5 more days....

and we'll be here.........

More canning.....

I thought I was done canning but I loved that salsa we made so much that Johnny boy was able to find some more tomatoes and I canned 17 pints of salsa!

later......

Been busy.......

cleaning..........no
painting.........no
getting ready for the beach.....no
working hard......naw
playing in Photoshop Elements......YES

The instructor for my photo class gave us a quick lesson in Photoshop so of course I had to go right out and buy it! And it's fun.....it's a little hard to figure out but I'm getting there. I keep switching over to the manuel to see how to do something. Just experimenting right now. I have my final class assignment, a photo essay, due next week so I'm hoping to be able to "fix" up my photos a little.

here's a few cool photos from my photography class.

A scary evening......

here's the scene.......
Jacquelyn and Bucky are over for dinner and we're having everyone's fav...Tacos!!
we all finish eating and go out on the deck.
Nicole is still in the kitchen with Maddox.
Because of the gunk Maddox's lungs produces, at times, he will throw up.
He started choking and Nicole thought he was throwing up, grabbed him and ran to the trash can.
Except that he wasn't throwing up, he was choking. And his nose started bleeding but Nicole did not know where the blood was coming from.
and then, he started turning blue.
She was screaming for us but we didn't hear her.
She ran out on the deck with him screaming.
we took one look and all I saw was our precious little boy's face turning purple, his lips were as blue as could be.
Jacquelyn screamed.........do something!
all it took for me was seeing those blue lips, I jumped up and ran, grabbed him, flipped him upside down and started pressing on that "upside down V"...that's what I call it. I guess it's the base of the sternum......where the diaphram is. Nothing happened. I flipped him back up, then upside down again and pumped that area a couple of times and he caught his breath.

I can't even describe how we all felt to hear him crying....it was a beautiful sound.

Johnny said to me later...you saved his life. Yeah, I guess so but I just did what I had to do. He's our most precious angel and when in need, you get an inner strength, a calm to know what to do and you just do it.

later......

I try to blog......

But it's been hard lately.....just so busy!
I canned again over the weekend, 6 quarts and 10 pints of tomatoes. Ran out of quart jars and couldn't find any! Johnny boy and I had to break down and go to Wal-hell...over on Brook Rd, which is the worst ever! No jars....so we went to Wal-hell over in Mechanicsville and found only pint size.
On Sunday, Miss Jacquelyn and I made homemade salsa that turned out awesome. We really wanted to can some but didn't have enough tomatoes. I think I'm done canning for this year! I have really enjoyed it...I know, weird but I do like it. And I really like opening that pantry door and seeing my shelves filled with all of the tomatoes, jam and pickles.

we have a lot going on over the next 11 days until we leave for the beach...just a bunch of things I want to get done. I really have a lot of stuff to blog about but right now, just trying to find the time so here's a meme copied from Traci.....until.........

JOYS

1. Spending time with my Johnny boy
2. Spending time with the kids
3. Anticipating our beach trip

FEARS

1. SNAKES in my yard......
2. Worrying too much about my kids and something happening to them
3. the economy....yes, I worry about that!

GOALS

1. Lose my "no smoking" weight gain
2. Finish painting / re-decorating the downstairs
3. Catch up on my scrapbooking

CURRENT OBSESSIONS

1. photography
2. Counting the days until we leave for the beach
3. Canning

SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT ME

1. People at work call me Nina, my family calls me Diane
2. I don't pump gas......ever
3. I love to gamble!

and I tag everyone who reads my blog!!
later........

Monday......

We had a really great weekend.....all of us went to the Outback on Friday night for Nicole's birthday. And you know, that's always good.

Saturday....a little cleaning, a little shopping and all of the kids home for dinner..even my nephew.

Sunday...lazy day. Hung out on the deck and played with my camera a lot. Had some most delicious baby back ribs for dinner....again, all of the kids over. I rubbed the ribs down good with a bbq rub and then put in the oven, 275 deg for 4 hours. After that, they were just falling off of the bone......but we put them on the grill and smothered in BBQ sauce...yum yum. Also fixed the wonderful tomato/pasta salad, smashed potatoes (from Pioneer Woman's website) and a great salad.

And what else did we do all weekend...oh yeah......we watched the Olympics!!! all weekend.
and for those of you wondering and/or asking, Jake is doing fine. thanks!

later.......

Happy Birthday and man I'm gettin old.......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE!!

Today is my oldest daughter's birthday.......she is 26 years old!

love you Nicole........

later......

Garden goodness........

I froze 12 bags (quart size) of fresh lima beans last night....

I'm on a roll

later.......

Where oh where....

have I been?

~ we went out of town to the big ole town of Eden, NC. My mom's family reunion and it was such fun. Interesting fact.....my mom is the youngest of 13....a bakers dozen. Her family has been having this reunion for 72 years, without fail. My mom is 74 years old and she still has 1 sister and 4 brothers alive....I think that's some good genes! I have around 61 1st cousins on my mom's side.....most all of us are married with a couple of kids and some of those kids are married with kids. Soooo.....it's large and it's a big deal and it's something we look forward to each year!!

~ I took Chrissy tonight to get her last shot for her torn ACL. And she's still limping! And the bad news is it's only a small fix for her problem......she will have problems the rest of her dog life and should not run. Well, chasing squirrels and tennis balls are what she lives for. So it's either keep her from running and doing what she loves or letting her run and risking another injury and spending the rest of her dog life limping around. Because that surgery that starts at $2,000, that's no guarantee either!

~ I am a big fan of a sweet little boy named Parker. And Parker's mom, who by the way is one hell of a woman, she post over on 5 Min for moms......and she has written an article about the new Ben Stiller movie. And I am liking everything she has to say about it. And you know, I'm bad with the whole linky linky button so just look over to the right and click on Precious Parker.......you'll get Tammy's link from there. And while there, check out some pics of that little cutie patootie!!

~ The Olympics are killing me!! I stay up too late, we even watch em in the early hours of the morning....arghhhh. You just get so sucked into them but it's all good...I really, really love them!! GO USA.......

I need to go hit the hay......and watch the girls gymnastics which are coming up in just a little.....

later......

Still sad......

Looks like Jake is doing ok......doesn't look as down and out....OR, that could be an act so I'll leave him alone.

I can't imagine how he feels because I know how much I miss Kayla. She was a huge part of our family and we were all very close to her. Her and Jake had been together almost 3 years!

So here's the thing about kids.....they bring these girlfriend and boyfriends around and some you don't like, and you're all happy when that ends. But then some you just love and they become such a big part of your family. You become so attached to these kids and actually begin worrying about them as much as you worry about your own kids. And that's how it is with Bucky, who goes with Jacquelyn. Bucky is 22 and Jacquelyn is 21 and they have been together 4 1/2 years........my goodness, if anything happens to them, I don't know what I would do! Bucky is like my son...it would leave such a hole in our lives if he wasn't around.

And now Kayla......who I loved to call Kayla-la! I felt close to her and loved for her to be in the kitchen cooking with me. I teased them all of the time that Jake wasn't my fav......Kayla was! haha..

and so it goes.......you become attached but nothing with kids this young can be forever!

So I'm off of work tomorrow so today is my FRIDAY...woo hoo!!
and we are heading to North Carolina on Sat morning for my mom's family reunion. Just a very short trip and will be back Sunday evening.

later........

I'm sad......

my son has a broken heart and I don't know the right words to make him feel better.
It makes me so sad to see him hurt
what can I say or do to make him better.......

Actually, I do know what would make things better.......a cute, sweet, fun 20 year old girl!! hehe.....

or really, Kayla would make him happy again!

later.......

Sunday

I put up 16 quarts of tomaotes......yum yum! They are going to taste great in soups and chilli this winter.

I'd like to do more but we'll see. It took me all.day.long today to do them! But it was kinda, sorta fun and I love seeing the end result. I'll post a pic later. They are all snuggled under a beach towel right now cooling down. And yeah......they all sealed!!

later.......

Blog the recession......

Look over there on the right.....go check out Motherhood Uncensored

and let's "Blog the Recession"......increase your traffic, feel better....ignore those high gas prices and food prices!

later.....

'maters.....

That's a lot of tomatoes...guess what I will be doing tomorrow

later....