The canner is bubbling on the stove,(what what?!) there are clean, folded clothes sitting neatly in their piles on the living room floor and the girls are both sleeping like little angels.  It has been a cloudy day so far, so we have mostly stayed indoors and did laundry and watched a movie and made tomato messes and other sorts of things little homebodies do. 

   You know me, I like to gogogo, but I need these days every once in a while.  Days to just be home.  To catch up on all the homey things.  I wear homemade aprons and put on something to listen to (did you know they have a PG comedy station on Pandora? Hilarious) and it just all feels good.

   This morning was a treat.  I actually got up before the girls for once.  Every time I actually do that, I think (of course) "Why don't I do this every day??"  But oh, that squishy little alarm clock with two arms, two legs, curly hair and sloppy kisses happens to have 3 molars coming in and is usually sleeping right beside me, ready to wake at the slightest noise. It isn't that rare to be up before one, but up before BOTH feels like a special treat.  I want to work harder and harder at making that the norm, but in the meantime, I will enjoy each sacred, stolen moment.

  
   I was able to drink my coffee in peace and have my quiet time in....well, quiet.  Such a concept!  Such a notion!  I even chatted amiably with a neighbor lady taking her early morning walk and felt like such a responsible, mature, morning-type person and it felt goooood.  Remind me of all this tomorrow at 6:30, mmmmkay? 

    Then it was time to get to work, and get to work I did.  I started a load of laundry, fed the girls scrambled eggs, and then set them down to play and watch a movie while I dove into the tomatoes.  I didn't tackle salsa or pizza sauce or anything too ambitious (baby steps, people!).  I figured diced tomatoes would be enough for one day.  And we go through those pretty quick, so it will feel so nice and healthy and frugal and other pleasant adjectives to be pulling out a homemade jar of them throughout the winter.

  
   *Little-known fact*  For maximum results when canning, make sure you have a bag (the larger the better) of peanut butter m&ms close at hand.  Reward yourself for every batch you do.  Or every jar.  Or every tomato.  It's really your call on this one.

   But that's not all!  (!!!!!!!!!)  Yesterday I did green beans.  It wasn't canning mind you, just snipping the ends, rinsing them and putting them in the freezer, but it was still some sort of produce-preservation!  So I've got to get some points for that, right?

P.S.  The best way to snip green beans is while wearing your swimsuit, sitting in the hot sun with a sprinkler misting you while your phone plays music from underneath a towel.  Bet your mom never taught you that.

   And these were no ordinary green beans, oh no!  They weren't ones I had to buy at a farmer's market or produce stand, or even ones that I had to slave over in my own garden.  They were free.  That's right, FREE.  Not many things in this life are free anymore, and so when something is, you jump on it!  My sister, (in her amazing, frugal ways) or maybe it was her husband,  happened upon a place that they score these free beans from, and they passed on a garbage bagful to me. Score!


So I guess it just all goes to show that maybe I don't always sit on the sidelines blogging after all. 

*grin*
   

We stayed home from church this morning. 

   Randy wasn't feeling great and I'm not courageous enough to brave church with the two little ladies on my own, so we all stayed in and didn't get dressed up or rush around like crazy people, and it felt rather wonderful. 

   Don't get me wrong, I love church and the fellowship we experience there, but some days it is nice to just have a little down time at home.  A little coffee, a little reading, a little Whinnie the Pooh, and some peace and quiet. 


   The weekend was a good one.  I am one to enjoy lots of activity....hosting and going places, events and parties, friends and family, etc.  Randy is one to like things a bit slower, with time at home and time as a family, maybe a movie or a walk with the girls.  I'd say that this weekend was a good balance of the two.  And isn't that what keeps marriages strong?  Finding a balance. 


   Friday evening we stayed home and had BBQ for dinner.  This wasn't just any old BBQ, this was pulled pork sandwiches from a pork shoulder that had smoked/roasted for 8 hours!  And then of course no BBQ is complete without the 'fixins' so we also had coleslaw, cornbread and baked beans.  If only we had sweet tea it would've been just like Bo-Mack's.  Randy recently found a new love, and he's found it in his homemade smoker.  He's taken such pride in it, and is constantly thinking up foods he could prepare on it, and ways to tweak it and make it a little better.  I would post pictures, but he wants me to wait until he makes a better one and maybe paints it.:)  So for now I'll just post this picture we took on a walk we took afterwards to burn some of that BBQ off. 

  There is a bridge over the river just a short walk from our house, and we haven't attempted fishing very often on it, maybe a few times our entire time living here.  But luck would have it that on his VERY FIRST CAST, he pulled up this beauty.  Flawless BBQ from his homemade smoker and then a good-sized catch on the first try?  He was feeling his oats that night, that's for sure.  What a guy.:)

    Jocelyn, on the other hand was T.E.R.R.I.F.I.E.D. of the fish he caught, and when it would flop on the ground she would just go ballistic.  In a sense it was slightly funny, and in another it was not at all.  I just don't know what to do to get this kid un-afraid of animals.  Like seriously, it's debilitating.  If we go somewhere there are pets, she can hardly enjoy herself the entire time.  It doesn't matter if it's a large, forboding dog or a tiny kitten.  Any suggestions to helping her fight this phobia?

   Last night we enjoyed a delightful evening over at my sister's house.  The menfolk played some lawn golf (is that what it's called?) the ladies soaked their feet and exchanged recipes, and the kids all ran around, playing happily and contentedly together.  Sounds like a good time to me! 

  
   Sweet corn sure doesn't last long around here.  And while Oregon corn is very sweet and tasty and perfectly fine, you just can't beat good old fashioned Iowa corn.

   So what should my dear sweet mom and dad happen to mail us the other day?  That's right, a big ragamuffin box of Iowa corn.  Those poor ears were plucked from the comfort of their garden rows, stuffed into a box and tossed, bumped and jostled all the waywaywayway out West, where they found themselves in a boiling pot on my stove.  There was enough for Shannon and I and our families to enjoy, and enjoy we did.

  Well,well, well...look who got their camera to download pictures.  It's still not showing anything on the viewfinder window-thingy, but hey, this is better than nothing!

  It's an annual tradition of ours to attend the Scandinavian Festival in Junction City, Oregon.  There is always amazing food, interesting people to watch, smells to smell, and friends to bump into.  You know, pretty much what you would expect at a Festival.  There's also all of this fun, folksy, Scandinavian style dancing to watch, but we never take in much of that as we've got squirmy, restless little ones, and it's always a better idea to just keep moving.

   It started pouring rain when we were about 10 minutes away and I was just sure we would be fighting rain the whole time.  But thankfully, the skies cleared and God seemed to smile down on all of our silly little frolicking, and a good time was had by all.


  I wish I would have gotten a picture of all the other food, but for some reason this was the only one I got.  The thing I always end up getting each year (not sure exactly why) is the crab puff.  Another necessary item is the Fri-jo.  Randy always gets the Italian sausage and other winners are the meat pies, Philly steak sandwiches, and supposedly, the Abelskeevers, although I think I've only tried one once. 

    Nathan & Alisa's daughter Trillium (one of the ones born in the baby boom around the time Charlotte was born:) was so very festive and Scandinavian looking, and positively darling as always.