Additions

I will be adding "grandmother" to my hats in a few months.  Precious!

School has begun/ New Bionic Hearing Aids/ Pumpkins ready

I finally bit the bullet and grabbed these babies from my yard.  I could not wait any longer.  Love, Love how bright and orange they are.  I am going to start making some puree for awesome pies or treats.  Yum, Yum.

5th Grade began with a bang.  My Lil Man took advantage and jumped into the pool to cool off after starting his history memorization work.

Happy Schooling.

We picked up our much awaited new set of Hearing Aids for our Lil Man.  I have just named them "Bionic Ears."  Technically, that is what they are.  He has access to a telephone, radio, TV, FM all from his awesome new hearing aids.  They are Oticon Agiles.  I am so excited for him to be able to enjoy his environments more comfortably.  It is amazing when you stop to consider what people with normal hearing can do all on their own without the need for hearing aids.  I could not help but cry while watching my Lil Man place his very first private phone call to his dad.  Imagine that?  A private phone call where you will not need to put it on speaker because doing otherwise would create feedback or a loud screeching noise.

What about sitting there watching TV and being able to hear the sound right smack into your hearing aids.  No more turning up the volume so the entire neighborhood can hear too.  Nope, none of that.  Now he simply pairs up with his streamer and he is set.

You know we all enjoy using our Ipods to listen to music while we either cook, bake, run or garden.  My Lil Man can now join us.  He can either pair it with Bluetooth or a simple connection to his streamer will give him this freedom as well.

We take for granted the blessings in our lives.  That is until we are face to face with a handicap.  One which disconnects you from the rest of the hearing world.  I applaud all the people who have made these inventions a reality.  I stand and applaud you.  Thank You.

Happy Friday Everyone

Its Friday guys! I have zero plans to head anywhere this weekend.  I will hop on my happy bike and go for a long, long ride tomorrow.  You all know I am in a boot camp right?  Well guess what?  I have lost almost 10 pounds.  Yep, TEN pounds.  I have lost inches.  I know because I measured myself upon starting the class.  I have also started really watching what goes into my body along with making sure I drink plenty of liquids.

It might be time to level my corn crop.  I am a little sad.

This is my big O'L gourd.  I am in love with this guy.

My pumpkin.  What a bright orange.

Gourd number 2 is sitting on a branch.  How cool is that?

Gourd number 3 is my baby.

Off to have a wonderful weekend riding my bike and creating stuff.  

Tomato, Tomato, and more tomato.

A simple task turned into an all day event.  I canned 24 (1Quart) jars of tomatoes.

Then, I made a gigantic pot of tomato soup.  It was so delicious.  I'm sorry.  I took absolutely no pictures of my soup.  I had to freeze some of it.  First, six people feasted then it was separated.  This stack for tomorrow.  This stack for next week or next month.  

I joined a boot camp here locally and I am so sore.  I have been getting up to be at my class by 5:30am.  It is so worth it.  I am already health conscious, just not hand to mouth disciplined.  Well, guess what?  I got my husband and I into a competition against two other couples.  30 days.  The couple to lose the most weight wins $500.00.  Three couples and each losing couple puts in  $250.00 to the pot.  Winner takes all.  My birthday is next month.  I am planning a nice getaway with the hubs.  A little less weight for both of us.  Yeah, I think a getaway is in the works.

So far I have lost 6 pounds and the competition started this past Sunday.  Not to worry, I am super health conscious about the amount of food I need to consume for this to be a healthy competition.  I took pictures.  So maybe I will get brave enough and post before and after.  Cross your fingers that I win this.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Fresh Eggs

How many of us enjoy fresh eggs?  Me, Me, Me!  I am in love with the idea of running out to your chicken coop and grabbing a warm egg to run back in your kitchen, cook it and eat it.  All less than 30 minutes.  Literally, the chicken just laid it and you consume it shortly thereafter.

I have a bias.  My favorite eggs are a light green color.  My good friends who own a farm tell me the chickens who lay light green eggs are called "Americanas."  No, they do not taste different.  My eyes simply have a bias to pretty colors.  'Tis all.

I snapped this picture while I was hanging out at my good friends farm.  I snap, snap so many pictures of my every day life.  You know, pictures tell a story.  As you can see from my posts, my pictures tell my life story or shine light on things I enjoy.

Happy Egg'n.

Call me silly, but I love to cook for my family.

Last night I just went a little crazy and spoiled my family with dinner.  The salad is compliments of my 19 year old daughter.  She sure knows how to put it together.  Julia Child's Clafoutis was magnificent.  I had some old cherries sitting in my refrigerator so I baked them with this delightful recipe.  It was a complete hit.  The soup is my version of Martha Stewart's Seafood Stew.  I omitted the shrimp and scallops.  I also used Salmon, Bass and another fish (oops forgot to get the name).  I followed the instructions otherwise to the letter.  I toasted some Sourdough bread and lathered it with butter with garlic.  I complimented that with some Merot.  Yes, I am in the know about white wine with sea food.  I was lacking some so Merlot won.  Dinner was ready in 30 minutes.  Yep!  You know this was delicious.  Yum, Yum

These are Gourds.  I am little sad because I really don't know what I am looking for other than a beautiful bean like ornament.  So far the waiting is treacherous.

I have several tomato plants.  You see the different color trellis'.  I wanted to show you guys that weird one with a nose like thing growing on it.  Trust me, I am just waiting for it to be ripe enough for us to eat.

This morning I watched this beetle take off from this spot.  First it crawled to the highest branch and off it went.  I hope he isn't eating my garden. And, there is that weird tomato again.  It sure has my attention. 

Sweet Muscat and some harvest

I picked some green beans yesterday along with a chile red plus some tomatoes.  Oh, and lets not forget to include the heirlooms (orange).  I think I have enough to feed my family tonight.

The Muscat is a very special sweet wine.  I have owned it for over 2 years and it has been in my family for over 6 years.  It came from France.  I brought it with me as a carry on two years ago.  The hubs and I finished it two nights ago so I was sure to take a picture of it.

Happy Tuesday.