Pics!!

Ok, an adult picture of mommy dressed up (gasp! no peanut butter, no spongebob or drake & josh, no frumpy jeans and t-shirt!) Also my kiddos, in their cheerleading uniforms. Both of these events were a very big deal, for very different reasons:) P.S. The day of the cheerleading event I was back to frumpy jeans and T-shirt, and very well may have had some peanut butter and jelly fingerprints on me somewhere...

Lack of Pics, Lack of Time

I am regularly away from my home for 8-12 hours at a time. Today was Saturday and I still worked and then went to our first cheerleading competition and got home 12 hours after we left this morning! Thus the lack of blogging and pic posting this week. Alas we won first place ANDDD my Hannah won her own trophy for being the best flyer on top of the pyramid!!!! (Daddy's girlfriend is the coach and daddy's parents WHOM I LOVE came to see the competition but daddy had to work; so it was me, Dave's kids, Dave's parents, and Dave's girlfriend. Who thinks I should get a trophy?!) All in all it was a fabulous day though, I will post pics. I'll also post some of the gala last weekend mentioned in the previous post; my dress was too cute not to share with the blogosphere :)

Blast from the Past

I'm in the middle of a high school reunion weekend and pulled out some old pics from the teams I was on. Those of you who know me now will not be surprised to learn that I was in Speech, and Debate, and was very successful at both! So 40 years worth of Chesterton S&Ders are getting together this weekend; tonight was an informal reception that was a HOOT. Tomorrow is the Gala; I"ll post pics when we're done. Here are some from 1992 and 1993! Nice and skinny but BADDD clothes:)

Save! The!...Batteries?

I was cleaning out a closet this morning and in one of the corners was a bag full of old batteries I need to take to the recycling bin at the store. I had mentioned this to a family member recently, who didn't know you can't throw them in the trash. Other no-nos include old fingernail polish bottles, aerosol cans, and oil-based paint cans. In Valpo, fortunately, there are lots of places to discard these things! The courthouse (the "new" one) has several bins in their lobby for old VHS tapes, old cell phones, and batteries. Walmart has several bins as well. And on hwy 130 heading west out of town, on the right side is a hill with a gate, that you can drive up and leave your electronics. They have a shed, and a little old man sits at the gate and asks what you're bringing. They then recycle the electronics when the shed is full. Did you guys know that?! One last tidbit: the city takes all their trees there, from excavating projects, etc. The humungo wood-chipper there chews the trees into mulch... piles and piles... each WAY bigger than my house; and it's free to the public! It's not pretty mulch, not treated or dyed, but if you have projects around your trees or under a swingset in the backyard, grab a pitchfork:) Save the Earth! Save your Batteries! Use free mulch! :)

Damn Liberals

And I'm one of em:) Except can you be a Pro-Life Liberal? That's my question for the day. Cuz here's why I couldn't be a politician. I want a Bible-believing Bible PRACTICING president. That means don't kill unborn children. It means "Blessed are the peacemakers" and "Thou shalt not kill" so let's not go to war. It means being an environmentalist because we're called to be good stewards fo the Gifts God gives us...and the earth is one of those. It means women's rights because in God's eyes there's "neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female." As in, we're all equal. It means hate the sin love the sinner--so no homosexual couples probably shouldn't get married but they should be treated with respect because they were knitted together in their mothers womb just like I was. It means judge not lest I be judged. It means take care of the widow, the poor, the meek. It means don't lie to the people who elected you. It means be loyal to your spouse, for real. So.... I WANT AN EQUAL RIGHTS PRO LIFE PRO ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATIVE MORALIST LIBERAL ECONOMIST WHO IS PRO FAMILY AND ANTI WAR. Anyone? :) (Oh yeah they have to be ok with me not vaccinating my kids, so I guess they better not have the CDC in their back pocket either. Or any other big lobbying whatever, either. Ok now I"m done. I think).........

Mmmmmmmmm...Berries......

My mom has a billion black raspberries, which are small dark purple little things, like the size of your nail on your index finger (as opposed to mulberries which are purple but oval and grow on trees, or blackberries which are oval and grow on bushes but come out later in July). Black raspberry pie is my favorite dessert ever. Even better than Dove's dark chocolate, which seriously runs a very close 2nd:) Anyway, black raspberries are only ripe for like 2-3 weeks in late June-early July, and to pick them you have to: wear jeans and a sweatshirt to protect yourself from thorns, wear bugspray to protect yourself from the misquitos that live in the thick bushes, and you can't be squeamish about the usually-friendly little spider fellas (mostly daddy-longlegs) that like the berries too and need to just be friendly flicked out of the way! Sounds like a lot of work but I promise it's worth it if you can find the good patches of berries. Wild berries that grow in vines along the road are the best; be careful because they smash easily! Wash gently with cool water in a collander, and let them air dry without handling them too much (they squish very easily!) Once they're dry transfer them to freezer bags quickly; the longer they sit out the squishier they get:) But SO WORTH IT to pull out a baggie of summer goodness from the freezer in January!!!!!!! So good for cobbler, jam, and pies. I'm hungry just talkin about it

Food--Pioneer Style

Yesterday was my day off, which is a euphemism for "do laundry change the oil mow the grass get groceries get kid stuff done" day. Well, yesterday I did none of that! Instead Aldi had bi-color sweet corn on sale for 10 cents an ear (10 cents! At Walmart it's 25, at fruit stands it's 25-35). My mom and I bought 150 (!) and spent the day shucking and boiling. Actually it wasn't all day, we had it done in about 3 hours and had spent $16 on what ended up being 50 quart-sized bags of corn to freeze! Yay! Then we went out and picked raspberries; I'll save the berry-picking post for another day:) But here's how you do the corn:
--Shuck it--preferably outside, it's messy!--by removing all the green leaves, and the "stringy" corn-silk. Break the stems off cobs as well.
--Soak the ears in a sinkful of cold water for a few minutes to rinse them off and "shock" them
--Put ears in pot of boiling water, but just for 1-2 minutes. You don't want it fully cooked.
--Pull ears out of boiling water with tongs, let cool on cookie sheets thoroughly
--With SHARP knife, hold one ear of corn vertically with one hand and carefully slice corn kernels off cob with other hand.
--Let the kernels continue to cool off in a big bowl or on another cookie sheet; any steam will result in ice crystals once you bag the corn and put it in the freezer.
--Once the corn kernels are totally cooled, use a measuring cup and measure 2 to 2 1/2 cups into each once quart freezer baggie. This is perfect for a meal; pull out 1 baggie for 2-3 people, two baggies for 4-6 people (or corn lovers who could eat 3 baggies all by themselves!)
--extra tip: before sealing baggies lie them flat on the table, squashing corn into a flat rectangle. Seal the baggie and then stack them on top of each other; lots more room in the freezer!

HAPPY CORN-ING!

Toiletries... From the Kitchen?

Ok this sounds nuts but you guys are used to my crazy ideas so here goes. In an effort to #1 save money, and #2 help the environment, and #3 reduce the chemicals we use in/on our bodies I've begun researching ways to clean our house and ourselves with things we already have. For example, have you ever brushed your teeth with a paste of baking soda and peroxide? Your teeth will SQUEAK when you're done, I swear. (Do follow up with regular toothpaste occasionally, for the flouride your enamel needs). Also try cleaning your bathroom with vinegar; no streaks, cheap, disinfects. Or how about olive oil as eye makeup remover ? (I love that one). Olive oil is also a good earwax remover; put in with an eyedropper, lie down for 10 minutes to let it soak, put in a cottonball for a half hour as you go about your activites, remove cottonball. Yuck and Yay! all at the same time. Safe and cheap; I'm all about safe and cheap:)