The best lima beans of my life

Months ago I planted some lima beans from the dried bulk bin.  Unfortunately only one of them grew well.  The one that took, grew pretty well.  Today I harvested all 11 pods since they looked mature.  I've never grown limas before so don't really know.  Did you know the pod is fuzzy?  I did a cursory Google search today to see how to prepare them.  My distracted search with DD tugging on me didn't net much useful information.  I took a pod to DS's preschool and polled the teachers.  Although no one had cooked a fresh lima bean before, the consensus seemed to be to shuck them and boil/steam the beans as one would fresh peas.  So this evening the kids and I shucked the limas, yielding a whopping 1.25 ounces of beans (an average of about 2 beans per pod).  I put them in a pan with a tiny bit of water and simmered the beans until soft.  They were the best lima beans we've ever eaten.  I must grow them again!  And in a better location to get a better yield.  I also think that next time I'll put the dry beans in a wet paper towel before planting to start them sprouting.

The Holiday of Horrors

It has been a while since I've posted.  You know how the whirlwind of the holidays can get ahead of you.  And it still is ahead of me, but I've got to share this.  We've just experienced what I shall refer to in years to come as "The Holiday of Horrors."  I'll post the very abbreviated version.

On 12/26 we drove to Arizona to visit family.  On 12/27 my 92 year old Grandfather got a stomach bug and was hospitalized.  On 12/28 DS got bug, spent 2 days on the sofa and didn't stop throwing up until 1/2.  On 12/29 my Mom got bug.  On 12/30 Grandfather died.  On 1/1 I got the bug.  On 1/2 we drove back home to California without emesis or excrement soiling the new (used) minivan.  On 1/3 DS and I were still on the sofa due to the bug.  On 1/4 DD got it.  So far, only DH has escaped unscathed.  I sure hope we are done with it.  Today DS went back to school and DH went back to work, so we are pretending we are back to normal.