1st Stove Lighting of the Season

Last night it was cold. Well, outside was okay...but inside, thanks to our super-duper insulation, it was frigid. So, we lit a fire. And made sushi. First fire of the fall which I immensely enjoyed. I think I used the word "cozy" at least 25 times. Perfect fall evening.

We've had some heart-breaking news lately. Punch in the gut stunned when we heard the news. This is ambiguous but the news is not mine to share it just sucks. Two of our best friends in the whole world are in our thoughts continuously.

Next weekend is the first weekend in October. And I couldn't be happier about that. Because we will get to go here to First Saturday Breakfast. Can you say, "homemade bear claw"? I didn't know such a thing was possible and I am so intrigued! I may not eat a thing between now and then just to save room.

I would also like to sign up to take this class. However, I don't really want to go by myself because I picture me and some 70 year olds with frilly aprons. Who wants to come to the peninsula and take a cooking class with me?

I've started a few Christmas presents for our nieces and I'm pretty excited about how they are turning out. I don't know if they will appreciate them...but I think all the mom's will like the cuteness of them. Just need to keep plugging along until Christmas because we have like 10,000 nieces. I showed Shane what I was making. I think I said, in a very excited voice, "Shane, come look how cute this turned out!" He took one look and responded in a very dry voice, "we need some boys in this family." No offense, Scotty Dean, you're just a little too little for football still!

Happy Fall

Fall is, by far, my favorite season.

I love orange, red and brown, boots w/ skirts, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pie blizzards, sweet potatoes, gourds, winter squash, fresh apples, cider (actually, I don't like cider at all...but I like the idea of it), applesauce donuts, pear crisp, stew, chili, leaves...you get the idea.

As soon as we accomplish some fun fall activities I'll post some pictures. Tonight, we have Pumpkin Pie Blizzards on the agenda. And, next weekend we need to shoot some photos for our Christmas card. Well, maybe. The grand plan was to get those done in September so I could take advantage of a super sale this awesome company was having...but it looks like that might not happen before September 30th. We'll see.

no fair!

We had planned on going to the fair this weekend. But, that didn't happen.

Shane was sick, then T was sick.

I did a witch-doctor curse on my entire house so that I won't get sick. I think it worked, phew.

Lately, I swear a lot. A lot. And, I'm not going to lie, I like it. It is such a release to just let a few expletives fly when something is really irritating you. The start of the school year is always a bit tense. I used to never swear. I also used to never drink beer. These two situations are not related but they are not mutually exclusive either. Clearly, neither is going to stop anytime soon. And don't worry, I rarely, if ever, swear in front of the children (T or my students). But, I might start...I'm just putting that out there.

If you want to taste some deliciousness, try these: Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins. Really good. I made some substitutions. I only put in 1/2 of each type of sugar and used a whole can of pumpkin (because who needs 1/5 of a can of pumpkin sitting in the fridge?). Also, I only used 1/2 the oil. Everyone likes them and they will be breakfast all week.

I wish we were more exciting around here...but we're not. Seriously, the start of the school year has been rough. Shane actually had to miss the SECOND day of school. If you know Shane, you know this is crazy talk. He has been so sick. No voice. Fever. No good. Which, means he hasn't wanted to do anything at all...which leaves me lots of time to peruse the Internet. Which, led me to believe that I think I need this dress. In gray. Not pink. Throw a t-shirt on underneath or a cardigan over the top and BAM your outfit is done for the day. perfect for school. Convincing, aren't I? Now I just need to convince my bank account.

what teachers really do after school

In my (our) defense, one of those bottles of wine is only 1/2 empty. And another is actually apple cider for t's first day celebration. However my defense strategy might come unglued if you consider I only had a 3-day week and Shane hasn't even started school yet. Could be a long year.

5th Grade!

Officially a 5th grader! Letting off a little steam after school playing catch....because, you know, 5th grade is so stressful!

Kittens and Corona

Summer flew by...
Some recent highlights:

We got a new kitten. Which we promptly named, Spike. Because, at least one of our animals needed to have a tough name. She is the funniest kitten. She plays and plays and reminds me of our niece, Madalin. She just goes and goes.

As the upcoming school year approached (much too quickly) the only way I could face it was one corona at a time. Our recycling bin is full. Really full. Too full, probably.

Camping this weekend at Rainier or Wish Poosh (Cascades). Traditionally we go to Rainier (read: get rained and rained on and freeze to death). This year, we hope to go to Wish Poosh, but it all depends on if we can get a camping spot.

My Mom came to visit and we canned peaches. Lots of peaches. She brought 3 big boxes with her. Shane keeps wanting to eat the canned peaches and I keep having to stop him because we still have FRESH peaches! He said he likes the canned peaches better as I stared blankly at him.

Tayler met her 5th grade teacher. New school this year. We spent a good part of a day walking around the new school and practicing walking to class, the bus, etc. She's excited and we are excited because the new school is a few minutes closer to our house.

Shane bought me a Gorilla Tri-pod for my birthday. So, now I can take pictures with me in them. This is exciting for many reasons the first of which is that now there will be some actual documentation that I actually existed in this family. I'm sure our decendents will be just thrilled to have pictures with all three of us.

Off to another meeting.