JeepersSheepers

Getting Ready for Spring

2013-02-28T08:02:00.001-05:00

For the last few years I've started a veggie garden using a method I found in Organic Gardening magazine. Our start of growing season here in the Charlotte area is around February 15th so I'm already behind schedule, but the date always creeps up quickly and I end up planting in March every year.

I needed to get the soil turned over first so made that yesterday's project. Bryan of course wanted to "help" so we enlisted the assistance of Tonka and gang. Ethan said he'd help by taking a nap.

Busy Life, Great Times

2013-02-25T14:42:00.001-05:00

Well here we are another 8 months since I've posted anything- but it has been a good busy 8 months. We had our new baby boy born in September and so I've been all about babies lately. With so much to squeeze into a day we have even taken to dinner while soaking in the tub. The soaking helps the allergy rash issues both my boys have suffered with and yet trying to squeeze a nursing session dinner session and two baths and bedtimes is challenging if I don't get started by 530. So we learned to consolidate on nights where we get a late start. At least Bryan finds it fun to eat in the tub, and Ethan goes with the flow like with everything else.

Saturday Night Dining Out

2012-06-10T13:57:00.000-04:00

Eating is such a big part of the day with the young'uns as I have found. I think my kitchen is only clean from 9 at night till 7 in the morning and the rest of the day it's in a perpetual state of progress. Dirty dishes waiting to be loaded into the dishwasher, out of the dishwasher, dishes to be handwashed and counters to wipe down, food to put away. Since we seem to have 6 meals a day, it never is all done at once.

So last night we took dinner out of the kitchen and decided to make it a fun event somewhere else. With "Else" being at the park at the Blakeney shopping center. They have bands come in over the weekend in the evenings and people flock from all around with picnic blankets, food and games. And if you don't want to bring your own food? Don't worry, there are plenty of restaurants around the green to accomodate the luxury picnic.

Bryan just learned to dance last week, so he was groovin and eating and thouroughly enjoying his Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich with a side of broccoli, carrots and pineapple.

I have to pat myself on the back because other than forgetting the picnic blanket in the hallway, I brought everything, including water shoes, clothes to get wet in, a bedtime diaper, a pair of pajamas to change into afterwards and bedtime cup of milk for the drive home.

This water jet play area at the park is ingenious and keeps the kids really entertained. Here I am explaining the procedure to Bryan:

He watches the other kids for a minute... "Oh I see what you do."

"You catch it like this."

"Oh, Man! It was a facer!"

"Where did it go?"

We all had a great time getting out of the kitchen on a Saturday night. Maybe we should do this more often!

Guacamole on the Half Shell

2012-05-25T22:21:00.000-04:00

Bryan and I came up with this brilliant way to have fresh guacamole. He likes this recipe because he can have it more often and I like it because it's fast, easy, is a single serving, uses no bowls, fewer ingredients and it's almost just as good as the full recipe. I don't normally make guacamole dip often because 1) it goes brown if you don't eat it immediately 2) I don't like the flavor of lemon or lime that can be added to preserve it longer 3) I don't have a crowd over very often to justify making it because of reason #1. So this is what you can do in 30 seconds with one avocado, some salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin:

1) Cut the avocado in half. If you only want a small portion, save the half with the pit in it covered with saran wrap and place in the fridge. Since Bryan and I both indulge, we use both halves.

2) Season the half with salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin

3) Add some more if you think it needs it

4) Mash with a fork in the shell until seasoning is well mixed
5) Dip in your chips and enjoy!

After Guacamole on the Half Shell, take a siesta and then play hard! In our case, today we washed the car to get ready to go to the Honda Dealer. We are interested in trading it in for a bigger car for upcoming Baby #2... shock! Yes! I know, it's been forever since I've posted anything, but mainly because of lack of energy. Bryan and pregnancy have zapped me and blogging has seemed to strenuous...hahaha. Soo we are having another baby in September.

I have always thought a small car is better. Better for the environment, better on the gas mileage, etc., but I never travel light and am feeling the effects of tight quarters. Paul has to ride in the back seat with Bryan because the car seat leaves no leg room in the front of the Civic. Let's not even try to describe how hard it is to go camping in the Civic. So sadly, we are probably going to trade it in, maybe this weekend.

After car washing I introduced Bryan to the joys of a sand box, by dumping a bag of play sand into his blow up pool. What a hit that was! He was hesitant at first..

...but he caught on real fast. Before we knew it sand was flying ...

... and in the mouth. Uh-oh. That's when we called it a day, rinsed out the mouth and had some milk.

A Visit from Nana and Grandpa

2011-11-25T11:10:00.007-05:00

October and November have been busy with lots of action, travel and visiting galore! Some naps were required though, even during all that. I, Bryan, did not like my naps to start with, when Nana and Grandpa arrived, but I got used to having to take them if I was going to be any good at having fun.. and there was lots of fun to be had!

Nana and Grandpa came out to take care of me while Mommy did her field work season. We went to Greenville, NC and also to Charleston, SC. Grandpa took me all over the hotel grounds in my red car while Nana showered and geared up for my entertainment.
Sometimes we went in the stroller too, and he let me wear his fuzzy hat!

Then there was lots of goofy playing with Nana..
Nana and Grandpa also introduced me to the thrills of riding the coin rides at the mall!But at the end of each day, I got to see my Mommy and get some more spoiling!

And of course it was always great to see Daddy at the end of the week!
I also had my first birthday party to squeeze in there. I had a knight's party... but I was the only knight other than Daddy!

Mainly all the fair maidens came to my party, so that was good too.

There was so much that we did! No room to write the whole story, but we did have a great time!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pampered Chef in October

2011-09-30T11:16:00.002-04:00

Not too many of you may know this but I am doing a few side "jobs" to subsidize my income now that I'm only geology-ing two days a week (and field work only twice a year now, as opposed to three weeks out of every four). I started a custom embroidery business called Teague's Embroidery with a website in progress specializing in children's embroidery called BitsyStitchery.com. My other very fun part-time job is being a Pampered Chef consultant. It made sense for me because half of my kitchen is Pampered Chef, I love to cook/bake (although my baking stinks), and I very much miss waitressing and taking care of "my regulars".

So pardon my occassional bit of advertising that I'll write in blue in case you want to skip! This month is a very good deal for those of you, like me, that enjoy the stoneware from Pampered Chef. Stoneware is what got me hooked to begin with way back when I was 18 or 20, or whenever it was I decided I liked the kitchen and bought my first piece of stoneware. This fall they released a limited-time taupe glazed stoneware collection that is beautifully neutral and will go with any kitchen decor in my opinion. I ordered the deep dish pie plate and covered baker for myself.

If you are interested in earning some free product plus the host special of 60% off of stoneware items, plus discounted items and a 10% discount for a whole year after the show, please consider hosting a cooking show! If you live in Charlotte, I will bring my gear and do a cooking show for you and friends, neighbors, co-workers, family... etc. If you don't live nearby, you can host a catalogue show which is basically rounding up orders from anyone you know. Contact me for details at kteague@comporium.net

I am hoping to get to making that zucchini bread today, maybe pulling out my tomato plants for composting and enjoying the beautiful weather here in Charlotte. Have a good day, people!

Zucchini Bread Revisited

2011-09-29T09:23:00.006-04:00

Over the past few weeks, I have received 3 zucchini bread recipes from helpful readers and I am so excited to try them out! The ingredients are all similar, but with varying amounts of spices added. Since I am a spice person, I am posting below the recipe sent from Liz in Vermont which includes all the fun fall spices, with a blending of Colin's recipe from England of added walnuts and honey substitution for the sugar:

Liz's Zucchini Bread with Colin's advice:

3 cups of flour
3 cups of shredded zucchini
1.5 cups of honey
1 cup of oil (I use grapeseed oil for everything, but canola or veggie oil should work too)
3 eggs
1.5 tsp. of salt
1 tsp. of baking soda
1 tsp. of baking powder
2 tsp. of cinnamon
0.5 tsp. of cloves
0.5 tsp. of nutmeg
4 tsp. of vanilla
1 cup of chopped walnuts

Liz says to go on and throw everything in together and mix well with an electric mixer. She also suggests squeezing out excess water of the fresh zucchini. Bake in 2 loves or 3 small loves at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

We're back in town!

2011-09-27T21:52:00.009-04:00

We had such a good time and I think we saw just about all of the English portion of our family.. and friends too! And Mum, thanks so much for mailing my cell phone back to me! I'm looking forward to it's arrival.

Bryan's Great Uncle Don

Bryan's second cousins Tracey, Katie and Sandra

Bryan's great uncle Jon

Paul's long-time friend Robert

Bryan's second cousins Chris and Trish

Bryan's second cousin Steven and Steven's daughter Grace

Marjorie's friend Joan

Marjorie's friend Rosemary

Marjorie's friend Joy

Marjorie's friend Monica

The Birmingham clan: Auntie Alison, Uncle Barry, Cousins Craig, Adam and Sam

Friends Jools and Ian

Great Auntie Sheila

Second Cousin Colin

Great Uncle Michael and Auntie Andrea

Great Uncle Jim and Auntie Pat.

Bye for now! xoxox

Enchanting England!

2011-09-22T13:14:00.007-04:00

The south coast of England is one of the prettiest places I have been and every time we go to visit Paul's family, we go to Beachy Head where the chalk cliffs are at their best. Each time I see them I am surprised again at the depth of green of the grass and the color of the cliffs, because the pictures we take never look as green or striking as the cliffs are in real life.

We hiked two hours to Bell Tout and back along the cliffs

We spent a day in Alfriston, one of my favorite villages in the area, where the streets are too narrow for two cars to pass and the buildings are hundreds of years old. We stopped to have cream tea and scones (I had delicious fresh mint leaf tea from their garden).

One of the old houses that we picked as "our house" years ago when I first came here with Paul.

We walked along the Cuckmere River that winds through Alfriston.

For four days we were in Birmingham area visiting Paul's sister, Alison, and family

And we did more walks while we were there.

It took Bryan awhile to warm up to the family and friends that he met, but at least he warmed up to Mum quite well in the end.

Zucchini Abundance Solved!

2011-07-13T22:16:00.003-04:00

There are a few solutions to not wasting the overabundant zucchini you may gather from a few plants in your backyard (see previous post). I have 4 zucchini plants and there are more than enough zucchinis to go around from just these few. The zucchini are the big-leaved plants in the foreground in this pic. Here were my solutions:

1) Snuck over to my neighbor Olivia's house and left a few zucchinis the size of baseball bats on her welcome mat (evil chuckle).

2) Steam them and puree for Bryan's babyfood dinners for the next 5 months (joking, but only half). He should have enough zucchini puree frozen in the freezer to last for some time.

3) Made zucchini bread which was a hit with husband, although I'm still looking for a better recipe.

4) Made zucchini pasta sauce which can be frozen for future use. The key thing with this trick is that it's tasty and also uses 2 lbs of zucchini for a single batch which is enough for Paul and I to have dinner with it and then leftovers for lunch tomorrow (so not a huge batch that feeds an army). So you figure: double or triple it and you use up 4 or 6 lbs of zucchini and have some good sauce frozen for those nights you don't want to "cook." Recipe is as follows:

2 lbs. of zucchini thinly sliced (use a mandoline or food processor if you have one - goes a lot faster)
1/2 cup of chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic with skin removed
2 tsp. of herb de Provence (I don't have this but it consists of many herbs. I used the ones I had but didn't have all of them on hand (missing savory). I used a combo of these herbs: rosemary, basil (heavy on this one), marjoram, fennel seeds, oregano, and thyme to add up to about 2 tsp.)
olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup vegetable broth

Saute the veggies and herbs and seasoning for about 3 minutes in a few Tbsp. of olive oil. Use a LARGE wok or saucepan or you will get zucchini everywhere. Add the vegetable broth and simmer for 7 minutes. Blend/puree in blender/Vitamix with a few more Tbs. of oil to make a sauce of desired consistency. Serve over pasta and enjoy! Now just a warning: the appearance isn't fabulous- husband thought it looked gross, but he loved the taste. I had to agree that the green slop didn't look so appetizing.

Happy Summer!

2011-07-08T12:28:00.006-04:00

Spring/summer has been a whirlwind this year with me doing field work in May (my mom came out to come with me on my trips and babysit Bryan in the hotel room - lots of adventures there) and gardening galore, keeping Bryan occupied and such. It's amazing how busy I am and how little I feel I have accomplished to show for it. And here we are, already at the 4th of July! Hope you all had a good one. We went to our neighbors' for a BBQ lunch.. Bryan loved watching the 'big girls' while he was eating.

We also went to a co-worker's BBQ party this weekend and Bryan chilled out in the Ergobaby carrier most of the afternoon - he was being a little shy.

What do you do when you have more zucchini than you can give away?

You play with your food, of course!

Simple, inexpensive entertainment for everyone!

I must remind myself to post this great zucchini pasta sauce recipe that I found. The zucchini bread recipe I have isn't so good.. on the prowl for a new one so send it along if you have one.

We've been taking lots of walks with the infamous tag blanket that Bryan adores.

and he's learned to love water like his mom...

.. and he's not so sure about the "new" high chair we found at a local garage sale on one of our morning walks.

Hope you are all staying cool and enjoying the summer!

5 Months old

2011-03-30T07:27:00.004-04:00

We've been taking lots of walks this month, even in the rain! I got some very nice cards too...

...and I FINALLY was allowed some rice cereal on my five month birthday!

I had my first road trip and weekend away. We went all the way to Williamsburg,Virginia and it took 9 hours to get there with all the stops to stretch and eat. Mom was amazed that we fit everything in the civic - I don't travel light!

I liked watching all the horse and carriages and people dressed up.

There were some nice parks there for our picnics

We also participated in the Corporate Cup 5k run/walk with Mom's company and we took the train to get there (Uptown).

I had my pre-race power drink...

.. and then we were off and walking! I was exhausted in the first 10 minutes and took a nap the rest of the way.

I've exploring my hands lots and learning to use them better, so I really love my tag blanket from Angeli!

I'm getting my vampire fangs in now rather than the top fronts, but I refse to show the camera my pearly whites.. camera shy.

See you soon! Love, Bryan

I love this thing!

2011-03-03T12:24:00.003-05:00

It may seem silly to like such a simple tool, but this drying rack is great!! It just arrived yesterday in the mail from Amazon and I promptly did a load of bottles that were stacked up on the counter. I usually have a bunch of bottle parts drying on the counter and thought 1) probably not that sanitary 2) cluttery mess on the counter

This thing keeps everything off the counter so it can get good air circulation and is more sanitary since everything is not sitting in a puddle, keeps parts upright that need to be upright, is versatile, is a cute patch of sunshiny grass in the kitchen, and is compact.

Peter Rabbit Painting

2011-02-21T10:38:00.003-05:00

One project I have been working on is painting some Beatrix Potter scenes in Bryan's room. Here is naughty Peter eating veggies from Mr. McGregor's garden. Uh-oh. Next on the list is Jeremy Fisher and Jemima Puddleduck.

Busy Month in the Life of Bryan

2011-02-20T08:34:00.007-05:00

Hi! I've had such an exciting new year!

I'm learning to sit...
... and play with my toys.

... which is hard work and requires a nap.

We went to the park for Daddy's birthday..
Daddy made me wear his hanky on my head so I didn't get sunburned. I didn't like it...

.. but Mommy and Daddy know best.

We had some cold bundle-up weather too this month.

I got two new teeth on the bottom front, and so my fingers are good to chew.

I've become a casual thumb-sucker...

... but desperate times call for desperate measures --when two at a time are required!

So I have had a very very busy month- and it's been a good one!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-11T13:20:00.003-05:00

As with everything else in the past 3 months, I've been embarrassingly late! Here are a few pictures of the last two weeks since Bryan has been 2 months old. He's almost three months, I can hardly believe!

Hope you are all having a happy new year!

Love,

Karen

Bryan Paul Teague

2010-10-31T20:40:00.004-04:00

He has arrived! Out little bundle of love arrived on October 26th at 10:41 pm. "It's a boy!" Paul announced as he laid Bryan Paul on my tummy after delivery. He weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20.75" long.

I have not been much of a "baby person," in the past, preferring to spend time with children that are older (4+ years being optimal). So I was worried that I would be always hoping my baby would be 4 years old sooner rather than later. But no, he's already 5 days old, and I'm instead worrying that he's already growing too fast! I could hold him all day long and look into his little face and not be bored for a minute, and I can't think of anything more precious (even a kitten, which I always argued was the cutest type of baby on the planet). So, yep, motherhood and me will be just fine, thank you!

Proud Daddy with Bryan just after delivery

All cleaned up and content as can be!

Green, yellow and white all over

2010-09-27T19:37:00.002-04:00

What's green, yellow and white all over? Our laundry! The project for yesterday afternoon was washing all the baby clothes, blankets, bed linens and cloth diapers so that they can be put away and ready for use. It was pretty cute seeing all those newborn Onesies folded up! Ahh simple pleasures.

We finally got rain in South Carolina, too, which has been the big news around here. People practically dancing in the streets with joy. I think it's been something like 35 days without rain and that is something to contend with when all the plant life around here is used to at least one thunderstorm per week. We'd all given up on our lawns and I think Lawn Patrol has too, thank goodness. My rain barrel/soaker hose system amazingly kept our veggie garden alive through the blistering heat and "drought" although we didn't get much of a crop this year. We got a total of 2 cantaloupes, 4 cabbages, 1 bell pepper and 4 tomatoes and a bushel of jalepenos (odd that they did well)... and we are talking edibles, not number of plants here.

2010-09-19T16:10:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a really fun day of being showered again! Tracy, her mom and best friend came over and commandeered the house, setting up food and Beatrix Potter decor all over. About 20 people ended up coming from the neighborhood, church, and also the wives of the guys Tracy and I work with (the wives are so much more fun). We had a fun time visiting and eating some delicious southern food that I hadn't tried before (such as Pimento Cheese dip). Tracy, being the clever one that she is, had a Beatrix Potter name for all the food such as Jemima Puddle Duck's Devilish Eggs and Mr. McGregor's Garden Patch (veggie sticks and dip) and Mrs. Tiddlemouse's Pimento Cheese.

We had some oooing and ahhing and present opening too.

Backtracking to a few days ago, Paul thought we better get another belly picture because it's been awhile, so here I am on Thursday- yikes! hardly any shirts fit me anymore. I mainly wear dresses now.

And here is the crib set up in the finally-finished painted bedroom. All that's missing now is the chair rail that Dad's putting up when he arrives (and a bit more decor, lamps, etc to cozy it up).

Seeing Stripes

2010-09-06T10:36:00.002-04:00

The first round of stripe-painting was last weekend and we were surprised at how fast it went. We also painted the ceiling a pretty pale blue. So by the time that was done our arms were tired and we decided to post-pone the second coat to this weekend. Stripes should be done today but sadly the paint store was closed on Saturday due to the holiday so we couldn't get more blue for the ceiling. Hunter Paints is the only store for hundreds of miles that sells the Mythic Paint that has no VOCs (bad for breathing) and is non toxic. By the time we realized we could order it online from Mythic, it was too late to have it for today.

But that's OK because stripe painting will be just enough painting for one day to wear us out and will also give us time to do other things like relax and enjoy the Monday off! It gets really hot in these rooms when you are working hard and there's no ceiling fans to help. Even setting the air conditioning down lower than normal didn't seem to make much difference, so painting was done with as few layers of clothing as possible.

The dark green stripes outlining the medium green stripes is one of the types of tape we are using to keep our lines straight, but will be coming off once we are done.

Happy Labor Day everyone! :-)

Ship Out and Shape Up

2010-08-23T21:04:00.005-04:00

We had a case of uninvited guests lodging in our pantry for a few weeks. It was probably longer than a few weeks but it became very noticeable that the lodgers were multiplying and fast becoming a daily occurrence. I bought a few pantry pest traps which were moderately effective by trapping the male moths so they can't reproduce, but then some days I found that there was still some mating shenanigans going on on the ceiling. So I ended up vacuuming twice a day until we had a weekend free to tackle the pests. Upon closer examination last weekend, we had cocoons and caterpillars allll in the nuts and flour and grains in our pantry. At least they were picky eaters so it was easy to get rid of the few infested items. But the bigger problem was that there were cocooners lodged in the lips of cans and under the ledges of bottled water, lunch bags and weaseled under box flaps that were sealed. What I thought would be an hour project of sorting through our food and cleaning down the floor with vinegar, ended up being an all day event of hauling everything out of the pantry and checking each item carefully before putting away and also wiping the whole pantry down with vinegar. Some things that were very questionable went straight out onto the deck for closer investigation..
while the less susceptible things were piled up onto the counters. Finally we got rid of them all. But even after the clear out, we were getting one moth every day for four more days until we were moth-free.

This last weekend we started painting the baby room to begin sprucing it up and making it more cozy. The primary color is a beautiful key lime pie color and I have to say it was the best paint I've ever used- Mythic Paint. It has no VOCs so it is virtually odor free and is safe from off-gassing toxins into the house, plus it is non-toxic so breathing was easy for me, the painter and it will be better for the baby. But even connoisseurs of paint that don't pick a paint primarily for the health/environment reasons would pick this paint for it's exceptional quality. It applies evenly, smoothly and I only had to do one coat.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

2010-08-18T18:54:00.004-04:00

I had such a fabulous weekend two weekends ago- I went back to California for my babyshower! And my, was I showered! Dad even provided the soap and shampoo. It was great because so many people came and I got to see my friends and family that I haven't seen in a long time (some I got to see at Kaitlyn's wedding in May). I wished that we all could have stayed at the shower for another day so that I could have spent more time catching up with people individually. It all went so fast! I am still overwhelmed by the kindness of Deanna and Jill to host the shower for me and also for everyone else who took the time to make the drive out... some coming from as far away as Tucson and Mariposa! Paul and I are also well stocked now with a crib, Pack 'n Play outfits, books, blankets, quilts, a stroller and just about everything else we could possibly need. Thank you everyone!

We played some fun games like figure out what kind of chocolate bar is smeared in the diaper, guess the babyfood in the jar and baby items bingo.

We also ate some great food and did what women do best - gab! :-)

Another Man in the Kitchen

2010-07-28T07:06:00.003-04:00

Last week I got to escape the office for half a day to drive down to Camden, SC to do a safety audit on one of our groundwater monitoring teams. These are fun to do because the team gets an advance warning, we all are audited each week in the field by each other (so it's not stressful) and it gives an office person a chance to get out in the great outdoors for a few hours. It's been super hot and humid here, though, so it's not the ideal conditions for anyone to be outdoors.

I arrived on site just in time to get the last of a passing thunderstorm which made the mugginess more muggy and brought all the bugs out of the woodwork. I put on my steel toe boots and safety glasses and stepped out of the car into the meadow where the guys were working. Instantly I could not see because my glasses steamed up. But luckily, Ken was ingenious and had bought an industrial fan and matching industrial-strength power inverter for the car so that they had torrent of wind blowing across the tailgate and camp chairs they had set up by the well. Since every well was taking several hours to stabilize, they decided that they should take the time to set up as comfortably as possible at each location. Being pregnant, I was given "top fan position" with the cushiest chair. What gentlemen!

A good part of any decent safety audit is getting caught up on chit chat, finding out the woes of the field work, the adventure, the tales, and I likewise act as informant on office news, deadlines and other unpleasantries. Although I work with Ken all the time because we are in the same office, I don't see Woody very often because he's out of our Alabama office. So it was fun to see him. A highlight of the safety audit was the recipe that Woody described to me in detail. He hails from Tennessee and told me about this famous Tomato Pie recipe that he made that weekend. By the end of his impromptu cooking show (hand motions to demonstrate, colorful descriptors and passion), my mouth was watering with the thought of bacon and tomatoes. On the drive home I even stopped at a convenience store (no grocery stores en route for the whole hour drive) to buy the necessary cheese. What a pie it turned out to be!! I will share with you this secret:

Woody's Tomato Pie (this is probably not on the Weight Watchers menu)

Three large tomatoes (or so), chopped and well drained of juice (or you get soggy crust)
one baked pie crust (you can do 2 parts whole wheat flour to one part all purpose for more fiber)
one large onion
handful of fresh basil chopped or equivalent dried basil
about 6 slices of cooked bacon, chopped
1 cup of light mayonnaise (I used the olive oil mayo- turned out good)
1 cup of cheese (I used a combo pack of mozzarella, asiago, cheddar and provolone)
salt and pepper

Prepare and bake your pie crust at 350 for about 15 minutes. meanwhile chop and drain the tomatoes and onions, pick your basil and wash and chop and get the bacon cooking and drained. Chop bacon into small pieces. Once the crust is done, spread a layer of tomatoes, a layer of onion and sprinkle with bacon and basil. Repeat until all veggies/bacon have been placed in the crust. Season with salt and pepper and spread the mayo over the top of the pie like frosting. Then top with cheese and bake at 350 for about 1/2 hour. Serve with a fresh salad. This refrigerates well and tastes even better the next day!

Paul's Pork Chops

2010-07-25T21:12:00.003-04:00

You read that right! Paul made dinner tonight to give me a break and he decided to make pork chops, like we often have, but with a flare. He made a sauce for the chops that to me was out of this world! It's a very simple sauce that he served over the chops, wild rice and broccoli.

3/4 of an apple, chopped
1/4 cup of Vermont maple syrup (yum)
2 Tbs. of chopped walnuts (thanks to Clementine willing to share)

We actually used my jarred apples that I jarred last October, which made it super easy, but if no jarred apples are handy, used fresh apples and cook in a saucepan for about 10 minutes to soften. Add the syrup and walnuts and cook for another 3-4 minutes. If you are using jarred apples, add all ingredients together and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Nesting

2010-07-21T20:45:00.005-04:00

Our fledgelings have left the nest, but before the whole family flew the coop, I managed to snag a blurry picture of Mom and Dad hanging out on a nearby branch to catch a breather between feedings. On this particular day I was working from home at the kitchen table and had the chance to notice the comings and goings of these hard-working parents as they made their way back and forth to the nest with worms, caterpillars and miscellaneous flying bugs. After each feeding, they would fly back to this same branch outside the kitchen window and preen, side by side. The next day, the whole family was gone. I'm glad I had a chance to watch the these tireless little wonders!

With all the bird activity, I decided to start one of my back-burner projects and make Clementine her very own indoor tree perch. Not being a very confident bird with her footing, I'm not sure how she'll take to something so jungle-gym like, but we'll see. I thought it would be nice to keep her big old cage in the office and have the tree out in the family room for her to sit on while we are home. It takes less space and it would give her a different place to be so it's not the same old, same old. I used one of the fallen branches in our yard and bought screws and bolts to construct this tree of perches. I had to strip the bark and will give it a douse of bleach water to kill all bacteria, fungi and bugs.

The tree was still not completely debarked because the outdoor temps soared again, so it had to remain outside. But after the neighboring birds got used to it being on the deck, some adventurous ones came by to make sure it was sturdy enough.

It's been turtle-nesting season, I'm thinking, because they are on the move just lately. Sadly, many get run over on the roads because they are trying to get to wherever they are trying to get to on the other side of the road, and they are not quite fast enough. Plus, they just ball up in their shell when a car comes their way. I have had to pull over and hitchhike a few to the other side.

This guy was cruising the perimeter of our veggie garden and was making a hasty retreat when I came by. Luckily, even at his fast pace, I was able to tap on the window to get Paul, he got his shoes on, found the camera and came out to grab a picture before the turtle could make the large 10 foot journey to the underbrush.

Even I am nesting. It kicked in and my gosh the projects that can be accomplished when focused! Curtains for both family room windows are nearly done after a few weekends of hard work (I've had the fabric for about a year), and wow are they orange! I love the color but they are orangier hanging than they were flat, so I'm working on ways to blend the colors in with the rest of the room and I think painting the walls will be key, along with some accessories.