I'm So Sore! That's a Good Thing!

My daughter Molly complained on my facebook wall yesterday that I had posted no pictures or updates except that I was at the gym pretty much every day and how was she supposed to keep up with her mother?  After all... isn't retirement about having more time?  Theoretically that is true.  So what have I been up to?  Hmm... I'm old... I forgot.  :)  Actually she's right.  I have been to the gym... not every day but most days.  That has been a really positive (and somewhat painful) change for both Dave and I.  He is usually with me.  As he said yesterday... we may have to start taking two cars.  I like to stay longer than he does.  Perhaps it's not so much like to as need to :)  He started out in better shape than I am.  We discovered yesterday that we both have lost a lot of inches.  I gave him the customary hug as he started out the door and we were amazed to find that our arms seemed to be much longer.  Either that or our midsections are shrinking.  Sweet!  I keep getting on the scales and am not impressed with any great weight loss but I'm definitely becoming a more firm elephant.  As a matter of fact, I tried on the dress I wore to Bobby's wedding on December 3rd and it was almost baggy!  I want a wedding picture redo!!!  Speaking of the non-impressive weight loss... the fatometer cried out 160.3 this morning and glucose was 114.  Seems like that should have been lower too.  Must have been those 9 or 10 purple tortilla chips I lined my tuna salad with yesterday...

Since it is now the end of the month and as usual I have spent every last dime of my budget I am now in the get really creative phase of cooking.  What this means is I have to figure out what to do with what I have on hand since there will be no more buying anything until Feb 1.  Here was yesterday's idea.  Avocado tuna salad.  This was scrumptious.  You have to like tuna salad but if so... yum!  Instead of mayo I used plain non-fat Greek yogurt.  I don't think I even have mayo in the fridge.  If I do I shouldn't as that would mean it's been there for months.  :)  I used up the remaining very tasty relish that my good friend and neighbor Carol brought me.  I added a couple of hard boiled eggs, some curry powder, chopped sundried tomatoes and a handful of ground almonds.  I had half an avocado that needed to be used so I threw that in too.  It's things like that avocado that are possibly slowing down the weight loss but... no bread!  Oh wait... tortilla chips!  Dang!   The day prior (again... what on earth am I going to make without going to the store) I made some really tasty soup!  I'll call it... Black Bean, Veg, Turkey Sausage Tortilla Soup...

Next time I'll try to remember to actually wipe down the cutting board before I take a pic... but Dave was really hungry and getting cranky having to wait.  I had a couple of whole grain tortillas left over so that inspired me to throw this little concoction together.  Again... the white blob is non-fat yogurt rather than sour cream.  I also added a can of black eyed peas, some frozen tomatoes and a few kernels of frozen corn from the garden.  And since it's just not food with out some sort of meat I chopped up some turkey sausages and added them.  A little taco seasoning, diced avocado and fresh cilantro and yeah baby!

Let's see, what else...  I cleaned out most of the remaining veggies in the fridge (bean sprouts, cauliflower, red onion, orange bell peppers) and used up some left over home made curry peanut sauce and a couple of ounces of sliced steak with this Thai style tofu dish...

There was so little meat in this dish it was almost vegetarian :)  I wonder if I could actually live as a vegetarian?  Well... that's a pointless question.  We have too many cows in the pasture to eat :)  

Speaking of cows...  Yesterday just as Dave stepped out of the shower after coming home from the gym he gazed out into the pasture and noticed that Red Bull was hanging out with the ladies at the top of the pasture rather than being in his own pen and that his cell mate Chuck was actually in Jeremy's (non-resident neighbor) pasture.  He had a wonderful afternoon of playing musical cows trying to get Red Bull and Chuck back in their pen and fix the fence in three places and the chicken yard which Chuck trampled through to escape.  My job was to walk the fence-line to discover the points of escape.  That wouldn't have been so bad except that I did work out really hard at the gym and there is still about six inches of crusty snow to tromp through.  That's why I'm so sore this morning I think.  He was almost successful with returning the correct cows to the correct places.  Red Bull is back in isolation but instead of Chuck he's hanging out with Sara.  She's already pregnant though and Chuck and Sara just wouldn't cooperate.  Seeing as how we ran out of daylight that's how the sleeping arrangements were decided for the evening.

Here are just a few pics from our snow, melt, snow, melt, freezeathon this week.  We were just out for a stroll to the mailbox... look at that handsome skinny man :)

And here I am... not so skinny but improving...

And just the last rays of the day lighting up the hill behind the barn.

Well... I've been blessed with the good fortune of sitting around in my jammies, entertaining myself with thoughts of food and watching the sun come up.  Guess it's time to get busy!  

Before I go... if you occasionally pop in to read my convoluted obsession with food would you consider (if you have not already done so) clicking on the button to become a follower of this blog?  It's helpful to know that you are out there hopefully having a chuckle at my expense :)  Thanks!!!

Ciao!

It Was A Very Fat Year!

Well!  I'm glad 2011 is over!  It was a very fat year.  Between December 1st and today I believe I lost and gained 7 pounds three times!  Bad plan, I know!  But... I'm off to a great start.  I have 10 lbs to go to lose down to where we left off last spring but I can do it!  Actually 2011 was a year filled with many wonderful blessings... but I totally lost my focus :(  So... now I'm back!  With a little discipline I will once again attempt to shrink down to my goal weight of 140.  I can almost see the finish line... if I look through binoculars!

Toward the end of December Dave decided it was time to join the little gym in town and we've been getting his moneys worth for sure!  I can definitely tell I'm making progress.  I will certainly be glad when I look in the mirror and I see something other than a fat little frog looking back at me though!  This morning the fatometer read 160. even and my glucose was 85.  That's a great reading.  The glucose that is not the weight.  Ugh!  No doubt the exercise is really helping those blood sugar numbers.  It's been all over the board the last few months as I feasted my way through the holiday season!

Exercise is big but so is food so I'm back to a fridge loaded with veggies.  Here's what it looks like on the plate...

Grilled cod piled with peppers and side salad.

Big fat amazing salad with pears, figs and feta

Just a big wok full of veggies that became...

Steak stir-fry rotini.  The pasta was whole grain and was my treat for almost passing out at the gym today.  

Cauliflower, salad and rib steak.  How does rib steak fit into a diet you ask?  Well... I split one with Dave.  My portion was just slightly over 2 ounces.  Yes, I weighed it.  The other steak was used to make the steak pasta stir-fry shown above and this slammin salad.  :)  

That my friends is "good eats".  Speaking of good eats... well, let me back up.  Our daughter Amberlyn went with me to the gym...

 pretty much every day between Christmas and New Year.  Except for the day we went skiing...

oops... back to the gym... she helped me learn some of the equipment and showed me some things to do with the free weights.  She said that it is very important to eat some protein after working out.  She really is a little workout freak :)  I don't remember why protein is necessary.  I just remember "blah blah blah protein, let's go buy some protein bars".  So we did.  They are really expensive though!!!  So... I was pretty sure I could find a recipe on the internet and make my own.  The one I chose was from Alton Brown who hosts the series "Good Eats" on food TV.  You did not really think I was going to wind my way back around to good eats did you?  Hmm???  Anyhoo... I made them and they are scrumptious!  They are my healthy protein reward when I finish my workout at the gym...

They are made with pomegranate juice, dried fruit, silken tofu (sounds gross I know but is very good, makes them quite moist) wheat flour, wheat germ, oat bran and walnuts.  Here they are all wrapped up and ready to go.  

They are now in a freezer bag and sitting on the freezer shelf (out of sight out of mind).  I grab one and tuck it into my gym bag as I walk out the door and eat it immediately on the way home.  :)  

Well, there you go!  First blog post of the new year.  Are you exhausted?  I am!  But it's now 10:30 pm and I've kept myself busy (at your expense) writing rather than snacking so now I think it's safe to sign off and go to bed.  

Ciao my friends :)  Here's to a wonderful 2012.  Very hopefully not the year the world ends...

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Many of you have followed my silly little blog over the past year.  I appreciate your kind comments and your patience.  Some of you have told me that I should take up writing since I’m all retired now and have nothing else to do.  J  Ha ha.  Today I’m writing.  Please bear with me, it may be a little long.  This is a different kind of story.  It’s from my heart and a plea for the prayerful support of all of you dear friends and family who love me.  I’m so blessed to have you! 

Every story has a beginning so I’ll start there.  After my first beautiful daughter “Little Molly” was born I learned that I had some malignant spots on my cervix which had been confirmed by a biopsy.  I made plans to have surgery to take care of this.  Very shortly before the surgery should have taken place I learned that I was pregnant.  The doc suggested that perhaps we should continue with the surgery… but that option would mean terminating the pregnancy.  The other option would be to continue with the pregnancy and monitor the cells through out.  Hopefully they would be slow growing and then we could do the surgery after the baby was born.  My first husband, Jim and I did not want to terminate the pregnancy so we chose the second option.  We are Christians and so we sought prayer from those at our church and other friends and family and trusted that God would take care of us.  And he did.  At the appointed time our son Daniel was born and as any other new mother and father, we were joyful and thankful for the little bundle of awesomeness.  J  The doctor told me to come back in about two months and we would go ahead and take a last look and then schedule the surgery.  So… when Daniel was two months old I went back to the doc.  He had scheduled another colposcopy to review the growth of the cells.  As he began the exam Daniel began to fuss and cry in his car seat.  I know… can you say babysitter?  J  But since I was a nursing mom and babies usually sleep most of the time I had brought him along.  The nurse took him out of the car seat and brought him to me on the table.  He quieted down right away and just snuggled up with me.  So the doc got busy.  He looked and looked.  And did not talk, which I thought was pretty unusual as he usually chatted about other things not related to my insides during exams.  Anyway… eventually he finished the procedure and came around and stood by the side of the table.  He had an awfully funny look on his face so I thought it might be bad news.  Finally I asked, “Well?”  And finally he said, “Well… it’s gone.”  YES!  That was pretty great news to hear.  I asked if that happens often and he said he had never seen it before in his experience.  I asked if we could go ahead and classify it as a minor miracle and he smiled, also being a Christian, and told me he thought perhaps we could.    

I have always considered Daniel a little miracle because of that.  Each child is.  Each child has their own special story.  Each child is a miracle of God and I am so thankful for each child that the Lord has given me.  (And for the other awesome children in my life, I can not tell you how grateful I am that I have not experienced the magnitude of pain that I am about to describe, with you!  Bless you all!)  God has a plan for each of our lives.  I feel like God started me off early with faith for this child because of the circumstance with the cancer.  I could have chosen to have the surgery.  But God had a plan for his life.  I have watched him grow up and at times been so proud.  He is so very smart and has such a kind heart.  Then the teen years arrived!  L  He began getting in trouble with drugs and problems at school when he was I believe about 16.  Possibly earlier but parents are usually the last to know!  We lived through the drug court years.  Weekly then bi-weekly visits before the judge and about a year and a half of rehab and counseling.  Finally he graduated from the program.  They have him a little plaque that says, “You are a miracle”.  I still have it and can actually look over and see it from my desk.  Again… I was so proud!  Over the next years I have continued to watch, pray and have faith that God will bring to pass the plans he has for this young man.  I have shared with him the special story that began his life and told him that I know God has a special purpose for him.  His heart is soft and I have seen him cry many times.  Even knowing he is called of God (in his mother’s opinion anyway) he has run hard and far!  I have recently learned that for the last several years he has been using drugs of the worst kind.  He has lied to everyone who loves him.  He is now helplessly addicted, spending more money on drugs than he is making at his job.  He is doing everything that people do when their next high is the focus of their lives.  His girlfriend Nicole is in the same condition.  We (her mother and I) have known for some time of her situation (although she regularly informs us that she is clean) but he maintained his innocence.  We thought he was helping her hide her addiction in order to stay together and keep their beautiful daughter Aubrey who just turned three years old.  They are now homeless.  They have recently been arrested, lost their vehicle and the custody of Aubrey.  CPS is now involved and Aubrey is with Nana Charlene.  I have not heard from him recently.  If he sees this little story on facebook or is told of it by friends he may be extremely angry.  I find myself past caring about his reaction.  I think though in his heart he would be grateful for your prayers.  One of the things he said to his sister recently was that he was not a bad person.  This is true.  He is not.  He has a very soft heart.  He is a very sick person. 

I have spent the last two days walking around in a daze and am emotionally exhausted.  I slept for 10 hours last night.  I got up this morning feeling pretty good and thought I could get through the day tear free… NOT!  So… I’ve been trying to take care of “stuff” as usual but with very puffy eyes and a very heavy heart.  I have cried out to God as most mothers who have children in crisis do.  Despite the circumstances I have faith that God has him in the palm of his hand.  That he will keep him and deliver and restore him.  He has reminded me again of the special word he gave me for this young man some time ago.  That he will be a “light to his generation”.  You see… he is not the only one.  There are millions of young people in our country, in the world, young people in our neighborhoods and in our families who are also in crisis.  Those of you who are praying people please join me and pray for Daniel and Nicole and little Aubrey.  Please pray for me too.  Yes I have faith!  I am also a mother and my emotions are very “volatile” right now.  J  Pray for our family.  Remember my dear mama.  She has not been feeling well and the doctors have not yet figured out why.  We are going to need our favorite little prayer warrior!  Pray for Nicole’s family.  They are also a good family full of kind people who also just want their daughter to be whole again.   Those of you who are not believers… just watch!  We are about to see a modern day miracle in the life of this young man.  Jesus is alive and well and is about to show himself in a mighty way.  How long must we watch?  I don’t know.  I am extremely tired!  I’m ready!  But I also know that God’s timing is perfect.  This is a statement of faith.  This is something I can’t fix.  But God can.  It’s his specialty.  J

Why would I write this and publish it for all the world to see?  I hesitate to do it.  I’m a pretty private person and would rather hide things that are painful and shameful.  Addiction is not a new thing in our family.  I experienced it as a teenager as my father struggled with alcohol.  This is no secret.  He would be happy to tell you his story of the depths of despair and redemption.  Our son Adam also travelled this road.  He also came to the point where life was just about as ugly as it gets.  Again, heartbreaking to watch.  By the grace of God he is recovering and doing well.  He is rebuilding his life.  I believe he would tell you it has been a very long hard road.  We are so happy to once again hear his larger than life laugh.  I also struggle with my own set of addictions as most of you know.  As I said, I am very much in need of your prayer support.  And I feel that there are so many others who also suffer and may not ask for help because they are too ashamed to talk about it.  But hiding it does not make it go away.  I should know!  Perhaps someone else will read this and it will encourage them to be brave and ask for help too.  The power of prayer and the loving support of people of faith moves mountains!  So thank you!

At this time the story has no ending but I trust that it will turn out very well!

When Gaining Weight Is A GOOD Thing...

Retired life... What a ride it's been!  Let's see... I am three or four weeks in - I'm not sure which and I have not stopped long enough to even come up with a plan for the future.  And I don't even know what I've been doing!  Little trips here and there.  Visitors.  The garden.  Well... I did spend the entire day on Monday on the couch being sick.  :(  Bummer!  But I'm on the mend and have a full day planned.  Canning and preserving season has really just begun.  Today I need to dehydrate some more herbs, decide what to do with the yellow summer squash taking over my life out in the garden and make sure the new lettuce and spinach seeds I scattered last night for a fall crop stay moist.  Yesterday after mowing the grass I decided I better get out in the garden and prop up all the heavy tomato plants that have exploded out of the tomato cages that always seem so big at the beginning of the summer.  I swear I'll never buy another one.  Better to just pound in 6' T posts to stabilize the monsters which is what I did as darkness fell last night.  I'm still waiting to taste my first ripe tomato but it's getting very close!  I've got lots of cherries (my favorite) and big tomatoes turning yellow.  Pear shaped tomatoes.  I don't even remember planing them.  They may be volunteer from last year.  Along the sides of the garden lots of volunteer tomato plants sprouted and I didn't have the heart to pull them all.  They are growing up all intertwined in the chicken wire fence.  I finally ripped out the pea vines and gave then to the cows.  Then I tossed out about 15 giant squash that are too large to do anything with.  They shoved those around for a while before finally realizing that they are pretty tasty.  Even Red Bull got in on the squash action after satisfying his eternal itch by rubbing his neck so vigorously on the stabilizing wire of the power/phone pole that the entire pole was waving back and forth.  That was a little freaky!

But... on to the topic of fatness.  Why is it I always end up here?  :)  On Monday while laying around on the couch I was forced to admit that I was taking up a good deal more space than a few months ago.  I thought about what could possibly have caused the change in girth and what I would be willing to quit eating to reverse the circumference, I mean circumstance!  How depressing was that?!  Very, let me tell you!  I then began lamenting about the fact that I was going to have to find something to wear to my brother in law's wedding this weekend.  Hhmf!  Well... I started digging around in my closet and was delighted to find a couple of nice outfits that I bought when we went to Europe.  I was even fatter than so they still hang just slightly giving me the appearance of having lost weight.  Ha ha!  Now that's really sick!  But...that's when gaining weight is a good thing.  Now of course I'll come directly home from the wedding in Oregon
 and put those clothes away to never be worn again!  I do have to say though that the entire diet has not been a train wreck.  Just too much celebrating.

Here are some pics of what retired life has been looking like...

Last weekend we spent a couple of days at the beach in Ocean Shores with Jeff and Andrea.  We had a great time.  We were blessed with a perfect no fog day on Saturday.  Even though it was 80 degrees at at the house, just a short walk through the dunes it is always windy on the water so you almost always need a coat.  Even in August.  I was thrilled to find a whole sand dollar :)

Jeff and Andrea perched on driftwood by the trail head

Fresh seafood!  Salmon with lemon butter and prawns

Herb bouquet that I brought to the beach



We took the long way home via Chinook Pass.  Beautiful views of Mt Rainier!

Long drives call for long naps.  Kitty's always game for a nap!

Upcoming this weekend... wedding in Oregon.  Thought I would make some road trip snacks using the over abundance of squash and beets in the garden.  "Bacchini" bread (zucchini with banana added) and baked parm  beet chips.

 Now... since I can't decide which pic to insert next I'll just be done now.  :)  Have a great weekend everyone!

Ciao!

To Rejoice or Not to Rejoice - That is the Question

Let go with rejoice!  Why?  Well first of all.  I'm so fat!  How fat?  160.7 and blood sugar 125.  Ugg!  Why rejoice about that?  Well... I sure enjoyed getting that way!  How did I get that way?  First there was the trip to southern California to see my daughter Katie along with her husband Ish, toddler Charlotte and brand new baby girl Kamilla.  I loved visiting them.  Charlotte is so adorable and fun and exhausting :)  Kamilla is so very sweet!  I miss snuzzling her.  I know many of you have seen the pics I have posted to facebook but I'll do a little history in pics later.  Anyway... I assure you, there was no dieting in California!  Oh yes... most of that was self imposed.  It's not like they made me throw a pound bag of peanut M & M's in the grocery cart every time we went to the store.  Upon arriving home from CA I found my flowers and gardens in beautiful shape because my Aunt Jane and Uncle Jay where here and took care of them.  I spent four glorious days at home.  Two days catching up from vacation and then the weekend with Amberlyn, Bobby and his girlfriend Bailey visiting.  Then poof!  Back to Woodinville for a week to basically say g'bye to Valley Supply Co!  Yep!  Done!  Wow!  I'm still reeling!  Not only from slowly realizing that I no longer have a job but from all the culinary celebrating.  Pretty much everyone I know took me out to lunch/dinner to celebrate.  That was awesome!  :)  So yes... I'm FAT!  Waaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

I intended to announce my retirement on Monday morning (umm... last Monday morning) but found that I SO did not have time to do that as I had my little almost three year old grand daughter Aubrey with me.  I brought her home with me on Friday so she's been here almost a week now.  I decided that I would not consider myself retired until she goes home as there's not a whole lot of relaxing going on right now :)  But I've realized that this is what it's all about!  Having the time to spend on the really important things like running through the sprinklers with Aubrey and teaching her to sing Jesus Loves Me.  :)  How fun!  And if I look to my own dear mother as an example of how to do "retired" life well then my retirement will never start.  :)  I have not observed a great deal of relaxing going on in her life either!  Well... sure, there are periods of relaxation but they do not typically exceed 10 minutes.  That's about the amount of time it takes for someone's plate to become empty or their coffee to need refilling.  :)  I don't know how she does it!  But I also know that she finds great joy in her service to her husband, family, friends and most importantly to her God.

So what's next?  Honestly I don't know.  I do know that today there are more peas and beets to pick.  There is this little girl who desperately needs and does not want to take a bath :)  Then there is a produce extravaganza at Super 1 in Colville that I want to go check out with Aunty & Unc.  When we come home from that I need to think about dusting the house and making sure the guest rooms are ready for our weekend visitors.  I also promised to find a better bubble recipe for Aubrey's bubble wand.  I'm pretty sure that will take care of today.  And tomorrow?  Well... I'll just open that present when I get to it.

Now that I've told you what I've been up to for the last few weeks I'll show you too...

Here I am on a stroll with Charlotte.  In order to get a little exercise while in CA I took to taking Charlotte out for a "naptime" stroll.  The the sidewalk route through her neighborhood is almost exactly a mile.

The landscape in her neighborhood includes things like this...
                                                                       Cactus

                                                                                                    A beautiful fern tree

enormous century plants

After a short time of walking and looking at the scenery Charlotte would fall fast asleep :)

And wake up refreshed and ready to go!  This is actually the way she emerged from her room one day after her nap... cell phone, sunglasses and purse.  Talk about your California girls!

And then there's baby Kami :)  Oh so sweet!

She doesn't do a lot yet... but some day she will be a wonderful playmate for her big sister who is already anxious to play with her...

Here's Mommy feeding baby Kami

And Mumsey with baby Kami

And my favorite pic of baby Kami with Mommy... 

Yes!  They match!  :)

 And then Aubrey came to visit...

We visited Grampa out in the field working on the fence

She helped Mumsey in the garden.  Here she is
inspecting the grapes.

We did our hair and put our lipstick on together

She played in the creek with Big Lucy, Little Lucy and Tank

She was always ready to feed Daffy

                                                    

She has a new favorite Uncle...

She loved picking raspberries... unfortunately there were very few in the bowl when she was done with them...

Mostly she just enjoyed being outside and soaking up the sun a little...

Well... the end of the story is that I wrote this last Thursday and intended to add the pics the next day but... poof!  It's almost a week later... but that's another blog post!

Ciao!

Anticipation!

Oh I'm soooo excited!  So many fun things to do this weekend!  In Chewelah even!  Who'd a thunk it?  Let's see... where to begin?  Chataqua!  This weekend Chewelah comes alive!  Our annual fair comes to town.  There will be live music all weekend long.  Carnival rides, food galore, all of our talented local artists will bring their beautiful products to be admired and purchased.  I always spend a few hours wandering through the craft booths.  My favorite of course is my friend Donna Talbot who paints so beautifully.  I've shown you my painting before but here it is again :)  in honor of Chataqua.

If you look closely on the porch you can see Lucy, Tank and even Bud the cat.  :)  I always smile when I walk by this painting in my bedroom.  Last winter she painted a beautiful valley scene from somewhere here in Chewelah on a giant saw blade.  It had a pretty barn and was personalized for the owner with their old pick up truck out in the field.  You really have to go see Donna at Chataqua!

My bff Brenda along with delightful husband Dale (really?  Did I just admit that?  :) Someone slap me and nobody tell him!) are coming to stay with us this weekend along with an undetermined number of their girls.  My Aunt Jane and Uncle Jay are visiting us too with their puppies and so we will just have a big ole party!  There will be roasted hot dogs and smores down at the fire pit.  The dogs will tromp through the creek and shake off their wet bodies all over everyone.  It will be great!  Of course we will go into town and hang out at Chataqua.  I might even try a deep fried Twinkie :)  Or NOT!  Or maybe...

On Sunday we will get up early and head for Silverwood.  Yippy!  Always a blast.  It's become an annual event and so much fun!  I mean, where else can you observe so many American Blue Whales in their natural habitat?  :)  Yes, of course I'm including myself!  I'll make the biggest splash of all.  I can't believe it's been a whole year since we last floated the lazy river and spun crazily down the family size 8 person raft water slide.  :)

And then early Tuesday morning I get to fly to S CA to see my brand new grand daughter Kami.  She's one week old today.  Here she is snuggled in Mommy's bed...









And here she is with Mommy and big sister Charlotte...

I know... sorry, blurry pics.  I took a pic of the pics with my phone off of facebook :)  So... horrible picture quality.  But I just wanted you to see her.  Her mommy needs to email or at least text me some pics.  But I will take lots of pics when I go down there next week.

Other tasty things to anticipate from my garden... I say anticipate because they are not ready yet!

 Sugar peas

Zucchinni...

Fennel and green beans

English Cucumbers

Tasty herbs.  Chicken wire is self explanatory!  Stupid chickens!

Super Pumpkins

Tomatoes

This is a new kiwi vine I just planted.  The fruit is small and smooth skinned.  No fuzzies!

Beets...or is that beats?  No... what a dork!

And this is looking down on my tiny sunflowers.  It will be fun to compare this "before" picture with the one I will take when they are in full bloom :)

And finally, here are a couple of the special meals I have been blessed to share with my Aunt Jane and Uncle Jay who are residing in my yard.  I say residing because they rented a PO box in Chewelah a couple of days ago.  I don't have the greatest yard in the world to plug your RV into... but it's gotta be close :)  Not anything I've done mind you!  But my awesome husband has worked very hard on our place and God has blessed us with "world class" scenery.  Any of you who have not been to visit me... this is your invitation!

These are meals prepared at Diamond Dave's Micro Ranch and Orchard :)

This is Kokanee (land locked - lake salmon) that my neighbor Denny gave us.  Unc filleted them which was no small feat.  Well actually, yes it was.  It was a tiny feat :)  Tiny fish.  But they were fabulous seared in the grill pan and topped with his awesome fresh salsa.  This recipe came from a Weight Watchers cookbook.  Some of my very favorite recipes are from my WW cookbooks.  I've got different ones than he does so I'm going enjoy perusing through his.  If you have not picked up one of the more recent Weight Watchers cookbooks I recommend doing it.  The food is amazing!  You just have to limit yourself to ONE portion instead of the three you are going to want to eat.  Also in this pic is a salad I threw together from greens from my garden and a few of the other usual suspects.  Figs and goat cheese make this salad.  I also made a little crustini with oil and balsamic vinegar.  If you stalk my facebook page you will already have seen this but I thought it was very pretty and blog worthy.  A very healthy meal.

This you have not seen.  It was yesterdays breakfast at Cafe Taylor... aka Aunt & Unc's RV.  Mmmmm!  Huevos rancheros...  almost too pretty to eat.  But I did it anyway :)  He's quite a chef!  (Insert sly grin here)

Well... guess I better get busy!  It's a big day, big weekend, big trip next week.  My future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

Ciao!