"oh, the weather outside is frightful ..."

We have lived here almost 10 years and this is our second snowfall. I missed the first one. It was snowing on Christmas Eve 4 years ago. I was on my way home from Albany, NY and was stuck in Atlanta's ever-crowded airport. Our flight crew was trying to get to Atlanta from Cleveland and was snowed in there. So, our plane- ful of people sat and tried to emulate a little bit of Christmas spirit by trying to not get too disagreeable with the situation. Then my cell phone rang. It was my hubby. He had taken the kids to Wendy's for a yummy homemade Christmas Eve feast and while they were there it had started to snow. Christmas Eve magic. I spoke loudly back into my phone, "WHAT?!? It's snowing in Houston??" About 200 pairs of eyes were on me and everyone waiting at my gate repeated like a chorus, "It's snowing in Houston?" I wanted to laugh and crawl under my seat all at the same time. They all pulled out their cell phones to verify. Silly people.

Today, I was walking Benj home from school when the thick white stuff started coming down all around us. It was magical. All the kids walking home from school started yelling the obvious, "It's snowing!!" We all danced around and tried to catch the stuff in our mouths. I pulled out my cell phone and called my hubby, "Look out your window! It's snowing!"

Lemon Season

I love this time of year. The weather starts cooling off, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, it's time to start pulling the Christmas lights out of the attic, and the lemons are about ready to pick. We bought this little lemon bush about 6 or 7 years ago and planted it in the ground. Which means it can grow bigger but it is still susceptible to freezing weather--which happens here occasionally. It is the only thing that we love to eat that is somewhat easy to grow here. You have to watch the freezes--especially in March when the blossoms are on, and this year I had trouble with birds and with Ike, but we got 15 lemons which is 15 more than I used to have. The last couple of years we have gotten 40 lemons--that's quite a lot of lemons from one little bush. So, what do we do with all of those lemons?

We give a lot of them away and use a few in cooking--lemon bars, lemonade, lemon pie, lemon chicken, and our favorite, lemon jelly. Chris's sweet aunt from California brought some lemon jelly to a family reunion and then was sweet enough to remember to email me the recipe. I suggest you give it a try. It is good stuff! I don't think she'll mind if I pass along the recipe. I think she said it was a state fair winner in AZ. If you don't have fresh lemons where you live you might find some at a store that will do but I'm sure they won't be quite as good. :)

Lemon Jelly
(makes 4 ½ pints + a sample)

4 lemons (our lemons are so big, we only need 1 1/2)
1 ½ c. water
4 ½ c. sugar
1 foil pouch of Certo (liquid pectin)
Finely shred enough lemon peel to make 1 tablespoon. Squeeze juice from lemons to make ¾ cup. Combine peel, juice and water. Let stand for 10 minutes. Strain to remove pulp and peel. Measure 2 cups of juice mixture.
In a large pan, combine the juice mixture and sugar. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Quickly stir in the pectin. Return to a full boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim foam. Ladle into hot, sterilized ½ pint canning jars, leaving ¼" headspace. Wipe jar rims and put on lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes (I use my steamer). Start timing when the water starts to boil. Remove jars and cool on a wire rack.

Tag!

Tag yourself! Copy and paste into your blog. Put an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not, then answer the questions at the end. This is for your entire life!

( ) Gone on a blind date
( x ) Skipped school
( ) Watched someone die
( ) Been to Canada
(x) Been to Mexico
(x ) Been to Florida
( x ) Been on a plane
(x) Been lost
(x) Been on the opposite side of the country
(x ) Been to Washington , DC
(x) Swam in the ocean
(x ) Cried yourself to sleep
(x) Played cops and robbers
(x) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Sang Karaoke
( )Paid for a meal with coins only?
(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
(X) Made prank phone calls?
( ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x ) Danced in the rain
( x ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe
( ) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about
(x) Blown bubbles
( x) Gone ice-skating
( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors
(x) Gone to the movies
(x) Got a speeding ticket

1. Any nickname? A few over the years—Princess, Greenyhead, Lizard, Skip, Isabeau

2. Favorite Drink? water

3. Mother's name? Michal

4. Tattoo? no

5. Body Piercing? Ears

6. How much do you love your job? I love all my jobs! Wife, mom, Preschool teacher

7. Birthplace? CA

8. Favorite vacation? South America—Chile and Peru. Loved Macchu Pichu! 2nd place: all our family campouts; 3rd place: Hawaii

9. Ever been to Africa ? no

10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Yes and breakfast and lunch and snacks

11. Ever been on TV? no

12. Ever steal any traffic sign? No, but I’ve paid money for one—antique store

13. Ever been in a car accident? I’ve been rear-ended a couple of times, not bad enough to hurt the car. —ooh, hit a deer in Grandpa’s red truck, that one was a mess.

14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4 door

15. Favorite salad dressing? Ranch, raspberry vinagrette and homemade poppy seed

16. Favorite pie? Homemade apple, warm and ala mode

17. Favorite number? 4

18 Favorite Movie? Nacho Libre—I like movies that make me laugh

19 Favorite holiday ? Christmas

20. Favorite Dessert? Crème brulee

21. Favorite food? Mexican, indian, pork, all vegetables, chocolate, etc.

22. Favorite day of the week? Thursday—I try to get in the weekend attitude early

23. Favorite brand of body wash? I like soap—Lever 2000 and then followed with Bath and Body Works Sesual Amber body lotion--yummy!

24. Favorite toothpaste? Colgate

25. Favorite smell? sheets that have been dried in the sun

26. What do you do to relax? crossword puzzles, read, sing with the radio

27. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Driving a smaller car, maybe grandkids, maybe botox


Consider yourselves tagged...I will be checking your blogs!

Cait's Christmas List

So, what do you get a 17 year-old who seems to have everything? Cait did some brainstorming and here's her list:


1) pony (yes, a real one)

2) gift card to Target

3) plane (yes, a real one)

4) cute pilot (real)

5) Michael Phelps (yes, the real one)

6) white teeth

7) 50 lbs. hot chocolate

8) CTR ring (she lost her last one in a swimming pool)

9) Cheesecake Factory (yes, the restaurant)

10)lamb (real)

11)new tennis shoes (finally, something normal!)

12)a servant to do her homework and she will name him Jim Bob (?)

13)Japanese game show (?)

14)mouth wash

15)cute new baby scriptures

16)good ACT score

17)movies--Newsies and A Walk to Remember

18)be an EMT

--I'm going to forward this to Santa and we'll see what happens.

A real self-esteem builder :)

Yesterday I came downstairs dressed for the day/work. I was wearing a short-sleeved hoodie with a long-sleeved t-shirt under it. I'd worn the hoodie before but this was the first time with a long-sleeved t- under it. But, you know, the weather's cooling off--high of 80.


Benj took one look at me and said, "Wow mom! I've never seen you look like that before! You look cool!"


Was that a compliment?

A Bit About BOO-ing

The first time we were BOO-ed was before we moved here, so maybe 10 years ago. I actually remember it well. I had never heard about the idea of giving treats in such an organized way with the poem and accompanying BOO sign for the window. When we first read the poem, I felt very special. We were chosen! We were part of the chain! Then I read again--We had ONE day to make treats, copy poem/instructions, and new BOO signs. We shifted into turbo and put off our regularly scheduled programming to get the job done. But I was busy, could I fit it all in? Would someone know it if we were late or did it wrong? I know I stressed myself out about it WAY too much. I have a hard time with deadlines put on me that I don't agree to ahead of time. Anyway, after trips to the copy store and the grocery store to get the copies and the right treat, we went out to secretly deliver our yummy, perfectly planned delight. And guess what--in our little close-knit LDS neighborhood, there were NO houses left to be BOO-ed. We were the last ones! We were not chosen, we were the remnants. All of the running around to keep the chain going for nothing. We ended it. Chain over. We kept the treat. --After a couple of years of poems telling me I had ONE day to keep the chain going, I started to ignore them. I hoped that we wouldn't get BOO-ed so we wouldn't have to go to all of the trouble to pass it on. I should've just stuck up a paper ghost in the window to keep well-wishers away. I am such a grinch! :)

Now, I'm not all bad (I hope). There are some good things about this contemporary tradition. Neighbors reach out to each other and look forward to passing along a bit of thoughtfulness with their treat. But the best thing about BOO-ing, from my perspective, is watching my kids be sneaky. And for that reason, the last few years, we do our own kind of BOO-ing. We choose 4 or 5 friends/neighbors and make them treats. We enclose a note but leave out the demanding deadline part. They can have a treat with no strings attached--They don't have to pass it along! We just let them know it's from someone they know but we don't say exactly who. The kids dress in dark clothing and wear their best running shoes. We drive up to the house with lights off. We scout out the area--the best shrubbery/cars to hide behind and the best escape route. Chris and I sit in the car and giggle while we watch the kids sneak up to the door, ring the bell, and take off! They run, dive, hit the ground, flatten themselves behind trees, and set off car alarms (sorry Kristi!). When they all finally make it back in the car and Chris peals off down the street, they all breathe a sigh of relief and relive their moves. The adrenaline is thick in the air and they're all talking at once, same story over and over from different perspectives. "I didn't know they were going to come around the garage! I ran then hit the ground, then counted to 10, looked up, took off, hit the car (alarm), went behind the tree, army-manned it behind the bush, ran to our car!" Laughing, pointing, then--next house! I love BOO-ing!

Pictures!

Here are some Ike-related pictures. I know it's probably old news to most of you, but we're still living with it. The clean up is on-going and seems to be never-ending. Galveston will never be the same. Along the Sea Wall, there is no beach. The gulf waters come right up to the wall.

Last year, the first part of September, Chris and I celebrated our 20th down in Galveston. We stayed at an old Victorian house that had been turned into a bed-and-breakfast. http://www.coppersmithinn.com It was built in the late 1800s and survived the Great Storm of 1900. The next day, we chartered a fishing boat out of Crystal Beach and spent the day tanning and catching sand trout. We had the boat to ourselves except for our pilot/guide. Our guide baited the hooks for us and even cast them out. There's nothing left of Crystal Beach. There's not even a ferry to get you to the peninsula now.

The night of the storm we all slept (or tried to) in the family room. We watched the news until the signal went out and then Shrek and then Napoleon Dynamite until the power went out.

This picture is taken right around the corner from our house. One house lost 6 trees and the one next door lost 3. It looked like pick-up-sticks. A mini-tornado (there were lots of those all around that night) touched down here. Their front yard now looks like a war zone--holes and mud.

The kids wanted to try walking across this. What kid wouldn't?

Big trees = big mess. Lots of trees actually got tangled up in live wires which is one reason why it took so long for the electric to come back on.

Torn right out of the ground. You still see lots of this around the neighborhood. People are trying to get the stumps taken care of so they can put their yards back together.

Our messy front yard (and neighborhood).

Our debris pile out at the street. It was picked up a week before our power was on. Notice the pines are still standing, which is good because the one on the left is about 5 stories tall (the one on the right is actually an oak).

Chicken Foot game #427. Don't ask me why, but we didn't get tired of this particular game for over a week. We set up a table outside and ate and played out there a lot. The mosquitoes didn't move in until about day 10 after the storm.

Puzzle #1 of 3. Stef is protective of them--she did most of the work on all 3.

What the kids do when they get stir crazy.

One of the houses that Mormon Helping Hands helped clean up.

Chris said that in Galveston, boats were everywhere.