My kitchen looks like a slasher movie.

Today, I went with the fam and some friends to pick strawberries. This was my first time doing this (as a grown up, when the "you can only take home what you can carry" rule doesn't really help limit things much.) We had such a good time. Chatting, picking, watching the kids get completely covered in strawberry juice -- they were the stickiest, cutest vampires I have ever seen. Well...18.5 lbs of berries later, I am up to my eyeballs in macerated strawberry guts. Strawberry cream cheese, strawberry vinaigrette, strawberry puree, 2 kinds of strawberry jam, and I still have about 12 quarts left. I am freezing the rest. I think I'll make the world's biggest margarita. The thing is, I thought this all out. I said to myself this morning, self, since you are going to be in the kitchen anyway, you might as well pick up some battered and bruised tomatoes for sauce. 2 bankers boxes full. 16 quarts of tomatoes. I am thinking about painting the kitchen walls with the leftovers. That might be kind of fun. After I finish of that world's biggest margarita, right?
It really is fun, though. And I only get to (have to) do this for a few months to have summer and spring all year long in my freezer. Speaking of that, due to the Red Debacle of 2009, my husband is out at the hardware store pricing freezers. I guess the Get-a-ton-of-produce-they-are-so-cheap argument is a flawed one.
Hey, I did my first load of laundry on the line this week. It was great! I thought that I was out of luck this week, as we were supposed to have big rain everyday. Well, Wednesday afternoon the sun broke through. I grabbed the little one and my freshly washed cleaning rags and towels (they are so cute -- most of them I knit to get over the precious knits syndrome) and hung them (the knits not the kiddo) on my retractable line. I have to say, I was really proud of myself. We ran through the towels and smacked our hands in the middle of them just like I remember doing at my Gramma's house when I was a kid. It was fun, and because there was a little breeze, nothing turned out too crusty. All in all, a good start to the Clothesline Challenge. I'm sitting at 20% dried on the line. Cool. I should have taken a picture. Next time I will. Just have to charge my battery. And really, you don't want to see the kitchen right now. Trust me.

Clothes lines and rainy days

I just took the Clothesline Challenge that I found here. I am starting out at the novice level. Sounds like a good push for me. 10% of my laundry on the line is doable, I think. Towels, and Sheets to start. I've got a little tally sheet tacked up next to the washer so that I can be sure to keep myself honest. The rainy days part came after I committed to the challenge. It's supposed to rain for the next 6 days. Ack!
A side note...I now have pea plants taller than my 4 (!!) year-old little one. She gets so excited going out to check on our garden. Every time we go out there and the plants are a bit more lush and flowery, she is sure that a garden fairy has been there. I asked her one time what kind of fairy she would be. "An everything fairy, Mama." Nothing stops this kiddo. I love her spunk! Hmmm....it's 9:30 and I think I am going to knock off for the day. Time to knit some scrubbies and get some sleep. My brother and fam are heading back across the bridge tomorrow. The weekends (even the long ones) just go by too fast. Gramma heads out on Tuesday, but as promised to come back during the summer to play with us. I wish there was a way to slow down the time when they are all here and really enjoy each minute. It all really just whooshes by. My Gramma and I did get a great chance to hang out together in the kitchen on Saturday. We made dinner for the troops -- 7 grown ups and 4 kids. It's funny, but we are so in sync (but not in a boy band way) in the way we cook, it wouldn't have mattered if we were cooking for 2 or 20. We just stirred each other's pots and added stuff here and there and it all was great. We giggled our way through it all. Maybe it was the wine, but it was a very silly time! My Gramma is fun. No doubt about it.