Autumn is coming!

These are just a few of the leaves that A and I picked up this morning after dropping D off at school. I love this season of transition, when the nights are refreshingly cool (and hot coffee tastes oh so good in the morning!) yet the afternoons are still delightfully warm. It won't be long before I pull out cuddly sweaters and cook up steaming pots of soup.

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

More General Craziness

Our week is marching on. I managed to catch some sort of stomach bug, so yesterday wasn't particularly pleasant. I did make it to the PTO meeting - the first of the year, and I must admit I was surprised at the paltry turnout. There are tons of parents milling around outside, picking their kids up, but evidently they don't want to stick around for half an hour? It's a great opportunity to stay on top of school happenings, not to mention getting to know the teachers and principal. Anyway, I digress. I stayed home last night, though, so missed the women's meeting at church. Thankfully I'm feeling better today, just tired out.

And we'll now pause for a moment to rant about the people's lack of manners. I had posted 5 items on freecyle Monday afternoon, and all had been spoken for within an hour. Out of the 5 people, only *1* came to p/u the item as promised. What's up with that?!? What really got my blood boiling, though, was an incident this morning. After sending 2 additional emails to one of the no-shows, I left her a message this morning saying that I had contacted the next respondent to arrange for pick-up. Brief but civil note. Well, around lunchtime I went out to bring the trash cans back up to the house and noticed that the item was gone (the person was going to pick it up later this afternoon, but I'd left it out just so I wouldn't forget). Came in, checked email to find this message (as a reply to my message saying I was giving it to the next person): just got your message today on tues i coming to get it now be there in about 10 min i hope that is ok thank u so much. Uh, no, that wasn't OK! Whatever happened to common courtesy?!? If you say you're going to do something, then *do* it, or take the initiative to contact the person to let them know if there's a problem. Grrr.

OK, I feel slightly better now that that's off my chest. Off to make a couple pans of enchiladas - one for dinner tonight, and one to freeze for later.

Where is it all supposed to fit?

It was definitely an interesting weekend. I think last week took its toll on all of us - we were just tired out. Had two extra kids on Friday evening, so ours were excited and tired (not a combination I'd recommend). We survived, though, and decided that we really needed to get our son moved into his own room. Things aren't going to slow down anytime soon, so we just needed to bite the bullet and get it done. So out came everything in the guest room - and out, and out, and out... Wow, we had a lot of stuff in there! This style of house has very little storage, so we have to get creative and cram stuff where we can. Anyway, I now have a number of offerings on freecycle, plus a giant pile waiting for Purple Heart (p/u next Monday!)... but there's still more left over, and I need to figure out what to do with it all. Maybe I'll find some inspiration in a can of Diet Coke :) I had another little boy over here this morning, so I took a couple hours off to sit outside and just soak up the gorgeous weather, but now I have to tackle the piles (including the heap of dishes I ignored yesterday).

So what else is happening this week? Quite a lot actually! Hubby and I have date night this evening (I think it's going to be dinner and a trip to Home Depot - gotta keep the romance alive! :), tomorrow is a library program, first PTA meeting, and women's ministry gathering. Then I have an eye check-up, dental visit (I finally will have the final crown and be able to chew on the right side of my mouth again). Deadline for some design work is looming (not that I'm complaining about having to stamp). Oh, and we're planning to rip up the carpet in our living room this coming weekend so we can finally install the wood flooring. Perhaps that plan would work better if I didn't have junk scattered all over the living room!

OK, enough chatter and time to get productive ~

Friday Funny

Just a little silliness, courtesy of the kiddos. They really like the show Word Girl and A in particular likes to do the Captain Huggy Face dance (although her brother was more into it this time around, simply because he knew I was filming)

Hanging In There

Well, the boy has been dropped off for his third day of school, and it seems we're all settling in. He's liking it so far, and has proudly reported that he's following all the rules. This week is kind of evaluation time and just establishing routine, but homework starts next week! On a side note, this school thing is having one side effect I did not anticipate: laundry! No, not our son's - mine. I can usually get two days out of my pants, but walking him back and forth to school makes me a sweaty mess. Yuck.

Little sister is doing better as well. On Tuesday, we ran errands. She needed the next size in socks and underwear, and I'd specifically postponed purchasing them. Nothing cheers up a 3 YO like Strawberry Shortcake undies :) A few tears yesterday after we dropped him off, but much better than Tuesday. And today? Well, she knows we're going to visit one of her friends (who is 27 days younger), so she practically ran home. Ah, the resiliency of youth...

And finally, I'm pleased to report that this banana bread recipe also works well for muffins. I used whole wheat flour, added an additional egg, and just a tad more applesause. Oh, and chocolate chips! She's obviously enjoying it, and D has one in his lunch.

First Day of School

Can't believe my little boy is at Kindergarten right now! His teacher seems very good, and he's super excited, so what am I worried about? His little sister, though, is having a hard time of it. The pic above was taken as we were walking home - and she's pretty much been sniffling non-stop. Yeah, it's hard being without your buddy! We're off to run a couple errands now, though, so hopefully that will get her back on the right track.

(BTW, you can click on any of the pics for a larger view)

American Kid

Since "Labor Day" is definitely an American thing, I thought I'd share this...