I Got Up Early This Morning

i woke up at 5am. i sat in bed for an hour till i heard my fledgling rooster crowing at 6am on the nose. my goal was to remove him from his hutch, put him in the garage where i could not hear him and his awkward attempts at male-hood, and go back to bed. but after being outside in the cool morning breeze, the quiet air, wink running around, chickens pecking the ground, and petting my sweet teenage chicken, i decided to clean the back yard some. it is always so hot when i am awake, but this morning was perfect! then in the kitchen i boiled some water, ground my coffee beans, took out my press and made myself some nice hot liquid gold. it was so peaceful with everyone in bed. everything was so still, but me. i then made blueberry corn muffins. i love blueberry muffins. i am very particular about them, but this recipe is so lovely. not too sweet, and the blueberries were from our pickins' a couple weeks ago. just tart enough to compliment the fine sweet corn taste:)

2/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs

• cream together the first 4 ingredients with an electric mixer or stand mixer for about 5 minutes till creamed. add the 2 eggs one at a time, and mix well after each addition.

2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. yellow corn meal
1 1/3 c. milk
frozen or fresh blueberries

• on parchment or in another bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. on low speed, add half the flour mixture alternately with half milk until all ingredients have been added.
• at this point i added about 2 cups of my frozen blueberries. spoon into paper-lined muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly brown.

i think this recipe made about 24 muffins, and i ate about 5 while drinking my coffee:)

for summer treats i like to take the kids to get a sno cone. this week i thought we'd try this josh's sno shack i'd been hearing about on the other side of the world(south tulsa). i love shaved ice, the kind that melts in your mouth, not the crunchy kind. this was very good. the menu was huge and intimidating, and you can get add ins such as my favorite, gummi bears! bee settled on rainbow,juni got wedding cake, which she thought tasted like bubble gum, and i got firecracker-sweet and spicy.

summer is happening right before our eyes, gotta get in as many sno cones as we can:)