Energy ... bring it on!

My department director asked me this morning what I did over the weekend. "I took several naps" was my response. Maybe I skipped all the other stuff I did ... the naps sounded good. She doesn't nap. She was a busy beaver. I did offer to take naps for her anytime she needs them. How generous of me, hey?

I don't know what is wrong with me, but seems that I've picked up a second wind or something. Sunday I was in the mood for pasti for dinner. So I made 3 of them (pie size) instead of one. Two went into the freezer. Ching! I see sewing days or something like that in my future ... with good dinner breaks ... and more sewing!

Today I thought about a nap after work. I'm really very good at those nap things. I didn't take one. Instead ... I started puttering. I took my cd player (borrowed from a kiddo) into the master bathroom with me, hit the play button ... grabbed my spray bottle and attacked the ceiling. When we redid the bathrooms, the main bath was completed. Ours was not. Hopefully this winter it will get done. In the meantime we have a problem. We didn't put a fan in there and the moisture collects quite nicely in the shower section of the bathroom. There is a wall dividing it from the rest of the bathroom. It is a wonderful place for things to grow on the ceiling. Not anymore. I scrubbed that bugger clean. It looks so nice! I couldn't get every single spot off ... but I did some major improvement.

Then I think I moved to the plants on the porch. Not ready to give up all the flowers yet ... but all the other pots got dumped. Flower pots (the ones that I emptied) got washed. Ahhhh. Another check off the "get ready for winter" list.

Jari is leaving tomorrow and the weather is getting chilly. Off to drain the water from the 5th wheel. That's done! We'll cover it all with a tarp when he comes home. I still want to move some things out of there. Would hate to bury all the sleeping bags out there and then not be able to use them if we need to for extras. Found a bonus out there. Boxes of Ziploc bags, tin foil .. things to add to the pantry. Even brought in the tea pot. Am thinking it might get some use with hot cocoa evenings once the weather cools a bit more.

I don't know what posessed me next, but I was looking at the living room and thinking that maybe tomorrow I'll rearrange that. Why wait? It's done. I think I like it. The entertainment center is much too large for our small room, but I have no other options at the moment. I think I might like to move it out to the cabin at some point and use it as a clothes storage device. No closets out there and it makes it fun living out a laundry basket and suitcase. I really wish Ikea was the in the backyard ... or even shipped. That might be kind of handy. Gonna have to be Craig's List when I find a big enough rock with some green under it. The camera is leaving tomorrow as well ... will have to wait for pictures of this one. Must be back into that nesting instinct again. I've sort of been missing it!

What on earth am I going to do without a camera? A person gets mighty used to having that sitting around. Snap, snap, snap ... I love it! I'll be running around with my cell phone instead. The pictures on there aren't too bad either. At least I don't have to remember to adjust ISO on that thing ... not that I remember on the other one!

Enough of my prattling .... g'nite!

Joys, Sorrows and Blessings

I did try to get on the computer over the weekend .. kept getting interrupted in midpost and ended up giving up.

Friday evening we had our first Home Services in Alaska. I think they're scheduled every other month. Was so nice! Next time it's our turn at our home. We then dropped the girls off at Anna Siltala's to enjoy a birthday weekend of gal pal stuff. They had a good time for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning Jari and I headed into Anchorage to return a vehicle (our truck is back!) and so that I could meet the gentleman that Jari has been doing a lot of work with. Wonderful senses of humor with some parallels in our lives. We had breakfast at they Flying Machine Restaurant which sits at Lake Hood, the largest float plane "airport" in the country. Delicious breakfast. I'm kind of on a cooking strike. Not really a strike ... just have no great ideas of what I should be cooking lately!

On our way home we stopped and met this young man. A week ago we learned that Samuli is studying as a foreign exchange student in Kasilof. He would much prefer to be closer to believers and has been quite lonesome down there by himself. Alyx & Brock were out tootling around and ran back as well to meet him. I spent some time on Saturday filling out paperwork to be a host family for him. We're hoping that the school paperwork goes through and that we can pass any inspections/investigations necessary for us to host him in our home through the end of the school year. He is very gifted muscially (my piano hasn't been tuned in forever and sounds horrible) and is very active with outdoor activities as well. Let's hope and pray that everything works out well. The kids are all looking forward to having a partner riding the mountains at Hatcher Pass and hitting a puck around the ice on skates.

Today's technology just amazes me sometimes. We have web cammed (is that a word?) with him via Skype for the past week ... and have had frequent visits with his family in Finland as well.

Saturday evening I got to play. I call it playing. I'm sure Amber does as well. The church here is doing a fundraising craft fair sort of thing on October 31st. I've done a bit of sewing for the occasion (still have much more to do) and now we started making cards. We have a ways to go ... but every bit helps!

Sunday morning I woke to a phone call from Heini. We learned that Aunt Martta had reached her eternal rest during the night. What a blessing for her. Her illness these last months have not been easy for her. She has been able to be near family for the last short part of her journey here on earth. I'm so glad I was able to see her in June. She was still planning a trip here when I visited.


Jari will be going to Arizona at the end of the week to join the rest of his family. I wish I could go along with him, but am very doubtful that I'll be able to get time off work. We will have many years of sharing "Martta stories". There are many. I was blessed to be able to enjoy her in my life.

It was leftovers for dinner

so that bought me an extra 45 minutes of time .. or thereabouts. What do you think I did with it? Did I go for a walk? Do a video walk along? Nope. Took a nap. Then I looked around here trying to decide what I should do next. The wind was whipping leaves off the trees like they were miniature snowflakes ... and it wasn't a warm tropical wind. Thought about going outside and moving some things to places they really need to be for the winter. Then I thought about it again. And didn't do anything out there. Saturday. I'll do it Saturday.

I hauled out the Christmas stockings and started trimming and pressing while listening to an audio Jeffrey Archer. Switched several loads of laundry. (Got that room cleaned out the other evening.) And then my phone rang.

The sweet noise of cell phone rings. Aren't they great?

The first call was from Katie. Katie was Jari's friend long before mine. Actually, Katie gave the approval for my engagement ring. How's that for friends? We had babies at the same times, spent oodles of hours together visiting yard sales when we lived near each other, spent many week nights on telephones when we didn't. Jari & I even lived with their family for a while after a short attempted move to Minnesota way back when. Life has gotten busy and for the last too many years ... our contact has been very sketchy. But I've visited with her several times now in the last couple of months. I really appreciate my 7 minute commute to work ... and hers is like an hour. Terrific time to catch up with friends on the phone being as I'm up here in the great north and she's near Detroit. That was fun. Catch up and encourage each othe. She's one of those wonderful friends that you can just pick up where you left off ... doesn't matter if you talked last year or the year before. Someday we're going to have time to play together again.

Being as the world is incredibly small ... the next came from Ronda. I was going to add pictures on here of all these wonderful folks as I wrote. Problem is that I've deleted many of the pics on my computer and you don't want to know what it would take to get through a photo box in order to scan. shudder! Anyway. Off to another corner of the country ... Flagstaff. Ronda lives in Flagstaff and I do talk with her very frequently. I'm still working on convincing her she needs to live up here. So far .. no go. Probably would help to have a job here. Always fun to have a chat with her and catch up on what's going on in that part of the world ... and plan a gals weekend getaway somewhere!

Then we moved over a few miles and went to Prescott. Jari's sister, Tarja, is visiting there for the week. Oh do I wish his parents had a web cam. Tarja is a hoot. I use to think Jari got his goofiness from his dad. No. It came from his mom. So I'm just envisioning the picture of what is going on over there told by both Tarja and Mummu. Hot flashes and flapping shirts and pink pajamas with menopausal inner tubes for waistlines. I probably burned a few calories laughing last night! Tarja and Joe are hoping to make a trip here this winter. I can't wait to see her on a snowmachine. Must get the video camera functional before then. Must!

This morning this post is taking me only about 45 minutes to complete. 'Cuz I went looking for pictures on my computer to add along with this. Somewhere along the way I got lost in memory lane this morning. We all miss these times ... they were great time with friends and family.

On the real bright side ... our truck is done at the shop. Jari is picking it up today and we're hoping it runs like a champ! The time is now 7:00 a.m. ... I've been up since 6:15. Kids don't have school today so the house is quiet .. all the mice are sleeping. And I need to get hustling and off to work.

Happy Friday!

A gift for you today ...

Jeannette called the views on the drive up from Anchorage "eye candy". I think we can all agree with her.

Today I came home from work, got dinner into the oven, grabbed the camera and headed out teh door. These photos were all taken within several miles of the house. Some up the hill at the mailbox. Others on the road to the kids' schools. Some of the views may be the same direction, most are different ones. North. East. South.

Beauty surrounds us.

Temp outside this morning reads 31 degrees

May as well leave my denial behind somewhere and brace for the coming winter. Guess my tomatoes probably won't finish growing anymore hey? This weekends list will probably need to include things like:

1. find all the garden hoses
2. move all the summer stuff inside
3. put up some nails to hang the waders inside so we can move the sleds outside
4. finish emptying flower pots

That kind of thing.

I should have taken the camera along yesterday morning when I brought Alyx to school. The mountains are certainly dusted in white. Beautiful! Brock let me know when I picked him up from school that there is snow on the ground where we drop them off at Hatcher Pass. He's ready to play. The snowboard needs polishing, the skates need sharpening. Has a few snow machines to get running first. They're sitting in the garage waiting for moments of time.

In the meantime ... yesterday we had rain.

Leaves are leaving slowly ...a gust of wind here and there sends them skittering across the yard. Do we really need to mow the lawn? It's going to be covered with leaves soon ... and the lawnmower is malfunctioning. I've never had good luck with them. Why is that? This time I bought a warranty. I'm just getting a new one every year. :)

The view out my living room window on Tuesday.

I think I'm just rundown and beat. I slept yesterday like I haven't slept in forever. Steve and Jeannette came over visiting last evening. Fun to see them! They're here seeing new grandbaby ... who I haven't seen yet. Kids have all left to catch the bus and I should hit the shower sometime soon here. I'm really wanting to just crawl back into bed, but I won't. I'll just know that at about 5:00 pm my dinner will be in the oven, my alarm set and I'll be zonked for 45 minutes or so. I'll live for that today. :)

After being sick on Sunday

Tia went to school yesterday and did just fine. Alyx and Anna are both going to school today. Anna is gone already on the bus. Alyx doesn't have class 'til 9 o'clock. Which is why I'm on the computer and not on the couch. I'm home today. Muddled my way through yesterday, came home and grabbed a 20 minute nap while dinner was in the oven ... and went to the concert. After I get Alyx to school today ... I'm calling vitamin C and couch time ... for the rest of the day. Let's hope I feel livelier tomorrow.

On to the concert. First of all, my pictures stink. It is impossible for me to get decent pictures inside. Let alone when I'm not remotely close to the subjects. That usually doesn't help either. I just like my camera in my hands outside. Period. But the concert was fabulous ... as always. We start each concert with the Plege of Allegiance. Amazing hey? There are still places left in this country that place this country under God.

A sixth grade band (or any first year band playing together) always amaze me. The first concert of the year means that they've only been playing as a group for 5 weeks ... and Mr. Lambert expects alot out of them ... and you can tell. I always love the end of the year concert the best. Seeing how they've progressed makes me just giggle.

I couldn't help myself. Blurry photo or not ... this was fun to watch. This little kiddo had mom's camera, big sis's help and very tired arms by the time he was done. Watching the image in his view finder was the most fun. I felt like I was bobbing on a ship out at sea. Wonder what kind of pictures he got. :)

Last, and most certainly by far my favorite, was the 7th and 8th grade band. I wonder why?! I recorded pieces of their last musical piece on my cell phone. Will see if I can figure out how to get a small snippet on here. It was super fun. They did awesome ... even if a number of them were out sick.

I probably won't have too many more of these concerts in my life. We'll thoroughly enjoy the next several years of them! Along with the new shoes ... new leggings to wear under the skirt ... the "gotta have" things. It's what makes us girls!

Back later .. I promise. I have to hit the bank today and I'm doing it with the camera. Do you think they'll wonder what's going on? Really. The snow is on the mountain. Was snowing and raining as the guys were out tromping in the bush after moose yesterday. No moose. (Better really start watching Fred Meyer meat sales.) But snow there was! The mountain tops are white. I hope the clouds aren't covering them today. They're awesome!

Monday morning

These two trees are going to become the "most photographed trees" in our yard. We aim to add a few swings off them ... sometime in this life.

Sunday didn't dawn beautiful with sunshine .. it dawned with rain. That's okay. It felt kind of rainy inside here too. We have the sickies going around. Started getting a little paranoid yesterday that I ought to go get Tia tested for Swine Flu. She's off on the school bus this morning, tho', so I'm guessing she has what everyone else does. A cold, a fever for a couple of hours and the nagging headache. I have the nagging headache. I'd almost give my eye teeth to stay home today, but I know how much partials cost to replace the teeth. I'll go to work instead. Alyx and Anna will be home instead of me.

Tonite we get to go enjoy a concert! Tia wasn't able to be in band for most of last year as she was in a reading class that was during that period. Make sense? This year ... it is band! The band instructor has high expectations of his students and it shows at concert time. Let's hope she feels good tonite. We've done this before once or twice. Home sick the day of the concert. Go play your heart out in the evening and then come home and crawl back in bed. Teach 'em young. Do what you gotta do! I have never forced them to go ... they are the insistent ones. Wonderful stubborn creatures. :)

Well. Vacation is over. Have I been on one? Should have continued with my 30 minutes a day winter nesting. I wouldn't be facing the new dilemna here this week. If all goes well .... we may be hosting a foreign exchange student here shortly. Interviews and inspections soon to follow. Will let you know what happens. The kids and adults here are ALL excited about him coming ... all have met him via Skype ... and winter activities and plans are under way. All I can say is that God works in amazing ways. I have had my own share of prayers sent to him. So has the young man who will hopefully be with us soon. Looks like God connected the dots and paired us all up together.

It is time for the shower. I have chowed down a huge muffin while sitting here. 3 cups of coffee are down the gullet. (Forgot creamer at the store last night for Brock's coffee ... I have another one who drinks the stuff now.) Crockpot full of chicken breasts need to be moved to the fridge. I use quite a bit of cooked, cut up chicken in my dinners. I bought a bag of breasts last night and cooked them overnite. My family has been a bit hungry for those dishes that need chicken ... it's been a while.

My head has ceased to pound. Hubby is out rattling bushes today looking for to shake loose a moose ... or three. Three would be nice. There are three of them out there rattling around in the rain.

Saturday nights

just aren't what they use to be!

Kids are at Haps. Fun for them. Alyx is zonked out. She let me know earlier that I need to help her with a speech tomorrow. Note to self: remember that!

It was a busy day. Highly unusual.

Started out with a pajama party. Sound like fun? Amber and Nolan popped over around 9ish and stayed 'til noonish. In their jammies. I was still in mine. Perfect! I finished my long hot pads while she was here. She brought some darling scrapbook pages over to share with me. We sipped our coffee and visited ... in our jammies. Fun stuff!

Then I made it to Jo-Anns ... again. I fear that I'm going to become a fixture in that place. I'm finally receiving the ads in the mail again. With the coupons. Yippee Yay! Picked up some of the goods for the next project! Craft sale is scheduled for October 31st and I need to get this stuff done and off my plate. I cut out 8 stockings this evening. Edges are all sewn together. Now I need to start playing. Need something to attach fun fabrics to the fronts. Some are funky modern, some will be kind of primitive country and others will be more like me. A bit of more upholstery kind of fabric mixed with deep reds. I'll share the goofy things when they're done.

This afternoon and evening we met some new folks. We hope we'll get to know them much better in the months to come. More on that later.

Now the clock has ticked itself past midnight. No new photos uploaded today. I did get another box of printed 12x12 pages in the mail today. My pile is growing!! I'll update photos here .. maybe tomorrow. Morning is coming sometime soon. My sewing is spread all over the dining room and it isn't going anywhere until I've slept a few hours tonite. Sunday School started last Sunday. I'm teaching a new lesson this year .. 8th grade curriculum with an 8th, 7th and 6th grader for students. Sometimes I can get a little frustrated with the extra jobs, but I really do enjoy it. It is fun to get a whole new curriculum to teach ... I've done 7th grade the last several years. I'll learn right along with them. So the point of all that was that I need to prepare a lesson in the morning as well.

And ... if tomorrow is as beautiful as today was ... I'd love to take a camera for a stroll. Probably a drive ... stroll sounds much more energetic.

I keep holding my breath

worried that if I take too big a breath all the leaves will blow off the trees. The skies looked quite dark tonite as I was leaving work. I know it's going to happen, but I would love these leaves to stay for just a little while longer. As they fall tho', I'll enjoy watching them pile up. I don't rake them. I leave them to mulch for next year!

The colorful flowers passed away quite a while ago. I'm not crazy about these pots. They lose too much water, retain too much heat and need me to remember watering constantly! I really should put them away, hey?

And these things too. I think this season is over and done with ...

... and this season is just around the corner. Another month or so and we'll start the trek to the wood shed. I can already feel a toasty fire burning!

Friday evening and I've done the trip to WalMart to get a wee bit more fabric. Want to buzz up a few more colorful items tomorrow ... and then start on some really fun stuff! That will require a trip to JoAnns.

Maybe I should do laundry and bake instead. :) Have a great weekend!

Last evening ...

we took a trip to Sears. I detest shopping. I detest spending money. However, I love clearance racks. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it? Mom told me many moons (and I mean MANY) ago that I'd never have any money ... I spend it all on a good deal. Maybe she was right. But what is a girl to do?


The goal was to find Tia something she needed for her concert next Monday. Jari needed some new jeans. That was it. Maybe 3 items. NOT 3 BAGS! But that's what we came home with. Maybe I overdid it. I was a good girl and had the poor clerk putting things in her "to go back to the shelf" box when I saw prices I didn't like. Not all the clearance racks were 50% off the lowest price. Sort of bummed me out. I thought I could get Joe Boxer jammy sets for $2.50 instead of $4.99. I paid the $4.99. I don't buy cute jammies. Sorry. But I did last night. We found all kinds of goodies. I am a little curious tho'. Clearance in September doesn't mean that long johns are on sale. It doesn't include great deals on anything that looks long and warm. Shucks!


It did include some great deals on Lands End shirts tho'. Might see these colors on me next summer. Might just go back for some more. They were a really good deal and my closet could use a new look ... black and brown are sort of getting old.


But seriously ... short sleeves?? Will have to go buy a tote before I know it!

Then on to this ridiculous purchase. A beach towel? I'm not likely to see a beach until my 25th anniversary. Why on earth did I buy this thing? 'Cuz it was cute? Maybe because it was huge and plush? Maybe because it was cheap? Must have been a great reason ... it just escapes me at the moment. (I just paid bills and looked at the checkbook ... all my reasons for purchases are eluding me right now.)

Anna brought me to the towels. Half off ... so I bought two of them. Should have got the matching wash cloths too. I'm going to tuck them away somewhere safe and sound. I have a plan for these towels. It includes a story. Don't they all?

So my story about towels involves this gentlemen, Bronte. (Sorry ... not a picture from the most recent visit ... and not the visit the story is about.) He came and spent the weekend. I was in berry picking mode. I was in jelly making mode. I was doing the fall harvest thing in little pieces. I wasn't in laundry mode. (Maybe that was the problem.) He picked berries and got eaten alive by mosquitos. And he tried to take a shower. He did manage the shower ... the problem was the towel. I didn't realize until he was done that there were no towels in the bathroom. I think they're kind of like socks. I have no clue where they go. I do know that I have a bunch of them. Alyx bought a nice new stock of them recently. Anyway ... when it dawned on me that there were no towels in the bathroom and that my guest had just come out of the shower ... one of those "oh criminy!" moments occurred. I was daring and asked him where he had found a towel. "There was a hand towel in there." No, Mom, I know better than that. So ... I have special towels.

How long do you think they'll last before a kid or two finds them ... and I never see them again?

11:03 pm. Off to pick up Alyx from work. I measured the mileage one day. I'm downright luck for having to make these travels at this time of night when the alarm rings at 5:15. A titch over 3 miles away. Not bad. Will take me longer to warm up the car than it will to pick her up if we don't solve our car situation soon.

By the way ... the truck is now parked next to Alyx's car. It's turning out to be a great week!

Nothing much new here today

Kids are tuckered out from too much weekend. So was I until I had my umpteenth cup of coffee this morning. Why on earth do we do this? Fill our weekends so full that we need Monday to recoup from it all ... and then we go to work! Ended up being a good day tho'.

Jari went hunting today and planned on spending the nite under a tree somewhere. The thought of someone out hunting by himself with grizzly bears in the neighborhood just didn't sound like a great idea. He's home for the night. :) Will try and do miles of mountainous hiking again tomorrow. Seems a little safer to be snuggled in the bed rather than having bear blasting guns in your sleeping bag. We do have dreams for the next phase of our life. It would be nice to see some of them come into being. Middle of the night meetings with grizzly bears just seem like they might muck up that plan a wee bit.

Today was absolutely gorgeous. I suggested taking our post surgical patients out to the parking lot, but nobody wanted to go for that plan. Hmph. Kind of like being a kid in school in the spring. I know this gorgeous stuff isn't going to last for long. I don't mind winter ... but I love fall.

Pressure cooker is busy on the stove. I really don't feel motivated enough to hit the grocery store for more pears, but I really should. Tia was calling them candy tonite. They are. Will be great for a snack for school, the car, the mountains ... I really need to go out and get some more. Maybe I'll skip the peaches. I canned 7 pints of pears and 4 pints of peaches this evening. I think we just love the peaches fresh ... the pears I'll work with.

Laundry is spinning. I should take a camera downstairs just to show you what a disaster a good size laundry room can be. It. Is. Bad. The bright side is ... it isn't going anywhere!

Cold water shower on a Monday?

6:57 a.m. and I need to get ready for work.

Roast is in the crockpot.
Pears are still trying to dehydrate.
Girls used up all the hot water this morning taking their showers.

Hmmm. Now what? I can wait another 9 minutes and then try. Think the hot water heater can catch up that fast? Can go out to the cabin. I'm sure there is hot water out there. Big problem is that I ordered it cleaned, cleaned, cleaned over the weekend. Brock said the toilet looked so clean he couldn't wait to use it!

Not sure I dare go look at the shower. Especially at this time of the day!

Too much weekend. Advil and coffee on board ... better go check the water.

Kardemuma ... it's gone ...

now what am I going to do? Mummu has been supplying my cardemom forever. Will have to call and see if she has an overabundance stashed in the freezer. I'm out ... and pulla making just isn't the same without it. I did the pulla going nice and early on Saturday.

Jari brought home a few barrels. Needed a new burn barrel and this one got plunked on top of gravel. Burning trash is quite handy, I just don't like having the burn barrel in tall weeds. Something shrieks "forest fire" when we do that. It's usually a rainy day when we're burning and we do it safely, but stuff managed to accumulate. This is handy.

Then a trip to the grocery store. What a lovely sight in a parking lot, don't you think? I'd like some of these red leaves in my yard. Wonder what kind of trees they are. So I found the peaches and pears. Not as bad as the broccoli department but give me a few days. Sale doesn't end for another couple of days. Only got 14 pounds of pears and 12 pounds of peaches. (As I'm writing ... the dehydrator is full of pears ... and some folks around here keep sampling!)

After a stop at home for a while ... a trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics. The camera was still with me. :) I should have parked instead of shooting out of open windows, but why not. It was a cloudy and rainy weekend. Not complaing. We've had heavenly weather the last two. Was a good reason to stay inside and play with material. This is one end of the new Trunk Road. The road right now is a mighty curvy one with slopes at corners that tilt the wrong way. Sort of a launch pad for ditch diving in the winter time. This will be super nice when it's done ... will even shorten my drive time to work by a couple of minutes.

The other end of this road is looking good too. I keep watching the white building tho'. It hasn't moved. At the other end we've watched churches moved, other buildings moved ... not this one. Toll booth? What a vista ... white building or not.

And the stop light. Who can resist a picture of a green light. Obviously me! It took the state a while to get all the lines painted. The lights were nonfunctioning for months while we waited for striping. I'm not sure I like this stop light here. Reeks of busy living these lights do. I'll use the other entrance to our neighborhood ... the one without a light. :)

Home to put applesauce dehydrating (it's already gone by Sunday evening and took all day Saturday to make) and then on to sewing. Fun stuff! Check out my new cutting board. I did have one before. Wasn't this large tho'. Worked great for cutting flooring. Yes, flooring. We used it to cut all the flooring we put in our house in Arizona before we moved ... and the cutting board was no longer functional when we were done. Amber found this one at a yard sale for $5 last weekend. I'm pumped!

So I did little things. Why do little things take all day long? How do people whiz throught quilts and whatnot as fast as they do? Some fun regular size hot pads ...

and my favorite. These long things with sripes and flowers and sort of hot pads as well. They are long tho'. Long enough to fit a large roaster with room to spare ... long enough to fit several pots on for serving. Family style. Love the idea and thanks to Torm for sharing hers several years back. (Takes me a while to get things done around here.)

These probably aren't going anywhere but my drawer. Home made towels ... but they are really thin. A bit thicker is needed and I don't know what kind of fabric to use right now. Will see what I can concoct. Really liked the color tho'. Tucked my sewing machine away at about midnight last night, but left the ironing board up. Have some more sewing to get done this week. Let's see if I can manage that or not. Aiming high!

This morning I had to run to the store to pick up a few things to serve coffee at church tonite. Walked by the meat case. Why don't I do that all the time? Note to self: start checking the meat case. Tia was a bit embarrassed that I was buying over 35 pounds of ground beef, but every package was $2 off. $1.60ish for ground beef? For sure I'm taking it all. Ziploc and I are buddies. Pulla, ground beef ... broccoli.

Fall is here. Came home early today and the leaves were flying off the trees. A breeze sends them skittering. Weather is still warm. We've had a few days where the air is nippy, but not many at all.

Have a great week!

Did I say ... many posts?

I thought I could manage that. Guess I didn't. I did haul along the camera with me today in the car so I have pictures for you ... they're still on the camera.

So I did manage to get pulla made and it looks awesome. Why is that sometimes yeast does what you want it to and other times you wonder why you bothered.

The saran wrap worked in the dehydrator. Problem is that I think I had it too thick at the very edges and I may have to just give that part up. Great thing tho'. Now I don't have the excuse of waiting to buy more parchment paper!

Fruit up here is not inexpensive. It drives me crazy. Fred Meyer had peaches and pears both on sale for $1.28/# this week. Guess what I got? I don't dare look at the receipt to see how many pounds I bought. I think I'm going back for more. Need to wait a few days for them both to ripen just a tad. Then .... canning peaches if there are any left on Monday ... and drying pears. They are delicious dehydrated. (Maybe it's just that I love my sugar in compact portions.)

Got HOURS of sewing done today. This is not an easy thing to accomplish. I'm going to start taking a day off work here and there to just get things done that I can't get done in a normal week. Tough to get anything done when Saturday is the only day to do anything. Actually it gets very frustrating. Am thrilled with my progress today tho'. Will try and share some pictures tomorrow.

Made strawberry freezer jam. Thanks to Amber, I learned a wee little trick a while back. I buy the frozen bag of strawberries from Costco ... thaw the necessary amount of berries ... and voila! Strawberry jam that the kids devour. They're not so impressed with my currant jelly. Don't understand why. :)

It is nearly tomorrow already ... time to find my pillow! Hope your day was a productive one!

This may be a day of many posts ...

I'm feeling like I may putter and get a bunch of things done. And ... I have an audio book by Tess Gerritsen playing. Makes puttering so much more enjoyable!

My pulla dough is rising. Yup. I'm doing it today. I wish I knew how to make carmel rolls. Mine just never taste like other people's great ones. If anyone has a recipe that they aboslutely love ... feel free to share! As soon as I hit the publish button at the bottom of this page I'm off to pour applesauce on the dehydrator. Have never tried using saran wrap. I'll let you know if it works. I usually use baking paper ... and it is a bit pricey. Wax paper may work as well ... I never buy the stuff.

Plenty of things to get done today ... and the house is quiet with only myself keeping myself company. :)

In the not so quiet mornings of this past week I worked on pictures from June of this past year. I think I need to do some more that are just a collage of favorite shots. Scenery ... people ... more scenery. I sent another 15 pages or so off to be printed. Maybe by the end of winter I'll have this stuff caught up, deleted off my computer and in a book to enjoy.

Back soon! Hope you're enjoying your Saturday as much as I'm enjoying mine!

Just in case you wanted to know

I'm not crabby anymore.

I read that magazine too late last night and woke up late this morning. Had to shuttle kids to school before I went to work.

A stop at the mailbox brought me all kinds of goodies. A box of slippers and shoes from Mummu. So fun.

And a box of 12x12 scrapbook pages. Ahhhh. 9 days from order to delivery. Not bad for living up here. Feels like the other side of the planet sometimes for ordering things. Scrappingsimply.com is the place to go. Pages turned out awesome. They are inexpensive and the site is very user friendly. My sales pitch for the day. Can't wait to upload a bunch more. Maybe I'll get these things printed sooner that I thought!

Have to leave in 5 minutes here ... and then I'm out of internet commission for at least 24 hours or so. I don't know how I'm going to handle this ... going to be a tough one!

Monday musings

it's Tuesday! I forgot! Messed me right up this having an extra day on the weekend. Could handle that every day!

• Master bathroom is cleaned
• Laundry is done but for one load
• Halibut is thawing for dinner tomorrow evening along with home grown potatoes (they aren't thawing tho')
• I'm kind of crabby
• The mail pile is much too high .. nearly heading over the edge of the basket that holds it
• I need a day to just sew or something like that .. think I need a day off work .. during the week!
• Kids checked out books on my library card and now they're overdue
• Overdue books means that I can't finish listening to my audiobook downloaded from the library
• I've only downloaded the same book about 7 times! They automatically disappear off your computer in 2 weeks. Can't listen if you have overdue books. Ugh!
• Need Jari to get a libary card and just use it for audiobooks. He never goes to the library. That might work.
• My bedroom is clean (well ... I should say presentable anyway)
• Flowers finally got a drink tonite on the porch ... they were wilting ... gotta enjoy them while I can!
• Should have made pulla on Monday ... sure would taste good right now
• Made my Costco list. I really don't like going there. It makes me nearly crazy.
• Pears, peaches and nectarines are on sale this week at Fred Meyer. They're on the list as well. I'm going to dry dehydrating them. Pears are scrumptious done that way and store for a nice long while.
• Try grilling peaches or nectarines ... cut them in half, remove the pit, coat with a mix of brown sugar and honey, flop on grill and cook 'til browned a bit. Serve with ice cream. Delish!!
• I s'pose I could go to bed. Maybe I'll page through a magazine for a bit and fix my attitude.
• Tomorrow is Wednesday .. Hump Day!
• That means that the next day is Thursday. The 2nd Thursday of the month. Monthly staff meeting at 6:30 a.m. It's always a great time. (I'm working on my attitude ... can you tell?)
• Craft nite on Thursday.
• On call on Friday evening.
• Can you tell why I'm cranky? I really am going to hit that magazine.
• Maybe I should go grill a peach instead. Or eat some candy corn?

My goal for this Labor Day was to labor ...

with everyone helping. I don't know where Blayde disappeared to ... maybe he never crawled out of bed. He missed out on the action.

We dumped our potatoes out of the tires. Hmmm. Did something wrong there. Next year I'll use the tires, but grow the potatoes in individual tires instead of stacking them. We had spuds in the first tire at the bottom. Nice ones. Don't know what happened to the rest of them. It was incredibly difficult to judge the amount of water they were getting as well. Live and learn.

The green house nearly sparkles. I'm still trying to coax tomatoes into growing. Healthy amounts of tomato food, plenty of liquid ... beautiful weather ... maybe if I keep my fingers crossed. I have about 60 cherry tomatoes on one plant. Does that count? Check this one off the list!

This little spot was my original goal. I would have been thrilled if this got done ... along with greenhouse cleanout and raspberry planting. The entire brown area surrounding these trees was full of all kinds of growing things that I didn't want there. I wanted to be able to just mow around the trees. Problem was that there were many large shoots growing off the tree on the right. So ... I called handy hubby over with the chainsaw and he made quick work of them. He also made quick work of the pine tree that was between these two trees. I'm thrilled with how it looks now!

Then handy hubby thought he should REALLY get some mileage out of that chainsaw. Give a boy a toy in his hand and you never know what will happen!

As eveidenced by this! The lilac bush in front of the house is rather thinned. Nearly to nonexistent. It may have no blooms on it next summer as next years blooms were already set ... and are now in the brush burn pile. The windows should see a tad bit more sun in the chilly months coming up soon. Another tree to the right of the stairs is cut to the quick ... the others royally thinned.

With lots of help ... it went pretty durn quick! Figured the next time I want a project done I'll round up the troops for about 3 or 4 hours. Promise them a 12 pack of soda and some good pizza when they're done ... and we'll be good to go!

Got a bit toasty working out there ... we all worked on our September tans!

Brock worked on his tan too .... and got all the raspberry bushes in the ground. I picked up a truck box full of raspberry plants this weekend. Some were small berries ... some incredibly large. I can taste the jam .... let's hope the berries do good next summer!

This critter should probably be next on the list, hey? Wondering what morning we're going to head down the drive and find our way blocked cuz it is really listing sadly. More so every day.

Was thrilled with our accomplishments today. The basement was organized by Alyx. :) My laundry pile is nearly gone. Yipee!! I gave serious contemplation to making pulla dough this morning and decided that it could wait. Thank goodness. Would have been fried at myself if I had added that to the list as well.

Anna even got her hair cut today! Poor girl has been waiting for a long time. Looks super cute on her. The salon had a comfy leather couch where I sort of took a nap while I waited. I didn't lay down on it ... should have tho'. Was really tired ... and afraid that I'd start drooling, snoring or something equally fun.

Ended our Labor Day with a trip to WalMart. 6 bottles of shampoo/conditioner, 2 different kinds of toothpaste ... you get the idea. We did find the good stuff tho'. Have you tried caramel apple candy corn? Give it a whirl. Color could change a bit but it's a whole lot easier than biting into the real thing!

Work tomorrow and what on earth am I still doing on here anyway?!