Not Only is He Handsome, He's a Poet

Sometimes my hubby gets up and leaves for work before the rest of us are up in the morning. He usually leaves a note letting us know if we need to feed the animals. This morning he left coffee, the Sunday paper and this note.

There once was a guy named Fred,
who made sure his animals were fed.
He made his own lunch,
Including bananas from a bunch,
And got the paper for his wife,
the Slug-a-bed.

Honestly.

4th of July Recap

My sis, Kathi made this dessert straight out of Martha's Living July issue. Very good, apparently there is lots of butter in the crust.

My dessert plate, including Kathi and Martha's flag dessert, Hana's sugar cookies and Becky's dessert which at first glance looked like potato salad. It's not, trust me, I hate(strong word) potato salad and this was nothing like potato salad. It involved buttermilk, vanilla pudding mix, cool whip, fruit and fudge striped cookies. My, that is good stuff. I didn't feel so good when I got in bed last night.

These kids come from a long line of firework pyros. My Dad is crazy for fireworks. We always took a trip to the Res to visit Bargain Betty where he seemed to know Betty on a first name basis. One year he was giving us the safety speech before we went on our picnic, showing us how to light and toss firecrackers. Mom was busy in the kitchen. Us kids were gathered around the picnic table and just as he said "one at a time" the whole string went off in his lap. Fastest I ever saw my Dad move, burn marks on the picnic table and on his legs. My Mom came flying out of the house yelling, "I suppose you burned your pants!" He had.

My camera batteries ran out so you'll just have to trust me when I say they got bigger. Bill got out the camera, the tripod, he set the shutter and we had a blast writing and posing with our sparklers. Visit Jodi's blog to see how to do it yourself. This probably isn't saying much but it can entertain my family for hours.

That Was Fun

The guys and I went to Birch Bay for the day. My hubby had to work and we all have dinner and a fireworks show planned at Bill and Jodi's house tonight. So, Max packed us a healthy lunch, we packed up the long boards and my bike and headed to the Bay.


Before lunch I rode to the state park, visited friends and really enjoyed my ride. After lunch Sam and Max wanted to take me where they spent their morning, out past BB Village there is a new development, the road is still closed but we went around the barriers and rode to the top...of a very long hill. Going down the hill was a lot of fun. Then we did it again. Last year I couldn't have done it but thanks to boot camp I could keep up. We had so much fun. The thing about teens is do what they want to do and then it is fun. A lot less teentude.

Strawberry Pizza

As I was posting this recipe Max was practically wrestling me to the ground. He feels pretty strongly that this is an old family secret and he has never been nice about sharing. But hey, here goes!
Strawberry Pizza Dessert
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter-softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup nuts (slivered almonds)
Pat into a pizza pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
OR
Buy a roll of sugar cookie dough in the fridge section of the grocery store, slice and pat together and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
For filling mix 1 softened 8 oz. cream cheese (I always use low fat) with 1 cup powdered sugar. Then add 8 oz. Cool Whip. I use a mixer.
Spread over cooled crust.
Slice strawberries to cover, about 3 pints.
Top with the glaze which you've made and cooled.
Glaze:
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
1 T. Cornstarch
Boil until clear and thick, then add 3 T. dry strawberry jello and stir.
Keep in the fridge.
I have taken this dessert camping. I make the filling and the glaze ahead and store in ziploc bags(they are good in the ice chest and then I'm not packing tupperware back home), when you're ready to use just snip the corner of the bag. Use the premade sugar cookie dough to keep it easy and insto-facto impressive camping or condo-ing dessert. Generally speaking I now camp in condos due to an unfortunate incident involving a tent and a terrible storm. Sometimes I prebake the crust but hey, most condos have ovens.

Family Fun on the Patio

Max is back, after almost 4 weeks in Eastern Washington he caught a ride with a hay truck and got home this afternoon. We've really missed the little guy. He requested strawberry pizza for dessert tonight. I rushed right out to get berries and got busy. He always eats well in George, WA. He had to call me to brag about his Aunt Marie's enchiladas.But there is this thing called Mom food. Good to have him home.

I think he grew while he was there and he lost 7 pounds- a real lean, mean machine. He begins lifting for football tomorrow night. I can't wait, he has Robb as a trainer. My trainer Robb, one and the same. I may take a bit of delight in watching Max suffer. Just a bit...
Is this considered playing with your food? Sometimes Sam doesn't finish his dinner, he then makes Hawley stay with said food on his snout and then Sam runs his dirty dishes into the house and only lets Hawley move and gobble when he gets back. My, such a disciplined dog.

Berry Good

We have the sweetest berries in Whatcom County. They are nothing like those hard tasteless berries that come from California. I went to Barbie's Berries stand on my way home from the museum yesterday. I sliced and sugared them and we had them with vanilla ice cream last night. Today, I am driving to the stand so I can get a flat. Max is coming home and he has requested the Strawberry Pizza. Berries only come once a year, the season goes quickly. I try get in a lot of berries. On Thursday it's waffles, berries and whipped cream for dinner. I use my grandma's waffle recipe. Delicious. What is your favorite strawberry recipe? I'll share mine this week. They are not part of the Eat Less, Move More.