Oh that Bonnie; Friends; and SCHOOL SPIRIT.

AGAIN!  The classic moment of "trying to fit it all in!!!!"

The lastest news happened Thursday night!  Our volleyball team is advancing to the Regional Finals after a SUPER CAH-RAZY GYM-EXPLODING match against a number 2 seeded team (we were seeded 7th).  As a former coach of STILL some of these girls, we were simply mis-seeded.  Sadly, it happens every year.  BUT... it is what it is.  Thursday night was an AMAZING night of volleyball between two very equally matched teams.  IN-TENSE action!  The match went all the way to the final 5th game.... with a final score of 15-10.  The evening was DEFINITELY worth the cost of the ticket.  AND the gas!  LOL.  The town was 2 hours 45 minutes away----so thankfully, not having school on Friday (students) was perfect timing in order to send as many fans over to the game as possible.  I still had Teacher Inservice meetings yesterday, but it was tolerable; even with little sleep.

Upon leaving for the Thursday night match, some big ol' crocodile tears were rolling down Candace's cheek.  "It's NOT FAIR, Mom!  Why can Cassie go but not us???"

Yes, yes....Cassie travelled the distance with me, but not Candace and Caitlyn.  Oh dear.  The world came to an end.  LOL.  Yet, whenever those two are with me at local games, the lovely words, "Mom, I'm bored" pop out all too soon.  And too frequent.  LOL.  So, they weren't given a choice.

But I'm a sucker.

SO, .....

"Alright Candace.  I'll take you guys to Skate City tomorrow night (Friday night).  And you can invite a friend along."

Candace, my lovely lovely child, knows me allll too well.  She knows that sometimes...I don't always follow through, even though I have excellent intentions of doing so.

So....

she brought out...... the PINKY!

"Pinky promise, Mom?!"

So, Skate City last night happened, with a Pizza Hut trip ahead of time to boot!  And friend.

Caitlyn's friend, sadly, could not make the evening festivities.  Instead, we set up a short play date for the two of them TODAY, 10-2.  

Which brings me to the current moment.

I've been working on some new motifs for the Kaleidoscope afghan when time allows.

My first priority, this morning at 5:30AM (after a cup of coffee), was to make up a couple of blue-n-gold scarves for the game tonight!  

And, OF COURSE, the other latest news:  BONNIE'S NEW MYSTERY!!!!!

Q: "So, Amy.  Are you doing Bonnie's newest mystery?"

Bah!  What a foolish, foolish question!

A true Bonnie fan would NEVER....E-VAH... miss out on a Bonnie mystery!

Therefore, in order to prepare a BIT for the mystery coming out in November, I suppose I needed to spend a little time tidying up my sewing room AND try to (at least) turn her last mystery (via Quiltmaker magazine) into a flimsy with the few hours I have today!!!!

I pulled out the units around 10:00 and displayed them on the floor.

Then I spent an hour cutting up the last of the required units for the sashing.

But that's it for now.  LOTS and LOTS to do in the next couple of hours before needing to hit the road for the Volleyball match tonight.   And, yet again, the match is over 2 1/2 hours away!!! 

BUT, thankfully, the Farm is within an hour's drive of the competiton's school, so the girls and I will be heading out a bit earlier to visit a bit, then head to the game.

HAPPPPPPY Saturday everyone.

Oh my! 2 weeks gone by...

I don't think it'll surprise anyone that this has been the picture of my kitchen table on most evenings and every Sunday for the past few weeks.  I do wish I would get better at doing a quick, little check-in on a day-to-day basis, though :)

Cassie's volleyball season concluded with an all-day tournament last Saturday.  That alone is a symbol of how fast this school year is zooming by already!

BUT LAST SUNDAY..... I crocheted the day away!  

((and sadly paid for my lack of AP-Statistics prepping throughout the week!)) :p

The "hexagon flower" units were wrapped up late Sunday evening, and then I started connecting the motifs together a little bit on most evenings this past week.

Today, I finished connecting 28 motifs; the recommended amount for the Kaleidoscope Challenge given out by Mikey from the Crochet Crowd.  HOWEVER, now that it is together (with loose ends still needing my attention), I will make another 22 motifs (2 more rows each of 5 and 6 motifs) in order to make this closer to a throw-size.  Even Candace said "it's too small;  even for ME, mom!"  :)

Ah yes..... and one day this week while walking through Shopko, I came upon this lovely sight!

I didn't dare take a picture of my cart after the damage I did to this bin.   And in all honesty, I hit up the store twice that day;  the first time Paul was with me, so I only did a little damage.  But later on that evening, I brought the girls with me.  I couldn't BELIEVE how empty the bin became from my afternoon visit to my early evening visit!  I guess I wasn't the only one who loaded up.  This picture was taken after my 2nd dig.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5...

That would be then number of months that have gone by since the last of the "white stuff" disappeared for us in Northern Wisconsin.  Even though we all enjoyed the excitement of the first snow fall today, it's still waaaaaay too fresh in my memory about the OVERLY LONNNNNNNG winter we had last season!  *sigh*

And darn!!!!!!  I'm kicking myself for having my lazy night a couple of days ago!  I SHOULD have gotten my bum outside to pick the last of our tomatoes in order to give them to MIL.   We had our first hard frost over night for the past two evenings, so...... they're done/gone/damaged.  I suppose they still COULD have made up some great sauce/juice, had I picked them yesterday, or evening today.  But..... I guess it is what it is.  I have plenty of juice and whole-tomatoes stored away for my family AND for the inlaws.  It's still easy to kick yourself about letting anything go to waste, though :\

Busy, busy, priorities, priorities..

If I could find 20 minutes in my life to update my blog on a daily basis, I certainly would....

LOL

It's INSANE how busy, busy the day-to-day is!  It ZOOOOMS by!  

I mean....come ON!  It's the first weekend in OCTOBER already!!!??!!?!!!!  

Holy moly.

Where did September go??

Caitlyn has dutifully been plugging away on her Pioneer Day projects with some assistance from Dad and Mom.   Here, she is hammering a pattern into a tincan to be used as a lantern (Project #1 - check.)

She took complete charge of making her 2nd project.....a Yarn Doll.  I never had a chance to snap a picture of it because she took it to school right away.

Her 3rd project was Apple Butter that we made up Tuesday evening.   Oh yes...we've been busy every night with SOME kind of preservation of some sort.  Tomatoes are still in full action.  Can you believe that???  LOL.  It's OCTOBER, for crying out loud.  This Sunday will be the LAST of our tomatoes, though.... ( I think???) :D

Her 4th and final project was 90% completed by herself!  She actually had the top all put together before I even realized she was making a quilt.  Little stink-pot!  :0)

So, I helped by showing her how to baste the layers together.  She quilted it with a simple grid.  I attached the binding for her, but then she finished sewing it to the front (via machine).

And then....bless her heart.... she said, "Mom, just so you know, I'm going to give this to Aspen.  He's moving away this weekend, so I want him to have it.  It'll be hard, but I know you give your quilts away all the time.  I want him to remember us."    Awwwww.

Candace has been reading up a storm, trying to challenge herself into reading over 20 books (or chapters) each month.  She accomplished the September goal. :)  Yay Candace.   When I asked her about reading, she said..."Ya Mom, I like reading more this year.  Last year I didn't even read 100 books, but I'm going to get 200 easily this year." Awwww.

And school.....wow!  Keeping me oodles busy!  7AM - 5PM, and then it picks back up at 8PM - 10PM just about everynight after the girls head off to bed.  BUT, the students this year are pretty okay ;)  Many of them have a conscience, and know right from wrong, and are willing to go the length to "do the right thing."  Bless them :)  {{And I'll have you know, this was COMPLETELY initiated by the students.  This was not a "I want you to write me a letter on what you did wrong" moment.  This showed up on my desk after class, completely a surprise to me.}}  Awww.

:D  Yup.  LOTS of great AWWWWW moments flying around this place.  Isn't life great?

Yep...even this student! :)  She and I are still often found at the kitchen table, nightly, working on homework, side-by-side.  Pictured here, she's just starting her Math HW.  Gah.......what kind of teacher must she have that actually assigns HW once in a while?!?!?!?!?!?!?  

;)

{{At most 2 problems on any given night.  2 keys problems.  10 minutes.  Doable, right?}}

And then.....Volleyball...

Volleyball...

Volleyball.......

AND yet MORE volleyball!!!!!

 Not to mention that we actually TRY to fit in some "dad" time when he's home and not working his own crazy busy 12-hour shift schedule.

PLUS some family time around a campfire with the Autumn season hitting full force.  Last weekend was reserved for family (at least until Sunday afternoon hit).....

And then it was back to more school work.

But even a teacher's brain hits a shutting-down-going-to-break mode EVENTUALLY!

All-in-All....

Life is pretty grand right now!  Flying by.  Filled to the brim.  But happy.  And healthy.  

Happy Friday.