Raspberry Jam in a Jif...

 

I've always wanted to be the gal who had a pantry full of canned fruits and veggies, picked fresh from my victory garden.  The breeze would feel so nice on my wrap around porch as I sipped tea and watched the kids play among the drying laundry on the clothesline.  

Cue the scratched record....rrrrrrrriiiiippppp!  

That utopian country farm is pure delusion, as I live in the city, with about 800 square feet of damaged yard, thanks to a foundation contractor who shall remain nameless. Someday I will regain my front and back yards, and until then I nurse my longing for a garden with some containers of herbs on the back deck.  

My parents do have the victory garden, with green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions...you name it.  But the most glorious of their crops is the 30 feet or so of red raspberry bushes.  Each year the bounty comes in two frenetic weeks of ripeness that must be picked before those plump, sweet orbs go bad.  My parents pick buckets full each day and when I am fortunate enough to visit and score some I try to use them asap.  

The problem is that it is a challenge to eat or use so many berries fast enough, so this year I attempted to make jam.  

Note, all those recipes that say you don't need pectin to make jam are either trying to make you nuts or there is some trick I have not learned.  My first attempt to make jam without pectin resulted in a soupy mess.  So in the order of making lemonade out of lemons, I strained out the seeds and now have a lovely raspberry sauce for some dessert yet to be named.  Makes tasty pancake syrup, too!  

Tonight I bought the pectin, followed the directions (novel idea...) and Voila!  

I have made one lovely pint of jam.  I have the bug, now maybe pickles or strawberry jam, or green beans.....

 

Mom, I'm comin' over!!!

Chocolate SWAT Truck

Tommy turned 42 yesterday and it was a subdued celebration.  Heat Armor is in hell-bent-for-election mode and he has no time to sit back and contemplate his advancing age.  Furthermore, we are still poor as church mice and can't afford extravagant gifts, trips, lobster, etc.  

 I did splurge on steaks from Whole Foods, made fresh tomato mozzarella salad, green beans with a mustard vinagrette and corn on the cob. 

Now I love decorating cakes, but it's a challenge to make cakes when they have to be dairy free.  Since we are dairy-less for the sake of our son's health, I had to get creative. 

Well, sort of. 

The idea came to me about midafternoon, when I had little time and resources to get an idea.  The scheme was to make a cake look like a swat truck. 

 Easy enough. 

I found dairy free cake and frosting mixes at Whole Foods and whipped them up.  The sheet cake baked just fine, however, the frosting had the consistency of a lava lamp. 

Kate helped me color it the lovely army green.  Really, it looks like baby poop, but I digress.  

The lack of resources part came into play as I had nothing to create details of the truck.  Where is the black licorice or white & red MM's when you need them?!  I didn't even have the tube of frosting to write "Happy Birthday Tom".  Talk about half an effort! 

Oh well, he liked it anyway and it did taste pretty good. 

Tom liked his camp shirt from Uncle Dan's shop and I think his favorite gifts were the two bottles of gin from North Shore distillery.  

 Not the most memorable birthday, but at least he has a summer birthday vs January 2nd

(mine...worst date...ever.) 

Next birthday on the calendar is my son's 8th.....Will it be mini golf or waterslides? 

No swat truck cakes or gin, for sure......

Gettin' Sparkly.....

So, we survived another 4th of July, all digits intact...

Yesterday Tom and his friend, Matt, broke out the sparklers, bottle rockets, fountains and other noisy, smelly and hazardous fireworks.  My son and Matt's son were keenly interested in the pyrotechnics and luckily the guys kepts the boys at a safe distance. 

All that stuff is fun until ya shoot yer eye out, kid!

The holiday weekend was kid a palooza, starting out with a sleepover for Jack, followed by pool time, local carnival, playing catch, playing in the sprinkler and capped off with a rooftop view of fireworks for 360 degrees over the Chicago horizon. 

Not half bad.... 

This is the good stuff, when the kids are so tired they fall sound asleep in the car ride home and sleep until 8am the next day.... 

Happy Independence Day, Everyone!

Junior League

Sheesh!  It's June 28th already! 

Summer accelerates once it's out of the gate, I swear... 

People moan that summer is half over on the 4th of July, but in all actuality, Summer begins on the solstice, June 21rst. 

So....summer just started!  Yippee!! 

We are deep into Junior League baseball...  

You thought the title meant Ladies Junior League, didn't you? 

When I hear that it reminds me of the days when my mom was a Junior Leaguer, in the Quad Cities, in the 70's.  Her mode of volunteerism was filling the candy striper's cart at the hospital.  I used to go with her to score an Almond Joy. 

The only catch was that the cart was stored in the hospital basement.  We had to walk past the morgue to get there...

I would always shut my eyes and run past the morgue doors. I

 remember it being cold and it smelled strange, like formaldehyde or something.  Ewww! 

But I digress.....

 A plethora of summer storms have cause a log jam of makeup games.  We have 4games in a row this week.  That's a LOT of baseball! 

Jack earned the "game ball" yesterday for a triple and some great defensive plays.  He was longing for that recognition and it was timed well, given that he had a few "challenges" the first part of the game, what with a huge bug flying directly into his eye and all... 

Tonight is another game, that is if my son makes it back from a quick overnight run in the big rig with his pop to Ohio. 

Had to deliver a chassis and pick up some armor plate...

you know.....guy stuff..... 

I am sure the highlight was sleeping in the truckstop with his dad.....

To me that is one half step up from camping at the KOA.....  No thanks! 

Kate and I stayed behind...........

in our air conditioned digs back home....

painting our toes and eating sorbet......

Capitalism & Sorcery

As all kids eventually do, the lemonade stand was born yesterday on our block. 

This one was a little different, thanks to a Harry Potter obsessed neighbor girl. 

Instead of lemonade, the kids sold iced tea, tinted green with food coloring. 

 Hmmm...that explains the green trail of droplets staining our front porch.... 

and loads of hand painted "wands". 

You have to admire their unique items for sale, although I believe most of the beverages for sale made it into the seller's tummies....check out my son's greenish tongue! 

 Sales were slow, but the tree swing provided entertainment during the lulls in business. 

Oh, to be a kid in the summer!

Survive Alive...

School ends tomorrow in a one-hour anticlimatic rush. 

The whole summer stretches before my kids....will I survive? 

Yep, it will be full of camps, popcicles and sweaty foreheads. 

 I'll make do between working, brushing ants from camp bags and sneaking a chilled glass of wine or three...

 

Yep, I'll be fine....

Speaking of survival, Jack and I went to a cool little session run by the Chicago FireDepartment called "Survive Alive". (http://www.survivealivehouse.com/)  It's this short and sweet seminar geared toward teaching kids how to survive a house fire.  They have a mock up of a real house and they "smoke" it out.  Kids have to demonstrate how to get out of the house, cross the street to a meeting place and get help. 

It was fun and interesting.

So where is the fun and interesting MOM seminar that teaches how to survive summer around, say

August 3rd? 

 "I'm bored, Mom!" 

 "What are we going to do today, Mom?" 

 In the words of my sage mother,

 "I am NOT the entertainment committee!!" 

I need to stash away a few kits of Shrinky Dinks for the REAL emergencies........

Herding Cats....

Just like a housecat who has tasted his first night of summer freedom, my son is impossible to lure back into the house. 

I can't blame him....

the air is sweet,

the breeze is warm

and there are kids to play with. 

There is a newly installed tree swing across the street.  It is a kid magnet and it scares me because it is across the street (fast cars and kids don't mix) and there is not much room to swing between the wrought iron fence, metal mailbox and the parked cars. 

The kids love it, though. 

They don't know the joy of real tree swings that sail so high into the air or splash into a creek. 

These city kids race their scooters with their helmets on, they run up and down the sidewalks to play, not like the deep ravines and woods we explored when we were kids. 

Parents keep a close eye in the city, and kids can't run off to play like we did.  My mom had a cowbell she rang when it was ABSOLUTELY time to come in. 

I could hear it from blocks away. 

It's okay, though... 

Our kids don't miss what they don't know and all they know is that similar joy of twilight play,

when the lightning bugs come callin',

the bats streak across the evening sky

and the moms begin the gentle coaxing to bring their dirty, skinned knees, sun-tired kids in for a meal and a bath. 

It's a tug of war and sometimes the kids win.....just a few minutes more...

Sweat...

Blood, Sweat & Tears,

"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff",

"Don't Let 'Em See You Sweat",

"Sweating like a June Bride"

 ......they all come to mind after this week. 

Tom and the guys at our company, Heat Armor have been working crazy hours to complete our first SWAT truck for delivery today in Texas. 

The height of manic fire drill peaked when the whole crew worked from Wednesday until late last night with no breaks. I mean, no going home, no sleep, no changing the utes..... 

The guys resembled a bunch of weary miners,

all dusty

sweaty,

super smelly

and exhausted. 

I was amazed they could even crack smiles at that point.  One guy fell asleep with a grinder in his hands! 

After all that work, this beautiful creation, in all its SWAT testosterone glory,

would not start.  OMG!!!!!!

As I write the truck is on a flatbed, bound for Waco, TX, even though it is silent.  Tom is driving it down there via Blu. 

Blood, Sweat & Tears...

Today it is wicked humid and hot. 

Kate's class had a PreK farewell party in the school playground.  The kids ran around, rode bicycles and jumped under the  parachute. 

Kate looked pretty wilted, so we bolted that popcicle stand for the A/C at home.

My head aches from the heat and humidity. 

Rain clouds are stalking the neighborhood. 

Oh, please rain at 6 o'clock.....just in time for Jack's baseball practice! 

"Whew! Glad It Wasn't Me..."

Today was one of those moments where I have to be the parent who means business. 

Push me too far and I gotta level the punishment....

Jack is now in the sassy habit....little snorts, grunts, evil eyes when he doesn't get his way.  Even the occasional elbow nudge into my side if, perchance I say no to treats 30 seconds before dinner is served.

 Apparently previous punishments or threats haven't lifted his brows,

until that is,

this afternoon... 

I got one sass too many and down came the gauntlet. 

So came the decree;

no TV,

no playing outside..

grounded in his room for....gasp! 

The rest of the day. 

Oh the injustice, cruelty and abject humiliation in front of his sister.  You'd have thought I'd beaten his hide and instituted waterboarding..... 

Oh the crying, pleading, negotiation that took place...! 

I tell ya, my kid will be a great salesman or labor lawyer someday. 

But I held my ground... 

Jack dislikes me very much right now,

but maybe,

just maybe he will thank me 20 years hence for teaching him to be a nice boy...

...sigh...  

And the little one....

she's grateful to be on the right side of the law........this time......