Southern Therapy... RIGHT!

A week ago today, David received an entire black trash bag full of peas.

(please mind you, this story is not to make me appear ungrateful for our generous gift of peas - but it absolutely will make me sound ignorant).

Naturally, when I arrived home (after a long day and drive) I walked into our kitchen, and what sits on the floor? An ENTIRE black trash bag full of peas! WHAT!? Now, apparently all other southern people would be geeking out over this said treasure... me not so much. I don't like peas. So, the fact that these peas (that I don't like) require work and I have to do it... um, ya...excited wouldn't be the correct word choice.

So, last Friday night Aunt Char insisted that we bring the bag of peas over to her house and she would teach us how to shell/blanch/whatever these peas. She told us it was great southern therapy and we would have a wonderful time! Ok, great. Not exactly my idea of a Friday night, BUT at least my kitchen would be minus a large black trash bag when I return. SO, I agreed.

I knew that I didn't like peas for a reason. I should have known from the start it was going to go down hill. But nope, not me, I walked right into ignorance with gusto.

With three HUGE pans in front of us, we sat down and began the process of shelling the peas (by hand). I have since learned there are pea sheller things that do this for you, but since we were fresh out of the 'do it for you way' - we resorted to our meager hands for the job.

Apparently, some people really get excited about shelling peas. You can rest assured I am not one of them. First of all, this is not a clean job. It is messy. The pea shells have to be split open. If you wait too long to shell peas there pod gets soggy and that is just enough to make you barf. (I am texture person, and this just crosses all kinds of texture lines). It is tedious. Once you get the hang of how to split the things open the process goes a faster, but to start out - it is slow! The peas have a mind of their own. Pretty sure half of my pile ended up everywhere but in the pan. LOL.

The picture below is absolutely accurate.

 This is after we blanched them and put them in the freezing water before they go into the bags.

I think the worst part of this whole process was going through the peas when we were washing them and picking out one by one the 'bad' ones. Again, it is just tedious. Blanching them wasn't so bad. After 3 hours of work, we ended up with 5 quart size bags full of peas. We let Aunt Char have 3 since 1). she likes peas, but 2). we used all her stuff - so it was kind of like our payment or 'thank you' to her. We took 2 bags home. We have since given 1 bag away and now we have 1 still in our freezer. David is excited to cook them, me on the other hand - not so much. Big surprise right? While I am out of town he will have a delightful serving of peas all to himself. :)

Aunt Char's Birthday

On Sunday, September 16 David and I took Aunt Char to dinner to celebrate her birthday. We had a great time and she was introduced to Pandora. Last year for a graduation present, my Mom and Dad gave me a Pandora bracelet with a graduation cap charm. I was hooked. It is basically a 'grown' up charm bracelet. My Mom and I love ours, so we thought Aunt Char would like one too. Mom and Dad gave her the bracelet and a pineapple charm, David and I gave her a cupcake charm, and Aly and Matt gave her teacup charm. Now, every special occasion we can add to her Pandora bracelet with a new charm. Happy Birthday! Hope you had a great day.

Smitten

Smitten with this incredible group of Juniors and Seniors!! The SBRM has a youth council, and this year we have 23 students representing 10 public/private high schools in Caddoand Bossier Parish.They apply and are selected by a panel of judges (that are made up of our board members). The students will host a drive in their schools this fall and this spring they will have a community 'feed the homeless' event. It is actually called THE BIG EVENT and El Chico caters it! Pretty cool huh? Anyway, this past weekend we had our kick off retreat, and it was amazing.

I absolutely LOVE youth and working with them. I love how innovative, creative, and open minded they are! It was just a few short years ago that I was one of them.... The world was my sand box. The best part for me: the world still is my sandbox! :) I want to change the world. I want to help every young person realize there fullest potential and who Christ has called them to be. I want to be part of a solution to generational cycles of poverty. I want to be that person that is the light in the darkness. I want to enable youth to see beyond their circumstances RIGHT NOW and move out of "barely or just enough" and into "more than enough"!!! Each one of these students have the world at their finger tips, and I will spend the next year helping them in any way I can to make their dreams a reality - just like I had when I was their age!

Supervising

Here are some recent pictures of our precious pups. Kate Spade is and forever will be our princess. :) Willie, Maddie, & Coach think they are all connected together. It really is amazing how well they all get along and love each other. Not only do they have our back, but they are always looking out for one another. How cool is that?!

I do have a funny story to tell. So I have absolutely fallen in love with working at home, and I get to work at home every Friday! I am pretty sure Willie looks forward to Friday just as much as I do. This past Friday, I had all the dogs situated in their houses (Kate Spade and Maddie stay in a kennel - which is really a throne of pillows & blankets) and Coach does too. Naturally, Willie gets to sleep in his bed all by himself during the day, at night he has to share. Anyway, I had everyone settled and I went into our bedroom where Willie was laying down, and told him if he needed anything just let me know, and that I was heading to the office. Now, before you start judging me, or sending anonymous request for me to go to the looney bin, just hold on. Before I know it, Willie is dragging the bed we keep in the living room into the office and once he got it where he wanted it, he laid down in it and just look up at me. I was like OMG! How cool are you!?!!? And hello, clearly he wanted to be in the same room as his mama! :) So, for the rest of the day he was my supervisor making sure all was well and that I stayed on task!!! LOL.

 I can not express how much I love our pups. They are just amazing. There personalities are so distinct and unique to them. Coming home at night and having them at our feet just makes our house a home. <3 br="br">

Bloomin' Where Planted

We have officially 'bloomed where we have been planted'. All of the above flower pictures are right out of our yard, and the produce is too! We had our very first garden this year, and I would say it was a complete success. We also have added a brick front path to our yard, and lined the flower beds with broken bricks. It looks SO cool, if I do say so myself!

Projects left for our cottage:
*line brick path with mondo grass
*collect various sized pots and make an 'arrangement' on the pathway
*stain the concrete on the patio floor
*weed the flower bed, and till up the garden
*mulch the flower beds
*GROW POPPIES!!!!
*get some pink naked ladies this year! We have lots of red ones, but now I would love some pretty pink ones! :)

We love our garden, flowers beds and yard. Don't worry, I still hate the location, but it isn't as bad as it used to be. When I come home, this house has become our sanctuary. I absolutely love the peacefulness of it, and how pretty it is. We are the talk of the town! :) Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we have enjoyed growing them.