Oven-roasted tomatoes

Oven-roasted tomatoes

Since I posted about squirrels eating all my tomatoes, we haven’t had any more squirrel problems. I can’t believe I wasted so much worrying about how to get rid of squirrels when all I had to do was threaten them on the Internet. Now, at the end of the season, we’re finally harvesting tomatoes. Our

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My worst nightmare, battered and fried

Did you ever see the show Fear Factor? It was a reality show where bikini-clad women and shirtless men would “face their fears” by competing in icky and scary challenges for $50,000. Most of the challenges involved  eating, and some sort of swimming/underwater challenge. My brother and I really wanted to apply — most of

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An uncle and his cousin

An uncle and his cousin

One of the highlights of our vacation was watching David and Caleb play together. David is just now old enough that he notices Caleb and wants to hang with him. And Caleb is an amazing cousin; he is patient and gentle with David. Caleb is great at sharing, and since David doesn’t share yet, “sharing”

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It’s only football

It’s only football

I’ve only just begun recapping our vacation, but I have to take a quick break because we were on the road again last weekend. This blog generally runs a week or two behind real life, except when real life intersects with current events, like Virginia Tech football. We went to Pittsburgh for the Virginia Tech

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Hill work

Tom and I spent all last week with his family at their home on Smith Mountain Lake. As the name suggests, Smith Mountain Lake is in the mountains. Just the name alone speaks of beauty: A lake! Mountains! And it is beautiful, really, really beautiful. It’s rolling hills and sparkling water and sunsets. You should

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360 months

You might have noticed that, for the past two weeks, my posts have been a little mature than before. It’s because I’m a year older. But it wasn’t just a year, I turned 30. Thirty. Dun, dun, dun, right? Starting with my nephew Caleb’s birthday last year, I’ve done a birthday post for my immediate family

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Peppers

Peppers

I thought my pepper plants were done for the year, then I sprayed some epsom salt on the leaves and turns out they had some oomph left before the end of the season. My mom and dad have made this dish as long as I can remember. We call it “peppers,” with no other adjectives,

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1-0

1-0

Tom and I watched the Virginia Tech season opener with his family at Smith Mountain Lake. It was Berkley Grace’s first Hokie game. I remember David’s first game well. This is a photo of Steve and me making pizza dough together before the game. I’m posting it because Steve was the only one not wearing

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Five years and counting

Four year ago, for our four-month anniversary, Tom gave me an orange gerbera daisy. A week later, my mom gave me a pink gerbera daisy for my birthday. I re-potted both plants and have had them ever since. In the winter I bring them inside and sort of forget about them. All winter they sit

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