Go Hornets!

No games on that I want to see until 4 + an pair of old wrestling shorts+ 1 perfectly good pinnie (but we suddenly have tons of them) + It's been too long since I've made something = All the other Damascus dogs will be insanely jealous.

 

 

It's a tad bit wonky, but also my first attempt at sewing an outfit for an animal.  The belly and front yoke are black to match the back.  I was thinking the green side insets would make her visually thinner.  She's nine and starting to get an old lady shape. ;-)

 

Randomocity

Seems like I'm having trouble doing it all these days...maybe.  Or, maybe I just don't get around to taking pictures or whatever.  Sorry Gram.

An absolutely random selection from the week...  Much more happened.  Believe me.

Jac's hydroponic garden.  He was supposed to maintain/grow it for 100 days.  Pretty sure we are well over that.  He told me this morning "We have to dismantle it.  The vacuoles are getting empty."  So...disassembly is the next task up.  After I get done wasting time on the internet, of course.

Classroom pictures minus kids (because that's probably illegal or something).  We were innovating products this week.

 Cross Country Meet...

Pip fraternizing with the wrong team.  She was having a blast at the meet.  Spoons of peanut butter everywhere...she was just sure someone would share.  Nobody did.

Jac's model of an animal cell.  It could have been better if he would have remembered it was due this past Friday instead of next Friday.  I guess it's good we realized that on Thursday night?  If you cover a Styrofoam ball with Sculpy and they put it in the oven...ummm...I was thinking the clay would get hard before the ball melted?  I didn't realize the clay was going to shrink.  Whatever.  Good times in the middle of the night on a school night while living in a town that's a drive to the next for a craft store.

Chocolate chip, pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting...one of my fall traditions.

Tank Wigglesworth...this thing is getting huge.

It took some doing (and a ton of time), but the result was worth it.  It would have been better, but my parents were coming for dinner and I bought some extra stuff.  We now spend more a month on gas for the cars than we do on food.  That's crazy.  We don't even really drive around all that much...mostly just to work and back.

Chocolate Ice Cream and Lettuce

One of those wordless moments...  All I've got is "why?".

 

By a Mile

I passed.  If I decide I want to teach English, I'll be able to.

Tank Wigglesworth Goes to the Fair

 

The Damascus Community Fair

 

When the kids were little, we used to enter all kinds of stuff.  But, we haven't even been to this fair for the past few years.  Jac is working on a merit badge for pets and the requirement is either to show your pet or to teach it a trick.  Not that I really know, but I don't think it's probable lizards are very good at performing tricks.  Fortunately, this little fair has a pet show.

 



There's Tank hanging out and waiting in his makeshift cage.  I realized at the last minute we didn't have any way to transport him there.  I knew I was saving ice cream buckets for something.

The competition...

Tank getting judged for "most colorful".

Tank getting judged for "most unusual".  I don't know what she asked Jac, but I heard her talking to the turtle people.  "Does he do anything unusual?"  That question should really make you think.  What would be considered unusual for a turtle?

 Tank won 1st for most colorful and 3rd for most unusual.


Other random fair pictures....

 Alicia's flower arrangement.

Weekly Wrap-Up

I'm still on the wagon.  :-)

 

Grilled, rosemary/olive oil pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes and a spinach salad with oranges, beets, walnuts dressed with an orange/balsamic/honey reduction.

 

The story is we were supposed to be having black bean/pumpkin enchiladas.  I was going to make tortillas, but then didn't feel like it.  We had red bells, so why not just stuff them?  I asked Ryan "Should I cook the peppers?"  He was all "Lemme get this straight.  You are going to stuff beans and pumpkin into a pepper and you are asking me if I want it cooked?" Me: "Well...yeah.  I'm going to put them on a bed of kale."  Him: "Oh...well....a bed of kale you say?" 

Why does he sometimes question these things?  It was delicious.  It wasn't just beans and pumpkin.  There was garlic and onions and cumin and probably some other stuff. 

Chicken/apple sausage with a baked sweet potato and a "I need to clean out the fridge" salad with vidalia onion dressing.

White bean and cabbage soup with garden tomatoes.



"Breakfast for Dinner Friday"= whole wheat, blueberry pancakes with some bacon I found in the freezer.

Two dinners are missing.  Tuna casserole (It didn't look all that appetizing in the picture I took.) and ravioli (I wasn't here when that came out of the oven.).

If you are following along with my challenge of only spending $100. per week on food, after two weeks I'm $9.32 over.  I was ahead, but then I went and bought a few packages of local meat at my friend's shop and well...I'll catch back up next week. 

That goal of making lunches for everyone?  Total fail.  I mean, we had food and they ate lunches, I just couldn't get myself together enough at 5 in the morning to prepare them.  Will try again next week.

Autumn

There's no school today which meant lots of this:

And a whole lot of this:

So I went out to my garden.  I should go out there more.

My garden...it's a mess.

There comes in point in late summer where I just go into denial about the whole thing.  For a time, I don't acknowledge what was once green and lush and fruit bearing is on the rapid path to no longer being so.

Whenever I go out into my garden, I always seem to come back with some analogy for life.  Today was no exception.

...I'll acknowledge I am no longer in denial.  No longer trying to fight what is to be from happening.  I've known for awhile something big was going to change.  While I had no idea what it was and made many predictions, it was better I did not know. 

Is it strange some plants lose their foliage before their fruit?  So deceiving.  That fruit will not ripen.  Only wither once the cold hits it.

 

It's always difficult for me to pull out plants that still seem to be bearing fruit.  Even though I know those plants are dead.



The consolation prize is a bare space to plant something new.

 

 

Did y'all know mint flowers?  I had no idea.  I know this plant was here last year.   I guess I missed its flowering the first time around.  I discovered it today after pulling the weeds.