Salsa, Sexy Gloves, and Scarecrows

On my most recent trip to the promised land...er, Farmer's Market I bought these ugly tomatoes. The precious woman at the stand offered Stacy and me a fantastic deal on them because she heard us talking about making salsa. As long as we were going to be dicing the tomatoes to bits anyway, why not take these? So we split a 10 pound bag of the ugliest tomatoes you've ever seen. She threw in some of the peppers for a dollar and we were set.

My Impromptu Salsa Recipe

5 pounds of tomatoes, cut in half and broiled until the skin peels off easily, peel skin and dice
2 jalapenos, seeded, deveined and diced
3 green serrano peppers, seeded, deveined, and diced
1 lime juiced
1 medium red onion diced
1 teaspoon cumin
Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in blender and pulse until you reach the desired consistency.

***Please please please make sure you wear latex gloves while working with the peppers. I reached into my box of gloves and realized it was empty. My salsa craving was intense. I considered using another latex product that we just so happen to have in our house, but was sure that if I donned 10 individually-wrapped "finger gloves" one of two things would happen: 1 - a fire would break out and I'd be forced to evacuate the apartment, and once the neighbors observed Ava being hauled to safety by my strangely costumed hands (this is assuming I could even successfully pick her up, since the ungloves tend to be slightly, um...slippery) they'd call DHS and she'd be taken away from us OR 2 - Ava would observe the "finger gloves" and decide to decorate herself with them at the WORST possible moment (like when we invite the Sunday school teachers or grandparents over for dinner). So I decided to go ahead and cut sans gloves. BIG MISTAKE. Despite prompt and fervent washing, soaking in milk, lemon juice, tomato paste, and alcohol, and rubbing with Benadryl cream they still burned until this morning. Thankfully I'm finally out of pain, although I'm a little nervous about putting in my contacts later, yikes.***

Here is the labor of love and pain salsa. Totally worth it!

Before last school year began the fourth grade lost our storage closet. There were so many things that were destined for the dumpster. I rescued as many treasures as my sweet hubby would allow (and a few he didn't know about until we moved, mwuahahahaha). This fella' was one of my storage closet orphans. Ava has been OBSESSED with scarecrows since she saw one in Rabbit's garden. She was delighted with her fall room decorations. I can't find his legs, so I posed him "sitting" behind the pumpkins.

Smiley girl!

This is totally random, but I love bathing Ava on Saturday nights. The bathrooms in our apartment block all back up and sit atop one another, making it a safe place to hide during a tornado. It's the one place where we can occasionally hear our neighbors, strange acoustics because of the tile. Anyway, on Saturday nights around 8:00 we all bathe our babies for church. It's so heartwarming to scrub my little girl while listening to giggles, singing and splashes all around us. I think the neighbors behind us must put their girls in together (remember those days Sarah Beara?). I love the community we live in, and would not trade it for anything.