I Heart AC

It is hot as blue blazes here. The past week (and the coming week) most of our highs are in the 100 degree neighborhood. Yuck. Thank God that we don't have the humidity that the south does. We would all be toast!

We got to cool off a bit Saturday by going to the lake with some friends who recently bought a boat. We had a really good time although we should have reapplied some sunscreen... I got to go on the tube, which is my favorite! I got a little cocky and told them faster! go in a circle! faster!. Riiiiight. Needless to say, the spill I took was a good one.

Feast your eyes on David's legs! They don't come out very often!

I've got a question for y'all: When you were a kid and said the "God is great, God is good, let us thank him for this food" blessing, did you stop there or was there more? I add "By His hands, we are fed, give us Lord, our daily bread." I seem to be the only person for miles around who has ever heard of this last part. Am I alone on this?!

Last night I made Granny's squash casserole and we all really liked it. It was different than the kind I usually make but a nice change of pace! We also had cucumber salad with it so two dishes with food from the garden! There was something very satisfying about that...

Get yourselves ready for news from the garden tomorrow. Unfortunately , it will contain news of a villinous murder. Got any bets on who kicked it?!

Footnote: I have come to the realization that I have indeed formed a habit of this working out stuff. I have a goal that I am working toward and will let you know more about that when the time comes. Does this, then, make my posting of exercise stuff just boastful? I hate to axe Footnote just as soon as I started it!! Aaghh. Friday: boxing, Saturday: bike 11 miles and Sunday: swim 500 meters.

TGIF!

Thanks to those who are trying to boost my Lil' to Dog of the Month! I checked out the site and Lilly has been moved!! If you sort by Other breed and Other color you can find her. I went and voted a few more times today!

We got our first harvest from the garden last night. The tomato I didn't mean to pick but it just kind of came off in my hand. The okra, on the other hand, was past its picking time!

Many more cukes like this out there...

The first sunflower that I showed off has faded out and is now working on seed production.

Those are seeds forming at the top right.

Here are a couple more sunflower pics.

It is now official! Our trip eastbound had been cast in stone! We will be taraipsing around GA and FL the week after next. Be sure to feel the love for the Honda. She (I guess she is a she...) is going to have to clock a few thousand miles in a short period of time!

Last night we went to gymnastics and we got approached to put Ella in a commercial for the gym! I don't care how short the shot is or how few people will see it, E might be famous!! She and Mal will steal the show, I'm sure!

Princesses

Last night Ella decides to dress up and play princess. Since I don't fit into the outfits and Mal wasn't around, Lilly was the next canidate.

Pretty, pretty princess

David made the comment that Lil probably earned her beads in New Orleans by showing her teats! Ha!

Our daycare has been closed the past couple of days and Ella has stayed home with David. Yesterday he needed to take a little trip south to check on his mares and he carried E along. He packed them a picnic lunch and they ate in the park down there while watching the ducks. Awww... how sweet!! Furthur evidence that David is a fantastic dad!

In case you are interested: Mishelle (in my office) thinks Lilly is an A+ kind of dog and she convinced me to enter her on MSN's Dog Central website. You can vote for your favorite dog to be dog of the month and of course we think it would be hilarious is Lil won. Wanna vote for my pooch? She is at www.dogcentral.msn.com/gallery.aspx You have to choose the breed 'Other' and she is on the second set of pics in the middle.

Footnote: Last night I went for a ride on a different route (which was much harder and longer). Eight miles!

Good stuff!

Recently I have come to realize that I am in product love with two grocery store items. In a very Oprah type fashion I am going to share them with you but, unlike Oprah, you will not be receiving free samples of each. Sorry.

First up is Reynolds Plastic Wrap with the EZ slider.

I have fought many a battle with plastic wrap. It infuriates me every time and I end up swearing off of the stuff in favor of aluminum foil. Until the EZ slider came along. No more wrap sticking to itself because you can lay it down over your food and then cut. It is well worth the extra dollar!!


Second is Pam with Flour.

Easy, easy, easy. (I usually end up flouring my shirt when I try to grease and flour a pan.) Even if you only bake 3 times a year this stuff is worth it!

I recognize how housewifely it is that I love kitchen products but I don't care! All I need now is to throw in some baby product stuff! (Actually, Boudreaux's Butt Paste is phenominal...)

Do you have any products that you just love? Let us in on it!

Footnote: Last night I went to class and then took the bike (so generously loaned to me by Angie Jo) out for the first ride. Made it 5.4 miles before it got too dark. Glad to report no 'biker's butt' this morning. Woohoo!

Garden Fun #4

Wow. Are you as impressed with this beeyoooutiful flower as me?! Love it! We had a nice time combing through the garden last night to see what was what. Looky looky at what we gots in the back yard!

The watermelon going bonkers... pics are taken 5 days apart.

Baby watermelon!! We have 4 of these!

E hunting up some cukes - we found some!

The first okra pod and looking down on the prolific tomato plant.

The whole thang.

Grandma sent this 'I Love Horses' shirt. So cute!

I need to send out an APB to all of you doggie people! Marisa's boxer Hauoli (who has been living with Randy) needs a new home because Randy's girlfriend is allergic. She is registered, 8 years old and is a good girl. Marisa can't take her and would hate to see her go to the pound. If you or anyone you know would be able to give Hauoli a good home, please email me!

Footnote: Last night I went to boxing class but the rain kept me from going out jogging or biking. Ugh.

Weekend Roundup

I don't have quite as many pics to share from this weekend as last but we had plenty of fun, just the same!

We saddled up Scooter Friday night for Ella's first official ride. She did well but the ride didn't last as long as we thought it might (I did make Scooter trot when she told me not too, so maybe that had something to do with it... oops).

That saddle looks so small! How cute!

Saturday we watched Mal while Angie and Scott tried to join the rest of the world and see Pirates of the Caribbean 2. No luck for them but we did have some cute little princesses running around the house for a while!

Ella assumes the prom pose. Don't ask me why.

I did a little (lot) cooking this weekend and have two things to report: one, I made apple butter which turned out quite tasty and I successfully canned it; and two, the strawberry pie I made was fantastic and easy! So fantastic and easy, in fact, that I want to share the recipe with you!

(From a GA Extension cookbook) Strawberry Pie

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

3 Tbsp cornstarch

3 Tbsp strawberry Jello (this is NOT a whole pkg.)

1 pint strawberries, cut into bite size bits

1 deep dish pie crust, cooked

Cool Whip

Heat sugar, water, cornstarch and Jello to a boil and cook until thick (reduce heat some, mine seemed to take a while to thicken). Let mixture cool then add strawberries. Pour into pie shell and chill. Top with Cool Whip.

David and I gobbled up our pie in no time at all. It is a very summery-type pie and I am contemplating making another! It's not bad for us, right?! It's fruit! Fruit! I'm scheming to concoct a strawberry-margarita pie. Mmmm..

Footnote: Friday I went to boxing class but no extra cirricular stuff. Saturday I jogged 2 miles and walked 3.5. Sunday I was off!

Saddle Up!

Grandpa decided that not only does his fave granddaughter need a horse, she also needs a saddle. The package arrived yesterday and we were all very tickled to have it!

Ella loved it immediately and yelled "My saddle!" when she saw it. The stirrups are a bit too long but otherwise it is fantastic! It does have these orange-ish leather pieces that I'm not too fond of... OSU or UT fans we are not. Maybe I can look into changing that out for some much finer RED!

My dirty faced girl blending in with the wall, apparently!

We plan on tossing the new saddle onto Scooter tonight and giving E her first ride. Exciting times!

Footnote: I have been hauling my tail up and down the road in a semi-jog type fashion for the past month or so and I seem to have formed a habit of it. I guess. Part of my motivation to keep it up will be my public declaration (here!) of my progress. I will call such daily updates 'Footnotes'. Damn, that's clever! Too bad I didn't come up with it and instead ripped it from a running newsletter I saw once.

Footnote 2: Wednesday night I made it 3 miles for the first time ever and boy am I proud! Last night I took the night off.

Garden Fun #3

We are really cookin' with gas out in the garden. It's amazing what a good rain will do (all those years at the nursery taught me that)! We had our first harvest this weekend: 3 squashes (squashi? whatever!). I cooked 'em up in some cornbread-y recipe I found and they were pretty good! I hope I can stomach cornbread-y squash all summer!

The overachieving sunflower really put a show on. I promised no more pics until it was in full glory and I think this constitutes full glory.

I think I'm gonna cut some off and put them in a vase...

The corn is coming along well! My mouth is watering already at the thought of fresh picked corn: corn on the cob, fried corn, creamed corn, corn chips, pickled corn, corn pie (ok, I made those last ones up). The plants have started putting out their tassles, which I believe are the male pollenators.

Shake your tassles!

Lord, have mercy! at my tomatoes! I could hardly get a picture of the original bunch without some of the smaller ones getting in my way!

That is only one of the original five.

The watermelon plant is doing like watermelon plants do and is spreading like mad. This better mean I get a load of melons, damn it.

This is just one plant!

Mmmm.... maybe all of our hard work will be paying off very soon!

Photo Frenzy

Wow!

What a great long weekend! (Thanks to the Governor of our great state I had Monday off.) We kept fairly busy and I have plenty of pics to share. Go grab a drink and prepare for the onslaught of pictures!

Saturday morning I took Mal and E over to the Swine Classic pig show. The Animal Science Department was putting it on and I thought it was a good opportunity for the girls to see pigs close up. We watched some of the show before running into Dr. Dave with his pig, Bob the Barrow. Ella was a fan. Mal, however, not so much.

E jumps right in, Mal wouldn't get much closer than this.

Later that night, Mal and her folks come over for a little ride on Scooter.

Ella goes the punchy route and tucks her jeans in, just like Daddy.

White Cat and Miss Kitty live at the horse unit - Maggie and her found duck trainer

Yesterday we went over to Aunt Jamie and Uncle Jeff's for lunch. Jeff cooked up some mighty fine brisket and we ate a'plenty! J&J's house is so much fun for Ella. They have 2 cats, 3 dogs, about a zillion goats and one llama! Sounds like a regular zoo to the uninitiated! Fun stuff!

Aunt Jamie and Sister - E just begs for kisses from Sister

Like the new hat?! And Aunt Jamie's flowers?

We left the zoo and headed over to another cook out and fireworks show at Scott and Angie's (Mal's parents). Being from Georgia, where fire crackers are illegal, we were pretty green to the whole deal. (Of course we were law breakers in GA and would shoot off some bottle rockets or something but nothing of this magnitude!) Quite impressive!

The arsenal of fireworks and two cute girls!

E gets down with some Snap N Pops and a sparkler

Watchin' the 'works

The joker across the street and several packs of sparklers

Whew! I'm spent! I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend and still have all of your fingers left!