Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today, Thursday, August 28, 2014

Outside my window...  sunny blue sky and a breeze blowing the very dry leaves of the dogwood tree.

Hearing...  lots of people working on their houses.  It's construction season, you know.  (That comes before hunting season and the rainy season.)  We have new neighbors near us who brought in a pre-fab house in three pieces.  We missed seeing that happen the day we drove home from Oregon - would've been fun to watch.  But they're still in the process of zipping it all together, however they do that.

Pondering...  where did the summer go?  We'll be back to school in less than a week.  *sigh*

Praying...  for work to continue to come in for Kerry, for Wyatt to find a p/t job, and for a smooth transition into the school year for all of us.

Thankful...  it's been a good summer - lots of good things for the boys, from Worldview Academy to fishing in Canada to the family time at the coast, and lots more :D

Wearing...  old turquoise capris and a blue t-shirt, with my trusty flip-flops.  It's (blessedly) a bit cooler today - mid 70s and breezy, which I think is just about perfect.

Creating...  hmmm.  Getting all my ducks in a row for starting school, but that's not the same as "creating".  Hope to do a little sewing for a shower gift next week.  

Wyatt and Kerry have created a little progress on the rock wall project.

Of course, "The City" came by today to politely harass us.  I mean, God forbid it might rain and water might fall on the dirt and GET INTO THE LAKE which would somehow (that nobody can explain logically) be an ecological catastrophe.  Never mind that we're not actually in the lake-watershed or that much of the shore of the lake is dirt or that short of a monsoon there is no way rain could wash our dirt all the way into the lake.

No, what they REALLY wanted was to bully us into getting a permit, because permit = money.  But Kerry knows the code and we will NOT be paying for a permit.

Meanwhile, this looks like something fun to create...

Going...  to freeze a bunch of green peppers - more than I can use at once!

Reading...  still reading (aloud) Blink with the boys, hoping to finish before school starts.

And for no apparent reason, the boys give you this:

 Looking forward to...  fall colors.  Don't tell the boys.

In the kitchen...  thinking about BBQing tonight - I've been marinating some chicken.  Not quite so hot today, but I still don't want to heat up the kitchen.  My neighbor didn't mind heating up hers though, and sent us this:

Seven jars of home-canned peaches!

In the learning rooms...  I'm getting there.  But schoolwork?  I'd much rather look out the window.

Around the house...  all kinds of boy stuff - CAP stuff, stuff they're reading, stuff they were wearing and took off, and air-soft stuff.  Because boys love to shoot.  And they got this right away...

The Mother Load...  the boys are helping me work through a short (ha ha! did I say short?!) list before school starts.  It mostly involves cleaning the house.  Not a huge blitz/purge like last spring, but a general clean-up.  We've been so outdoor-focused that the inside has kind of gone to seed a bit.  This morning we divided and conquered:
  *  picked blackberries
  *  weeded the garden
  *  picked red and white onions, celery, green peppers, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes. and a butternut squash (which wasn't quite ready, but grew out onto the path and had to be dealt with)
  *  cleaned (most of) the family room (half a closet left)
  *  tidied their dressers (the tops, not the insides yet) and dust-mopped their room (even under the beds)
  * washed all the veggies we harvested
  * mowed the neighbor's lawn (summer job)
  * got a load of laundry washed and on the line
More to do tomorrow, but I'm feeling pretty productive so far :D

Noticing that...  the boys are falling into a bad habit...

Something fun to share...  the boys brought me these this morning.  Blackberry cobbler tomorrow, and more in the freezer!

A favorite quote for today...  

When you do stuff,

stuff gets done.

One of my favorite things...  changing seasons.  I like them all, but summer-to-fall might be the best.  And I just found my favorite pumpkin spice candles :D

A few plans for the rest of the week...  friends coming to dinner tomorrow, reading with the boys (trying to finish the book, which they're very much enjoying), and tying up the last few loose ends before school starts.

A peek into my day...  we brought home from the garden...