My baby is turning into her mother and my sister refuses to eat beets...

After all these years, Rebecca has finally begun to recognize filth! LOL You had to be there when she was growing up (not that she's all done growing up, but progress is definitely being made) and lived in a true pig sty. I'm talking about a room so messy I couldn't even walk through it without stepping on "who knows what." I'm talking about a room so messy that when I hid her Christmas presents in a box and put the box on her desk chair - IN HER ROOM - she never even noticed it being there. It was there for months! It was a good thing I knew right where to look and I was quite confident she wouldn't even think twice about it being in there. Come Christmas, I went to get the box and it had been covered up with clothes, papers, markers, folders, books, etc. Typical teenage girl's room from what I hear but it was a place I didn't care to venture into - ever.

I used to let it bother me and I would rant and rave (I know - hard to imagine, huh? ha ha) and insist that she clean it. She would half-ass shove everything under the bed or into the already, stuffed to the brim, closet. After a while I decided to let it go. If she wanted to live in that mess, so be it. I refused to do anything with it. Since she wouldn't clean her room, I also refused to do her laundry. If she wanted to live in a clean room she would have to clean it and if she wanted to wear clean clothes, she would have to wash them. I think she was maybe in the 6th grade when all these life changing events took place. Too bad Chelsea wasn't raised like that...

Rebecca will be 20 on December 4th (took me a while to figure that out!) and she completely made my day :) She was responding to an email I sent her asking about her high school friend, Chelsea. Here is a clip of her response:

"Her house is a pigsty so I'm going to go over there the next day I have off and force her to get up and clean it because her version of cleaning it right now is keeping the kitchen light off. Which I told her is unacceptable."

Be still my beating heart!!

She also informed me that she is the only person at the Swain's house who is allowed to fold the towels because none of them know the proper way to perform this task. She even cleans the bathroom!! Those Swains actually leave globs of toothpaste on the cap and this annoys her. Oh! She is becoming me... :) before you know it, she'll be vacuuming her vacuum cleaner... ha ha ha!

Now, as far as Neccy goes with this whole "I'm never eating beets, ever!" thing, well, that's just not acceptable. There is nothing wrong with beets if you are buying the right kind and cooking them in the most natural way. Besides, she said she was never eating rabbit either and she did! Odds are, she probably hasn't ever tried beets to know whether or not she even likes them. Of course it would be better if you could get them from a Farmer's Market but if there isn't one near you, you can always buy them fresh from the grocery store. If they have the golden beets - get them by all means! Otherwise the red beets will do just fine.

They will store in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks so you don't have to worry about cooking them right away. When you get them home, trim the leaves down to about 2 inches. Leaving the 2 inches on them will keep the red color from leaching out while they are being stored. Leave the root on as well. Put them in a plastic bag (unsealed) and into the refrigerator to store. When you do get ready to eat them, cover them with water and bring it to a boil. let it boil for a minute or so and then turn them down to simmer for about 25-30 minutes. Depending on how big they are, it may take longer than this. Try to buy the smaller to medium sized beets because they are naturally sweeter and naturally more tender.

After testing for doneness by sticking a fork in them, take them from the pot of water and set them aside to cool. Whatever you set them on will be at risk for turning red so choose the vessel thoughtfully. However, I have found that the red comes out with a good washing. I had it on my wonderful, bamboo cutting board and it came clean with no problem. When they have cooled to the point where you can touch them without hurting yourself, cut the top part off with what is left of the leaf stem and cut the little root end off. Then just gently pull down on the skin. It should slip right off for you. You can use a paper towel if you're worried about your fingers turning red but again, the red comes off when you wash your hands. From here all you need to do is slice them up and eat them. They are good warm or cold. Make sure you bring some to Neccy so she can see how good they are! LOL!!  I'm just too funny sometimes.

Folks, it's 101 degrees here today and it's expected to be the same tomorrow. In Phoenix, Arizona, it's 103. Orlando is 98 degrees... what the heck is up with that????  I went out at lunchtime to drop off some plastic grocery bags to the recycle bins at Kroger and whew was it ever HOT. My steering wheel was so hot I had to use a pair of socks (a.k.a. my winter gloves in FL) to hold it. There was a slight breeze blowing all the hot air around but all it did was mess up my hair... lol Even though it is freezing in this building, it's by far better than being outside right now.

So, after my posting yesterday where I wrote about the okra, Neccy commented that she wouldn't eat anything pickled - ever! Jeez, first the beets now the pickled okra... Now come on. If you eat pickles (and she does), you would like the pickled okra. The ingredients vary only slightly in that the okra is a little bit sweet. I can see not wanting to eat pickled pig's feet but okra? It's a good thing :)  Those pig's feet are just slippery chunks of gristle with very little meat on them - honestly, it must be an acquired taste. I'm told that I just didn't have the right kind but I can't imagine what the choices would be. They were pigs feet and they were pickled... not a favorite of mine.

I went to pick up my CSA basket yesterday but my lady never showed up. Or if she did, she was later than the half hour I waited. I thought I would have an email from her this morning but that didn't happen either. She told me last week that her son had been sick for awhile so I'm just hoping they didn't have to hospitalize him yesterday. There were 6 or 7 other people waiting like me and we were all very surprised that she was a no-show. She's usually early or right on time. Keep your fingers crossed that all is well for them.

This farming family lives in a motor home on the farm. They only just recently got electricity hooked up out there so in the interim they were staying in Trish's parents motor home which is generator equipped. Imagine, two adults, two teenage kids and a dog living in a motor home. Gosh, it sure would be tough. On Mondays, Trish brings her laundry in when she comes to make the basket delivery. The back of her truck has anywhere from 5 to 6 garbage bags full of dirty clothes that she's taking to the laundromat. They work together on the farm, all day, every day, and then spend their evenings together in the motor home... now that's a close knit family. No room at all for teenage pig stys ha ha ha.

My white beans and ham came out perfect! I met Wally at Pee Wees after the disappointing basket debacle and we had a few beers and listened to all the typical b-s'ing that goes on. The whole time I kept thinking about those beans and how good they were gonna be. They lived up to my expectations. Of course the ham was from the whole picnic we bought last week. It's kind of sweet and salty at the same time - just the way my nephew, Kain, likes it. Maybe he'll come up and have some with us. Sans the beans of course... lol  Well, who knows maybe he likes beans by now? He didn't used to like anything (he's Neccy's son, what do you expect?) but he's coming around now that he's tried my ham, the beef heart and chicken and dumplins. I think his favorite is still pulled pork though.

I saw a 6 point buck on my way to work this morning. He was eating along side a driveway but stopped and looked up when I drove by. I'll tell you what, I was going so slow I was practically stopped. I would have taken a picture but my phone is still not sending them in the right format so it would have been a waste of time. I'll have to figure out some other way of getting pictures on the blog until I can get that corrected.

Claudia's husband came home from Iraq after being there for 6 months. I haven't met him yet because they were doing the family thing for the first couple of days and then they decided to head up to the Smokey Mountains for some alone time. She sent me a text saying they'll be back this weekend and she'll let me know their plans so we can meet up. I know she's happy to have him home for what little time he'll be here. Imagine having your husband and your son both in Iraq at the same time...  I'm sure having them both home is a big relief for her - and them too!

I'm in search of raw honey. I had a jug of it that Sandy gave me but we have just about gone through all that. It was some good stuff too! I checked out what was available in the grocery store but it just didn't seem right to get it there when surely someone around here has it on their farm. So the search is on...lol hmmm maybe I'll start raising honey bees myself someday. It'll have to go on the list because right now we're just too busy with everything else going on.

Still no word on the cows but we did see Curt yesterday, we just forgot to ask him about them. I told him how much we enjoyed the venison jerky and cube steaks. He said he gets two deer given to him every year and that we're welcome to one of them. It's hard to imagine getting bored with it. There are so many different ways to cook it. Tonight we're having it in our tacos instead of hamburger meat and I'll probably slow roast the roast (ha ha) over the weekend. One internet recipe calls for sprinkling a packet of onion soup mix on it and then cooking it in cream of mushroom soup. I've never had it that way but it sounds good to me :)

We're getting close to football season...woo hoo!! Everyone here is, of course, a Titans fan. I just don't know who my team will be since the great Favre is likely to retire, or not, or so, or not, or so... lol  I'll probably keep the Packers since I've had them as my favorite for so long. I can't believe Donovan McNabb went to the Redskins. I like the Redskins but I don't care for his style at all. Maybe he'll be different with them. In any event, when the people on the radio and tv start talking football, it's only about a month away and you know what that means...  when football season starts, the weather cools off. ahhhhhhhhh

Hey, if anyone gets a football pool going, let me know. I'll send the money and my picks.

The kids are getting ready to go back to school around here so that means I'll be back in the 15 mile per hour school zones on my way home. By my work, they go back on the 12th and by the house they go back on the 6th. Seems strange to me to start school on a Thursday or a Friday. Are they just trying to ruin those days? lol Why not have them go back on a Monday - Monday's are already famous for not being liked.

Everyone is very much into the school spirit. There are signs all along the roads and flags are being hung up along the fences; "Welcome back Brentwood Vikings" and "Fairview Middle School Welcomes rising 6th Graders." High school football is everything. They will stop at nothing to get those games in. Those first few days of school are fun when you get to see all your friends again and, if you're lucky, you might get some new school clothes. I always liked going to school. It was no fun staying home because everyone was in school.

I don't know when they go back in FL but I know I owe Jarrett $11.00 for his final grades. He got four A's and three B's. Not bad, not bad at all :) WAY TO GO SON!!  Your money will be in the mail in the next day or so. If he keeps doing so well, I may just have to give him a raise. I'm very proud of him.

Rebecca never said what her grades were so I figure they must not be too good otherwise I'd have heard about them by now... ha ha ha  She actually has to study now that she's in college. That high school stuff was a breeze but college is a whole different ballgame. Hang in there kiddo - you can do it!

I'll be making my venison tacos tonight while my little red-headed nurse is driving the moving truck to Arizona. She was this side of San Antonio, TX when she called me this morning. They overslept a little bit but they all needed the rest. They had been on the go for two days with very little sleep. "You'll be in me thoughts me Diz." 

Stay out of the heat, keep drinking lots of water, try to consume fresh fruits and vegetables so your body will be healthy and remember...

"If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague." unknown author