Two weeks

Two weeks until school starts. Fourteen days. How many fights can they have until then?

Caroline has managed to get the thumb crib out of her mouth again--this time the wires actually broke, so we'll be back at the orthodontist's office today. I'm not sure if he can solder it back together in her mouth or if he'll have to take the bands off her molars, re-solder the thing, and then reinstall the whole thing. At what point do we give up?

Yesterday I broke out my boiling water canner (a.k.a. the biggest pot I've ever seen) and made some tomato sauce. I didn't have enough for the full recipe as shown in my cookbook, but I did use up all of my ripe tomatoes. Until the next ones ripen...tomatoes are crazy that way. I'm enjoying canning--I plan on doing more of it next year. I wish I'd made regular strawberry jam instead of the freezer jam this year. I can't really give freezer jam as a Christmas gift. Live and learn.

From the smell of things, I'll be giving the dog a bath today. He is leaving a trail of stink throughout the house. Maybe I need to trim some fur in a strategic location...funny how when we got a puppy we never considered what it would be like to care for him when he was old and incontinent...

We still have to get new backpacks and sneakers for school. Although I'm seriously considering skipping this whole "new sneaker" thing and maybe telling them to wear their old sneakers on gym day. After all, those "old" sneakers still fit last week, it's not like their feet grew an inch overnight.

We're going to watch more olympics today. I just get such a kick out of watching the kids watch the olympics. It's so weird to think that they've never seen most of these sports--they'd never seen a gymnastics competition before! I remember watching the olympics when I was a kid--just seeing all those amazing tricks and sports--and to watch my kids as they take it all in for the first time has been a real treat.

More pictures from vacay

Now that my pictures are uploaded, I'll share a few more. Here are my lovely children, all smiling nicely--except for the scowl in the middle and the silly "cheese" grin on the right...any wonder the Christmas cards are getting more difficult to take? This was in Margate, New Jersey. We stopped there on the way to Atlantic City so that we could visit Lucy, the Elephant!
This is Lucy. She's 60 feet tall and 127 years old. She's right off the beach and she has great views from the top. She does not, however, bring any sort of good luck to visitors who go on to gamble in AC. Although, come to think of it, I was the only one who actually went on the tour of Lucy,but I didn't gamble--Rob and my mother-in-law skipped the tour and then lost their money in about ten minutes. Maybe I missed out on my chance at Lucy luck... This is us, about to put our thighs through hell as Rob and I attempt to pedal this heavy bicycle thing and three non-pedaling children (also known as dead weight) around Cape May. Swamp-ass, anyone? Out at Sunset Beach, one of the ways to pass the time (while waiting for the sunset) is to find "Cape May Diamonds." They're actually quartz that has washed down the Delaware River, and by the time they get to Cape May, they're very round and pretty. Crafty salesmen polish them more and cut them to actually look like diamonds for tourists to buy. I could have stayed on the beach all afternoon picking up rocks (I'm easily amused). Also on the beach that day was a yellow lab who entertained us all by going into the ocean to dive for rocks that his owner would throw out. I never knew dogs could dive. It had to be one of the funniest things I've seen.
So there's a quick wrap of last week. This week is mercifully almost over. We did a little school-supply shopping yesterday at the biggest freaking Wal-Mart I've ever been into. We're not done--still have backpacks, lunchboxes and sneakers to get. We have two more weeks to get it all done. Today I went to the dermatologist and got a mole sliced off my back while the kids watched. Good times. And on Tuesday, when Caroline got her thumb crib put back in her mouth, her mood went sour almost immediately. She had a hard time being nice the rest of that day, but she appears to be getting used to it again.

Three more weeks

Three more weeks until the first day of school...that's so long! Swim lessons are done, vacation is over, seems like there's nothing to do but get on each other's nerves! Time for a plan and fast! Maybe we could work on some of those Brownie try-its...we've done a few activities, but haven't completed any badges yet. Caroline is recovering from nearly two weeks of unlimited TV channels (I block Disney and Nick at home--the consumerism just seems out of control on those channels). Any ideas? We're going to the pool this afternoon but the water will probably be very cold from the recent rain and temperature dip.

We painted the kitchen on Sunday. It's much better. And I'll (mark my words, and feel free to bring this up to me later) NEVER PAINT THIS KITCHEN AGAIN!

Other fun stuff...the knitting is going well. On vacation I finished the scarf and made two hats. I'm planning a couple of Christmas projects and have ordered the yarn and needles. Now I'm just waiting on delivery so I can start! I also ordered fabric for the girls' quilts (another Xmas delivery date). I'll be using my kid-free time up on Christmas projects come fall!

The kids have declared that quiet time is over for the day, so that's all the blogging I'll be doing! Caroline has to go back to the ortho to get her thumb crib put back in--the cement didn't hold and the whole thing came out. Back to nights of poor sleep!

We're back!

Rob and I are fighting like teenage siblings over who gets computer time...it'll be at least Tuesday before I'm all caught up reading everyone's blogs--and almost that long before I have all our pictures uploaded for your viewing pleasure!

Vacation was nice and just about the perfect length. I do love the beach! In between laundry and unpacking and painting the kitchen and doing something with the twenty or so tomatoes that ripened while we were gone, I'll post a run-down of our vacay!

Peace out

The car is packed, except for the refrigerated stuff and the toiletries and my shoes/knitting/books. The tomatoes are coming with us--never did get a sauce made. I did buy another paint sample. It was so heinous that I decided I liked the sample on the left from the earlier posting, so that's good.

We're leaving at the crack of dawn so we don't have to sit in traffic with everyone else heading "down the shore," as they say here. We're off to lovely Cape May, New Jersey! See you in a week.

Seeking advice...

I really should be packing or making some kind of sauce with all the tomatoes I've picked from the garden, but no, I decided to dismantle the kitchen and paint!

This is before, also known as Belgian chocolate. We liked the color. It made the cabinets stand out. It also made the kitchen pretty dark. The previous owners added a room behind the kitchen, so the nearest window is about twelve feet away. Please ignore all the stuff on the counters--I'm a realtors' nightmare (what with their "one thing on the counters" rule). And just know that all that crap from the counters is now in my dining room!
Here is what I did yesterday--I primed the whole thing and then put up the two colors we're considering. Keep in mind that the family room (which is behind the kitchen in these pictures) is yellow (or "Concord Ivory" according to the peeps at Benjamin Moore).
I don't know. I think I'm going back over to the paint store today to find something in between. The one on the left is...I don't know, I don't love it. It also doesn't really blend with the family room. The one on the right is just a bit too orange? I do NOT want to paint this kitchen again! I think we're going to let the samples sit and decide when we get back. Now I just need to put the kitchen back together a little bit--just so we don't come home to a construction zone. Thoughts greatly appreciated!

Now it's time to take the dog to the kennel--and that will be the unofficial start of my vacation! See you in a week!

Mid-week

Wednesday, already? This week is passing quickly! We're going on vacation Saturday, so I'm preoccupied with pre-vacay stuff--taking the dog for his shots, cleaning the house, laundry, stopping the mail, getting the oil changed in the car. So far, so good. But...

But, Caroline is in New Jersey this week with her cousins--going to a party every day it seems. I miss her. Caitlin and Bobby go to gymnastics camp this week from one to five--that's right, four hours a day to myself! So far, I've done a little thrifting, a little cleaning, and a lot of waiting at the vet's office. Today I'm going to my favorite thrift store. I haven't been to this one since school let out, so I'm super excited. They have a huge book section.

And we've decided to repaint the kitchen. We're averaging once a year on painting the kitchen! The irony is that the color we've chosen this time is probably the same one that was originally on the walls when we moved in. Clearly a sign that this should the be last time we paint the kitchen! Since our latest color is Belgian Chocolate, I'm going to have to prime over it because we're trying to decide between two peach colors. I so did not want to spend my kid-free time this week painting the kitchen. I'm trying to psych myself up--if I thrift and do fun stuff today, can I spend six or so hours over the next two days priming the walls? And then when we get back from vacay, I can put the real color on the walls. For the last time.

In the garden, the plum tomatoes are coming in like gangbusters. I picked eight of them yesterday. I have to decide what I'm going to do with them and then do it before we leave! I don't have the other forty-three pounds required to make the canned sauce recipe I have, so I'm not sure what to do. And I have to get it done by Friday night, 'cause we're out the door on Saturday morning.

I'll probably check in one more time before we leave, but after that it'll be quiet around here--vacay is off-line!