News...

When the breaking news interrupted my "Army Wives", you know I was a little peeved - but WOW, Osama is dead.  Whenever I see that "Special Report" flash across the screen at this time of night I am immediately filled with dread, but am in awe now - I honestly am amazed that he really was alive all this time...

Welcome news to this military wife, but there is so much work yet to do, and wondering what he has been doing all this time, and what it could mean in the future...

Just had to write something down so I might be able to sleep better!

Strange news and strange food...

Tick, tock, tick, tock... I'm all ready to get going in the garden, but the nighttime temps need to cooperate a bit more before the seedlings start going in.  So what else has been going on?


Thought you might enjoy a few snippets of our local news - these things have all happened in just the past week, sometimes I feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone...


- Bear in a Tree - this might not be strange in other places, but this was near an elementary school just off Atlantic Ave, at the oceanfront!  Yep, a few sightings of a black bear down on the resort strip I think were written off to people that were just a little off their rocker maybe, but the next evening it was spotted by 2 police officers, and it was a pretty large specimen.  Poor bear was up in a tree surrounded by news crews and someone from PETA dressed in a bear suit and they shot him up with tranquilizers and put a trampoline under him.  Problem was, he didn't fall out of the tree.  They proceeded to cut branches down until they got him and he was later released into the wild, probably the Blue Ridge mts or the Dismal Swamp.  No clue how he arrived here, I guess he wanted to go on holiday like all the other tourists.


- Overturned semi carrying..... blood & plasma?!!  Ummm, ew!  That was yesterday morning's news during rush hour.  Of all things to be called out to, can you imagine the hazmat crew getting that call?  What are the chances?!


- School Superintendent apologizes to parents:  This one's a doozy - A 2nd grade teacher was teaching a lesson in civil rights the other day and decided that it was a good idea to separate the students into groups, African American and caucasian... then proceeded to "have an auction".... WHAT???!!  


Just a few things that cause me to shake my head in disbelief on a daily basis!


***
On to the strange food... some of you may know I've been trying to cook more one-pot meals, in part because I can get them going in the morning in the crock pot, freeing up my afternoon time when it's warm out and I want to be in the garden, but also because I am trying to always have leftovers to freeze for quick healthy dinners or lunches for hubby to take to work.  At the same time I have been trying out new recipes, adding new veggies, and trying to use more whole grains and less meat.  (don't get me wrong though, I will never become a vegetarian!)  I really want to learn how to cook lots of different dishes using these ingredients because they are so easily stored, inexpensive, and very nutritious.  Jane of 'Hard Work Homestead' and Mama Pea of 'A Homegrown Journal' have been pretty influential in my newly rediscovered love of cooking and trying to get more wholesome grains and such into it and Thomas of 'A Growing Tradition' has inspired me to keep trying on my bread until I get it right!


It's been a daily struggle with the kids peppered with the occasional bright spot... take a look!


This dish was called "Peasant Stew", it is basically  chicken pieces cooked in a slow cooker seasoned cumin and pepper, stewed with our canned tomatoes, chiles, beans and cilantro.  We topped it with  sour cream and more cilantro and it was fabulous!  Mine and hubby's opinions, of course.  The kids started out whining, but they actually ate this one after bribing them, and said they ended up liking it.  But why, oh why do they always have to whine first?!

Finn finally liking it below...

Another night was a meatless dish to serve up on tortillas like burritos.  Also, turned out very tasty except I overcooked the barley in the slow cooker.  This one doesn't need to be started until about 3-4 hours before dinner, not all day - oops!  It has pearled barley, black beans, corn, canned diced tomatoes, green chiles, cilantro, cumin and a few types of peppers.

I pretty much got "Worst Mom of the Year" award for this one!  

Hubby and I liked it, of course:)

Listen in on their hate and discontent, love how hubby literally pitches it onto their plate in his frustration with their whining LOL...

whole grains and beans, hmmmmph!  

"The beatings will continue until morale improves!"

Hot and Humid Again!

Due to wind and rain, like everyone else today it seems, no real projects or gardening going on today. The weather was made worse by the fact that temps soared to 88º today with high humidity - yuck!

I did manage to get a S@m's Club trip done today - please kick me in the head if you ever hear me mention that it's time to renew that membership! I actually did the math today since it was a leisurely trip without the kids, and most things are MORE expensive there than the commissary that is RIGHT BY my house LOL! I also am responsible for preparing a veggie tray for the current Master Gardener class for tomorrow morning. This was very dumb on my part, volunteering a veggie tray when nothing is in season anymore! I wasn't thinking straight back in August when I signed up for this. I priced bell peppers, the 1000 lb bag o'carrots at S@m's Club, broccoli, etc and almost fell over - I ended up buying one of those pre-made veggie trays and calling it a day. Two weeks ago I did pumpkin bread loaves for the class for FREE since I had all the ingredients, and even if I hadn't, it wouldn't have cost more than about $5.

I spent the first 2 hours of my morning driving around aimlessly, thanks to no stores being open until 10 a.m.! I can't stand this, since I am a morning person, and prefer to get all my errands out of the way early. Hancock Fabrics - closed, S@m's Club - closed, craft store - closed, library - closed! Really, I ended up wasting money at St@rbucks waiting for stores to open and wasting fuel, grrr....

On the bright side: the harvest today, I LOVE FALL!

Dinner Tonight (for me, anyways!)

And if you are wondering, YES - I eat the whole thing!

Other news: apparently there was one tip provided to police they are keeping to themselves, but they were out in full force again today behind the T@rget Store about a mile away, all walking in a line, this backs up to the freeway on ramp so I am assuming someone may have seen something tossed out of a window that they are looking for. I'm not sure of the significance of this, since the officer was off duty when the murder occurred, but the media made it a point of repeating several times that his body was found with his police badge around his neck, that's all the info we have now. Since we live so close to the crime scene, I had to have a talk with my kids this morning at breakfast about what they should do if they ever came across a weapon (gun) in the grass, etc... wow, there's a talk I didn't think I would have to have. What the perp might not have thought of... the police have just requested all the fenceline surveillance video from the Naval Air Station from that night - this took place in a treeless area immediately next to the airfield. Hope it shows something!

Lastly, I've been trying to clean up my computer desktop and came across this little video I meant to post about 2 months ago!

Tonight I will be listening to severe storms and finishing the SECOND sock in the pair, yay! I'm completely obsessed now and my hands are always on the verge of carpal tunnel syndrome!

I hope everyone in the path of this crazy weather system has fared okay! If any of you have snow, I want to see some photos!

A Sad Update...

The body found near our house this morning was ruled a homicide, and the victim was a police officer. Apparently the body was found behind a pickup truck that was on the side of the road which would explain why no one discovered the body until 7:15, that's just when the sun is up enough here to see everything. My kids were standing out at the bus stop at that time. Nothing further is known, but now I know why every unit in a massive radius was here - even a busload of police recruits showed up to help canvass the area. They say it was a fatal gunshot. I heard nothing here, although the dogs across the street were barking incessantly for a good hour last night.

Say a prayer for his family, 25 year old officer Victor Decker had a wife and a little baby girl. He also received a Medal of Valor last year after only 4 years on the force for stopping an armed robbery he came across alone while on bike patrol - sounds like he was exactly the kind of police officer we all hope to have in our local departments.

too good to miss!

I know many of us already follow Thyme2Garden's blog, but she had a post today that no one should miss! It's news!

So check it out in Thyme2Gardens post today: Zucchini for Self Defense

I say a big "hell, yes" to this woman, she's awesome!