green pickle

Cottonwood, Arizona

2012-02-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day.. with lots of love and... chocolate. I thankfully didn't because of course I would eat it all and that's just not good for my waistline...so... I used to live in Cottonwood Arizona, and I had always wished that the old town would be cute... it had so much potential.. and now someone just posted this youtube video and I'm just so excited...

Weekendzona..Verde valley

yeah...for Cottonwood. My good friend used to live right in old town, when it was not that cute,(so, of course, i had to send her a linky to this video, to show her the change, she lives on the east coast now) it was very different then, it was also about 18 years ago... so anyway.... have a looksee... to the new Cottonwood and Verde Valley.

Be my Valentine

2012-02-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

We have been involved in some cool science experiments around here...the kids got some little science kits for Christmas and we are finally getting around to actually doing them... making jelly balls(Which the kids just LOVE playing with)... and crystal trees

And Happy Valentines Day to you all... we have been giving some Valentine LOVE around here as well.. heart pancakes for breakfast... Valentine chocolate and lots of valentine cards given to everyone including Chuck the dog. Tonight... I am making some yummy chicken alfredo and ceaser salad and garlic bread... and maybe some lava cake for dessert... show the love today!!!

Not so healthy

2012-02-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

So the Superbowl food was not so healthy... my sweet neighbor and friend gets bountiful baskets and had gotten a Mexican pack which consists of everything to make salsa and guacamole... which was not so bad... but then she gave me a ginormous bag of red white and blue corn tortillas... to make chips... so I spent and hour frying chips for all our guac and salsa....it was delicious but the chips were probably not so great for me....

We have been quite busy... went to the Arizona Science Center... which was really fun...I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids... lots to learn about weather, your body, leverage, pulleys, wheels... all sorts of fun was had by all.

Healthy Super Bowl Ideas

2012-02-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

So I am on the hunt for some healthier football food. I am not a big football fan...but I do enjoy the food drinks and of course the Super Bowl commercials... so this year, since I am trying to eat better and lose some lbs. I don't want to overdo it...so far, i have found a yummy looking taco salad over at theyummylife.com and there is some yummy looking stuff over at forksoverknives and then i saw the yummy stuff of at hellobeautyblog and my mouth was watering... so many delicious food I can't wait for the big day!!

What are you all having for the big game day???? I will leave you, to think about that... and to look at this beautiful Arizona sunset...

Salted Carmel Corn

2012-02-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

This Stuff Is Way to GOOD!!! My pickles were wanting a treat... my son wanted me to make doughnuts(takes to long and too oily, i told him), my daughter wanted me to make crumb cake, (takes to long, and didn't have all ingredients, I told her), my other daughter wanted Snickers bars( I said... are you kiddin me?)

So I decided to make some DE-LISH-US Salted Carmel Corn

Here is the recipe:

First I popped about 1/2 cup of popcorn in a pot on the stove with about 1/4 c to 1/2 c oil(i used Canolive)
Then after that in a smaller pot I melted 1/2 c. butter, 1/4 c. corn syrup, and 4 T. of brown sugar after that was boiling for about 1 min. I tossed it all over the popcorn trying to stir and coat the popcorn. Then I sprinkled about 1t. of kosher salt all over it.

There you go easy peasy DE-LISH-US-NESS

Adding some nuts would have been great too... I will do that next time!!

Couponing???

2012-01-31T07:43:00.000-08:00

I really want to start to get into couponing...but i can't figure it out. I get the Sunday paper and try to get all organized.. i bought a coupon folder and i cut out all the coupons... and i even take them to the store...but then everything I end up buying... I don't have a coupon for it.... its getting a little frustrating.... it seems like I just don't buy the things that I have coupons for... or I end up buying the store brand because it seems cheaper...HUMMM... well not sure what to do about that one!!! I even went to a coupon class, and i have watched some good you tube videos on the subject....I guess I will just keep trying.

On another subject.. I have been getting seed catalogs in the mail...ooohhh... that just gets me so excited.... my brother is making some really cool herb windowsill boxes, and while i was visiting was starting some herb seeds.... i wish he would get his blog going spicygreens.blogspot.com and put the pics up that I took of his project eeehem!!! But it really gets me in the mood for spring... even though it seems like spring here, the weather changes so often that it will still freeze several times and then the next day my girls will be in there bathing suits asking to turn on the hose on the trampoline.. and i of course will not let them even though they are complaining about being so HOT.

So I will probably start some seeds at the end of February, maybe on the 29th (leap day)... but first I get to browse the seed catalogs... yay!! happy seed shopping

Over the river and through the woods..to grandmothers house we go..

2012-01-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

My youngest pickle and I went on a little adventure this last weekend. We went to my moms house.. or to my daughter.. jugis house. We flew on Alligent Air..which was a great price!! My mom was hit by a car, when she was walking across the street last Nov. and is doing very well healing from her broken body. She broke her pelvis, both femurs, shoulder and arm... It was a very traumatic thing for our whole family and I finally got to go and visit and help take care of her. My brother and dad have been doing such a great job and I am so grateful to them.

I am so glad that I got to go and it was so nice seeing her and my brother and dad. She is healing well and can walk now with a walker and soon a cane. I am so thankful that she was not killed or paralyzed or something like that.

My brother, "the chef and gardening guru" made some wonderful meals for us and my dad and him made some delicious ciopino and ceaser salad...oh how I miss that California Cuisine...I guess we have desert cuisine here..cactus fries and rattlesnake fritters..just kiddin I have never eaten rattlesnake... although I have eaten cactus fries and they are pretty good... anyhow here is the delightful ciopino

I know this is a bit morbid... but we saw a dead frog in the bottom of my parents pool and we got it out and gave it a proper buriel...poor thing.. thought it was just going for a little swim and didn't realize it would be his last

Love the citrus trees that grow.. its too cold here for citrus

Oranges

Grapefruit

Hope you all had a fun weekned!!!

daily goals

2012-01-23T09:12:00.000-08:00

This New Year is all about goals for me... i have my goals for the year and now i am trying to do daily goals. I have needed some changes in my life and i think this is the year for them. i am starting small but hopefully they will turn into big changes.

Todays goals... do the Jillian 30 day shred...check......post on my blog... check..... make black bean burgers from angrychicken go to Walgreens and get my husband some whey protein powder.... pick up oldest pickle from school and go to 2 basketball games(the 2 middle pickles)... write out a buisness plan for a new business i want to start...dishes... laundry and homeschool the 2 middle pickles and my baby dill... oh and take a shower.... since i still have wig head from out wig bunko party.... thats it for today....

i asked my pickles if they liked my pink hair and if i should keep it.... they were not to excited about it... i thought i looked just like Stephanie on Lazy Town....I guess i would be more like her mother!!! Have a happy day!!!

so cute... and hysterical!!!

2012-01-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

This is so cute, i felt exactly like this couple when I first got a webcam...they are adorable!!!

So, I am on day 13 of the 30 day shred... feeling good.. my big sweet pickle says he is noticing a difference, which i am so excited about... because I can't. just wanted to share that with you all...

today, at our 3rd thur. homeschool class at the library... we learned how to make salves... so fun!! i can't wait to get started making some... i am going to go to mountainroseherbs.com to order some goodies!!!They have all kinds of great looking things... have a great day!!!

Jillian Michaels...your killin me!!!

2012-01-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, so one of my goals for the year 2012 is to try to lose some lbs.... isn't every ones!!! I am finally over my soreness, from Jillian Michaels (the 30 day shred)from the Biggest Loser... which i have never watched BTW... but i have the video and I'm tyring to get shredded....I am on day 11 of the shred... I also have a friendly little wager with some of our good friends to lose the weight. There is a great prize for the winner!!! so I have also been eating good...

I am also looking at The 4 hr Body by Timothy Ferriss, The 17 Day Diet book by Dr. Mike Moreno, and the Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

What to do..what to do... is this not the question that we all have.... which one will help you lose the weight... if anyone has a clue... then PLEASE LET ME KNOW...so i can win the bet!!!! and my jeans will fit!!!

So i also made a little art apron out of old stained up tshirts

cut off sleeves and back of the stained shirt and bottom of the shirt, that is going to be the pockets

used the sleeves of the stained shirt for the neck strap and the waist strap

attached the 2 shirts together and sewed up the bottom of the butterfly shirt and sew up two seams for the pockets... and WAA LAA!! there is an apron!!out of old t shirts

Have a great day!!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Hope your first 16 days is going great.... hope you all made your list of goals for the year.... i just did!!! And I plan to accomplish all of mine... what about YOU??? Hope you all had a great holiday season... here are some pics from ours

Our great friends had us over for some gingerbread train makin FUN...

Some of our Christmas decor...and the start of our nutcracker collection

Our beautiful Knoble fir... it was very pretty!!!

Our Christmas Eve crab...dinner....not pet!!!

Before the New Years Eve party...

Make those Goal Lists... its always good to have goals... don't ya think.... to keep you focused... i know for sure i need to be focused!!

Goats on my phone!!

2011-12-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

So... i have this little love affair with goats... im pretty sure that it is because we had goats when i was about 5 years old and i have pictures of my brother and i holding baby goats(which i don't really remember, but the pics are great) and i also have a picture of myself in the goat pin, and my mom entered the pic in some sort of contest..who knows what type of contest(maybe girls raised by goats.. or goat weekly)...and i won and my prize was...a pair of roller skates!!!!.... i remember loving those skates... they where the coolest skates ever...

any way... since then i have loved goats!! so my ringtone on my phone... is a... goat... baaaing or bleating.. or whatever they do...everytime my phone rings... i think...oh my little baby goat is calling me... i have been trying to get my kids to join 4H so we can get a goat(in our neighborhood, we can only have farm animals if we are in FFA or 4H)

BUT.. i did just get the opportunity to milk 2 goats for 4 days.... my friend that owns goats was going out of town and needed a milker.... i jumped at the chance... not knowing what i was doing... but had a lot of fun and i got to keep the milk.

So i have been making some goaty things.... i made goat milk soap(for Christmas gifts) I used a recipe from marthastewart.com is is Dr. Brent Ridge recipe... and hopefully i did it right. and i added some peppermint oil.
Then i made some goat cheese...

i didn't get any pics of the making of it which im super bummed about... but here is the final outcome... i rolled it in some dill and minced onion.. pretty tasty i may say....

so today im making goat milk fudge... which im super excited about... i will post pics soon.... so what are all of you making for Christmas.... i would love to hear???

happy making!!!

hope you all had a delish Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T08:12:00.001-08:00

I did it!! I made a delish Thanksgiving meal... Some new things i tried this year... crock pot stuffing...turned out great.... brined my turkey... turned out great... made my own cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries.... turned out great. So all in all I am pretty proud of myself!!! Not to boast or anything... but i don't usually make the Thanksgiving meal... so YES i guess I am kind of boasting.

I also just found a AZ blog... that has THE BIGGEST BLOG ROLL I HAVE EVER SEEN... I am so excited to check them all out.... go to lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com

So hope you all had a great Thanksgiving day spent with family and friends.... and don't forget to give all your family and friends hugs and kisses and tell them how much you love and appreciate them!!

And also don't forget to GO TO pinterest.com to find all kinds of DIY gifts to get started on for this holiday season...

Happy Crafting!!

So, its time to think about gift giving..and making!!!

2011-11-22T12:53:00.001-08:00

I love making gifts!!! the problem is... I never have enough time to make them!!! And that is a BIG problem. These are some things that i would love to try and make this holiday season...

Owl hats... love them!!! they are so fun!! I would need to make two of them
Beanies for the boys and man in my life(my sweet husband)... so that would be three of those
Goat milk soap... OMGoodness i forgot to post about my goat milking adventure.. i will have to do that
Goat milk fudge...yum!!

So this is all I can remember right at this moment... but I think i can do it!!! now that soccer season is over ( so our 3 games a week and 3 practices a week ) and we just have 3 kids in basket ball.. so that only means between 4 and 6 games a week and 6 practices a week that i would have to taxi for... well that does mean alot of sitting at games and practices that i could be crocheting my hats... RIGHT!!!

So everyone get started on making your gifts for the holiday season!!

prickly pear JELLY!!!or more like syrup

2011-10-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

After all the prickles were out, we decided to make jelly... ooohhh how i love prickly pear and peanut butter sandwiches.
     So I carefully poured the pears into my canning pot and boiled for about 10 min. Then took about 5-8 of those little suckers and blended them up in my blender.
     Then poured that into a strainer lined with several layers of cheese cloth, and pressed out the juice with a potato masher and just picking up the cheese cloth and squeezing the dickens out of it.
     Then you have beautiful fuchsia colored juice to make jelly or make prickly pear margaritas... (i canned the jelly using the water bath and the instructions from the pectin package)although this time, it didn't set up as well as it did last year, and its more like syrup, so i may try and redo it or just use it as syrup.... so happy canning!!!

Prickly pear Pickin

2011-10-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well this is my second annual prickly pear extravaganza!!! One of my sons(the other is getting to cool for this kind of stuff) and my two daughters, got our wagon, our bucket, and our tongs and headed off to the neighbors down the road to pick prickly pears or tunas or cactus fruit... whichever you prefer. They were just perfectly ripe and as i warned for the 20th time to my 4 yo not to touch the cactus or the prickly pears... she tripped and fell into one... and got quite a few prickles... so we had to go home to get them out and then return the next day... so this process can last a while when you include the kiddos... but they beg to go and love to do it... i guess once you get the prickles, you probably will be more careful next time.

They are such pretty fruit... and i love the color of the juice... fuchsia!!

Tomorrow will be the jelly making... see you then!!

So many craft ideas...CAN'T FOCUS...PINTEREST ITS YOUR FAULT!!!

2011-09-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

OMGoodness... let me just tell you... like you don't already know... that there are so many cool craft ideas out there.. and i just want to make them all....what do I do.... i should just focus on a few and prefect them... but NO... i just want to try them all and then what happens is that i don't do any of them very well... HUMPF.....

well i am really blaming this all on ....pinterest.com

i just get on that site and can't get off and then get overwhelmed... because i just want to a do it all......so that is were i sit... overwhelmed.... NOT GOOD!!! to many great craft ideas floating around in my head... HELP!!!

if you have not been to pinterest.com ... it is a must but BEWARE....its addicting.... the kind of addicting where you just want to feed your kids cereal for dinner... so you don't have to get up to make anything.... not that I have ever done that or anything...haha... have a pinteresting day!!!!

Yippee Yahoo!!!! Its FALL!!!

2011-09-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HAPPY FALL DAY!!!! I am so excited, its the first day of Autunm. I can finally feel it in the air. And i can finally turn of my A/C. Living in this high desert... we have to run the a/c constantly from may to sept or even oct. and i am just delighted that i have been able to turn it off at night and in the morning til about 12 or 1pm.. then it still want to kick back on in the after noon... yesterday my kids we playing on the trampoline with the hose... so its still quite hot in the afternoon... but at least we are getting a little morning break...

and i am also a bit jealous... of all you bloggers out there that are doing your harvesting and canning and preserving.... with your bounty of fruit and veggies... and in my little garden i am going to go out and pick my 8th tomato... that i grew this year... oh well i guess i will have to go to the farmers market and see waht i can buy to can and preserve.

I just went to a canning class that was informative, and learning alot of things that i was doing wrong... so thats good!!i did not know you shouldnt tip the jars when getting them out of the water bath to get the water off... try to keep them level as possible...

a bandanna table cloth i made for a summer time feast

some cute piggy toes that have gotten a fresh coat of paint

Did anyone have one of these banana seat bikes when they we younger???? well a new project is to try and fix this on up and bring some glittery life back to it! Im thinking green and orange with a sparkly glitter seat.

OH and i am so excited... I just made my first ETSY sale.... Thank you to Karina in Belgium for purchasing one of my chicken bags.... YIPPEE!!!

Have a great day!!!!

Soccer, uncluttering and maybejust maybe some cooler temps??

2011-09-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hello all... i have been busy...like a bee...(note to self...see about getting beehives)... i am an official soccer coach. I volunteered to coach the little ones 4-5yr old for my sweet baby dill's soccer team. They are such a crack up!!! So, I had a friend (thanks paultaylor) that said that he had brought barbie dolls to show the little ones how the game was played.... so i did the same... well the kids were like... WHAT IS GOING ON HERE... I am showing you how to play the game of soccer with these barbie dolls.. the two boys on the team were not amused and the girls.. thought it was funny... anyhow when i stuck them kids on the field to play... they just stood there and no clue what to do... well so much for barbie... after a couple of scrimmages they kind of got a clue on what to do... so this should be an interesting season... oh and by the was... this is also my first time at coaching anything and i have never in my life played soccer... so like i said it should be interesting.

So I am also decluttering.. not by my choice but by my husbands... so that had not really been going well... but its got to be done and at least we have a clean..er garage.. that we still can't park in..

And finally.. im hopin and praying.. that its starts to cool down ovah heah!!!!

oh and has anyone seen The Help.. i really want to go see it,, now that i have finished the book!!!

Here are a couple of things i just put in my etsy shop... check them out..Happy day!!!!

Coolness....where are you????

2011-08-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

When is it going to cool off!!!!! I am really ready to be able to go outside.. without sweating!!! I am sure you people in the cool mountains or you people with those cool ocean breezes don't quite understand... the 110 degree dry desert air, but many of you that are also from the desert can understand, that Arizona really does have its own sun... and its just different from any where else. Although we don't have much humidity(sorry peeps in the south, its just crazy where you are too!) its just time to cool down here....

all this talk might be related to the fact that my a/c in my car is broken for the 2nd time this summer and im a little tired of driving around and being soaked with sweat and my hair looks like i just got off a motor cycle when i get to my destination...well on the brighter side of things..here is what we have been doing lately..

repainted and recovered my dining room furniture...

goofing around with family photos...

climbed some trees...

saw a really cool old truck... that i would love to have...

roasted some of our green chilies that we grew...

kids did a mountain bike race in flagstaff.....

swam in the creek by our house.....fun times had by all!!!!
have a great day!!!!

well... i guess that was it....summer is over!!!

2011-08-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

Everyone here has started school... yesterday!! Mano. mano. how the summer flew by!!!Ours was taken up by all stars baseball... and swimming lessons...and then we did get to go on a trip to my parents for a week... which was super fun... got to go to a real lake...(not an Arizona lake, where you have to watch out for cactus) a real lake, that pine trees grow right down to the water... it was sooooo nice. We stayed in a great little cabin(thanks brother for that) and went out for a nice boat ride...caught a chipmunk in a box trap fished, ate, drank and then ate and drank some more.... fun stuff!!!

But now... yes its back to school... well i mean trying to figure out what to order for school... mental note.... need to order math books and science books for kids.... O.K. will post pictures of the trip soon.... i had to purchase a disposable camera for the trip, because a person with a degree in photography doesn't always remember to bring her camera(husband was not happy... since we are still and will always be paying for the student loans that paid for the photography degree) so i have to go get them developed which seems so old school and i barely remember how to do it.... so if you haven't started school yet... ENJOY the rest of your summer

random summer fun

2011-07-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

This summer has been full of swimming lessons, lots and lots of baseball games, accompanied by the making of lots and lots of all stars shirts for all the moms, a Missoula Children's Theater play, my birthday... and getting cooled off in the 110 degree heat...lots of fun stuff... i hope you are all having a wonderful summer!!!

a PALLET project i actually finished

2011-07-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

So here is a project that i started and i ACTUALLY finished..... i have so many projects and crafts started and i just never seem to be able to finish them.... but this one... my sweet hunny was on a backpacking trip with my two older dills.. and i was able to finish the book shelves.... and i just love them..

this glue ROCKS!!! i had to use some because the wood was splitting a little and its awesome

Add caption

So these shelves were cut from a pallet and then painted by my girls and hung up for extra book storage...love them!!! check out my pinterest for more pallet ideas...

have a great summer day!!!go swim in the creek or a lake or the ocean!!!

Mango Muffins...DE-LISH

2011-07-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

Hop on over to Mango's Corner for a yummy recipe for mango muffins... i know that sounds kinda weird... but i had an abundance of mango's and needed to use them before they went bad... so.... EVERYTHING MANGO!!!! I want to try to make some mango salsa too!
http://www.mangoscorner.com/2008/10/22/mango-muffins/

I did use whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose and i also put the mango the eggs the extract the oil and the milk in the blender first, my kiddies don't like and chunks of anything in anything... and oh i used coconut oil instead of the other.

I am also in LOVE with Pinterest......you all need to get over there and check out my pins http://pinterest.com/

WARNING....it is very addicting!!!! but so fun!!! have a great day!!

this was a great video... i feel like this guy!!!

2011-07-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9AV2hp8s_eE