We're headed back up north, take two!

Tomorrow morning Jese and I are getting up at 5:00 AM to head back up north. Last weekend was fun, I didn't take any pictures though. I will take some this weekend. Hopefully Jese shoots a big bear!

Christa

We're headed back up north!

Hello! Not much has happened this week. On Monday I babysat Liam and Josie, yesterday I cleaned and did laundry, and today I am packing for up north and then going up north tonight! As soon as Jese gets done with work tonight we are going to head up! We will be coming back Saturday night so he can back to work on Sunday, then we will go back up again Wednesday morning through Saturday night again for bear hunting. It should be a fun two weeks. Jese is in between classes right now so that is why we are going up two weeks in a row. It will be our last trip up until deer hunting most likely. We want to go up in October too but don't know if Jese will have enough vacation time. I am going to finish watching an episode of True Blood I started this morning so then I can get on with my packing!

Christa

Today I am wishing it were Christmas!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2005 (I had no pictures of me for this year!) Mom and Cassie are obviously jealous of my boobs!

Christa

Canning Day!

Hello! This week has been busy. On Wednesday I sold donuts in Medford. On Thursday and Friday Jese and I both sold donuts. It wasn't very busy so we ended up closing early on Thursday and Friday. After we were done on Friday we went to Cabela's and got me a new fishing pole. I got a blue rod, orange reel, and yellow line! It looks pretty sweet, now I am all ready to go back up north, which we are doing Wednesday night! Today I slept in until 9:00, I don't remember the last time I slept that late! Then I went to the farmer's market. I wanted to can tomatoes today but only had about 18 tomatoes, so I decided to buy 1/2 a bushel of tomatoes! Well needless to say, that was plenty! I started canning around noon and just got done! (It is now 9:00) I got slowed down a little bit because I also had to make Jese's birthday supper. I made him Jamie Oliver meatloaf. he said it was really good, I tried a bite of it but I was to busy to eat.

Making Bolognese sauce and tomato sauce...

...and now meatloaf too! That is 3 things at once!

Once all the tomatoes and jars were out of the boxes, Pizza decided she had to be in them!

9 hours, 3 trips to the grocery store, 4 burned fingers, 1 burned arm later and I have 16 jars of diced tomatoes, 10 jars of salsa, 16 jars of tomato sauce, and 5 jars of Bolognese sauce! It was a long day!!

Christa

It's been awhile!

I know, I know, it has been awhile! On Friday last week Jese and spent the day cleaning and doing errands. On Saturday Jese's family came up for his and Avis's birthday. I grilled chicken, it was done perfectly! My kitchen was a little small for that many people but it was a little to hot in the sun to eat outside! On Sunday I sold donuts in Medford, it was super super busy! I made donuts for 3 hours straight with no break! Yesterday I did the laundry, it was a perfect day for it. Today I did a little rearranging! Tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday I am going to be selling donuts again! Okay well that is all for now!

Christa

oh yes, I am loving this weather, I am so glad it is cooler out finally, now if it would only get down to 60 degrees during the day, that would be perfect!

Grilled Green Tomatoes!

For lunch today I made some grilled green tomatoes. I even tried a bite of them, and I must say they tasted pretty good! Jese and I couldn't figure out what they tasted like but we both agreed that they were pretty good. 

This morning Jese brought our big window a/c unit downstairs and hooked it up in the study. Then he put the little one in the bedroom. We closed all the windows in the house and now it actually feels like we have air conditioning! It doesn't cool it off very much but it is much much better than it has been. Now we aren't sweating all the time, it is also keeping the humidity level down in the house! 

Today I got the best deal ever!! I got a shirt and a pair of flip flops from victoria's secret for just $1.98!! I had a $10 gift card (for Jese's birthday since the credit card is in his name!) and for today only you could get free shipping on anything! That is a pretty good deal I think. Then we stopped at Bargain Betty's for their dollar sale and I got a pair of jeans, a jacket, a shirt, and Jese got a shirt, all for $4! Today was defiantly a bargain day! We also got Jese a new pair of shorts that actually fit him, he kept asking me if they looked to small because he isn't used to wearing pants/shorts that actually fit him! He always buys them to big for him, plus he has lost so much weight his shorts have been falling right off of him without a belt on! 

We also cleaned the basement up today. The dehumidifier is keeping it nice a dry down there so we took a risk and put down all our rugs in the workout room. Hopefully they stay dry! 

This afternoon Jese read on his hammock (he kicked me off as soon as I went on it, jerk!) and I picked a bunch of tomatoes and peppers! 

Now Jese is at school and I am reading Charlie St. Cloud because I just got a $20 gift card for Amazon! Have a nice cool night!

Christa

Happy Birthday Jese!!

Kipper enjoying Jese's birthday present!!

Hello!! Today is Jese's 24th birthday! He is getting so old :) This morning I banished him to the basement so I could set up his birthday present, I got him a hammock and ladder ball. He liked them both very much, I think Kipper liked the hammock a little bit more though!

After Jese left for work I talked to mama for a bit, then I ate breakfast, then I made laundry detergent. I am working on getting the laundry done now, it is so humid out the clothes will probably take hours to dry! Jese is making me keep all the curtains closed so the sun can't beat in and warm up the house, it is driving me nuts! He is also being mean and making me make nasty meatloaf for his birthday meal, that is going to heat up the house tons!! Okay well I think the washer just got done.

Christa

Here's my supper!

Chicken with Caponata Ragout

Here is what I had for supper! It was delish, although I will admit I didn't try the veggies! The chicken came from dad's, the eggplant came from the farmers market, and the onion and tomato came from my garden! So the only things I had to use that was store bought was celery, tomato juice, basil, red wine vinegar, and brown sugar! So it was a very cheap meal!

Christa

Tomato Storm!!

Finally!! Our tomatoes are all ripening up and ready to be used!! We have three different varieties, they are: Big Boy, Early Girl, and Cherry Tomatoes! There is a definite size difference in each one! I have an early girl in my supper tonight, I will let you know how it is!

Christa

I'm Home, and it's hot out!

Josie brushing her teeth!

Mom on the paddle boat with me

Liam playing all by himself in the sand

Grandma and Grandpa holding hands!

Grandpa being a kid again, he went down the slide about 3 times!

Hello!! Yesterday I got back from up north. It was lots of fun, the weather was perfect, and we didn't get attacked by any bears! I rode up with Mom and Rick on Thursday, we got there around 2:00. Jeff was the only one that beat us, everyone else showed up throughout the day. We played yard games, sat around the fire, went paddle boating, swimming, and lots of eating! One night a bear came but Rod scared it off so it didn't attack us. I rode back with Mom and Rick yesterday, it was a long drive but once I got home and realized out hot and humid it was I wanted to right back in the car and ride back up north! 

Yesterday I picked all the veggies out of the garden since Jese didn't do it while I was gone. I got 40 cherry tomatoes, 4 early girl tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, and 2 green bell peppers! Now I need to figure out what to do with it all!! One of our cichlids died last night, it was on the females that never paired off, poor girl! Okay well I have to go take a shower and get everything done this morning since it is going to be another scorcher!

Christa

Back Up North I Go!

Kipper never wanted to go in his kennel and now that we took it apart he likes to sleep in it!

Some of our new baby fish, they are in the right corner!

Hello! This past week Jese and I have been separating our fish. He brought 3 up to work and we set up our spare tank and put 3 in that. Now we just have 4 cichlids in the big tank and 2 tiger barbs. Both sets of cichlids have babies but one set only has a few because they got ate up before we separated all the fish. The other set has somewhere between 100-200! 

Yesterday the plumber only had bad news, we have roots in our pipes!! Jese has been in contact with our realtor today and we don't know how it is going to turn out. In our contract we said we wanted the floor drain cleared out, not fixed, that was our mistake! She thinks they should have to pay for it still though so she is talking to the plumber and going to try for us. The plumber they had clear it out said that we would have to clean it out every few years, well we have lived here for less than a year and have had it cleaned out twice already. When we saw the drain backed up before we bought the house we said we wanted it fixed but we didn't know what was wrong with it, so we just said we wanted it cleared out I think to clarify what we wanted done. Hopefully it turns out okay. The good news is the drain is cleared out now so I was able to do my laundry last night! I hung it all up to dry and since by then the last load was done at 7:00, so I left it out all night! This afternoon it was nice and dry. I went to the grocery store to get some food to bring up north. I didn't get much, my snacks are Oreos, Salt Water Taffy, and Bananas! Okay well I have to go pack my clothes now because this evening I am going to go butcher chickens!

Christa

Stupid Floor Drain!!

Hello!! Today I was going to do all of my laundry so I could pack for up north. Well I managed to get one load done and had to quit. Our stupid floor drain is backed up again. Jese ran the snake through before I even started the laundry and it still backed up a ton. So he called around and most plumbers couldn't come until Thursday but he managed to find one that can come tonight at 5:30. I needed them to come today or tomorrow so I could have clean clothes up north!! This morning I have been also cleaning up Jada hair since she was here all weekend. She sheds more than the cats!! Since I can't do the laundry now I think I will sit in front of the fan and play the sims today! Okay well I am going to go help Jese with lunch.

Christa