Wonderfully articulate post my dear B. But to be accurate, you probably should've used this image instead...

Blind Willie....

Sorry there is nothing to look at, but you can listen.
I just love his music!!
Thanks to Mr. K. for the intro.

Around the dinner table

If any of you know Ski, you will know that his brain works very differently from most people. First of all, he is a musician. And really, at any moment, he will burst into song. He is actually a walking radio of sorts. If it from the 60s through the 80s, he most likely knows it. He knows a massive amount of "one hit wonder" bands and sings lyrics to the most obscure songs. After graduation from college, he lived with a single guy who was exactly like him in this area. The guy was a drummer with a well known 80s band before the band made it big. He also played drums for his night job...you know, like a lounge singer. Beyond music, Ski and Tim were really night and day. But if you spent some time with them together, you could easily see how they were able to get along. They would have entire conversations which entailed large amounts of singing. It really was amazing to witness. Often, they would break into the same song at the same moment. Fascinating!!! They would reference 10 songs average during conversations. Of course, I am the one who knows songs, but I forget the words. Don't ask me if I know a song by the title. You have got to sing it to me. Then, maybe..... I would stand amazed and confused by it. Sometimes, the references would be unknown to me. But other times, like when we were in the attic talking about a chimney of all things and "Ya mo be there" was referenced, I understood. Now that Ski has only me in his life, he lacks that witty musical repartee and we are just left to wonder where that song came from.

So, that little background, which has nothing to do with dinner, brings me to my story. The other night at dinner, my beloved Ski broke into "....All I am saying is give peas a chance." We were not eating peas. We were not talking about peas or peace or war or the 60s or anything else that might explain an outburst like this. So, of course, our oldest son burst into raucous laughter. Yes, he thinks anything is absolutely hilarious. I am rolling my eyes. Ski is full of self satisfaction so takes the opportunity to repeat himself. Once again, my eyes roll around and ds and his younger brother begin the cackling. Then, out of the silent and female end of the table, Boo decides it is time to take a stand.

She said with all the seriousness in the world (because she really is the serious one), "Give BRUSSEL SPROUTS a chance!!"

Ski was incredulous. "What?!?!"

She takes a breath and repeats "Give Brussel Sprouts a chance!!! People won't even try them and they really should because they are REALLY GOOD!!"

So, there you have it. And she wasn't even eating them for dinner that night!! But she did pick the photo for the blog. :)
Eat your brussel sprouts!!!

I Love Free Stuff!!!

I just love free stuff!!
I get free stuff all the time. I get mail for stuff for my teens like feminine products and acne things. I tell companies that I love their products and they send me coupons. One company even told me to write again and they would send me more!! Even when I tell a company about how displeased I am they send me coupons. I don't know why!!

Well, my kids ran out of milk again today.
I am seriously considering buying a cow!!
There are only 6 of us that use cow milk, but oh my!!!! We go through it like water!!! And seriously, we just bought milk two days ago!! Today I just happened to get a coupon for a free item from Organic Valley. So, I bought a gallon outrageously expensive organic milk for my kiddos' habit -- and it was free!! If we hadn't been out of milk, I might have saved it for some meat since the limit on it was $10. I was surprised that the lady didn't say anything. Once I brought a coupon in for some free POM and they about had a canary because that stuff is $$$. It had no price limit so I got the biggest one that I could find. :) I didn't like it much, though...

Drink up!!

Da Do Run, Run, Run

I recently hit a few personal milestones with my running. Nike Plus keeps track of your mileage (via iPod Nano hotsync downloads) and "rewards" you when you hit certain distances. When I started running I was determined to train at a slow pace because everything I heard and read said not to overdo it and get hurt. I may at some point blog about the training schedule/method I came up with but, suffice it to say that I took that advice to heart.

So, according to Nike, "on 7/29/08, after 218 runs at an average pace of 14 minutes, 47 seconds per mile, JangoMickey (that's me) ran 500 total miles". I basically started in January of 2007 to give you and idea of how long it took me.

This month, for the first time ever, I ran the distance of a 5k as well. I hope to start joining some actual 5k races soon. I already run outside, not on a treadmill, so I'm used to that but I'm sure the adrenaline will be different if I'm aware of other runners going the same distance that I am. My goal all along has been to maintain at least a 16 min/mile pace. I really don't think running with others will have a huge impact. But it sounds fun and a t-shirt and crossing off a personal goal will be enough of a reward for me personally. Stay tuned.

Hangin' out with Tweezy

Ok, lemme take a breath.............

Boy for a "sabbatical month" we've sure had a lot going on. I wanted to get some things that are blog-worthy up. B's already blogged about our "peachfest". MMMMmmm...pies..jams..mmmm. Life is good. BTW, "two bushels" doesn't sound like a lot, but that's four medium sized cardboard boxes full of peaches. I got a pretty bad case of poison ivy too. (from climbing under peach trees?)

My wireless connection on my laptop magically started working again--after going on on strike for 3 months. (yay!) No more being tethered to the desk with an Ethernet cord when I work from home! (who hoo!) BUT...(not so fast), then our remote (VPN) connection was "upgraded" and guess what? Wireless no longer working! (boo!) HOWEVER... God smiled on me and helped me figure it out after a few days. (I now have two programs that like to fight over who will allow remote access--one from home, one from the office). Anyway, I think I figured out the "new routine".

Here's one of the coolest thing that happened recently:
I took the older kids to a minor league ballgame where KJ-52 was performing a concert after the game. I've already posted an iPod worthy entry about KJ. Pretty much everyone in our family likes him but we didn't think the little ones would sit through nine innings and then a concert without going stir crazy or falling over exhausted.

I didn't realize the concessions at the ballpark were "CASH ONLY" so I was on the cellphone with B making online banking arrangements when I saw someone walk over to the merchandise tables that I thought looked a little like KJ. I've read on the Fourms page of his site that many people can't believe he sets up his own merch and will ask him "when's KJ-52 coming on?". So N was with me (we were on a food run and the girls were in the upper deck above us) and I told him to go get his sisters QUICK!!!

By the time they came down a small crowd had gathered and was interacting with him. I had finished my "financial arrangements" call with B and we were able to spend a few minutes talking to him. I had built into the kids the expectation that our Upper level, General Admission "nosebleed seats" would probably afford us a teeny-tiny view of the concert. So this was really quite a thrill to be face to face with "Five Tweezey". By the grace of God I had remembered to slip my camera in my pocket and he was gracious enough to let us snap a pic of him, as he put it, "hangin' with the chillies" and he even let C take a quite humorous pic of me and him. (I'm old and I'm in a silly hat but I'm still WAAAAAY COOOOL!!)

Oh, and the kid in front of us gloved a screamin' foul ball that was headed right toward my face. AND we got to move down to the lower level seats for the concert after the game. (swwweet!)

KJ, you RAWK (for Jesus)!!!

Can-can

Oh my!!!!!
I think I need to take more pics.
But honestly, my hands were just too messy!!!

This past weekend, we went peach picking. In much less than an hour, all 8 of us picked two bushels of peaches. YUM!!!!
I made.....
two pies
a batch of low sugar jam
a batch of regular peach jam
a large batch of peach butter
13 qts of sliced canned peaches
All canned in my hot water canner.....

and 2 frozen gallon bags of slices
and I will be making a double batch of peach cobbler for dh
And I STILL have peaches in my fridge!!!

Oh, and I gave away a basket of peaches and a jar of jam to my host this week in Chapel Hill as a thank you for letting me stay there.

I will try to get a pic of some jars.
Iz sees the Dermatologist tomorrow so.....

Oh....and I did all of this right after I had the world's most terrible cold!! And for fun, I drove about 6 hrs in two days (not counting all the time I spent getting lost) in the middle of all my canning spree.