card and tag...

Sorry I went MIA for a few days. It's been busy around here as usual and nothing remotely interesting to blog about. Not that I'm blogging about anything interesting now either, but you can still leave me a comment with a more boring post too. :o)

Cody is working long hard sweaty hours for that new toilet. He said he doesn't mind because he got a new biker name. They changed it from "Skid" to "Demolition Man" and he's happy with that. What a dork!

I made my friend Terry a card today just to let her know we love and appreciate her. I picked this design because she has a thing for buses. Partly because she works for the schools and partly because she always jokes about people throwing her under the bus when they burn her with a joke or smart alec comment of some sort. She is in the Star motorcycle group with us and she gets the members of the group an Italian charm for their bracelet with a bus on it when they get her good. On one of the rides they saw a bus and had her get on and a bunch of them laid under the bus for pictures. Pretty funny! She is also the one that drives the "chase car" on rides which we call the bus. Anyways, she loved her card. I especially love giving cards when it's not a special occasion.

The stamps I used are old ones from DOTS who is CTMH now. I couldn't find my scissors anywhere so I had to cut it out with a razor knife. I stamped the kids twice side by side so that they could peek through the cut out windows. I like the little puffs of smoke out the exhaust of the bus. Cute!

Sweet Andi tagged me and I'm just now getting to it.

Favorite things...

Sport: Any sport my kids are playing

Game: Settlers of Catan

Color: Pink to wear Red in decor Lots of earthy colors too. I love color!

Movie: Field of dreams

Broadway play I have seen: None

Broadway Musical I have seen: None...I don't get out much

Song: Angels among us and It's a wonderful world

American city I have visited: Salt Lake City

Foreign city I have visited: Ensenada, Mexico

Book: The Book of Mormon

Children's Book: Brown Bear Brown Bear

Classic television show: Little House on The Prairie

Recent television show: Big Brother

Actor: Nicholas Cage

Actress: Reese Witherspoon

Perfume: Tresor

Food: Tacos

Dessert: Anything Chocolate - Anything that's light and cold

Chain Restaurant: Texas Roadhouse

Local Restaurant: Penascos

Car: Chevy HHR (mine)

Condiment: jam

Kitchen Appliance: Dishwasher

Home Appliance: Washing Machine & Dryer (they're a pair after all)

Beauty Product: Mary Kay extra Emollient night cream

Piece of clothing: Jean shorts

HGTV Show: Divine Design with Candice Olsen (love her)

Food Network show: Paula Deen (love her too)

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Male Songwriter: Heck I don't know

Female Songwriter: I can't think of writers

Holiday: Christmas Season (not the day)

Ballet I have seen: back to the don't get out much

Disney character: Buzz and Woody

Flower: Gerber Daisy

Alcoholic drink: None...my strongest drink is a Pepsi with caffeine

Non-Alcoholic drink: Water with sonic ice

Magazine: CK and simple scrapbooks

Animated movie: Toy Story

Television network miniseries: Dallas

Season: Fall and Spring

Male vocalist: Alan Jackson

Female vocalist: Carrie Underwood

Day of the week: Friday and Sunday

Household Chore: Laundry

Ice Cream: Chocolate chip mint

Candy: Ghiridelli squares with gooey caramel

Artist: Greg Olsen (AMAZING)

Quotation: “It's Nice to be Important, But It's More Important to be Nice" and "There is always always always something to be grateful for"

Now, how about YOU playing too? You know you want to. :o)

Weekend with the George boys...

Remember the post about snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of? Well apparently I left firecrackers off that list and it really needed to be there.

Boy+lighter+firecrackers=a blown up toilet.

As I was on my way to town on Friday afternoon I got a phone call from Cody. Here is how the conversation went....

Cody: ummm...mom...I blew a hole in the toilet.

Me: Cody, you better be lying because that's not funny.

Cody: Mom, I'm telling you the truth and I should get points for that since I normally lie about everything I do bad.

Me: Oh my freaking gosh Cody! How did that happen?

Cody: When I was at Ezroms house last night I got some firecrackers that he got in Mexico. I lit one and threw it in the toilet and it blew out all the water and I thought that was cool. Then I threw another one in and it blew a big hole in the toilet.

Me: (all said very loud and fast) CODY!!!!!!!!!! What were you thinking? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? You are in SOOO much trouble! I can't believe you did that. Dad is going to be furious. AHHHH! I'm so mad! How bad is it? Do you have any idea how expensive a new toilet is? You can bet you'll be working the rest of the summer with dad for free so you can pay for it.

Cody: Well I can see the floor through the hole. It's about 4 or 5 inches around.

Me: You call your dad right now and tell him what you did because I want him to hear it from you first.

Cody: Okay.

So of course Mark was so upset and Cody IS indeed working to pay for the new toilet that was installed this afternoon as well as losing privileges for a while.

Sadly this isn't even close to being in the list of top 10 bad things my boys have done. I've got all kinds of stories. Stuff that makes one question why they signed up for this whole parenthood thing. (mostly from the 2 older boys teenage years) Through all those trials (and lots of help from Heavenly Father) I have learned lots patience and have learned which battles to pick and which one to leave alone. I'm a much stronger mom now, but I still break down more often than I'd like. Motherhood is REALLY HARD!

New toilet courtesy of Cody

Chad took his new white truck back to the dealership. Apparently there was some fibbing on the part of the salesman regarding the purchase amount and the interest rate. Things were much different than what Chad agreed to so he went and picked up his mustang last night. Cody was shocked to see Chad pull up in the car and asked him where his new truck was. Chad told him he rolled it in the desert and it was totaled. Oddly enough Cody was happy about that and said "Mom and dad wont be mad at me anymore when they find out you wrecked the truck." Nice to see how concerned he was for his brother even if the accident was fake, huh?! Just so long as the heat was off him. Anyways...Chad went to a different dealership where he bought a different truck that is newer, less miles, cheaper, but doesn't have a back seat. He did get more for the trade too. He just pulled up in it tonight...which is why the picture is dark.

Before I go...check out Cole's leg! He was standing backwards on a diving board and did a bounce preparing to do a back flip and he slipped, leaving him with a nice gouge in his leg that is swollen and infected. His leg is turning a lovely shade of green. He said the diving board was slick and had no traction on it like most boards. He couldn't play in his basketball game because it hurt too much.

Having boys is just so much fun.....and some days.....not so much!

Recipe sharing...

Working on some recipes to put in the boys cookbooks. I'm really behind in doing this, so any of their favorite meals or treats I will be taking pictures of at least part of the process. Banana Bread

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cups butter

3 cups flour

1/2 cup milk (soured)

1/4 tsp vinegar

4 ripe bananas (icky ones)

Mix together sugar, butter and eggs. Add soda to the flour; blend the sugar and flour mixtures together. To sour the milk add 1/4 tsp. to the milk. Let sit for a few minutes. Add the sour milk and blend well. Mash bananas and add. Fold in and pour into 2 greased bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

I doubles the recipe like I do with most things I make. I also mixed in chocolate chips to one of the loaves. So good!

Spaghetti

2 envelopes of Lawry's spaghetti seasoning

1 pound of ground beef

2 cans of tomato paste

5 cups of water

1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

2 Tbsp. Butter

1 Tbsp. sugar

Angel hair pasta

Brown up hamburger in a sauce pan with a Tbsp. of water. Season meat with salt, pepper, Lawry's seasoning salt, onion powder, garlic powder. Drain if has too much grease. A little bit is okay. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir and simmer on medium low for 20-30 minutes. Boil water for pasta. Cook and drain. Pour sauce over noodles and serve.

While sauce is simmering, butter and sprinkle french bread with garlic salt. Wrap in foil and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

If you can't find the bread pre sliced, the ladies in the bakery will slice it for you.

Alfredo sauce

2 pints heavy cream

2 sticks butter

4 Tbsp. cream cheese

1 1/2 cups (6 oz. good Parmesan cheese

2 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Noodles of choice. Penne hold sauce really well and it's easier than twirling fettuccine noodles.

Simmer butter, cream cheese and cream. Add Parmesan cheese garlic powder salt and pepper. Whisk together really well. Simmer for 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken as it simmers and the cheese melts. Serve over cooked noodles. I always serve this with sliced grilled chicken. This is the most awesome alfredo recipe. The calories are HUGE so it's not something we eat very often.

Right after dinner tonight Chad had to leave for work. Doesn't he look so handsome. He got a new job as a security supervisor. He has graveyard shift this week, but will be working days. Hunter and Kyle got hired on with the same company as security. Chad got the supervisor position because of his military experience. They said he was over qualified, but they are thrilled to have him. The other two will start next week when they get their guard cards in.

Q&A

• Brek, Brittany and the boys are doing well. They had some struggles with unemployment for a while, but are working on getting back on their feet. They are still very happily married. It's always a good test to see how young couples work through trials. Baby John turns one in a few short weeks. Then baby Mark turns 2 less than a month after that. They sure are getting big. Last time I was there Mark was sleeping so I played with John. He gave me big wet kisses. He was so fun to play with. The time before I got to play with Mark. He loves to sword fight and walk up the wall and flip over (with help of course) I will take pictures next time I go to see them. Brittany hasn't blogged because for now they don't have Internet.
• The mat I use to scrap on is from making memories. You can find it here . It's a self healing one that is 17" X 23". I wish it was at least 24 inches, but it still works great.
• I didn't make the big star that was used at camp. We borrowed it from our old stake that went to camp 2 weeks before us and had the same theme. It's made of Styrofoam. It was put together like a puzzle and wrapped in gold fabric.
• No, I'm not adjusting to my calling yet. I miss the young women and the other leaders. I understand that I'm fully capable of doing my new calling very well. I just don't enjoy it AT ALL. I tried really hard not to cry on Sunday. It wasn't easy. We'll see how it goes.
• Yes indeed Sonic does sell ice by the bag. Well most of them do. I've been to a few that don't. Apparently there are some people who have never had it so they don't understand why it's so fabulous. The reason so many people love it and why I'm addicted to it is because it's really teeny soft pellets of ice. It gets even softer as it sits in your drink. It's so dang good!!! I HATE big ice that is clear and hard. Like what McDonald's has...which by the way, Maricopa is getting a McDonald's and a QT. Both are currently under construction. As well as the biggest tutor time I've ever seen in my life. The Wal-Mart is still in parking lot stage. Not moving along quick enough for my liking. I want to see some real building going on.

Well, it's late (11:00=late for me) and I'm tired. My eyes twitch when I'm tired. Not pretty!

Been jammin'...

***EDITED TO ADD INSTRUCTIONS***

Went to the grocery store today because we needed food. That's usually why I go. Strawberries were on sale 10 for $10. How could I pass that up? Well I couldn't! I've been waiting and waiting for them to go on sale so I could make freezer jam. I did a ginormous batch. We're talking 8 things of strawberries ( I saved 2 for the boys to eat), 32 cups of sugar (crazy huh?!) and 8 boxes of can-jell. I mixed it in my tupperware thatsa mega bowl. I love that thing, but do wish mine was in the new color instead of white. It holds 42 cups...which makes no sense since the ingredients were more than that. It must have something to do with the sugar dissolving. Who knows. All I know is it all fit in that bowl...barely. I had Cody helping me stir because there was a lot of stirring involved and my hands don't do well with that. That batch filled 15 jars and 8 plastic containers. Aren't they so pretty? Well I think they're pretty. One of the girls in young women brought me over a loaf of bread that she baked today. Gotta love that sweet girl! Can't wait to eat it with homemade jam on it.

Gotta some icky bananas on the counter. ( I love it when that happens) Going to have to make some banana bread in the morning. Yum! I'm thinking I need to start posting my weekly menu's again. It helps keeps me on track. Plus I need to add some new dinners to the mix. Same old Same old is well...old! What's cooking at your house?

***edited to add instructions***

Wash, scald and dry containers. It's easiest just to throw them in the dishwasher. Can be typical glass canning jars ( I prefer the smaller ones) or plastic containers with a tight fitting lid.

The instructions and measurements are different for different kinds of fruit. This is for strawberries.

Remove the stems/leaves from 1 quart or 2 pints of strawberries and crush. I cut mine up into quarters then pulsed a few berries at a time in my blender. You really should use a food processor, but mine died. You would still just pulse it with that because you still want some chunks of fruit to remain. I have made jam by using one of those food choppers that you smack the top of, but it takes a long time and my hand was killing me after a while.

One container of berries should equal 2 cups of crushed fruit. (all mine did) Put that in a bowl with 4 cups of sugar and mix thoroughly. Let stand for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. In a sauce pan cook over high heat 3/4 cups water and 1 box of can-jell. Stir constantly. When it comes to a boil let it boil for 1 minute (keep stirring) then pour over berry/sugar mixture. Stir and mix together constantly for 3 minutes. Most all the sugar should be dissolved. Pour immediately into containers leaving 1/2 inch at the top Wipe edges clean and put the lids on quickly. Let stand at room temperature, untouched for 24 hours. Store in freezer. Keep an opened container in the fridge.

I did break one of the rules about not doubling. I'm a rebel that way. I'm not patient enough to do one batch at a time. As long as my measurements are right, I've never had a problem.

When you buy a box of sure-jell it has the recipes inside for all types of fruit. They also include the cooked method that you can and keep in your pantry. The freezer method is easier and I like it so that's just what I do.

Let me know if you make jam. Berries usually go on sale around now...but maybe that's just here in Arizona.

scrapbooking and renewed desire...

Friday was so crazy busy. I barely had time to gather enough stuff to make ONE layout before I had to head to town. I so wanted to do more. Next month I will be more prepared. I am pretty happy with the layout I did get done. It's from our trip to Catalina Island. That was one of our destination stops when we went on our 20th anniversary cruise a few years ago. It was so fun to scrapbook in 12X12 format. I'm doing the whole cruise album in that size. I really had a great time with my friends. It was some much need fun/creative girl time.

Angie just wrapped up her 12 week get in shape challenge and asked for us to email her our success stories. My goal when I started this thing was to get in better shape so I wouldn't die at girls camp. Here is what I wrote her...

I can't really count mine as a success story besides the fact that I did lose 7 pounds. I've carried around so much guilt for not giving this challenge my full effort like I really wanted to. Depression and personal trials got me down. I'm making up for that now, by getting my rear in gear after the challenge is over. I've exercised for 2 days now and my body hurts so bad from top to bottom. Oddly enough I really like the pain. I'm proud of myself that I worked hard enough to make myself hurt. I'm not giving up. I can do this! Obviously I didn't die at girls camp, but I thought it was a real possibility. I even bought new undergarments "just in case". LOL! I struggled getting up and down the hills in the mountains. My legs were burning and it was so hard to breathe. As I watched the young skinny leaders get around with no problem what so ever and them not really understanding why I was having such a difficult time, I couldn't help but think to myself "hey skinny girl, you want to know what it's like...how about you strap on a 50 pound bag of dog food around your waist and add massive menstrual cramps to the mix and we'll just see how well you do....not so easy is it? Welcome to my world!" Isn't that attitude just terrible?! I'm totally over being having mean thoughts and feeling sorry for myself. I know the skinny girls had to work hard to have their bodies while I was letting mine go. I had no right to judge. It's my turn to work hard now. I have a renewed positive aspect on my life and how I want to look and more importantly how I FEEL. I want to FEEL energized, empowered, confident, strong, young, happy and beautiful. I've decided that I'm worth the effort.Thank you Angie for all of your support, humor, kindness and motivation. You are my rock and I adore you. I hope you do a round two. Either way, I'm not giving up.

****EDITED TO ADD****

I am retracting the statement I made about liking the pain. I must have been nuts! I laid in bed wide awake tossing and turning while moaning, crying and pleading to be free of pain until almost 5:00 this morning. What a horribly miserable night. I'm still going to exercise everyday, but liking the pain...not going to happen!

Tag...

These pictures have nothing to do with the tag, but I can't blog without pictures. These are from 4th of July. I didn't take many pictures because we had just driven home from girls camp and I was exhausted. Pacana Park does a big celebration out here in Maricopa. Lots of vendors with food, blow up bouncy things for the kids, the fire department hoses them down. They play a movie on a big screen. It was the Sandlot. We got there early to get a good spot in the park. I sat there in the sweltering heat holding down the fort while the kids went off to play. Once the sun went down we got a nice breeze that cooled things off more than most 4th of July's. (not cool, but bearable) We invited the Turley family to join us. That was nice, but I'm sure I wasn't the best company.Mark is social enough for the both of us, so it was okay. I was so tired. I closed my eyes through most of the fireworks. I did manage to get a few good shots. The park was full that night. It had somewhere between 6,000-8,000 people. Fun stuff!

I was tagged by Cindi so I thought I'd do a real quick post in my very limited available time today. Here it goes...

Ten Years Ago:
I was 30 years old and living in a teeny 1,050 square foot house in Mesa with my cute hubby and 5 much much smaller boys. Brek was 11, Chad was 10, Kyle was 8, Cody was 5 and Cole was 1 1/2. Ahhh, the good old days when I had more energy because the Lord knew my survival depended on it. I was pretty new to scrapbooking and busy woodcrafting for the ever popular barn boutique. My craft sales paid for Christmas in those days.

Five things on today's to do list:

1. Finish this blog post.

2. Shower so I smell good and get looking presentable.

3. Put together a few scrapbook layouts to work on tonight. YES! I actually get to scrapbook. The ladies from star riders are getting together for dinner, hitting scrapbooks Etc, then going to Mindy's house to scrap. I"m not good at being a mobile scrapbooker since I'm only use to working around here, but I figured I could manage to put together supplies for a couple of projects.

4. Drive to town early so I can take a man in our ward to the airport, go to post office and bank, pick up a birthday present, go see my grand babies and drop Kyle off, and meet up with the girls for dinner and fun.

5. Drive home safely after staying up way too late tonight. It doesn't help that I had next to no sleep last night. Dang restless leg thing was real bad!

Snacks I enjoy:
I love to snack!!! I've been trying harder to behave so I bought those big boxes of 100 calories snacks from Sam's Club. They have a good variety and I really like them. I'm able to get a little treat with less guilt. Not saying I don't splurge. If a real dessert is offered there is no way I'm passing it up. Had myself some chocolate cake the other night. YUM! Mindy is making desert tonight and I will partake. :o)

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
Be debt free, build a country style house with a wrap around porch a white picket fence with big trees, grass, flowers and a garden, complete with a little red barn out back.
Build a cabin in the woods to escape the heat and take in the beauty of the mountains.
Have a 2 year supplies of food and other needs.
Help my family and friends.

Places I have lived:
Denver, Colorado
Dallas, Texas
Arizona-Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, Maricopa.
I am now supposed to tag 4 people, but I can't pick, so if you would like to play, i would love to read your answers. Come back and let me know so I can check out your blog.
That's it for now. I have lots to do and not enough time. I don't even have time to proof read this so there will be more errors than normal. :o)
Have Fun!

Organizing and happiness...

Y'all know I love to organize. I'm pretty good at getting things done to where they look good and make sense....not necessarily maintaining (hence the condition of my messy scraproom this very moment) These are a few things from our church buildings library. It makes me nuts that some things are in baggies, some in containers (some broken), some have nothing at all. Check out that label on the crayons. It says "Maricopa Ward"! You're probably thinking to yourself..."so what". In my organizational freak brain that tells me that the library hasn't been organized for a really really long time since Maricopa now has 7 wards. It shouldn't bug me, but it does. They did ask me to organize it so I took it upon myself to hit the back to school sales at Wal-Mart to get some basic supplies and containers.
Now everything is separated into containers that match and are properly labeled for teachers to check out things they need for their class that day. Each container not only has the description, but a stock number so when they are checked out they have to write the number on the sheet. It makes it easier to find missing items instead of just saying we are missing 2 things of chalk and erasers. I will know who checked out the missing #3 and #8. That little library needs a lot more organizing. So many things in there from the dark ages or completely non existent. At least I have a good start.

I really wish I could say that I'm happy with my calling, but I'm not. I cried Saturday night and pretty much all day Sunday. It affects my mood every single day. I've been taught to accept whatever callings are given to me and to serve to the best of my ability. That's just who I am, but I've never struggled so much with a new calling. I have yet to get the feeling that this is where I should be. I've been so emotional and grouchy. On Sunday while I was at church when people would ask me how I'm doing. Instead of lying and saying the normal "I'm good", I said..."You know what, I'm not going to sugar coat over my mood. I'm really grumpy and not very happy." How bad is that?! How does one respond to that when they are expecting an "I'm good, how are you?" It got worse as I went throughout my church meetings. Let me explain...I have to arrive early to open the library. I close it just as sacrament starts. Just before sacrament ends I go re-open it and stay in there until about 10 minutes into Sunday school class. Again I leave before class is over to open it and I stay in there until relief society is a good 10 minutes into it, but have to leave before class ends and then stay there until all the items have been returned and by that time most everyone has gone home. To some people that wouldn't be a big deal, but to someone who is a social as I am it's a BIG deal. I don't get to visit with anyone before church, in between classes or after church and I hate it! It's not just the lack of being social with my friends. I just don't feel it's where I should be in general. I don't enjoy anything about it. I seriously cried the rest of the day. If they are going to pull me out of a calling that I love with the young women, then at least put me in one that I'm passionate about and feel like I'm making a difference. This is just so hard. I'm torn between trying to find the blessings of why I've been placed here and meeting with the bishop to discuss other options that don't put me in the depths of depression, because that's where I'm at right now and I just don't think I'm willing or able to continually be miserable.

Vent over...so sorry. Since it's my blog, I just wanted record of my feelings at this point in my life. Not looking for sympathy.

Chad traded in his Ford Mustang and bought himself a Chevy Silverado Z71 4X4 truck. He loves it! It sure is pretty...but as a mother it's kind of weird and scary when your kids start establishing their own credit. I told him we'd go over a budget to keep his finances in order. If he is good with his money he could get and maintain a good credit score. I know from experience how hard it is to overcome not so good credit.
$5.18 for 3 bags of ice from Sonic. Best spent money ever in my mind...and done frequently.
I've decided that I can never live far from a Sonic. I just love their ice too much. I can't go a day without it. It's so bad I even brought up an ice chest full of just ice to girls camp. (along with a case of water) I fill up my big scrapaholic mug 4 times a day with yummy ice water and the occasional Pepsi! I rarely leave home without my cup of water. I have spilled it a time or two in the car. (don't tell Mark) It hasn't stopped me from bringing it with me. I love my ice water. It makes me happy. It's nice to have something so small bring me happiness. What small things make you happy?

baby shower and salsa...

Last night I went to a baby shower for a sweet girl named Cammy (and her husband Josh). She is being induced on Monday to have her little boy they are naming Cash. The CA is for Cammy and the SH is for Josh. We have known these two for 6 plus years. They were teenage friends with my older boys. Josh was pretty nervous about handling a new baby, but he had the opportunity to get broken in with a family in the neighborhood who recently had triplets. They would go over and help with the babies all the time over the past few months. Now they are both very comfortable with all the things babies need. I thought that was such a great idea to get in some practice before hand. They will both be awesome parents. :o)Lots of presents! It's a good thing...babies need lots of things. Along with the salsa for Cammy, I got the baby 2 pairs of shoes. A pair of tennis shoes and sandals in the teeniest size ones. They were adorable! I totally forgot to take pictures of them in all of their cuteness because I was running late and it started to rain. Speaking of the rain, Mesa got hammered last night. It was kind of scary driving home. Maricopa got rain too, but not as much as the valley. Today is hot and sticky. I think I'll stay inside.I love love love this high chair. I love that it's beautiful wood combined with a easy wash tray. So dang cute!
The food buffet was set up so cute so I had to share pictures of it. Just beautiful! Cammy has been requesting me to make some salsa so I took the opportunity to take pictures of the process starting with the ingredients to the finish. I needed to do this anyways so I could include it in the recipe books I'll be making for the boys for Christmas.Cody took this picture while I was dicing tomatoes and talking on the phone. I had no idea he took and did not include it on her recipe card. By the way...I've lost 7 pounds so far. It's not much, but it's something. 33 pounds to go.
Here is the recipe card I made her. When I first started to cook, pictures were very handy. The ones I do for the recipe book will be full size 8 1/2 X 11 so I can put them in page protectors and in washable albums.
I've had some people wanting the recipe again so here it is.

2 cans of diced tomatoes with mild green chilies

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can diced green chilies

5 tomatoes on the vine

2 bunches of green onions

1 cup of water

kosher salt

lemon pepper

lawrey's seasoning salt

onion powder

garlic powder

Dump all the cans and water in a bowl. Dice up tomatoes and thin slice green onions after washing and cutting off the roots and the last inch or two of the green end. I don't measure the seasonings. I just sprinkle. If I had to guess I would say about 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. lawreys, 1 tsp. lemon pepper, 1/4 tsp. onion powder, and 1/4 tsp. garlic powder. Mix it all together, then take out half and pulse a few times in a blender or food processor. Not too long or it will be foamy. Mix back in and store in a rubbermaid container for up to a week. We always eat it all before it has a chance to go bad. Enjoy!

Q&A:

1. The adhesive I used to attach the sheet metal to the wood was loctite power grab. It's in a big pressurized tube. I got the all purpose instant grab.
2. The grand babies are doing great. The just moved into a new apartment and are having fun exploring their new digs. They had a transformer blow up outside their place last night in the storm. Scared them to death. In the next few weeks I plan on picking them and Brittany up to get the boys their first haircuts. I will have my camera handy that day.

3. I ordered the canvas water bottle holders fro oriental trading company. They are insulated and affordable.
4. My librarian duties are to get it organized and figure out what were missing. The library in the church is not like a regular library. It has resource materials for the teachers who teach primary and sunday school etc. I'm there to get them pictures, materials, scriptures, chalk, crayons, etc that they need to go a long with their lessons each week as well as make copies for things they need for the kids in their classes.
On top of that I'm in charge of the weekly sacrament program that people get when they come in the chapel. It has on it who is speaking, saying opening and closing prayers, what songs we'll be singing as well as announcement.
Then there is the ward newsletter that will contain all the buzz about what's going on in the ward. It will all keep me busy. Still really feeling very emotional about this whole thing. I'm sure my attitude will improve once I get into the swing of things.
I think that was all the questions. If there were any more that I forgot, let me know.
Thank for for all the sweet comments on my previous post. Girls camp was truly a wonderful and unforgettable experience.

Off to work on Mount Washmore. I bought laundry soap so I have no more excuses. Sure piles up quick around here.

Happy weekend everyone!