That would be a toss-up for me ’cause I really wanna learn how to salsa. My girls wish I’d stop practicing before I really know how to do it. As I free associate, that reminds me of a great line I read in Pride and Predjudice today, quoted from Mr. Darcy on dancing…..” It has the advantage of being in vogue amongst the less polished societies of the world. Every savage can dance.” I don’t know Mr. Darcy, my girls would argue that the “savage” that makes their breakfast everyday is not a very good dancer! But, I digress. Back to the salsa I can do. Thanks to my friend Kristi for the “recipe”, I canned homeade cooked salsa today. I started by collecting these beautiful tomatoes from my humble herb and tomato garden.
I then chopped green peppers and onions
and added Mrs. Wages salsa spice mix along with some vinegar
and then cooked the mixture, poured into jars and boiled for forty minutes
and the sites and smells are inspiring. This is a great tasting salsa albeit a bit of a labor of love. Isn’t everything in the kitchen a labor of love though? I guess I’ll have to keep salsa dancing on that ever growing list of things I want to to do……learn to quilt, play the fiddle, run a marathon, learn latin….and greek, read a million more books, adopt a child, cook paella, memorize Colossians, and meet Susan Wise Bauer. Until then, pass the chips!
Blog (OLD)
School (at home) starts on Monday, so we went……
…to the antique store to search for the perfect milk glass candy dish for my desk. Isn’t she lovely?
…to Walmart to buy composition notebooks where I promptly had my arm twisted into getting this guy. Every homeschool needs a class pet, right? He’ll make a perfect little chore on the chore list, won’t he?……feeding the fish? And fish travel in schools? Okay, I’m a pushover but he is cute and we named him ‘Logos’ which in Latin means word or think or learn. He goes perfect with our classical model which focuses much more on words than on images.
…..again to Walmart to buy SCHOOL SUPPLIES and instead got this pretty little classroom plant….called lipstick; never heard of it or seen it before, but every school needs a class flower….to water…..and watch grow. Do I have ADD or what? Where are all those school supplies?
…..then back home to sweet talk this guy (more on him shortly) into moving
this beastly mammoth down into the school room. The girls and I had a ‘giant spotlight’ moment and decided that this ‘ol used up computer desk would make the best little American Girl playhouse you’ve ever seen. So, we’re gonna paint, bedazzle, and decorate ourselves into a frenzy…..ya know in a schooly sort of artsandcrafts kind of a way.
As promised, more on above mentioned young man: Meet Marcus. Steve’s bright, funny, and friendly 21 year old. He just moved in with us last night to go to UT and we couldn’t be happier. He’s a fanatic Cubs fan and will in general increase the amount of man-TV that gets watched at our house.
To summarize, I have a darling milk glass bowl, a new goldfish, a “lipstick” plant, and a bright and funny 21 year old…..oh, and some highlighters. School supplies are overrated.
Three Things….
Number 1 is……that previous plate wall picture does not do this pretty little wall justice. So, there is pretty plate wall…..in all her glory. Thanks to the “Nester” for plate wall inspiration.
Number 2 is…..I love this grouping. This is my foyer and unlike most spaces in my house, this one has been the same for I’m thinking 2 years……unbelievable. I think it’s the frog playing the banjo that I love so much or maybe it’s the sketchy little “tapestry” that I conjured up from a $5 piece of fabric from the antique store downtown and hot glued and pinned til’ my heart was content(or till the thing stayed up). I don’t know…..I just like it. Still.
Number 3 is…. this is a fantabulous work of redecorranging if I do say so myself. Any self-respecting blogger would have taken a before picture…..but I’m a loser. So just imagine the ugliest little duckling chair you’ve ever seen at a yard sale followed by some black paint , vintage fabric and a little fairy dust later and voila! I adore it. It is going to be my desk chair in our homeschool. The desk is another redecorranging project that will follow shortly. Leigh Anne is gonna be mad she sold me that desk for $5.
Thoughts from the lake……
This was our view from our little lake cabin that Steve’s family owns on Lake Louise in Alexandria Minnesota. It is a darling little place and we cozied in together and had a jewel of a time. We spent lazy mornings in our PJ’s and sweatshirts reading C.S. Lewis and drinking way too much coffee, followed by swimming, floating, playing games, more reading, knitting; in essence a whole lot of R-and-R. Steve’s mom made lots of amazing food which I ate a hefty amount of and then polished that overindulgence off with a scarce amount of exercise. So, I was in fact a vacationing fool. Did I even shower? Maybe twice. But I was in water, technically. And we follow the lake tradition of shampooing our hair in the lake so as to truly justify our lack of shower taking. My kids love this. They rejoice as if they are getting away with crimes against each other. I will list other things of interest in no particular order.
1. I love the new word I learned from Julie and Sophie. “Bojangles- definition…jewelry–cheap jewelry. I love the word and I can’t stop using it. I even bought some bojangles in the Mall of America just so I could say “bojangles”. Go ahead. Use it in context. They won’t mind.
2. I have fond memories of our “Little House on the Prairie” extravaganza. We watched the whole season one while we were gone. I’ve always secretly wanted to be Laura Ingalls. I guess every girl who grew up in the seventies did. Now my girls can share the magic. Even Caiti (my 15 yo daughter) watched it with us…..and loved it. What’s not to love, why there’s handsome, perfect “paw” and gnarly Nellie and that bump music which is permanently ingrained in all our brains……da da da da……da da da da…….
3. There is something strangely fantastic about being in a town with so many Lutherans and so many Lutheran churches. You have this feeling (probably misguided) that people just “get” you. Living in the south and being a Lutheran is lonely proposition. At least Stevie and I have each other and of course our precious “Issues”. We couldn’t survive the parched south without Todd and Jeff.
4. People are so blasted crafty in Minnesota. There’s quilt shops and yarn shops galore. The atmosphere makes one want to crochet…..or knit…..or sew something. You feel like such a schlep if you don’t have crafting skills. I’m learning but southern girls are raised on being good cooks and hostesses and always having your lipstick on. That’s what we’re good at. But I just down right admire a girl who can piece a quilt. It’s on my bucket list.
Minnesota Musings
“Miiuss” Vicki taught us a new game called Blokus…..warning to all you gamers…..highly addictive. You will say mean things to your small children while playing this game, of course wholly justified because they just blocked your next move. Purchase with caution.
We enjoyed boat rides and Caiti especially enjoyed that tubing adventure when she told the boys “please don’t pull me too fast” to which they slyly answered ” oh, we won’t”. Waves went crashing and body parts went flying. I would NEVER let them pull me on a tube. NEVER!
Then, our little Elea finally mustered up the courage to swim to the raft. This we attributed to the magnetism of Adrian who was the only one to coax her to the task. She then promptly pushed Emme off. She can dish it out but trust me, she can’t take it. 
This is perhaps my favorite picture from the trip. Little Elea learning to knit. She sat here forever…..humming little tunes to herself…..presumably ‘Little House’…..while she clacked her needles together. Those little fingers learn quickly.
Tales from the North Woods…..
The annual “king of the raft” game is always fun to watch. All the teenage boys ganged up on Uncle Rex….or maybe that was only Adrian (his son) ganging up on him.
The annual “fish fry” was a great success. Steve, Jeff, and Grandpa Eddie fished all day….. caught the fish, cleaned the fish, fried the fish, and we all ate the fish. The boys stand close the Grandpa Eddie and hope (to much avail) to hear a few profanities!
Kyle and Savannie enjoying some tubing…
This very large fire was a regular for us. These “boyscouts” used a lot of lighter fluid.
Grandma Evadne and Elea knitting. Grandma is working on her ELEVENTH afgan in less than two years……Elea is working on her first scarf which she just informed me may in fact make a mighty fine afgan for her doll….with a lot less knitting!