Back in the Saddle Again!

The two littles and I got back from a week-long visit with mom on Monday.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely!   Aunt Pat and Uncle Charlie came up from Kentucky Wednesday night to spend the night and go to the Newport Aquarium with us (Mom, Don, me, Raina, Ryan, Jordan, Allen, Chris) on Thursday.  That was worth every bit of the 2+ hour drive one way from mom's house and almost worth the 9 hour drive to Indiana!  I think my favorite single exhibit was the snake-neck turtle.  The favorite grouping of exhibits would have to be the jellyfish room.

We were surprised by a visit from my cousin, Nick, who Ryan so resembles when he's wearing his glasses :D  I didn't get the camera out to snap a pic of Nick, though, so no comparison shots.  I visited with Jimma and Lisa as much as sleep and work would let us.  I discovered that Jim and Jordan play Rift exclusively now.  I just cancelled my subscription for the summer.  Figures.  Aunt Pat taught us how to play Train with cards, Mexican Train and Chicken Foot in Dominoes, and then the boys and Mom taught me how to play Cornhole.  I still need help with scoring that one.  I sucked.

Mom let me borrow her juicer long enough to know that I must have one.  We juiced up all of the tomatoes and peppers that I brought (along with one small onion and carrot) with her store-bought carrots and celery.  LOVE the flavor.  Brought the juice home to make soup with.  So Tuesday I made beef stock with soup bones and about a pound of stew meat.  Used part of the stock and half of the stew meat to make beef vegetable soup with the tomato juice, a quart of last year's tomatoes, a pint of corn from a bit further back than that, this year's green beans and onions.  I didn't get pictures of that but it looks like a red vegetable soup.  Trust me :D  Tasted AWESOME out of the pot.  I got about 4 quarts out of that, and another quart and pint of beef stock.

I made egg rolls out of my cabbage and the remainder of the stew meat, threw in a small onion and one cooked egg.  For the record, I HATE the smell of hot frying oil in my house.  The cabbage and grease don't really agree with my digestive tract, either.  But these egg rolls taste SO GOOD!.

I made banana bread today using my Amish Friendship Bread starter and 5 medium-sized overly ripe bananas.  Waiting for after dinner to determine whether these are a win or a miss.

I still need to make pesto to freeze for the winter.  I've got to do something with this mess of basil!  Not to mention all the *other* work that needs doing around the house.  Have pine nuts, parm/romano cheese, olive oil, and basil!  Need a bit of time in the kitchen.  Tomorrow.

I'm knitting again, though.  Spinning took a back seat while I plow through some knitting.  This is going to be a draping wrap.  Hopefully.  I'm not following a pattern, just an idea.  Knit a front panel, armhole slit, knit the back panel, armhole slit, knit the other front panel.  The two front panels have random cables (random size and placement) to give it some visual interest and to keep "drape" from becoming "sag".  Love the colors in this yarn, the yarn is nice-has a terrific sheen but is not next to skin soft, and I am not loving the pooling and flashing.  This is the Tintagel yarn in "Olives" that Kay sent me for the Summer Swap.

Thanks to the LSG thread, I must now own boots.  I'm heartily lusting after some Fluevogs.  Damn it.  We just got the news that our cow AND pig went to the butcher, so those two usually-spaced-out bills are now dumped on us at the same time along with the CC payoff and the property/school taxes.  Sigh.  No money for boots :(  Or to replace the Kindle that Raina broke yesterday (GRRRR!)

School started for Ri on Tuesday, Little Boy had his first preschool session this morning and Little Girl goes in for her first session of preschool this afternoon.  Yay, she graduated out of the Intermediate Unit!  Here she is with a bug bite and the cutest yard-sale-found jellies!