I don't know what's come over me!

Last night, we had a sitter.
A night out on the town.
What did I want to do?
BW-3's for chicken wings and beer.
Not just any beer. Budweiser.
We sat out on the patio (which is part of the bar. Which is the smoking section.) It cracked Brian up.
Then we watched ultimate fighting on the big screen.
IT WAS REALLY FUN! Who am I?????!!!!

It's a little hard to believe that our little baby is growing up into a young man! Eight years old today. Elijah got karate lessons, new arrows for his bow, and a skateboard. Yup, definitely growing up.

It's the first day of school!

Mary started kindergarten today and Elijah started second grade. Everyone had a great day, but they are tired out tonight! It's awesome that I have another few days off. I love being able to ease back into our schedule. I actually got to take the kids to their first day of school, which has never happened before. They happened to have the same lunch period and they actually sat together which I thought was so sweet! One thing I hadn't thought of was that Emily would have a hard time with this transition. She said this morning, "I don't want Mary to go to kindergarten." I guess last year they were at the sitter together and of course this summer they spent a lot of time together. She got to spend the day with me at school today and had a great time.

More kid pics

Hilarious!! Emily got hold of the camera the other night and was doing an awesome job!

Gardening

I started cleaning out the garden today. I know that I always am bad about letting it go once school has started again, so I started pulling things that I'm done with. Like the pumpkin plants that flowered, but never turned into pumpkins. And the green beans that are becoming prolific, but are gross, in my opinion. They are not the same deliciously sleek beans that I planted last year. I did can some of them, but they aren't worth my time any more. So, they are gone. Now I can get to some other things that were getting overrun. The cayenne peppers are turning red and we've started drying them to make crushed red pepper. I did can some tomatoes and dry some of the cherry tomatoes and make tomato sauce. Actually the sauce was for a zucchini-eggplant lasagna that was REALLY good. There were no pasta noodles in it. The eggplant and zucchini get sliced lengthwise and act as the noodles layered with a tomato sauce and then ricotta cheese mixture. It was fun to make something that was almost totally from the garden (tomatoes, onions, garlic, zucchini) and eggplant (from a couple of friends' gardens).

As soon as it cools off a little bit I'd like to get some lettuce and spinach going in the blank spaces. They are pretty maintenance free.

We've been making the transition back to work, and it does seem to be going a bit smoother this year than in year's past. I think it's because I have an extra week off. Brian and the kids start on Tuesday, so we're starting the final descent. School supplies are purchased, clothes are ready and we've started stocking up lunch box food and teaching the kids their new household jobs for when school starts. We're trying to give them with some more responsibilities around the house so that we can try to stay a little more sane this year. : )

I'm off to make some more zucchini bread!

Uploaded from Mary's camera

She is quite the budding photographer. These were some of the highlights of the 200+ shots that were on her camera. Light fixture in our computer room.
Spider plant on the porch
Mixed veggies

And the ever photogenic Mr. Potato Head

Another list

I can thank my dad for the "list-making" gene. I get so much satisfaction from crossing things off when I'm done. I think lists are also helpful in condensing jumbled thoughts into a concise thought process.

Reasons I love to run

1. It is all for me. I don't talk to anyone (I've tried and almost killed myself falling off the treadmill (LAAAA)) or think about anything.

2. I feel healthier when I'm done.

3. I set small goals for myself like "I'm just going to make it to the end of this song" or "start up again at this certain lyric in a song" and feel great when I've completed them.

4. Since I started at the beginning of the summer I can tell that my endurance has increased. I've never really been a runner before and I'm able to go lots further (farther?) than I ever expected.

5. I can eat two pieces of peach pie and hope it will be offset by my daily run.

Winding down

Summer is, that is. We've certainly had a whirlwind of activity this summer. This past week I was on tour with Brian's band, the SmallTown Heroes. We traveled to Bloomington, IN and then on to Tennessee and North Carolina. It was a lot of travel time and we learned lots about how to do this the next time, as the learning curve was kind of big. But, it was lots of fun to see them play and visit some friends and meet some people and see some new places--like Asheville, NC--a very cool town I'd love to go back to and explore some more!

I've been in a flurry trying to deal with my garden that has been sorely unattended for 2 weeks + at a very pivotal time for harvesting. I feel like between trips I've been picking lots of overgrown things and trying to figure out what to do with them (make zucchini bread and freeze shredded zucchini, lots of refrigerator pickles) and the canning has begun!! So far this year I've done salsa, green beans, banana peppers, and...drumroll, please....peaches! I picked 3/4 bushel today at Annie's Orchard out near Ross Camp. So today has been all about peaches. I made a pie first thing, then set to canning and freezing some. Tomorrow I'll do some more peach jam. Tomatoes are going to be ready soon too. Although of the 16 plants, it turns out that about 12 of them are cherry tomatoes. I am trying to figure out what to do with them. Can them? Juice them? I just don't know yet.

We're starting to prepare to go back to work/school. We haven't actually done anything yet. It's more of a mental preparation. ; ) The kids are excited--especially Mary, since she is starting kindergarten, we are not. I could use another month, but I'll be fine.