Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Fall-ish

We hit the apple orchard today. And by hit, I mean we knocked it out of the park in picking crazy tasty apples. The trees were heavy laden, some apples even touching the ground. Bright, juicy, red apples beckoned us to take a bite before putting them into our bags. My mouth is watering now just thinking of how fabulous they were. 

Sunday will be the big sauce-ing day and I can't wait to smell up the entire house with apple-y goodness. The leaves haven't all turned yet, but with the a stop at the orchard and the cooler air (and a need to have the heating guy come fix our heater) it definitely feels like it is fall. 

I'm stocking up on my fall decor and ready to put out my pumpkins. The halloween party is approaching and I can't wait for pumpkin pies and cookies and spiced cider. Not to mention a good excuse to eat more candy. 


Monday, September 21, 2009

Progress

The kitchen got a facelift today. 

Everything got moved into the newly finished basement Studio today. 

The playroom started taking shape today. 

The best part is, we got to sleep in and then have a leisurely family breakfast of omelets & cinnamon rolls together. 

Mondays are the greatest. 

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Cutie Stinkin' Patootie

These days, my child cracks me up more and more. Sure, she's throwing more tantrums and obeying less, but the cute things she is doing are trying desperately to outweigh that. 





We've been trying to get it on video for a while, but she and her daddy play a game with their pianos where they both play at the same time and then she puts her hands up in the air.....and they have to stop. Then start. Then stop. And on and on. It's pretty cute and it's so funny to watch her make up games. 

The other day I heard a noise out of the corner of my ear (don't you hear that way?) and knew it was my child getting on her daddy's laptop when she shouldn't be. I immediately go over and use my serious mom voice to tell her in no uncertain terms that she should not be doing what she was doing. Andy walks into the room and she turns to him and flashes a huge silly grin, as if to say, "Yo Dad, I'm totally in trouble." Unfortunately, I completely lost it. It was too darn cute and I had to walk away doubled over laughing. Discipline fail. 



Today she spent at least 10 minutes moving the cat's food from one dish to another. Quietly picking up dropped pieces and putting them back into the bowl. The cat just sat and stared, not sure how to intervene without losing fur. Fortunately, she has become a very patient kitty. 

Some days I feel as though I will
 never get her to eat anything but cereal and then she goes and surprises me by happily eating a meal with us of salmon, rice and peas. I content myself with knowing that if few veggies get in, she will always drink a smoothie with all kinds of fruit and hidden vegetables. Nutrition by trickery, that's my motto. 


And those faces. I love the raised eyebrows and the grouchy face and the eyes squinched tight. Oh, but the best new game that we play is sleepy time. Yesterday after her nap we were playing in her room with various toys when she pulls a pillow off the rocker and lays it on the floor. Then she pushes me down, brings me a blankie and some stuffed friends, has me turn on the fan, kisses me (with the best kissy noises), says "nigh, nigh" and proceeds to walk out of the room, closing the door behind her. She was a little bothered that she couldn't turn off the light, but it all worked out ok. Gee, if my own kid makes me take a nap, I'm doing great. 
 

Sunday, September 13, 2009

On Lots of Stuff and Also a Few Things...

I keep thinking that life is going to slow down. Until I realize that it really isn't. That I need to take the quiet times and hold on to them, to savor them while they last. 

This summer has been a whirlwind of travel and home improvements and gardening (at which I was sadly very unsuccessful this year) and canning (at which I was surprising adept) and work. Somehow I always assume that work will be a little quieter and a little easier in the summer but it never really is. There is always chaos and planning and extra work that wasn't originally planned. 

I will admit to being rather proud of my canning this year. It is something my mother always did a lot of and I never learned how to do, something I will always regret. Instead, I bought the bible of canning: Ball's. 
I've been able to use this guide for every recipe I have needed and it hasn't failed me yet. There were a few terms I had to look up, but other than that, I'm a huge fan of this handy dandy guidebook. 

This year I put away strawberry & strawberry rubharb jam, peach jam, peaches, pickles, tomato sauce & tomato soup, diced tomatoes and today I am working on grape juice and grape jelly. I would like to do pears, pear jam and also applesauce. Now that I feel as though I have the hang of it, I'm on a roll!


However, at the same time, I'm completely exhausted. I'm 11 weeks preggo (most of you were aware of this little tidbit via Facebook, that purveyor of all things) and this little critter is sucking all of my energy. Some days I feel as though getting up off of the couch is asking too much of me and other days I can accomplish a few things. It seems as though I can get the most done in the evenings, but I also feel the most nauseated them. Frankly, I just can't win. My house is generally a mess and there is always a pile of laundry somewhere that needs to be put away. The worst part is that there is no good tv on right now to keep my lazy self occupied!

Home improvements haven't been at all helped my my lack of motivation. I was able to prime the basement (with low-odor paint) but that was probably three weeks ago now. Theoretically, I will be energized enough to do that tonight, but I can't promise anything. We really want to have the studio finished and everything moved down there this month so that I can paint and curtain the new playroom and get these blasted toys out of my dining room. That is going to be a fun and creative project that I am really looking forward to as well. 

On top of all that, I originally wanted to be able to move into our attic master suite by snowfall but now I'm just hoping for it to be insulated and dry-walled by them. Since there is virtually no insulation up there, that is pretty much a requirement here in good ol' Michigan. The rest won't be as difficult. (again, theoretically)

Regardless, by April (or maybe late March?) this house needs to be ship shape. Because by then, I'm going to be running after a two year old and keeping an infant alive at the same time. Yikes. (ok, I know many of you have way more than two children, but it still seems like quite a challenge to me)

I am tired (of being tired and also) of feeling so very disorganized and cluttered. Of feeling like it isn't just my stuff that is everywhere, but it's also my brain and my life. Did I mention how horribly my garden grew this year? That crazy jungle needs to be cleaned out and mulched over. Next year is there is going to be a very minimal amount of growing done. We'll call it a year to let the ground rest, how about that?I need to sell a ton of things and de-clutter. There are multitudinous sewing and/or crafting projects that need to be done.  Basically, there is an endless list that I feel is hovering over me. 

I'm just so blasted TIRED.  

Monday, September 07, 2009