I have always wanted to can, and the Pioneer Woman's recent canning post has my wheels turning again. We don't have a huge garden, but we do get a ton of jalepenos, and I LOVE pickled jalepenos. That's not to say I couldn't just go buy up a bunch of veggies to can though. Like pickled okra? Mmmm!

This is the pressure canner I'm looking at. Part of the reason I've been scared of canning is the safety issue, but it seems like the pressure canner takes a lot of the risk out of it. Here is a link to the manual for it that has a lot of recipes. I guess this is my starting point. I'd love to make some pasta sauce and salsa too!

Today was the first day in at least 2 weeks that I woke up feeling good. I felt rested and excited about what I'm doing. It's a huge relief when these moments of clarity come, especially when the "rut" lasts 2 weeks like this one. I woke up with new ideas, looking forward to working on them. I dunno, I think it was perfect timing. Most of me hates to admit when I'm struggling. I'm still an undergrad, so I feel kinda silly when I am overwhelmed because I know I'm in for a lot worse than what I'm going through now. But really, I can add up the hours in my week (not counting blogging hours...LOL) and easily see why I'm feeling overwhelmed. It's justified. I also know I have it a lot easier than a lot of people. I mean, my biggest problem in life is trying to keep the house clean, the laundry caught up, the tomatoes watered, and the husband happy. Never mind the fact that I HAVE a house, tons of laundry, a garden, and a wonderful husband. A lot of people don't have that. I hear people say sometimes that you shouldn't feel guilty for having more than other people, that your feelings are just as valid even if someone deals with far worse. I don't feel guilty, but these kinds of reality checks help me reinforce a good mood. Meaning, if I'm feeling like crap, it's not going to help me to think about all the starving people in the world. But if I'm feeling good, it can help me feel even better. There is no harm in counting your blessings.

So tomorrow, I'm getting back into. I've had a lot going on, but personal things are calming down so it's go-time. It's a little scary that now I have three projects to think about (and a poster presentation), and it's been freaking me out to think about it with all the other stuff going on. And today was the first day that I was excited about it instead of nauseous. I think having my niece here helped a lot. She is so easy going, fun, and simple. She spent the whole visit finding new ways to sneak up on Tom, inventing new games to play with him, and laughing up a storm. I don't know why, it's not really related to my projects, but I feel relieved now instead of worried.

I know I'm rambling. Basically, I "get it" again, I remember what I'm working toward and what it means and why it's hard, I remember the small piece of the puzzle my work is as part of the big picture, and dammit, I'm getting up tomorrow and doing some writing!

But give me something free and I'll use it as a great excuse to spend money!

Miranda and I arrived (after TWO hours in traffic. Construction + Jonas Brothers = TERRIBLE traffic) at the Superpages.com Center just minutes before the concert. Sherry, the amazing lady who had the tickets met us up front. Sherry, who works for Radio Disney, is the friend of Miranda's grandma's coworker. And we had no idea what kind of tickets we were getting. I assumed lawn seats. She handed over two $75 tickets, ELEVENTH ROW! I was glad because I thought Miranda would enjoy it more from a seat than the lawn. Oh my gosh, we were so close!!

So we went to look at shirts because Tom had handed me some cash on my way out and instructed me to buy Miranda a shirt. This was her first concert, thus her first concert T. It's obligatory. She couldn't decide, so we waited in line forever for some bottled water and headed for our seats for Demi Lovato. She is the girl that was in Camp Rock (Disney's latest movie ala High School Musical and the Cheetah Girls) with the Jo-Bros. I gotta say, she was really great! I have always loved cheesy pop music, so I didn't mind the Disney look of everything. That girl had some pipes - I don't think she was off key once. And no, she wasn't lip-synching! I thought she was adorable.

(BTW - a follow-up to my alcohol @ Disney concert rant: They were selling beer and margaritas. LOL)

You know me, I have a plan always. So we left during Demi's last song to try again to buy a shirt. I didn't know how long there would be before the Jo-Bros came on, so I wanted to be sure we had plenty of time to go and get back. We did finally buy her a shirt (really cute with tour dates on the back), bathroom break, and went back to our seats. You know how these concerts go - any little flitter of activity on stage makes everyone think the main act is about to come on stage. So after about a dozen false alarms, I was certain they were really about to come out, and Miranda looks up at me sort of panicked and said, "I have to go to the bathroom!!!" LOL! That's what I get for planning. So we ran to the bathroom and back just in time for the madness.

The madness? I have been to several "heavy metal" shows with Tom. He saves his crazier music for a guys' night, but I can't say I'm inexperienced in the loud, crazy concert world. And this, the JONAS Brothers, had one of the most hardcore starts I've ever seen. Keep in mind also that Miranda is a mini-me in that she's a little cautious, doesn't like a lot of noise, etc. The lights went out and several string musicians (you know, violins, etc) filed onto the dimly-lit stage and started playing some very dramatic music. Sort of like Bittersweet Symphony. Then they started in with the long, loud, deep guitar chords coordinated with the lights, and then the whole freakin' stage lit up with fire. I've seen some little firework looking things (like sparkler sticks) on stage, but never FIRE! It is the "Burnin' Up Tour" afterall. The fire coordinated with the loud scary guitar, and keeping in mind that we were 30 feet from the stage, I was somewhat startled but put on a happy face because I didn't want Miranda to get scared! We're talking the whole stage was lit up. Like Hell!

She was such a good sport about the whole thing. She had a worried look on her face the whole time, unless she saw me looking at her, then she'd smile back at me. The Jo-Bros came on stage, and it was just like you see on TV with everyone screaming and freaking out. I don't get screaming. I do the "woooooo" thing, but I don't ever scream. Oh well, I don't have to get it because thousands of adolescent girls totally get it. Miranda was standing around with her fingers in her ears, and I thought she must've been hating it (I watched her more than the concert), but then every now and then she'd let out a scream to put all those girls to shame! And that would buy me a little more time to think, "OK, she does like it!" She kept asking me what time it was, and at 9:10, I said, "Can you make it to 9:30?" and she said, "yes". But then she sat with her fingers in her ears for the next two songs, they left the stage and everyone was screaming for them to come back, and I figured that was a good time to exit. They were probably about to do the encore. Miranda really couldn't see over all the teenage girls' heads. But she did so good!

And, my sister got free tickets to the Rangers game tomorrow night. Free tickets yet we'll probably spend a ton on parking and beer. LOL But I'm excited!

I'm already kinda behind on my summer movie watching. We did see Wanted the day it opened, and it was great. Today, Tom, Miranda and I went to see Kung Fu Panda at Studio Movie Grill. I loved it! It was hilarious! I didn't realize how many stars were in it - Jack Black, of course, and Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jet Li, Lucy Liu, and others I can't remember.

Tonight, for those of you who didn't survive through my entire blog last time, is the Jonas Brothers concert. We won't know what kind of tickets they are until we meet the lady up there, but I am fully prepared for lawn seating. I hope Miranda gets all excited and screams right along with everyone. I think that's part of the fun (if not most of the fun, as I'm not sure we'll be able to hear any music with all those tweens!) I'm gonna spike some Starbucks with Red Bull to get her all hyper (j/k).

What's weird - and y'all know I love beer as much as the next person - but there are people I met at school who are on my Facebook who are going to this concert and planning to get drunk in the parking lot. I just hope they aren't in there actin' a fool. I mean come on, I've been to my share of concerts that I needed beer to enjoy (thanks to Tom's taste in music), but the Jonas Brothers? Maybe it's time to find a new band to love if ya gotta get drunk before the show. But that's just me. It's Radio Disney, people.

So with that, I am going to rest my eyes for a bit. Wish me luck!

BTW, it really is the simpler things that are the best, isn't it? This is how Tom and Miranda spent about two hours last night. I love it!

It's likely, it's been a loooong several days. Readers who stick it out will be rewarded with a garden surprise at the end. Woot! (No cheating!)

We left with friends in tow (literally) at about 9:30 Thursday morning. They wanted to ride in the camper. I wasn't real thrilled about it. I explained to them about how they'd be sitting on 3 propane tanks and that's no bueno. (Yes, there is a new camping rule coming out of this story.) Not having given birth to any of our friends, we let them get in the back of the camper and ride along. Our trailer brake isn't perfectly configured, and as we sat in Dallas traffic, stop and go, it was jerking around a good bit. Then we got the call on the walkie-talkie - "We need to stop at the next rest stop, Kimberlee got nailed in the head by a table and is bleeding pretty bad." So we stopped and she wasn't doing too well. A table that we take apart and stow hadn't stowed very well, flew outta nowhere, and the metal part on the bottom had nailed her right in the temple. She was not in good shape at all (loopy, etc), so we stopped at the emergency room in Hillsboro, and she and John went in for stitches. It only took about 1.5 hours, which isn't bad from all the emergency room stories I've heard! She got 2 stitches, and we got a new rule for the camper. No one rides in the back. I don't care if it's legal. Sure, we could human-proof it better, but I'd really just rather not have to worry about people getting hurt back there. I would, and did, feel guilty!

But hey, we finally arrived after sitting through terrrrrrible Austin traffic. We went to the Lazy L and L campground on River Road in New Braunfels. Right away our neighbors introduced themselves - super friendly, although one was perhaps selfishly motivated. He borrowed our corkscrew and brought it back so he could take a camper tour. LOL We were right on the river, but on a cliff, so there was a fence around the cliff.

This about sums it up:




I don't like being interrupted when I eat steak.







Despite this picture, the weather was gorgeous all weekend. It stormed at 11:30am the day we left. We had already packed up!









We had a disposable camera on the river, and I lost it. That's probably a good thing. People give away Jello shots on the side of the river. I lost more than the camera that day. I lost at least an hour. Thankfully, Tom saw fit to make sure I got out of the water and didn't go to Mexico!

The ride home was pretty uneventful except that we sat in traffic no matter where we went! Left at 11:30am, got home about 7pm. That's just too much. I don't want to go on a holiday again if only for that reason alone.

By the way, what about this crazy tube rubber stuff that rubs off on your skin? I had to scrub my poor legs raw yesterday just to get it off! I think Tom is still sporting his!

Today started out uneventfully enough until I got some bad news about my nephew. He's OK now, but the news pretty much did me in. I spent the rest of the day feeling like I got hit by a truck and making typos at work. I am so exhausted.

But I came home and vegged out a while, ordered the Bucket List, and Tom and I went a' pickin' in the garden. Picked some nice looking okra and a banana pepper. Have some bell peppers that are big and beautiful. Every week has its stars, and this week is the best so far. I was hanging around watching Tom pick okra, looked up, and saw this little egg-sized thing growing out of an okra plant. Click, look in the middle and a little to the left.






Here's the closeup:





We have a cute little watermelon playing George of the Jungle in between two okra plants! The watermelon vine has been doing so well that a tiny bit of it started growing up an okra plant, so here you have it. Isn't it PRECIOUS?! We have several little watermelons about the size of my pinky nail, but I just about fell over when I saw this!

Then, we did what any self-respecting Texan would do with their first crop of okra. Fried em up! (Half flour, half bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Dump in there, dump in eggs, dump back in batter, fry)





Then, as if I wasn't lucky enough to have that watermelon distraction to turn my day around, my 9-year-old niece, Miranda, called all excited to see if I'd take her to see the Jonas Brothers Wednesday night. LOL! Her grandma's friend can get us tickets. Of COURSE I said yes, but my ears are already ringing from the upcoming screams. I am so excited to take her, and I hope she has fun. Of course, my BIL already said yes, but I haven't gotten permission from my sister yet, so I guess it might not go down!

I tend to shy away from being opinionated about things unless I feel somewhat confident in knowing something about the issue. That makes it hard for me to argue politics because the spectrum of issues is so broad that I usually feel unqualified to make assertions. But this? What a terrible, poorly thought out idea!

Students should serve

It's all fine, well and good (sort of) until this part:

"He said the goals would be achieved by making federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs."

That takes all the "should" and "goal" out of it. It's no longer something to strive for, it's something that schools have to do for funding. I love the idea of encouraging service - I tend to always have some kind of volunteer gig - but I also don't want to serve with a bunch of people who don't want to serve. Part of what's so rewarding about a volunteer experience is getting to be around other people who enjoy helping out. We aren't exactly "getting students engaged" in academics by making them go to school, so why would forcing service help in "getting students engaged" in service?

Not to mention students who have to work! I'm very fortunate that school comes easy to me...I mean, I have to work at it, but I can't imagine being someone who struggles with school, has to work, and then has to worry about community service on top of that. Parents and legal guardians would likely get some kind of exemption, but not the kid who watches his younger siblings everyday after school.

I'm all for some kind of initiative to encourage service, just not a mandate. The reasons are pretty obvious - I could have listed a dozen hypothetical situations for which this requirement would be nothing but a headache.

OK Candidates, keep forking over the plans, it's making my decision easier, having something clear to consider rather than trying to latch onto some vague rhetoric.

Please! I am so ready for our river trip, I wish we were leaving tomorrow instead of Thursday. Last time I went to New Braunfels, we floated the Comal river. I've never done the 'Lupe, let alone on a holiday weekend, so this should be interesting.

I got a new desktop computer today. Yes, DESKtop, not laptop. We were trying to make a very old computer of Tom's work out, and it just couldn't keep up with my cutting edge technology (i.e., my Zune), so rather than put anymore money into that hunk of junk, I got a great deal on this Compaq with 500 GB hard drive, DVD writer, and USB slots galore. My laptop was brand new when I bought it, but this is the first brand new desktop I've ever had. It's so exciting! And I'm not sure what I'm going to do with 500 GB of space! So my moody Dell laptop is going to get lugged around campus yet another semester. Hey, if it works 50% of the time, that's 50% of my notes I don't have to hand write.

Vista is a bit baffling for me. I hate the new Office Suite, but I don't have that on this computer, just the ones at school. Vista, although I haven't found anything bad about it, is weird and new. There are things on my desktop that I didn't put there. And it's probably pretty easy to get them off, but I wonder why they're there in the first place. One is a clock...maybe because Microsoft wants to make sure my brain stays sharp enough to read a real clock as opposed to the digital one? Or on case I want to verify that one or the other is correct? Under that is a mini-slideshow. Since I haven't put any pictures on here, it's all the default Windows pictures playing in a mini-slideshow for my own personal...amusement? I am slightly amused by having a picture of someone else's cat on my PC...but I'm still not getting the "why" factor of that feature. Under that is something you ALL know I appreciate, and that is, a headline ticker. I know Angelina Jolie is in a French hospital probably about to have her babies without even TRYING to read the news!

Anyway, I should be too busy tomorrow for blogging, so happy Independence Day to everyone, and enjoy your long weekend!!