A Saturday Top Ten

My sister e-mailed me yesterday, she simply said "you haven't posted to your blog since September 8?". Yes, that's correct. I've been... busy. Well, busier than usual. Since I've missed a bunch of Tuesday Ten's, I thought I would post my own Saturday Ten, Ten Reasons Why I Haven't Posted to my Blog".

1. School started. And so did football practice and home work and making lunches....

2. We are remodeling our bathroom. Most of my spare computer time has been to do research. Designing tile patterns. Researching shower niches.. picking out facuets and tubs and toilets, oh my.

3. Researching spurs. The kind that little cowgirls strap onto their boots to coax lazy horses into a canter. Trying to figure out if I can order spurs as a party favor for Morgan's birthday party (a trail ride) and not spend more than the trail ride itself. We may end up giving grooming tools such as brushes instead.

4. Researching saddles. It's time for Morgan to get her own saddle. It's one of those must have's once you start to show more often. Our first hurdle was English or Western (she reverted back to Western). The second hurdle was to become familiar with the brands and what to look for when surfing EBay, because even some used saddles cost over $1,000. Yikes.

5. Researching fall train rides in New Hampshire. Because we are spending Columbus Day weekend in Conway, New Hampshire to attend the Fryeburg Fair in Maine with my brother and my parents. While we are there, we will take advantage of the fall scenery by taking a fall foliage train ride. Coach, 1st class or dining car?

6. Catching up on e-mail. I have neglected a few friends of late. Actually, I have neglected quite a few things of late, including bills (I was 4 days late getting around to them, argh) and such.

7. I've been cooking. Not the gourmet meal type cooking, but the plan your weeks worth of meals because Mike now has afternoon duty which includes getting the kids off the bus, doing homework, feeding them dinner and back out to foootball practice by 6pm. It's slightly more manageable if dinner is cooked and in the fridge and ready to re-heat.

8. Laundry mountain. I have 2 loads of laundry in baskets on the couch right now staring at me, waiting to be folded. I hate laundry mountain.

9. Running errands. I now have 2 days of "free" time to run errands (and go to the gym). The last 2 weeks have been sucked up by Lowe's and the tile store. Next week will be the granite place. Yesterday I snuck in an hour at the gym AND a 5k run with my girlfriend. Note to self - do NOT do the gym prior to running EVER AGAIN. We are training for a 5k run on Thanksgiving morning, cleverly called the Turkey Trot. Somehow I have to figure out how to do that AND get dinner on the table.

10. Well, for once I'm stuck on #10. I think reasons # 1-9 are enough to explain why my blog hasn't been update for a while. And from the way it sounds, it may be more miss than hit. Okay, I promise to get some pictures on, if nothing else. Because darn it, Mike and I made some very cute kids.

For Alice ;o) Tomato Sauce

This year was a good year for Jersey tomatoes. I have a bumper crop of giant heirlooms and paste tomatoes! (Thanks Mom, for the heirloom seeds!) Here's how you make tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes.

1. Wash them up!
2. If you are lucky enough to have a KitchenAid with a meat grinder and a vegetable strainer (and a Dylan) you core them and roughly chop them and plop them into the hopper. Tomato sauce comes out into the bowl, and "tomato turds" (as they are affectionately known in our family) come out the end. If you don't have all of that, a simple old-fashioned food mill will do the trick nicely.
Now it's time to cook them!

I add (not in quantities, because it varies according to how much you have in your pot):
Fresh garlic, crushed through a garlic press
Fresh basil, finely chopped
Oregano
Italian seasoning
Finely chopped onion (or if I'm lazy, the dried onion flakes)
salt & pepper

I'm a purist kind of sauce person, I don't care for adding sugar to my sauce. You can adjust the quantities of seasoning above to make it on the mild side, or spicy. Mine is in between. After making sauce this way for years, I really don't care for jarred sauce from the food store. It's a bit sweet for me ;o)

Dylan's first football game

Dylan's first football game was today! Blue did very well - they tied the #1 Red team. Yeah! Go Blue Flag !!!!

The fruits of my labor

Literally. :o)

I have GIANT paste tomatoes this year, and some nice Brandywine heirloom tomatoes. They are turning into sauce on Friday. Yummmm....

1st Day of School

The kids were up and dressed and ready to go pretty early. 1st day of school excitement. Our bus ticket listed an 8:50 pickup time. We got to the bus stop at 8:30 - just in time to see the bus pulling up. Yikes! I missed the 1st day of school morning photo op, but did manage to grab a picture of the kids in the afternoon.I volunteered to help out in the cafeteria with the 1st grade today. Dylan clung and wanted to go home with me! Most of the kids wanted to know which bus they were going home on, and where the "real" Principal was. The assistant Principal was in the cafeteria to give a speech about rules and such. It was great to see the little kids in action!