Yum!

Sunday school: achievement unlocked!

A Reminder

The Peace of Wild Things - Wendall Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Vile Rat – Sean Smith

http://themittani.com/news/rip-vile-rat 

I don’t even know what to say about this, I’m in tears here. I don’t understand the violence or the motives behind it. I’m just so sad.

o7 VR

Housework Fail

There were some…issues with laundry. On the plus side, I found two socks that matched! Or at least they used to match!

Whoa!

Harvest from the garden was big today! (which is after a weekend of giving away tomatoes to friends and family) Our pepper plants aren’t producing as well as what I thought, but we have gotten a few good-sized peppers.

This is probably the biggest tomato so far. It’s huge and super healthy. I picked tomatoes today for taco salad, but I think I’ll save this one for burgers. Perfect size for a nice cheeseburger!

For scale, this tomato is bigger than a horse! Okay, that may not be as helpful as I would like to illustrate the size, but trust me…it’s a big tomato! It’s also a very small horse.I found this in the garden today…weird. I’m not exactly sure where it came from, but I thought I’d wash it off, pose it next to a giant tomato before tossing it out. Because that’s my sort of nutty.

I love Michigan

Kitty photobomb

Cubby occasionally sits like a person and it’s hilarious. I always want to dress him in little pants and shirt and take pictures but it’s Cubby, who is terrified of person al contact, so I am restraining myself to photos.

Of course Hunter couldn’t let Cubby hog the camera lens. The little princess is pretty sure that whenever the camera comes out, she should be in front of it.

And when I try to move away…this happens-

 

“Excuse me, Jen, I’m not finished being cute yet. Bring that camera back.”

I love The Big Bang Theory

“Or thinks Don Quixote is a book about a donkey named Hotay.”

Comfort Food

Okay, it’s not comfort food. It’s comfort movies and right now, my comfort movie is The A-Team. When I’m stressed or feeling down, it’s nice to pop in this film and watch cheesy dialog, pseudo-military operations and massive explosions. It’s the right mixture of fun and mindlessness that I need tonight.

Pickled Green Tomatoes

Or: What Jen did on her Sunday afternoon - (presented without commentary because this sort of thing is tiring)

   

Recipe from here

The Jungle

Remember my garden and how wee and cute it was? Here’s a link to pics. Super cute, right?! Well, here it is now.

That’s a (very poorly done) panoramic shot of my current garden. It really is like a jungle. My theory in using so many of my plants was that I would still have options if some of them died. Only problem was that nothing died. To the point where I actually have dug up and thrown away a few tomato plants just to give others some breathing room. My green thumb (which has been missing all my life) was super effective this year. I’ve got upwards of 20 tomato plants, 10+ bell pepper plants and even spinach! Even the  marigolds I planted for pest repellant have blossomed! I ran out of tomato cages and had to use bamboo shots, tent stakes and plain old sticks instead. Even the plants that are in cages have outgrown them (we’ve got tomatoes that reach as tall as me).

There’s a part of me that is overwhelmed by how well my garden has grown. The watering, constant replanting and re-staking has taken its toll and there are times when I want nothing more to do with the project. But then I see something growing and  am reminded of putting each seed in tiny containers in my bedroom. It’s kind of amazing to eat a salad with food from my garden, food that I grew myself. Actually, it’s amazing just to see things grow. It makes me want to praise God and His amazing creation! Because as much as I brag and boast about my awesome gardening skills, I’m well aware that God has His hands all over this.

 

Boredom and Buttermilk

 

Remember how I was bored today? Well, I decided to bake a cake! Well, not a cake…banana bread! Even better! Mostly because it doesn’t need icing! I’m overrun with exclamation points!

Let me tell you all the reasons why I love this banana bread. First off, I got to use my bundt cake pan. I bought it for orange cake reasons but I’ve never gotten around to making that (mostly because when I get oranges that are delicious, I end up eating all of them, natch.) This is the first time that I’ve used it and it was a lot of fun! And while I was worried about how the bread would hold up in bundt-format, it worked out well. Secondly, this recipe called for buttermilk and I didn’t have any so I turned to google and discovered that you could make your own buttermilk. So I did! SCIENCE, BABY! Thirdly, I love it because it’s tasty and moist. My baking isn’t always edible and even when it is, it’s usually super dry (not sure why excatly) so I was surprised that this was both tasty and incredibly moist. Yay!

Plus, it’s huge so I have some to take to other people. BANANA BREAD FOR ALL!

Meh

I’m up and dressed and raring to go…nowhere. There are lots of things that I could do today, but nothing feels right. A trip to Marshall, yard sale-ing, chores, even the limited re-release of Avengers is a possibility, but I’m just not feeling any of it today.

I think I want to starfish. Did you ever do that as a kid? You pick a spot on the grass or your living room floor or the sand on a playground and just sack out. Your arms and legs stretched out, taking up as much room as possible. Then…you just lie there, stare into the sky or the ceiling or the underside of your kitchen table and think about nothing. It’s probably the laziest game I ever played as a kid, but there’s something mindlessly comforting about it that appeals to me today.