Happy Birthday To Me!!

This year for my birthday was in Pennsylvania. I turned 35 this year. I don't feel 35...

I really wanted a Birthday party. So, my Mom made arrangements with Linda to have it a Turner's. They hired a karaoke D.J., and a ton of people showed up....I wish I had more pictures, but you know I always wish there was more pictures...LOL
This is me and some of my friends from the party. Back row right to left: Ashley (this is Harmony's friend she seems really nice), Harmony (my sister), Me (I have to say I love this picture of me), Becky (she is my cousin), Front row right to left: Casey (she is a friend of Harmony's I meet her last year, she is a nice girl), Amanda (she is a cousin from Ohio, she loves to take pictures), and Natica (I consider her a very good friend, I worked with her for a long time, she has such a cute family, and I was really excited to see her)

This is Me, George, and Harmony. George is our cousin. We love George, I can never seem to get enough of him when we are together. He is the same age as me. We were close when we were kids. He was really close to my brother Jimmy. George and I have had some pretty serious talks over the years, and that has created a bond. Once he told me 'I never had sisters, so I always thought of you and Harmony as sisters'...I'm so glad he said that...I've always thought of him as my other brother...one day I will write a great post about him, but this is suppose to be about me....LOL

Dad, Me, and Mom

Teresa, and Me...I'm so glad that she came...I hadn't seen her is awhile...I wish her sister Tina would have come as well, but she totally flaked on me...LOL
Me, and Toni...Toni has been my best friend since 5th grade. We lived together at one time, and she has been with me a long time....We have not hung out, or talked in a while, but as soon as we were together it felt like no time had past....

This is my Dad, Aunt Cindy, and Aunt Sandy.....Aunt Cindy, and Aunt Sandy are Dad's oldest sisters....They are singing 'I Got You Babe'....LOL

I'm so glad that they came....
My Mom, and Dad....I'm so glad they are friends now.

George, Sam, and some guy I didn't know...LOL

Sam thought she was like a rock star. She started tipping her mic more and more....

Me, and my Uncle Greg...This is Tim's Brother...LOL okay it's my Dad's youngest brother. They are all brothers. Uncle Greg had a really good time. I feel like I must tell you what happen after he got home...LOL

Has you can see he was feeling pretty good...LOL When he got home he ate out of the fridge. I mean right out of the fridge, left the fork and everything. He went into his family room, and flipped through the channels, and decided to go to bed. Crawled into bed, and burped right into Aunt Michelle's face. She hollers at him and tells him to go sleep somewhere else...So he goes to Greggie's old room. Rolls around, and gets nice and comfy...Then Aunt Michelle thinks oh my all Greggie's wedding stuff was in there. She goes in and there he is wrapped up in Judy's Wedding dress out like a light....LOL He just went in there and wrapped himself up in what he thought was blankets...LOL

Dad, and George

George, and Uncle Greg

George, and I singing 'Pictures'. We kind of look like Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow don't we?

Me, and Zeek...Wow! This was a blast from the past. I hadn't seen Zeek in more than 10 years. He was really good friends with my brother. I have to say I was alittle freaked out. I just kept looking at him, and hugged him several times.

Sam, and Chris

Karaoke D.J. Jimmy

It was a good time. There was alot more people there then I have pictures of. It was standing room only. Karaoke was a huge success...They totally should have it more often...or they could just wait until the next time I come into town...LOL

Tomato, Tomato, Tomato, Tomato

I wish I looked this good when I was canning my tomatoes. I will admit I felt pretty great doing all this work, and I may have reached this kind of excitement on the inside....LOL BUT I didn't look this good, and I don't think I could ever allow myself to be this messy...I mean I would be the one cleaning it all up....LOL

You know I went to the Farmer's market, and I bought a boat load of tomatoes. They had heirloom tomatoes, which I'd never seen one before. If you haven't you won't see one here either, because I forgot to take a picture of them. Anyway, I got a 20 lbs. box for $10.00. We ate a few, and gave a few away. Everyone said they were good. Last night I made tomato sauce with just this kind. I can't wait to try it in my food to see if I can tell the difference.

We also bought 100 lbs of other tomatoes. Yes folks I said 100 lbs. It came as four 25 lbs boxes. They were $14.00 a piece. I really only wanted 3 but Chris said we needed 4. He was right. Out of all of those I have 16 left, and they are beautiful. We made 30 quarts of sauce, 10 quarts of stewed tomato/okra, and 16 pints of salsa....YUMMY!

Tonight I am going to clean the box of cherry tomatoes we bought. The big box was $10.00. I think it is like 15-20 lbs. After I wash them all, I am going to lay them out to dry, then bag them, and freeze them. Then when I'm cooking my yummy sauce, or chili, or soup I can just pop however many I want into some hot water, slip the skins off and pop them in my dishes. That way I'll have fresh yummy sunshine cherry tomatoes in the dead, dark winter. Yeah baby, that's what I'm talking about.

I thought after I canned, and froze all my tomatoes I would start to feel like the title of this children's book:

But I don't. I have really loved this whole thing. Really. Chris and I have been having a wonderful time doing this together. That's right folks, he rolls his sleeves up and just get busy with me. I think he really likes it to. He says he has really enjoyed this time with me. That makes is all worth it to me.

I haven't got tired of doing tomatoes yet, and I feel like I need some more. I need more sauce, and I need to can some crushed.....Oh and I need some plain stewed with veggie...LOL

I will admit I think when I looked down at the lonely 16 left, I swear the one farthest to the left looked just like this:Maybe I do need a break!! LOL

Here is what I did with the left over tomato sauce from the batches I did. I took those wonderful looking green peppers I got, that were the size of coffee mugs, and made the most wonderful stuffed peppers....Yummy!!

Stuffed Peppers

5 large green peppers (or as many as will fit in your crock pot or roaster)

1 lb of hamburger

1 lb of pork sausage

1 vidalia onion

1 green pepper

1 1/2 cups to 2 cups bread crumbs

2 to 4 eggs

seasonings (salt, oregano, A1, or whatever your tastes are that day)

Tomato sauce (homade or from a can...LOL)

Cut the tops off your peppers, and clean them out, but leave them whole. Then chop up your onion, 1 green pepper. Mix that with your meat, bread crumbs, eggs, and seasoning. Stuff that mixture into your peppers. Fill them up, and just alittle over. Place stuffed peppers in crock pot or roaster. Make meatballs with the remaining mixture and place around the peppers. Pour tomato sauce over everything. I put these on High in my crock pot. I didn't time how long they took. When they were done we ate them. I would say maybe 2-3 hours on high. My guess for the oven would be 350 for that amount of time.

I served fresh corn on the cob with this. Growing up my mom used to use rice instead of bread crumbs. You could serve rice on the side with this. My mom used to serve mashed potatoes, and we used the sauce as gravy. The sauce with thicken, and it is some kind of good.

Farmer's Market (south of Atlanta)

Chris and I decided to go to the Farmer's Market south of Atlanta on Saturday. I had read on the Internet that they were open on Saturday from 6am-Noon....this was untrue...they are open 364 days a year...and they have alot to sell.
When we got there we went to talk to someone in the visitor center to find out what to do. She gave us a map, and instructions. She was really helpful. She showed us were to go to get local. Yes that's right they have all the Georgia Local Farmers together...I love buying local. Then she showed us where to go after. Like all the South Carolina, and Florida farmers were together...and so on.....

This is what it looks like. The produce is on platforms, and there is a lane on each side to park, and two lanes down the middle for driving.

Here is a really great example of the deal we got on all this stuff. See these giant boxes of green peppers? Well they look pretty good don't they? Here have a closer look....

We paid $14.00 for the whole box....I thought that was pretty good. We bought 2 boxes..

These are sebennaro peppers. They were $10.00 for a half bushel. We bought 1 box.

We bought alot of stuff like.....

50 lbs of carrots -18.00

25 lbs of tomatoes -14.00

50 lbs of vidallia onions - 40.00

25 lbs of peaches - 15.00

20 lbs of heirloom tomatoes - 10.00

20 lbs of cherry tomatoes - 10.00

50 lbs of peas - 16.00 (not shelled)

bushel of snap beans - 15.00

1/2 bushel okra - 10.00

50 ears of silver queen corn - 10.00

There really is to many things to write about. I loved going up there. I can't wait to go again. They have a nursery and we bought a yellow plum tree, and some rose bushes, and some azalea bushes. I will take pictures of that stuff and post another time. It took about 4 and a half hours to get there but it was totally worth it.

We stopped in Warner Robins and eat with Jeff and Lisa. I wish I would have taken just one picture with them or of them....I'm so lame.....

Michael Buble 'Crazy Love Tour 2010'

As most of you know I went to see Michael Bulbe with some friends (who are also family...yes I'm blessed)!! It was AWESOME!!
We went to the Olive Garden for dinner, then we were off to the show. We had great seats in the 17th row....

When we were next to the Veterans Memorial Center, we stopped and asked a man who had a press badge on what he was doing. He said a concert. We also found out that he was going to take pictures of Michael Buble. We would've followed him, but we hadn't yet parked...LOL

Then as we were going in he was there and took this picture of us with my camera....LOL


So then I had my picture taken with him. His name is Randy T. Lefko. He takes pictures for www.jacksonville.com
We couldn't go without getting our pictures by the large posters. Even though we had 'floor' seats we walked upstairs to get these photos...

This is us in our seats waiting for the show....

Gigi didn't go with Amanda and I the first time we saw Michael in concert. That's when we ended up with an empty seat beside us, and we took the shot showing Gigi that she should come along. Well this year our sister in law was invited...cough cough...Courtney, and she said no. Something about it was Ethan's birthday...okay I guess your kids are important...but you did already have his 'birthday party' a few days before....So this year you are getting called out with the

'This One's For You'

So there he is..the one...the only...Michael Buble...See ours seats were good....try not to be to sad for yourself...

So during the concert we saw all these people walking up to the front and taking pictures...well I had to go.....He was singing 'Georgia On My Mind'...which I have always felt was my song after I moved here in 2000. Anyway he was sitting right there at the end of the row...I was thinking..Please look at me...Please look at me...my heart was pounding...I was right in front of him...He looks right at me, and I at him....what does a girl do???? I stand there like a dork, and wave...LOL like he would wave back...Then I took a bunch of blurry pictures, and this really nice one....

yes I really took this picture myself...

Then the guy with the horn started to blow...

Then I was asked by security to leave...LOL

So then Amanda went up to take a picture of Michael...only she wanted to get one with herself and him together.....even though her eyes looks weird, I wish I would have thought of it instead of standing and waving like a dork...

She also took this picture.

Then he came down off the stage and started walking through the crowd to a small stage in the middle. There was no way we could get over to him. So, we stood on chairs and I took these pictures.

This was when he sang "All I Do Is Dream" with Naturally 7.

Then Naturally 7 leaves, and he tells us he is going to sing a song he wrote a few years ago. Then he starts singing 'Free Bird'....LOL Then he stops and says seriously....Then he starts to sing 'Every Rose Has A Thorn'....LOL....Then he says okay okay...and he starts singing 'Home'....When he was on the long hoooommmeee part the lights would come up, and here's a picture...I thought it turned out really good.

After the show we had to go up and meet Naturally 7 again. We had our pictures taken with our favorites....

This show was totally AWESOME!! If you ever get the chance to see him you should...Some of the funniest things Michael did was he sang 'Billie Jean' and danced like Michael Jackson....loved it. Also, he is just really really funny. He tells jokes, and stories, that had us rolling.....I love him even more now then I did before...yes it is possible...I'm telling you one day I will meet him...one day....

Michael Buble countdown....

We are going to see Michael in 4 days.....I just looked at the post I made about our tickets.
I am totally excited.....

Salsa

This past weekend I made my very first homemade salsa. The day I made it I was also doing peaches, and bread, and jam....it was a busy day. Amanda told me that Nanny wanted to know if I wanted to put up some tomatoes. I never did it before, but I really wanted to do it. So I went over to Nanny's and she told me I could have tomatoes from the second table. Chris and I got 2 walmart bags full. Yum! I was afraid to take anymore because sometimes when I don't know what I'm doing I just make a mess out of it, and then I have to throw it to the hog. Anyway, I was alittle overwhelmed by the project, but know that it is done I can't wait to do it again on a larger scale.
I used the recipe from my Blue Ball Canning Book. It's called Zesty Salsa. The day I made it I thought it would be really spicy, and it was just alittle mild. Then we ate it again a couple of nights later, and it wasn't really spicy at all. It was kid friendly I think. This recipe made 8 pints. I want to wait about a month to make more. Someone in the family said they made salsa and like a month later when they opened it the vinegar had taken over. I'm really afraid of that. Also Harmony had another recipe for salsa I want to try...LOL We will see....
Zesty Salsa
10 c. chopped, seeded, peeled, cored tomatoes (about 6 lbs) ( I didn't seed)
5 c. chopped & seeded long green peppers (about 2 lbs)
5 c. chopped onions (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 1/2 c. chopped & seeded hot peppers (about 1 lb)
1 1/4 c. cider vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. cilantro, minced
3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (opt)(I didn't use this)
3 jalapeno peppers
1 sebenero pepper
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pot, adding hot pepper sauce, if desired. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer 10 minutes. Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield: about 6 pints. (mine made 8 pints)
When cutting or seeding hot peppers, wear rubber gloves to prevent hands from being burned.

How much salsa can a family eat? I don't know but I'm going to keep track...LOL