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Win $100 American Express gift card!

All you have to do is guess how many ripe cherry tomatoes I will have picked from this plant by Friday morning. At 10 am on Friday, I will go out and pick all the ripe tomatoes I see and add it to my running total. Whoever comes the closest to the total, whether over or under, will win as $100 American Express gift card!  Sounds like fun! 🙂

Here’s all I can tell you:
~~It’s one humungous plant that showed up on its own and I started picking ripe tomatoes on July 6th.

~~They are large (and delicious) cherry tomatoes.

~~The plant is around 25 feet long, 6 feet tall, and around 15 feet wide.

~~I’ve been picking tomatoes every day.

~~One guess per person.

~~Here’s a close-up view…

~~Someone is picking & counting tomatoes while I’m in Vegas, too.

~~We won’t be counting the ones eaten by the mangy, rat-faced, no-good, low-life, beady-eyed, scum-sucking squirrel.

Good luck!!

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Headed for Vegas!

Denis and I are off to Las Vegas for a few days. So what if it’s 107 degrees? Okay… it was my idea. I’m not concerned about the weather (just crank up the a/c!), but what about my tomatoes? And my hummingbirds? Who’s going to pick tomatoes and feed the mass of hummingbirds around here? No worries. We’ve arranged alternating shifts of people to come by every day to pick & count tomatoes (to make sure that  mangy, rat-faced, no-good, low-life, beady-eyed, scum-sucking, tomato-eating squirrel doesn’t get them) and fill the bird feeders. I should be worried about my gambling luck in Vegas but noooo, I’m more concerned about the birds running out of food! Oh well, I’ll have peace of mind to focus on the $20 I plan to gamble away. That’s all I’m willing to lose!

The car is gassed up and it’s only a 4 1/2 hour drive but I like to be prepared. So I’m taking hard boiled eggs, cut up carrots & peppers, salmon sandwiches, homemade oatmeal cookies, apples, bananas, water, kleenex, paper towels, handiwipes & bandaids. That’s just for the ride.  Once we get there, it’s party time! I’m staying up ’til midnight!

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So far… 785 tomatoes!

My sister was here for the weekend and we had fun, fun, fun. We hung out, shopped, watched the hummingbirds, did jigsaw puzzles, went to my favorite restaurants (mostly small family places), and picked tomatoes. We had to… my plant is out of control! Three weeks ago it was 14 feet long. Now it’s over 25 feet and taller than I am! And I didn’t even plant it. It just showed up. It’s so heavy it just lays on top of itself and I prop it up with fencing and tie it up where I can without breaking it. It’s like a mass of giant spaghetti. So far, we’ve picked 785 tomatoes and it’s not even making a dent. That’s 40 to 50 huge cherry tomatoes a day!!  It will easily produce 2,000 tomatoes or more. Sis says I should inform the horticultural society about this freakish plant.

We pick every other day, wash & drain them and so far, I’ve given tomatoes to our housekeeper, our assistant, the gardener, the pool guy, the critter guy, Denis’s niece & nephew, two friends, we keep a bowl for snacking all day long and I’ve made two pots of awesome tomato sauce, not to mention salads. These tomatoes are super sweet but the best part is… the mangy, rat-faced, no-good, low-life, beady-eyed, scum-sucking, tomato-eating squirrel is gone. Gee, I hope he didn’t choke on one of my peaches… because I’m only trained in CPR (Catapulting Pesky Rodents).

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Remember 1998?

I just came across a video of highlights from my show from 1998. That was our 8th season on the air and there was so much fun stuff that year. Watching it made me realize how much fun we all had and how much I miss the audiences in Chicago. I feel like they were my co-hosts with the energy and excitement they brought every day… not to mention the best guests ever! I hope you enjoy the video and seeing why I loved doing this show.

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Chaos in my backyard

The hummingbirds in my backyard are now in charge and we work for them. We’re going through five pounds of sugar every week! We have seven feeders all around the yard but the one on the yellow hook is their favorite. The sugar water in that one disappears by the end of every day and we have to make more. I’m a prisoner. I want to go to Vegas for the weekend… but I can’t. Who’s gonna feed the birds? I don’t want them to leave. But I want my freedom. I shot this video yesterday and there are four instances where one bird lands on another one’s back and literally pulls him off the feeder. It turns out that hummingbirds are always looking over their shoulder. Maybe they got that from my squirrel.

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No Heimlich for you

I’ve picked about 150 tomatoes already from my unwanted, unplanted cherry tomato plant. I almost stepped on the rabbit yesterday who was trying to hide under the plant again. If he’s eating the tomatoes I wouldn’t know since there seem to be around 1,000 tomatoes on the plant which has now grown to 16 feet across. There’s even enough tomatoes for the mangy, rat-faced, no-good, low-life, beady-eyed, scum-sucking, fruit-stealing squirrel. But he doesn’t want my tomatoes.. Nooooooo. He eats my white peaches.

I hope he chokes on a pit. He can beg me to give him a Heimlich but the only thing I’d give him is a shoebox. “Get in. We’re goin’ for a ride.”

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I went to the mall

Does anybody else get annoyed at the mall? I went there today and here’s my list…

~~ A giant chrome-plated Hummer parked in handicapped? I don’t think so.

~~ They had Christmas stuff at the Hallmark store. Com’on!

~~ Skinny jeans are not for everyone.

~~ The louder the music, the less money I spend.

~~ Who’s getting their teeth whitened at the mall???

~~ My size is always gone.

~~ When you get to the bottom of the escalator, MOVE!

~~ Just stay in your kiosk and leave me alone!

Is it just me? Bad mood? Low blood sugar? Too much squirrel-stress ?

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I can see you

“OMG, it’s tomato heaven!”

“If I stand perfectly still down here, she’ll never see me.”

“She thinks it’s that mangy, rat-faced, no-good, low-life, beady-eyed, scum-sucking, fruit-stealing squirrel that’s eating her tomatoes.”

“Dumb-ass.”

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Share Your Pictures…

Posted Feb. 15, 2013

Rhonda made my pork tenderloin dinner and it looks great! She says, “I made your Pork Tenderloin Dinner and it was soo good. I only marinade for 4 hours but I want to try this recipe again and marinade over night and cook it the next day to see if there’s a change with how I made it the first time. You are such a pro at making the best meats look so good. Which I don’t think I did too bad for myself with this recipe. My Mom liked it and that’s a plus :)”

Posted Aug. 18, 2013

This is Marty’s new 2013 Ford Escape. “nice huh? the pickup truck is mine also. It is really a Mazda with a Ford nameplate. Still it is cute though ain’t it?”


Posted Aug. 5, 2012

Sue made my strawberry cake for her mother’s birthday. “Thanks again JJ everyone just loved your cake!!!!”


Posted June 8, 2012

Sue’s “Teka”

“Out for a 5k walk after my 12th birthday (June 8th).”

Sue’s “Teka & Kya”

Of course Kya had to have her head in Teka’s treat bag!! 🙂

Posted June 12, 2012

Rhonda’s Mac ‘n’ Cheese

“Just wanted to show you a photo of your Mac & Cheese I made today. I made another plate because I realized maybe you would want to see us when we make your recipes and how they turn out. This was fun to make. It took effort, but well worth it like you said in your book 🙂 This is really the best Mac & Cheese I’ve had. It’s really good 😉 Now I’m off to clean the kitchen…ugh!…lol… Take care, Rhonda”

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