Progress

The boy has been taking advantage of these warm January days and making a lot of progress on the greenhouse.
 

We have big plans for it this spring.
 

And a certain girlchild has big plans for the playhouse that's going to be on the second story.

If you feed a man a monster

If you are traveling along the loneliest highway in America and you find yourself in Middlegate.  You might as well stop in to say hi.

And if you stop in to say hi, you might as well order up a bloody mary or a monster burger because they are both tasty and delicious.

(and while we are on the subject of tasty AND delicious....the chicken fried steak is also amazing, just sayin')

And after you've tried your hand at eating said monster burger, you probably will need to wash your face.  On your way to the bathroom you might as well walk slowly and see if you can find anyone you know's John Hancock on one of the dollar bills on the ceiling.

And if you find yourself in Middlegate, you might as well travel a hop skip and a jump to see what Gabbs is all about.  Don't worry, if you lose your high security motel room key, it's postage guaranteed.  But do watch out for cows in the road.  You can thank me later.

If you find yourself in Gabbs on St Patty's day weekend, you might as well go to the fireman's ball.  There really isn't anything else to do that town anyway.  And if you go to the fireman's ball, you might just find yourself staring at an old man in a leprechaun outfit....right down to the sparkly, green shoes.

And if you find yourself at the fireman's ball in Gabbs on St. Patty's day, be prepared to not eat dinner till midnight.  They were not joking about that.  Not at all.

First one standing in line

Summer is coming.....never mind that it's snowing outside as I type this. 

Looking forward to

tan lines

snow cones

cotton candy

tent camping

back porch sitting

a tall glass of sun tea

running through the sprinklers

growing the garden

thunder storms

watermelons

slip-n-slides

fishing trips

BBQ ribs

Can't. Hardly. Wait.

V-Day Love

We could always count on my mother for first day of school gifts and valentine's surprises.  And since I don't have first day's of school anymore...

This year I got two giant chocolate cookie hearts.

Pretty sure that means I'm her favorite.

Scenes from this Christmas



Someone turned 4




Cookies were made




Little bit of fun was had



Newmans came to visit




Nerf guns happened.  Lots of nerf guns.




There were very happy children




And then we ate meat pie.  And it was delicious.



Rafting 2.0

Last year, a group of friends and the boy and I went rafting.  It was a two day adventure down Cache Creek.  We had a great time.  I had a little too much fun the first day but doesn't that make for the best kinds of stories anyway.  I may or may not have accidentally set the husband's sandwich bread in the river instead of on the raft as I lovingly made his sandwich for him.  But don't worry, he ate it - soggy bread and all.  On day 2 of the trip, I may or may not have forgotten to take the wax paper off the cheese before I made the sandwich in an effort to make up for day 1 and soggy bread sandwiches. 
The rafting itself was a blast.  We only got dumped out of our raft 1 time and we scored a pretty nice double barrel super soaker.  It was the kind of trip where before we even got home and unpacked the truck everyone was talking about doing it again.

And so we did!  Hopefully it will become a yearly tradition.  This year, I solemnly swore that there would be rules!  Set up beforehand and followed accordingly.

Rule #1: Sunscreen, lots of it.  Applied more than once the whole trip.

Rule #2: Under no circumstances whatsoever should I drink anything handed to me by the boy's cousin.  He's the devil.

Rule #3: Do not set tent up on a ginormous rock that you will regret sleeping on the entire night.

Rule #4: No tandem puking.  For many reasons.  Some of them being: dinner, glow stick dancing, and so that I can enjoy the giant community bowl of oreos

We had an equally good time this year.  Fell out of the raft a few more times that I would have liked.  And once it happened at the top of one of the harder rapids.  A little bit of scary-ness later and it's back to all smiles and laughing.  Still a little bit sunburned and we really should have brought an air mattress to sleep on but I'm not complaining. 
I think I'll start my don't forget list for next year right now....

The 2nd Happiest Place on Earth

Joe's Crab Shack just might be the 2nd happiest place on earth. 

Reasons why it makes me happy:

1. Crab, Duh!  And lots of it.

2. My children will willingly eat whatever they are served there

3. It is so boisterous inside that no one can tell that my monsters are being wild

4. Tasty and delicious drinks that come in mason jars

5. Dancing in aisles and if you poke the girlchild with a crab cracker long enough she will hop up and dance to Love Shack too

6. There's no crying at Joe's Crab Shack!

 

Christmas Cookie Tradition

One of my favorite Newman family Christmas traditions is our annual cookie day.  We gather, have lunch, catch up on family news and bake cookies until we all have reached our maximum sugar tolerance for the season.  The star of the cookie show is hands down the sugar cookies!   By the end of the day we each have our own tins of fudge, chocolate chip cookies, rice crispy treats, sugar cookies, and pecan sandies.

It is usually a girls only affair.  The boys are sent off to buy us presents or have a sushi date or buy guns...you know, the usual boy stuff.  Since Bobbo is still a small, man-child he gets to come still.  Plus he needs to put some miles on his 'boy apron'.



Decorating sugar cookies


We were short a few of our usual attendees this year and they were noticably missed. 

Bobbo, Me, Karyl, Kayla, Nicole, Nancy, Emma & Donna

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I can finally say I've been to a Reno Aces game now.

The four of us went to an Aces vs River Cats game (final score 8-11).   I'd say a good time was had by all. 

We double dated with The Boy's eldest brother and his family.

There was candy, soda, peanuts, snow cones to be consumed.

Oh...and baseball to be spectated, naturally.

We got to watch the game from the Morrey Distributing Suite.

How cool is that?!

Except now, we have been thoroughly spoiled and it will be hard to go to another game and sit in the regular seats.

You know.

The Suite had a kitchen, complete with couches, a TV, and room for the kids to run around and be goofy.

Which they were.

 

I was a little nervous about the balcony part, seeing as how the kids liked to hang over the edge....I think I was most nervous about the unsuspecting innocents that were seated below us.

This is the part where Burrito tries desperately to convince Uncle Matt that neon green snakes DO indeed belong at baseball games....and that snakes bite.

                                     

Maybe we'll make it to a few more games in the future.  I bet the games will be just as good from the cheap seats.

~Zeke

(And I like my dogs with mustard and relish) 

Today, God Told Me to Grow Nuts

I ran across this poem in the gardening book I just finished. I liked it. I've heard the whole teach a man to fish bit, but this one was longer. So now, I am spamming you with it.


If you give a man a fish, he will have a meal.
If you teach him to fish, he will have a living.
If you are thinking a year ahead, sow seed.
If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree.
If you are thinking one hundred years ahead, educate the people.
By sowing seed once, you will harvest once.
By planting a tree, you will harvest tenfold.
By educating the people, you will harvest one hundredfold.


anonymous Chinese Poet, 420 B.C.

Kind of bittersweet to find it now, amid all the education cutbacks that just rolled out.

But.....the point....I'm thinking about planting a nut tree. Is that an option? What kind? I think I'd love a pecan tree but they must only grow in the south. maybe. The book I was reading was really about subsistence farming. Growing all the food/meat you would need to be self-sufficient. Not for me. But a nut tree might just be.
Maybe I should see what the fruit trees do this year first (While I research my possible Nut tree options). Mini-me has been scouring the pages of that gardening book too. Yesterday from the back seat she called out, "Mama, can we grow cherries?"
To which I replied, after the scowl crossed my face, "I think that's what I'm trying to do."

Because it is. Lets review:
Attempts at peach trees - 2
Number of peaches grown in the last 4 years - 1
Attempts at Cherry trees - 1
Number of Cherries grown in the last 4 years - 2
Number of Fruitless Mulberry trees purchased - 2
Number of Fruitless Mulberry trees that died and came back as a Fruiting Mulberry - 1

Reasons:
1. Supposedly fruit trees need a few years to establish themselves
2. Those cursed and all too frequent late frosts
3. God's trying to tell me to move on to nut trees?

Regardless. This year I'm going all out crazy with the strawberries. Why? Because I can. And because last year I think I got two total all summer. Those 'helpers' of mine were out in the strawberry bed every night eating every strawberry that was even the lightest shade of pink.

The cogs they are a whirling...(Or Rebekah is In-Demand)

Remember how I told you it was Jalapeno Jelly making time? Well we are waaaaay past that now. The pectin has been shelved. The canner has been boxed up. The jelly jars were lined up in a row.

Yep. You read that right. WERE. They are all gone!!!!

First, I gave a couple away to family members. Then I got an email from the sister-in-law saying the girls at work were loving the jalapeno jelly and could she get another jar to share. Pretty soon the emails started rolling in more frantically. PLEASE SEND MORE JELLY - ASAP.

Then, came the most unexpected and wonderful email yet. One of SIL's co-workers wanted to BUY some jars of jelly. Seriously. I never would have imagined as much. I had dreams of having to invent wild and crazy recipes just to use up all of the jars of jalapeno jelly in my cupboard. Because it would be in my hips best interest if I did not eat all of the above mentioned jelly slathered on Ritz crackers with copious amounts of cream cheese.

So anyway, humbled by the request, yet nervous about selling something that someone else possibly, maybe wouldn't like, I declined the money. I gave the jars away under the guise of "building up a strong and faithful fan base".

But next year....

Oh next year....

sweet with a little bit of heat next year....

When I have jalapenos heaped up and overflowing the basket on my kitchen counter, maybe-just-maybe, I won't readily send them out the door with Will to give away at work because I'm sick of looking at all that green.

And maybe I'll be making a little bitty bit of green to keep myself.

The Start of Something Great

It's that time of summer. I'm taking a deep breath, re-reading the how to guide on my pressure cooker (because pressure cooker warnings still terrify the heck out of me), and pacing back and forth in front of the tomato plants.

Ready or Not - canning season is upon us.

The first project is finished. Em helped a little - although I was a bit nervous about having her around the jalapenos when I was seeding them. And I certainly did not let her stir the giant pot of boiling pepper puree. We had no incidents I am happy to report. And I now have the first of several batches of jalapeno jelly perched happily on the pantry shelf.