.
8. hoping Lynn's after dinner cocktail party is going well tonight...
9. looking forward to the quilting retreat I'm going to this weekend. !!!
10. a little panicked because I still have one Christmas quilt to finish and get to Ronna before Friday. Ooops!

COOOOOLD Water!

We are in Copper Mountain, Colorado for the weekend. LOVING the weather - nice and cool and a bit rainy...so much better than the 104 degrees we left in Texas! This afternoon Kelly bet Jackson $1 that he coudn't put his feet in the creek for 20 seconds (our little Texas boy had no idea how cold the Mountain stream water is!) He did it - won his dollar. I just want to know... how old does a boy have to be before he thinks maybe he should take his SHOES & SOCKS off before he sticks his feet in the water??????? Silly boy... :)