Somehow, we fit it all in!

As much as I want to get those few extra minutes of sleep during the work-week....once my eyes open on the weekend, I'm UP! Soooo much to do all the time, and quite literally, there is NOT enough daytime to get it all done.

BUT....today, we did pretty good!

Yesterday in the mail, I received the give-away scrap box that Nancy (Patchwork Penguin) graciously gave-away earlier last week. I didn't even open it yesterday with all the tomato fun we were having :0).....

But nothing held me back today. My GOODNESS!!!! The "scraps" were JAM-PACKED in there! And....WOW! So many GOOOOOODIES!

In fact, I put one of the fabrics to work straight-away as I started piecing more 9-patches together -- a blue strip here, a yellow strip there

an hour here....

an hour there....

another hour there.... (working at WARP speed because I just wanted to get all 165 9-patches DONE today!)

And it worked!!!! ALLLLL the units for Blue-n-Gold Pride are now completed. And as BADLY as I wanted to keep going and start piecing the blocks together.....it was already 11:00, and I had LOADS to do yet if we were going to get out on that boat in the afternoon to enjoy the last NICE day we'll probably have before Fall weather really takes over.

From 11:00 - 1:30 ... more canning! 6 half-pints of pickle relish, and another 10 half-pints of salsa. Amidst that time, I also made up some lunch and picked up a friend of Cassie's who we invited to tag along on the boating excursion.

And EVEN though I KNOW Paul would rather have kept working on his yard tasks, (just like I would have LOVED to have kept working on B-n-G Pride.....

We did get on the road around 2:30 to enjoy the rest of the afternoon on the water. As we were heading through town, the Bank's sign was letting us know EXACTLY how beautiful of a day it was!!! 91 degrees! LOVELY!

Now, for those of you in the south, hearing 91 probably makes you say "ugh!!!!!!!!" But, up here, we may have set a record for the latest 90-degree day in September (I'll have to watch news tonight).

As for the water.....

Fa-Reeeeeeezing!

{{alright, alright. So it probably wasn't 32 degrees F, but.....it was COLD!!!!!!}}

But it didn't stop the girls (too much) from enjoying the afternoon. Even I dived in to cool off........and that water CERTAINLY did the job today!!! However, after lounging in the sun on the boat with legs propped up, face looking up towards the sun..... ahhhhhhhhH! It was a BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL toasty warm afternoon on the lake!!!!!

By 6:00, we were rolling back home to make sure we had time for dinner, baths, and getting everything ready for school. And again, amazingly, we got it all in, with the girls climbing in bed by 8:00.

While dinner was cooking and the girls were finishing their baths, I took the basil leaves out of the dehydrator to give 'em a whirl in the small food processor.

Using the words of Judy L, ..... they were pulverized to a lovely fine seasoning flake.

Paul knew what he was doing when he "recycled" some old seasoning jars after we emptied them. Golly...all I'd have to do now is print off an adorable little label, and I could sell basil seasoning for a living!!! ;0) As for the dehydrated tomatoes -- they weren't quite dry enough yet. I'm predicting tomorrow :0)

The most annoying part of the day: MY ALLERGIES!!!!!!! My goodness! The pollen count must have been SUPER-HIGH today! I even took a second 24-hour-time-released tablet (about 6 hours after my first).... and the meds didn't even TOUCH my allergies today! My poor nose! Thank goodness for Puffs Plus w/Lotion!

I didn't do much of any prepping this weekend, but I think I'm set for at least tomorrow since I prepped for two-weeks last weekend. Kinda nice being ahead. :0)