Pickle's Three

I posted pickle's birthday photos on my photography site. Enjoy!

Surprise!

Look what . . .


came in the mail yesterday!


Maya from Maya*Made offered up a free pincushion for the first two people who ordered her new bucket pattern, and I was one of them!

The pattern is awesome, and as soon as I get things back together here after our vacation, I'm going to get started on some buckets with the coffee sacks my sister brought me last month. She made a special trip to the coffee roaster and packed an entire suitcase with coffee sacks to fly out to me--how cool is that?

When I get some buckets made, I'll be sure to post photos.

I just love surprises, don't you?

The Fourth

Available from Phantom Fireworks

By Shel Silverstein

Oh

CRASH!

my

BASH!

it's

BANG!

the

ZANG!

Fourth

WHOOSH!

of

BAROOOM!

July

WHEW!

Chicken Noodle Salad

First, I must apologize for the odd looking noodles. It was completely overcast and even rained a bit as I was taking photos! I'll take lousy light if it means I get a slightly cooler (91 degree) day and a few sprinkles!

This is one of the happiest 'throw together' meals I've ever made!

Last summer, we were running low on food (I hate strongly dislike grocery shopping), and rather than go to the store, I searched for whatever I could find that might masquerade as dinner without requiring me to really cook.

Here's what I came up with:

Chicken Noodle Salad

2 c. cooked, cubed chicken breast
1 lb. pasta, cooked and drained
2 apples, diced fine (I use gala and granny)
2 stalks celery, diced fine
a couple of handfuls of sunflower seeds
a couple of large handfuls of shredded cheese

dressing
1 c. mayo
2 T. acid (red wine vinegar is our favorite, but lemon juice works too)
large pinch kosher salt
lots-a fresh ground black pepper

Mix dressing in a small bowl then add to other ingredients; mix well. Chill at least two hours before serving.

That's it--a complete meal. You get meat, pasta, fruits and veggies all wrapped up in a happy mayo blanket!

I keep cooked, diced chicken breast in 2 c. portions in the freezer, so outside of boiling noodles for five or six minutes, this is a cooking-free meal which, when it's climbing towards 110 outdoors, is a very good thing.

It's Rain!

Pickles

These ones will be delicious in about three or four days.


This one has been delicious since day one.

Just a little side note: Did you know that Kosher Dill pickles don't use vinegar? I never did! They are allowed to ferment naturally in the open air.

Today's Harvest :: 3 lb. 5 1/8 oz.

Now, off to the kitchen to wash and process this delightful basket of goodness!

Today You Are Three

Dear Baby Girl,

Today you are three.

I woke up early and watched you as you slept right through the time of your birth. I whispered Happy Birthday in your ear. You rolled over.

You finally woke up, opened your eyes as wide as can be and smiled. I sang you Happy Birthday, and you grinned the whole time in a very sleepy, dreamy way.

We talked about how today you are three--not two anymore. Now when people ask you how old you are, you get to say, "I am three!" You like the idea of that.

You helped me make your favorite pancakes for breakfast, with extra chocolate chips. They were delicious.

After getting ready for the day, we went to the Library to read books--you were so excited to go on your birthday! You chose 11 books to borrow for the week.

You had chicken bites and orange fries for lunch with lots of ketchup and milk to drink.

You slept for two and a half hours--which made for a much more pleasant afternoon than when you don't!

Grandma gave you an art set with LOTS of stickers, so after your nap, you worked on a sticker page for Daddy to take to his office. You are always thinking of others.

When Daddy came home, you gave him his wonderful picture, then brought some dolls and furniture to the family room to play with Daddy. I love that your rough and tough daddy is so good at being gentle and playing with you on your terms.

You requested macaroni for dinner. We decided on some fresh corn on the cob and hot dogs to go with it, and Daddy requested fried corn like Grandpa W used to make us. Yum!

For your cake, you asked for white cake with blue frosting. I knew what you really meant was that you wanted an angel food cake from scratch with homemade strawberry jam filling topped with blue, powdered sugar glaze. I'm so glad you loved it!

After dinner, we sang and you blew out your candles on the fourth or fifth try. You opened presents from us and then we dove into the cake and the giant tub of ice cream we forgot to get out at your party on Saturday--oops!

You got some new puzzles, books, letter magnets and your very first Bible. You were so excited to have your very own 'Sunday School Book!'

You are asleep now with Daddy (even though you said you would sleep in your own bed when you were three) and I am staring at a bunch of dirty dishes and blue icing drips all over that need wiped up. I'll take this kind of mess any day if it means I get to celebrate you being precious, wonderful you.

I hope each birthday Jesus has for you is filled with love, pancakes, books and blue icing.

Love,
Mamma

Corn, Bugs & Tomatoes

Our friend Heath just so happens to be a farmer. Farmer friends are good. Very, very good.

Heath planted two rows of sweet corn this spring. When I say he planted two rows of corn, I mean two rows, one field long. That's a lot of sweet corn. We went and picked some last night.

But, wait, there's more.


So far, I've trimmed and packaged 25 ears in Ziploc bags in the freezer. I'm going to shuck a bunch more and cut the kernels from the cob to vacuum seal and freeze.


As I was out checking the garden this afternoon, I found this bug. Laying eggs. I ran (quite literally) to get my camera to see if I could get a picture of her laying an egg.

It would seem she was done. She walked around the string . . .


Climbed up, checking each egg, then flew away.

I picked these beauties (there are a few hidden behind the striped 'Zebra') today. We'll have them with macaroni and fresh sweet corn for Pickle's birthday dinner.