from Ben to bacon sparkle

I had a grrreat day off today. I think you appreciate them more when you work really really hard during your 4 day week. After working and going to school approximately 60 hours a week and then going to 32, it's not so bad.
I slept until 12:30 (no, I'm not a bum. I worked until 1:30am the night before and didn't get to bed until 3:30am because I couldn't turn my brain off). I drank my morning coffee and ate breakfast while watching the Cardinals/Braves game. It was intense. We won 3-2 but just barely. The Braves are good this year.
At the 7th inning stretch I went to the meat lab and bought tiger tails (brats with cheddar and jalapenos), onion brats, pork chops, ham steaks, stew meat, beef jerky, meat sticks, and about 10 pounds of bacon. Guess what I paid... only $52.00. What a steal. Now... finding freezer space.
And I made it back home to see the 9th inning.

After hitting the grocery store for vegetable soup fixin's, I went to the library for the first time in years. I got a library card. I was completely. over. whelmed. and crosseyed when I left. But I will go back.
I have to, because I checked out books.
Maybe I will see how long I can go without tv. That would be good for me.

We went to Ben Folds downtown. It was a summerfest concert on 9th street. It wasn't quite raining, but it was misting and we were pretty wet. We got rasta lemonades from the jamaican jerk hut. If you haven't tried one, DO. The are my absolute favorite summer drink, with sweet leaf tea coming in at a very close second.
Anyway, he sang about how he was sorry that Memphis rained out and that he really really wanted to play. He sang about how tonight turned into a wet tshirt contest, and the man boobs were losing. He played the altoid tins with the reverb pedal. I have "Do you wanna see what's in my head?" in my head. I watched a guy get arrested while he played "Free Coffee", which made me feel bad. [I was] not the same after that.
I wish he would have talked about his university accapella smackdown, but he didn't. Overall, he seemed a little detached, but he still rocked the suburbs.

I got home and cooked up a big 'ol pot of vegetable soup. It's soooo good. I put in so many veggies that I could barely stir. I'm sure there will be plenty to share. I'm going to freeze it in small containers to take to waka. Yum!

Also... I started my infusion of bacon vodka. I've been thinking about it for awhile, and I should have started it earlier. Ultimately, I want to donate it to the bloody mary table at chopdown baconalien.

The bacon was fried.


Then it was carefully blotted, cooled, and placed in tupperware.


Then the vodka was added. Notice I used Svedka? Good stuff. Filtered 5 times.


I think I'm all ready liking the sparkle. After about an hour the bacon looks fat, bloated, and drunk. Now we wait.

Memorial Day Saint

How cool is this. My grandma was in the Quincy local news...

And then she got national press on CNN!

She was also in the Quincy newspaper. She cut out the clip to send to me. I love this picture!



She has ironed flags for as long as I can remember really, and I never thought twice about it. She does so many dozens of fantastic things! She's probably the most selfless person I know. I'm glad to see her getting some recognition. Go grandma!!!

MoKan Music Festival

Our camper, the Starmaster, had its maiden voyage to Urick, MO to the MoKan Music Festival. This festy was a short 2.5 hour jaunt, a rockin' Friday and Saturday night, and camp Swanky welcomed us with open arms. What a great way to kick off the season! I obtained a $5 MoKan tshirt, a new dye from my Vivid Earth friends, and a couple of ideas on how to make the camper P-I-M-P for waka.

On Friday night a storm rolled in...


So Sarah and I took pictures of the swirly clouds.


We hunkered down. Sort of.


The rain delayed some of the music. But we still heard every note.

The next day we strapped on our mud boots and wandered around camp and the stage area.


Dirtfoot played a fantastic set. Speakeasy rocked out. Sterling from Brothers Green stepped in on harmonica with Everybody. My other favorites included: Madahoochi, Brother Bagman, Zoogma, The Station, 56 Hope Road, Andrews Ave, Kan Eyed. I think I might of heard, but didn't see Robots vs. Dinosaurs and Opal Fly. There were many others.

Sleep. Steve made it in the door, but passed out shortly next to the bed. That crazy drunken alien.


Breakfast was served.


Who invited these guys?


Or Sketchy McSketcherton? (of Mullberry '08 fame. Yes, that's really him!)


Sadly, we packed up our camp and said our good-byes...


See ya in 2 1/2 weeks at waka!!!

Camping with the fam

We decided to try out the camper for the first time this weekend at Mark Twain State Park. Saturday was my Dad's birthday, and Mother's Day was Sunday, so we thought it appropriate to invite my parents even though we knew that they probably would not camp with us. They agreed to come, but not stay the night.

After arriving at the park, picking our spot, and registering the camp site, they rolled in... my mom, dad, and then behind them were my sister, boyfriend, and my niece. I was so surprised to see them!!!!

For Mom, I got her a new trash can. I know that's a strange thing to get your mom on mother's day, but it was what she wanted. I put a big bow on it and put it in front of our camp's number marker. She loved it. I also got my mom and my sis each a gerber daisy. My niece loves to pick them! This way they each have one at their houses. Dad got a gallon of his (and mine) favorite bbq sauce, Showme Liquid Smoke. Mmmmm! I also got him Buckingham's for dinner. So we had pulled pork sandwiches, beef briscuit sandwiches, chips and dip, or potato salad. And Jillian had a hot dog. They were thrilled.

After our dinner we went to Buzzard's Roost lookout point. It's a gorgeous site. Jillian had a ball throwing rocks in the water. Ah, to be a kid again. After we returned to camp, Kyle started a camp fire. Jillian was getting tired, so they left. Mom and Dad stayed until about 10:30, which was later than expected. They really didn't want to leave!

Now they're talking about buying a camper. :) Here are some pics from the weekend...

The girls


Dip head


Happy Birthday Pappaw!


Mark Twain Lake at Buzzard's Roost


Happy Campers

Garden!

I put in the garden today. There are supersonic tomatoes, fooled you peppers (mild jalapenos), burpless cucumbers, romaine lettuce, basil, rosemary, thyme, and cilantro. I got some begonias for the front yard, and some various flowers. The boys helped me put in the banana tree. It feels good playing in the dirt!

Tomato


Garden Boxes


Romaine Lettuce


Scarlet Begonia (Ok, ok, I'm not that cool. It's orange.)


Banana Tree


The banana tree is just a stick right now, but I'll post a picture in a month and it will be going nuts. I promise. I think I'm going to put a couple of wildflower seeds here and there as well. We will see!