Salsa (nearly) Verde

I love canning. Especially in the fall when it makes the house warm and cozy. I also love that it is a easy way to preserve and share the bounty from the garden, and homemade canned goods can make great Christmas presents-presents that you are done with in October. I had about 6 quarts of green and mostly green tomatoes that I decided needed to become salsa. I used a recipie from Ball as my guideline.

Curried Greens

If You Give a Mama Some Greens

The CSA is filled with greens.  When she picks up the greens she gets chilly.  When she gets chilly she wants some curry.  When she wants some curry she'll need some garam masala.  After she's made some garam masala, she'll need some naan to go with it.  After she eats her curry and naan, she'll need to go back to the CSA to get more greens!

A construction zone of his own.

 

My Personal Assistant loves all things construction. (It might have something to do with the number of site visits I take him on, but every parent drags their kid to work at some point right?) Diggers, dump trucks, skid steers, flat beds, transporters, front end loaders, steam rollers, tractors, cranes...you name it, he loves it. Oatmeal is not oatmeal any more, it is "construction zone oatmeal". Nothing is picked up with our hands, only with our "crane hands". We even have a scripted conversation about diggers that we have every time we get in the car. The script must not vary, this is not improv. This is serious.

Him: "Can we see some diggers today?"

Me: "Perhaps, if we keep our eyes open."

I got the idea that perhaps he needed a construction zone of his own.

Weekend Project: Homemade Garam Masala

I work at a college that runs a program called "Friendship Families."  This program matches international students with contacts at the school or in the area.  We're not responsible for hosting our students, just checking in on them, taking them to dentist appointments, and making a homemade dinner every once in awhile.  One of our new students this year is from Nepal. As we were getting to know each other over the summer I asked about the foods she liked and promised to try to make them here.

We need a joke.

I think my Personal Assistant knows I am stressed.

He rubbed my back today when I burst into tears after the latest bit of "Not terrible, just terribly inconvenient" news and said, "I think you are just having a frustrating day Mommy." Poor kid. He is two-and-a-half and already doomed to a life of unrequited empathy.

Creating Life

While Jenny is busy creating real people life, we have ventured into the land of Sea Monkeys!  I am having an ethical dilemma regarding the little critters.  First of all, as evidenced by my fails to even grow bean sprouts and carrot tops, I'm a little shaky in the life sustaining department.  And then, my son was given a Sea Monkey "kit" for his birthday.

Quick fix: DIY Maternity Jeans.

I LOVE wearing jeans. I have way too many, which are all packed up at the moment because they don't fit my pregnant body. I have found that Belly Bands and hair elastics work for awhile, but... eventually the hair elastics feel like they are cutting across my belly and the Belly Bands just don't keep the pants up, leading to lots of yanking and adjusting, not the most flattering look.