Pickling

My cucumbers aren't they pretty. This is just one small bucket of them.
Here are the slices.

Here are the spears.

Pots all ready to go. The small silver one in the back is for sterilizing jars and lids. The black one is to heat the pickling liquid. The large silver one is the canner for the warm water processing bath.

Here I am filling jars. First I wash and cut the cucumbers. Then I wash the jars and sterilize them in boiling water. Then I fill the jars with the cucumbers. Then I fill the jars with the hot pickling liquid, leaving a small amount of space at the top. Then I wipe the rim of each jar clean with a damp cloth. I place a lid on the jar and fasten it down with the ring. Then the jars go into the boiling water bath. 5 minutes for pints and 10 minutes for quarts.

Here is the fruits of my labor 28 pints of pickles. This is just the first batch I have done two more since for a grand total of 54 pints of pickles so far. Probably have one more picking to go and I have also let some grow into cucumbers to share with family members. funny thing is I don't even like cucumbers or pickles. My husband loves pickles so these are all for him. Safe to say he won't go hungry even if I go on a cooking strike.

The Nazi Gymnist

Feel sorry for the poor girl. He yells at all the kids like this. This is our last week. Can't wait till its over.

The Best

I have the best hubby ever!!!!! Tomorrow is my birthday and he arranged for the kids to go to grandma's and got me tickets to go to Indiana to see Def Leppard again! I am so excited. He even arranged with my boss for me to be off the next day. He is so awesome. The seats are not quite as good, but the last ones would be hard to top. They are still pretty goood seats though. I am so excited. I have so much to do better get busy.

Cheap Trick

I was pleasantly suprised by how good these guys sounded live. I would love to see them again.

Phil Collen

My second favorite Leppard guitarist Phil Collen. In my mind the world's second greatest guitarist. He is superseded only by Steve Clark who played for Def Leppard until his death in 1992. Phil leads a clean life style and spends much of his time training and doing martial arts as I'm sure you can tell.

Phil with Big Bird his jackson troubleneck doubleneck

For all the Viv and Joe fans

Vivian Campbell, guitarist Joe striking a pose, enough said.

Joe Elliott, vocals

Singing

Joe and Vivian Rockn. I love that Phil and Sav are in the background.

Really cool pic.

The top ten

Ok so Thursday night I put the camera in the best possible hands it could be in, my husbands. He dabbled in photography in college. However rock concerts are hard cause lighting is moving around and flashing and so are the people. I think he did a great job, especially since you can only use point and shoot cameras. Anyway he took a total of 83 Def Leppard pics, that doesn't include Poison or Cheap Trick. Of those 83 pics 41 of them were of Rick Savage "Sav" the bass player. Hubby knows what I like. Don't get me wrong Phil Collen can come visit any time he wants to, but he's no Sav. So it was hard to choose but here are my top ten Sav pics. I think we captured most of his signature moves. Here's the hair flip.
Almost a smile not something you see often from him.

Rockn with Rick Allen the drummer.


singing

The famous I can't see you pose

great shot

Paige his wife the reason I dislike the letter P. Hah Hah!

At the end of the cat walk.

He's right in front of me!

Never has a bass guitar looked so good.

Hope you enjoy the pics, don't worry there will be more of the rest of the band soon.

THE BEST NIGHT EVER!!!!!!!

OKAY FIRST LET'S START THE DAY WITH THE BEST HUSBAND EVER. HE SAT UP LATE AND LOST PRECIOUS SLEEP TO GET ME 5 STAR VIP TICKETS. YOU ROCK HONEY! SO I HAVE BEEN COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS SINCE MARCH AND IT WAS FINALLY HERE. WE DROPPED OFF THE KIDS AT GRANDMA'S GOT READY AND TOOK OFF TO GRAB SOME LUNCH BEFORE THE SHOW. THEN WE TOOK A BRIEF SHOPPING BREAK. ANOTHER BRIEF BREAK AT THE PARK TO USE THE REST ROOM THEN OFF TO THE CONCERT. WHEN WE PULLED IN WE COULD HEAR JOE ELLIOTT DOING SOUND CHECK FROM OUR CAR. AWESOME! THEN WE GOT CHECKED IN. DID A LITTLE SHOPPING AND HEADED OFF TO THE VIP TENT FOR FREE BEER, WATER, FOOD ETC. WE STUCK TO JUST THE WATER.
WE MET UP WITH MY VERY BEST FRIEND AND HER BOYFRIEND AND SISTER. WE GOT OUR 5 STAR GOODY BAG FULL OF ALL KINDS OF DEF LEPPARD STUFF! THEN OFF TO OUR SEATS. WE HAD NEVER BEEN TO THIS VENUE OR UP THIS CLOSE BEFORE. SO BEING CONCERT VIRGINS WE SAT DOWN IN ROW C SEATS 15 AND 16. THE SEATS WERE LESS THAN DESIRABLE. TO SAY THE LEAST WE WERE DISAPPOINTED. THEY WERE CLOSE BUT OFF TO THE SIDE AND YOU COULDN'T SEE ALL THE STAGE. THERE WERE SOME FOLDING CHAIRS RIGHT UP FRONT AND I SAID WONDER HOW YOU GET THOSE SEATS. THEN WE NOTICED OTHER PEOPLE FROM OUR 5 STAR GROUP DOWN THERE. HUBBY ASKED THE SECURITY GAL IF WE WERE IN THE RIGHT SPOT. SHE SAID NO AND POINTED US TO THE THIRD ROW OF FOLDING CHAIRS. MY NIGHT JUST GOT A LOT BETTER. AS WE CONTINUED DOWN THE ROW WE HADN'T FOUND SEATS 15 OR 16 YET COULD IT BE WE WERE CENTER STAGE NEXT TO THE CAT WALK? OH YES WE WERE MY DREAMS COME TRUE! THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN IN A MILLION YEARS.
THIS IS A GREAT SPOT FOR THE FIRST TO BANDS WE GOT GUITAR PICKS AND GREAT PHOTOS, BUT DIDN'T GET TO TOUCH ANYONE, BUT THOSE BANDS DON'T USE THE CAT WALK BUT I KNEW I REALLY WAS IN THE BEST SPOT.

FIRST UP CHEAP TRICK. AMAZING IN CONCERT. I REALLY ENJOYED THEM.


NEXT UP POISON. THEY ROCKED OUT. HOWEVER THE GIRL 2 ROWS BACK WAS DRUNK AND TRIED TO PUSH HER WAY UP. SHE WAS QUITE ANNOYING. SHE TRIED TO CLIMB OVER THE CHAIRS AND FELL INTO THE STAGE SPILLING BEER ALL OVER THE CAT WALK AND BREAKING THE LIGHT RIGGING OFF THE SIDE OF THE CATWALK. BUT REALLY SHE WAS AN ANGEL, BECAUSE THE GUYS CAME OUT TO FIX THE LIGHTS BUT HAD TROUBLE REACHING THE BOLT. NEVER FEAR MY HUBBY STEPPED UP AND OFFERED TO TIGHTEN THE BOLT FOR THE GUY FROM A BETTER ANGLE. THIS GOT US A HANDFUL OF DEF LEPPARD GUITAR PICKS. YEAH BABY!



NEXT THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT MY DEF LEPPARD BOYS! DON'T THEY ALL LOOK GREAT! WE HAD THE VERY BEST OF SEATS. EACH TIME THEY CAME DOWN THE CAT WALK THEY STOPPED IN FRONT OF US TO PLAY. I WAS LESS THAN AN ARMS LENGTH FROM THEM. JOE ELLIOTT SMACKED MY HAND 2 TIMES AND LET ME TELL YOU HE HITS HARD. PHIL TOUCHED ME THREE TIMES. GOT TO SHAKE RICK ALLEN'S HAND AT THE END. I STILL HADN'T GOT TO TOUCH SAV, WHICH WAS WHO I REALLY WANTED. HE HAD COME OVER AND PLAYED RIGHT BY US A FEW TIMES, AND ONCE COMPLAINED TO US HOW HOT IT WAS, BUT NO HAND SHAKES YET. BUT RIGHT BEFORE THEY WENT OFF STAGE HE CAME DOWN OUR SIDE OF THE CAT WALK AND YES I GOT HIM. HE WAS RIGHT HE WAS HOT THAT GLOVE OF HIS WAS VERY SWEATY. I WAS IN HEAVEN. ONLY ONE I DIDN'T GET WAS VIVIAN AND THAT'S OK I'M A VERY VERY HAPPY GIRL. HERE ARE PICS TO WET YOUR APPETITE I'LL POST MORE SOON.

Missy the procrastaknitter

For some reason my computer will not let me read your blog, it keeps letting me see little bits then it preforms some illegal function and closes out. Just wanted to let you know I'm still reading you, but I can't comment. Don't know how to fix it.

Ancient Serpents

the great serpent

walking up to the coiled tail

uncomfortable seating

inside the hut

outside the hut

the most exciting find of the day for the kids

kids and dad at the observation tower

Me and the kids

Artifacts from the museum

Sunday morning we packed up the kids and headed off down the scenic winding roads of Adams county. We were off to serpent mound park. I remember going here on school field trips as a kid. It it a 1/4 mile long mound built in the shape of a winding serpent by the Indians. It was most likely used for ceremonies. Near by are some burial mounds. They have a replica hut for the kids to explore, an observation tower to view the entire serpent, hiking trail, and small museum. Hubby and I last visited this park about 15 years ago when we were dating. We thought it would be fun and educational for the kids, but I think they were more than slightly bored. Oh well hubby and I had fun.

Paints

Last night was our son's end of season baseball party. All that baking I did payed off. The boys got to go see a minor league team, the Chillocothe Paints play a game. Their tickets included a hot drink and chips. They got to play speed pitching, and got discounts on things like foam fingers. They got their trophies, which had their name and numbers on them, very cool. They also got to meet all the players and get their autographs. Our son was standing by the fence watching them practice before the game and a player walked over and gave him a ball. He was over the moon. He got to run out on the field as they announced his name and he stood on the pitchers mount for the national anthem. After the game he got to run the bases. They even had a small petting zoo there with critters from the Columbus zoo. It was such an awesome night and he had sooooo much fun. By the way my kid is the one without the mohawk!

Enjoying a snow cone

On the field

The prized baseball

Look at my trophy!

Running out to the pitching mound

running the bases with sissy

Speed pitching

What have we gotten ourselves into?

Today was Katie's first gymnastics class. She took gymnastics from age 1 1/2 years to 3 years old, and loved it. We took a break for horse back riding and cheer leading etc. Well now we are back. There is a new group that opened up about 10 minutes closer to us than were she was previously going so we thought we would give it a try. This is just a tumbling class with floor and trampoline work only. I am so glad it is only a 4 week session cause I don't think we'll be going back afterwards. The other place is worth a longer drive. The instructor has a heavy accent which my little girl found hard to understand. He drilled them like they were training for the Olympics which is not what we were looking for. We don't want to compete we just want to flip and have fun. He told the kids no that is wrong and to stop in a rough tone, and there was hardly any good jobs. My girl had fun she said, but was totally exhausted afterwards. It was a great workout for her which pleased me, I would just like to see a more personable coach. I forgot the camera this week so maybe next week I'll get some pics and video.

A Kickn' Wing July 5th

Silly String clean up balls

Uncle looks great in pink

Grandma has been strung

catching popper strings

The smoke bombs

Dad's organized fire work display.

Good work Dad!

Anyone who has ever watched the movie Joe Dirt, knows exactly who Kickn' Wing is. Snakes and sparklers They're the best! That is our motto for our 4th of July festivities. Every year we set off our cheap red neck firework display and luckily our kids still love it and don't think we are lame just yet. We always invited their grandma and Uncle down to join the fun. We set off lots of smoke bombs, in fact this year we had our own little mushroom cloud forming. We do snakes and sparklers of course. We do lots of pop its, and lots of string poppers. And for the kids favorite part we turn them loose with silly string and the adults are fare game. The kids love to cover us up in different colors of string. After all the fun the clean up begins. We make it a contest to see which kid can make the biggest ball of silly string. It's a great way to get the mess cleaned up. Since it rained on July 4th ALL day long! We decided to do our fireworks on the 5th instead. It was still as much fun on the 5th as on the 4th. In fact Hubby and I had a great time with all the 4th rain. We put the kids to bed after playing board games and reading books, then we indulged in a bowl of ice cream and watched the newest Friday the 13th on pay per view. It was surprisingly good. Then on the 5th we took the kids over to the school yard to play tennis and ride their bikes, and hubby and I ran some sprints on the track, then we came home and kick boxed. What a great holiday we had!