I knew it was time to inspect the kids bedroom, under the pretense of ‘redecorating’ when a big sign appeared on the door “Parents Not Allowed”.  I made a half-hearted offer to voice their opinion on the decor, but Scott wanted black walls, black light posters and strobe lights and Frank wanted posters of trucks.  Another argument that would never get settled, so I decided to make the decision myself with brown and orange curtains and bedspreads.  The enthusiastic response was an indifferent shrug and a “mpph”.

So I put on a gas mask and entered the ‘inner sanctum’, literally shoveled out the model parts, dirty clothes and stiff pizza, in equal amounts, and that was just in the doorway.  I scrubbed the sticky red stuff off the wall that was either strawberry jelly or arterial blood; the spit balls on the ceiling which wouldn’t budge, (maybe they used super glue instead or spit.) Or maybe their spit WAS super glue?  I proceeded to ‘redecorate’.  A few weeks later while walking by I caught a glimpse of a black light , truck posters and a strobe light along with the “Parents Not Allowed” sign. Underlined.

Twelve years before, Special Agent Pendargast’s wife was attacked by a lion and killed while on a safari.  In the process of  looking at his wife’s possessions he makes a shocking discovery; her death was no accident.  Lt. Agosta assists him when they return to Africa and faces his wife’s secret past.  Not as “on the edge of our seat” as some of his books, but still hard to put down with intrigue on every page.

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• salt and pepper

Brown and drain then place in a 9 x 13 pan.

• 1 24 Oz. can or jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 can sliced mushrooms, drained

Pour remaining ingredients into the pan.  Sprinkle the mixture with a large bag of shredded Mozzarella and one cup of cheddar cheese, shredded.  Cover with one pkg. of unrolled crescent rolls. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.  Quick and easy for a summer meal.

JULY
Okra and Southern peas can go into your garden now. You,,shouldhaveprunedyourazaleasby now. Ifyou haven’t prune them during the

Ist week in July, no later. Mow y our lawns at a higher height than you normally do. 3 to 4 inches helps the lawn survive the heat.

AUGUST
Now is when you start your fall planting. Pole beans, broccoli, collards, okra and sweet com can be planted for autumn gathering.

Prune poinsettias up to Labor Day for full plants come December.

SEPTEMBER
Plant southern hybrid bulb onions for a Spring harvest. Do last pruning of shrubs, Apply your fall
application of fertilizer to landscape plants and to your lawn.

BEWARE THE STINGING NETTLE

Weeds or wildflowers members of the nettle family can pack a mean wallop. The downy hairs that cover the plants inject a severe irritant when bothered. Stinging nettles can grow quite tall and have green flowers. The Spurge Nettle can be seen growing in people’s yards. A short plant with attractive white blossoms that can cause pain, swelling and a rash if brushed against. Be on the safe side and learn what plants can hurt before you get stung.

Six-Hour Meals

It’s a fact that you should try to all sit down together for one meal a day, but with 6 kids in 6 activities after school, it turned into a long, long meal between 3 and 9.  In rural Ohio, the school system divided the sports venues among several small villages, which meant I would take one boy to wrestling in town A, one to basketball in town B, one to Karate in town C, then race back home to serve nuked plates of food in between trips.

That great spaghetti at 3:00 was okay at 5, edible at 7 and glue by 9.  Sunday meals were somewhat more civilized: there was no food flipping, fork stabbing, burping contests or laughing with cottage cheese in their mouths.  And they never said “Yuck I don’t like that” or they would get another helping.  That misfired once: Adam meant he couldn’t keep peas down …. as we all discovered.  If they didn’t like something, they would gingerly pull the food off their fork with their teeth.. no way would they let their lips touch something yuck.  The dog hovered furtively under the table to catch all those vegetables.  How did they ever get her to eat sauerkraut?

Tuesday: Baked pork chops in gravy, mashed potatoes, vegetable medley, peach cobbler.

Wednesday: Fried fish, fried rice, macaroni salad, bread sticks, cupcakes.

Thursday: Pizzaghetti (spaghetti in casserole topped with pepperoni and mozzarella) garlic bread, tossed salad, fruit cup.

Friday: Chicken pot pie w/vegetables, biscuits, caesar salad, pineapple upside down cake.

Saturday: Roast beef, noodles cooked in beef broth, broccoli, strawberry shortcake.

Sunday:  Shrimp, fries and slaw at Gator Joes in Ocklawaha.

Friday:

• 1 lb. deli sliced turkey
• 1 box of stuffing mix (cook according to directions)
• 2 cans chicken broth
• cornstarch to thicken the broth for gravy

Roll a slice of turkey with a tablespoon of stuffing.
Place it in a glass baking dish. Pour some gravy over the rolls, bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes. Pour more of the gravy and serve. For a larger family use 2Ibs. of turkey, 2 boxes stuffing and 3 cans broth.

This is a thriller, can’t-put-down story of a breathless deadly race through the hidden chambers and tunnels in Washington DC. A tapestry of veiled history, codes and surprises The Lost Symbol is a re-examination of 2000 years of religious beliefs.  A follow-up to the Da Vinci Code this one will be impossible to forget.

Sickie

Sick time with kids is scary and sometimes funny.  Adam, broken out in a rash to match his red hair, looked and felt very bad. I looked and felt very bad too when I discovered the medicine I was feeding him to cure the allergy was actually causing the allergy!  The couch was where sick kids were placed, since it was difficult to climb into the top bunk with a bowl of chicken soup. If they were in the barf stage I fixed them a nice comfy bed in the bathtub.  One day a feverish Frank was mumbling “I hear hot dogs walking across the floor”  I just agreed and told him I’d keep them quiet.

The boys were seldom sick but when they were it was always the night I was supposed to be the speaker at a banquet or the night before we were to leave for vacation.  Once Merle explode in red dots just hours before company was expected for dinner.  I put up a sign on the door “Quarantine for distemper” but they came in anyway.  When Scott started to recover from a flu event he tried to milk it for all it’s worth. “Mom, bring me some water”, “Can’t you get up and get it yourself?” “I’m a little dizzy” he says. “You should be, when I was in there a few minutes ago you were climbing back up the tree by your window.” B-U-S-T-E-D