Canda Fishing Trip Pictures!!

My dad took Jordan and Isaac to Canada for a week of fishing a couple weeks ago. My uncle, his 14 year old grandson, my cousin and his friend also went. They had a great time! Jordan caught the biggest fish of the group, a 14 lb, 37", Pike! That is a big fish!

Isaac

Isaac and a bear at the restaurant
Jordan with a stringer of fish
Playing some pool

The view from their deck at the cabin
Jordan and the big pike!
Isaac, Nick, Jordan and a bunch of fish!
A day's catch
Dad, Jordan, Isaac and the pike

Corn Bread

1 c. flour
1 c. cornmeal
2T sugar
1T baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
2 eggs

Combine dry ingredients. Stir in wet ingredients until well moistened.

Heat iron skillet on stove top, melting 1T shortening, butter or oil (fat of your choice). Pour batter into hot pan.

Bake at 425* for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Spicy Red Beans & Rice (from Southern Living, March 2002)

2 lb. dried red kidney beans
5 bacon slices, chopped
1 lb. smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices (I used turkey kielbasa)
1/2 lb. salt pork, quartered (didn't use this at all)
6 garlic cloves, minced
5 celery ribs, sliced
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 32-oz. containers chicken broth
2 c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground red pepper
1 tsp. black pepper
I also added cumin and Pampered Chef southwest seasoning
Hot cooked rice

Soak kidney beans overnight, or do a quick sock by covering beans with water 2" above beans, bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute; cover, remove from heat, and let stand 1 hour. Drain and continue with recipe.

Saute bacon in Dutch oven over medium-high heat for 5 min. Add smoked sausage and salt pork, saute 5 min. Add garlic, pepper, onion and celery; saute 5 minutes or until veggies are tender.

Stir in beans, broth, 2 c. water, and seasonings; bring to a boil. Boil 15 minutes; reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 3 hours or until beans are tender. Remove salt pork before serving. Serve over rice.

I made 1/2 of this and it made about 2 quarts. I will serve it with corn bread.

So the weekend is over.

It's always sad in my house on Sunday afternoons. Well, I'm sad. Doug goes back to work. I love having him home all weekend.

I am thankful that the 4th is a Friday this year. So that means Doug will be home Thursday when he finishes up for the day, and we get a 3 day weekend :)

We had a busy and nice weekend.

Friday:

Doug took apart the washer and replaced the pump. YEA!!! I was happily doing a load of wash, the washer was spinning, the water was pumping and then BANG! and it stopped! Hmmmm, well, the inner drum (of my 5 year old washer!) became unbalanced somehow and blew a 2" chunk out of the outer drum. So the washer is broken. Of course it is not under warranty UGH. We do have a friend that repairs appliances, and will order us parts at cost ($300+!). I am irriated that we have to do such major repairs on a 5 year old washing machine. I'd love to replace it, but not sure we can swing that.

He also took apart the drier. There was a bad coil in the ignitor or some such thing like that. So now we have flame. The problem is the flame is not being sucked towards the back, but is coming out the front. Our friend will help us fix that too.

So right now my MIL is doing wash for us. We took the laundry, and a fresh blueberry pie, to her house Friday evening. I washed/dried a load and she finished the other 2 loads for me :) She is a great women! We enjoyed pie and had a nice evening talking. Doug also fixed the lawn mower while we were there and tried to fix the weed eater.

I'm not sure why everything is breaking UGH. The TV is on the fritz, too. We are going to try to have it repaired once again. But not sure he can do that!

Saturday we slept in. Then Doug and I went to ScaryMart (WalMart) for weekly shopping. I just do NOT like that store. But I did not want to go to the produce store, the grocery store and Sam's Club, so we did a one stop shop. We came home, unloaded and put away.

Then we went to Chipotle and Coldstone for a little lunch date and then to Sears to see if we could have anything done about the washer. We came home with a direct phone number to someplace in Columbus. Doug will see what he can do about that on Monday.

We came home and took a nap. Then we went to Jordan's best friend's graduation party. It was a nice time, even though it rained and rained. It has been raining forever it seems. We've been having lots and lots and lots of rain! I need some sunshine please ??

Jordan and Isaac stayed at John's house overnight.

Doug and I had a little dancing date. I was whipped so we came home early.

Today was prep Doug's food, pack his clothes, blah blah blah. We did have a nice meal and everybody was here! I remember when the kids were little and we were at a hs'ing convetion and one of the speakers talked about family meals. HELLO! We eat 21 meals together every week, 4 or 5 dinners Dad makes it home.

Now it seems like nobody is here for meals. Doug is only home Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. Jordan works or Jordan and Isaac have to be at the church, or somebody is at a friend's house. So strange!

So we had a lovely meal of chicken tacos for the guys and refriend beans and fresh guacamole for me.

Then Jordan and Isaac went with a friend (I barely had them long enough to eat LOL) to The Guitar Center. I did some cleaning. Allen did some computer stuff. The boys came home and then left to go to my MIL's with a load of laundry. They hung out there and played games and are now on their way home with wet clothes for me to hang in the basement.

Oh, I also set my comments to be moderated. I'm not getting email notifications of comments posted and I am missing lots of them :( So I thought perhaps this may fix that problem. So I'll do that for now until I figure out why I am not getting email notifications :)

So how was your weekend?

We've been at the lake the last few days!



Monday we went to the lake. Isaac's friend, Zach, came with us. Jordan came back and forth as he had to work. My Gramma also came with us.



We had a fabulous time! We were there 3 days and it only rained 2 of them LOL! But not all day thankfully.



The first day was nice, but looked like rain, and we did have a storm that night. Isaac and Zach fished in the little boat. Isaac caught a 24" walleye (which is now tucked into the neighbor's freezer). They also caught bass, striper, catfish, perch and bluegill. They released most of those.



Tuesday we went out on the boat. It was gorgeous! See that blue sky and puffy clouds? We enjoyed having Gramma with us on the boat. Isaac drove us around some..............
Here's Jordan fishing. I can only get pictures of his back it seems like..................

Tuesday evening it was gorgeous. Jordan was working. Isaac and Zach were fishing. So we had a fire and made s'mores. Here's Gram roasting her marshmallow (she didn't grab the camera to get my picture, so you get lots of her :) )
The gorgeous sunset Tuesday evening.
Today the guys went to Linesville, PA and fished the carp. There is a fish hatchery there. Many people come and feed the carp. They are SO GROSS! They just pile on top of each other and scarf down the bread!

You cannot fish in the hatchery, but just on the other side of the line, you can. You bait your hook with bread and cast your line just ouside the boundaries of the nursery waters. Then somebody else lures them over by tossing more bread in. You can pull out some huge fish that way! We just catch/release the carp.

While the guys fished the carp, Gram and I lazed around.................
We had a fabulous time! I am very glad to be home, though :)

My guys are home from Canada!

They had a great time. They are full of stories and also brought me 6 loads of smelly fish laundry :::snort::: I am diligently trying to get them done.

The drier is dead. So I promised them clean laundry, even if it is not dry. (Mom, we bought the drier when I was pregnant with Allen. You're right that the washer is only a few years old!). The washer is being persnickity! I have 5 loads left to do and have been working on it for 2 hours UGH.

So that's that for tonight :)

A Lovely Weekend!


Of course, it went too fast, as weekends always do. The weeks drag on and the weekends fly. I love every second with my honey, though.



So Friday Doug couldn't find his keys. So I drove out to the shop (30 min. or so) to give him a set and we came home. Allen tried to mow the lawn, but we are having mower problems! Three of them have quit working, in the exact same spot! A lawn mower demon or something ::::snort:::: The neighbor is letting us borrow his (although it is now raining). I warned him about our problem and he said, "If it breaks, it breaks!" LOL.



So then we packed up and went to the lake for the evening. Doug and Allen mowed the lawn there. The mowers there worked great! But when we brought one home to use, it didn't LOL!



We had dinner and then a lovely evening on the lake. We worm fished. We bass fished. Well, the guys did and I read a book and made a grocery list. Then we went for a ride.


Doug and Allen went to get gas for the boat and a stop at the DQ! We sat on the swing and enjoyed the quiet and the view and being together. Then we headed home.



Saturday was a lazy morning sleeping in and lounging around. Then we did some grocery errands. I took a nap while Doug and Allen washed, inside and out, both vehicles.



I packed up the picnic basket and we ordered pizza and headed out to the park. Doug was running sound for one band and then we were going to leave there to go hear another one and dance. Allen went home with my in-laws (they came to the concert) for the night.



Well, at 5:30 it was gorgeous and sunny and blue skies with a slight breeze. They set up and at 6:30 were finished with their sound check. They were to start at 7. At 6:30, the skies were still blue but a storm was coming, but it looked far off! Certainly they'd finish (at 8:30) before the storms came.



Nope, at 6:55 the storms rushed in, the people left, they packed up and went to their next gig.



So Doug and I were quite early for the dancing band. But that was OK. We talked with bunches of people and didn't have to pay a cover :) We had a fabulous time dancing the night away and met a couple interesting guys from Austria here for some work.



This morning Doug went to my in-laws' house to get Allen for church. We prepped Doug's food and packed him up and got Allen all ready for youth camp. They left about 2:30. Isaac and Jrdan are making their way home from Canada. They should be here any time. I took a nap.



It is raining again. I don't know where summer is, but it certainly isn't here! It's been chilly and rainy most of the year, since the snow quit in April! We did have one hot week, and thankfully it was while we were camping! But gosh. If you have summer at your house, please send it to me :)



I just finished making food for tomorrow's Mexican night. We're having tacos. I made the taco beef, refried beans and some Spanish rice. I'll make the guacamole tomorrow :) We're heading to the lake. My Gramma is coming with us. It will be a nice visit I am sure.



So how was your weekend?

Not much happening today!

Jordan and Isaac are still in Canada.

Allen had church stuff from 9-2:30ish.

I tried to do laundry. I did a couple loads. The washer is not working properly, but not all the time. The last 2 loads I've done have spun out perfectly. This load did not spin out, so I have to take out 1/2 of the load, spin, repeat :)

The drier is not heating, either. So I am happily hanging the wash. I like hanging clothes on the line. But our weather has been cold, dreary and threatening rain. I left the towels out for 4 hours, and brought them in and they were still damp around the edges. I folded them and put them away anyway :) It was looking like a downpour. I was about to nap (still not recovered from camping!) and did not want to wake up to rained on laundry.

I woke up and there was the sunshine!!! I LOVE the sunshine.

So I sent Allen out to mow the lawn. Oh yeah, our mower and weed eater quit working, also. But my FIL rescued us and let us borrow his mower. So Allen does 3 passes on the lawn, and the mower stops and won't start! So it is sitting in the garage awaiting Doug's arrival home tomorrow (along with the drier.....thanks babe!).

So Allen decided to ride his bike to Convenient, get Hershey bars and we'll have a fire! I'll enjoy sitting on the swing with my youngest son eating s'mores.

So that is our day. Thursdays are long. Doug comes home tomorrow and for some reason, Thursdays are the hardest day for me. I am lonely. The day drags on. But Doug will come home tomorrow and then the weekend flies! I love having him home. I love that he is going to fix my drier while he's here.

We also have fun stuff planned for the weekend, and then Jordan and Isaac come home Sunday evening, Allen goes to youth camp Sunday afternoon, and we're going to spend time at the lake next week and my Gramma is coming with us :) I'm going to make some blueberry scones (at least that is the plan.........don't bank on it Gram) to enjoy with coffee while we're at the lake!

OK, enough rambling.....Allen is starting the fire!

I am glad we're not camping this week!!

It is so cold here. It got all the way up to 60 today, and rained, and will be 45 tonight ***brrrr***

So what did I do? I made bread! I am trying to find a yummy WW recipe that my family likes. I decided to try a different flour. I have yet to venture into the world of NutriMill and Bosch, but only because my boys are not wanting to change! So my quest is to find a good recipe first and then venture.........

So last co-op order, I ordered a 5 lb. bag of Prairie Gold flour! This stuff is wonderful! It was soft and light and easy to work with. My bread rose so nicely and was fluffy and I just sampled it and it is great!

I tried the following recipe. I think I may have gotten it from De'Etta's blog, but I can't remember for sure ***oops***

Delicious Whole Wheat Bread - makes 2 loaves

2 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
1 T yeast
1/3 cut olive oil
2 t. salt
1/3 cup gluten flour
5 to 7 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour

In a large bowl or in a large mixer (such as a Kitchen Aid or Bosch type) combine the water, yeast and honey. Let sit for a few minutes to give the yeast a chance to start working. Add the salt, oil, gluten flour and 3 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour.

Continue to add more flour until the dough does not stick to the side of the bowl and does not feel sticky to the touch. Knead for 4 minutes in a Bosch mixer or 7 to 10 in other mixers or 10 to 15 minutes by hand.

When dough has finished kneading let it rise once until doubled in bulk (unless you are using a Bosch type mixer and in this case you can skip the 1st rising). Punch down dough and divide it into 2 pieces and form into loaves and set in bread pans.

Let it rise in a slightly warm oven (this means that you turn the oven on for just 2 or 3 min. or until you can feel the heat and then turn it off, if it is too hot then it will kill the yeast) for 15 to 25 minutes or until the dough is ½ inch above top of pan.

Turn oven to 350 (without taking bread out) and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Random Camping Moments!!!

We just spent a week at Cook Forest, PA with 10 other families we had never met. Well, we had met one of them. I had anyway, for a couple hours, when the mom brought us meals. She lives about an hour from us.

Anyway, in February I asked on the Sonlight forums if anybody would like to go camping with us. And we had 10 takers! We had people from GA, IN, PA, TX, OH and Hondorous! There were 37 children and many late nights!

We made a lot of friends and met a bunch of cool people! I cannot wait to get together with these people again! And I must say, camping is much easier with "sister wives" and extra husbands :)

Here are a few random photos.

This racoon's name is "Royce". He crawled through a 3" crack in one family's car window!!! We assured the son that yes, indeed, his dad would want to be woken up and told about Royce in the car!
Doug and me at Seneca Point, a beautiful rock in Cook Forest! He really isn't that much taller than I am. The rock is not level LOL!
Royce loved marshmallows!

Isaac! Isn't he handsome? His hair is getting really long! Our view while canoing.............simply breathtaking!
Doug and Isaac!

What is sexier than a man doing dishes???
Doug, Isaac and Allen at Seneca Point. Jordan was only with us for 2 nights. He had to work and had church responsibilities. He was gone by the time this picture was taken. It was our first family vacation without our entire family :( Not a happy milestone!
This is how I canoe! My sweet honey was very concerned with my fibro pain. Mostly, he did the paddling and I enjoyed the sunshine :)
Allen! He is 14 now! My baby..........
I did not post any of the many pictures of other people............but trust me, we camped with strangers who are now our friends!

Long Time No Blog!!!!

So what have I been up to?

Well, we finished our 11th year hs'ing in May.

We celebrated Allen's 14th birthday! Where does the time go? My baby should NOT be 14 yet!!

Doug is adjusting to his new job. He likes it. After a year I am finally getting used to the yucky schedule of him only home on weekends, but I treasure those weekends!

Dad put the cottage up for sale! After 10 days they had a buyer, but the deal didn't go through. So for now we are enjoying the lake a little bit longer :)

In February I was really struggling with depression, and in a fit of craziness I posted on the Sonlight forums that I was going camping, and would anybody like to go with me?? Well, people did! We just got home (pictures coming next post) from Cook Forest, PA last week and we had a fabulous time! We were joined by 10 families, 9 of which we had never met! We had a BLAST!!!

I am continuing with the fibro clinic and am starting to feel somewhat normal. I am taking 23 different meds, creams and supplements daily. Four times a day I take a variety of pills and powders and creams. I have lost 12 lbs.! and was starting to feel less exhausted (and then I went camping and I am still recovering LOL) and I no longer stuggle with depression \o/

One of my Grams has been diagnosed with terminal uterine cancer. She just found out last week, with no signs or symptoms. Six weeks ago she was dancing 6 hours a night and now she cannot get out of bed. She has decided not to do traditional treatment, and is consulting with a natural doctor who works with cancer patients out of FL. She is going to eat a raw diet and do a detox and pray.

My step-dad is dealing with atrial fibrullation? and is in the hospital right now. Please keep him in your prayers, also, and my Mom too.

Doug and I are still going dancing as often as possible!

I am planning a trip to visit my new friends in PA and VA in July :)

So that's what's been happening my way. How about you?