Redemption-

Well, I remade the jam on Friday. It turned out delicious! We've been having lots of toast and jam for the past few days. I didn't ever make the homemade bread that I was going to- maybe this week. After I dumped the salty jam, I figured I should have saved a couple jars for April Fools next year or for a church object lesson. Oh well!

It's the final countdown! We have less than 3 weeks until birth day! We are all getting really excited and I've finally started getting ready. My nesting instinct didn't kick in until this past week. I've got blankets washed and a couple of my neighbors have given me some little boy hand-me-downs so I've sorted and gotten those ready to go. I also bought the little newborn diapers and this week I'm going to make some baby wipes. I used to make them when Kali was a baby but haven't made them for several years. I'll post the instructions & recipe once I get it done. I love how well they work, how cheap they are and this time I am doing it with natural ingredients. (better for little baby's bum bum)

Last Sunday, my sister & bro-in-law, Camile & Aaron, blessed their baby, Aubree. She made the most yummy teriyaki chicken salad sandwiches for the luncheon after. Yesterday, I made it for us. (Jimmy and I both loved it so much when she made it) Here's where you can find the recipe. http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/08/teriyaki-chicken-salad-sandwiches.html We went to a cooking class last summer at Macey's where these two girls from the website did a mango cooking class. It was fun- especially since I was there with two of my sisters and sister-in-law.

You've got to be kidding me!!

Today I went to Walmart and got a big crate of strawberries to make jam with. I haven't made it for a few years and Jimmy especially LOVES it. I got 4 boxes of the pectin so I just got finished making a huge batch! After doing the last step of stirring it for 3 minutes, I went to lick the spoon. I was expecting a sweet treat and instead I got a salty jolt! I added salt instead of sugar!! Maybe I could make some kind of strawberry vinegar dressing with it. Only problem it would probably make about 100 gallons with how salty this is. I was going to make some fresh whole wheat bread to spread the jam on. I've been craving it all day! But now I'll just clean up my mess and move on. Maybe I'll go to the store and get more pectin and try again tomorrow but for now I'm just going to sulk for a minute. If anyone has any ideas of what I can do with these salty strawberries, let me know!!

Kali's Kreative Korner

Today Kali and I started a blog for her. She is always doing cute little projects and taking pictures of things she does. I thought it would be a great way for her to keep track of the things she's done (they end up in the garbage usually) and I'm hoping she'll also do some journaling in it also. I'm thinking I'll make a book out of it yearly or something on her birthday or Christmas. Does anyone know a good place to get your blog bound in a book? I will probably make it private here soon so if you'd like to be invited to read it leave a comment on her blog and I'll invite you. She'd love some comments- she is really excited about it.

www.kalister21.blogspot.com

Bahama Mama

After being gone for 5 days, I find myself doing a lot of catch up. I would like to spend some time recording all the happenings while we were in the Bahamas but since I know my time is limited, I'll just give a quick run down and check it off my to do list.

Last year, Jimmy had a great year with Office Depot and so he made it to the Champions Circle where they arrange a reward trip for all those who made it. This year the trip was to the Bahamas at the Atlantis Resort. Even though I am very pregnant (34 weeks) my Dr. gave me the OK to go. Yeah!

The resort was amazing! The water was beautiful. The weather was excellent! The rest and relaxation was needed and the company was great. The resort was huge so we did a lot of walking! I didn't take the best shoes for that- no heels but the flip flops just weren't very good for all the walking. There was a fun lazy river that wasn't very lazy. It had rapids throughout. But not too crazy that I couldn't enjoy it. Jimmy had fun on the slides- some of his friends from work were there so they ran around hitting the slides. We also went snorkeling one day and Jimmy went deep sea fishing with some of the guys. I sighed a breath of relief when our airplane touched down back in the US. I saw what the hospital/clinic looked like on the Bahamas Island we were at and I was so glad we didn't need to go there.

As great as it to get away, it is always so nice to come back home to our sweet kids. It's wonderful to get a break from all the parental duties and makes me more excited to be around them. I'm so glad I got to have this experience with Jimmy and so glad he has a job right now!