Eat your veggies!

Everyone's done eating and the food is mostly gone... but wait... didn't anyone have any corn? Why do I have SO MUCH corn left over???

Is it only my family that can't seem to eat 1 can of veggies for dinner? Should I enforce the "No one leaves the table until the vegetables are all eaten"... RULE?

Here's what I'm going to do with all my left over veggies!

1-Veggie collection! I'm going collect all the left over veggies into the fridge or freezer.

2-SOUP! Each week, we're going to enjoy a homemade soup... AND use up those leftover Veggies!

Any other ideas... please DO post in comments!

And then there were two...

(This is Emma. She's 8 weeks old)

(This little fluff ball is Snowball. Just 4 weeks old.)

So... yesterday we took home a female grayish striped kitten from the Animal Rescue Shelter... she's so cute.

This afternoon I was out in the backyard (all wilderness on the outskirts of our little western town) calling for my black fluffy cat... FLUFFY... FLUFFY... FLUFFY....

When I hear a little... MEOW...MEOW...MEOW...

So, I go to investigate and there's a little white fluff ball... all alone... I hemmed and I hawed... oh my... should I??? Sigh... Blue eyes.... all white... with a hint of a striped tail... maybe 4 weeks old.... Every time I called for FLUFFY she would come to me.

OK, my heart strings were sufficiently softened... Yes, I'm turning into the "Cat Woman."

I picked him up... knowing that was it! The point of NO return... And... home he went!

So... now there are 2 kittens in the Parker household... and 1 adult black FLUFFY cat.

We ran little white fluff ball to Dr. Jane. She said he looks healthy and bring him back in two weeks for shots. Home we went with kitty formula and a special little bottle.

Got a new little family member...

We rescued a little kitten from the animal shelter yesterday. She's 8 weeks old and absolutely adorable!

As soon as you touch her.... her purring motor turns on!

I went to take a photo this morning but the camera battery went dead on me... so will post one a little later.

Well, it's house building... I mean finishing day here. Hope to have a working vanity in the guest bathroom today! Follow our house progress over on my house building adventure blog!

No one eats the bread ends...

Do you have bread bags with the bread ends in them? No one will eat those bread heals right?

Well, I love them toasted with jam... but as I was making my homemade meatballs yesterday... and NOT having any ready made bread crumbs in the house... I decided to grab those bread ends... toast them... whiz them in the blender... and use them as my bread crumbs!

So don't throw away your bread ends!!!

Toast them.

Blend them into tiny bits.

Store in a jar for your next batch of homemade meatballs... or meatloaf... or breading on chicken... or fish... or????

I'm going Italian today...

We get up in the morning and it's dark out. The kids head off to school... and it's dark out!

Just doesn't seem like we should be getting up... because it's soooo dark out!

Well, the kids are off to school now. The house is quiet. Listen.... Ahhhh....

Yesterday I made a big sauce from some of my ripe garden tomatoes. But I started late... like at supper time, so it hadn't simmered down enough. I put the big stock pot outside to chill. My older son asked if I was taking advantage of the free refrigeration... I said, why YES!

So now my sauce is simmering away again. Going to cook up the manicotti that I made yesterday too! And make some more meatballs...

Oh my house is going to smell yummy today!!!!

If the spirit moves me... I may even make bread sticks... we'll see!

Hey, I'm getting into that tweeting thing... twitter. You can follow me @TipsfromToni.

Well, time to get something done! I'll try to save you a bit of manicotti and a few meatballs... but I'm not promising anything with a hungry teenager and tween!

Out for a walk with Katie

Katie and I went for a walk on the canal road just above our new home. It's a dark, dreary day here today... a good day to work inside!

We passed this beautiful decorative crab apple tree. The red crab apples are so bright against the greenery of the trees!

Here's our walking path this morning... very peaceful! Saw some deer tracks...

This thorny dead tree was once a Russian Olive tree. We own a forest of these thorny buggers... Their one redeeming quality is the incredible fragrance given off in the spring... and for now... they make a good wind break on the north side of the house.

On the way back, picked what's left of my carrots and beets! More about that here...