Another Week of Summer...

Another week of the summer has flown by and we are now in the month of JULY!

It's going so fast - but having a great time!

How are you? Hope you are doing well!

This week has been much cooler weather in the big C-Town! (Beats 100+ days, huh) Thankful for that - and praying for the friends that we have on the Texas coastline - watching out for Hurricane Alex! (Of course, we have our own ALEX the hurricane... hee hee!)

Tuesday, we traveled to Abilene, TX (Aric was in Austin w/his BFF) and got to meet the whole Fitzgerald family from South Carolina! "Fitz" has been one of my closest friends for almost 30 years! THIRTY - argh! Met him in college, the fall of '82 and we've been friends ever since. Finally got to meet his beautiful wife Amy - he is SO LUCKY to have her! His kids were adorable - I've told his daughter that she could have either one of my sons to marry - take her pick... LOL! Fitz and I have "arranged" their marriage for awhile now (since birth...) - hee hee! I know, I know - you can't do that to your kids - but... She's a good, Christian girl and they might be hard to come by in 10-15 years! We'll see! Here's some pics from our play time at "Prime Time" in Abilene (highly recommend this place for kids!)

Here's a recipe swap for ya - I was looking through my old posts and I haven't posted a recipe

since May! Sorry! That was one of my promises - a recipe each week - please forgive me! So in honor of July 4th - here's my Texas Brisket recipe!

"Oven Baked" Texas Brisket

1 bottle Liquid Smoke

1 bottle "Claude's BBQ Marinade"

Brisket

(I usually cut the brisket in half and use just half of each bottle = yields about 15-18 serving per 1/2 brisket)

The beauty of cooking a brisket is "slow and low"! Place 1/2 of the brisket (fat side down) in a 9x13 cooking pan, pouring the liquid smoke and marinade (1/2 bottle each) on top - cover with foil. Cook on low heat (225 degrees) for 12-15 hours~ all night long! Take out and let meat rest for 10 minutes - then cut into slices (cross-grain). This is a very BASIC brisket - I've tried rubs and different kinds of sauces - but I like my brisket "plain and simple" - (LOL - my blog is called "plain and simple"...). My kids will add BBQ sauce maybe and eat! Whatever you like - just enjoy! I'm serving mine with cole slaw, watermelon and baked beans - YUM!

We are getting ready to cook a brisket tonight! We have the honor of Princess Grace coming with her family this weekend - YAHOO! She is such a delight to be around - and the boys can't wait! They have been counting the days down in "Grace Days" -

days until Grace is here! So, we've got just one more Grace day and then she's here! CAN'T WAIT! On Sunday, my brother with his girls will be traveling up to spend the 4th of July with us also! (Lee Ann has got to work Monday - so she's staying home ): "sad face") Love my nieces! Hope you have a great 4th of July weekend also! Can't wait for the fireworks - & fire crackers!

We survived yet another year of completing a 4H Record Book (ARGH! and I've got 2 to do...) If you've never done one (I know that Jayma can't even say "RB" without cringing!) It is very stressful, sometimes VERY irritating to complete. It's all done by computer - but technology can be deceiving also - you know what you want - but the printer won't work - or the forms print out all "weird" - That's what happened this time, our format just won't jive with our printer??? We still made the deadline at 5 PM yesterday (running in at 4:49 PM!) but the pages are still not right! I've got a "super sweet" friend coming to help me today to straighten it out - just so we'll have it for next year - "I'm on a mission - I will WIN against this machine"! Stubborn? YES! But I'm not going to let it beat me (hopefully)!

KV is still working hard in the backyard. He's torn out an old stone/concrete patio - which held an ANGEL - aka "Sheila" - he's fixed her up and cleaned her - we've just got to find the perfect spot for her in our backyard! And YES! he's STILL putting out his new plants - he bought only a million new plants! LOL! Does anyone need some rocks or large white stones? We've got 'em!

Well, that's another week in our SUMMER. Hope you are having a great one also! Gotta go clean house (thank GOD for housekeepers - it's going to take BOTH of us to clean before this weekend!), buy groceries and put out some 4th of July decorations!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Thanks for stopping by and HUG the ones you love the most!