Life's happenings; some work and some play

Yes, it's a holiday in the USA today, but a day is just a day most of the time to Paul and me.    Work needs to be done...

... and it was.  I cultivated the main garden while Cassie mowed lawn.  Part of the upper garden was also tilled up so that the beans can be transplanted and spread out from the main garden.  In the meantime, Cassie started 'sweeping' the lawn to give us some grass mulch to use around the berry bushes.  And by 11:30, the day started getting too hot.

Which is when we picked up a friend of Cassie's and hit the lake.

The other two girls have been kidnapped by Gma and Gpa for a few days.  It's so different having only Cassie to worry about, make meals for, keep busy, etc.

Last night, after our shopping spree, we let Cassie pick the place to eat; she chose KFC.  And while sitting there, talking about what we wanted to do today, I had a weird moment of "whoa." 

Life would be SO different with only one child. 

Cassie was the only one who had to choose what to do today.  There wasn't any bartering that needed to be done because three different voices wanted to do three different things.  There wasn't any fighting nor bickering.   I know it would be different if we would only have had one child from the get-go;  but going from three to one...... it's just -- different.

Between boating today and watching TV last night (until 1AM), I made some good progress on the Woven crochet mat.

And just after returning from boating and dropping Cassie off at her friend's house for a night of music and fireworks, Paul and I made some dinner and talked about what WE wanted to do tonight, CHILDLESS!

LOL.  Movie was mentioned a few days ago;  The Lone Ranger seems like a good one to watch.

However, in the end, we both just decided that we would rather relax and stay at home.  Neither of us have really ever been "gotta-go-out-and-party" people.

So instead, we went "out with the old"...

...and "in with the new!"

Although, we're not really going "out with the old."   It's more like "move over the old and meet your new roommate."

With the amount of meat we are expecting over the next few months, and with everything we preserve, we needed a bit more freezer space.  And besides, we really aren't too sure how much we should be relying on the older one anymore.  She's put her years in.

So, with Paul snoozing away on the couch, and me clicking through channels on the TV, it's time to enjoy our relaxing evening :)

Happy Thursday everyone.

Feelin' the wind thru our hair!

It's almost Friday.

I have spent ZERO time in the sewing room this week.

The days have simply been filled with other things...

Monday; gardening...

Yesterday;  car shopping...

Tuesday and Today...BOATING with the family

So, Angela...

If you were wondering about my silence...

Wondering if I was suddenly going to post with FOUR finishes all at once before the end of this month....

LOL.

Nothing to worry about :)

BUT, I do hope to put some time before June comes to a close  {{JUNE?? CLOSING ALREADY???  Cah-RAZY!}}.  Paul is back working nightshift for the next few days; which will mean sleeping during the day for him; which will mean some "down-time" for me to get some sewing/quilting in.

Happy Almost Weekend everyone :)

A Sunday on the water

Some fishing...

Some relaxing...

Some local wildlife...

a family of loons...

and a Kindle Book.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

How was YOUR Sunday?

First Boating for 2012 summer

The title of this post says it all.

After hours of gardening, we decided to hit the lake at 3:00 for the maiden 2012 voyage.

LOTS of sun!

And despite the water being VERRRRRRY COLD yet, all of us ('cept Paul) eventually took a plunge.  I did one lap around the boat and called it good!  It was just enough to cool off.  Candace, however, could have spent hours in the water.  I am fairly certain she was a fish in a prior lifetime.

Captain Paul enjoyed playing with his boat and new trolling motor.

Today: The day is already half over.  It's hot and windy; we've spent a few hours in the garden already this AM, but I'm pretty spent from the overdose of vitamin-D yesterday.  The French Open is playing in the background, and I may just relax for a bit here.  Not really certain if my quilting room is in my plans today...

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)

A "poopy" Sunday....

No, no, no.....it's wasn't a bad Sunday, at all!

I'm simply Poooooooooooooooooooped out!

3 miles this AM with Bethann. Again, she pushed me not to walk at all, and the run felt GOOD this AM. And in all actuality, my legs felt REALLY strong. OO...Ooooooo...Ooooooooooooh! AND....I broke 100 miles this AM! (with about 75 of them since July 1st alone). ;0)

And remember how I said the weather was beautiful yesterday morning and the forecast showed more of the same?? :/

At 11:00 AM, BOOOOMERS hit home :0( We were right on the southern edge of the line of storms and it appeared from radar that it was moving slightly north, so we gambled and headed to a lake 25 miles south of here.

I ADORE this picture of "Uncle Paul" and Hoyt. And you can see the darkening sky filled with storm clouds rolling in in the background, heading straight for us.

However, we did the best we could (for the LONGEST we could) until the rain showed up.

AND DID IT SHOW UP!!!!!!!!!! No pics of how fast it came in because all hands were needed on deck!

It wasn't too big of a deal for most of us since we were already wet----but poor Ryan hadn't quite made it in the water yet.

BUT....TODAY!!!!!!

PICTURE PERFECT!

Bethann. See that beautiful (partly cloudy) sky!!!

Caitlyn and me

Candace and Bethann. This picture absolutely makes me smile----what big GRINS on their faces!

Gosh--Hoyt. I could eat him up! He's such a dang cutie and knows NO FEAR!

Chessa trying out the "spitting noodle trick" that "uncle Paul" taught them.

Paul, our captain.

And the kids did their best to torment Paul. It's hard to get the uppity-up on a 6'6", 230 lb goof ball! ;0)

And the "kissy-faces" returned today

But Paul better watch out, because his brother ......well...... THIS picture of Ryan is.........ummmmm.........**giggle**....

Sorry Ryan---that pic was simply too silly NOT to put on here! ;0)



I have a sink full of cucumbers waiting to be pickled. They were picked this AM after eating some breakfast while we were deciding what we all wanted to do. BUT.....well...... they may be spending the night in the sink with some ice cubes. I don't think I have enough energy to care about going through the steps of pickling tonight.

I CERTAINLY hope you are living life to its fullest! This weekend was fabulous with Bethann and Ryan!

Now, the countdown to the Marathon-relay with Bethann next weekend :0)

We put the sun to bed

{{5 minutes later}}


Some other "views" of the evening.......


I call this one: "Karate Kid meets Fish Troller"

And this one: "Work is done; I may now enjoy!"



Before we headed out, we each enjoyed a fresh-from-the-garden meal of lettuce, cucumbers, peas, green beans. My plate was a bit too green, so I added a handful of raspberries.

And YES, I did finish de-papering all 70-something string blocks AND cutting off the dogears from the HSTs.

We grew fins today

Yup....the heat was too much again today! I think we're almost sunned-out now; and thankfully the humidity is scheduled to break a bit tonight!

I spent about 30 minutes doing a swim workout, though, since I haven't run since Saturday night. I had to do SOMETHING because I'm feeling a wee bit guilty for using the heat as an excuse not to run. However, tomorrow morning, no excuses.

Also, before heading out (when the girls were in summer school), I managed to finish piecing Splendidly Marching Along, but the pics are still in the camera. Tomorrow.....

We're sprouting gills!

After picking the girls up from summer school, we came home to have a quick bite to eat and then loaded up the boat...AGAIN. CRAZY heat index of 110+ ..... with the humidity...AND the sun today. Blahhhhhhhh! However, after some quick jetting around the lake, we simply FLOOOOOOOOATED the afternoon away.

LOL! I guess Paul read my blog yesterday, because he was all about posing again today :0)~
"Strike a post"

The sun has most CERTAINLY taken its toll though! And with the weather outlook for the next few days being the exact same, we made just be sprouting gills by the end of the week.

OH! I also did some more piecing/cutting for Splendidly Marching Along prior to picking up the girls. Making slow headway there....