where does time go?

okay, okay, its been a while...

work: crazy does not begin to describe...
home: what's that? haven't been there much this week...
life: where is the e-brake? anyone?

hope to have several posts coming up, including a few tutorials and some revamps i'm working on, AND... da, da, da! a recap of my first half-marathon!!!!

i leave tonight after baby brother's football game (homecoming) and run early in the morning.

my goal... to finish the darn thing!
(though i would like to come in under 2 hours but i think that is wishful thinking)

my motto... run til you die or finish the race whichever comes first
(yes, its a little long for a motto)

my shirt... says "my first half marathon, please pray!" across the back

wish me luck and i'll let you know how it goes.

what more tomatoes? your kidding right? no sir, i'm not.

tomatoes: round three

let me tell you, if you have never experienced oven roasted tomatoes, this easy recipe is for you... try it! yummyness!

i started by quartering my 'maters (this is redneck for tomatoes boys and girls). If you're using small romas, just cut them in half. anything larger, quarter them.

place tomatoes in a large bowl. drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. mixing with care until everything is coated.

arrange tomatoes in a single layer, skins down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. mince garlic and sprinkle over tomatoes. drizzle a little more olive oil over the top.

place in oven (preheated to 325) and cook for 2 1/2-3 hours, depending on the size of your tomatoes. keep an eye on them after about 2 -2 1/2.

when the juices have dried up and the tomatoes start to get dark around the edges they are good to go.
so good... smell good, taste good, look good (well maybe that's pushing it), taste good... smell good, taste good...

freeze em, eat em, cook with em, puree for a spread...

mountain biking mommas

sister and i went on our first mountain bike ride, like on a trail, not down the road... we should have paid more attention to the sign we encountered glistening in the morning dew...here is our adventure... in pictures... with a few captions... be impressed!



shouldn't the caution sign be hanging in view
not laying on the ground covered in leaves?


where my bike landed after i bailed... don't worry i landed on my feet... and sister got the opportunity to bail too!

some parts of the trails were pretty intense... this ramp, at the end of the bridge in the photo below, would launch a rider a good five feet in the air... cr-a-zy...
we made it... despite no helmets, gloves (you would be really surprised how important they are, definitely not just for looks), knee or wrist guards, water, or much common sense...



i wish this picture really showed all the dirt, scrapes, and bruises we received from our morning adventures...

*just to let the world know, all of these pictures were posed. there was no way either of us could have ridden most of this trail even though we took the intermediate and easy routs. we did ride when we weren't laughing so hard we couldn't stand up, when we weren't stopping for photo ops, when sister wasn't running into trees, or it wasn't just plain too hard... it was great! i highly recommend going mountain biking. just make sure you are prepared!

num yummy tomato sauce

salsa making is done and there are still tomatoes, so now... fresh, homemade, num yummy tomato sauce.

start by cutting an X in the bottom of each tomato (about 20) and placing them X-side up on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.

mmmm... juicy ripe tomatoes
roast tomatoes about 30 minutes, in oven preheated to 375F, until skin begins to pull away at X. remove from pan and let cool...

when cool enough to handle, core each tomato and peel away skin, working over a nonreactive bowl to catch the juice...


while peeling tomatoes, saute in olive oil: 6 to 8 garlic cloves thickly sliced, 1/2 cup torn fresh basil, and 2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar...


add cut or crushed (with hands for fun) tomatoes to pot, add 1 teaspoon sea salt and ground black pepper, and simmer for one hour... you can't imagine how good this smells... if i had a smell widget for my blog i would let you smell it... heavenly...

when cooled, puree in food processor. label clean glass jars, freezer boxes, or bags. fill 2/3 full and freeze for up to 6 months...

summer goodness all winter long!





*if sauce is too acidic, add a little brown sugar to taste, just a pinch at a time

not me monday

i did not take all boy's clothes off when we got home from school to

let him play in the puddles from the rain earlier today so i could get some work done on the computer.

i most certainly did not see him bend over and

try to drink the puddle water, YUCK!

what kind of momma would do something like that? not me!

not me monday

sister came up and we went mountain biking for the first time... more about that later...



we left the house at 9:00am, sweated profusely, went back to mom's house and the day just kept rolling on.



i did not get to take a shower (really), i did not go to the store later in the day still mud covered and smelling less than fresh, i did not stop till 8:00pm when my feet started itching (really), i did not have feet and ankles covered in seed ticks, how gross!

gettin' crafty: big boy pac-pac tutorial

as the start of school was approaching i was ready to toss the much used diaper bag to send boy off to the sitters everyday. so i decided it was time for a "back-to-school-big-boy-pac-pac", but i couldn't find a cute one big enough to pack everything it seems we need to pack every day... i found a good plain back pack, removed the label, got some inspiration from the new lunch kit (that is way cool, enviro-friendly, and will hold breakfast and lunch for a wee one!) and decided to get crafty! here is how...i started with a name. you can use a cool font

(i like to use http://www.dafont.com/)

good fonts for appliques are simple and made up of thick lines.

Print out name as a "mirror image".
Make sure it's the right size for the bag and you check the "mirror image"
setting on your printer preferences.

(if you don't have a printer like me, or can't figure out how to print a "mirror image" you can write it out in sharpie, put it backwards against a window, then trace it again)


iron on "Wonder Under" fusible web (found at any fabric store – in a package or also by the yard) to wrong side of chosen applique fabric.



i drew out my rocket design (not worrying about it being backwards or not)

cut out all the pieces after tracing them onto the wonder under.

be sure to leave an edge around your design.

iron each piece onto the fabric for that part of the design...

cut out each part of the design and name that you just

ironed onto Wonder Under...

then remove the paper backing ONLY ON THE PIECES THAT WILL BE LAYERED OVER THE BACK PIECE OF YOUR APPLIQUE!

layer them up and iron them on following Wonder Under instructions. (sorry i forgot to take a picture of this step!)

remove paper from the rest of the appliques.

Place appliques on bag and seal with a hot iron.

*make sure for a project like this (using heavy fabric) that you use heavy duty Wonder Under or sew around appliques.


here is boy's finished pac-pac



and here is boy ready to go... he doesn't seem to mind that its 8 o'clock at night.

salsa... not just a hot latin dance

gamma and pawpaw came over tonight for pizza and salsa. we ate the pizza and made the salsa. and boy did we make salsa.

boy helped cut tomatoes. he cut the little green tomato that he picked himself. (don't worry he was using a butter knife while closely supervised)
then we cut more tomatoes, cause our garden decided to bless us with LOTS of late tomatoes.


add a little onion, cilantro (yum), jalapeno, and seasoning...

used the food sealer to bag it up to freeze. and 18 cups of salsa later we were done for the night... we have that much more to finish up tomorrow! oh, and lots more tomatoes where those came from.

i'm thinking of doing my first blog giveaway... tomatoes anyone?

Yum!