charlotte's web

I think spider webs are cool. They are impressive little architectural wonders.

I wonder how long it took Charlotte to make this one.

They look especially neat when they have a little bit of morning dew on them (or when they are misted by a Mickey Mouse spray bottle) to magnify their works of art.

Although I can appreciate their home building skills, I don't like spiders.

Charlotte here? She gives me the creepy shivers....and is very lucky she's outside. If I found her in my house, she would be given a grizzly death. The end.

feeling so sad and blue

Because of the power of the internet, I have been able to reconnect with some of my long lost high school pals (thank you Facebook). Many, if not most, I haven't seen or talked to since high school some 20-something years ago. One of my friends, Sarah, has a blog that I read to see what she's been up to...nothing unusual there, as I have this little ole blog for friends to do the same thing. Anyway, Sarah and her husband Matt have a little boy named Ben who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma at age 2-1/2...and just 6 weeks before she gave before she gave birth to her 2nd child, daughter Madeline. Neuroblastoma is a very aggressive form of childhood cancer. Ben fought this cancer for a little more than 1-1/2 years with every drug, chemo cocktail, radiation treatment available before being declared "NED" - No Evidence of Disease.

Fast forward to July 8th and it's been 4 years that Ben has been "NED". However, during his 6-month routine scan they found a mass in Ben’s chest behind his heart and he needed a biopsy, which the doctor did the next evening. Three agonizing days later, the pathology results confirmed a recurrence of this awful disease.

I made a donation to the "Ben Brewer Fight Neuroblastoma Fund" page, which sends the funds directly to their family. The website includes photos, their story, and information about Neuroblastoma. I hope that many will donate... you can use PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, AmEx & Discover. Please open your hearts to this wonderful family! You can read more about Ben and his family (Sarah, Matt, and Madeline) here and here. Happy, hopeful thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated too.

fiesta black bean salad

Last month, my mom hosted a cookout to gather all of our family together to visit with Keni, Josh, and Gabby when they came in from Seattle. I wanted to make a unique, light and flavorful side dish and thought of this yummy treat I had last summer. Turns out, two of our aunts were thinking the same thing and we ended up with THREE side dishes containing beans. Great minds and all. :)

This recipe makes a TON and even though I halved it for our family cookout, it still made a lot.


FIESTA BLACK BEAN SALAD

INGREDIENTS:

4 - 15 oz cans of black beans
30 oz edamame
2 - 16 oz bages frozen corn
1 each red and green peppers
½ white onion
6 large fresh tomatoes
2 TBSP olive oil
garlic salt
cayenne pepper
½ bunch fresh cilantro



DIRECTIONS:
Chop red and green peppers, onion and cilantro. Combine all ingredients and flavor with garlic salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Refrigerate 2 or more hours for best flavor (overnight is even better).


Serve as a salad or as a homemade salsa (like we did) with tortillas chips and Fritos (mmmm). Good stuff…and good FOR you! :)



Recipe from the awesome ladies at St. John’s GRACE event.