Garden Surprise!

This year we decided to grow something new in the garden. We chose to try out cauliflower since we all like it (yes even my kids!) and our broccoli grew so well over the years. I didn't have time to start from seed so we went to the Walmart greenhouse and picked out a nice flat. We planted them and sure enough they took off and seemed to just love our yard.

Such nice healthy plants! Big beautiful leaves of a pale gray green. I loved looking at them as much as the caterpillars seem to like munching on them. Shaelynn and I would collect the tiny green caterpillars and keep them in a jar. We fed them the outer older leaves from the plants and would watch them pupate and turn into pretty little yellow butterflies. Shaelynn would promptly name them and then set them free.















Yesterday it seemed time to harvest as they have been in the ground a good 12 weeks and I noticed a nice tight large (soccer ball size) head forming in the center of one of the plants. I decided I had better try to take a peek inside to see if the florets were ready to pick so I began to remove leaves from the outside. When I got to about leaf 7 I decided they were never going to end. The leaves got more compact instead of giving away to a head of cauliflower. What was wrong with my cauliflower plants? Had I done something wrong? I ran in the house and consulted my square foot gardening book and clearly I was not growing what I thought I was.

Walmart must have mislabeled their plants. I have 12 cabbage plants on my hands! Cabbage? YUCK! I hate coleslaw and that is about as far as my knowledge of eating cabbage ran. What was I going to do with all this cabbage? I cut a head and went in to show Shane. I just knew he was going to be as sad as I was. Boy was I wrong. He exclaimed how much he loved boiled cabbage smothered in butter and topped with salt and pepper. Eww. I was put off and wrapped the head up and placed it in the fridge as it wasn't going to fit in with that evenings dinner plans.

Well tonight I marinated and barbecued some chicken tenders, cooked some rolls, corn and you guessed it, the cabbage. It smelled up the house a little but then so does our broccoli. The kids started asking what smelled like broccoli. I told them it was cabbage for Dad. They immediately wanted to taste it. We put lots of sweet cream butter and salt and pepper on it and to my surprise I liked it and ate quite a bit. Cory liked it enough he had seconds. Shaelynn loved it and had thirds!

Yes, I guess I have strange kids. How many other people can say their kids love fresh broccoli and cabbage from the garden and even eat seconds and thirds of the stuff?

I guess next year we will have to try out the cauliflower but with what a hit the cabbage is we will have to grow it again as well.

Now if I could just get all my tomatoes to ripen! It's August for crying out loud and they are still green!

Lagoon!

The Scott side of the family will be making a trip up to Lagoon for a few days to play as hard as we can before school begins. We hope to be back in one piece on Friday. Pictures to follow!

All Done with Breaking Dawn!

It turns out our Walmart did have the book and was going to stay open for the midnight release. The lady said they didn't have a lot of copies so if I wanted to be sure to get one to come early that night. I kept my poor kids up and took them with me as their Dad was at work and I couldn't leave them home. They did better than I trying to stay awake past bedtime. We stood in line for about 45 minutes and were able to get a book right at midnight. :) We came home and I got the kids to bed and then dove right in!

It took me about 14 hours to read Breaking Dawn. My house was a mess by the time I finished it. Dishes piled high...toys everywhere! The book was almost as awesome as I expected. The male character I liked best (Jacob) found a different ending than I would have liked for him but it was still good. I will have to re-read it now nice and slow and without the sleep deprivation to really enjoy it.

Can't wait for Breaking Dawn!!!

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Yes I am not a teen or tween (not even close!) but I am still totally going crazy waiting for the final book of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, to come out in 1 day 4 hours and 15 minutes. Aaakkkk!

I had been biding my time re-reading all the books but I finished up yesterday. Now I have nothing to do but obsess about how I am going to get it ASAP!

I ordered through amazon like two months ago expecting it to arrive at my home on the release day as they did with Harry Potters last book BUT it looks like they aren't even going to mail it out until the 4th.

I live in a tiny little town with NO bookstores to speak of....only a Walmart and I don't think they are going to have it out on shelf at midnight. I am not even sure they will carry it and the gal at the customer counter didn't know either.

So what is a gal to do?

This is all EMILYS FAULT!!! She got me the first three books for Christmas and started this huge obsession. She is a VERY BAD GIRL! Now I am going to have to pick her brain and see if she has any other great book recommendations....I think I like her taste in books! :)

Where does eating candy get you?

In the good old days I used to save up all my pennies from pulling weeds around the yard and walk down to our favorite penny candy store 'Scott's Market'. It was run by the nicest old man and his wife. If Scott's wasn't open or we didn't want to cross the "big road" we would go to Seven Eleven instead. We would spend all our money on candy. How my Mom ever survived 4 kids on constant sugar highs I don't know.

Sadly, as I grew I continued the tradition. Whenever I was out and about I would go get me something sweet to eat.

I got married and my sugar indulgence got worse. Shane is a popaholic and has to get his daily fix. I would go with him to the gas station and get some candy while he got his drink.

As I had babies I couldn't go with him to the store as often but he would always bring me back a Milky Way or something chocolate.

Well as the kids grew we allowed them to start getting a treat each day we went to the store as well. They are now also official sugar fiends like myself (all my doing).

So what does this get us beside the usual pure bliss of taste bud heaven?

It gets lots of fun and pricey *silver sparkles* in my kids mouths almost each time they visit the dentist. It has gotten me three root canals from all the cavities I got as a kid (and I am only 32!) I know for a fact it has helped to add this "fat tire" around my midsection. I also have to much insulin. Each time I eat something sweet my blood sugar shoots up. My body responds by sending out to much insulin. The insulin throws all the sugar into my fat cells (thus the "fat tire") and my blood sugar drops and then I feel like CRAP and want more! HELP!

So is it really worth the taste bud high we get?

I am thinking NO! Time for a change. It might not help my teeth out as the damage is done but maybe it would help my kids in the long run?

Time to wean ourselves from the sugar monster!

My Moms Chocolate Chip Cookies! (For Lisa)

2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup softened butter or margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
3 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 12oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375°. Mix shortening, butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, salt and soda together with blender. Add flour and stir in well. Add chocolate chips and nuts (optional) and stir in well. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet. (I never grease mine and they are just fine) Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheet. Makes 7 dozen.


I have found that using a few different things really helps to make your cookies very rich.

1. Use real butter.
2. Use dark brown sugar.
3. Use milk chocolate chips not semi-sweet. My favorite is the Girardelli's milk chocolate chips.
4. Use real vanilla extract.

I also pull them from the oven a little earlier than the recipe states so they are super soft. We also like to pop day old cookies (if they last that long) into the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds to warm them back up. This way they taste fresh from the oven again. Yum!