Cornell's Bush Delicata squash

So I got a bush winter squash from some free plants that were donated to our community gardens. It's growing great and has some interesting white fruits growing on it. I'll post a pic soon. I couldn't remember what the variety was so I of course did an online search. Here's what I came up with! Very interesting! My husband's brother is going to school at Cornell, so I think he'll appreciate the link. I'm excited to see how the squash turn out. That is assuming the gophers don't discover them first!

Doing the Native American keep-gophers-from-my-garden dance,
Alberta

Orange County Fair

Surprised? I was too when I discovered that OC has a county fair! With livestock and everything! Why do I bring this up? Well, just today I dropped off my entries for the fair. Crocheted, of course.

I entered a new category this year called "Help a Child Smile". You enter an item a child might like or need, such as a blanket or a stuffed animal, hand crafted of course. The items are judged and at the conclusion of the fair, they are donated to a local children's hospital. I thought it was such a great idea! I've actually been wanting to do something like that for a while, but couldn't find the right venue. This is perfect! So I crocheted a pink hooded baby blanket to donate. It's cute! And fun to make in bright pink, which I don't often get to do as I have two boys and no girls. I'd post a picture, but my camera is missing (!) and the item is already gone. Maybe when it's on display at the fair (assuming I find my camera!) I'll take a pic and post it.

The other item I entered was the blue ponchette posted here many months ago. It's still new since I haven't gotten up the nerve to wear it (or wash it!). Maybe I'm just weird, but I hate to wash and wear things that I've crocheted myself. That's why I like to give things away as gifts. I don't mind if other people wear them; that's what they were made for! I just don't like to wear them myself. I just like to make them. Is that weird?

Well, enough rambling for today.
Alberta

Hello again to all my friends.

Hi! Are you surprised to see me? I'm not dead, just busy. I've been called as the primary 1st counselor our our church and I've been on vacation. I'm back, but still busy!

I just had to share this with you. I found this Best Ever Banana Bread recipe. Sure, you say, every recipe says it's the best. But this one actually lives up to it's moniker and you will see why once you read it. Plus, it not only makes great banana bread but it is easily modified to make any quick bread you can imagine. I've made pumpkin chocolate chip bread and just today I made zucchini blackberry bread (with my own garden produce, I might add!). Just substitute any soft fruit or veggie for the bananas in the recipe; about 4 cups for the 4 loaf recipe. I like to make the recipe for 2 loaves and bake it in a bundt pan.

Yummy!

Alberta

Singing Time,

I know I just posted, but this was too cute/funny to pass up.

We have lately taken to watching "Signing Time" on PBS Sunday mornings, and renting their DVD's from the Library. Why? Too involved to tell now. Anyway, my boys are singing one of the songs from an episode we recently watched. It's quite a catchy tune. My older ds is singing "I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm proud to be me" and my younger ds is singing the next line "I'm a girl, I'm a girl, I'm proud to be me". Sorry, it's not as cute in print. I guess you'll just have to imagine you can hear the cute 3yo voice of my ds singing that he's proud to be a girl to really appreciate it. And he's actually singing in tune! He's just picked that up recently, he used to sing in a monotone.

Now it's Laughing Time,
Alberta

April Fool's!

No, this isn't a late April Fool's Day post, though I did think about doing a fake post on April 1st announcing I was pregnant. But that would have been too mean. So this is what we did instead:

In the morning, we had breakfast and 'someone' had switched all the bags around in the cereal boxes. So my younger ds asked for 'squares' and he got Cheerios instead! My older ds asked for 'guys' and got some of mommy and daddie's high fiber cereal. Both boys thought it was the funniest thing, and kept asking us to put cereal in their bowls so they could see what would come out. We also put food coloring in their glasses so when we poured the OJ in, it turned blue. It's one of their favorite tricks.

But it didn't stop there. For Lunch we had cake, green punch, and mixed veggies. But not so! We had meatloaf cake, jello punch, and candy veggies! My older ds, who is no slouch, came in after we called them to lunch and said "Why are there tomatoes on the cake?" Oh well, you can't fool them all the time. We got their reactions on tape, though I think they were a little confused by it all! They liked the 'cake' okay, but I think next year I'll do cupcakes instead. The boys and I don't like meatloaf enough to eat a whole cake of it. The Jello was too much for them; It was a green apple flavor and not very good. But I think the gag is good for a repeat, with a different flavor. The candy veggies where the big hit, of course. Too much work and sugar for me. Bleh.

My dh went the the priesthood session that night, so lunch was the last of the tricks; he didn't want to miss any. We thought about putting 'dummies' in our bed but then thought maybe that would be too traumatic. Maybe in a few years.

LOL!
Alberta

On callings...

It is so fun to hear about others experiences with callings. I'm a little surprised to hear of other people who have refused to be released. I'd imagined it didn't happen that often, because we frequently hear how we shouldn't refuse callings because they are inspired from God. You'd figure it works the other way too, that if it's time for you to be released, that is inspired too. (That idea really helped me a lot when the time came to leave my mission.) But I guess some people don't make that connection. Or maybe it's just that they've gotten so comfortable where they are, they don't want to change. I can kind of relate. I'm really comfortable with my current calling and when I thought they were going to give me a new one, I was quite nervous. Never enough to refuse a release though. I also wonder if someone might refuse a release because they feel they can do their calling better than anyone else in the ward....

On another vein, one of my most favorite callings was Family History Coordinator. Fun, and not a music calling (my only one, if you don't count my mission)! And the spirit of Elijah is awesome! As far as music callings go, believe it or not, I actually enjoy being choir director! I've been choir director 3 times, twice in a singles ward, and once in the married student ward. That choir was AWESOME! Of course my next calling will be one I dread, like Primary President or nursery leader.

Well, enough musing for today.
Alberta

False Start...

On the offense... 5 yard penalty... Repeat 2nd down.

So, funny story. I went to my appointment yesterday and the bishop come out, shook my hand and said "The situation has changed, and we no longer need to interview you." So, no calling! lol I've never had that happen before. Anyone else have? The nearest I can guess is that they were going to call me to be ward organist. I heard a rumor to the effect that they tried to release one of the current organists and they refused. But I'll never know for sure! Weird.

Thanks to everyone who posted a guess! As far as I know, Kim was the closest! I'll send you some seeds! How about okra? ;)

I'm actually kind of relieved. Any calling they could give me would be more work than RS accompanist (except maybe Primary pianist). So I guess I can settle back into my lazy ways now.

Once in a music calling, always in a music calling.
Alberta