Summer With the Kiddos

Well, the kiddos are headed back to Colorado on Tuesday. Their flight is at 7am - and we live 2 hours from the airport... meaning my hubby has to get up at (THE CRACK OF DAWN) 2:30 in the morning to take them. OUCH! That's just painful to think about. I don't function at all, that early in the morning.

It's always sad to see them go home, but I'd by lying if I didn't say that it's always nice to settle back into our normal routine.

This summer, we did all sorts of fun things! In fact, I think I can safely say that we had a very FULL summer.

The first weekend that the kids were here (July 4th weekend), we went out on the lake tubing and cruising with our great friends Jeff & Cristi Atchley. We love you guys - and let me just thank you again for offering to take us out and bringing so many tasty snacks and cool drinks. ♥ ♥ ♥  It was a fabulous way to start the summer!

Here is a video of Tori holding on for dear life while Jeff rips her all over the lake. I should probably mention that she asked for it... no literally - she made it very clear that she wanted to be thrown off. He was just giving her what she wanted. LOL!

I should also mention that my chunky boo-tay crawled into the tube too. I'd never been on one before. Jeff was going half of the speed in the video and I was screaming like my life was in danger. Note to self: tubing = not my thing. On the other hand, I'm glad I tried it - because now I know. HA!

Later that weekend, we took the kids to the drive in movie theater. They'd never been to one! We have a really nice one about 20 minutes away- it's a nice treat and a step back in time - which I'm a sucker for.

We also took the kids to the Great Texas Balloon Glow! I had only been once before - when I was very young. They have balloon races throughout the weekend - but at night - they land them all and fire them up for the thousands in the crowd. WAY. TOO. COOL.

They had Noah's Ark, The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe, Spider-pig (whose boo-tay is to the left in the picture above), and numerous other specialty hot air balloons. Really cool thing to see, and absolutely no way to fit them all into one picture.

Needless to say, we also spent a majority of our weekends - enjoying the pool. Ya'll, we enjoyed it early in the morning, at high noon, we grilled out with family, we swam in the rain...and for the last week - we've been swimming in the evening after work. Last night - we even headed out there at MIDNIGHT - to float in the pool and watch the stars for the meteor shower that was suppose to occur.

We also ate lots of good food this summer - pizza, hotdogs, hamburgers, cupcakes, cookie cake, ice cream cake, wedding cake, puppy chow, bruschetta, homemade salsa, fresh squeezed juice..... we pigged out this summer... and ya'll - it was so tasty!

A few weeks back, we let the kids build a fort in our living room and had a movie night under the fort. And yesterday, we stayed in our pjs all day long - and had a Lord of the Rings movie marathon! SO. MUCH. FUN.

I also showed Chandler everything there was to know about gardening - and he enjoyed cutting the okras off the plant. (SINCE THAT'S THE ONLY PLANT THAT HAS FRUITED.)

Yep - all in all - it was a fantastic summer - filled with fun, food and movies. I can honestly say that (THIS BEING THE FIRST ACTUAL HOUSE THAT I'VE EVER OWNED) - this has been the best summer I've had in -as long as I can remember...

There really is.. no place like home. ♥

Saving the World from Illiteracy... One Person At a Time!

Ya'll - I work for the best company in the world! Actually, we were voted one of the BEST companies to work for in Texas for the past 2 years straight!

Our company strongly encourages involvement in the community and volunteer work. One of the ways that we do this collectively, is that we participate in the annual Literacy Council of East Texas Spelling Bee - and every year - we go in costume.

In 2011 - we were nerds! "Nerds for Words" was our motto. LOL

In 2012 - we went as the cast from Hee-Haw - but I was on my honeymoon, so I missed it! *sad face*

This year - we went as SUPERheros! And ya'll - we didn't hold back!!

Out of all the characters to choose - I decided to be cheap. It also didn't help that I completely forgot about the event until the day before!

So I rushed home - grabbed a couple pieces of fancy paper from Michaels and a roll of ribbon - and this is what I came up with:

I should probably mention at this point - that the cape material and the mask were provided by the company. Yep - literally - I bought some yellow ribbon for a belt, some black velvet paper for the "Robin" logo - and some sparkly gold paper for the "R" and the belt buckle. Ha!

Now that's what I call creativity in a SNAP! BAM! POW!

There were quite a few people who decided to come as Batman - but yours truly was the one and only Robin. SPLAT! BOOM! And it's a good thing too -- with that many Bat-womans running around - I had a lot of side-kick-in' to do!

I love how creative the people I work with are. We just march to the beat of our own drum... BLESS OUR HEARTS. We don't just impersonate super-heros past.... we create our OWN super-heros! One of my friends came as "Wonder Kat".... and another was "Ms Sparkle".

Dont tell anyone - but we even had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show up!

And our math team - created their own math superheros - one was a right angle - and she insisted that she was always right. Haha - get it? Another was congruent - and she gawked at being the same size and shape all of her life. LOL. Creative isn't it!?  WE'RE SUCH GEEKS.

Yep - I love us. It's official! I have the greatest teammates - and the best bosses on the planet. I can't wait to see what we come up with for next years Spelling Bee! Toodles!

We've got babies!

Well it's been a long time since I've written. Lots going on at the Casa de Jameson. My step kiddos are coming in 3 days for the summer, we're remodeling the house like crazy, and I've finally gotten my garden to bloom! YIPPEE!

Ok, so after 3 crops never got watered decided to go be with Jesus, I've finally gotten something to stay alive! It's not the original cast of garden vegetables that I started out with, but they've survived when everything else wanted to fail me - and we've finally got babies!

Baby Okra!!

Baby Passion Fruit!!

Ok, so technically, I didn't actually grow the passion fruit. IT WAS IN THE YARD WHEN WE BOUGHT THE HOUSE. But by jove... I'm taking credit for it's survival!

Besides okra and passion fruit, I've got tomato plants, watermelon, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumber and eggplant. None of which have bloomed, but they were all started from seed a little over a month ago. It could be the end of summer before I get any fruit... but you've got to start somewhere, right??

If this year is only a tester year for me to figure out how it all works, I think it's worth it... but wouldn't it be fabulous to have a few jars of pickled okra, some fried green tomatoes, grilled squash, eggplant Parmesan and a whole lot of cold watermelon by the pool this summer?!

Here's to hoping this is one AMAZING summer!

First Year Gardener

Hey Ya'll!! I've officially been a home owner for 2 months now! YIPPEE! And this year, in lieu of the fact that I have a yard, I've decided to try my hand at gardening. There is something very liberating about growing your own food. I was raised by a 60 year old lady (MY GREAT GREAT AUNT), my Auntie, who kept a garden every year. As a child, I would wander through her garden and look at all the pretty tomatoes growing up the vine. They were always the prettiest shade of red. I LOVED walking the dirt rows of the garden in my bare feet. There was FOOD growing in her back yard! Who'da thunk it?!

I grew up eating corn on the cob, fried okra, squash, onions, watermelon, cherry pie, peach preserves, blackberry cobbler - and sometimes, if she was feeling especially perky, she made the BEST fried green tomatoes. In the hot summer, we would go out and pick peas, put em in paper grocery sacks and sit in the living room after lunch, in front of the a/c window unit, watching soap operas and shellin' peas. It was one of my favorite things to do. I'd shell peas until my hands hurt and I LOVED every minute of it. If there were no peas to shell, sometimes we'd share watermelon out on the front porch. Sometimes, it was even a YELLOW watermelon. I had never seen anything like it. I'd also never seen anyone put salt on their watermelon! yuck! I prefer mine as sweet as they come... but I still loved her anyway.

Her brother and his wife (UNCLE JOE & AUNT CEIL (SHORT FOR LUCILLE MAYBE?)) lived next door to her. He raised chickens, had a couple cherry trees, and when I was really little, he also grew sugar cane. As a small child, I would wander through his sugar cane field and pretend it was a jungle. I remember that he'd pull his pocket knife out from the pocket in his overalls and cut me off a piece to suck on. It was a little gritty, so you didn't want to really chew it... but it was wet and sweet, like sugar water. I would suck it till it was dry as a bone. I loved it.

It's those simple, but oh so precious memories that have inspired a desire in me to have a garden of my own.  There is something so 'home' about the idea of a garden. Something so self-sufficient and 'old school' about living off the land and taking care of yourself. It also makes me feel connected, in a small way, to my Auntie.

My garden is a little different from hers though. She was from the old school country garden era (JUST THE BASICS). I added a few extras to her 'tried-and-true' foundation.

Sweet Basil

 Is it sad to think that food can be cute?! This is the most adorable basil I've ever seen! I was re-potting into a bigger container so that it has room to grow.

Eggplant

Ya'll, there is NUTHIN' like eggplant parmesan. I LUV me some eggplant!

Yellow Squash

The only thing better than fried green tomatoes in summer.... is fried squash, or sauteed squash, or steamed squash - heck, ANY kind of squash will do! That's why it is a necessity in my garden.

Watermelon

A summer just wouldn't be a summer if you didn't have watermelon! I plan on having LOTS of watermelon this year! I hear that they're an alkaline food! Oo.... cold watermelon on a hot summer day lounging by the pool. MM Mmm.

Okra

...or as my Auntie used to call it.... OKRIE! Good ol' okrie! I love fried okra... but what I love MORE than fried okra is pickled okra!! And what better time to practice my pickling and canning skills this fall... than with a big ol' bag of okrie!

Lettuce

Gotta have lettuce. I have spinach growing too, but they weren't very photogenic yet. Spinach is really my favorite over lettuce, but a garden wouldn't really be a garden without it. You'd basically just be growin' all the side dishes without the main course. haha.

Tomatoes

And last... but definitely not least.... the queen of the garden... tomatoes. Fried green tomatoes... pasta sauce... salsa... YUM.

I'm also growing parsley and cilantro, but those were just starting to peak. The previous owners of our home must have been garden freaks as well... they were growing mint, onions and rosemary... PLUS the yard has a pear tree, 2 olive trees, and a passion fruit plant. It also used to have a cherry tree, but we cut it down before we realized what it was. (IT HADN'T BLOOMED YET! I FEEL SO BAD.) But the reason we cut it down was because the whole back porch area was grown up with trees and it was one of the ones blocking our view of the pool. What good is a pool if you can't see it?! Eh?

So that's my garden in a nutshell. Hopefully later this summer I will be posting recipes for fried green tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, salsa, pickled okra, eggplant parmesan - and any other recipes I can think of to use up all these veggies. Maybe even some canning ideas.

Until next time!

Good Ol' Christmas Memories...

One of my absolute FAVORITE Christmas memories as a child, is of my Auntie. Every year as we got close to Christmas, she would always sing this one specific song. It was her favorite. It's about a guy sitting on a street corner selling paper and ribbons, and people passing by him and not paying him much attention. She used to cry during a certain spot of the song... and to this day, I hear the song and I cry in the same spot because I can still see her in my mind. She had such a tender heart.

My Auntie was someone that reminded me of a combination of Lucille Ball and Judy Garland. She was a hard worker, grew up as poor as a church mouse, had fiery red hair and loved to dance around the house all by herself while she cooked and cleaned. Every year, she would pull out her same-old, sad-looking Christmas tree, wrap it in tinsel and cover it in neon colored bulbs. She had these tin foil ornaments that would get smashed from year to year, and some retro satin ornaments too. Every year, I would cut all the little strings off of those satin ornaments where they had gotten snagged and fluff all the sad little tin foil ornaments back to life before we decorated the tree. She also had this vintage set of Santa and Mrs. Clause that stood about 1 foot tall and she'd put them on the floor at the front of the tree to guard all the presents. She didn't have central heat and air, instead she had an old gas heater. The lighter was finicky and you had to practically stand on one foot, while rubbing your belly AND patting your head in order to get it to light just right. Otherwise you ran the risk of catching the house on fire.

Those were the days when we didn't have to be entertained 24/7. So as soon as the sun went down, we would turn all the lights off, light up the tree, fire up the ol' heater and just sit in silence... in the dark... staring at the lights. As a child, I bet I memorized every color and ornament on that tree. Blues, reds, greens and yellows.. and then an entire hybrid of colors from lights shining through lights from the backside of the tree. It was SO beautiful. Auntie's tree was always the prettiest. She had such a simple, country, retro style. She did the best she could with what she had, and it never failed to be perfection.

I try to recreate those memories every year. These days, however, I choose all white lights, and rather than tinsel, I use decorative mesh, and rather than shiny satin ornaments, we do sparkly ones. We've also upgraded to central heat and air instead of a temperamental old gas heater. The memories aren't quite the same, but I think the important thing is that we replicate the process. For some reason it always makes me feel closer to her. It was our favorite time of year. Maybe this weekend, I'll take a moment to curl up on the couch, turn off all the lights, crank up the heat and just stare into the tree. It's in those moments, when our brains are left to themselves... sitting in silence, without distraction... that we can truly connect to something higher than us. Maybe it's the Spirit of Christmas, maybe it's the Spirit of God... but the fact is that time slows down... and in those moments - we find a tiny portion of true peace.

Merry Christmas!

Fall has officially FELL.

Hey Ya'll! (spoken in my BEST Paula Deen voice)

You know how they say "Spring has sprung"? Well Fall has fell here in East Texas. It's 80 degrees out! (That's cold for Texans!) It's the first day of October and my birthday is 3 days away! In the spirit of Fall, I decided to make my FIRST sweet potato pie of the season! I found a fantabulous recipe online for a crust-less sweet potato pie with only 80 calories per slice! Yup, you read that right! It's the easiest recipe and SO fantastically delicious! It is slap-yo-mama good!

I baked me up a couple sweet potatoes last night and just threw them in the fridge since I didn't have time to make the pie right away. I LOVE LOVE LOVE fresh sweet potatoes. I wouldn't use a canned sweet potato if my life depended on it! I did, however add a few substitutions to the recipe. I didn't have nutmeg, so I substituted pumpkin pie spice. Surely it has nutmeg in it... right? I also added a little ginger. Hey, what can I say... I was feeling spunky. So blend it all together, and pour into a greased pie pan... and VOILA.. crust-less sweet potato pie!

Crust-less Sweet Potato Pie

2 cups sweet potato (baked and removed from skin)
3 large eggs
1 cup Splenda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk (2% used in nutritional information)

Preheat oven to 350*.

Beat sweet potatoes in mixer until smooth and stringiness is broken down well. Turn mixer onto low and add eggs and milk, then Splenda, and finish with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Spray a pie pan, cheesecake pan, or tart pan well with cooking spray and pour filling in. Cook in oven for 30 to 40 minutes - check often around 30 minutes and remove when center is still just a little bit jiggly (it will carry over and firm up). Let cool for an hour before attempting to slice.

Makes 8 equally-sized slices of pie.

Let me just say this.....Thank goodness that my husband is out of town this week so that I have the whole thing to myself! Truth be told, he wouldn't enjoy it anyway. His favorite pie is punkin'.

BTW: I sprinkled the top of my pie with cinnamon. I am a cinnamon Fah-reak! Love me some cinnamon. Love the flavor, love the smell, love putting it on everything. I also topped it with a spoonful of Lite Cool Whip (20 calories)... and there you have it.... Fall.... on a plate... for only 100 calories. Oh how I LOVE fall!

P.S. Spark Recipes also has a recipe for crust-less Pumpkin Pie. We'll be trying that this weekend when my hunny gets home. 

Goin' To The Fair

One of my FAVORITE yearly traditions.. is to visit the East Texas State Fair! They always come to town a couple weeks before my birthday. In years past, my brother and I would wander around, grab us some food and go laugh at all the carnies. SERIOUSLY! There are women who look like men, men who have no teeth, and half of them... you just can't understand what they're saying when they're trying to shout for you to come over. It never ceases to amaze me all the different styles of people who show up to these things.

So last year, I met my husband and invited him to come with me to the fair. He's lived in Texas for 10 years and had NEVER been to the fair! Can you believe it? Never! Well, we get there and I always head straight for the food. There is absolutely NO way for you to visit and leave the fair without getting a foot-long corn dog and a lemonade. (BTW: back in the day... they were called corny dogs.)

Come to find out, my husband had never had a corny dog! What rock have you been living under man?? So needless to say, he is now a corny dog addict. I may have to put him in therapy for it. This year, as soon as we crossed through the gates, that's the first place he headed! Once our corny dogs were in hand, we headed straight for the expo buildings. Every year, there are all sorts of crafts, photos, artwork, and collections that have placed and won ribbons. Some of them are pretty good! It's pretty fun walking through and seeing all the entries. The last expo building is usually FAV. Every year, they have booths set up showing you how to conserve water and compost your leftover scraps, but this year there was also a cow milking machine. This thing not only taught you how to milk a cow but there was even a little contraption for you to put your finger in and see what it felt like to be milked! Whaaa? Yup, that's right. Get your finger milked! Step right up!  There is NO telling how many fingers have been put in that thing. YUCK. I think I'll pass.

So anyway, we round the corner and the next set of booths are all about the birds and the bees. No really! The have an incubation container with chicken eggs, and also the East Texas Bee Keepers Association with a transparent bee-hive filled with live bees!  I usually pass on the bee station but I LOVE looking at the little baby chicks. This year, one of them hatched seconds before we got there! He was taking in his first few breaths while I was snappin' pictures like a feign. SO PRECIOUS! There is NUTHIN' like seeing a newborn baby figure out the world. 

So this years fair = SUCCESS! Got to eat my corny dog and get me some fresh squeezed lemonade, taste tested Richard's cotton candy, wandered through all the exhibits, watched a pig race, threw some rings at some bottles, watched a baby chick hatch, and walked away.. one happy lady. Can't wait for next year!