Let me tell you a little bit about my garden. Our garden plot was overrun with weeds, and we had no tiller, so the poor garden sat sad and neglected for most of the summer. Still wanting to plant something, I looked for an alternative. In the spring I tend to have all kind of plans and dreams for my yard. I buy seeds, I buy plants, I weed, I dig, I mulch, and I am so excited when the tulips come up in the beginning of the spring. This is the time when I want to plant. So, when at Costco one day, I came across the tomato plants, I bought some. I bought four to be exact.

Those four tomato plants sat in my kitchen for a long time. It was too cold to plant any tender anuals for a long long time in the spring. It was petty much June before we could safely plant them outside. But where to plant? I decided to take over a failed flower bed, where I’ve been working on killing the wisteria that’s there for the past two years. I hacked down all the wisteria and killed all the morning glory and pretty much had an empty flower bed on the south side of my house. I moved my barrel of strawberries from their non productive spot in the shade, and planted the four sad lonely tomato plants, and two tiny little pumpkin plants that I transplanted from my parents’ garden.

My little “garden” grew all summer, but I had no tomatoes. What is up with that? And I only have one pumpkin! Granted, it’s a pretty big pumpkin, but one? Only one? Obviously, my gardening skills need some work. Maybe you’re supposed to do more than just plant and water the silly things.

So, here we are, the first week of October, and the warm summer days of 80 degree weather are sadly no more. And I have lots and lots of tomatoes out there on my plants (or should I say bushes?). Tons. But they are mostly all green. What am I going to do with all these green tomatoes? Ugh.

So, when my mother-in-law asked if I wanted some of their tomatoes, I said, “sure.” I could use a few that are ripe. Can’t everyone always use a few tomatoes? When they came to pick up Natalie to take her out for her birthday, they brought in the box of tomatoes. The BOX. I thought I was getting a few, and they brought a whole box. Hmm. Thanks. Now I have to do something with these little red beauties. I forgot to ask them to bring the juicer, so we could make tomato juice like we usually do, but really, I have about 16 quarts left from last year’s juicing extravaganza, so I guess I’m ok in that department.

I decided to be brave and bottle the tomatoes. I googled “how to bottle tomatoes” and got some instructions on how to blanch them and get the skins off and process them. But this little article said to process them in the pressure cooker. Really? Tomatoes? Don’t they just need to go in the steam canner? So, I got down the steam canner and looked up tomatoes and found out that yes, they are acidic enough that they can be done in the steam canner. I got started boiling and peeling and cutting my tomatoes, while washing the bottles in the dishwasher and boiling the lids. My kitchen was going to turn into a steam canner if I wasn’t careful.

I only had to call my mother-in-law for instructions ONCE, which I think is a pretty big deal. I mean, I’ve never even canned anything by myself! Oh, I take that back, I’ve made jam by myself, but really, Ryan or my mom have been around for every other canning endeavor.

When the kids came home, they were all “Whatcha doing, Mom?” but when they saw the tomato mess I was in the middle of, they stayed away. Except Megan, who wanted to help. She ended up being a great helper, putting the salt, sugar and lemon juice in each bottle, then helping me put the lids on. Then into the steam canner they went for 50 minutes, while I cut up and peeled and bottled the rest.

And here it is. The finished product. The 13 quarts and 3 pints of tomato-y goodness.

And you know what? It’s not worth it. Honestly. How much do tomatoes cost, like a dollar for a big can? It took me, like, four or five hours to do this. So, I saved myself, what 15 dollars? Remind me to just go get them from the store next time.

For more “Talk about Tuesday” check out the Lazy Organizer.

I have to tell you about a wonderful new game! I entered a contest on the Free Birthday Treats blog for a Kubit2me game. Well, I won the drawing, and was contacted by Mary Kay from KuBit2me for my address. I mentioned that it would be fun to play this game for my daughter’s birthday party on Friday. She said she didn’t know if it would arrive in time, but she FedExed it from Illinois. Imagine my delight on Friday when the FedEx man brought me a box. Oh, the timing!!

I opened it up and took out the game, which looked perfect for a 10 year old girl’s birthday party. It’s this fuzzy cube with pockets, and you pull out cards with a truth or dare question. I took out some of the questions about boys, but most of them were very tame, like:
“Do you think you look like someone famous? Who is it?
or “Out of everyone in the group you’re playing with, whose wardrobe would you want?”

The dares were fun, too:
“Pretend you’re a dog, and you have an itch behind your ear. Scratch it with your foot.”
“Pretend you are two. Give us your best spit bubble.”
or my favorite,
“Fill up a lightweight plastic cup with water. Pick up the cup with your teeth, tilt your head back and drink all of it.”

They get points for doing the dare or answering the truth, and they get to reach into the bottom of the block and pick out a bracelet for their point. The first person to get to 10 points wins. And there are bonus points, special gold bracelets worth 5 points. It was a fun fun game. And think of the options! You can even download your own cards with other questions for free from the website. Of course, there are other styles of cubes, too. There’s “Now you’re talking”, which is orange and blue and has different questions, and a Li’l Scholars cube. And there are bonus boxes with new cards. I think once you have the cube, you could buy different bonus boxes for all three games.

Of course, I’m thinking that I wish I had had this when I was working in primary, but I’m sure I can come up with some options for young women, too. Because it was a really fun game. So, thanks again to Mary Kay at Kubit2Me. I hope this game is a big hit, because I know it was tons of fun with my family, and we’ll use it again and again. And thanks for saving my birthday party!

Today is my daughter Natalie’s 10th birthday. Tonight is her birthday party. I’m totally unprepared. She wanted an ice cream social, so I’ve got ice cream, and I’m going to get toppings today. Instead of a big cake, I thought it would be great to bake up these cupcake cones. Well, the recipe says to fill 1/2 to 3/4 full. I would suggest 1/2. about 13 minutes into baking, I smell the awful burning smell, and rush to the oven. The batter is oozing over the sides of the cupcakes and spilling onto the bottom of the oven. Ugh! I try to carefully take the muffin tin out of the oven, and while doing so, all the cupcakes tipped over and spilled on each other, the pan, the bottom of the oven, the floor… you get the picture. In a panic, I freaked out.

Ryan was home at the time, and thankfully he came to my rescue and helped clean up the ooze.

After the freaking, we got the batter cleaned up and mananged to set them all back up and put the cookie sheet underneath them and bake them for a few more minutes. But they were pretty much a disaster. The kids didn’t mind, and gobbled them all up when I presented my failed attempt at birthday party fare to them. They still tasted good.

Well, I’ve given up. I’m not going to do the cupcake things, I’m just going to buy a plain old one layer cake from the grocery store and call it good.

Now I’ve got to get my house cleaned up and plan some games.

Tonight when we do the party is also a football game, where my son “gets to” march. But he’s mad that I won’t come and pick him up when he’s done so that he can be to the party, too. I’m only one person, kids. I can either throw a party or pick you up from the high school. Maybe your dad can drive you—-oh, that’s right, Dad’s in New Jersey today and will be no help at all. It seems to me he was out of town for the last birthday party I threw. Do I see a theme, here?

Whatever. Maybe I can give him my phone and he can call me when the band’s done, and then I can leave the party for a few minutes and pick him up. Maybe.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get a personalized cross word puzzle made, get the stuff ready for some games, make the favors, wrap the presents, make meatloaf for her birthday dinner, take John to preschool, call the band office about the tour payment, and …Oh yeah. clean the house.

Today I went to go and pick up the last of the Happenings Books that Cole’s been selling for his marching band trip. I had called the lady and gotten her address, and went out to find it.
“10684. There it is.” I pulled up to the house, but didn’t see any books left on the porch. She had told me she wouldn’t be there, but would leave them on the porch.

Well, there was a note on the door, so I went up to see what it said. Hmmm. The note wasn’t to me, but it said to ‘leave the papers inside’. Or something like that. What to do, what to do? I rang the doorbell, just to see if maybe SOMEONE was home. I waited for a minute, and there was no answer. Hmmm, I thought, if there’s a note on the door, maybe the door’s open. Maybe the books are just inside the door. I turned the knob, opened the door a little bit, and saw no books. Maybe I’ll leave a note or something to say that I was here. I’ll just peek around the door a tiny bit. No books. This looks kind of like a grandma house. Not what I’d expect to see from what I knew about this lady. What I did see, however, were some family pictures on the wall, and not one of them looked like the family I knew.

I quickly shut the door and realized that I might just not be at the right house.

Panicked, I hurry back to the car. It’s not really breaking and entering because I didn’t break in. The door was unlocked. And I didn’t really enter, either. I just looked in. So, it would be more like opening and peeking. I don’t think that’s really against the law, is it? Get me out of here.

Back in the car, I looked at my notes. More carefully this time. Oh. It’s 10648, not 10684. This is the problem you get when your house numbers are 5 or 6 digits long. It’s just too hard to keep track of all those numbers. I drove south and there, about 3 houses away, was the house I was looking for. 10648. And what do you know? Out on the porch was a bag full of Happenings Books just for me. I hopped out of the car, grabbed the books and fled the scene. I’m glad that
a-nobody was home at the first house
b-I didn’t leave a note
c-nobody saw me. At least I HOPE nobody saw me.

I bought myself a new hair dryer this week. The old one was sending out sparks. And unless you’re falling in love, I don’t think sparks around hair is a good thing. Any kind of flame accelerator should also be kept away from the hair. Especially when there’s product involved.

So, while at the Target spending a lot of money on supplies and presents for a certain birthday party that’s happening tomorrow, I remembered that I needed a new hair dryer, and I picked up this little baby.

Not only was it on sale for around $11, but a portion of the proceeds goes to support breast cancer. Now I don’t know how much that portion could be. Probably not that much on an eleven dollar purchase, but it still makes me feel good knowing that at least a few cents of my purchase will be going somewhere good. And it’s pink!

And the new hair dryer? Oh, I’ve forgotten how nice it is to have so much power in my hands. All 1875 watts. I mean, I point that thing at my wet hair and it feels like I’m in a wind storm. How cool is that? I’m so excited, I’ll probably wash my hair again today!

Here’s Grandma and Grandpa at the band Family night supporting their grandson.
I love this picture! I think the early evening light is great, it gives the picture a warm feeling. And it’s kind of like a where’s waldo picture, with all the different things going on.
–Can you find Paige’s yellow purse?
–Where’s the pink hat?
–Is that lady opening a yellow can of something? Squirt, maybe? And what’s her son saying that starts with a “CH”?
Being new to the marching band thing this year, I don’t know and recognize these people, but I can still find them interesting in a photo. And is that a tennis ball being thrown in the back there?

But most of all, I love that my parents are in the center of the picture. There’s my mom with her sandals and socks and her visor. There’s my dad in one of his many BYU hats. And they are prepared, as always, with their binoculars. (I wish we had a decent pair of binoculars. We are always going to things in the conference center or other very large venues when binoculars would come in handy. So, mom, if you are still reading this post after the sock and sandals comment, we could use some binoculars for Christmas sometime.) And there they are to support their kids and their grandkids in their activities. I hope when I’m a grandparent that I’m supportive like that.

Here’s the rest of the crew. My motley mix of mismatched girls and their dad. Megan’s wearing her cleats and shin guards, since she obviously just came from soccer. Ryan looks handsome with his “post travel” scruff and a show t-shirt. John is playing with something on the bleachers, as usual. But this is about how they look on any given day. I’m not in the picture, because I’m the one taking it, but maybe that’s why I like it. I can see my family as they are, and not be critical about how I look in the picture.

But where’s Cole? He’s not in the picture. That’s because he’s one of those ones in black out there marching on the field.

Can you spot him? He’s the only boy in the flute section, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, he’s the only boy with a bunch of girls. But on the other hand, he’s the only boy with a bunch of girls. Maybe that’s all part of his plan.

He’s enjoyed his marching band experience this year, although it’s keeping him so very busy it’s hard for him to keep up with all his homework. He’s got two more months of this to get through, though, so he’d better not give up now. I think it’s been a very positive experience for him. It’s been difficult as a ninth grader to always know what’s going on and to feel a part of the group, but he’s got all those floutists to mother him around and take care of him, so I guess that’s a good thing. He’ll get to go to Disneyland with the band in November, and he’s looking forward to that.

Since we’re talking about family and “family pictures” I can’t leave out this little gem.

This is the set of puppets that John made at school. The teacher wrote everyone’s names on the back, and then John decorated all of us so that we look like…..well, us. I guess. He gave Dad a funny little clown mustache and gave me a “sad face” he said. I’m the one with the pink bow. Or maybe those are the wrinkles starting to form on my face that he’s drawn in there. It’s great to know how you really see us, kid. We love you, too.

I was watching some daytime talk/news show on tv and they had a segment on buying the right bra. One thing they said stuck with me. They said that you should have 3 regular bras that you rotate through, and your bras should be worn for no longer than 18 months.

Seriously? That’s 18 divided by 3… that means that on average, you are buying a new bra every six months. Ew. Who does that? Bra shopping is the worst! You can’t bra shop with little kids, and there’s the whole try on the bra, then see how it looks with a shirt over it, then take off the shirt, take off the bra, try on another bra. It’s exhausting! And there are so many choices! How does one truly decide which is the best means of support?

So, my questions for you are: How long have you had your current bra? Do you have three bras that you rotate, or is it just the one poor bra doing all the work. And, how much is the most you’ve spent on a bra?

We had a really neat Young Women activity last night, where each of our girls invited a guest speaker to come and speak about their jobs. They were supposed to pick someone who is working in a field that they might want to work in when they grow up.
*First Peg talked about how she had been a journalist, run an ad agency, and is now in real estate. She told how much she loves what she does.
I want to be a real estate agent when I grow up.
*Then Kathryn told us all about the neonatal unit and how she takes care of babies as small as one pound. She showed pictured and even the tiniest blood pressure cuffs. She told us all that she loves her job and he never ever wants to quit.
Wow, maybe I want to be a nurse when I grow up.
*Next Jo told us all about how at 52 she had gone back to school to become a chef. We learned all about cooking school and the fun things you could do with a degree in foods. She brought homemade caramels, thumbprint cookies, and cinnamon hard candy.
I probably don’t want to be a chef, but it’s nice to have one as a friend.
*Dee told us about how she LOVES being a teacher, even though she took a round about way to becoming a teacher, and only just got her license last year. She says she doesn’t feel like she’s teaching so much as she is helping those kids feel like they are good at something and important every day.
I wish my kids had her as a teacher. Maybe I should be a teacher when I grow up.
*Lisa gave a wonderful analogy of flowers and being a mother. She explained that even if we aren’t “working” in a career, as mothers we use all the knowledge we have gained, and it’s like having all of those careers wrapped up in one.
I’m glad I’m a mother.
Even if I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

It was really a wonderful activity, and it fulfills a personal progress requirement. It was good for the girls to have to ask their own guest speaker and take some initiative there, plus they got so much information on some of the wonderful choices they have, and the importance of getting an education.