Fruits of our Labors (and the Earth)

Moon and Stars Watermelon. It's an heirloom plant, which means the seeds haven't been crossbred. The seeds are HUGE! They are about an 1/8" thick! The fruit is very large and very sweet, though. Here you can see all three children. Jimmy only got his through my milk, though.

Grumpy Mommy Day

Hi, Friends.

We are preparing to move. Everything is going well, but we don't have an exact date yet. I'm feeling excited, terrified, and impatient to get on with it.

We had a wonderful vacation to Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, in that order.

Little Jim got his first tooth!!!

Allergy season has struck (mostly Elizabeth) with full force.

My Mom got her mission call! I'll publish it with her permission in a few days.

I accomplished one of my 101 goals! I made someone a birthday cake! The Beehive teacher. I made her a pineapple Cream cake (thank you Grama Fancher for the recipe from Mr. Food.).

101 Goals for 1001 Days

I did a cool exercise found on the website the simple dollar (http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/05/04/101-goals-in-1001-days/), where I wrote 101 goals for the next 1001 days. (that's just under 3 years)

If you know me really well, you might know I'm a goal freak! I love goals, and usually feel best when pursuing one. I almost can't function without basic goals to guide my day.

But, the list is TMI (too much info) for this blog. So, I've posted it at my alter ego's blog. Please feel free to view it there.

www.meetthemrs.blogspot.com

I've organized the list into categories for my convenience.

Mantras to Live By and How to Keep Your Cheese from Molding

I learned some true principles while I was delivering pizzas:
You can't completely ignore your own needs while meeting the needs of others.(Also applies in parenting. You're going to be cranky if you're hungry or sleepy, and if you're cranky the kids will suffer.)


The primary goals of a business should be to serve customers' needs and make money, in that order.


Quality oriented businesses are cheaper to run and more successful.


An inexperienced new employee can see underlying flaws in a business that management is blind to.


Now for the cheese part (hints from Darleen Zaehringer):
Separate your bananas when you get home from the store. They will ripen faster if left connected at the stem.


Store open chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh longer and will not mold.


Bell Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with four bumps are firmer and better for cooking.


Weed control your plants with overlapping sheets of wet newspaper. Cover with mulch. Some weeds will get through some gardening plastic, but they will not get through wet newspaper.


Reheat pizza in a non-stick skillet on med-low heat until warm. The crust will stay crispy.


Add garlic immediately to a recipe for a light garlic taste and at the end of the recipe for a stronger garlic flavor.

Grace has Root Beer

I gave the girls some root beer for a snack this afternoon. While we don't drink soda very often, we had some left over from driving snacks.

After sampling it straight from the can, Grace said to me, "Root beer is the spiciest thing in my life. I bet it has a lot of onions in it."