When life gives you blueberries, make blueberry pie!

We have a few blueberry bushes and they have lots of blueberries on them.  I picked quite a few last week and Sarah asked if she could make a pie.  My recipe is super easy and super tasty so I let her go for it!

I've shared the recipe before (but it was back in 2009 and please look at my babies!) so here it is again.  It's so good, it bears repeating!

Delicious Creamy Blueberry Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups fresh blueberries
• 1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and salt. Add eggs, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice, stirring until blended.
2. Place blueberries in pastry shell, and spoon sour cream mixture over berries.
3. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup flour. Cut in butter until mixture resembles course meal. Sprinkle this mixture over sour cream mixture and berries in the pie shell.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until lightly browned and not shaking in the center.

If you've got blueberries and are craving a pie, make this one!  You won't regret it!

Blueberries. We've got lots of blueberries!

How can it be possible that I only posted SEVEN times in July! Seven.  That's pretty weak.  My only excuse is that it's summer vacation and since the kids and I are spending all of our time together, nothing they do seems very postworthy. 

We've been going to the pool.  A lot.

And while I don't mind it, the kids are getting a little bored with it.

We've been playing with Jennifer's kids.  A lot.

My kids will never bore of that.  It amazes me that the first thing out of their mouths in the morning is usually, "Are we playing with them today Mom?  Are we?  Are we?  When?  When, Mom?"  I think I might need to do an intervention or something.

Last week we took the kids blueberry picking.  It was hot and we got sweaty.  Very sweaty.  But we also got lots of these...

That's a large mixing bowl full of the good stuff!  This weekend I tried a new receipe (compliments of my friend Mary.) 

It's for Blueberry Buckle which we love.  It was my first time making it and it turned out great.

Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a square (9x9x2) pan or a round (9x1 1/2 or 2) pan.

Cake ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

2 cups blueberries

Blend all of the above ingredients except the berries. Beat for 30 seconds. Stir in blueberries. Spread in the pan and sprinkle with crumb topping.

Crumb topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

Mix the crumb topping ingredients until they are clumpy.  (I use my fingers.)

Bake 45-50 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.  (I used an 8 inch round pound and ended up baking this an extra 15 minutes.)

Drizzle with glaze and serve warm.

Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 - 2 tsp hot water

We ate this for breakfast on Saturday morning. And with all the antioxidants from the blueberries, it's easy to overlook the fact that essentially we had cake for breakfast!

Today I'm going to make a blueberry pie.  Remember this from last year?   Can't wait for dessert tonight!  More antioxidants and no guilt.

(If anyone has any really good blueberry recipes, let me know.  Otherwise, I'm gonna flash freeze these and make lots of buckle and pie in the winter.)

St. Rebecca Irene, pray for us!

When I was pregnant with Rebecca, Dan's brother and wife sent us a gift for her.  It was a tiny little gold chain with a guardian angel charm.  It was just the sweetest little thing.  Rebecca never got to wear it while she was in the hospital and I breifly thought about burying her with it.  But then I realized that she no longer needed a guardian angel so I kept it.

Occasionally I would wear it but the chain was very short and very dainty. I was always afraid I was going to break it with my adult sized neck. The charm was gold and I didn't have any gold chains to put it on and had never gotten around to buying one.

One day I wore it and put it back with the rest of my jewelery but when I went to wear it again about a month ago, it was gone!  I was heartbroken.

I remembered putting it back but it wasnt there.  I searched and searched and couldn't find it.  I assumed that it must have ended up on my closet floor and gone out with the Goodwill pile.  (My jewelry hangers are in my closet hanging right over the pile of clothes that are headed for Goodwill. I've always got a pile of clothes that are headed to Goodwill.)

So I did what all Catholics do. I asked St. Anthony (patron saint of lost things) to pray that I would find it.  I continued asking for his intercession and I continued searching but to no avail.

Then Dan went to Dubai again and came home with a beautiful 18k gold chain for me that he purchased in the duty free shop.  He said he wanted to get me something from one of his trips.  He occasionally brings something home for the kids but he's never brought anything home for me.

The gold chain was simple and beautiful.  He asked me what I was going to put on it and I just sighed and told him that I would find something. I knew in my heart what I wanted to put on it but I just didn't know where it was. 

Sarah even started asking me what I was going to put on it.  I ramped up my requests to St. Anthony for intercession and then one morning decided that I was going to ask Rebecca to pray about it as well.  And what do you know?  As soon as I asked her to pray for me, I decided to go look where I had looked multiple times before and THERE IT WAS! It was hanging exactly where it was supposed to be hanging!  Why had I not seen it before??

I was elated!  I put the charm on my chain and have been wearing it frequently ever since.

But that's not the end of the story! 

As I was searching for my charm, my blog friend, Madeline lost something as well.  She posted on Instagram that she had lost something very special so I told her that I would pray that she find it.  She later mentioned on her blog that she was still looking for this item.  And then, the same morning that I found the charm, she posted again on Instagram that she was still missing her very special item.

I told her in a comment what had happened with my charm and that I asked my little saint to pray that I would find it and that I did! 

Well, imagine my surprise when a few days later, Madeline posted a picture of the blueberry pie that she had made based on my recommendation and the following words:

I made the blueberry pie that Beth recommended.  The entire time I asked for St. Rebecca Irene's intercession to help me find my wedding band.  (HER WEDDING BAND!!) Not one hour later we found it in the middle of Christopher's room!

Oh how happy this made me!  Y'all - she lost her wedding band, asked for Rebecca to pray that she would find it and then it turned up one hour later right in the middle of her son's room which had been searched multiple times!  Read all about it here.

I know all my non-Catholic friends are probably a little skeptical.  But if you can ask all your friends on earth to pray for you, why can't you ask your friends in heaven?  And since I know without a shadow of a doubt that my little Rebecca is in heaven (she was sinless after all!) she is the perfect person to ask for prayers. She is up there for all eternity worshiping God so (unlike our friends on earth) she's got plenty of time to pray and she is literally right there with Him!

Finding the charm and Madeline finding her ring, made Rebecca feel so close. 

I miss that sweet little baby and honestly not a day goes by that I don't think about her. Knowing she's in heaven is a comfort, but sometimes I  need something concrete to confirm what I believe.  And finding that charm was concrete for me. 

And then on the same day that I found the charm, Dan and I were out watering Rebecca's Dahlia's and a beautiful butterfly was flying around.  I felt like God was confirming yet again that Rebecca's life had unfolded exactly how He had ordained and that His plan for her was continuing to unfold even in her death. And I felt peace. 

Sometimes God sends butterflies to remind us that it's all good!

You can’t have one without the other!

You can’t do this…

Without coming home and doing this…

Delicious Blueberry Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups fresh blueberries
• 1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and salt. Add eggs, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice, stirring until blended.
2. Place blueberries in pastry shell, and spoon sour cream mixture over berries.
3. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup flour. Cut in butter until mixture resembles course meal. Sprinkle this mixture over sour cream mixture and berries in the pie shell.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50, or until lightly browned.

WARNING – The only bad thing about this pie is that you will want to eat the entire thing by yourself. So if you are going to make this, please be sure that you have lots of friends and family around that you can share it with!

7 Quick Takes Friday

I haven't one a 7 Quick Takes in a while so I thought I would see if I could come up with seven whole things to write about.

1.  Yesterday after school I met with Sarah's teacher.  I signed up to be Grade Parent for the 4th grade class and one of my duties is to sit down with the teacher at the beginning of the year and plan out all the parties, field trips, etc. so that I can upload all the information into the new school computer system - School Speak.  This way, all the parents can see what items they need to bring and when and what field trips they need to drive for and when, and any other things they can help with.

Luckily, her teacher already had everything planned so it was more of an information exchange than a brainstorming/planning session.

2.  And speaking of SchoolSpeak, I think I'm going to like it.  All of the school info is in SchoolSpeak.  The school calendar, the lunch menu and order forms, every other form you have to fill out (so nice to be able to do it online AND there's a copy function for families with more than one student), volunteer sign-ups, etc. are all in one place.

Each grade even has their own page so I can easily check the kid's homework assignments and upcoming tests and projects.

3.  Yesterday I made two pies!  Two!  I made a chicken pot pie which turned out to be pretty tasty.  I used this recipe from JustAPinch.com. The family loved it so I will be making it again.


4. I also made a creamy blueberry pie.  The recipe is from AllRecipes.com.  I made this one multiple times and the only thing I do differently from the recipe is add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and a 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice to the sour cream.  Everyone loves this pie.  Dan even eats it and he doesn't really like fruit pies.

4.  Speaking of blueberries...I used the blueberries that the kids and I picked last weekend.  It was the last day the farm was selling blueberries and the kids had been asking to go.  $8 for a gallon of blueberries!  What a bargain. 

5. This morning I tried something from Pinterest and it seemed to work!  I soaked my feet in equal parts warm water and vinegar for about 15 minutes and then I scrubbed the bottoms of my feet with a Magic Eraser.   The actual instructions said to use a pumice stone but I don't have one so I improvised.  I think I got the same results because my feet were nice and soft and not quite as scaly looking as they normally are.  (Gross, too much information, right?)

6.  Last week, when Peter didn't have any homework, he Skyped with one of his friends on his Nexxus while playing a game with him on the home computer.  So I got to overhear their conversations.  I swear, I felt like I was back in college at a frat party because that's the last time I remember hearing  "bro" and "dude" so many times in such a short period.

But the best was when Peter upped his game and used "broski".  Sarah looked at me and said, "Did you just hear what Peter called Jackson?"  We both rolled our eyes at that one.

7. But Sarah doesn't get off quite so easily because she likes to say "totes" which if you aren't aware is the way the younguns these days say totally.  For instance, "Mom, these shoes are totes cute!"  or "Mom, my hair looks totes awesome this morning."

Well, broski, I'm totes out of Quick Takes so have a great Labor Day weekend and don't forget to head over to Conversion Diary for more 7QTs!

7 Quick Takes Friday - CampMommy Edition

My BFF, Jennifer, has been at the beach all week with her four kids. And this means my 2 kids were without their BFF's. So in anticipation for a very long week, I deemed this week CampMommy.

An alternate name could have been CampLet'sSeeHowMuchMoneyICanSpendSoIDon'tHaveToHearMomI'mBored1000Times.

But CampMommy is much catchier. Don't you think?

This is how we kept busy this week.

1.
On Monday I took the kids to The Winston-Salem Children's Museum. We've been a hundred times but the kids never seem to tire of it. We haven't been any this summer so they were excited to go yet again. As usual, Peter wanted to spend the entire time in the Build-It room playing with the Legos. Because, you know, we don't have 1000 of them at home.

2.
On Tuesday we went bowling. I signed up for the KidsBowlFree program. Sign up prior to going and every day during the summer your kids can bowl up to two free games per day. THE CATCH - you do have to pay shoe rental. At our bowling alley it was $4.50 per pair. ACK!! We won't be bowling for "free" any more this summer.

And unfortunately, the bowling ball smashed into Sarah's finger after the second frame and she refused to finish bowling. Peter got to bowl all of her frames while I tried to keep the screams, whimpers and whines to a minimum. She perked right up when it was time to check out the arcade though.

3.
On Wednesday, we saw Ice Age 3. I did not realize that it was in 3-D and you have to pay extra for that. So a matinee for 2 kids and 1 adult ended up costing $26. YIKES! It was a cute movie though and the kids loved it. We don't normally take them to the movies so this was a treat for them.

I also didn't realize it but had I taken the kids on Tuesday we could have gotten popcorn and drinks for $1 each. But since I took them on Wednesday the kiddie packs were $6 EACH and they were very small. So I told the kids no popcorn and instead took them for ice cream after the movie. I felt like a scored a small victory by spending $4 instead of $12. Take that Carmike Cinemas!

4.
On Thursday we went blueberry picking. It was hot and humid but we suffered through. Peter's method of blueberry picking involves spending 5 minutes to find the biggest one and then complaining that I have more blueberries than he does. Sarah's method involves complaining about the heat and then asking me if I will dump all of my blueberries into her bucket.

When we got home Sarah and I made blueberry pie. It is delicious and we just might have it for breakfast this morning. CampMommy is all about fun after all!

5.
Today we are going to play mini-golf. The kids love mini-golf and are excited about this. I do have a pass for a free game so it shouldn't cost me too much money. However there is an arcade and bumper boats. So I have a feeling the old wallet is going to get hit pretty hard again today.

6.
The kids have attended VBS every evening this week. While the kids are playing, crafting and singing, Dan and I have been going out to eat, having uninterrupted conversations and enjoying each other's company. It's a win-win!

7.

I'm sure if I asked the kids what they enjoyed most about CampMommy, Peter would say when I let him destroy an old cell phone with a bat and a hammer. And Sarah would say the hour long bubble baths she got every afternoon before VBS.

I probably could have saved a lot of money this week by seeking out old unused electronics from friends and family members and stocking up on cheap bubble bath!

And Jennifer, next summer, we need to coordinate our vacation schedules!

7QT - What we've been doing.

Oh my!  It's been over a week since I've posted anything to this poor neglected blog.  So I'm going to catch everyone up in 7 Quick(ish) Takes.

1.  Sarah arrived home safe and sound and tired last Friday night after a week in Florida with her Girl Scout Troop.  We got her home around 9:45 and she spent the next hour and half telling us all about the trip.  Here's a quick pic of Sarah, Cheyanne, and Arden.  I think I'm going to do another post next week with more Florida pics.

2. On Saturday we headed to South Carolina to buy fireworks for the 4th of July.  Sarah stayed home to sleep, unpack, relax, etc. You can't buy fireworks in North Carolina.  It's not illegal to set them off, but you can't buy them.  Strange.....  So, we drove to Ft. Mill and picked some up. This was all Peter's idea but I think Dan was excited about it too or he would not have agreed to it. 

We got into the store (which was packed, obviously) and asked a worker for help. I told him I had no idea what to get.  He said something along the lines of , "Well, what do you want?  Do you want colorful, loud, high, bright,or  big (and I think he added a few other fireworks descriptors as well.)"  My response was, "Um...yes."

I mean, he described fireworks.  I wanted a firework that delivered all those in one.  But what he pointed us to was a big box of different times of fireworks that did all those different things individually.  But the we also got a box of 6 "things" you set off that were bigger. 

3.  When we got home, Sarah made a blueberry pie for Sunday lunch.

It was yummy. 

4.  Dan had to work on Monday,the kids had swim practice and I had a PTO meeting (my last one ever!).  So it was just a normal day.  But on Tuesday, we had a big cookout at my parent's house.  Jennifer's family came as well as some of my parent's friends.  We had hamburgers, hot dogs and wings.  Along with all baked beans, potato salad, watermelon, etc.  It was delicious and we had a great evening.

After dinner we set off the fireworks.  For the casual observer, they were kind of boring.  The box the guy had steered us towards was apparently a lot of fun for the boys because there were a lot of different things to set off and ignite but for those of us watching there wasn't much of a show.  The best were the 6 big "things".  Next year, Dan said we need to get mortars.  That sounds dangerous but I guess that's what we'll get.

The only picture I got was of the girls with sparklers.  I was enjoying the evening and wasn't thinking about pictures.

After everyone left, we headed inside and eventually made it up to bed around 10:45.  I turned on the tv in my bedroom to the NYC fireworks show and caught the last 10 minutes of that.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Now THAT was a fireworks show.  I got goosebumps just from watching it on tv.  I could only imagine seeing it in person.  I LOVE fireworks and that show looked awesome!  It was like 6 shows in one side by side:

Maybe they are like this every year.  And who knows, maybe the last 10 minutes were the best but it was really spectacular!

5. 

Our cucumbers are really coming in now and this is my favorite way to fix them.  Slice a bunch up, toss them in a jar,  slice a 1/2 an onion really thin and throw that on top.  Throw in a couple of garlic closes (peeled and pressed in a little) and then mix the following ingredients together:  1 cup white vinegar, 2/3 cup water, 1/2 tsp black pepper, ground, 2 tsp salt, 4 tbsp Splenda.  Pour the mixture of the top of the cucumbers.  Cover and put in fridge for at least 6 hours. 

These are really yummy.  They are a little sweet and a little tangy. Delicious. 

6.  We've had 3 swim meets so far this season.  The 4th and final regular season meet is this coming Tuesday and it will be the first one where both kids have been home at the same time.  I'm hoping to get some good pictures of them swimming on Tuesday.

7.  Our tomato bushes are huge!

That's three rows of bushes with 4 plants each.  12 plants and it's like a jungle in there.

The bushes have tons of tomatoes on them but they are not turning red.  None of them are evening starting to turn. (Well, I take that back. One tomato turned red and 2 cherry tomatoes turned red but the other 100 are all green.) 

I think its because June was very wet and cool (for here).  I think (I'm not gardener but it's my opinion) that the fruit needs the sun to turn red.  It is finally starting to get hot and sunny here.  Our normal hot June temps have just arrived in July.  I'm hoping that it will stay sunny and hot so these tomatoes will turn red.  I'm also wondering if the fact that the plants are so bushy (maybe due to the cool weather and lots of rain) they are further shading the fruit from the sun.

Anyway, like I said, I'm no gardener but our tomatoes have always started turning before now - typically by the end of June.  I'm just ready for a tomato sandwich and some mozzarella and tomato salad and some bruschetta! 

And that's pretty much it for us. Peter's mowing right now and later today I'm taking Sarah and Chey to the movies.  Have a great weekend!

Weekend Update.

We had a busy weekend.  Saturday was yard mowing and gardening and house cleaning. 

 Here's Peter mowing the grass:

He was very annoyed that I was taking his picture so right after this, Dan went running out with his phone and got right up to Peter like he was paparazzi.  I wish I had a picture of Dan running out there.  It was hilarious.

And here's my girl making blueberry pie for Sunday lunch.  It was really good.  Her new job every week is making dessert for Sunday lunch. We eat at my parent's house every Sunday after Mass.  Sarah wants to bake and my mom would love not to have to make dessert every week so I offered up Sarah's service. So far it's a win-win! 

On Saturday evening we headed out to see the Winston-Salem Dash play a little baseball.  There was a storm passing though so the game started 45 minutes late. 

I forced the kids to pose with Bolt the mascot while we were waiting because I knew they would love that.  HA!!

Look at that!  No forced smiles.  And its because Peter knew he was getting rabbit ears and it made him laugh.

 Me and my girl!

My men before the game.

The game went into extra innings (twelve total to be exact!) but we persevered because we wanted to see the fireworks after the game.  The Dash have the best fireworks so we always make sure we go to a game with fireworks at the end.

Sunday was Mass, lunch at my parent's house with this for dessert:

Dan and I took naps on Sunday afternoon because we didn't get home from the baseball game until 12:30 AM!  That was late.  (My twenty-something self would be rolling her eyes at me with that last statement.  I guess it's official - I'm old!)

And for diner (I don't ever cook a real dinner on Sunday because we have a huge lunch and because I'm pretty lazy) I made some bruschetta melts.  I followed this recipe. 

They turned out really well.  However I made a couple of changes. I used herbed goat cheese instead of cream cheese and didn't use as much mozzarella.  I also added some balsamic glaze.  I will definitely be making these again.  I wish I could say that I used tomatoes from our garden but they are all still green.  It's driving me crazy because I'm ready for BLT Sunday!  At least the basil was from our garden. 

I wish I had a pan of these right now!

This morning we had swim practice.  We are getting ready for the county meet on Friday and Saturday. 

I dropped the kids off at home after swim practice and went to the grocery store.  And now it's already 1:30, I'm doing laundry and have a lot of other things I need to accomplish this week.

We leave for Cape Cod on Saturday and (fingers crossed) we are starting a kitchen remodel.  More on that later.  Until then, I really need to clean out my fridge and some cabinets!

Happy Monday, y'all!

Just another weekend dump...

Thanks to Monday being a holiday, I will spend the rest of this week wondering what day it is.  

The kids were out of school on Friday and Dan returned home from Ireland Friday night.  The boys did yard work on Saturday while I did house work and made a blueberry pie.  And Sarah started her in-car driving!  Here's a picture I took of her driving out of our driveway:

She had a two hour session on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and is now officially done with Driver's Ed.  Her birthday is June 4th and she can go anytime on that day or after to test for her permit! 

On Monday we had a cookout with my brother and mom and Jennifer's family.  I took zero pictures but we had a great time! 

Dan grilled burgers, my mom made twice baked potatoes, and I made a creamy cucumber salad, a fresh corn and tomato salad and Paula Deen's banana pudding recipe. (If you like banana pudding then you will love her recipe! I always make it in a trifle bowl so it looks mo' fancy.) I also made a baked pimento cheese dip that was delicious.  I will be making that one again.

And yesterday was Monday/Tuesday which meant grocery shopping and swim team practice has started.  And today is Tuesday/Wednesday and I had a doctor's appointment and Sarah has an orthodontist appointment and more swim practice and I guess tomorrow will be Wednesday/Thursday and where is this week going??

I finally abandoned my old neurologist, Dr. Jeffrey.  A couple of years ago he moved from the Winston-Salem area to Lake Norman to semi-retire and I had been faithfully driving over an hour each way twice a year for my appointment.  I finally got tired of that and asked him for a recommendation here and today was my appointment with the MS specialist he recommended.  I really like her and I'm wondering why I didn't do this sooner. 

And now you are all caught up with my life.  Maybe one of these days I will write a post with some substance and not bore you all with my "what we did this weekend" dumps. 

Or maybe not.  I used to write about the kids all the time and now every time I even take a picture they scream "you're not putting that on your blog are you?"     If I wrote about them in detail on here and they found out they would kill me.

Have a great Tuesday/Wednesday!

Just another update...

 Another week has passed which means another week of me thinking every morning that today is the day I will write a blog post. And then before I know it, it's bedtime.

This doesn't mean I'm necessarily doing anything, it just means I'm lazy.  That and the fact that not much is happening. 

Let's see if I can come up with at least a few things that have been going on around here.

Sadly my  great aunt was put into hospice last week so my mom, my brother, and I visited her on Wednesday. I'm so glad we did because she passed away early on Friday morning.  We went to her funeral on Monday.  It was a very small gathering of family only outside on the graveyard. Her family is planning on a big gathering once we are past all of this corona crazy. Aunt Nell, we will miss you! 

Sarah's been working a lot.  There seems to be a lot of drama at this pool which means a couple of guards have been let go and a couple others have let their certifications expire so more shifts for Sarah!

Here she is headed out to work!  So cute!

 

She worked a double last Friday and is working another one today.  A double is TWELVE straight hours.  That's a lot for one day!

Peter has applied at a restaurant near school where a friend works.  He said they need busboys so hopefully Peter can get on there.  This would be good especially if there's no football season.

Our governor just extended Phase 2 for five more weeks so we are still waiting to hear how that will effect fall high school sports in the state. They said they should be able to announce something on August 17th.  In the meantime, Peter is still attending football workouts and enjoying the exercise and the time with friends.

Our tomatoes are finally starting to turn red.  This is the longest it has ever taken them.  Not sure why but Dan has done some googling and thinks it's because we've had a lot of 90 plus degree days and that halts the tomatoes progress.

 Regardless, we are finally getting a lot and I've made salsa, caprese salads, and had lots of tomato sandwiches.  

 We've got all kinds of tomatoes: pinks, yellows, big boy, and cherokee purples.  Some of them still look a little green on top because I picked them a little a day or two early so they wouldn't split. We've gotten a lot of rain recently and too much water makes tomatoes split.

Our bell and jalapeno peppers are coming in now too.  Our cucumbers are finished but we decided to plant some more to see if we could get a second crop.  That will all depend on the weather.

Isn't this caprese salad lovely?  The basil is from our garden as well.  So yummy!

I also made a delicious pie for Sunday dessert last week.  It was so good.  It's a blueberry lemon cream pie from Chef in Training. So good!

We've got a few sunflowers this year.  We planted them in the front of the house for a change and we planted a smaller variety.  I regret the decision to plant them out front because they are busy and look wild but   I am enjoying their blooms so I guess I'll take it.

I'm still walking at least four or five times a week. I've upped my miles and am now doing 4 each morning.  Yesterday was extremely foggy but it made for a pretty walk.

And that's all I've got for now!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Pride goeth before a woman in a white bikini.

I'm on vacation right now and before I left I purchased two new bathing suit bottoms.

I decided that after 4 years of wearing bathing suit skirts, I wanted to wear bikini bottoms with my tankini tops.

After all, I've been Shredding for 2 months, I've lost 3 pounds and my thighs were finally slimming down a little.

So before we made our way down to the beach on Saturday morning, I got out my new bikini bottoms and proudly showed them to my husband.

I put them on and strutted around a little.

And on the walk down to the beach I kept admiring myself. I am not ashamed to admit that I kept looking down at my legs thinking how nice they looked.

I was quite pleased with myself.

Even after we had been at the beach for 30 minutes I was still admiring my thighs.

And then I looked up and caught sight of a woman who was my age or maybe even a little older.

And I froze.

She was gliding down the beach with her 4 children.

Her legs were super toned and super tanned and she was wearing a bikini.

A white bikini.

Not just bikini bottoms and a tankini top.

A bikini.

A white bikini.

It was at this point in time that I stopped starring at my thighs and admiring them.

And in the last three days, I have eaten donuts, 2 different kids of pie, and several different kinds of ice cream. I am on vacation after all.

I have even been eating blueberry buckle for breakfast.

And let's face it. Even though it has blueberries in it, it's still just cake.

So I've been eating cake for breakfast for the last three days AND I haven't been Shredding.

It's a good thing I packed my old bathing suit skirt bottoms. I think I'm going to need them before this vacation is over.

Weird week, weather report, and weekend update.

It's Monday and it's a weird one.  Well, actually, this whole week is going to be weird.

Peter has exams Monday - Thursday and is off on Friday.  There are two exams each day and they start later than the normal school time and end earlier which means my whole schedule is thrown off.

And add to the mix that they are calling for sleet this afternoon and Sarah's school (as well as alllllllll the others) are dismissing early.  It is sunny outside right now and around 34 degrees.  The school systems are expecting that IF we get the afternoon precipitation they are expecting it will immediately freeze on the roads because it has been in the teens for the last two weeks.  The teens!!  That is abnormally cold for around here.

But, have no fear, if we can make it past today, it's supposed to be into the 50s tomorrow and a blessed 63 on Friday?!?!

Now that I've got the weather report out of the way, let's move on to the weekend update.

Sarah's school had their 7th and 8th-grade dance on Friday night!  As the 8th-grade room parent, I was in charge of decorating.  We had a bunch of large snowflakes (thankfully purchased from Amazon) hanging from the ceiling and 5 of those lights that project on the side of your house (thankfully purchased from Walmart after Christmas and marked way down).  These lights projected snowflakes and it looked really cool. 

And of course, my girl looked beautiful:

She couldn't find any dress she liked, so we compromised.  I would get her these little booties and she would borrow a dress from Cheyanne.  The dress was perfect and Sarah's excited that she has these booties that she's been wanting for a long time.  

And she wanted a picture with Wally.

On Saturday, Dan helped my brother fix the door handle on his truck and we went to lunch.  When we got home, I made this delicious dessert for Sunday lunch:

It was Lemon Blueberry Cream Pie and everyone gave it two thumbs up!  Here's the link to the recipe I used.

On Sunday we went to Mass and had lunch at my parent's house.  We watched the Panther's game and then before I knew it, it was Monday.  

Have a great week!