To Live. To Love. To Laugh.

Weekending.

2012-02-07T16:11:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I worked from home while QB rested.
It appears he's fighting a cold with a sore throat and nasal congestion.
He was quite upset that he was missing a day of school since the kid has had perfect attendance for over two years.

This morning he thought he had to go to school because it was his honor roll breakfast.
He's worked quite hard to achieve High Honor Roll, I couldn't be more proud.
I was expecting a call from Nurse Kristen by mid-morning, but the call didn't come.

This evening we attended Sluggers storytelling event at school.
He's been working with two professional story tellers for two weeks, perfecting his story.
It was The Hairy Toe
He did an amazing job, I'm so proud of him.
Getting up to speak in front of a crowd is scary regardless of your age.
He told us on the way home that he'd like to do story telling when he "gets bigger".
I can't wait to see how that dream evolves for him.

QB stayed home with Grandma Jari to rest.
Thanks Grandma Jari for watching him on such short notice.

Back to my weekend, which was the initial purpose of the post!
Which I had started while waiting for the elevator at work, from my phone, and posted prematurely.
Apologies to those that received the half-assed post in their readers.
Anyways, this past weekend was the first weekend in ages that found us with no plans until Sunday evening.
My favorite kind of weekend.

I noticed my bulk foods shopping list was getting quite lengthy so I decided to take the drive (1 hour 20 minutes) to an Amish bulk food store.
Their prices are unbeatable and worth the drive.
Not to mention, the drive is through some beautiful Amish farm country right along one of the Finger Lakes with lots of barns and vineyards!
It's one of my favorite stretches of roads in my area.

I stocked up on my flours; sugars; spices; bacon; grains and each kid got to pick out 5 pieces of candy from the bulk candy for behaving.
(I didn't take any photos out of respect for the Amish.)

We then headed across the Erie Canal to Tractor Supply for the industrial size bag of dog food and some cat litter.
In the Tractor Supply plaza was the local Salvation Army.
Yeah, baby.
wasn't expecting to find a thrift store in my travels.
Bonus!

It was a beautiful day, so QB suggested we walk to the other end of the plaza instead of moving the car, I thought it was a fabulous idea.
I'm so thankful I agreed, otherwise I wouldn't have walked past the laundry mat and this site:

Could it get more retro?
I think NOT!
I love it!

Slugger made the funniest comment when we walked in to the Salvation Army:
"yep, smells just like our sal vals"
Silly Kid!
I found a pyrex butter dish for one of my bff's who collects Butterfly Gold and a small pewter saucer for another friend who collects pewter.

We walked back to the car with our goodies and headed out to find some lunch.
We came upon this local pizza place, Mark's Pizzeria.
We each ordered a slice to go and determined it was some of the best pizza we've ever had.
We washed it down with some Amish Birch Beer.

The weather was perfect road trip weather.
Cool, bright and sunny.

Now onto my barn photos.
QB at one point said "Mom is says 'No Trespassing'"
I said, "I'm just taking photos"
He said "It's still trespassing!"

stickler.

Minus the nasty talking back and fighting that ensued that afternoon, resulting in early bedtimes, it was a pretty darn near-perfect Saturday.

How was your weekend?

i'm a dorkus.

2012-02-01T20:32:00.001-05:00

I needed to pick up a few things tonight on my way home.
{which, by the way, is a pet peeve of mine...but we wont get into that now...}
I stopped at our small town grocery store.
You know the kind...creaky hardwood floors, small selection, handwritten sale signs, everyone knows everyone?

I pay for my items and decline a plastic bag because I forgot to take in my re-usable bag and I'm not wasting a plastic bag. {you know, reduce the carbon footprint, blah blah blah...}

So that leaves me juggling my wallet and my items.
I walk out to the road (again, it's small town, there isn't even a parking lot, we parallel park on the side of the road).
Sit my milk on the roof of the car {while thinking, "man I really should stop setting stuff on top of my car, I've put alot of scratches up there"}.

Fumble in my pockets for my keys.
Pull them out, hit the unlock button on my key fob while simultaneously noticing a blinking cell on the passenger seat.
I frantically check my pockets for my cell because I was certain I grabbed it when I went in the store.
Find it...in my pocket.
phew.

Click the key fob again.
"huh, that's weird the dome light didn't come on."
I try the door handle, it doesn't unlock.
"argh...blankety blank blank car hmmmpf hmmpf"
just as I'm about to put the key in the lock, you know, the old fashioned way to unlock a car...

I realize the car in front of my car's tail lights are blinking.
just like my car does when you unlock it with the key fob......
OH.MY.GOSH.
I was just trying to get into someone's car!!!!!

I grabbed my milk and walked swiftly to my car, sure to not look around to see if anyone just witnessed my stupidity.

I instantly called one of my bff's who totally appreciated a giggle at my expense.

Nada

2012-01-31T22:40:00.001-05:00

That's what I feel like I've got to say lately.
Nada.
Nothing.
Zilch. Zero.
one of my bff's posting on my facebook wall last night that she hadn't seen a post from me in over a week.
but I have nothing interesting to say.

wanna talk about the weather?
it was freakin 55 degrees here today, I don't know what the official temp was but it was 55 when I went to lunch.
FIFTY FIVE.
IN UPSTATE NEW YORK!
on the LAST DAY OF JANUARY.
I think it's unheard of.

um, what else?
I have OCD.
ok, it's undiagnosed, but I like to organize things and I like things orderly.
much to the annoyance of people in my life.
so I was at the thrift store last weekend and spotted these canning jars for 50 cents each.
I bought every single one {and wandered around praying to find more! I didn't. bummer.}

I ran them through the dishwasher and now most of my spices are in matching containers.
I've been meaning to google to see if I can find more, so every spice can be in a matching container.

um, what else?
I followed through on my first month of a 365 project.
There's a link to the page at the top of my blog.
that feels pretty good.
i started last year and went down in flames and was disappointed in myself.
this year in my self imposed rules, I can use my iPhone, which helps relieve some self induced pressure.

some dates on my photos are wrong, which pisses me off.
that darn OCD again...
I initially noticed that flickr posted the wrong photo taken date, so I got out my manual to figure out how to fix the date on my camera.
little did I know that an accurate time on the camera would make a difference, especially for someone like me who has been known to take photos all hours of the day.
I'm hoping I have it correct now, and February will be great!

Is this enough random for a post, Becca?
Oh wait, I'm supposed to have more photos.....per Becky...
um, just a sec...

how'd I do?
:)

I appreciate you guys reading my randomness, it's great to have peeps like you in my life!

gift.

2012-01-23T20:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday.
My Aunt Rachel gave me an amazing, thoughtful gift.
My Grandma's rolling pin.
(My Dad's Mom who passed away before I was born)
She said that every time I used it, I needed to do so with love, as that is what Grandma did when she baked.

My Dad and Aunt often tell me that I remind them of Grandma.
She liked to spend her time in the kitchen, cooking, baking and preserving.
She was also a farmer's wife, she tended to six kids and farm animals.

The rolling pin has a blemish, Aunt Rachel was sure to give me explicit instructions on how to keep it clean, she said it's been there for the 40 years she's owned it. ;)

The rolling pin is so smooth from years of use.

It's awesome to think that my Grandma's hands rolled out pie crusts and cookies using this pin.

The same hands that cleaned up my Dad's skinned knees and tussled my Dad's toddler hair.

I will cherish this gift for the rest of my life.

I've not decided what my inaugural treat should be: pie? sugar cookies?

{snowy}saturday.

2012-01-21T21:44:00.000-05:00

Today we woke up to 4 inches of snow.
It's so pretty.
I think I don't mind the snow so much because we haven't really had much this winter.
Maybe 8-10 inches TOTAL, since October.

This morning I shoveled the snow from the chicken yard so the ladies had room to move around .
I spread some scratch and let them out.

I know I've said this before, I love love love fluffy chicken butts!

Then I carried my compost bowl to the compost pile and turned around to see three brave ladies.

Snow up to their bellies weren't going to stop them from seeing what I was putting in the compost bins (egg shells; coffee grounds; grapefruit rinds) nothing fun for them!

Yankee was enjoying the snow too.

He was being a crazy man in the snow, grabbing snow and tossing it up in the air only to catch it again.
It was hard to get any pictures of him that weren't like this.

The boys had their last soccer game today, they won!
What a great way to end a great season.
Then a birthday party for our little friend Darren, at Chuck E. Cheese.
Seriously, I think that place may be my definition of hell.
lots and lots of screaming, running children.
Loud, flashing "games" fed by tokens, spitting out tickets randomly.
and significantly overpriced made in China plastic toys as "prizes".

My kids had a great time and so did the birthday boy, so I guess that's all that matters ;)

Tonight we visited my Mom and Papa.
Mom baked one of my favorite desserts of all time.
Coconut Cream Pie!!

My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
I can't wait to have a piece for breakfast with a steaming mug of coffee.

I'd love to wake up to a new dusting of snow, covering the tracks we made today.

How's your weekend going?

weekend tidbits.

2012-01-15T22:09:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday night, the kids are nestled in their beds looking forward to their holiday off from school tomorrow.
Lunches and snow gear is packed, ready for the sitters house.
Yankee and Sophie are snoozin'.
Chickens are tucked in their coop with an extra layer of pine bedding, surrounded by hay bales hunkered down for lows tonight near 0F.

I'm listening to Parenthood on my laptop, editing photos and blogging, while under a few quilts.
brrrrrr.
I can't seem to get warm tonight.

Did everyone have a good weekend?

Mine was full.
Saturday, bright and early we headed to the Sap House for a pancake breakfast hosted by the local snowmobile club.
The kids love that Bompa (my Dad) makes the pancakes, blueberry for QB, regular for Slugger.
Then off to a 10am soccer game.
Kids played hard, it's been a good season.
They've learned a lot and had fun.
We have one game left, next weekend.
I've really enjoyed watching them play this season.

Slugger was invited to a sleep over, we dropped him off at noon and then took QB sled riding/snowboarding.
After several trips down the hill and the hike back up the hill we warmed up with hot chocolate and board games to finish up the afternoon.

At QB's request, we had Chinese take-out for dinner.

Today I made chicken gnocchi soup and chicken, cheese, black bean and rice enchiladas and baked cookies.
I also finished up the laundry and dishes and picked up the house.
QB enjoyed a quiet day at home, just chillaxing on the couch, with Sophie sleeping near by, playing games on his iPod while still in his pajamas.

In between my cooking and cleaning I was getting texts from my Mom who was being my personal shopper for new winter gear for my kids, she found some amazing deals!
I think having a personal shopper is awesome!
Thanks Nana, you did a great job!

It's been a good weekend.
Although I could use another day!

Sophie.

2012-01-12T20:05:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I took Sophie and Yankee to the vet.
Yankee is a healthy horse, tipping the scales at 100 pounds.
Sophie was a peanut at 5.6 pounds.
She was also diagnosed with Feline Leukemia Virus.

This was a blow to my heart.
She's the best kitty I've ever had, it was horrible to hear that our time together may be short.

She's brought so much joy to me and my kids.
She's playful and lovable.
She's so tolerant of Yankee and Slugger.
Loves snuggling in QB's bed.
Sleeping on my back, shoulders, legs and sometimes my head!
She finds me where ever I am, rubbing up against my legs or jumping on my shoulders purring away, begging to be loved.

I'm praying that when we retest her in March that her immune system kicked FeLV to the curb!

weekending.

2012-01-09T21:04:00.000-05:00

This weekend was full.
Full of good things.
mostly.

Friday we attending the wedding reception of one of my best friends.
She looked beautiful, their children were adorable and the groom was handsome.
They were surrounded by their family and closest friends, so much love in that little room.
I had the pleasure of taking the photos for them, I can't wait to get them edited this week.

Saturday we had a soccer game at 9am and then I went antique shopping with my friend, S and her Mom and Aunt.
They took me to a bunch of places I hadn't been to.
We had a fantastic time, even if she dropped and broke glass at our first stop! {wink}.
I was quite happy with my purchases.
First up a 473 1 quart yellow casserole with lid.
I believe this is from the Daisy Cinderella Bake Serve Store Casseroles.
It's in great condition.

It was $4.80. Then I found this teeny tiny ball canning jar.

It's a1 pint wide mouth bale in the best Ball brand blue.

It's an excellent addition to my collection, especially for $3.95!

Then some vintage Christmas Ornaments, all six for $2.75.

I found this printer's drawer for $15.

I've been looking for one of these for a few years to sort and house my beads for my jewelry.

I've never found one under $35, I snatched this one up and didn't look back!

A yellow bead necklace for 97 cents.
It spoke spring to me, I hope to get some use out of it.

a collection of Santa mugs.
This is the first time I've seen any in person, it's always been online at etsy or ebay.
I accidentally rubbed off the red on the one on the right by washing it, but I still love it!
I can't wait to decorate with them next year.
I got all 4 mugs for under $20 which I think is a steal considering what they are priced at on etsy.
I have to admit, they were definitely my one splurge of the day.

and finally my crazy purchase.
I don't know why I thought I needed these.
especially since
a.) we don't eat at McDonald's as a rule
b.) they were popular in the late 80's, making me too old to remember them.

Something about them just struck my funny bone.
I hope to find a place for them on a shelf in the studio.

Sunday I did some house chores including laundry and dishes and then cut two loads of wood with my Dad.
The boys had soccer practice on Sunday from 4-5:30 and then Sunday dinner at Dad's.

It was a full weekend, indeed.
How was your weekend?

cruisin' ladies.

2012-01-05T21:09:00.000-05:00

The Ladies cruise the neighborhood, often seen in the neighbor's yards.
Thankfully my neighbors don't mind at all, they tell me they are entertaining to watch, I think the free eggs help too!

Earlier this week I could hear a few of them making some rukus, I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spy three of them way way down the road at the nieghbor's back door.
I dont know if the chicken was asking to come in or what, but she was noisy!

I walked through 4 neighbors backyards to herd them back home.
They weren't very happy with me, constantly trying to run back behind me.
Once back home, I flung some scratch hoping to convince them to stay home!

Troublemakers, I tell ya!

Nest.

2012-01-04T21:12:00.000-05:00

According to an old German legend, if you find a bird nest in the tree you harvest for Christmas, you will have an entire year of health and happiness.

I found a nest this year!

Here's hoping 2012 is filled with health and happiness!!

additions to my library.

2012-01-03T20:32:00.000-05:00

I know I've mentioned this but I love books and I love to read.

I got a few books for Christmas.
I also received a generous Barnes and Noble gift card as a Thank You from a family I did a photo shoot for back in the Fall.

The Hunger Games; Catching Fire and Mocking Jay-It took me a bit to get into the first book, by the end I was hooked, the second book is great, so far. The Coach started the first book yesterday morning.
Root Cellaring -I'm always looking for better ways to store the harvest from our garden.
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book -I bought an almost new ice cream maker at a yard sale last summer, I'm looking forward to trying out some of these recipes.
The Rhythm of Family-I've followed Amanda's blog, Soule Mama for a long time, I love her writing style and outlook on life. I'm looking forward to reading this book. The book is broken out by each month, I plan to read it a month at a time.
Can it, Bottle It, Smoke It-I mentioned yesterday that I've already started using this book, I'm looking forward to trying out more recipes.
Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It-same author as above.

Have you read any good books lately?

vanilla.

2012-01-02T11:15:00.000-05:00

I do a lot of baking.
A LOT.
I use a ton of vanilla extract.
That stuff is EXPENSIVE.
the last bottle I bought was $5.19 for TWO fluid ounces.
{not to mention that lots of vanilla extracts have unnecessary crap added in...}

I've been wanting to make my own vanilla extract for awhile.
I ordered my vanilla beans on Amazon {of all places}
There were 72 beans in my 1/2 pound package.
I split the beans (and cost) with my friend.

I found tons of vanilla extract recipes online.
There was also one in a book I purchased recently so I went with that.
Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It by Karen Solomon

Recipe couldn't be simpler.
8 vanilla beans
1 cup of {good} vodka

I sliced each vanilla bean down the center, lengthwise, to open it up, scrapping some of the seeds out and dropped the full bean pod and seeds in my glass container.

I poured my vodka over the beans and shook the bottle.
I've been shaking the bottle every day for the first week and then a few times a week going forward.
It needs to steep for 6 weeks.
The recipe says it will keep indefinitely if wrapped in a brown paper bag.
It also says I'll need to strain out the solids in a few months as they will start to break down.

I found lots of online distributors of glass bottles.
Since I was doing this for myself {as a test}, I just bought a large bottle with a plastic/rubber stopper for $3.99.
I plan to reuse my small glass bottles that my store bought vanilla is in to store it in my spice cabinet since the large bottle would be cumbersome. It will stay in the cool, dark closet until I need to refill my little bottles.

I think this would be an awesome present for friends/family who bake often.

The cost breakdown:
beans: $25.46/2=$12.73 (I had enough beans to make 4.5 cups of extract)

vodka $19.49 for 4.5 cups

$32.22 for 36 ounces of extract
or 90 cents an ounce.
What a savings!

Happy New Year.

2012-01-01T20:45:00.000-05:00

2012.
I'm not really one to make resolutions.
As a list maker, I do have a few things I'd like to accomplish this year.

We had a low-key New Year's eve.
The boys and I watched movies by a crackling fire while The Coach went to a party.
As soon as the ball dropped we headed to bed.
I snuggled in and finished the first book of the Hunger Games series.
How did you celebrate?

Today the boys slept in a bit....finally.
Once up, I made them waffles.
Then it was on to cleaning the garage.
I can finally fit my car in there.
My car hasn't fit in the garage in almost two years!

The garage has always been an issue in our household.
It's nice to have enough room to finally park the car.
Now if I could just get the other half cleaned out ;)

How did you spend the first day of the New Year?

this week.

2011-12-30T08:01:00.000-05:00

Oh how I love this week.
seriously.
My favorite week all year.
I'm sad it's Friday.
I only have 4 more days off.

1. I've spent most days in cotton yoga pants and wool sweaters and socks.
So cozy and happy.
oh and my apron.
Yay baby, I look H.O.T.HOT! {not}

2. I've made some kick butt dinners including soup; chicken pot pie (recipe to come shortly) and 3 cheese mac-n-cheese.
I've also baked bread, bagels and cookies.

3. I cleaned out closets and dressers and moved QB's inherited dressers into his room (and his dresser into Sluggers room, now they each have two dressers)
Yay for proper space to put away clothing and yay for hand me downs to our little friend, Darren.

4. It's been cold this week.
lows in the teens.
My chickens don't seem to mind, they've been out wandering around and leaving me lots of eggs.
Wednesday all 18 chickens laid an egg.
Nice job, ladies.

5. I've started the Hunger Game series.
Whoa.
I'm 3/4 through the first book.
It's intense.
a good intense. but intense.
Have you read it? What did you think?

6. I also got some other books recently, I'll share those titles too.

7. I've de-christmasfied.
It feels good to get my house back in order.
.
8. At this very moment all the bedding is clean on every bed, all laundry is done and put away except the very clothes we have on our bodies.
Yay for me.
That rarely happens.
I literally do laundry every day of my life and feel like I'm never caught up.
Maybe my family needs to go naked for a few days.
just kidding.
It's too cold.

9. I made vanilla extract a few days ago.
I need to take photos and share.
It's looking mighty fine if I do say myself.
I can't wait to bake with it in 6 weeks.

10. I'm still loving my kitty, Sophie.
She's so darn adorable and quite entertaining.
Slugger is constantly trying to hold her.
She has a good hiding place during the day (I know a few, I'm not telling!)
As soon as he's in bed she finds her way to me, if I'm sitting down she quickly makes a little nest in my lap.

11. I think Yankee is ready to have us go back to work.
I think he thinks we are disturbing his nap time.
There has been heavy sighing coming from him when the kids are fluttering about and he's napping.

12. The boys have been staying in their jammies way past lunch time, playing legos and finding cool apps for the ipod touch's.

13. Netflix sent us Friends With Benefits.
Hilarious.
Rated R.
Warning: Definitely not for the faint of heart, but totally my kind of humor.

ok, I'm off to check more things off my to do list.
Have a great Friday.

Christmas recap

2011-12-29T10:55:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here in my comfy clothes,snuggled under a blanket with a steamy mug of coffee next to me on the table.
This is my favorite week all year.

Christmas was, well....
Christmas.
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that it's my least favorite holiday.
There was lots of family. {love}
Boys were happy with their loot {too much loot!}
we all ate too much delicious food.

Let's start with our tree.
It was beautiful this year.
We took our annual trip to the tree farm the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
This year, QB cut down and dragged the tree to the truck. all.by.himself.
I was a proud Mama.
Decorating it was bittersweet.
We lost most of our Christmas decorations in the flood.
Luckily two of the boxes that were spared were the boys ornaments they've made through the years.
So this year's our tree was covered with lots of felt, toilet paper roll snowmen, pipe cleaner candy canes all made by little hands with love.

Because we lost my mantle decorations in the flood, I had to come up with something different.

I put a call out to my facebook friends.

"ok {local} facebook peeps..I'm on the hunt....for ceramic lit Christmas trees. You know the ones...from the 1970's and 80's? If you have one you aren't using this season, may I borrow it? I'll return it the week after Christmas. Let me know. ♥"

I created a forest on my mantle and I LOVED it.
(this photo is missing one of the late edition trees)

I owned one little one, my FIL let me borrow two, my Mom dropped off two, my God Mother let me borrow one, my Step Mama let me borrow one and an elf dropped off one on my doorstep (I later found out who my elf was, Thanks K!)

Especially at night.

The colors were so cheerful.

Christmas Eve was spent with The Coach's family, his Mom's at 3pm and his Dad's at 6pm.
Christmas morning we open presents at home and then head to Nana & Papa's for brunch and presents.
Christmas night is spent at my Dad's.
It always feels like so much running around but we wouldn't trade our family for anything.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas countdown {continued}.

2011-12-22T23:27:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned before, I made a Christmas countdown activity this year.
The boys have loved it, I'm so happy I did it.
There's not been any fighting over who's turn it is to open the envelope because I alternated the envelopes red and green.
Go me!
1. DrinkHot Cocoa with whipped cream and candy canes

2. Attend Lights on the River festival-We had a great time at this annual festival. It was chilly with a few snowflakes fluttering about. It's always interesting to watch fireworks in December!

3. Make an ornament for our tree (I used foam ornament kits from AC Moore.)

QB's on the left, Slugger's on the right

4. Make gingerbread houses-always a treat around here. The boys love putting the houses together (and eating all the candy!)

5. Hang your2011 ornament-each boy picked out a special ornament for 2011.
6. Write a letter to Santa-this year's letter highlights? Slugger asking for a puppy and baby sister (NO! on both accounts) and QB telling Santa that the elves need to keep up their great work! Love the encouragement.
7. SendChristmas cards to the Armed Forces-the boys wrote awesome letters to some soldiers, I am proud of them.
8. Make acraft with Mom-I didn't take pictures of the pitiful craft we did as they were, well? pitiful.
I thought it'd be easier to purchase craft kits to put together.
I was wrong.
Slugger made a penguin and QB made a snowman, both kits were missing one eye.
they look great.
NOT.

9. Christmas movie night-I don't remember what we watched, it was a Christmas move from Netflix. It was good.

10. Bake& decorate cookies-we made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious.

11. Delivercookies to neighbors-Boys delivered before their soccer game, the neighbors were happy!

12. MailChristmas cards-coughslakchercough. I started my Christmas cards....I met a road block when I couldn't get my children to cooperate for a Christmas photo.
I'm aiming for Happy New Year's cards...or hell, maybe Happy Spring.

13. Makepaper snowflakes-another huge hit. The boys were paper snowflake machines!

14. Watchthe Polar Express-my favorite Christmas movie of all time, I hear the bells, do you?

15. Gather food for food pantry

16. Playa board game together-we played two games of Sorry and three games of UNO.

17. Buya present for your brother-we went to Target after their soccer game.
I survived.
I'm sure I've mentioned my dislike of shopping.
I gave them both a budget, I think they did well buying for each other within their budget.

18. AttendFamily Christmas party-I love my big, crazy family! We had a great time!

19. Reada Christmas book together-I purchased one of the $5 Kohl's Cares books, The Spirit of Christmas. beautifully illustrated book.

20. RoastMarshmallows in the fireplace and make s’mores-so this one we changed up a bit. We had just received a s'mores kit from Liz for Christmas that includes a Sterno burner. We used that to make our S'mores rather than starting a fire in the fireplace. It worked out great. Thanks Liz!

21. MakeReindeer food-I think it's better to be called snowman poop as it's white. Its actually this.

22. GoChristmas Caroling at our neighbors-this was so much fun! As my friend Becca said, I think it's a new tradition!

I can't believe we are down to two envelopes!
23. Drivearound to see the lights
24. Open a special present
Tomorrow night we'll load in the truck, in our jama's with our hot cocoa and drive around to see the lights while listening to Christmas music on the radio.
Saturday is Christmas Eve. We will be spending the evening with The Coach's family then the boys will come home to open a special present from us (it's tradition, new pajamas!)

I'm looking forward to doing this envelope countdown again, I need to come up with new ideas!
I guess I have an entire year to think about it!

Hmmmm

2011-12-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

Let's get back into this ol'blogging thing with some randomness....my favorite kind of post, eh?

1. two weeks ago, while I was peeing (is that TMI? It's my blog, so I guess not!), I stood up to pull up my pants and my blackberry quickly slipped out of my teeny tiny pants pocket, straight into the toilet, I quickly reached in to grab it (oh yes, I DID), wrapped it in a towel and ran to the kitchen yelling to The Coach to grab some rice. I dismantled my phone, while alternately cursing and praying, burying it in a bowl of brown rice.

Friday morning I put it back together turned it on. It lit up.....then promptly died.

By this point it had been 12 hours without my phone, which, for anyone who knows me, is darn near a lifetime.

I could not go an entire weekend (or longer!!) without my phone. I did have a friend offer some perfectly useful sliders but I admitted I was spoiled by a smart phone. I called Verizon, within the hour I became a new owner of the iPhone 4. I didn't get the 4s because I'm cheap. Lol.

So it's been two weeks since I drank the apple kool-aid. I'm telling ya, I don't know why I didn't get an iPhone before. My only complaint, so far, is that it has crappy phone reception. I usually catch up with my friends on the commute to and from work, I've noticed I have many more dropped calls since the iPhone purchase.

2. At the beginning of last week I was in a complete panic that Christmas was less than two weeks away. I quickly started some online shopping. Each night, after the family went to bed, I would take 30 minutes to shop and then log onto work.

3. Today I took the day off to attend Slugger's Christmas Play. He was a dancing reindeer. It was a well done performance by the 3rd and 4th grade. I loved it.

This afternoon I finished up most of my shopping. I need to buy one more thing and I'm done! WOOHOO. Have I mentioned my disgust with this whole Christmas gift exchange situation?
Oh, I haven't? Well let me just step up on this 'ol soap box for a moment....

See, I think the meaning of Christmas is lost on most folks. Heck, even if you aren't religious I think the spirit of Christmas is lost on most folks. I appreciate the sentiment of gift giving, I think it's become too commercialized. I think it's insane to exchange gifts just because it's the expectation. I want to go back to buying a gift for someone because I want to show my appreciation for them this time of year and buy them something I think they'll enjoy. I don't want my children to expect bundles of boxes, wrapped pretty, under the tree. Every year I stick to my guns and not buy my children much and yet, every year, they are excited and happy with the gifts they receive. I've not once heard them complain about how few are under the tree. My goal is to get to the point where we are exchanging one or two meaningful gifts with each person and to walk away from the commercialization of it all.

Stepping down....

4. Moving on....let's see...I need to update you on the Christmas Countdown too, huh.
How about tomorrow, and my tree too?

5. I got a wonderful thank you gift in the form of a Barnes & Noble gift card recently from the Mom of a family photoshoot I did in the fall. I have some reading material for my winter break, I can't wait!

Ok, I need to get up and do something, I have a to do list a mile long and not nearly enough time to get it all in.

Have a good night.

{Christmas} countdown.

2011-12-03T13:22:00.000-05:00

Every year we have an advent activity to countdown the days until Christmas.
I find it helps me to slow down and appreciate the season.
Not to get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle.

In years past it was a fabric tree with pocket hearts to hold candy and activities.
Unfortunately the tree was ruined in the flood in September.
I needed to come up with a new plan...and quick.
I didn't remember that the tree was thrown out until last Sunday when we were pulling out the decorations we saved thus giving me only a few days until December 1st.

I decided to use what I had on hand.
I cut 6 12"x12" scrap booking paper in 1/4ths.
I folded each square into a small envelope, glued each printed activity and taped the envelope closed.
Since I normally hang the Dear Santa garland on the fireplace, I took advantage of the ribbon and attached each envelope to the ribbon using paperclips.

Here's our list for this year:

DrinkHot Cocoa with whipped cream and candy canes
Attend Lights on the River festival
Make an ornament for our tree
Make gingerbread houses
Hang your2011 ornament
Write a letter to Santa
SendChristmas cards to the Armed Forces
Make acraft with Mom
Christmas movie night
Bake& decorate cookies
Delivercookies to neighbors
MailChristmas cards
Makepaper snowflakes
Watchthe Polar Express
Gather food for food pantry
Playa board game together
Buya present for your brother
AttendFamily Christmas party
Reada Christmas book together
RoastMarshmallows in the fireplace and make s’mores
MakeReindeer food
GoChristmas Caroling at our neighbors
Drivearound to see the lights
Open a special present

When the boys woke up Thursday morning they were so excited to open the first envelope.

Thursday, after dinner, we had delicious hot chocolate with whipped cream and a candy cane.

Last night we attended the Lights on the River festival.

Today the boys and I made a Christmas ornament and wooden gingerbread photo frames while The Coach is hunting,

Tomorrow is Gingerbread houses, shhh...don't tell the boys!

Do you do anything to count down the days until Christmas?

hmmmm.

2011-11-28T19:56:00.000-05:00

It's Monday.
I'm not a fan of the Monday after holiday weekends...or vacations...or long weekends...
Heck, I'm not a fan of Mondays.
Period.

Let's see.
It's cyber Monday.
Get any good deals?
everything left on my list wasn't on sale for cyber Monday.
Boo.
this morning I thought of two things I should blog about and for the life of me I can't remember what they are.

Oh wait.
I remember one.

A QB story.

On the way home from the tree farm yesterday we were talking about tree species.
QB said: "Uncle Steve said our tree was a blue sperm"
Me (peering in the rear view mirror to see if, at 10, he was trying to crack a joke)
He wasn't, he was serious.
I thought maybe I was hearing him incorrectly.
I said "a what?"
QB: "a Blue SPERM" emphasising "sperm" to be sure I heard him.

Oh my goodness.
I was trying not to laugh at his innocent mistake.
I look over at The Coach, riding shotgun.
He's doing the silent belly laugh as to not offend QB.
I hold in my giggle and say "a blue spruce?"
QB: "yep, that's it!"

out of the mouth of babes!

I can't remember the second thing....maybe it'll come to me later.

Sunday.

2011-11-27T19:36:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe it's been almost a week since I've been here.
I know I mentioned it was going to be busy....it was.
Let's recap with a rainbow list.
1. Wednesday I was off with the boys.
I worked a bit in the morning and then took Slugger to his 8 year well visit.
Then we headed to my friend Nora to drop off eggs and whoopie pies for her family.
It was so good to see her and her kids.
I love all of them, I wish they lived closer.

2. Wednesday night we met my graduating class for drinks.
I think we had an amazing turnout for such a quickly planned event.
It was so great to see everyone, we had a great time.

3. Thursday was Thanksgiving.
I spent the morning baking pies and my sweet potato casserole to take to my Mom's house and my Dad's house while The Coach hunted and the boys watched a movie on Netflix.
We had dinner at my Nana & Papa's at 1pm.
Food was delicious, as always.
It's always so good to spend time with family.
We pulled out the black Friday ads after dinner and made the plan.
My Mom kept trying to bale on us, which would have made me sad, as Becca says "It's a tradition!"
Becca and I headed out at 8:45 Thursday night.
She dropped me off at Target and headed across the highway to Best Buy.
The lines were ca.ra.zy.
My Sister and Mom met me at Target after their trip to Toys-R-Us..
Sister waited in the line with me while Mom waited in the warm(er) car.
After standing in two separate lines for almost 4 hours, I'm happy to report I was successful with my mission (and so was Becca!).
We stopped at one more store, and then to breakfast.
At breakfast I had the worst customer service and sub-par food in my entire life.
It was horrible.

4. I got home around 4:30am Friday morning and couldn't wait to crawl into my bed.
I was exhausted.
I woke up at 10:45, took a shower and picked up the boys at my Dad & Norma's.
While The Coach hunted, we headed to the movies: Happy Feet Two.
It was ok, the kids liked it, honestly I slept through most of it.
With my second wind, gained from my theater nap, I headed to the Walmarts to get more Christmas lights.
While there, I found red and white polka dot wrapping paper to replace the wrapping paper I lost in the flood,
Wrapping paper is so expensive, I had told the kids I was wrapping presents in newspaper this year, that I would need to wait for the after Christmas sale to rebuild my wrapping paper inventory.
I just couldn't pass up polka dot paper!!

5. I didn't feel like cooking so I picked up some Digorno's for dinner.
Saturday night, after putting the boys in bed, I headed back out to AC Moore and Michaels.
I can't remember what I went for nor can I remember if I got it but I can say I got a stack of those plastic Chinese take-out containers for my cookies this year; some craft activities to keep the kids busy; and Christmas cards

6. Saturday I did housework while The Coach hunted.
Saturday night we celebrated the wedding of our friends Shawna & Tom.
We had a great time, the boys spent the night at Nana & Papa's.

7. This morning we were up bright and early to pick up the boys and Nana and head to Papa's fire hall for pancake breakfast.
After breakfast we headed out for our annual hike around the tree farm.
The weather was amazing, thankfully, as it took several fields to find the "perfect" tree.

I'm typing this post by the glow of the decorated tree with Sophie kitty sitting on my chest/shoulder, purring away, the boys nestled in their beds and The Coach outside with the neighbor making our house look Griswold-like too.

now I realize how busy I've been this weekend, explaining why I feel so dang tired!
How was your Thanksgiving?
Did you brave the crowds and do some shopping?

capturing {monday}

2011-11-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

Mondays are really truly my least favorite day of the week.
They always feel so rushed.
The weekends are typically only 2 days but it feels like we are re-acquainting ourselves with the weekday routine every Monday morning.
Add to that, music lessons Monday night.
They are only an hour and 7 minutes from home.
I mind them more in the summer when it feels like I'm sitting still for an hour when I could be doing something "productive" outside.
In the winter it's already dark when we head up the hill, so it's not so bad.
I usually camp myself on the sofa, the spot closest to the teacher's glowing coal stove.
We bring homework to check or books to read.
If no homework, you'll find QB playing with matchbox cars or reading his Nook and Slugger playing with Lego's.

Tonight QB put his matchbox cars in a rainbow.

I was beaming with pride as I watched him set his cars up.
ROYGBIV order, just like his Mama.
I think EVERYTHING looks better when it's in that order.

Also, I got a text from The Coach this afternoon with a photo of QB standing at the kitchen counter, he was making me a surprise.

He found a chocolate chip cookie recipe in my recipe box and made cookies for me.
They were delicious!!

The best part?
He also cleaned up his dirty dishes and counter!

YAYAYAYAYAY!
score one for Mama!

weekending.

2011-11-18T20:56:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday.
whew.
Am I darn skippy the weekend is here.

1. Report cards came home today.
One kid rocked it.
One kid has more work to do in the next five weeks without his new DSi.
{no, g-rents, not failing, just not up to par}

2. Also got a call from the Assistant Principal today.
Yeah, that was fun.
First time for this Mama.
One of the boys got in a little "incident" on the play ground yesterday.
After our little chat tonight when I got home, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get a phone call like that again.

3. I have some broody hens.
broody hens=poop in the nesting boxes.
poop in the nesting boxes=poop ON eggs.
damnit.
I've been going out a few times at night to move the chickens back to the roosting bar.
so far it's not working.
drat.

4. The ladies have been producing, on average, 10 eggs a day.
Not bad for the cold snap we've had (and the move back to standard time)

5. Tomorrow we have a soccer game at the dome at 9:30am.
Then we're stopping at an antique store I've been wanting to go to for months.
The Coach is off to hunt in the afternoon, I plan to roto-till the garden, clean the {poopy} nesting boxes, and make some applesauce.

6. Sunday we have Thanksgiving dinner at my Dad & Step-Mama's house.
I'm sure I've mentioned Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

7. I can't freakin wait for the next week.
It's gonna be awesome-sauce.
I only have to work 1 1/2 days.
Wednesday I'm off, I have Slugger's well visit in the afternoon and then a babysitter for the boys and drinks with my High School graduating class.
Thursday is turkey day, we get to hang out with family all day.
Thursday night/Friday is black friday.
Saturday night is a wedding reception for two awesome people.
And I believe Sunday we are getting our Christmas tree.

Happy Weekending!

bad habit.

2011-11-17T22:25:00.000-05:00

I have an awful, no good, gross habit.

Yep, I love fresh flowers.

I'm horrible at changing the water.
and even worse about composting them when they die.

never.

2011-11-16T21:51:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd see this!

Yankee & Sophie

November 2011

the wash.

2011-11-15T21:37:00.001-05:00

Do you check pockets before you add clothes to the washer?
I don't.
Every man for himself in my household.

Tonight while doing laundry I realized I had an eclectic mix of goodies found in the washer recently.

a button (from my coat)
a barrette
two nerf bullets
a cow (?)
a bouncy ball
a lego windshield
and my angel (for hope) from an awesome friend. she's almost always in my pocket, so she gets washed several times a week. She's a very clean angel!

I normally find {clean} rubber gloves from The Coach.

yeah, I know.

Weird.

I also find change.

It goes in a bank on the dryer.

I got the bank from my M-I-L.

I've found $45.21 in the laundry so far this year.

Not bad.

I think I should treat myself.

you know, for the hundreds of loads of laundry this Mama does in a year.

Maybe a massage?

Ha.

A girl can dream.

Find anything interesting in the pockets of your family?

{manic} monday.

2011-11-14T23:22:00.000-05:00

How was your Monday?
Mine was all over the map.

1. The dog ate Slugger's library book.
Really.
I ordered a new one form Amazon to replace it and wrote a note to the Librarian.
I'm sure I was the butt of a few jokes in the teacher's lounge.

2. I worked almost 13 hours today.
You'd think I'd be tired.
But I'm not.
I was on a roll until the {damn} system crashed.

3. I baked two pumpkin pies tonight for The Coach's Thanksgiving luncheon.
They look pretty darn good.

4. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I can't believe it's next week!
Where does the time go?
Its my favorite holiday.
No pressure.
Just lots of time with family and good food.
That also means black Friday shopping, do you brave the crowds and craziness?
I hate shopping...unless it's black Friday.
I only tolerate it because it's tradition and the day {or wee hours of the morn} are usually filled with lots of laughs.

5. Black Friday...that means I need to get serious about the shopping list...
which means my kids need to get serious about their Christmas lists.
QB wants to attach the entire lego catalog to his letter to Santa.
That kid has big wishes....

6. I bought two bushels of apples yesterday.
I need to find time this week to make applesauce.

7. My ladies are producing between 9-12 eggs a day.
That's pretty darn awesome since the days are shorter.
I have one pesky lady who keeps roosting in the nesting box, thus filling it with chicken poo.
I've pulled her out and placed her on the roosting bars for three days...

Alrighty, another brain dump from me.
You're welcome.
HA!
Did your week start out ok?

sunday.

2011-11-13T07:33:00.000-05:00

1. it's only 7:30 and Slugger has been in timeout twice this morning.
His sassy mouth bought him a ticket there.
This could make for a really long day.

2. The boys had their first in-door soccer game yesterday.
It was at The Dome.
It's the largest dome in the country.
It's 200 yards long and 80 yards wide.
There were 6 games going on at the same time.
You'd think it would be exceptionally loud.
With lots of cheering fans.
In fact, it was really difficult to hear in there.
The acoustics were horrible.
Along with the lights.
So no decent photos from yesterday.

3. i also worked 8 hours yesterday.
bah.
whatevs.
had to be done.

4. My neighbor across the road put up their Christmas decorations yesterday.
My next door neighbor is going to totally go all Griswold on me.
He was unpacking ONE {of two}of his moving trucks full of decorations last weekend.
I'm totally going to look like the scrooge of the neighborhood.

5. I'm indecisive about what I want to do today.
I've finished the laundry.
I need to empty the dishwasher.
I feel like I could almost start Christmas shopping.
Almost.
I hate shopping.
I probably should just start when the mood strikes me.
Nah.

Ok off to find something to do.
Hope you have a great Sunday.

{new} chooks.

2011-11-12T07:15:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday I drove out with my boys and my lil nephew to pick up some new chickens.
Their family wanted to re-home them because they weren't ready to take care of them through the winter.
my thought: I've got 13, what's 6 more, right?

My plan was to sneak the 6 new chickens on the roosting bars under the cover of darkness.
It worked!
There were a few chest puffing/charging situations early Sunday morning to re-establish pecking order but otherwise everyone is getting along beautifully.
The first night I found the new chooks roosting on the coop step.
I picked them up one by one and put them on the roosting bars inside.
They've found their way in the coop, at dusk, since.
They seem to be quite sweet ladies.

We've added 5 Buff Orpingtons and 1 Rhode Island Red.

dust baths in the compost pile.

I love fluffy chicken butts!

She didn't want her photo taken....

And I have some sad news....
while I was home sick on Tuesday, one of the ladies flew over the fence into Yankee's yard while he was out.
He did what was instinctual for a dog.
Feathers are everywhere.
I buried her out back under a black walnut tree.
I couldn't bare the thought of plucking her and adding her to the freezer after the horrible fate she met.

Rest in Peace.

11.11.11

2011-11-11T20:52:00.001-05:00

Happy Veteran's Day

to all past and present Vet's

(and their families).

Their sacrifice is huge.

Thank you so much for your service.

I have lots of Vet's in my life.

Makes me feel safe and proud.

My Dad

My Step-Dad

The Coach's Dad

My Grandpa

My Poppy

My Cousins: Bill & Jeff & Jamie K.

My friends: Josh S.; Bill R.; Tom C.; Thad P.; James T.; Tim C.; Karen A.; Cody G.; Scott G.; Maureen L.; and Rich C.

Hopefully I didn't forget anyone!

Grandpa {83}.

2011-11-10T21:26:00.000-05:00

The Coach's Grandpa passed away on 11/1/11.
He was 83.
He was the patriarch of a HUGE family.
He had 11 kids.
over 20 grand kids {+ spouses}.
over 30 great grand kids.

He was a kind man with a gentle smile and a great laugh.

The family had 5 hours of calling hours and a 2 hour funeral.

The funeral home was filled to the brim with people standing outside.

He was known for his kind words, helpful nature, and pride in his family.

It's often said about the family "you mess with one, you mess with the whole family"

I heard that often when I first started dating The Coach.

Grandpa also loved decorating for Christmas.

He used to cover every square inch of his living room ceiling with Christmas lights and garland.

His outside lined with lights.

The family put together decades worth of photos documenting Grandpa/Pa's life.

it was awesome to look at them and listen to the family reminisce.

Grandpa-you will be missed by so many.

But I know they will carry on your legacy with pride as you'd want them to do.

halloween.

2011-11-09T21:56:00.002-05:00

We had a low key Halloween.
It's just how I like it.
Halloween is not my favorite holiday.
The boys were the same as last year.
Their choice.
Made this Mama happy, I didn't have to shop for new costumes.
Slugger was a dirtbike rider {I guess he changed it up, last year's costume was the same, only he was a 4-wheeler rider}.
QB was a Ninja.

We carved pumpkins the Friday night before Halloween.

I took the boys trick or treating.

The Coach was staying with his ailing Grandpa.

We took our regular route and then I let them walk around a small block in our village.

At the second house we met up with friends and continued on with them.

The boys had a good time.

sick day.

2011-11-09T07:28:00.000-05:00

I fully intended to post last night.
No really, I did.
I woke up yesterday morning feeling like...what's that saying my Gram used to say? Death warmed over? Translation: sick!
I called into work.
I never do that.
The thought of getting dressed in anything besides sweats was too much.

I made the boys breakfast and put them on the bus.
I sat down to my computer for a few hours and worked.
My bed was calling to me.
I laid down for a "short" nap.
2 hours later I woke up to the boys getting off the bus.

I stayed vertical through dinner time and then crawled back in my bed.
I laid there shivering under a cave of blankets unable to get warm.
At 7pm I got up to lock up the chicken coop.
I came back in, got a huge glass of orange juice and 4 Tylenol and headed back to my cave.
I contemplated packing my drippy nose with tissues.
I slept fitfully until 9ish when I woke up sweating.
GROSS!
My fever broke.
I sleepily stripped down...I was SWEATING.
ick.

But I knew this could be the turning point.
I could be on the mend.
My eyes didn't hurt to open, my achiness was subsiding.
YES!

I survived the creeping crud of November 2011.
Now to keep the rest of the family from getting it.

I'll be back, hopefully tonight, with another post.
Don't hold your, breath, k?

{8} party.

2011-11-07T21:34:00.006-05:00

I'm going to be playing catch up this week.

A few weeks ago we celebrated Slugger's birthday with his friends and family.
He wanted a nerf party.
So I sent out invites asking his friends to bring their nerf guns.
I have a friend who has paintball bunkers.
I asked {nicely} if I could borrow them.
He said YES!
{thus making me a kick-ass cool Mama with all 8 year olds....and some adults too!}
Big THANKS for letting me borrow them!!
The weather was cooperative too.
sunny and 50.
Can't complain about that being it was the end of October.

one of my brother's in on the action...

Uncle Turk designing a "castle".

The following day was Slugger's actual birthday.
We woke up to presents and donuts.

I had to wrap his presents in newspaper as I lost all of my wrapping paper in the flood
{and I didn't realize it until the night before his birthday when it was too late to run out to the store}
He didn't mind.
I thought it was quite serendipitous that the page I chose to wrap his presents in had an ad using a Happy Birthday Cake.

We spent the afternoon at a football game.
We celebrated his birthday at Olive Garden the following weekend.
We also went shopping so he could use his birthday money to purchase an IPod touch.

Happy Birthday!
I hope you had a memorable birthday!

today.

2011-10-28T20:08:00.001-04:00

Today.
Friday.
I thought Tuesday was Thursday so this week has felt exceptionally long.

1. football ends this weekend.
I'm glad to see this season over.
It's been a long one.
Although, we have snow in the forecast and apparently the other team called to say they didn't plan to travel if the weather was bad.
So....this season might end....strangely.
Anti-climatic.
That makes me sad for the team.
but I'll get over it.
HA!

2. The boys are carving pumpkins right now.
This is the first year they are actually cutting the pumpkins.
In years past they would draw their design and one of us would cut it for them.
We've saved the seeds, I'm thinking sweet, roasted with some butter, cinnamon and sugar.

3. We got our first snow last night.
It was pretty.
and gone today.
More in the forecast for tomorrow.
I'm really not ready for winter.

4. I need to button up the coop for winter this weekend.
The ladies are definitely laying less eggs now that the days are shorter.

5. We also plan to take Slugger out for a belated birthday dinner.
and shopping.
He wants to buy an ipod touch with his birthday money.

6. Halloween is Monday.
To say I'm not prepared is an understatement.
I'm not sure the boys have even decided what they want to be.
QB talked about a "ninja' and Slugger said "hippie" followed by "Gangsta".
I'm not sure if we need to buy something to create these costumes or if they are gonna work with what they have....I'm not sure we have anything Gangsta and I'm not sure what Slugger's definition of a hippie is.
I think if you asked The Coach, he'd tell you that Mama is a hippie.
LOL.

7. I need to clean out the fridge.
and get groceries.
Before groceries, a meal plan.

8. I'm still working on the bath/laundry room renovation.
We are still without a door.
and much on the walls.
I'll take photos if I ever get it done.
I'm still loving the paint color, though.

9. Sophie is amazing.
seriously.
She's brought so much joy to our lives.

ok.
how's that for a brain dump.
Gotta jet.
That fridge needs some attention.

Happy Friday {night}.
Hope you have a fantastic weekend.

{peace.}

{eight.}

2011-10-23T19:45:00.001-04:00

Today is Slugger's eighth birthday.
I can't believe my baby is EIGHT.
I know every parent says it, but where oh where did the time go?

So Buddy, for your eighth birthday I'm going to list eight things about ya.

1. You're thoughtful.
2. You're sensitive.
3. You love music-always singing and dancing.
4. You're dramatic.
5. You're funny.
6. You're MESSY.
7. You're talkative; you will talk to anyone who will listen.
8. You are so loved by your family :)

Happy Birthday!

We celebrated with an awesome Nerf party yesterday.
Today was filled with bagels and donuts for birthday breakfast and a football game this afternoon.

weekending.

2011-10-17T21:00:00.000-04:00

Most Mondays I wish I had 3 day weekends.
This weekend being no exception.

Saturday we had a football game in a town 50 minutes away.
We left the house at 10:45am.
We didn't get back until 8:30pm.
After the game, we attending the birthday party of a very special 3 year old.

Sunday I wanted to check some things off my to do list....that's growing by the moment.
Once the kids were up, we took a quick trip to the local pumpkin farm.
It's tradition....
and expensive!
Lesson learned: I need to plant more pumpkins next year.

Once home I wiped down the cabinets and dusted.
While rotating laundry (having gone without our own washer and dryer for a month because of the flood, I can tell you that I'm so so so thankful to be able to do such a mundane task in my own home again...)
The dry {somewhat warm} weather was calling to me.
I needed to be outside.
I harvested the last of the peppers and then pulled the plants.

Then came potatoes.
Since it was my first year planting potatoes {and I took the non-traditional route planting them in a barrel}, I was excited to see how many I'd have, if any.

Harvest: about 10 pounds.

I would have liked more but am pleased with my first potato harvest.

Oh and I finally took a photo of my cool $10 yard sale purchase.
New {to me} stools for the island.
I've been eyeing this exact style since we built the island.

And the most exciting news from the weekend?!?!!?

I finally have one araucana laying eggs.
Isn't the egg beautiful?!!?

Sunday afternoon was spent in the woods cutting wood for my Dad.

I love being in the woods.

It was peaceful {besides the sounds of the chainsaw}.

The boys had a great time playing on the leaf covered trails.

Tonight I harvested the very last crop from the garden.

Brussel sprouts.

I peeled, blanched and froze all of them.
Next year I need to plant more plants.
These guys didn't have the best start in the garden.
I lost half my plants in the spring, seemingly over night.
Again, I'm pleased with any harvest.

How was your weekend?

meet sophie.

2011-10-11T20:35:00.000-04:00

Sophie.
Our newest family member.

She's adorable.

Lovable.

Playful.
Did I mention adorable?
Seriously.

Happy Saturday.

2011-10-08T07:35:00.000-04:00

The weekend is here!
Woooo-weeee!
This was a long, busy week.

I'm happy to report my 3rd child {camera} is back home!
I've not taken her out of the box yet, tho.

Let's see....
I'm thinkin' this random post {re-capping the last few weeks} would be the perfect opportunity to bring back rainbow lists!

1. In September I went back out to Linda's CSA to pick up two more bushels of corn that were lost in the flood.
I blanched and froze corn for almost two hours!
This will be so great throughout the winter.

2. I've also canned 16 quarts of sliced pears, 16 half pints of pear butter and 4 quarts of pickled hot peppers {for my Dad}.
(This pic was taken before I washed and labeled the jars so the jars are still covered with my hard water sediment from the canner )

3. My ladies have been laying some crazy eggs.
I took this photo one day this week.
Someone is laying a double yolker like every other day.
Can we say "yeeaaoouucchh" ?
The Araucana still aren't laying!
{sad face}

4. Sometime last week I sent an email to CSA Linda and asked to buy some pie pumpkins.
She didn't have any extras to sell(!)
No problem, I'll call another farm, nope, they didn't have any either.
Ok, I wasn't really panicking until I want to our grocery store to buy a can to hold me over until I could get my hands on some pie pumpkins to roast and freeze.
THEY WERE SOLD OUT!
EEK.
what you talking about, Willis!
I needed to bake a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting for The Coach's Birthday.
I didn't have a single cup in the freezer.
I went to a few more stores on my lunch, the day of his birthday.
I finally found pumpkin.
Phew.
Apparently there is a pumpkin shortage.

My friend hooked me up, making sure I didn't run out again this winter!
Two cases of pumpkin!

That's 360 ounces of glorious pumpkin!
5. Last weekend, that same friend went to an auction.
They sent me a pic of an auction lot of canning jars.
I said, sure, bid on it, stay under 30 (plus the 10% buyer premium or whatever you call it)
They won the lot!
I've washed and re boxed (the boxes were in rough shape!)

There were 86 wide mouth quarts; 4 wide mouth pints and 8 wide mouth half gallon Ball jars.
Yay! Yay! Yay!
6. Last weekend I went to a small local antique store while I was waiting for the boys football game to begin.

I bought 7 yard sticks (for a project), a half gallon blue Ball canning jar and the table runner (in the egg picture.)

7. I hope to share the completion of our new half bath/laundry room renovation this weekend that was prompted by the flood.
It's painted and the washer and dryer are installed (YAY!)
I still need to paint and install the molding.
Purchase and install pipe, and install the sink.
Purchase and install cabinets over the w/d.
I've washed 6 loads of laundry.
They new set is huge and efficient.
One bright spot in this whole flood mess!

8. This weekend is a local fall festival.
As soon as the boys get up we are headed out to pancake breakfast as a Sap House then a tour of the goat farm, maybe hit up the library book sale and a few rummage/yard sales on our way.
The weather is supposed to be ah.maz.ing.
77 and sunny!!
I can't wait!
I think it's going to be a great day!

Oh, I hear a kid up.
Time to go get ready!

Happy Saturday!

Happy Birthday Shout-out!

2011-10-06T18:37:00.000-04:00

To The Coach.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Thanks for only shaking your head {not saying anything} when I say "Hey, I have an idea..." or when I bring home {cool} stuff I picked up off the side of the road, or at the thrift store or a yard sale.
Thanks for being the family mechanic.
I'm thankful you can lift heavy objects and aren't afraid of heights.
Thanks for coaching our boys, they love that time with you.

I hope you enjoy your pumpkin cake and pumpkin ice cream.
{I had to go to three stores before I found a can of pumpkin!}

I would insert an embarrassing photo here but I don't have one...that man is pretty darn photogenic!

Sunday.

2011-10-02T09:42:00.000-04:00

I'd like to say we are back to normal but it's not true.
My house is still a disaster with displaced items everywhere.
My Mom is still doing our laundry several times a week (Thanks Mom!)

The basement has been completely gutted.
It's now dry {again}

Since we were already ripping stuff out we decided now would be a good time to gut the other bathroom in our house to make room for the washer and dryer on the main level (with a half bath).

My town and it's people are adjusting to the {new} normal.

It's been three {and a half} weeks since the river and her tributaries overflowed drowning all towns and villages near her.

Families are still displaced.
There are still heaping piles of debris along the road.

Mother Nature hasn't been kind to our area, we've had another Flash Flood warning this week.
The river swelled again.
Thankfully there was minimal flooding.

As I type this, the rain is falling with forecasted rain for the next 3 days.
And the temperature has dropped.
It was a high of 50 yesterday.
Which adds a layer, as many families, including us, are without heat.
{we've ordered our boiler parts, we are waiting for them to be delivered and installed}

There have been some bright spots for me in the last three weeks.

1. On the 13th The Coach and I celebrated our 14th Anniversary.
We paused the flood cleanup/repairs and headed to a local Winery for lunch.
If you are local, I highly recommend Crystal Lake Cafe at Americana Vineyards.
We had an amazing lunch and wine tasting.
The drive is beautiful.
The restored barn that houses the tasting room is amazing.

2. The 14th the boys returned to school after several days off because of the flooding.
It was good {for all of us} to return to our schedule.

3. We had the 23rd as a planned day off for a month.
The plan=golfing while the kids were in school with our friends.
Instead, our sweet friends took us on a little wine tour on Seneca Lake.
It was good to get away and we had a great time.
I even had a sweet friend contact my other friend to buy me wine, from them.
Very thoughtful.

4. I bought our new washer and dryer on Thursday.
I'm excited to get the room done to start using them!

5. Yesterday morning I hit up a wicked awesome barn sale.
I found a few goodies I can't wait to share.
But let me talk about the barn.
The owners did an amazing job restoring it.
It's gorgeous!
I wish my camera wasn't in the shop, I would have been like paparazzi for that barn!

6. I've canned 16 quarts of sliced pears and I have pear butter simmering on the stove right now.
I still have hot peppers to pickle and apples for applesauce.
I've also froze 2 bushels of corn.

7. The ladies have been laying 10 eggs a day.
It appears the Auracanas are the only one's left to start.
I've got some amazing egg customers already!
Thanks everyone!

Ok, I need to go finish sanding the bathroom.
It would be awesome if I could get the painting done and the floor installed today.

Have a great Sunday.

flood.

2011-09-13T06:58:00.000-04:00

My beautiful little area of New York State was hit by Tropical Storm Lee who dumped a foot of rain in our area forcing the mighty Susquehanna River (I posted about the river here) and her tributaries to overflow banks and flood surrounding areas.

Here are some aerial shots of my towns....

downtown Owego

My house would be about 1.5 inches to the left of this photo in the bottom corner.

our high school

Unfortunately our home was not spared.

We had over 3 feet of water in our basement, saturating everything in our family room and storage room.

Our furnance, water heater, washer/dryer and chest freezer are water logged.

There were several days without sleep in our house as The Coach and I were up monitoring the sump pumps and the generator.

It's been very stressful, i keep reminding myself that it could have been so much worse for us.

I'm thankful for my "neighborhood".

Especially my new neighbor Rick who let us borrow a pump when our one little pump couldn't keep up.

I'm thankful for my Mom who has provided dinner, showers, helped clean up and washing laundry for our family for days.

I'm thankful for The Coach's Mom who helped rip up carpet and clean and sort things we were able to save.

I'm thankful for The Coach's Dad Steve who brought us a MEGA kick ass pump that pumped lots of water out of the basement quickly.

He also provided a dump truck to carry the debris away and a shop-vac.

I'm thankful for my Step Dad (Papa) and brother (Randy) who drove way out of the way, avoiding flood waters to get us a generator so we could get the pumps working again after we lost electricity.

Papa also provided another pump.

I'm thankful to my Dad & Step Mom for providing showers, dinner, letting us borrow two pumps and mowing our yard, knowing how busy we've been.

I'm thankful for my brother-in-laws Ralph and Steve, who helped us carry out furntiure, etc.

He also fixed our hot water heater so I could have hot water to aid in the cleanup.

I'm thankful for our friends (Rick, Christine, Dave) who have helped carry stuff out to the dump truck, provided a shop vac and then shop-vac'd hundreds of gallons of water out of the basement and provided meals.

I'm thankful for the rest of our friends who have stopped by, called, texted, and facebooked offering assistance, a kind word, or a hug.

I dont know where we'd be without all of you!

So if I'm not around much in the coming weeks it's because we are cleaning up our mess and then will move on to help clean up our friends and neighbor's.

Our towns are amazing, it's going to be a long road, but I know we will come back from this!

{15} on tuesday.

2011-09-06T20:26:00.000-04:00

1. The boys left for school with smiles on their faces.
They hopped off the bus with the same smiles.
I hope this sets the tone for the school year.
{fingers crossed}

2. I had a fantastic{me}day while the boys were at school.
After the send-off I ran a bunch of errands (dropped off books at the library; pumped gas; picked up something at my Gram's house; Agway trip for pine shavings; pumpkin latte at DD)

3. I added more pine shavings to the nesting boxes.
Yesterday we had a cracked egg because the ladies kicked out most of the shavings.

4. Speaking of eggs....it's taken a week but we've finally had our first dozen eggs.
Count as of today: 15!

5. I edited some more photos from a family shoot I did recently.

{all before 9:30 this morning!}

6. I headed to an appointment and then to the Antique Mall.
I got a bread box and a Horizon Blue Pyrex 2.5 quart Cinderella bowl.

The inside of the breadbox is in pristine condition!

A breadbox was on my shopping list for Bouckville.
They were way outta my price range there.
I'd been using the microwave as a breadbox.
Not at all convenient when you needed to unload bread, rolls, bagels to us the microwave for 30 seconds to soften butter!
We can't leave bread products on the counter because Yankee counter-surfs.
This one was perfect at $10.

The bowl was in mint condition.
It was $9.

I'm still looking for a {wicked} sturdy, kinda big, sorta shallow basket for veggies I harvest from the garden.

7. I stopped in my old CSA to pick up two bushels of corn from Linda (to freeze).
It was so great seeing her.
I'm glad we stay in touch via facebook, she's an awesome lady!

8. The forecast was rain all day.
They were wrong!
Thankfully.
It was chilly and overcast, felt like Autumn.
High near 60F.

oh my heck, I just looked at the extended forecast for the week, we are supposed to get 6-10 inches of rain between now and Friday.
please, Please, PLEASE be wrong!!!!
We just survived an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week, we don't need flooding too!

9. I picked some green tomatoes, getting to them before the moles did.
Take that, you pesky rodents.
Hopefully they'll ripen in the kitchen window.

10. I made the boys chocolate chip cookies.

11. Then waited and waited for their bus to come.
It was over 30 minutes late.
Apparently there was a new bus driver and kids getting off at the wrong house issues.

12. We had a tasty dinner: stuffed shells and Italian bread {at the request of a certain 5th grader}.
It was delish, if I do say so myself.

13. The boys had football practice tonight.
They've taken showers and are tucked in.
{tired}

14. I need to finish editing the photos.

15. I just started another book, its twisty and turn-y, I'm not sure how it's going to develop.

Have a good night!

(Thanks to my friend who let me borrow their camera while mine is in the Canon Hospital....again :( )

don't wanna forget.

2011-09-06T10:07:00.000-04:00

Both of my boys have a crazy sense of humor.

Slugger said a funny this weekend and I don't want to forget it!

We were sitting around Saturday night at the camp site.

Most of the kids are sitting in camp chairs around the fire pit.

Slugger says:
"Squirrel!
Let's kill it!
My mom can can it!"

Yeah.
He did.

We couldn't stop laughing.

{Silly kid!}

{un}official end.

2011-09-05T11:44:00.000-04:00

Today marks the {un}official end of summer around here.
Tomorrow morning the boys head back to school.
QB: 5th grade.
Slugger: 3rd grade.

{as all Mom's will say "I don't know where the time goes! :(}

We've had a great weekend so far.

Saturday we camped with friends.
We had an amazingly relaxing time with good food and great company.
I think every meal tastes better eaten outside, don't you?
We rode bikes, we read, we played in the creek.
we roasted s'mores and slept in tents.

It was good.
really really good.

We packed up Sunday morning.
The weather report was looking super ugly.
We didn't want to risk having to pack up the campsite in the rain.
Good decision as a horribly windy, rainy storm rolled through last night and decided to hang out for the next 3 days.

Yesterday we unpacked from camping.
I did laundry.
I finished another book and started a new one.
(Take THAT, Ms. Librarian!)

Last night we went to dinner at the same friends.
Another relaxing, easy night.
my favorite kind!

Today I've done more laundry.
Opened and labeled all the school supplies.
The boys packed their backpacks and picked out their outfits for tomorrow.

Right now I'm listening to Slugger whine because he doesn't want to do his homework due tomorrow.
Yeah, his teacher sent a postcard with a homework assignment due the first day of school.
Are you kidding me?!?!
And so it begins......

This afternoon we have a BBQ {in the rain}.

Tonight starts the early bedtimes and {strict} routines.
I'm not looking forward to the end of easy summer routines.

I hope you are having a good Labor Day weekend.

nuggets.

2011-08-31T20:28:00.001-04:00

{nuggets of randomness}

1. The weather around here is definitely becoming more Autumn-like.

Cool, crisp mornings.

Bright sunny days.

I've been wearing a sweatshirt in the mornings when I'm hanging up laundry, letting out the chickens and picking veggies for the boys lunches.

2. My veggie garden and perennial beds are starting to look scraggly.

3. I did have a decent harvest earlier this week...

4. The voles are eating the bottoms out of every one of my tomatoes.

Makes me so angry.

The chickens are quite happy with the left over tomatoes.

5. We've had two more eggs since Sunday.

Go Ladies, Go!

6. I got home from work tonight and couldn't find the 7 littles.

I called for them...

I called for them some more.

I found all seven of them in the woods.

QB said they "liked it in there because it was like a buffet!"

I chased them out, they finished grazing in the yard until bed time.

The 6 bigs were smart enough to stay near the coop.

7. QB and Slugger got haircuts tonight in anticipation of the start of school.

I ordered a new backpack from LLBean for Slugger.

I hope it arrives in time.

8. After haircuts I mowed the yard.

It smells like applesauce.

Yeah, you heard me right.

Applesauce.

A tree branch fell from a wind storm and knocked tons of apples to the ground.

I was squishing them with the lawn mower.

I think all the apples was the reason the chickens didn't wander back to the woods.

They loved 'em.

9. We're camping with friends this weekend.

In a tent.

Close to home.

So I can tend the chickens.

I'm praying for good weather and soft ground.

10. The Coach picked up 7 books from the library for me.

The Librarian looked at him skeptically and said "you sure she's gonna read all of these in three weeks?"

He said "yep, she's a fast reader"

I'm happy to report, I've read and returned 2 and started a new one this morning.

I think three weeks will be more than enough time!

Besides, I can renew them twice!!

(what does she care anyways?!?!?)

11. ok, I need to go make some banana bread.

and read.

ha!

houston.....we have our first egg!

2011-08-28T20:07:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned Friday, I was beginning to think the ladies were ornamental chickens.....
Apparently all the pep talks {and threats} must have worked...
or Hurricane Irene scared it out of her...
but we have an egg!!!
I don't know, I'm just happy to finally have one!

It's perfectly petite.

Speaking of Irene, I hope everyone is safe and sound.
We were incredibly lucky...lots of rain and wind, but nothing major.
I have some friends still without power, I hope it's restored quickly.

we've had a good weekend.
Yesterday morning we went on a bike ride through Shindagin Hollow with our friends.
Then to the ice cream store to restore some of the calories we might have lost on the ride ;)

Saturday afternoon I picked more berries with my friend.
It's always an adventure!
I think that will probably be the last of the blackberries...
{insert sad face}

Today has been low key.
lots of laundry.
This morning we headed up on the hill to Nana & Papa's so we could give Papa his cards and visit for a bit.

This afternoon I finished a book and started another one.

Tonight we had dinner at Dad & Norma's.
Pulled pork, sweet corn, and fresh fruit!
nom nom nom
I also dropped off the finished library book...no more fines for me!!!

This is our last official week of summer.
The boys start school next Tuesday.

I'm definitely not ready for the summer to end.
It took forever to get here and it seems to be leaving with lightening speed!

Have a good week!

Happy friday.

2011-08-26T06:42:00.001-04:00

1. Wednesday night my camera's AF sensor died in the middle of a photo shoot.
NOT COOL, YO!
It was just at the Canon hospital in April for the same thing!
DOUBLE NOT COOL, YO!
I contacted Canon, I'm sending it back for repair this morning.
probably a week with out my baby.
I'm contemplating buying a cheapo camera for a back up for times like these.....
The first day of school is in like 11 days....I NEED to take the annual first day photos....

2. Keurig sent me 4 free k-cups.
They want me to review them.
Thanks, Keurig!
(I recommend registering your brewer!)
French Roast, Italian Roast, House Blend and Colombian.
I had Italian Roast yesterday, delish!

3. Wednesday I took QB for his 10 year well visit.
78.5 pounds and 4'11", he was so bummed he was 1" shy of 5 feet.
Dr said he was perfectly healthy :)

4. I also bought football cleats for both boys Wednesday....can't they just run in sneakers?
It would be way cheaper..... {j/k}

5. Speaking of football, it started Monday.
This is Slugger's first year playing tackle.
I love football and love watching my boys play....
I'm hoping for a drama-free season....

6. Today is my Step-Dad's birthday.
I'm blessed to have him in my life.
I baked his favorite cookies, Snickerdoodles.
Happy Birthday, Papa!!!!

7. Tonight I have a date with my Dad.
He needed a partner for his golf league (my Step-Mama had to work).
I can't wait, the weather is looking good!

8. That {stupid} hurricane is working it's way up the coast, should be here by Sunday.
I pray that the damage along her path is minor.
Our Governor has already issued a State of Emergency.

9. Tonight we had BLT's with lettuce and tomato from the garden and local bacon.
One of my favorite sandwiches!

10. Still no eggs!
I'm starting to think these darn chickens are ornamental.....

Plans for the weekend?

Happy Friday!

bouckville.round 2.

2011-08-23T21:19:00.001-04:00

Saturday morning I headed out early with my M-i-L, Jari.
Funny thing is...she showed up at 6:15 in the AM.
I thought we talked about leaving at 7am, she's always early, I assumed she'd be here by 6:45.
I'm walking out to put something on the table and notice she's standing on my front porch....
I'm almost naked.
oh and I don't have any curtains.
hells to the ya, I just flashed my M-i-L.
I bolted back down the hall to the bedroom where I grabbed my robe.
Scooted back down the hallway to let her in.
She thought we were leaving at 6:30.
We giggled and I hopped in the shower.
We were on the road by 6:50am.

Last year I printed directions from google maps.
We had a few small issues getting home....nothing we couldn't handle.

This year we had the GPS.
I was thinking this was gonna be cake.
She (Mrs. GPS) took us on a very direct, speedy route.

In the truck on the way there, we discussed my shopping list.
This always works out in my favor, Ma always spots things from my list.
She's good like that.

We were feeling pretty good about ourselves.

We arrived at the field about 15 minutes before the gates opened.
We took turns going to the bathroom and then stood in line with the other die-hards.

They advertised that there was twice as many vendors this year.
They weren't lyin'!
Holy moly!
Acres of tents with all kinds of goodies.

First up she found me a scoop.
I was looking for a big one to scoop out the chicken feed.

It's big and aluminum and was $10.

The fog started to burn off.
It was becoming increasingly warmer.

We stopped at the food tent for some water and donuts.

Next up was a 444 Cinderella green Cinderella bowl.
$10.
My favorite size, my favorite style!

Woohoo!

My final purchase was two Frigidaire ice cube trays.
My Grandparents had these :)
It's another step toward ridding my house of plastic....

I only took two more photos.
One of the pockets on this apron.
I totally want to recreate them on a full apron (I'm too messy for a half apron).

And the windmills....

At about 1:30 we declared we were overheating.
We grabbed some lunch (the most delicious chicken and feta wraps!) and bee-lined it for the truck where we sat in air-conditioned comfort and ate our wraps.
The thermometer in the truck said it was 91 degrees.
Mighty hot to be walking around a huge field.
We were both so excited that the weather report was no rain, that neither of us planned for extreme heat, next year we'll be packing some sunscreen and hats!

I programmed Mrs. GPS to take us home.
We set out, completely trusting her.
bad idea.
One would think that darling little piece of electronic wonder would take us back using the route we traveled earlier.
No, not the case.
She took us over the river, through the woods, past many a corn field and mobile home.
For several miles we didn't even know what town or county we were in, having put our trust in her.

After turning on a seasonal road, Ma proclaimed "and this is why I call her the dumb bitch".
At that moment our GPS was re-named and will forever be known as "DB".

Thankfully Ma makes an awesome road trip partner.
She just rolls with it.

Since we were arriving back to town early, we decided to hit up some shops in our hometown.
Ma finally found something for herself and I purchased a bar of locally made soap.

We headed back to my house where we unpacked our purchases and shared our travel stories with The Coach who just shook his head.

I can't wait until next year, we've already discussed the plan :)
For anyone who travels with us next year, please note that we take the scenic route home, so dont be in a hurry!

I'm off.

2011-08-19T23:38:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, with coffee in hand and the GPS programmed, I'm off on an adventure with my Mother-In-Law.

I can't freakin' frackin' wait!

We are road-trippin' it to Bouckville, NY to attend the 40th Annual Bouckville Antique Show.

Here's a few posts about last year's trip....one and two.

I can't wait to share my goodies :)

twelve on a tuesday.

2011-08-16T20:20:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday.

1. I can't wait for the weekend.
I have big {fun} plans, I'll share 'em later!

2. I decided this morning, while picking a pepper and tomatoes for the boys lunches, that I'm not a fan of the scent of tomato plants.

3. Speaking of tomatoes, I need to come up with a better staking system for next year.
My plants have completely toppled over the stakes.
I've been re-staking them...it ain't pretty....or effective :(

4. The boys and I went school shopping Sunday.
This was the first year since kindergarten that I didn't have to buy QB crayons. :(

5. Speaking of school supplies, I love looking at the rainbow in the crayola box of crayons, markers and colored pencils...the perfectly sharpened points make me so happy :)

6. The kids have three weeks until school starts.
It's hard to believe summer is almost over.
We didn't accomplish much on the summer list.
Maybe half..we better get a crack-a-lackin'

7. My chickens are holding out on me.
Still NO EGGS!

8. Speaking of the ladies, they've been escaping the fence and not being able to get back over.
(they free-range when we are home)
Last night one was making all sorts of squawky noises because she couldn't figure out how to get back over. I went out to rescue her....she was so happy to be reunited with her feathered friends.
Tonight, when I got home from work, I found a few of them at the neighbors eating bugs.

9. I tried crackle nail polish this weekend.
I'm not a fan.
It was fun while it lasted but it's a PITA to get off.

10. I made chocolate chip cookies last night and melted the butter instead of softening it.
It resulted in really flat cookies.
The boys still ate them.

11. It's sad to see a few of my garden beds empty...I need to plant some cover crops for winter.
There are still a few things to look forward to: watermelons; cantaloupes; pumpkins; celery; tomatoes; Brussel sprouts; cauliflower; butternut squash; there are a few peppers going strong and some cukes :)

12. We've made some plans with friends for Labor Day.
I'm pretty excited!

canoe.

2011-08-13T11:08:00.001-04:00

Wednesday night was a beautiful night for a paddle down the river.
I dropped the boys and the canoe off at Marshland Rd boat access ramp and headed into the village.

and they're off!

I ran a few errands while waiting for them to paddle under the Millennium Bridge.
I spent a little over an hour wandering up and down the River Walk.
It's a 1200 foot long "park" along the river.
It's nicely landscaped with many places to enjoy the scenery.

I brought my camera along and snapped some photos.

The skies were weird.

to the east the clouds looked like they were brewing a big storm, to the west nothing but blue skies and sun!

east skies

I'm not sure what these rings were for.

They were about 8" in diameter and about 10 feet apart on the bottom of a few buildings.

I suspect they were for horses or for boats back in the day.

The river is ancient, formed over 10,000 years ago.

It's the 16th largest river in the US.

the Millennium Bridge

Here they come...finally!

and there they go!!!
Under the bridge!

I walked back to the truck to drive to meet them at their final destination: the river access point by The Coach's Grandma's house.
I waited......
snapping more photos

They finally arrived, they boys couldn't stop talking about all the things they saw on the ride.

We loaded the canoe and stopped for ice cream :)

I love creating memories for the boys.

barns.

2011-08-08T20:57:00.003-04:00

I love barns.

I have no idea why.
I've posted a few photos of barns in the past: here; here; and here.

I especially love red ones.

Although a few white ones have caught my eye.

I hung out with a friend last week.

We drove around a few back roads looking for barns among other things.....(bah!!!!)

(they were running errands, I was looking for barns).

I was lucky enough to find two barns.

We also passed a house with this gigantic cask in their yard.

I have no idea why they had it but it was wicked cool!

I'm contemplating framing a bunch of my barn photos...I'm just not sure where I would hang them :)

Someday I'm going to have my very own barn....

sunday.

2011-08-07T09:58:00.001-04:00

Happy Sunday!
Yesterday was incredibly productive.
As I mentioned, I picked berries in the morning.
LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of berries.
Very plentiful patches!
I'm so thankful my friend takes time out of their busy life to pick berries with me.
I'll thank them with jelly!
I hope to make it back there at some point this week to pick more for a few pies.

I had two big buckets like this.

I also got groceries and went to The Coach's family reunion.
It poured most of the day, I'm not complaining, we needed the rain.
We fished for a few hours, I didn't catch a single thing.

I made two batches of blackberry jelly.

I also finished the dilly hot pepper pickle relish, I have no idea how that's going to taste but my Dad had hot peppers ready in his garden and The Coach will eat almost anything on a hot dog!

With the left over brine I made 4 quarts of dill pickles.

This morning after letting the chickens out I checked out the garden.

I pulled the carrots.

I also have celery ready.

I'm planning to freeze the carrots and celery today.

The Brandywine tomato bushes are covered in green tomatoes, I wish they would hurry up and ripen!!

I forgot to mention:

Last Monday I got a phone call letting me know I won the monthly drawing for a local farming website.

I won two pints of local blueberries and two jars of local jam.

I picked them up Thursday.

I froze the blueberries and can't wait to dig in to the jams :)

Have a great day!!

new finds.

2011-08-06T07:20:00.000-04:00

Shortly I'm off to pick berries, I'm so excited!

Before I go, I thought I'd show you some recent finds.

First up:
I found this wrought iron pot rack at a yard sale for $5.
I've been looking for one for a few years but wasn't willing to pay much since I wasn't sure how long it would stay above the island.
So far so good, I love that it's freed up drawer space for my baking dishes.

Next up is more pyrex.
:)
a 404 orange bowl.
I believe it's from the friendship mixing bowl set.
4 quart bowls are my favorite size!
This was $6 at a new antique store in town.

then two cinderella casseroles, I believe they are both verde.
I got them at the thrift store for $1.87 each.

I also picked up these 8 corelle plates.
They were 37 cents each and were still wrapped in plastic!!

this is what they look like with the rest of my plates....

woohoo!!
It seems I can never have enough plates.
My preference is white corelle ware :)

I also picked up this Speed-e Freeze for a dollar.
I think it will work well to make ice blocks for coolers.

Find anything good lately?

Have a great day!!

explosion.

2011-08-05T20:42:00.001-04:00

whoa.

The garden is outta control!

I've harvested at least 150 pounds of produce in the last three weeks.

I've canned 40 pints, 6 quarts of pickles, 12 pints dilly beans.

I've made sweet relish, hot pepper pickle relish.

I've froze beans, beets, squash, peppers.

a laundry basket full of beans

banana peppers and lady bell peppers

another haul

more pickles

pickled banana peppers

Did you plant a garden this year?

If so, how's it doing?

I have to share this picture I took of my friends present to me :)

She knows me too well....

When she gave me this dozen eggs she said "isn't this funny, serama, araucana, chicken with a sore vent".

That one egg was HUGE!

She also gave me a quart of honey she had extracted the night before.

YUM!

last night.

2011-08-02T07:29:00.001-04:00

Last night while I was lying on the porch swing I inherited from my Grandparents, trying to teach myself to be still (while reading a book and chatting with a friend...be still? ha!)

(side note-I'm genetically predisposed to not be still, both of my parents are the same way..and, in fact, both of my maternal grandparents {and I'm guessing my paternal grandparents since my Grandpa was a farmer and my Grandma was a farmers wife, but I didn't really know them}. So, as my Gram would say, "I come honestly by it".)

OK, back to the story.
I was lying on the swing chatting with my friend via text.
We were sharing our point of view of the sunset.

camera phone picture

As I was typing that it was just "Yankee and I, and that I love sunsets, they remind me of the last few months I spent with my Gram at my Mom's house" a male cardinal flew by the swing and landed on the hook my bird feeders are on. (you can see them in the picture above)

He flew off before I had a chance to switch from typing to the camera app, but I know it was my Grandpa's way of letting me know they're around :)

vacay...staycay....

2011-08-01T21:55:00.001-04:00

Today was day 4 of my 10 day vacation.
stay-cation.

Friday was QB's birthday.
He received a rockin' drum set for his birthday.
I was so excited to give it to him!

We stored it in the attic until Thursday night when we brought it down, one drum at a time, and put it in the living room with a bow.

He was completely shocked and appreciative.

He knew this was a generous gift for his birthday.

I trust that he's responsible enough to take care of it.

I know people think we are nuts having a drum set in the house, he's played on it for hours and it hasn't bother me yet.

Startled me, yes, but not bothered me.

I love hearing both of my kids playing their instruments.

His music teacher arrived at 8am to set up and tune the drum set.

an hour later he was rockin'!

I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
Then baked a banana bread, canned 12 pints of dilly beans, 11 pints and 2 quarts of sweet pickles and froze 6 quarts of green beans.

We headed to an early dinner at iHop (as tradition dictates).
QB had his "regular": a make a face with only bananas and two strips of bacon.

We came home to boston cream pie and homemade vanilla ice cream with mini PB cups (although the ice cream didn't freeze in time so I let the kids have ice cream for breakfast the next day! Mom of the Year Award...pass it over!)

Saturday we planned QB's party with family and friends.
He's apparently past the themed birthday parties....his request: Kickball with everyone, slip-n-slide, pizza, red velvet and funfetti (cake with sprinkles in it) cake, with green, blue and yellow frosting.
Ok, that was easy enough.

I think everyone had a good time :)

After the party we took two of the boys friends swimming with us, we had a blast with lots of laughs!

Sunday was low key.
I did, what felt like, a million loads of laundry, dusted (giving myself an allergy attack and deciding that I either need to let the dust lie where it falls or petition my insurance company stating a maid is medically necessary), weeded the garden, filled the chicken waterer and feeder and took a nap (!).
it was short.
30 minutes, but it felt fantastic!!

Monday, we went to Barnes and Noble.
QB wanted to purchase a cover for his new Nook (Thanks, Grandma J & Nana & Papa).
We all got books to read this week.
Then on to Target so he could spend his gift cards on toys.
He made wise selections: legos, matchbox cars, and one DS game (and still has money left!)
This afternoon we took the boys golfing.
On a real course.
We took them to a local course, with short holes.
We played 9 holes.
I posted on FB "wish me luck, this could go really well or horribly awry!"

It went really well!!!!

We shot 4 over par (captain and crew).
Both boys had some really decent shots and were getting the hang of what club they needed, when.
I think we've found a sport all of us can do together!

Tonight QB went to basketball camp.
Up until 4pm today he kept saying he didn't want to.
I knew he was nervous about not knowing anyone and playing with kids older than him.
At 4pm, on the way home from the golf course, he said "Mama, I've changed my attitude and decided I would like to try basketball camp."
I like that decision, kid.
The Coach and Slugger dropped him off.
I received a text from The Coach saying QB knew lots of kids and was good to go.

When asked how camp went, QB answered "AWESOME, like totally AWESOME!"
I said "see? sometimes Moms and Dads know best!"

QB has requested a "stay at home day" tomorrow.
Sounds good to me, I have more than enough on my to do list to keep me busy.
At the top?
Make more relish, freeze some zukes and squash and finish weeding.

cooperstown.

2011-07-31T21:46:00.002-04:00

Last week we took a day trip with Nana & Papa to Cooperstown, NY, the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

We hadn't been before, so we were quite excited.

Nana & Papa picked us up at 7am and we headed to iHop to fuel up on pancakes for the road trip.

It was going to be wicked hot, upper 90's possibly 100.

I packed lots of snacks and juice for the road.

We arrived about 10:30am, parked and headed to the museum.

I was surprised by the detail incorporated in the building.

See the baseballs on the canopy?

There was also bat and balls on the railings.

Luckily we got there pretty early, it wasn't busy....yet.

(that was changing as we were leaving around 2pm)

As expected, there were many amazing exhibits showcasing the history of baseball.

Nana & I found these cards on the wall and preceded to answer the "What's in a Name?" section (we did quite well, I might add), then Nana tested QB's knowledge.

This picture cracks me up!

Papa checking out the Yankee's 27th World Series trophy.

The NY Yankee's display was awesome.

They had a huge screen with "27" on it and behind it were several monitors showing clips of the team.

They also had an exhibit "Pinstripe Pictures".

It was photos taken by the Associated Press through the years, documenting the history of the Yankees.

As soon as we left this exhibit, I found this sign.

OOPPPSSS!!!

We headed down the Hall of Fame.

Nana & the boys were looking at something of interest.....

An AMAZING carving of Babe Ruth.

After the museum we headed to lunch at this little cafe.

I had an amazing crab cake sandwich (I had been craving a crab cake for months!)

Then off to the Louisville Slugger Shop where Nana & Papa bought engraved bats for the boys.

While we waited for the bats to be engraved, we walked down to the Otsego Lake.

The houses were beautiful with pretty gardens.

Funny store about this plant below.

I was commenting how much I loved them.

I love their color and texture.

Nana said, they look like prickers....

Slugger decided he needed to see if they felt like prickers...

THEY DO!

We picked up the bats and walked in a few stores.

On our way back to the car we stopped at a bakery.

The kids were happy to have a cookie, the adults were happy to have air conditioning!

The boys decided to get half-moon cookies, I couldn't resist taking a photo of the baseball cookies!

The ride home was good. We had two tired boys who snacked all the way home.

Thanks for a wonderful day full of memories, Nana & Papa!!

10.

2011-07-29T06:30:00.001-04:00

Today is

QB's 10th Birthday.

I was going to do an awesome 10 list, but seriously, he's not changed much since last year's list.

I can tell you that I'm proud of the young man he's becoming.

He's responsible, caring, he wants to succeed and will work hard to achieve his goals.

He's kind, he's thoughtful and considerate.

He's helpful.

Buddy, we love you and hope you have an awesome, rockin' day.

We are celebrating today with cinnamon rolls for breakfast, dinner at iHop (it's tradition!), and boston cream pie and homemade PB cup ice cream for dessert! Tomorrow he's having friends and family over for kickball, slip-n-slide, pizza and cake!

random thursday.

2011-07-28T21:09:00.003-04:00

I'm back.
With my rainbow bullet points.
And a bunch of blogging ideas....now if the posts would just write themselves, we'd be all set ;)
So much to share, not nearly enough time to do it.

1. My 10 day vacation begins tomorrow.
It's been a long time comin'.
Maybe more frequent blog posts?
I make no promises.

2. Tomorrow QB turns 10.
Double digits....
we got him the coolest birthday present, I can't wait!

3. We're celebrating with a birthday party with QB's friends and family Saturday afternoon.
I'm praying for good weather!

4. We went on a day trip with Nana & Papa last week to Cooperstown.
I can't wait to share it!

5. I went to see a psychic this week.
It was interesting.

6. We hit up a few yardsales a few weeks ago, I dont think I've share my goodies.

7. I have a bachelorette limo story from H.E.{double}hockeysticks.
It wasn't so funny then.
I can sorta chuckle about it now....not laugh....just chuckle.

8. My garden exploded!

9. Because of #8, I've been a preserving fool!

10. QB's music teacher will be at my house at 8am to set up and tune QB's birthday present, I hope he's out of bed in time!!

I hope everyone has had a good week!

bring on the eggs.

2011-07-20T21:36:00.010-04:00

Well we finally got around to building nesting boxes for the ladies.
Yeah, nothing like waitin' 'til the last minute....
(from my calculations, the big ladies should start laying sometime the first week of August....)

I have to be honest, this project caused more marital strife than literally any project we've taken on....including deck building, complete room renovations including a bath and a kitchen, coop construction, painting our entire house....yeah, we've taken on some big projects...

I have no idea why.

I think it has something to do with the fact I knew exactly what I wanted, dimensions and all, and The Coach had a completely different vision.

But after two, hot (it was in the 90's), long, tense hours, we have boxes.

We recycled what lumber we could.

It was hard to get a photo, I stood outside, looking through the chicken door, for this one.

Hopefully the ladies figure out what these boxes are for!

I'm ready for some EGGS!!!!

I still want to put some sort of perch on the front for them to land on before they walk into the boxes....hoepfully we can find some good tree limbs this weekend.

While we were at my Dad's, I had him rip a 2x4 in half (length-wise, DAD!) for roosting bars.

The ladies have been roosting on temporary bars.

He got a little carried away with 45 degree angles.

He said he wanted to "round off the edges so the chickens didn't cut their feet"

He's such a good chicken grandpa ;)

I love chicken fluffy butts...

Last photo...

of Marilyn.

She's a quirky little chicken (araucana).

She's the only one really named.

The Coach named her Marilyn because she was the only "blond chick" in the group.

She's fugly....all white, blueish green feet....

She's not the brightest lady in the coop...

I'm hoping she's a rock star when it comes to laying blue/green egg!!

garden update.

2011-07-19T21:20:00.002-04:00

{I know this will sound weird.}
I LOVE my garden.
Like, really LOVE.
Truth be told, it's actually this section of my yard with my garden and coop.
I can (and do) wander around this space for hours...puttering.
It's definitely one of my happy places.

In this 2500 square foot part of my yard, I grow:

potatoes
strawberries
lettuce
basil
dill
parsley
oregano
brussel sprouts
cauliflower
broccoli
green beans
sugar snap peas
pumpkins
red raspberries
black raspberries
watermelon
canteloupe
grape tomatoes
brandywine tomatoes
pickling cukes
english cukes
eggplant
celery
beets
carrots
zucchini
yellow squash
acorn squash
red onion (although the vole ate all but 3)
jalpeno peppers
lady bell peppers
mild banana peppers
13 chickens

That list is so crazy to me.
It's rewarding and challenging.
It's hard work but relaxing.

It helps feed my family through most of the year.

Where is your happy place?

Happy Monday.

2011-07-18T06:06:00.001-04:00

Some Monday mornings I wake up wishing I had taken off every other Monday during the summer like I did last year.
One extra day to re-coop from a good weekend.
This weekend was full.
The kind of full I don't mind though.
Saturday was yard saling, gardening, chicken keeping, laundry on the line, swimming, bike riding, ramp building, and dinner with Grandma J.
Sunday was preserving, more laundry, nesting box building, grocery shopping, more swimming, dinner at Bompa & Norma's.

This week is shaping up to be a busy one.
Tuesday is hair cuts for Mama and QB and music lessons for QB & Slugger.
Wednesday we are taking a day trip to the baseball hall of fame.
Road trip snacks have been purchased.
If we are back in time, the boys and I will be attending Concerts in the Park.
At the beginning of summer I promised the kids I would take them to the county fair and the demo derby (what was I thinking?)
That's the Friday plan.

My garden is bursting: zukes, cukes, squash, peas, beans, peppers.

It's been H-O-T HOT here.
This week has temps in the mid-90's with only one day (today) with a chance of rain.
I've been turning on the sprinkler in the wee hours of the morning for the garden.

Every one's lawn is looking brown and crispy.
Ours doesn't yet, because I didn't mow this week and don't plan to until we get some rain.

I need to make some zucchini bread tonight, I'm dreading turning on the stove with this heat!

Have a great day!

it's been a long week.

2011-07-15T05:42:00.003-04:00

Whew, am I so thankful today is Friday.
It's been a long week filled with long days of work.
I think I've probably mentioned that my University is implementing a new financial system.
The road has been bumpy and greatly impacts how I do things.

I'm ready for a teensy break (Saturday, as I've been working Sundays).

Anyways, the garden is growing by leaps and bounds, I'll share photos tomorrow.
And....I found some treasures last weekend.

First up, this lunch box that my friend B. picked up for me.
She knew I'd been looking for one.

I wanted one for sentimental reasons...

my Grandpa carried his lunch in one similar to this, to work, when I was little.

I knew it would work perfectly to store the stack of cloth napkins on our table.

See those vintage cotton napkins on top?

I picked up 6 of those for $2 at a yard sale.

In mint condition.

They remind me of the 1970's kitchen of my childhood :)

My other {cheap} yardsale find was this:

7 jars in a bag labled "DAD 1.00 all"

buttons, safety pins, sewing needles and other oddities.

The safety pins, alone, were worth a buck.

I hope to get out to some yardsales tomorrow morning, I'm still on the hunt for a set of golf clubs.

have any luck at yard sales lately?

sunday.

2011-07-10T08:48:00.002-04:00

bullet points.
my favorite.
{quick and easy.}

1. We golfed Friday evening....we did horribly.
I'm still disappointed.

2. Then we headed out to hear our friend's band.
They were wicked good, I have their schedule in my blackberry, we'll definitely be going to hear them again.

3. The boys had a sleepover at our friends.
They had a fantastic time!

4. The Coach and I had a leaisurely Saturday morning.
I did a little housework, put luandry on the line and weeded a bit while he slept in.
Once he was up, we went out for coffee and found a few yard sales.
I'll share my treasures this week.

5. We spent Saturday afternoon celebrating N.'s 8th birthday.
The weather was absolutely perfect.
It's always nice to catch up with friends.

6. Saturday evening The Coach trimmed trees while I mowed the yard.
We had a late{late} dinner on the deck.
Reason 856 why I love summer: laid back schedules.

7. My garden is exploding.
so far I've picked:
6 zukes
2 yellow squash
14 pickling cukes (I hope to make bread & butter pickles today)
2 banana peppers
1 english cuke (the boys devoured it last night for dinner)
many sugar snap peas (the boys are eating them off the vine)

8. I'd like to take some zukes and squash over to the neighbor and ask about my yardsale regret: a vintage fold out step stool.

9. I was up at 6am this morning to finish my PowerPoint presentation for a 9am Monday meeting.
I hope it set a productive tone for the day. {I think it may be working: I've put three loads of laundry on the line, weeded another flower bed; fed and watered the chickens and composed this blog post: all before 9am!}

10. I have quite the to-do list today. I better get crackin'.

Happy Sunday!

yard sales

2011-07-07T23:55:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we hit up a few local yard sales.

The boys found awesome brand new {still in packaging} art kits like these for $1 each.
Totally got my money's worth...those kits have kept my boys occupied for hours.

I also bought a bag of clothes pins for a quarter.
I never seem to have enough....

Then we moved on to another house.
It was actually in their barn/garages.
yes plural s.
They were so packed full of stuff, it was insane.
I found something special for someone....its still a secret ;)

And this totally awesome, wicked rad, granny square afghan.
I mean, really, i'm.in.love.
I've been searching for one of these for years.

The best part?
four dollars.
seriously.
It's ridiculous, someone spent hours creating this, I'm thrilled to give it a good home.
It washed up beautifully and will be awesome to snuggle in to read a good book!

The last yard sale I stopped at was my neighbors across the road.
She's an elderly lady, I was sure I was going to hit the Pyrex mother load.
No such luck, but I did make friends with her :)

Her granddaughter had this cute child's table for sale.
It was well made, sturdy, made with real wood.
for $3.
I knew it would work well as a coffee table on my deck.

I'm thinking of painting the top in a checkerboard...we'll see.

find anything at yard sales recently?

our fourth.

2011-07-06T21:27:00.000-04:00

Our weekend was the most low key holiday weekend I think we've ever had.

Saturday morning we did hit up a few yard sales, I'll share my goodies soon.

Saturday afternoon/evening was spent at Bompa & Norma's pool.

Sunday was more of the same.

Monday we went to the parade and then headed for the pool.

Sensing a theme?

This guy is from the local Lion's club, they've sold brooms in every.single.parade. for as long as I can remember.

I loved their hats!

Another band.

The bands are my favorite part of the parade.

I always get teary eyed during this parade...specifically when the float of local Veterans rolls by and when a local band, The Kirby Band, rolls by.

I was especially sentimental this year as it was the first year we attended the parade without my Gram.

I did reminisce a bit with the boys telling them how my Gram and Grandpa used to give my sister and I $5 to spend at the local fair and I made sure I always got cotton candy. Gram carried on that tradition with my boys and QB actually remembered it :)

As I said above, we did alot of this:

and this:

We also did a little of this (for the first time ever)

Yeah, we broke the law as a family as it's illegal to buy fireworks in our state, so we headed south to pick up some.

Don't worry we are saving for therapy for the boys ;)

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

a day to celebrate our Country.

2011-07-04T20:50:00.000-04:00

Happy Independence Day!

First and foremost,
THANK YOU
to all the
service women and men
who have fought, who are fighting and who will fight, for our freedom.
Thank you
to the
families of service men and women,
it's a sacrifice we recognize and truly appreciate.

Secondly, I hope everyone had the opportunity to celebrate with friends and family.

This was the most low-key holiday weekend we've ever had, I'll talk about it later this week!

i {heart} summer.

2011-07-01T21:59:00.004-04:00

Summer is truly my favorite time of year.

Unfortunately this year it took forever to come and I'm already panicked that it's almost over!

Yesterday marked the half way point for 2011 and today is the first of July!

I love:

all the seasonal, fresh food

including strawberries in their red hair nets!

dinners on the deck

less layers and less clothes mean less laundry

laundry hung on the line

daylight until 9pm

gardening

bonfires

barefeet or sandals

lazy evening schedules

fresh air coming in through the wide open windows

naps/reading in the hammock

concerts in the park

Popsicles/fudgesicles

coffee on the deck on a quiet weekend morning

yard sales/flea markets
driving with the windows rolled down, listening to some great music

This week we finally got around to making our summer list.

Here's 2010's list.

What do you love about summer?

Did you make a summer list?

how is my garden growing?

2011-06-30T21:08:00.004-04:00

I'm lovin' my garden again this year.

I finally have peppers for the first time ever.

I planted banana peppers, jalpenos and lady bells.

I'm hoping to get enough banana peppers to pickle.

The jalpenos are for my salsa.

banana pepper

a teeny tiny lady bell

My peas have blossoms, I can't wait to get some pea pods.

I tried something different this year, i'm growing potatoes in a barrel, so far so good.

I do need to add more dirt to them.

My poor eggplant is looking so sad.

Flea Beetles are taking over.

I've been treating the leaves with food-grade diatomaceous earth hoping to kill off those little buggers.

I've made a note to remember to plant radishes near my eggplants next year, to bait the beetles.

How's your garden doing?

{more} pyrex.

2011-06-29T22:01:00.007-04:00

Yeah, I know, I have an addiction.

I'm well aware and I have no desire to cure it.

for some reason that sentence makes me want to break out some Bon Jovi: Bad Medicine

I ain't got a fever, got a permenant disease, and it'll take more than a doctor to prescribe a remedy...

I use my pyrex every.single.day.

AND my friend B. is feeding my addiction :)

I {pink glittery puffy heart} her!

She picked up this butter dish for me at a yard sale recently.

She paid 50 CENTS!

the same weekend she sent me a text that there was pyrex at a flea market

flamingo pink 024 2 quart casserole sans lid for $3.00

Then this weekend she went back to the same flea market and found two more pieces for me :)

#471 1 pint butterprint cinderella casserole in perfect condition

and a #442 1.5 quart cinderella bowl in snowflake.

Both for $12.

We decided the flea market lady figured out that pyrex was desirable and raised her prices.

I just love the cinderella bowls and cinderella casseroles.

I'll take them in any pattern, any color, any size.

What's your addiction?

{busy} weekend.

2011-06-28T20:20:00.002-04:00

We had a wicked busy weekend.
Golf Friday, it was awesome, Dad & Norma beat us by one stroke.

this photo cracks me up: You know you're in Upstate NY when there are dairy cows near a golf course....

Friday morning I got a frantic text from a friend who needed help with the flowers for her daughter's wedding.
So Saturday morning I was up by 5:30, racing all over picking flowers from people's gardens.
I made it to the clubhouse by 9:30 and preceded to make 2 small centerpieces for each of the 25 tables.

Saturday afternoon was spent helping replace my Dad's in ground pool liner.

The boys stayed with Bompa & Norma while The Coach and I went to the wedding.

It was a beautiful wedding, taking place at the country club the bride's Dad owns.

Sunday found us finishing up the pool liner, then my nephew's 3rd birthday party.

QB had a birthday party in the afternoon, I mowed while he was there.

Finally Sunday dinner and transporting several loads of water from the creek to fill the pool.

It was an incredibly full weekend, I'm looking forward to the three day weekend coming up.

Today found me at the courthouse as I was called to jury duty.

I know it's my civic duty but it couldn't come at a worse possible time.

It's year end at work and we are switching to a new financial system, saying we are busy is quite the understatement.

Unfortunately, they couldn't start jury selection today because the case before us wasn't complete so we must return tomorrow. :(

How's been the start of your week?

happy friday.

2011-06-24T06:26:00.006-04:00

Happy Friday, folks.

I hope you have a cruisin' weekend.

(hello! corny much?!?!)

We have a wicked busy weekend around here

starting with golf this afternoon with my Dad and Step-Mama.

I can't wait....to get my butt kicked!

ha!

father's day.

2011-06-23T20:56:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning the boys and The Coach slept until 9:30.
Slugger was up first, he came out to the kitchen to see what I was doing.
He started cracking eggs for the Belgium waffles while I started cooking the meat for Dad's big breakfast in bed (Belgium waffles, bacon, sausage, eggs and OJ).

The Coach was gifted his Father's Day present early, as we were in desperate need of some perimeter weed removal making his morning feel anti-climatic.

The boys gave him his cards while we discussed what he wanted to do for the day.

He decided he wanted to go mountain biking in Shindagin Hollow.

Needless to say there are no photos of the actual event as I was doing everything in my power to stay on the bike.
I did hurt my lady parts the first 5 minutes we were on the trail, that was not fun.

Thankfully it was considerably cooler in the woods and The Coach took it easy on us me and picked a quick, easy trail.

On the way to the trails, they were looking for the beaver dam.

On the ride back to the truck we stopped at a small creek to play in the water (I took photos...)

I also took some daisy pics, I love that they grow wild on the sides of the road around here.

It was an awesome day (even with my self inflicted injury), I love being in the woods :)

Sunday night we had dinner with my Dad.

We will have dinner with Papa next week (he was whoopin' it up in New Orleans).

I hope all the Dad's had great days!

schools out.

2011-06-22T22:15:00.026-04:00

Today was the boys last day of school.

This has been a school year filled with growth, lots of learning and more homework than we've ever had. We are all looking forward to the slower pace of summer.

QB, 9 years old, 4th Grade, Mrs. Flanagan, Room 37

What was your favorite part of 4th grade?

"field day"

What was your favorite subject?

"P.E. and math"

Who were your bestest friends?

"Joe. L.; Jeb P.; Zachary D.; Shawn W.; Christian"

What's your best memory of your teacher?

"none" :(

What are you looking forward to in 5th grade?

"having homework" (WHAT?!?! I think my kid is crazy, short term memory loss? doesn't he remember the raised voices regarding homework?)

What do you want to do this summer?
"Seabreeze; Splash Lagoon; Howe Caverns; birthday party and have friends over"

Slugger, 7 years old, 2nd Grade, Mrs. Hubbard, Room 11

What was your favorite part of 2nd grade?
"when I made goobluck"

What was your favorite subject?

"music"

Who were your bestest friends?

"Bryce M.; Damien A.; Philip R.; Lilly B.; Lucas D."

What's your best memory of your teacher?
"she is loving and kind"

What are you looking forward to in 3rd grade?
"math"

What do you want to do this summer?
"play in the creek; go swimming, go to Bompa & Norma's on Sundays"

If you want to see the boy's answers from last year, go here!

summer: bring it on.

2011-06-21T21:06:00.004-04:00

The calendar says today is officially the first day of summer.

It was a beautiful day, I'd be pleased as punch if the entire summer was like today!

The boys have one half day of school, tomorrow, and they are out until September.

To celebrate the first day of summer, let's check on the garden.
As I mentioned yesterday, I love love love being out there.

teeny-tiny baby cukes!

cherry tomatoes

yellow squash

lots and lots of zukes :)

this one broke off as I was trying to move it to prevent it from growing curled...the chickens loved it.

this pic is for my Mom....see the beautiful, healthy leaves?!!?!?

and a few of the chickens...they make great Yankee sitters....if they are out, I always know where he is...

I hope to write out the summer wish list this week.
What do you want to accomplish this summer?

monday....a week went by?!?!

2011-06-20T21:27:00.004-04:00

You can tell the weather is nice around here because I'm not blogging....
When it's a tolerable temp outdoors, that's where you'll find me!

Let's recap the last week in bullet point, k?
(It's less overwhelming for me...)

The boys had their last baseball game of the season last Thursday...(that night I started a post bitching about the lack of respect/understanding for youth sports VOLUNTEERS, etc. Its in my drafts, its still relevant and may be posted at some point....)
Saturday we attended our local Strawberry Festival. I was wicked disappointed, we stayed for the parade, walked around for about an hour and high-tailed it out of there.
Saturday night we had peeps over for a bonfire. It was a nice, relaxing evening. My friend S. made this kick-ass cheesecake bar thing, it was amazing. She's not sure she can recreate the recipe, I hope she does and will share!
Sunday was Father's Day. The boys and I made The Coach breakfast in bed (belgium waffles, bacon, sausage, eggs and OJ). After I finished mowing, we loaded the bikes in the truck and headed for the State forest for some biking. It was an awesome day, The Coach even got a nap in the afternoon.
A few days ago, a couple hours before dusk, I started letting the chickens out of the fenced in area surrounding their coop, to free-range. They are loving it! They are still being good ladies and going back in their coop at bed time.
Today I attended QB's Elementary Awards Ceremony. QB received a certificate for 4th Quarter Honor Roll, a pin for achieving Honor Roll or High Honor Roll every quarter this year and an Art Achievement Award. I'm so proud of all his hard work and dedication.
The garden is growing beautifully. We've picked many strawberries. I look forward to my daily strolls through the garden to check things out.
My rose bush is NOT dead. I was convinced it was! I've tried to grow roses for years without any success. Tonight I noticed it's full of beautiful, healthy leaves!

And because I can't have a post without photos, how about a photo that I accidently left off my last post (from my Mom's garden).

Happy Monday, folks.
I'll try to be better about posting this week, but I make no promises.

my mom.

2011-06-13T22:10:00.004-04:00

Today is my Mom's birthday.
We won't mention how old she is ;)
(you're welcome, Mom!)

After music lesssons, we headed up the hill to see her.

Nana & Papa live on a beautiful hill, overlooking a valley, surrounded by Mom's beautiful flower beds.
It's a little slice of heaven, unless it's November, December, January, February, or March (then it's a snowy heaven requiring 4wd).

When we got there, Nana was out mulching her flower beds.
She has amazing, beautiful beds.
Roses are her speciality.

She also has some pretty amazing iris.

We went inside for presents and cake.

Last year they built a sun room.

It's on the front of the house over looking the valley...you can see for miles and miles.

The boys asked to take a dip in the hot tub.
They stripped down to their unders (well not Slugger, he's my nudist)

The night ended with another beautiful sunet....
I can't imagine ever getting sick of the view or the sunsets :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANA!

We hope you had a fantastic day.

We love you!

make your own: ice cream

2011-06-12T21:13:00.025-04:00

Today was a lazy, stay at home, Sunday.
It was lovely.
I worked in the flower beds.
and tried to dwindle the laundry mountain.

The boys were complaining about being hot and bored.
(so soon? summer hasn't even started!)

I asked them if they wanted to make their own ice cream.
They looked at me like I was crazy.
I believe the last time I made this was with my Sunday School class 8 years ago!

What you need (one serving):
1 cup half-n-half
2T. sugar
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 quart size plastic bag
1 gallon size plast bag
ice cubes
sea or rock salt

mix half-n-half (I didn't have enough half-n-half, I substituted with 1/2 cup of milk, it was fine. Oh, and I used fat free half-n-half!), sugar and vanilla together, pour in quart size baggie.

Put ice and salt in the gallon size baggie, add sealed quart size bag with cream mixture, to gallon size bag and start to roll the bags around, gently. (obviously, you dont want to pop the bag with the mixture.)

It takes about 5 minutes until you have soft serve, homemade vanilla ice cream.

we sprinkled some mini chocolate chips in...they are already making plans for next time....I think I heard one wants crushed mini peanutbutter cups and one wants caramel sauce :)

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

happy friday, folks.

2011-06-10T21:28:00.000-04:00

The weekend is here!

Ya-hoo!

I can't believe my boys only have 1.5 weeks of school left, (in reality, 6 full days and 2 half days).

Bring on the summer, I've been waiting!

My gardens are loving the hot weather...me?

not so much.

I've been working in them at dusk...downside?

MOSQUITOS!

nasty bugs!

I need to find a natural repellent.

Let's start the weekend with some shots around my gardens...

peony

iris

deep red poppy

iris

another small batch of berries from the garden

The boys have had berries for breakfast every day this week.

I "caught" QB picking some tonight for a snack.

That makes it all worth it ;)

Have an awesome weekend!