Twilight and Other Things

I knew this would happen. I had heard from friend after friend that I needed to read these books. Although there is nothing about vampires that "calls" me to a book, I love to read. I hesitated, knowing that once I started a book, I would be pretty much checked-out until I was done. That's how I read books. None of this: read a chapter before bed every night. Let's try: read until midnight or one, until I realize that I will be absolutely useless unless I put the book down and go to sleep. And then I find myself working at double speed so that I can have an extra half hour somewhere to read the book. Two weeks is what it took to get through these four books. Sorry for my absence, but I really loved that reading time. If you want a good romance, these are your books. Gets a little odd during that last novel, but who doesn't love a happy ending filled with assurances of the possiblities of stretching to reach our potential.

But of course, that was not all.

Tomatoes, 2 bushels = 9 quarts of spaghetti sauce, 9 pints of salsa, 3 frozen lasagnas, 6 cups of fresh salsa, 13 servings of cheese BLT's, and then some.

Peaches, 1/2 bushel = 4 quarts of peaches, 1 divine peach cobbler, 12s of bowls of Just Bunches and Peaches

Never a solo job. Every job needs a helper or 3 or 4. Lest you think that I did nothing while they did all the work, I did stay very busy preparing jars for canning, and chopping other vegetables for the recipes. {thank you Dr. Frakes}

Good Spaghetti Sauce

1/2 bushel tomatoes, skin and grind

1 head garlic

3 onions

2 small jalapeno peppers

1/2 C oil

2 tsp oregano

1 1/2 C sugar

1/4 C salt

2 tsp basil

Boil 3 hours uncovered.

Add 2 Tbs parsley

24 oz tomato paste

You can see how much help the kiddos really are. Emma had to be holding my arm so that she could be helping me peel the peaches. {they were too hot for her to touch}

And then there was the weekend visit with the cousins. Nate, Terrick and Darren worked on building a retaining wall to replace our weed hill that goes from our lawn to the driveway. I'll have to take a picture of that. It looks pretty awesome, and will look even better with some bushes, flowers and trees. {spring project} And the kids had a ball playing, and just being cute. On Saturday morning, Clay and Sam started a Rock Stand to sell all the cool rocks that they find in the yard. After a discouraging morning of no takers, I suggested they add kool-aid to their offerings, and they had a couple of dollars {and lots of red mustaches} by the time the day was over.I took some pictures of this beautiful boy, and looked over to see this tinkerbell posing. I love to see the cousins taking care of each other. For more cute pictures about this fun weekend, go here or here.

• Decorating for the fall: on our new amazing rock fireplace. {what I love about my house}

• Cutting hair {trying to anyway} I cut bangs on Mia, but not a good picture yet.
  
• Football, football, football

Sam did a really good job playing this year. He played quarterback and threw for a couple touchdowns, or 1st downs at least. He also ran the ball quite a bit and scored a couple touchdowns that way. He scored two in the game last night. He also caught interceptions. Not to paint an unrealistic picture: he also threw an interception, fumbled the ball, and let most boys past him. But, he is only 9. He loves to play, and that's the important thing. You can see the intensity as he runs. It's pretty fun. He loves anything that requires him to be active.