Birthday Week!!!

So far we have been having a fantabulous week!!!! Brent is home, I have had Starbucks today. We have had good friends come over for Lunch. I have had yummy good, gotten to swim, got the yard mowed, and just a lot of fun!!!! I am very excited.

Nothing else is really going on. We have a meeting with social services tomorrow, and I hope to find some more info on Buggie. I am guessing she will be going home soon. I am very excited about it. It has been a great experience with her, she has learned a lot, and flourished in our home. It has been great for our kids and her to be together, and I am a little sad she will go home, but I know this is what was meant to be, and I am truly happy and grateful for it. I think I am ok with it because I could just tell she didnt "belong" in our family. Not that she wasnt loved like a daughter or taken care of......far from it. It just didnt feel like she belonged. SO we did our job as foster parents and loved her and took care of her until her time to go home is here. I am very anxious and excited for it!!

Other than that, nothing new is really going on!!!!

Happy Birthday to me!!!! :0)

Yes!!! It's a success!!!!

Yes!! The refrigerator pickles turned out so good and yummy!!! Even hubby likes it!! And there is photographic evidence of it!!! Hehehe

Refrigerator Pickles Recipe!

Here is my FAVORITE recipe for making refrigerator pickles!!! And plus it is so easy, fast, and it can help you with all those darn cucumbers that are growing like weeds!!!!!!!

Here is what  you need to start off

• 8 Cups Sliced Cucumber
• 1 Cup Sliced Onion
• 1 Cup Chopped Green Pepper
• 1 Cup Chopped Celery
• 2 1/2 Tbsp Salt
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Cup Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Mustard Seed
• 1 Tbsp Celery Seed

One thing I must make note.......you need to have at least 2 hours of "sit" time for the cucumbers or overnight!  I forgot that part, so I was up until 11 last night. BUT on the bright side...I was able to do the "prep" work, have it sit, and the do dishes, a bit of laundry, and then have a glass of wine, then my cucumbers were ready for me!!! 

Start off with cucumbers. Even though the recipe calls for exact measurements, I did not measure my cucumbers or my onions or my peppers. I had these many cucumbers, like 5 onions I pulled from my garden, a whole bundle of celery, and 4 peppers I bought from the store. 

Make sure you sterilize your jarss. Lucky for me, I have a "sani-rinse" on my dishwasher where I just run the load and it gives it that extra sanitizing rinse or whatever. I started this right away because it runs the whole cycle. Ok note that I have the flat lids in the dishwasher...ya dont do that. My mother called me later and was like AMY!! DONT DO THAT!! oops. 

Wash and clean your cucs super well. I like to peel them. My mother doesnt. I guess its your own personal preference. Cut off the ends. 

I am super lucky to have a food processor so I literally just shoved everything in and let it go!!!! This is my celery. I had it on the "chop" blade so its nice and small.

My cucs I had on the small size of slice.

my cucs nice and sliced!!!

my onion, peppers, and celery and chopped!!!

Add the salt and sprinkle over the veggies. Let sit for 2 hours or overnight. This batch I just let sit for 2 hours. Again perfect timing for the dishes, laundry, some cleanup and a glass of wine! 

it should look kind of soupy. The salt makes it water or whatever. I dont understand the chemistry behind it all. But after the two hours or the overnight, you want to pour this whole thing into a colander to drain it. 

Next take these ingredients and put them in a pot to boil. I actually doubled this portion of the recipe because I thought I had a lot of veggies, which I am SUPER glad I did. I did 4 cups of sugar, 2 cups vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of the seeds. I brought it to a good boil. 

After it was brought to a good rolling boil (remember to stir!!), I turned it off. Now my mother adds the veggies to this part, but I added this part to the veggies in my plastic bowl. I guess whatever. My mother swears by adding the veggies to the pot, it keeps it hotter or something....I suppose she is right. Next time I will add it to the pot, so if you do, make sure you start this off by using a BIG pot. 

Now I just mixed the veggies and the sugar/vinegar real good (I am imagining myself on a cooking show, "Now, ya'all see.....you gotta mix it reeeeal good see...just like this....oh yah. Can you smell it?! YUMMY".....whatever), and then you scoop the cucumber mixture into the jars. 

I actually wished I would have used the pint jars, but you can really use any size you want. 

Now as you are scooping this all in....start boiling your lids, with the rubber side up. in a small pot of water.

make sure you give yourself a bit of room on the top. Don't fill it PLUM FULL (as my mother would say)

Wipe off the tops. My mother again swears to use the "dish towel" towels. You set the jars ON TOP of dishtowel towels, and then you wipe off the tops with the towels. I dont know......I guess this is just something my grandma did which her mother did....so I guess you cant argue with old people. 

See my lids! They are coming to a beautiful boil and have been boiling for a bit now. (yah dont put them in the dishwasher..oops.) You carefully using a tongs........take a lid and put it on the jar

Seal it all up with the screw lid thingy, and once they are cool enough....pop them in the fridge!!!

Now I know people can make it in buckets, or bowls or whatever, but I guess we just prefer the jar method with the little closed top. I mean they still need to be kept in the fridge, but I feel like it gives a bit more of a seal. Now we wait for 3 days......and you can eat yourself silly with pickles!!!

Notice the Blog Change????

YEP!!! Someones birthday is coming!! I am pretty sure it is time to start celebrating....hehe

Taryn in Crazyland: Zipfizz Review...and GIVEAWAY!!!

My bestest friend Taryn....check her out!!!!!

Taryn in Crazyland: Zipfizz Review...and GIVEAWAY!!!: As you may recall, I have been trying out a bunch of different kinds of fuel as I work through my training for my first half marathon. I wa...

Onions, Beans, Peas, OH MY!!

I had previously stated of how the garden is growing like, out of control. I guess I dont mean OUT of control. I have just never planted a garden or dealt with a garden that is doing as well as this garden is!!!!!

Here are some of the fruits (or veggies haha) of our labor!

Here are majority of the peas that were growing. I think I got them all picked. The onions I grabbed a handful because today I am going to ATTEMPT to make refrigerator pickles. We will see how that turns out. And the beans...oh boy. That is like only 1/6 of the beans that are actually out there. I need to get BACK out there and pick the rest. I am just at the point of I dont know what to do with it. It is not that I dont want it. I love the fresh veggies, and the point of planting a garden to get produce and keep it for winter or whatever. I just dont know how to keep it all. Do I freeze? Do I can? What the heck is the difference?! So that is where this feeling of over whelming-ness comes from. 

The Beans are out of control!!!

On a happier note...have you noticed the blog change.....OH yah!!!! It is that time of year again!!!!! Amy's FIRST annual 29th birthday!!!!! Pretty sure I will get nothing. Brent already bought me golf clubs that I used once because then my golf ladies havent been golfing since. sigh.

Then other than that, Brent doesnt take my kids shopping or anything, so again, pretty sure that equals to Amy gets nothing. We will see. 

I need a nap today. I Am so stinking tired. Maybe it would help if I didnt stay up so darn late every night. 

That is all I know folks! I will update when I "attempt" to make refrigerator pickles! BAHA! 

Life on a Ranch...part two......

So I am not really sure what we are. Are we a Ranch??? Whatever. haha. It doesn't matter. 

Alright, so how is life with Lady Lynn recently, I am sure you are all wondering. 

Here are the ducks! They are getting so big. The big black one, that is Plex. Remember how tiny he used to be?!?!?! He was the one I thought would die the first night we got him. Now he is the biggest. Well I guess it makes sense because he is the only male. The others are females. They should be laying eggs come August or Early September. They say Ducks lay at around 16 weeks, and I was not too sure how old they were when we got them, but they couldn't have been very old. 

A better picture. The BDU (That is what Brent and I call him. Big Dumb and Ugly. BUT actually Plex is anything but that. He is not dumb, nor is he ugly. He has this pretty green shine to him which you can see here. Then the girls in front of him are Chuck, thats Devon's Duck, Middle is Lucy, Zaylee's Duck, and last is Lucky, my duck. 

Last year we planted a garden....and NOTHING GREW. You know how people say "Oh nothing grew"....but really they got like a few salads worth or something. Nope......not here. NOTHING. I mean not even the stupid little plant!!! NOTHING! So this year Brent added a bunch of manure and the ducks bedding and crap like that. Leaves, Grass. I dont know. Shit. (literally).

I thought I would try planting it again. LAst year I was SO meticulous at planning and planting and spacing. Yep I was careful and researched. The whole works. 

This year I figured why the HELL would I go through all that work for NOTHING to grow again!!!!

SO of course me and kiddos go out there. They are tossing seeds here and there. No planning. Just picked a spot and planted. We had started some seeds indoors, so we tossed them into the ground. They did not look healthy at all by the time they were in the soil for a while. 

Few weeks passed after I planted.....and again NOTHING. The dumb little seedlings looked brown and horrible. I figured....well there goes another wasted year.......

well what do you know. THE ONE YEAR I don't give a crap.....look what happens.......

My garden is OUT OF CONTROL! Plants are growing EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!! All those darn little seedlings GREW!!! 

But now I am struggling because nothing makes sense. The pumpkins are growing EVERYWHERE! You can see them snake out. The corn is in the MIDDLE of the garden. I have potatoes at the end between some corn. My watermelon is in the back and growing into my corn. The pumpkins are covering my carrots. The peas and beans are so squished. I have 2 huge rows of tomatoes, but the boys accidentally put two pumpkin plants in the tomato rows, so I have a random pumpkin plant taking over.  Just randomness and I am not sure what to do.

This is the kind of randomness I am talking about. Directly in front are the beans. Behind that is pumpkins. To the left is tomatoes.  

In front is SUPPOSED to be tomatoes, but the two random pumpkin vines coming over kind of takes over. The corn is growing so nice and tall in the background too. 

Here are my watermelons with onions to the right and potatoes in the back. Along with another row of corn in the far back. 

Yes I have weeds in there randomly too....dont judge. haha. 

The veggies look awesome though!!! Look at the grow!!! My peas!

Baby pumpkin!!!!!!!! I am so excited!! And they are everywhere!!!! 

baby cucumbers!!!!!! I cant believe how many I am getting!!!

Look!!! I just picked these today!!!!! wow!!!!!!!

I need to find a good refrigerator pickle recipe. 

So thats my life, in a nut shell. :0)

"Buggie" is still with us. Again I am not sure of what or how long. I know she is meant to go...."wherever". By wherever I mean she has a lot of possibilities, but staying with us just isn't one of them. I feel like it is the right thing. I am a foster parent, with the intent to adopt, but this time around....I am just a foster parent. She has made SUCH progress being with us and it was/is such a pleasure having her here. This is what being a foster parent is all about. Making that difference. Stepping in when biologicals can't do it for whatever reason at the time. I know she came into my life for a reason, even if I wasn't "thrilled" right away! hahaha. I have an amazing social worker and this experience, has been, and experience! hahaha. Truly I am blessed. 

LIfe alone on a ranch

or other wise known as when your dumb husband makes dumb mistakes and then you are left to deal with them alone!
grrrrrrrrr
can you tell I am a bit frustrated. And I know you will laugh....but it is all because of a hose........yes....a stupid dumb garden hose.
But there are other things. This is just one thing I am dealing with right now......

So we water our garden like any other do-gooder gardeners out there. Well the hose we have been using (actually 2 100 footers), the one had a leak, so my brilliant husband just duct taped it. Good work!!!! It lasted all of 2 days! Woohoo.........................

Well finally our garden is so big we need more water pressure to get up and over the plants. So he FINALLY says we can buy a new hose. YES! HAPPY DAY!

So I am like lets get this good quality, I think medium grade, but heavy duty, garden hose. 100 foot. Like 16 bucks. BRENT thinks its a better idea to get the low grade light duty garden hose for 8.99 but its 75 feet. He is like YES! What a deal. We can get 2 75 footers for like the same price.

Yes my love.....BUT LOOK AT THE QUALITY!!!!! trust me..I know how to shop and I KNOW QUALITY beats everything. Honestly and truly.

Well of course he wins. I just roll my eyes and carry on in Menards like the good dutiful wife that I am.

Well fast forward a week now.......Here I am switching out my hoses. WELL Einstein decided to hook up the hose to the garden tractor waterer system thing.........but guess what......when he left he NEVER UNHOOKED IT!!! So here I am, it is fucking 90 degrees out here, and I am dresses semi decent because I had to go into town today, and I am trying to UNDO the hose from the tractor. NOT budging. Guess what it decides to do instead.....yep cut up my hand. Awesome. Because the quality is so low, the part where is screws into other stuff is not even shaped decent and it doesnt move off of stuff!!!!! The hose just bends!!!!!

So I am like fuck it. I take the other 75 foot garden hose, hook up that to the water source and then try to hook it up to our sprinkler.....oh wait.....IT DOESNT REACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See there is a reason why I had 1 100 footers in the FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!! I need at LEAST 200 feet. So I am like whatever, I hook the sprinkler to the cheap hose, then after screaming at the hose for a while finally get it unhooked and then just attached the old duct taped hose to the cheap hose. Make sense?!?! I had three hoses now hooked up.

Great idea???? no.......because now I am down to ZERO water pressure. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


well so what I ended up doing is taking off the new hose, after again giving me blisters and cutting my hand up pretty good, and just attaching the duct tape hose again to the sprinkler.....so I literally am back to square one. sigh.

Oh life on the ranch......

LAB

Other wise known as Life After Brent.
So LAB right now....pretty much blows as always. Its like the first day he leaves I just want to sit and do nothing. I need to clean because I have a policy of NO CLEANING when he is home or I just get crabby and overwhelmed with people and cleaning stuff.
And yes people.....I do the dishes and sweep the floor and whatever. But I dont clean bathrooms, and really dont even do laundry if I can help it.
So now bathrooms need to be cleaned, floor needs to be mopped, laundry needs to be done, and a general "really good pickup" needs to happen. I just feel lazy and like.....no.

Buggie had a Dr. appointment today. I still don't know where and what is going to happen or this case is going. LIke.....I dont even have an inkling. So many different factors. And honeslty I am not even sure if I want to adopt her if it gets to that point because she doesnt even feel like mine.
But here is the thing I am fighting with..........if she goes with grandma...............I DO NOT feel like that is in her best interest. I do not feel like she will be safe, and taken care of like a 3 year old should be taken care of. I DO NOT think people change. They dont. She was a hoarder.....and not going to counseling. What will change that?!?! Sure now it is clean, but what will happen in 5 years??? Buggie will be in the same situation. Not ok.
I also dont think it is a good idea for Buggie to leave town too. Granted I dont know the whole situation, but I am just not impressed with what I find when I stalk online. Not too happy. Again.....I am a FIRM BELIEVER.................GRANDPARENTS SHOULD NOT RAISE THEIR GRANDCHILD!!!!I have never seen a good situation from it. They should be grandparents. Not parents.
If I died, I would NOT want my mother or father raising my children. Auntie, Uncle, that is almost even a catch 22........ugh.
Ok off my soapbox.

I am  just worried about Buggie and what will happen to her and I dont think it is fair that she stays here for God knows how long, in a place where she feels safe and secure and is growing emotionally and mentally, and then to be put in another situation. poor Buggie.

What else.....Life on the ranch...............growing and going pretty well!!!!!! I cannot believe how big my garden is!!!!! Wow!!! I will take a picture. I feel like lawn needs to be mowed again next week.

Other than that.....its all I know!!!

SO in my crabbiness today (again I am not sure why, but I am starting to realize I am really late for my shot that puts me in meopause....so I am starting to deal with that pain again, and then the mood swings from coming off of that shot.  Crud.) I thought I would do something that makes me happy, and since crafting makes me happy, and I dont really have an item to craft right now, I will remember one of my favorite moments, and that would be Zaylee's baptism and all the crafting that went down there and how everything turned out!

I just had to show off...this is what we bought her. A white god bracelet with the letter Z, and on the bottom is a diamond. Yes she is spoiled. 

This is a bouquet that a floral shop was making locally and if you bought this bouquet, it would donate a huge portion of funds back to the foster care system!

Zaylee's foot prints, 

I painted this. Yes free hand, I am so stoked it turned out cute. The only thing I hate is that the Zaylee is a little off center....whatever,

My wreath!! Turned out super nice!

My gumball machines full of M&Ms

my planters that have random treats in it.

I made marshmellow pops at the last minute. It was SUPER easy and it was way super nummy!

Treats!

Zaylees Suckers

Of course it was personalized

again with the planter and treats

the gumball machine, this time full of gum!

Zaylee's guestbook

My princess and my dad

The table centerpieces. Looks cute huh!

The labels. 

The cupcakes!!!!!!!!!

The tables

ohhh the cake!!!!!!!!

Cake table. So yummy!!!

The dessert table

Princess tired after a long day of being brought into God's house!!!!!