http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeCMs7rnZBM

Christmas shows were always my favorite because we featured children’s talent. In 1998, after all the children performed, we had a special guest star, gospel singer Yolanda Adams. Here she is singing “O Come All Ye Faithful.” If any of the children who performed on this show see this, please let us know where you are today. Enjoy…

This is a number I never expected to reach. The new total after today’s pick is 7,008! I used to joke about still picking tomatoes on Christmas Day but that’s exactly what’s going to happen. There are still hundreds of green ones but guess what? There are new branches still popping up with yellow flowers, waiting to become even more tomatoes. I’m tired. I think I hate tomato soup now. People are avoiding me, afraid I’ll show up with another bag of tomatoes. “Here comes Farmer Jones again with another sack. Quick! Lights off, shades down, nobody’s home.”

I was walking through the house today and spotted this thing on the floor which at first I thought was just some debris so I kept walking. Then I decided to take a second look. What is that? I bent over to look at it and couldn’t decide if it was a bug or not. I put on my glasses to get a better look and still couldn’t tell. The magnifying glass was next, with my glasses, on my knees (but not too close) but I still couldn’t be sure. Was it a walking stick? They blend into trees and sticks and this one was camouflaged to match my floor. It wasn’t moving but I was still afraid to walk away so I put a glass over it for Denis to deal with. When he came home he told me it was a grape stem but I think he was lying not to freak me out. He found a scorpion in the house once and never told me so his credibility is clearly questionable. He knew I would have wanted to move. So what was that? I still think it was something but I’ll never be sure…

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Yesterday’s tomato count was 6,681. I just went outside and picked 22 tomatoes for a new grand total of 6,703. And the winner of a $100 American Express gift card is… Marithia! She guessed exactly 6,700 (only three off from the total). Marithia has a little something extra to be thankful for today.

Marithia is the 8th Grade Transition Program Coordinator at her local Junior High School.  “My job  is to prepare our 8th graders for high school, by teaching them study skills, test taking skills, organization skills, and how to advocate for themselves!”

Congratulations, Marithia and thanks to everyone for playing.

In the summer I was picking up to 150 tomatoes a day and now that it’s cooler, I’m still picking every day, averaging around 20 a day. I do expect the total to reach over 7,000 before this plant expires. (for new visitors, I did NOT plant this cherry tomato plant. It just started growing in my back yard!)  Happy Thanksgiving to all and… easy on the pie!

You know I love my contests and here’s another one. Just guess the total number of cherry tomatoes I will have picked off my monster plant by Thanksgiving morning and win a $100 American Express gift card. At 10 am Thanksgiving morning, I will pick whatever ripe tomatoes I find and add them to the running total. I’ll post the winner right after that. Whoever guesses the closest TOTAL number of tomatoes from day one (over or under) will win. How about that? A hundred smackeroos just in time for holiday shopping! Good luck!

One guess per person.

Winner will be revealed Thanksgiving morning, before you’re all asleep from eating too much turkey. 🙂

July 11th – 150 tomatoes

July 17th – 459

July 24th – 785

July 29th – 1,014

Aug. 4th – 1,415

Aug. 8th – 1,646

Aug. 10th – 1,721

Aug. 11th – 1,861

Aug. 12th – 1,925

Aug. 13th – 2,002

Aug. 14th – 2,078 (this —> picture was taken today)

Aug. 15th – 2,201

Aug. 16th – 2,352

Aug. 17th – 2,454

Aug. 18th – 2,599

Aug. 19th – 2,735

Aug. 20th – 2,855

Aug. 21st – 2,932

Aug. 22nd – 3,077

Aug. 23rd – 3,178

Aug. 26th – 3,218

Aug. 27th – 3,251

Aug. 28th – 3,286

Aug. 29th – 3,360

Aug. 31st – 3,402

Sept. 2nd – 3,439

Sept. 3rd – 3,462

Sept. 4th – 3,511

Sept. 5th – 3,576

Sept. 6th – 3,612

Sept. 7th – 3,664

Sept. 8th – 3,710

Sept. 9th – 3,795

Sept. 10th – 3,850

Sept. 11th – 3,902

Sept. 12th – 3,936

Sept. 13th – 4,007!!! OMG!!! – over 4,000 – heading for 5,000!!

Sept. 14th – 4,050

Sept. 15th – 4,086

Sept. 16th – 4,114

Sept. 17 – 4,146

Sept. 18 – 4,171

Sept. 19 – 4,189

Sept. 20 – 4,207

Sept. 21 – 4,219

Sept. 22 – 4,232

Sept. 23 – 4,260

Sept. 24 – 4,282

Sept. 25 – 4,300

Sept. 26 – 4,321

Sept. 27 – 4,352

Sept. 28 – 4,392

Sept. 29 – 4,429

Sept. 30 – 4,502

Oct. 1 – 4,529

Oct. 2 – 4,569

Oct. 3 – 4,628

Oct. 4 – 4,664

Oct. 5 – 4,701

Oct. 6 – 4,776

Oct. 7 – 4,828

Oct. 8 – 4,914

Oct. 9 – 4,980

Oct. 10 – 5,000

Oct. 11 – 5,082

Oct. 12 – 5,153

Oct. 13 – 5,202

Oct. 14 – 5,230

Oct. 15 – 5,281

Oct. 16 – 5,347

Oct. 17 – 5,366

Oct. 18 – 5,492

Oct. 20 – 5,538

Oct. 21 – 5,569

Oct. 22 – 5,618

Oct. 23 – 5,648

Oct. 24 – 5,691

Ot. 25 – 5,741

Oct. 26 – 5,791

Oct. 27 – 5,843

Oct. 28 – 5,874

Oct. 29 – 5,907

Oct. 30 – 5,945

Oct. 31 – 6,007

Nov, 2 – 6,041

Nov. 4 – 6,145

Nov. 6 – 6,243

Nov. 7 – 6,342

Nov. 8 – No more updates due to upcoming contest

Nov. 22 – (Thanksgiving Day) 6,703

Nov. 27 – 6,845

Nov. 30 – 6,929

Dec. 2 – 6,970

Dec. 4 – 7,008

Dec. 6 – 7,029

Dec. 9 – 7,061

Dec. 12 – 7,117

Dec. 15 – 7,135

Dec. 19 – 7,185

Dec. 21 – 7,224

Dec. 27 – 7,264

Jan. 2 – 7,303

Jan. 7 – 7,338

Jan. 9 – 7,379

Jan. 13 – 8,121! (FINAL) That’s all she wrote!!!

This picture was taken Sept. 6th

No matter how you pronounce it, I sure have a lot. Here’s the latest on my monster cherry tomato plant:

I picked 98 yesterday and 91 today.

The new total is 6,432 and I’m pretty sure it will reach 7,000.

Here it is today.

There is definitely a contest coming!

Sometimes, I don’t have time to bake my mac & cheese with the crumb topping but I still want my mac & cheese!

So I posted the easiest, fastest, (healthiest!) way to get  some mac & cheese into my pie-hole.

Look at that picture! It’s really creamy good!

There’s a printable recipe here: http://www.jennyjones.com/kitchen_recipes_mainmeal.shtml

There’s even a YouTube video: