The days of my life...

Where oh where has the summer gone???

Aside from our horrific heat wave in July, the rest of the summer has been gorgeous. No rain, since May, (until yesterday), and temps in the upper 70's and 80's!

New in our life....

**My boys were supposed to start school last Monday, but due to a very lame and bogus teacher strike, they have not. Five days missed already, and despite a court order to return on Wednesday of this week, there is some feeling the teachers may defy the order and stay out longer. Even if they do go back on Wednesday, they will have missed 6 days. That is 6 days to make up at the end of the school year--a school year that already doesn't end, in a good year, until the last week of June sometimes! Blech!

(the day before school didn't start, at Wendy's for lunch)

**My beloved husband celebrated another birthday. I love this photo of him.

(Sam baked the cake--chocolate with raspberry jam filling!)

**We took a fun little mini-vacation to Moses Lake with the boys a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. Good times playing in the water, reading, and relaxing. We would have stayed longer or gone somewhere a bit more expensive and thrilling, like Great Wolf Lodge, but we have booked a vacation to Disneyland over the Christmas break!

**I am ten weeks away from being Grandma! Well, technically I already am, but since she isn't born yet, there are times it doesn't feel quite real. I have had a fun summer watching my daughter's belly grow, buying little girl clothes, knitting a couple of little pink things, and best of all came last night! Sarah and Jesse finally revealed her name to us and I love it. It is very sweet and girly, unique and a touch old fashioned.

** Yesterday, daughter and I canned the Italian Plums that were on our tree in the backyard. Um, we managed to get 53 jars!! It will be delightful and yummy to pull those off the shelf, heat them up, and serve them with our dinners this winter.

**Fall is just around the corner here--the flowers in the yard are showing it, the last of our garden is showing, and yesterday I saw the first geese practicing the V shaped flying pattern as they prepare to leave soon. (Sarah actually took the geese picture)
Our days are cooler as well as our evenings and the it is dark before 8:30 pm. I am in the mood for some pumpkin bread and think the Fall decorations may make an appearance in my house next weekend!

So, another season already passed. I have many great memories and have so much to look forward to!

Really, can I cry?
I hate to sweat.
If I wanted this kind of weather I would move away from
Seattle to some (god-forsaken other state) mid-western/southern/eastern state where I would expect this kind of heat and humidity.

But seriously.

What is up with the weather this past year?
Where is the mild Seattle I have known and loved my whole life?
Can I make it until NEXT weekend when a cooling front might make it in from the coast?
I guess I have to.

But it won't be easy.

And it won't be pretty!

But when did I move out of Washington state???

Now, please, before any of you mid-westerners or southerners begin to scoff or laugh at me, remember that almost none of our homes have central air conditioning. Most people only have window fans, but more and more each year I am seeing people buying window unit AC's. They are nice, but not as effective as central air with this kind of heat.

Okay--complaining done! Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Puget Sound Weather Outlook

The Heat is ON this week!

Updated Monday 6:45 a.m.

After a glorious weekend, the heat will crank up several notches around the region over the next couple of days. A thermal trough (warm, dry pocket of air at the earth's surface) will nose up the west coast today, forcing temperatures to climb into the middle 80s around Puget Sound for your Monday afternoon. This hot trough surges right into Puget Sound on Tuesday, making for highs in the upper 80s and low 90s.

A weak disturbance will traipse across the Northwest by mid-week, bringing both some high clouds and a rush of low morning marine clouds into the Sound. This will serve to shave back some of the heat, with highs dropping into the 70s and lower 80s Wednesday and Thursday.

The thermal trough roars back with a vengeance late this week, setting us up for what could be the warmest streak of the season. Highs will climb into the low 90s on Friday, middle 90s by Saturday, and upper 90s on Sunday. Some spots around the Sound could hit the century mark. Not only will it be scorching during the day, but overnight lows will stay mighty warm as well, probably making for one of those rare spells where us Western Washingtonians wish we had air conditioning!

fruit for two

Cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, rasberries....oh my!
Yum!

....and life keeps rolling along

Hello Friends! I know it has been a while since I have updated this blog and probably no one reads it anymore, but my main purpose for this blog was to record our family's comings and goings, and we have been doing that!

~~The boys are almost done with their school year (Tuesday is the last day) and then I will have an 8th grader and a senior. How did THAT happen?

~~We got a dog. Her name is Molly and she is as in love with us as we are with her. She is particularly attached to Kerry. Dog ownership is as big a job as I expected but her previous owners did do some training with her as she doesn't chew, except on her bones, she hasn't had any accidents and sleeps all night in her crate. A great upside to having her is that I am getting out walking every day!





~~My 2nd child graduated from college last weekend and we had a wonderful day celebrating with him in up in Bellingham. We even managed to squeeze in a lovely lunch with his girlfriend and her parents. Next stop for Andrew will hopefully be China next year!




~~I had my cardiac ablation this past Monday and it was considered successful but I may be looking at having to do it again as I am now having the same symptoms on the left side of my heart. I will know more in a couple of weeks when I have my follow up appointment. The procedure itself was not bad but the pain meds they gave me afterwards just about did me in. Apparently I don't handle narcotics well!


~~My front yard flower pots are thriving for the first time in 3 years--I think I hit on a great mix of ivy, Gerber daisies, petunias, dusty miller, zinnias/marigolds and sweet Williams. It helps that the trees in the island in front of my pots have gotten so big so now the pots are not in such strong direct sunlight like they used to be.

~~Kerry and Sam put in a vegetable garden and it is doing alright, but they think things should be bigger by now. All I know is that the pumpkin plants I talked them into planting are gigantic which makes me excited for fall when we have a bunch of pumpkins to decorate with!

~~This is the sky looking down our street tonight.



I thought for sure we were in for a little thunder storm, but so far, nothing!



I just want to say that if you stop by here and I haven't posted in a bit, check out my book blog because I do manage to post on there a bit more regularly.

The Chair....

Otherwise known as cat wars.



Oliver: This is MY chair and you all better not forget it!




Dodger: But I want that chair....

adapting

Change of plans... Plan B... Alternative plan... Flexibility.

My sister is sick.
She was going to host Easter dinner.
Guess who is going to host it now?

I better get that list filled out because tomorrow will be busy with a capital B! My dream of not needing to deep clean my house is shattered.

A big, big thank you to my girl tonight. She came over after work and dusted and vacuumed my house for me while I tackled the boys' bathroom which double as the guest bathroom.

Off to make that list!

Good Friday

My wish is that you come to truly know the sacrifice which was made for you and for me, that Friday 2000 years ago.

Miscellany

mis⋅cel⋅la⋅ny:

noun, plural -nies.

1.	a miscellaneous collection or group of various or somewhat unrelated items.

*/* It is the week before Easter and all through the house...oh wait! Wrong holiday!
We have had two gorgeous, spring like days this week before the gray, rainy, cold, blustery weather returned. Our cherry trees and flowering plum trees are blooming and everything is beginning to have that springy fluffy candy coated look.

My sister is hosting Easter for the family which I LOVE because now I don't have to do the big deep clean in my house! We all bring stuff for the meal so no one person bears the brunt. I am bringing deviled eggs, a relish plate and my rommaine/gorgonzala/cranberry/poppyseed dressing salad. I decided that I am also going to bring some yummy sugar cookies, because even though there will be two other desserts I have decided you can never have too many desserts! Here is the recipe for the cookies. We are also having spiral cut ham, a potato casserole and honey glazed carrots. Yum! I can't wait.

*/* I still have sick family members in this family. Now two of them have nasty, nasty coughs on top of spring allergies beginning to make themselves felt. My kitchen counter is beginning to look like a pharmacy. It has been a long *sick season* for us.

*/* In 2.5 weeks I will be having my heart cathetar ablation due to my pvc condition. You can read all about it by clicking on the red words above. It is a supposed to be a simple and safe procedure but I am a bit freaked out. I have put this off for several years by taking a couple of medications daily. I would like to get off those meds and I would like the cough that plagues me in spite of the meds to go away.

*/* I am still over the moon about becoming a grandma this year. I even ordered a Curious George book on paperbackswap.com as I begin to start my grandma book & toy collection! Sarah is due the middle of November, before Thanksgiving, and we will surely have lots to be thankful for. I am knitting a little something for baby, which I can't say much more about because mommy reads my blog. ;)

*/* We are traveling to Ellensburg WA in 2 weeks for Austen to compete with his sax at the State competition. It will be a nice chance to get away and spend some fun time with the boys. They are both going to play baseball again this year and their seasons will start in a couple of weeks--I sure love watching them play.


That is all the news I have to share. My life continues to be full, busy and happy. I hope this week finds you well and eagerly anticipating the celebration of our Lord's death and ressurection.

'lil of this, 'lil of that....

On other fronts, life is pretty darn mundane. Tomorrow is Monday and it will be rainy here, I am sure. Another work week starts already and I am still trying to figure out where my weekend went?

Austen is sick. Still. He was the 2nd one of the boys to get the flu, but he just hadn't bounced back like his brother, even after a week. I realized just how cruddy he was feeling (and sounding) so I scheduled a doctor appointment last Friday. The verdict? Sinus infection. This is the 2nd year in a row he has had this happen after a lengthy bout of a nasty virus--and almost down to the exact same week both years--in fact, it may be going on 3 years that this has happened. Poor guy.

Because my weekend was so nutty, I don't have my groceries purchased for the week--and only the beginning of a meal plan!
But tomorrow we are trying a new recipe a co-worker shared with me. It smelled way better than it sounds--although it does sound hearty:

Meatloaf Soup
1 lb. hamburger
sliced carrots (as much as you like)
2 large onions
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 (16 oz) can of tomatoes (I used petite diced)
1 can butter beans
Green pepper
Handful of celery
2 tablespoon vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
I may add a can of mushrooms

Fry hamburger. Slice carrots and onions and add to large pot. Add rest of ingredients and simmer until carrots are soft.

I think we are going to have Broccoli Cornbread with this, which is another new recipe:

Broccoli Cornbread
5 eggs beaten
1 large onion chopped
10 oz pkg, frozen broccoli, thawed and drained
1.5 sticks of butter melted
2 cups cottage cheese
2 (each 7 oz) pkgs.cornbread mix
2 tablespoon sugar

Combine all ingredients and pour ijnt a 12x9 pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Note: good cold or split and toasted under broiler with a little slice of cheese.


Not sure what we will eat the rest of the week--hmmm...may spaghetti one night and sloppy- joes another. Thank goodness for that Wednesday night dinner at church every week. :)


Well--off to bed for me. After all, it IS 1:00 a.m.!

my secret....

A clue:

I feel older but in a good way....

(stay tuned--maybe Tuesday, for sure Wednesday)

shhh!

Shhh.....don't tell.
I have a secret!
I can't tell yet.
Maybe next week!

queen of hearts

It is official.
Heart Ablation.
April 27th on the cardiology floor.















Yikes!
What did I just agree to, today?

catch up and all that jazz

Whew! Where has time been flying off to? I have had 2 kids down with the flu, one getting it just as the first one was over it. Sam is back to school and Austen is the one laying around and hacking his lungs up. I am so not ready for Monday morning and the work week to begin again. I have not gotten groceries purchased, no menu plan completed and hardly any laundry washed and dried-and let's just wipe the thought of laundry that has been folded and put away for the week right our of your mind. Why am I so behind you might ask--or maybe you wouldn't ask, but I am going to put it out there anyway...

I spent all day yesterday (Saturday) with my boy Sam. His school jazz band had a rare weekend field trip to a jazz festival/clinic/evening concert.


I agreed to be a driver for it and ended up just having Sam in my car which was just fine with me! Twenty area middle school jazz bands came to each play a 20 minute set, get judged and then have a clinic time with the judge who critiqued them. It was a great experience for them and I was so excited to finally get a picture of Sam playing a solo--he was playing an improvisational section which he made up himself in the middle of the song, Very Superstitious. He did great and I never cease to be amazed--do my boys not have a nervous bone in their bodies??


We did not get home until 10 p.m. as we stayed for the evening impressive Jazz Band concert from one of the colleges here in the state.





Today, we slept in, and then went to clean the dentist office--a job I despise doing on Sundays but this was the only time this weekend we had to do it. Then I went into the office of my regular job and filed paperwork for 3 hours! I only did that because:

A. I am really behind on filing--a low priority task and one hard to do when every one is around and the phones are ringing, and,

B. I am leaving work several hours early to go to a scary doctor appointment. I have a date with an electrophysiologist to discuss a little procedure which might stop all the little pvc's my heart is giving me--little extra beats which according to the heart monitor I wore last week, I have 10% of the time. I am nervous and really don't like considering this procedure at all.

So, now I am off to bed where I will try to relax and get some sleep!

Where am I?

I will be back!
I have been busy with:

**updating my book blog
** knitting--I am in the middle of my first big project, a knitted bag, and being the creative never happy with a pattern the way it is kind of person, this has led me to make the pattern harder than it is! (pictures coming soon)
**dealing with cardiac issues again. In fact, tomorrow I am going in to the clinic to be hooked up to a portable heart monitor for 24 hours and I plan on taking Friday off from work to deal with the process of all this monitoring.
**cheering my boys on with school work and saxophone playing.
**working at my 9-5 job which has been super crazy these past couple of weeks

Let's see--any other excuses reasons I can come up with to explain my absence? Not really, just know I am planning on coming back.

Warmly

old man winter

We have had the mildest stretch of winter weather that I can ever remember, from mid January through now, the end of February. Way below normal rain, or wind and pretty warm temperatures reaching into the upper 50's many days!

Not today! Winter doesn't want to let go yet as evidenced by what we woke up to this morning. I could actually go for a big dump just so we could have a snow day off from work. This kind of snow, while pretty is just useless and annoying! :-)