...and she's gone...

Brooke went back to school today and was very excited to get back (awake at 4:30!!). I am sure that the excitement will wear off, come Monday. She has LOTS of friends coming in as freshmen. The dorms have a new look. The top bunks are freakishly high & of course that is all that was left.

So, it's back to normal here at home with my one mellow child. :)

Packing in the Last of the Summer Fun

Summer is winding down here, but we have some "annual events" to accomplish in the short time that Brooke is home. We spent some time on the lake Sunday afternoon. It's always fun when we can share that with some of our college kids. Just three were back on Sunday, plus Brooke.

Brooke & Brennan are getting some good use out of the trampoline tonight. We'll see if they make it the whole night! They even have a laptop out there to watch movies. This will probably be the extent of the camping this year.

*Update: They made it until about 6:30 a.m., when a pretty bad storm with lots of lightening blew in. Brooke was a little concerned about lying in water while their shelter was supported by metal poles. :)

She's Back!!!

We headed for Union Grove on Sunday after church to pick up Brooke. We spent the night in a guest room in Findley Center where Brooke lived for the summer. It was a long and tearful goodbye, but Brooke finally made her way around to all of her favorite residents on Monday morning. It was a tear jerker to watch. We spent Monday night in Appleton and did tons of shopping Monday & Tuesday. It was fun but very tiring.

Obviously, things are back to normal around here.

It doesn't get more normal than this...take a look...
She'll be home for just about two weeks before she has to head back to school.

The summer flew by!!!

Trying to copy...

Have you ever eaten at Red Robin? I ate there this week with my sisters and my mom. We took her there for her birthday (she suggested it!) I had the Bonzai burger ($8.29!!!) Today I made my own version. Just mixed up some brown sugar and soy sauce, and marinated the burgers with it while they were grilling. Then I did the same with some pineapple. They turned out pretty good!!

The Recipe

Well, I can't very well leave you in the dark since I gave you proper warning about store bought relish. This homemade version is great and I have been making it for years. It is also rather simple. Here goes:

Grind up-

6 qts. cucumbers

2 large carrots

2 green peppers

*(I used one red pepper)

1 medium onion

If you are as fortunate as I am, one quick trip to the basement pile of wedding gifts that your daughter had to temporarily leave behind, may turn up something like this...

JUST KIDDING!!!!!! I did NOT use her "Deluxe Chopper"!!! ;)

Anyway...once all those veggies are chopped up tiny, add 1/4 cup canning salt and let stand 3 hours or overnight. Drain well. Add:

6 cups sugar

1T dry mustard

1tsp. tumeric

1 qt. vinegar

Cook all this for 1/2 hour on high.

Then put it into jars. By this time, the relish is probably hot enough that the jars will seal, but I water bath them for 15-20 minutes just to be safe!!

It looks like this makes about 9 pints, plus a little extra that went straight into the fridge.

Obviously I have more to do today than I care to think about and I am procrastinating, because here I am...blogging about relish!!!

Hot & Humid... Hectic yet Happy!!

Well, that title pretty much sums up the summer here!!

Today, a little bit of this is going on...

I'm making pickle relish. During my college years I spent two summers working at a "pickle factory." Those of you who don't know any better, consider yourselves warned...NEVER buy pickle relish from a store!!!! I will just leave it at that. This homemade version tastes much better anyway!!

I'm also crafting and getting ready for a show this weekend.

I am soooo looking forward to getting back into the "normalcy" of school starting up again (believe it or not!!) Brennan is trying to get me to buy this for him on ebay:

It makes stickers and is only at $9.99 right now. Hmmmm...it could come in handy, but I can't imagine why he is not excited about the $500.00 I already dropped on him this week...



Doesn't all of that just get you excited??!!!!! It's enough to keep me up at night planning away!!! I'd better get back to the relish...