Who's busy?

It has been a whirlwind month around here. Jeremy took that second business trip of the year-- I survived. He was a little worse for wear, having lost not only the 3 hours from flying back from the west coast, but also the hour for springing forward.

Sebastian continues to maintain his perfect attendance record, despite going into school at 9:30 last Monday and then calling home sick at 1:30. Of course his teacher thought I was pushing him to get perfect attendance and neglectfully sending him into school sick, but it is all him. He wants that Friendly's gift card at the end of the year. And he didn't have a fever when I dropped him off. I can't control what happens when he's not with me. (I can barely control what happens when he is.)

Thursday we went to Boston to visit Jim, who was an awesome host as usual. I highly recommend his chicken cutlets. Yum! I got some cutie stuff for myself and for the kids for Easter and for someone else over in Berkeley who should look for a package at some point. (But not too soon-- it isn't in the mail yet.)

We got home Saturday night, Sunday I worked, and Monday my cousin Emily and her beau Michael came to visit until Wednesday. It was a nice visit, if rainy, and now I'm trying to get my life back in order.

So far today I have raked out all the flower beds and admired all the buds emerging from the ground, swept the sidewalk, and left all the leaves in piles around the yard waiting to be stuffed into those giant brown bags. (Cross your fingers that they don't blow around too much before I can finish the job after I pick up Sebastian from school.)

And I hope to finish my March Miss Lady sweater which is only a couple of rows from being finished in the body and a couple of rows each for the cap sleeves. I can't wait to be done with that. Then I've been asked to knit a gecko for the store, but when it is done, I think I'll take a little break from knitting. I am really lacking for inspiration and maybe a few weeks off is what I need to get back in the swing of things.

Weirdness

Today the kids went to the rec center for their "Holiday Drop Off" from 9am to 4pm. For the low, low price of $15 per kid, Jeremy and I had a whole day to ourselves.

It's weird enough to have a night to ourselves, but a day? Odd. We dropped the kids off and came home to make coffee and play RockBand and I felt bizarre. I'm used to a little time alone at home now that both boys have school, but having Jeremy with me was a nice treat.

We played RockBand, did a little shopping, had falafel for lunch, picked up some pastries, and came home to watch Bill Cosby: Himself while I was finishing knitting Dorian's Xmas mittens. We hadn't seen Himself since we were kids, and it is frickin' hilarious. The beginning is a little slow, but the parenting stuff in the second half was breaking my face I was laughing so hard. Laughing and duplicate stitch don't mix too well, but I made it work. It's only on Netflix Instant until the 22nd, so if you need a little nostalgia, you'd better get it quick.

I'll try to take some project pictures soon, but some still have to stay secret. Since the kids don't read the blog, I can at least show you all the socks and mittens...

A quick recap

Thanksgiving weekend was very busy, with my mother in town Thursday lunchtime until Sunday morning and then work on Sunday.

Wednesday

• Took Dorian to Little Peoples and had a cafe date with Sebastian.
• Did the last shopping of the year at Walker Farm. (Sob.)
• Made an apple pie, a pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce.
• Watched Singin' in the Rain with the kids which they loved and I am so happy they loved. Dorian was crying he was laughing so hard during this scene.
• Went out with Christine, Steven and Rosemary for a little pre-holiday fortification.

Thursday

• Made a 13 pound turkey. As usual followed the directions and as usual had the turkey finish cooking an hour early.
• Had a lovely meal with the kids, the husband, the in-laws and my mother.
• Made several quarts of turkey stock to put in the freezer.
• Was very tired. Can't remember anything else.

Friday

• Had a lazy rainy morning and then went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was fantastic. My favorite part was when one of the characters called something a "cluster cuss".
• Made a pot pie-ish thing out of leftovers with mashed potatoes on top. Starting to be really sick of turkey.
• Played dominoes. Lost every time.
• Somehow got sucked into a show about wedding dress shopping. Can't explain it. Clearly swept up in some holiday weekend vortex.

Saturday

• Took the kids ice skating. It was Dorian's first time and Sebastian's second. Sebastian's first time was when he was Dorian's age and he started screaming a quarter of the way around. Jeremy barely got him back to the door to get off the ice. Dorian's first time almost went the same way, but he relaxed at about the halfway point and ended up doing fine. I had not been on ice skates since 7th grade, so it was an exciting experience for me as well.
• Went to lunch in Greenfield and then to the Montague Bookmill-- "Books you don't need in a place you can't find."
• Had a popcorn dinner while watching Hard Day's Night. The kids also loved this one. We're riding a large wave of Beatlemania around here these days.
• Played more dominoes. Lost every game.
• Played Waterworks. Won the last game.

Sunday

• Got my mother on the road. Sent Jeremy out for donuts. Breakfast of champions.
• Went to work. Tried to work on my second mystery sock which is supposed to be finished by midnight tonight if I want to enter the contest.
• Had none other than John Hodgman sitting on the couch in the store while his wife shopped for yarn and his kids all took turns needing to use the restroom. I couldn't decide whether to say anything to him, so I opted not to. Later I realized I had missed an opportunity to punch him for all the times I couldn't sleep because Jeremy was laughing so hard next to me while reading his books.
• Played more dominoes. Lost every game.

Now I need to put my fingers to a different use and get these socks done. Only 14.5 hours to go. I don't even know what I could win, but I want to dammit!

All the good news

While it has been an exhausting couple of weeks, they haven't been too bad. I managed to sell all but one of the pies I needed to sell for Dorian's fundraiser. I can handle buying one for myself, but I was getting a little concerned when I thought I might have to buy 5.
I had a meeting with the principal about Sebastian's schooling and only got good news about how he is doing this year and we were in agreement that he is getting what he needs, so that's nice.
I made the best batch of whole grain chippers yet yesterday, and in a completely neighborly way. I realized too late that Jeremy used the last of the eggs for breakfast, and as I was walking with the boys to buy some more eggs, we ran into some neighbors who offered us the egg we needed for our recipe. And then we returned the favor by bringing them some of the goodies. Makes you want to gag, doesn't it?

And I finished this little guy:

Scampy the ram, named by Sebastian, loved by all who meet him. He'll be living at Knit or Dye, if you'd like to visit him. This is what he looked like before he took his trip through the washer:

And now I have 2 days of work, a field trip, and an in-service day (no school Wednesday) to look forward to.

Today was one of those days...

... where I actually felt like I was doing something right. It is easy for me to get bogged down in the little dumb stuff in life and parenting. And it is even easier to get bogged down in the big dumb stuff. For example, I am happy that the kids have been much better behaved since I pitched a fit last Thursday, but I don't feel particularly good that I frightened them by threatening to leave them on the side of the road. I know that I don't always make the best choices or do the perfect thing, and that is really hard for me to accept so I have a tendency to beat myself up a little.

But there are days where I just want to cry because I think my kids are so goddamn lucky to lead the life they do. (Crazy mother and all.) And today was one of those days.

Crazy mother went out with several other crazy mothers last night, and when I say went out, I mean until last call. So I wasn't home until midnight and didn't go to sleep until later than that and woke up as tired as when my head hit the pillow. But I got some pants on and went and picked up Amanda and her boys and we all headed up to Putney to go to the orchard there. The plums weren't ripe, but there were blueberries, so Amanda and I picked nearly a gallon apiece while the kids played amongst the bushes in the glorious sunshine.

And after a quick return to the farm stand for an urgent bathroom visit (inevitable with 4 kids in tow) we put the kids in 2 wagons to go look for the reindeer. We didn't see them, but the kids were enjoying the wagon ride and I thought that Sebastian and Riley would probably have more fun (and I wouldn't hurt my back so much) if they tried to ride the wagon down the hill by themselves. And so Sebastian was the Hobbes to Riley's Calvin. And they loved it! And all I could think was that this was what summer should be-- riding in a red wagon down a dirt track amidst a beautiful orchard in this beautiful state that we are fortunate enough to call home. What more could these kids ask for than 2 mamas who love them enough to take them to an orchard to run and play and crash a wagon into a fence while the mamas pick berries for jam to enjoy all winter? Will they think of today when they eat a piece of toast with jam 3 months from now? Will I remember to? Who knows? But it is very nice to be able to appreciate these times as they happen. And now I sound too much like a certain other blogger who tends toward the sappy and often makes me gag a little but takes very pretty pictures, so I will leave you with this pretty picture in her honor:

A ginormous dragonfly I found in the grass...

(But I won't leave before telling you that as usual I have bit off more than I can chew by not only buying enough blueberries to make 4 pints of jam, but also a half bushel of apples I now have to turn into applesauce. It was only $8... how could I pass up the opportunity to add more work to my life for that price? And I finished making up Dorian's sweater... other than the zipper and button... but it is sewn together.)

I finally got my purple fix

The garage is finally done, and since it required the purchase of a second gallon of paint, I had enough left over to do the 2 back doors.

And today we went blueberry picking and I made some nice purple jam. Never did get raspberries, I'm sorry to say. But that's okay. The blueberry jam tasted pretty awesome on the corn fritters I made with my first Walker Farm corn of the year. No better corn in the world. And I also managed to put three bags of kernels in the freezer to enjoy throughout the winter. Good stuff.

The vacation so far

So far on this trip I have:

• Done some of the best boogie boarding of my life.
• Put in some "work" on my tan.
• Gone on a date with Jeremy that involved outlet shopping, an Indian dinner, wandering around Portsmouth with a yummy ice cream cone, and a walk on the beach in the moonlight.
• Given my children 4 desserts in one day-- the ice cream cone cookies pictured below for breakfast dessert, Starburst for lunch dessert, a pint of ice cream masquerading as a "kiddie" cone in the afternoon, and a slice of fudge cake after dinner. Can you say, "Vay-cay-shun"?

• Received a fantabulous present from my sister-in-law of some totally amazing crafting books, as well as some gorgeous yarn from her trip to Ireland. Lucky me!
• Had the following conversation while trying to boogie board:: Man: So, where did you get your board? Me: squinting without my glasses It's my father-in-law's. Man: Oh, because this one belongs to my friend, but it's only rated up to 150 lbs and I'm bigger than that. :: Now, I don't know what he wanted me to say; perhaps, [sultrily] "Just how big a man are you?" I never should have let Dorian talk me into wearing the cute suit today. Either way, when he continued to try to befriend me, I just rode the next wave to the shore and gave Jeremy a turn. Oddly, he didn't try to make Jeremy's acquaintance.
• Finished a pair of arm warmers for the fall with the yarn I got for free. I love the yarn and I am quite happy with the arm warmers. I am also quite happy that I do not need them at this particular moment.

Now I've got my DDR shirt on and I'm ready to head down to the boardwalk and the shooting gallery (not the heroin kind) and the fireworks.

In a pickle

Yesterday I managed to throw yet another monkey wrench into my life by buying a big basket of pickling cucumbers at Walker Farm. It had become quite clear that my own cucumber vines were not planning on being productive enough for me to make pickles from my own garden and I had accepted that fact. So when I saw this half-price basket of cukes, I was tempted. And then Amanda gave me that last little bit of encouragement, and I was on my way home with more cucumbers than I thought and 3 bunches of dill. ($22) We stop at the grocery store for mustard seed, vinegar and quart jars. ($17.70)

When we got home, I put all the boys on cucumber cleaning duty and gathered the rest of the supplies.

Four hours and one emergency trip to the store for more garlic and mustard seed ($4.50) later, I was out of jars, but not out of cucumbers. There were still 7 large and 25 medium cukes mocking me from my colander and a large mixing bowl. So this morning, back I went to the store for another gallon of vinegar, another container of mustard seed, more salt, and more jars. ($19.06)

And now, I am the proud owner of

• 6 quarts of whole dill pickles
• 8 quarts of dill pickle spears
• 5 quarts of dill pickle chips
• 3 12oz jars of dill pickle chips
• 1 pint of dill pickle chips
• and 2 leftover cukes.

I also have a house that smells like a pickle and 3 very happy, pickle lovin' gentlemen who can't wait to crack one of those jars open. And it only cost me $63.26... And to think I could have had a massage for that price.

Coming to fruition

Finally, some of my work is paying off. Last night we had a salad that came entirely from our garden. Granted, like some chintzy restaurants, there was only one cherry tomato for each of us, but damn it, I grew those tomatoes. So that was pretty exciting.

And after making some cowboy cookies with Dorian (yum!) I finished the right front of my summer sweater, making a grand total of 3 finished pieces.

And assuming that my plan works out (which, based on recent experience, it will not) I will be going to knitting circle tonight and getting a solid start on the sleeves. I'm hoping this sweater is flattering; I know it is soft and silky, and I know I like the color. But I'll tell you what, for such a simple looking sweater, it has been kind of annoying to knit. I have to note every fucking row on a slip of paper the entire time. There are no stretches of just mindless knitting. I don't like that one bit. This is the second sweater in a row from this book that I have not loved knitting, the other being the orange baby jacket. When Dorian and I were out yesterday, he chose some yarn for sweaters for himself (yellow) and for Sebastian (charcoal gray) which I plan on designing myself for maximum enjoyment.

Mystery solved!

Many months ago, my darling duo came to me with my camera in hand complaining that it "didn't work". That was probably because the lens, which extends when the camera is turned on, was at a 45 degree angle. Of course, neither of them did it, but Sebastian suspected Dorian.

Well, Jeremy decides to have it fixed as a present to me for my birthday (probably so he wouldn't have to hear me whine anymore about being forced to use the other camera). A month later, it was ready for pick-up. On Friday we retrieved it and, lo and behold, there were a few pictures on the card.

Pictures of what? you may ask. Oh, just pictures of Dorian. Pictures that could only have been taken by one short person I know. And yet somehow I have been convinced to bake that boy a cherry pie from scratch...

The home and garden report

Today's news brought to you by my dirty fingernails and eyeglasses.

It has been raining a lot here. Some might say too much. The only thing I can think of that is good about it is that I never have to water the garden. And lots of things are blooming!

The day lilies:

The rosebush I uncovered last year, and the bachelor buttons Dorian and I planted this year:

The miniature rosebush Christine gave me as a housewarming present last year:


And the copious amounts of grass I cannot seem to keep out of the kitchen garden. It rains so much that I can barely keep on top of mowing the lawn, much less weed. Because I'll tell you what: the kids want to go to the lake and so do I and it sucks to have to waste precious lake time weeding the damn garden. So, after I took this picture, I went back out and spent an hour weeding between rainstorms. The peas are almost finished, so I will be planting another batch soon. There are green tomatoes on all the plants except for Mr. Stripey. The second round of radishes is doing well, and there are baby cucumbers on 2 of the plants. God, that looks shameful!

And, I was a little overly eager in picking this carrot:

Lots of greenery, but not much of a root.

And now we go inside, where Jeremy and I have almost finished the wallpaper stripping and spackling in the music room. Soon, it will be painted and I can get the drum set out of my bedroom.

And because I don't want to leave you with that picture, here is a more pleasant one:

Jam! And lots of it. Last year, I didn't get to make any strawberry jam, so this year I have gone a little nuts. So far I have made

• 2 12oz jars,
• 4 8oz jars,
• and 4 4oz jars of strawberry rhubarb jam
• 8 8oz jars of strawberry jam

All of which required 5 lbs of sugar. Yum! That should last us until blueberry season at least. We now return you to your regularly scheduled web surfing.

Not totally slacking

I know that my percentages on the knitting projects have been completely stagnant, and there hasn't been any info about the picnic quilt or anything else. Things have been quite busy around here what with broken pipes and volunteering and gardening and stripping wallpaper, so the crafting has fallen by the wayside.

But I just couldn't take the fabric draped over my chair in the laundry room, all cut and ready for sewing Dorian's second pair of pants. So the other night I finally bit the bullet and got started. And then Thursday I finally finished them:

That's Dorian's special pose. Ask him to pose for a picture and that's what you get. Go ahead. Try it for yourself.
I know it is hard to see the pattern. You can click on the picture to get a closer look. This time I added a large side pocket. And when Dorian saw it, he decided he needed two. That is not happening. I am done with this project. Done. Check it off the ever-expanding list.
And then yesterday, I just couldn't wait to try one of the radishes. This one is purple, but we also have red and white. I know it is small, but I am impatient. I did get 4 slices out of it so we could all try and it was the juiciest radish I've ever had. And just the right amount of spice.

I also planted the garden on Friday. Here's what we've got growing:

• snow peas
• carrots
• parsley
• basil
• Swiss chard
• pickling cucumbers
• lipstick peppers (red and sweet)
• jet star tomatoes (red)
• Mr. Stripey tomatoes (yellow with pink stripes)
• chocolate cherry tomatoes
• sun gold cherry tomatoes
• green grape tomatoes
• dusky eggplant
• Easter egg radishes
• red and green lettuces

I also planted some mint and some oregano. And there are blooms on the black raspberry canes... Oh, it is so hard to wait...

The whirlwind tour

We left Saturday for our East Coast tour-- 6 cities/towns in 5 days. We are insane, I know. But I will tell you what, it was the only way to do it. None of that guests stinking after 3 days stuff for us. We barely gave anyone the chance to realize we were there before-- poof!-- we were gone. It probably would have been better had Sebastian not been sick, but he was and he was a real trooper anyway.

Some highlights:

Saturday: Finally saw Jamie and Kaci's apartment they have been living in for almost 5 years now. Sebastian's fever was probably around 104. Only Jeremy got to see Double Trouble.

Sunday: Drove to Baltimore and had lunch with Jeremy's co-worker at a cool restaurant. Went to my aunt's house to visit her family and my grandmother to find we were expected to also eat there a 1/2 hour after our lunch. Kids had an egg hunt and we were back on the road to our 3rd city to see my other grandmother and collapse into bed after watching Little Dorritt.

Monday: Went out to breakfast with my mother and grandmother, then headed down to DC in the pouring rain with my mom to go to the Air & Space museum and the Natural History museum at the Smithsonian. Sebastian was sick and whiny, my eye exploded in an allergic reaction in the orchid exhibit. Thai food for lunch at a restaurant that was supposed to be closed and then back to the guest house for a hot bath for me and naps for the 3 boys.

Tuesday: On the road again to Chincoteague to visit my little brother who is the best host ever. Anyone who says, "I'm always reading about you chopping stuff up, so I thought you'd like this" and then offers me a spread of veggies and dip and hummus and crackers can have me over anytime. Then we went over to Assateague to the awesome visitor's center and the ocean and saw some turtles, about a million egrets and 3 wild ponies grazing by the side of the road. Next we had some amazing ice cream (I had Snickers cheesecake and would have died happy). Then back to Jack's place for a fantastic dinner. He made some coconut-breaded shrimp and even though I generally don't care much for either coconut or shrimp, I ate them and liked them. There was also tuna steaks and rice and mango and veggies. Again, I will happily visit the boy. We also met his friend Susie who was super nice and kept the kids entertained with a floppy frisbee for, literally, hours. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, Jack made me this:

and I almost decided never to leave. Mmmm... daiquiri...

Wednesday: On the road for the final time before 8am. Taco Bell for lunch at 10:45am. Then trapped in the car for 6 hours because traffic was horrible from the time we got off the Jersey turnpike until we got to the IKEA in New Haven. Then a 2 hour rushed drive home to try to catch ANTM and we were back at 8:10pm. There was quite the cheer when we all saw the "Welcome to Vermont" sign.

All in all, the kids were wonderful travellers, we didn't eat as poorly as I imagined/hoped, and we got to see lots of people we haven't seen in a long time. (Like my 14 year old cousin I'd never met.) But I will not be doing it again any time soon.

TMs and BFing and granola

This morning, as Jeremy was leaving for work, he noticed something very exciting. A bird had finally come to our bird feeder! I got a bird feeder for the 3 men of the house for Christmas. It is the see-through sort that attaches to a window and we filled it with black sunflower seeds which claimed to attract the most varieties of birds and we scattered some seed on the snow according to the directions. And then we waited exactly 2 months and a bird arrived!

Not just any old bird either. A titmouse. Or as my father-in-law would say, a TM. He also would ask me every time I saw him when the kids were little(r) whether I was still "BFing." Apparently, a man who can swear with impunity in front of my children cannot use the words "tit" or "breast" without embarrassing himself.

Anyway, in honor of our first winged guest, Dorian and I made granola for the first time. If you'd like to try it, it's very simple, so here's what we did:

Mix 3 cups rolled oats, 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts (we did pecans), 1/4 cup sesame seeds, and 1/4 cup flax seeds in a big bowl. While preheating the oven to 325 degrees, warm 1/3 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey, or a combo) in a small pan over low heat. Pour syrup over oat mixture and toss until well coated. Spread in an even layer on baking sheet(s) and bake for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Let cool and store in an airtight container.

Pretty easy and pretty tasty.

Winter Carnage-ival

Today we headed over to the park for our town's Winter Carnival. It would be our first time having Sugar on Snow, a Vt tradition I have wanted to try for some time, but have missed out on due to intense dislike of crowds. I forgot my camera, so imagine this:

A big bowl full of snow, snow which I had to try to forget is made of space dust*, a Styrofoam cup full of hot maple syrup, a plain doughnut, and a dill pickle spear. Stick with me. It will make sense in a minute. You bring your pile of seemingly random foodstuffs to a table, ignore the fact that your toes are freezing and that holding a plastic fork while wearing insulated gloves is almost impossible, and get set up. The plan is to pour some of your syrup on the snow. This syrup has been boiling or a while, so when it hits the snow, most of it turns into a taffy-like goo. This you scoop up with your fork and eat while trying not to let the wind whip your hair into your mouth. (I failed at this and have the sticky hair to prove it.) You alternate bites of maple-y snow with bites of doughnut and pickle. The pickle part seems totally ridiculous until you try it. Trust me, it makes both the syrup and the pickle taste even better than normal.

So that was an exciting sugar rush, after which we did a little sledding while waiting for the candy chase and the sky divers. What else would you top off a bowl of sugar coated snow with but candy? My brother-in-law can attest to the sheer insanity of a bunch of bundled up children chasing after candy that is practically frozen into the snow. He was lucky enough to attend the Easter version of this 2 years ago. On the word "go" the kids tore off after bags of Tootsie Rolls, one girl even leaving a boot behind in the mad rush.

Then came the big excitement. A large red "X" was laid out in the outfield of the softball diamond while the snow blind multitudes scanned the sky for the plane bearing 2 skydivers. Jeremy decides to wonder aloud about how terrible it would be if one of their parachutes didn't open. I said, "That's why they always have a backup." He presses on about what would happen if they both failed. The plane drops the warning flag, which sails slowly toward the highway, well off course from the softball field. It's a windy day, they obviously need to test where to jump, much murmuring in the crowd.

The plane makes a second pass and the first guy jumps out somewhere over the pool where he should be blown back to the field. Shortly thereafter, the second guy jumps. Oohs and aahs. Suddenly, everyone realizes that the first jumper is heading toward the road very fast. He pulls a cord and the parachute dips quickly, and he is caught in a tree. A collective gasp. Sebastian starts running across the field with many of the onlookers. I have to chase him down. The second guy lands to minimal fanfare exactly on the X.

A full 45 minutes later, with 3 police cars, an ambulance, 2 ladder trucks from the fire department and a cherry picker, and they still didn't have the guy down yet. When we left, he was standing on a transformer on a telephone pole.

Christine and I both blamed Jeremy for thinking about there being a tragedy, but he refuses to take responsibility.

* It's true. When I did my snowflake nature program for the kids, I learned that every snowflake starts with a piece of dust, whether it's dirt or volcanic ash or dust from outer space. Also, the largest snowflake ever recorded was 15 inches across! You'd only need a couple of those for sugar on snow.

Busy busy busy

My first project* for the day was this "maze" I dug in the foot or so of snow we have accumulated over 2+ days of constant snowfall. I took this from the boys' bedroom window, but the car should give you some sense of scale. Yes, I shovelled almost the whole yard. Yes, my back does hurt-- thanks for asking.

The early afternoon was spent supervising 4 kids decorating the gingerbread houses I made yesterday. (Pictures to come on the boys' blog. Maybe tomorrow.) They were fascinating to watch, as usual. Dorian was especially intent and spent a long time covering as much surface as possible.

And after our second annual viewing of Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special**, it was time to make the latkes for the first night of Hanukkah. We forgot to have them last year which was a total mistake because, really, you should never pass up an opportunity for fried potatoes.

* When I say "first", I mean after making a pancake breakfast for everyone.
**Do yourself a favor and watch this after you go check out that awesome guest list. It is truly hilarious.

It's squashtastic!

I think I went a little overboard at the farm yesterday. When I got home, I had 6 delicata squash, 2 butternut, one buttercup, and a pie pumpkin.

We won't be lacking for vitamin A this fall, that's for sure!

I'm running out of time!

Why did I think that things would slow down after August? That will be my busy month, I said, and then it will be smooth sailing. Well, I neglected to remember how much work it takes to keep a sailboat afloat and on course, I guess.

The calendar is full. November's calendar is beyond full. And I still need to dig next year's vegetable garden and sew some Halloween costumes!

I'm hoping to be able to get the necessary supplies to start on the garden today. This town is over-run with stray cats and cats who have homes but run the streets all day and have nothing better to do than poop in my garden and the dirt floor of my garage. Naughty kitties! So I can't just dig a garden. Oh, no. I need to also put fencing around the garden when I'm done. So, it is off to the salvage yard and the hardware store for me.

Meanwhile, I need to get to making a couple of costumes for the kids, one of whom is quite settled on his costume and the other of whom keeps trying to convince me he needs to be a Powerpuff Girl. (Go ahead and guess.) But the one who is settled wants to unnecessarily paint his face and keeps changing his mind about what color. Naughty kiddies! Then my husband has a grand idea which involves my cutting his hair twice in 2 days. (Go ahead and try to figure his costume out.)

I also have to find time today to prepare for the nature program/puppet show at school tomorrow. Sorry guys, there will be no video. Jeremy has to chase the DeeDee at home. It's just pictures on sticks for puppets anyway. You aren't missing much. (You can see a preview here.) But I also need to get my hands on some wax paper to prepare for the lesson on leaves.

And I still need to finish my blanket because it is mighty cold at night now.

I have my hands full.


Luckily for me, I also had my mouth full-- of the first pumpkin pie of the season, seen here with a steamy apple pie for Sebastian. The fool does not like pumpkin pie. Not my child.

Another busy day in a string of busy days

My day started bright and early when the boys' experiment in sharing a bed went terribly wrong. So, I decided to make the best of it and knit myself a hat from my new yarn.

Then, we went for a scenic drive. Probably 90% of my drives could be termed "scenic" (I go through a covered bridge to get to Sebastian's school for chrissakes) but we thought we'd enjoy the foliage. After lunch, we came home so I could caulk.

Then, Jeremy helped me dice lots of apples so that I could can them. And here they are:

While the apples were cooking, I was knitting some wristlets to match the hat. I am not so magical that they are done, but they are about 2/3 knit and then I just need to sew them up. Then I can start the charcoal grey scarf.

And after I put the kids to bed, I made the valances for the kitchen windows:

And now I'm very, very tired.

It's a little sad

Well, it's more than a little sad that the summer and the harvest season is coming to a close. There are only 5 more weeks of our CSA. The only good thing about that is that I don't have to get all wistful and weepy when I drive by the house Cortney and Dustin were living in for the summer. (Now they're out in CA living the high life.) And I guess it will be good to not have the compulsion to can and freeze everything all the time.

But it is not at all good to know that corn season is almost done. Because Walker Farm corn... there's nothing like it. It is so sweet and wonderful. I stopped by to get a baker's dozen to freeze for the winter... and only half made it to the freezer. But while we were there, we found out that they now have chickens!

Dorian's reaction when Karen tried to take him into their enclosure? "No! I don't want to be pecked to death!"

What the hell? So now he's afraid of heights and chickens?