Beet Jelly

Our landlord gave us some homemade beet jelly.  I've never even heard of it before.  Any suggestions on how I should use it?

Ice Cream Makes Everyone Feel Better

My grandfather passed away last weekend. His death was unexpected because he wasn't sick, but he was in his nineties.
I missed his birthday last month and had been meaning to visit.  I even thought about it the day before he passed, but decided I was too busy. Now I regret that I will never see him again in this life, but there's nothing I can do.
So, instead of moping, the family went out for ice cream before going to the funeral home to make plans. Even Grandpa would have agreed that ice cream makes everyone feel better.

Blackberry picking

Last weekend we met some friends to pick blackberries for jam. After spraying ourselves down with a sticky coating of bug spray, we braved the mosquitos for about an hour. Resulting in three, one-gallon bags full of juicy berries. Not counting all the pints we ate while we were picking. Layla couldn't get enough berries!
Afterward, I rinsed and froze the berries until the end of season. Which is only another week, or so away. We will turn them into blackberry jam. It's our second year making jam and I can't wait! It's so much better than store bought!
Have you ever tried to make home made jam? I'd love to hear about it.

Goodbye June

June is gone for another year. As alway, it's perfect summer days passed far too quickly. For me, June tasted like ice cream and strawberries and it smelled like peonies and basil. What was June like for you?

My weekend : June 13-14, 2015

Our Saturday morning included the usual country drives through the marsh followed grocery shopping. Afterwards I turned the abundance of canned beans in our pantry into a batch of satisfying calico beans. (The recipe I used can be found at crockpotladies.com. (I didn't use a crock pot, and take no credit for the creation of their delicious recipe.) Later on we put black plastic between the rows of our garden keep the weeds down. Then we met some of Mike's family and went Catfishing. We caught alot of bullheads, but no large cats like we were after. After I caught a little more than a dozen before I was fished out so I spent the rest of the time roasting s'mores over the fire Pat, my brother in law, lit on the riverbank. Usually,  I look forward to eating S'mores for months and had just enough time to eat two before we got rained out. While I was roasting my last marshmallow the wind picked up and we heard thr rain coming over the water. We packed up and dashed back to the truck just as it started to pour.

Sunday had more scenic drives. We looked for new houses for sale and stopped so I could help a turtle cross the road. Then we took Layla to a nearby petting zoo. Where I injured my toe while trying to take a snapchat.  We spent the rest of the day lounging, sipping strawberry basil water (super easy to make, I cut two strawberries and a couple basil leaves and soak them for a half hour in a glass of water in the fridge), and resting my toe until my sister picked us up for a spontaneous ice cream trip to a local drive in.
Despite hurting my toe, it was the perfect, relaxing weekend.

Fitbit Flex Causes Wrist Pain

I received a fitbit flex last christmas and have worn it every day since then. More recently, I've experienced frequent wrist pain, similar to that of carpal tunnel,  seemingly out of nowhere. At first I thought the pain was just because I was getting older or doing to many repetitive hand motions. Then I came up with a new theory. That the pain was caused by wearing my fit bit too long. I undid my band immediately,  and the pain vanished instantly.  After that, I Googled it. Sure enough, internet research showed I'm not the only in the internet universe to experience this fitbit induced "faux" carpal tunnel.
It was terrible, like an addict. I couldn't part with my fitbit despite knowing I should for health reasons. I just love its ability to track my sleep and excersise so much. But, In the end, I had to compromise. For the last few nights I've sacrificed knowing how well I actually slept by taking the band off at night. The result?  My wrist has been predictably pain free.
Have you ever  experienced a similar problem with wearing your fitbit?

My weekend: June 5-7, 2015

Started the weekend off right with a barbecue at my parents house friday night. I had an avacado burger. It really hit the spot.
Then we woke up early Saturday morning and headed to our local farmers market in search of some smoked fish. Shortly after arriving,  however,  we ran into our boss and ended up going out for breakfast with him instead. The fish will have to wait until next time but I managed to pick up a pretty pink bouquet on our way out.
Later that afternoon we went to another barbecue at an old friends house. After a few drinks and eating our fill of fresh corn on the cobb we headed to a church festival.  It was much bigger than any church festival I had ever been too. Layla rode on her first carnival rides. Her favorite was the carousel. Meanwhile Mike and the others went to watch a country band.
On Sunday I spent most of the day at a friends bridal shower. Layla was whiney from staying up too late at the carnival the night before. She couldn't sit still and kept trying to stick her finger in the frosting on the beautiful lemon poppyseed and chocolate cupcakes.  The shower was nice regardless.