Fun In the Woods

This weekend was so VERY enjoyable! We, as a family, were invited to the Wright triplet's birthday party at their grandparents cabin in the woods. When we got there, most of the teens were all standing, or sitting around talking or tossing footballs...not too terribly exciting. After they were sure that everyone had arrived, they numbered us off into 5 groups for a scavenger hunt. We got into our groups, each group consisted of 5-6 people, and as it turned out we had 4 family members in our group...if we only had Em and D we would have had a full family_unit! As it was, we had Alex, Christen, Tom, me and Steph. Steph, by the way, is one of the triplets which turned out to be quite in our favor because the hunt was on their family's property and she knew what a few of the clues meant. Right away, we started reading our first clue and I knew exactly where it was...the second clue came fairly easy but the third, whew, that one was a little tougher! In all, there were 13 clues, our team finished first, about 15 minutes ahead of the 2nd place team! Yes, I'll say it, WE ROCK!!!! We hope to plan another hunt for the youth group which would be around town so everyone can have a fair chance to know where things may be. Oh, another "by the way", D found 3 of the clues for his team, he was the youngest (8 yrs old) in his group :)

This afternoon turned out to be an out-of-doors day too. There was a picnic at an older couple's house today, it's actually an annual event. First, we sing hymns and then we roast hotdogs or whatever it is you bring for yourself to roast on the bon fire they prepared. After you get your fill of the potluck and bbq'd items, it's time for the annual volleyball or ultimate frisbee....neither of which I cared to participate in, so, that left me to visit with whoever else didn't feel like running, jumping or getting tackled. I'm quite glad it turned out this way because now I think I've found a supplier for my need of good mexican vanilla!!!!!! No, I will not divulge my sources! FIND YOUR OWN!!! Muwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! Seriously though, I'm really, really, really excited of the idea of getting some good vanilla since I've been out for a little while now. After all the talking, a few of the youth got my attention and let me know we were running late for our "Hannibal" party...."Hannibal" party? Oh yes....we started to watch the Hannibal Lecter series last weekend, we managed to get through "Hannibal Rising" and "Red Dragon" but it got late so we decided to finish up this weekend, Sunday to be exact. Well, we had all forgotten about aforementioned picnic, sigh. We got back here and watched "The Silence of the Lambs", we as in Em, Jessica and Austen (the other 2 of the triplets), and Jake. Jake and I had already seen it so we had fun making obscene speculations outloud, hehehehe, yeah, fun times. The other 3 are now dying to see "Hannibal", as it is, it may not happen until next Sunday, we'll have to see how the week goes.

Well, a child_unit needs to get on the puter to look up definitions, so, I will finish here for now.

Y'all catch up on your Hannibal now!!
Love Ya :)

Where Did the Time Go?

Wow, it's amazing just how fast the time goes by, whether you're having fun or not....not to say that I'm not having fun, but you know what I mean. Yesterday, Tom and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary! I swear, I still remember the day we got married, just some of the sweet, little tender things...people going through the receiving line to congratulate us...an in-law giving me a kiss on the cheek leaving her lipstick there, and Tom just looking at me and wiping it off with his thumb as the rest of his hand was on my cheek. You see, it's not like a monumental thing, just a little gesture that imprinted in my mind and is still there. I remember my matron of honor being more nervous than me....heh, I wasn't the least bit nervous, just happy. It's one of the last memories I have of my dad looking healthy even though he looked 20 yrs older than he actually was, he only lived 12 years, 3 months and 27 days after my wedding day. In the course of these past 20 years, I think he's one of my biggest regrets, not he himself, but things that went said and unsaid, never to be sorted or resolved. He did get to see all 5 of the child_units that the 20 yrs. brought to us, for that, I'm truely happy!

Fall is starting to settle in on us. The past few nights have been very chilly, leaving the house just as chilly in the morning. Hmmmm, when, then, should we start the woodstove and remove the air-conditioner? I say leave the air in because we'll certainly get our Indian Summer....we always do and then there would be the regret of it being rather hot in here and uncomfortable. As far as the woodstove goes, leave it off for now, I'll just do a little more baking and the oven will warm the house up, then there will be happiness in 2 ways instead of just the one, being warm. (cookies, pies, cakes, etc....) For pity sake, the leaves aren't even all off of the tress yet!! Suck it up, I say, and put some socks and a sweater on!!!

I still miss the oldest child_unit. He did leave me a message, I think I read it a few times, just hearing his voice as I read it. I was hoping that he would be able to come home this weekend with his friend, but he said he's got something going on. Oh well. Speaking of missing, I haven't heard from a certain German speaking, U of M student in a week now...I'm hoping she's well and not getting into too much hookah....hmmmmmmmmm....

I guess I should probably get moving, I have to stop at the store and get some granola bars for Em's trip today....it's the first game for the Jr. High girls' basketball team...she's the assistant coach and wanted to bake them some granola bars, but time and ingrediants lacking, neither of us got the chance to do it, so, I'm gonna do the next to the best thing....buy some. I'm sure the girls won't mind!

Y'all enjoy the breeze,
Love Ya :)

Week's End

It's Sunday evening. Another week in my life is gone. Another trip to the dentist, another trip to the school office to get things straight, another football game, etc, etc. It wasn't too bad of a week, well, other than having to go to the dentist again which is consequently ending up in me having to go AGAIN! No, I'm seriously NOT happy about this, too many things are happening with my teeth and it's mostly that they're not really fitting together like they did before I had all that work done in one day. Enough said.

I made homemade venison stew for the first time last night. Yes, for the first time ever. It was incredible! Yeah, I thought it was good, but tonight while eating the leftovers, Alex said it was awesome, the best stew he's ever had......oh, sorry, that sound you just heard was the sound of my jaw hitting the floor again upon rememberance of that statement. I know that he generally likes my cooking, but doesn't usually comment as to just how much he likes it. Now baking is another story, if he likes it, he'll definately let ya know, but general cooking, he just eats. I think I may have to make the stew a little more often :) Speaking of cooking and baking, I also made salsa for the first time this past week AND canned it. I'm usually just into canning jam, but thought I would try my hand at salsa, it turned out very well, but very spicy. Em doesn't really like it all that much, she thinks it's just a little too spicy for her liking. Tomorrow I'm planning on making another batch, but I'm only gonna use 1/3 of the jalapenos that it calls for. I think I have to make some banana bread tomorrow too, the bananas should be really ripe by now. yummyyyyyy

I actually got to talk to Ben today. Granted, it was only for literally about 3 minutes, it was nice just to hear his voice. He was pretty stressed about his homework, it seems he had quite a bit of math to do and it didn't seem to him that he was making any progress. I'm guessing that he doesn't like his Intro. to Teaching class either, his exact comment was, "It's freaking retarded", so yeah, sounds like something he doesn't like to me.

Oh man....so yeah, anyone that knows our household knows that Sunday is mother_unit's dish day. Wow, are those dishes ever piled up out there...ugh! I guess I better get out there and get them done so that I'll have a nice clean kitchen for tomorrow's salsa session.

Y'all be good,
Love Ya :)

Runner, Running, Ran

I need to start this blog by saying that I'm doing MUCH better as far as the "child_unit leaving the nest" goes...ok...enough with that!

I'm SO excited! I stated in an earlier post that I had read a book titled "The Kite Runner", it was a fantastic book. Well, while browsing the upcoming fall movies, I saw that on Nov. 2, 2007, the movie"The Kite Runner" will be released!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!! I absolutely love it when they make a good book into a movie, I just hope they don't butcher it like they did "Eragon", that was truely a disgrace to the author!! I just hope that I can find some takers who would like to go and watch the movie with me, I just don't think it's something that Tom would really like....maybe he would, but I doubt it. We'll see.

It's that time of year again....running, running, running! To SCHOOL!! WOO HOOOOO!! Yes, school is again in session. The child_units didn't seem to mind going back either, they even had kind words to say about the lunch! It was....*gasp*....good. I really do have to remember to call and make an appointment for Alex to take his driving test, that way he can drive the siblings to school and then have a way home after football practice. I don't mind picking him up, but hey, if it's one less trip, I'm all for it.

Emily is (unofficially) the official Jr. High Girls Basketball coach's assistant. I think she's really going to like helping out, especially since B-ball is one of her favorite sports, if not THE fave!

3 weeks ago, I went to the dentist....I really do hate that place, giving birth is a far better option than all the torture of needles and drills! I do have to give a little respect for my dentist, for he does try hard to make it as pain free as possible. However, 7 fillings and a crown are hard to keep out of the pain-free zone. I did survive though. Today, I went to get my permanent crown, mostly I went because I was having pain in a tooth that is already crowned w/ a root canal too. He said it was a pain that was coming from the tooth above and that putting the permanent crown on should aleviate that pain.....hmmmmm, now it hurts MORE on the top and I'm not sure, but I think there's still that pain on the bottom. I guess I'll have to wait for the anaproxen to wear off and the pain of today's procedure to settle down to see if I'm really having pain in that tooth or not. Oh, be sure of it, if there's pain, I'll be back in that chair to have it taken care of. UGH!

Well, I smell that the food I put in the oven is ready to be called "supper" now. Not to mention that Em is ready to go to Youth Group.

Y'all enjoy summer's last heat!
Love Ya :)