Shelley, Shelley, Jelly Belly, How does your garden grow?

Those of you who look forward to any post of mine will be glad to see I'm still in this world, I know you must have been wondering. It's not that I've been really busy, but I've just had a lot to do and have been thinking about other things.

Morgan, Leah and Lily have come back into my life full-time and I'm trying to get used to it all. They take up a lot of my down-time. Things I'm used to doing all by myself, are now done with them. Like shopping, gardening, eating, etc.

The above picture is why I titled my post what I did. Yikes, it's so embarassing to see my belly jiggling out over my pants. When did that happen? about five years ago?

Lily and Leah are such sweet and cute little granddaughters. they sure are fun to see everyday. sometimes before I'm ready to see them. Like this a.m., I was in the shower and they came. But so fun when they do.

I've decided Lily just wants to be held. At all times! Who spoiled her?

Saturday she was on the trampoline and got a sunburn. At the scene of the crime.

Her eyes are such a dark saphire blue.

Not so sure about the swingin' business.

Leah on the trampoline.

Leah gone wild in the backyard. She lost her swimsuit and was runnin' stark naked.

In the yellow wagon. I think she was watching her daddy drive the spray coupe for the first time. Watch out Grandpa!!!!

What do you think about this little swimsuit pose?

The ceremonial placing of the birthday candles on Zack's birthday cake. Yes, Zack is finally nineteen. How many uncles get their cakes decorated by their 20 month old neice. He's such a good sport.

The finished product. It was a lemon poppy seed cake.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Zack. Happy Birthday to you. (And many more)

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Morgan's birthday did not involve cake making. Instead she got two delicious huckleberry cheescake desserts. We had a nice time with everyone at her house. It was so fun to be all together for her birthday.

Oh gosh! It was yummy.

Leah outside and posing so well.

She had to smell the columbine. Yes, that is a cow in the other chair.

Now, for some pictures of my garden. The real reason you like theis blog so much. My frog prince now has a blue gazing globe on his head. Dianthus in front.

My back flowerbed by the garage. i love this flower bed because it is so carefree and reminds me of GG and how good she was to me. Ihaven't really planted too much in this bed. I just had to uncover it and let in the light many years ago. It just keeps getting prettier.

Front peonies and a purple cranesbill.

Leah, cow and peonies.

Leah and the morden blush roses.

Smelling the most lovely of all peonies. I love this bush. My most favorite on the whole farm.

White snow owl roses. Beauteous!

An oddity. A double columbine. I showed it to Morgan and she said it must have been doubly pollinated. So pretty.

My salmon poppies. I'm going to move these this fall. They're getting overtaken by the rosebush.

Dianthus, Hollyhocks, Coralbells, all in a row.

Cranesbill and lavender and yellow columbine. I love this combination.

Flaming red poppies in front of the fence. They were so pretty.


My funny iris.

And my pretty Russell Lupines. These are so showy right now. I love them.

The mucho lluvia has really made my garden lovely. They do get beat down when it pours down on them, but them they get right back up and put on a great display. Loving the garden.

What I Did Today

I think my thyroid pills are finally kicking in. I didn't get up til 9:00 a.m., but then I worked until 9:00 p.m. I'm wore out!

Just thought I would show a picture of what is awaiting Leah. Its a lonely little swimming pool and needs someone to come and play. I have put it on the trampoline (also lonely) to keep it out of the way. No one here jumps on the tramp anyway.

On Tuesday I roasted some pork roasts for Sunday's lunch after the blessing. I have this great recipe for Kansas City BBQ sauce and so I thought I would double the recipe and make some to go with the pork. Below are the pictures of my recipe. Actually, it is not my recipe, it is an America's Test Kitchen recipe. I love that program because they test all the recipes and tell which ones come out best and then they give that one on the air. Very good program.

Here are the ingredients, plus the tomato paste and smoky flavoring below. i forgot to get them in the top picture.



Start by dicing one large onion, and in a large pot, saute it in some vegetable oil or, if you have it, a little bacon grease. I don't like too much grease so I used just a little to cover the bottom of the pot. (picture below)

Then start adding everything else. Oh, you probably want measurements. I will give you the recipe undoubled.

1 onion diced
4 cups chicken broth (I used the broth I had from the pork roasts)
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup brown corn syrup
1 cup cider vinegar
2 T brown mustard
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup ketchup
1 T hot sauce (add more if you want some heat)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 can rootbeer (12 0z)
smoke flavoring (I used almost 2 tsp.)

Adding the corn syrup

Adding the rootbeer. Make sure your pot is big enough because the rootbeer makes it really foam up high.

As I demonstrate the adding of the rootbeer, it foamed up and almost went over the sides of my pot, so I decided to switch mid cooking and pour mixture into my stock pot.

Now boil this for one hour. I usually simmer things like this, but I decided to keep this on med high because I knew it couldn't boil over, and I was in a hurry to get outside. Usually you simmer things like vegetables because you don't want to overcook or turn veggies to mush. This was a great sauce to boil and so I just did. I set the timer and went outside to plant some flower pots. I got into my flowers and yes, I forgot about the sauce. But it turned out great 1 hour and 15 minutes later. It is yummy.

Oh, switched pots again, because I couldn't get a good picture while it was in the big stock pot. Beautiful color, don't you think? Great for pork on a bun, ribs, bbq beans, chicken, etc.

Oh, and I also ironed the very preciously pink baby dress. I think it should go lovely with her beauteous complexion. She seems to be getting over the acne, so I think pink is great for my second granddaughter.
Up close look at the collar and sleeve details. And might I just add, it made me slightly crazy to figure out how to do this. I have a picture of this dress (sort of) but for a five year old. I was so enchanted with the design that I decided I could do it, using my own designing and pattern- making skills. Thank heavens for my pattern and sewing classes. I just kind of reinvented the whole thing into a very small baby dress.

So precious. I had wanted to do something different on the skirt with the ruffles, but darn it, G.G did not buy enough fabric! So I settled for what I did.

Darling enough.

Then I went outside for the rest of the day and planted the rest of my garden, some flower pots, one of my beds with zinnias, and then went over to M and A's new house to till and plant their garden. I am a great mother! I forsook (is that a word?) making dinner for Alan because I was into gardening. Yards are so important! I have a true testimony of gardening. Hope my children will gain their own testimony some day. At about 8:30, still light outside, Alan came hunting for me and helped me finish planting beans and potatoes. After planting las papas, we had two shriveled little potatoes left, which I told Alan I would cook up for his dinner.

When I looked in the bathroom mirror while washing my dirt off, I really scared myself. It had been blowing for about 6:00 to 9:00 and this is what happened to my hair. No excuse for my face. I, like Farah Fawcett, love the wind-blown look.

And then there were my legs. All the sunscreen, mosquito dope and tilling of the soil made me have a slightly grayish-brown hue. Alan said I looked like I had hairy legs. He just thinks that because, that's how his legs look all the time - you know gray, brown, and hairy.

And so I fixed some pork sandwiches with BBQ sauce, green salad, and cantaloupe cubes, sin papas, which we enjoyed. And we supped at the very socially correct hour of 9:30.

A very rewarding day was had by me!