I haz no phone, but I haz the interwebz.

Excitement in our 'hood!

I'm still waiting to hear from Mark, but my guess is that he's ok.  The boys and I are fine - though it did make for a rather exciting lunch...

We were in Red Robin, when I felt the "a truck is going by" rumbling, that lasted longer than a truck going by would.  Since it felt like it was building, I told the boys to get under the table - to protect their noggins, in case the Three Stooges above them felt like careening from their place on the wall.
I ducked over the baby.

We made it through.  Though, a couple of the TV's in Red Robin did not.

We've had some minor damage/disruption here in the love nest, but nothing serious.

As soon as I figure out a way to get a hold of Mark, I'll update here for y'all.
 {Just got a hold of Mark.  He's not trapped under a beam.}

C'est la mort.

Yesterday afternoon, after a rather ridiculous start to the day, I took the boys outside to play around a bit.  We were out there for a good two hours.  In that time, Thor decided to lay down the hammer and head back to Asgard.  

I figured it would happen.

B-rox took it pretty well.  In fact, I think I was closer to tears about it than he was.   So, being the "awesome" parents we are - we packed up and went to Petsmart.  

We now have a second tank, identical to the first, to house B-rox's new beta.  

Meet Dragon Warrior. 

The fish are ever entertaining.  

But, I'd still rather have a pig.  

Thor and Mohawk Warrior.

Wednesday night we took the kids to the county fair.

We did the usual, eat old fashioned ice cream.  Funnel cakes.  Lemonade.

Watched a demoliton derby. 

And then went to Wal-Mart.
Wait - what? 
That's right. Wal-Mart.

We had to get a home for these guys:

Meet Mohawk Warrior

And Thor.

All the way home last night I heard "Mom, drive carefully.  We have special pets in the car."  "Mom, watch where you're going - we need to get these guys home safely."
Seriously.

The thing is, I'm stressed out of my mind about these things.
I don't want to have another death conversation.  The last one is still taking it's toll on my brain.
Unfortunately, I don't think Thor is long for this world.
I could be wrong.  Goldfish have been known to do some weird stuff. But I know it's not normal for a goldfish to not to swim around.  I know it's not normal for it to just roll from side to side on the bottom of the tank. I know it's not normal for it to slowly "glub glub" like it's begging me for help seconds before the Thermal Cleaning goes off.
C'est la vie.  Except, what's the french word for "death"?   Because it's more "c'est la death".  


We officially have pets.  Hopefully they fare better than plants in my house...  

In the absence.

In the absence here on the blog, this has been the "happenings".

I had my hair done.
Bliss.  Seriously.  Bliss.

4 hours later, here's a car picture.
It doesn't do it justice.
I'm blonde again.
With a bit of "GO BEAVS"
Because it's almost football season! 

Brotherly love has continued to blossom.

Holdeezy sleeps in the crib now.
Though, still wakes multiple times a night.
Gah.
Baby steps.  Baby. Steps. 

Aunt and Uncle Sneaky made the day with new
Superhero shirts.

The baby took to eating glue.  Because he heard
sniffing it could stunt your growth.

We ate one of the best eggplants ever.

I met new friends on a run.

Fell in love with the state park down the road a little more.
Sunrise run along the beach?
Yes, please.

It's been confirmed that he's in the running for
"Worlds happiest baby in the history of the world".

We made our own water cycle.

Which gave us two days of discussions on:
Pollution.
Food Chains.
Water cycles.
Thank goodness for Science Experiment books! 

It's been fun 'round these parts.

Date Night.

 With this guy!

The B-rox "took" me out to see "Glee, the Movie Concert" on Tuesday.   He said he wanted to do it "just because it would make me happy".
(Truthfully, letting him take me and think he was making me happy is what made me happy.)

The movie was... interesting.  Obviously, I'm a big ol' Gleek - but I'm not sure I needed to spend $30 to go see the songs I've seen on the show.

However, when Braxton is married - and treats his partner like royalty - they can thank me.  I'm training them early.

He opened doors, shared his popcorn, and was most courteous all night.
Thanks B-rox.  I had a great night.  I love your nose.  

I'm Laura Ingalls Wilder, Yo. I mean, Y'all.

Recently we've been making some changes.  Some big, some small.  But changes none the less.

One of them, is getting back to purchasing local fruits and veggies.  We were members of a CSA for about 1.5 years, but due to the structure of the program near us - it wasn't working out.  So we stopped and went back to buying our produce at the grocery store.  It didn't really take long before I was once again immensely frustrated by the cost, the quality, and the stickers that all said something like "from Chile", "from Argentina".  No wonder the quality sucks.  No wonder the tomatoes resemble more of a sponge than a beautiful tomato.  No wonder the apples are bruised and mushy.  No wonder the broccoli is already flowering.  Gah.
Lucky for us, one of the best farmers markets in the state is just a mile and a half away.

Our first trip looked like this:

60lbs of produce for $55.
All local, all deeelish!
Also, all of that produce (except the onions)
was gone by Saturday.
So, no, we didn't over buy. 

I made a huge batch of salsa for our neighborhood block party with a quarter of the tomatoes.  The others I turned into a batch of my own pasta sauce!
I couldn't find a single recipe for home made pasta sauce that didn't say "now dump in two cans of tomatoes".  Seriously.  NOTHING.  Not one recipe could take me from tomato to spaghetti.  So, I wung it.  {It's make up your own grammar day.}

First step:
dump the tomatoes in boiling water for about 4 minutes.
Then drain, and take off skin. 

Step 2:
Put tomatoes back in the pot.
Add (home made) veggie broth, onions, garlic,
peppers, seasonings. 

Step 3:
Let simmer and stew for 2[ish] hours. until reduced and saucy.
See the line of where it used to be? 

Step 4:
Use a portion to make eggplant parm.

This past week, we bought 40lbs of peaches and last night I spent the evening washing, peeling and slicing them.  Then, we put them into freezer bags {time to get a vacuum sealer set up.} and will be able to enjoy them through "The Long Winter".  [In case you're wondering - 40 lbs makes enough to eat fresh peaches for a week and then about 20 quarts of sliced peaches.]

Other things I've done with our farmer's market hauls:

Zucchini Canoes.
Yum.  Like, times a million.

Zucchini sticks.
Mix panko, parmesan and italian seasoning.
Coat sticks, bake.  

Jalapeno Hush puppies.
Follow recipe.
Watch your arteries cry.
But enjoy every single second of it.

We had "appetizer" night.  The zucchini sticks, the hush puppies, and various fruits.  Eaten on a blanket while discussing some family plans.  Which mostly consisted of us telling the boys we're cancelling their birthday party...

Now, I just need to learn to can and I'm set.  A true pioneer... or something.

For those who care.

I got my new camera last week.  Oh my goodness.  I'm. In.  Love.  I wasn't sad at all to see my other camera go.  Though, that may have had more to do with the fact I sold it for $175 than anything else... 


So, I spent a lot of time researching a new camera.  There are a lot out there.  Luckily, the fact that I already have an incredible $800 dollar Nikon lens helped me narrow my choices down...  To Nikon.

Eventually the wallet allowed me to get the one I've been drooling over for a while.  The D7000.  It's fantastic, and lives up to every five-star review on the interwebz.  (I only read a couple of less than five-star reviews - and most of them were complaints about shipping time, not the camera itself.)

I decided to take a sunset walk with the fam to flex it's low-light capability muscles.
Here's what I got.

f5.6
ISO 800
(Don't remember shutter speed...but it wasn't slow.)
The sun was completely set 13 minutes later.
Not a lot of light - and LOOK at this!
The only editing was some contrast fixes in camera. 

I'm in love.  Thanks Hubband.