Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real (And Yummy)

 

 

 

 

~Pretty~

Shades of gray looming above hilltops.
Fluttering wings by birdfeeders.
Waxflowers that just won't die.  I got them weeks ago and they persist.  Wonderful, magical, everlasting flowers!

~Happy~

 Penny getting a good brushing in the fresh, crisp air.
A big sister that spoils an almost-twin with a bike 'ride'.
The first shoots of green...thank you, Lord.

~ Yummy~

Soft pretzels with jalapeno mustard

~Funny~

During rest time when Adele' and Judah are in their respective rooms and I am at the computer, I overhear this conversation across the halls~ in which Judah was trying to strike up a conversation when it was SUPPOSED to be quiet time. 
He tries several times (in vain) to get her to talk to him and then says...

" Adyay, don't you love me?" (Judah)
"Yes.  I yove you vewy, vewy much." (Adele)
"Den why won't you TALK to me?" (Judah)

~ Real~

  I finished our first batch of maple syrup of the season!  And like a little girl I must add….”all by myself!”  Technically, I *thought* I had finished my first batch last week but when Gary (my father-in-law and the syrup master himself) came over and saw it he laughed and pointed out several things ‘wrong with it’.

The conversation went something like this:

Rebecca, as I hand over the jar of syrup for oogling: “Look!  I finished our first syrup of the season!”

Gary: “Oh wow.  That’s good. “ 

….Pause….

Gary : “It’s a bit thin.  Did you boil it enough?”

Rebecca, deflated: “Well…I thought so.”

Gary: “And you really should filter it more to get out that sugar sand…maybe I will bring you over a filter.”

Rebecca, out loud: “Oh.  Okay.  I’ll boil it down more with my next batch. And I’ll be sure to filter it better.  Thanks for the advice.”

Rebecca, in her mind : “Leave now, Gary.  LEAVE NOW.  And take your stinkin’ syrup critiquing with you, Mister.”
 

Preparations

~PRETTY~

 

I unraveled this neckwarmer no less than seven times.  First the circle was twisted.  Then, after finishing it, it looked too big and ran out of the yarn remnant I had, then it was twisted, x2, x3, x4.  Etc. Etc.  Finally, I decided to make a rectangle and stitch it up.  I was ~HAPPY~ to be rid of it.  (And that is an understatement.)

Is this or is this not the COOLEST coat-rack IN THE WORLD?

 

"The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below."

~FUNNY~

Hopestead is Santa's Workshop Central, or so it seems these days.  Andrew is busy stitching up ornaments, Corynn is drawing up a storm, Adele is wondering when I will help HER make gifts.  (I am wondering too.)   Matt has made just about the coolest gifts in the world this year...but none are for me.  :-(  All of this, always- ALWAYS with Pandora crooning Christmas tunes in the background.  And quick quizzes from Corynn "Who is this, Mama?"

"Frank Sinatra"

"Yep."

I get it *almost* every time.  She's getting pretty good at distinguishing Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble herself.

I am way backed up on showing you the gifts I have been making.  Maybe next year I should have a 'present-along' or something.  One of these days I will show you the rest...

I made 50 copies of our Christmas letter at the library.  (I hate not having a working printer.)  The librarian was shocked that I could possibly need that many.  Turns out, I need about 18 more.  Going today to get them printed.  Just wait 'til she hears. 

~Real~
This month I didn't follow the "Go uptown once a month" goal but I guess that is to be expected since Christmas is in 6 more days.  This is an extraordinary month.  Today I am going for grocery supplies for the different parties we are attending/hosting next week and for Christmas.  This will be separate from our monthly grocery trip because (while I keep telling myself NOT to go overboard!) I will still need a few special ingredients that will likely swallow up my normal food budget.  So I am going uptown today which is shocking because...

 yesterday Matt's parents took the children for the WHOLE DAY while I went out getting the last minute presents/stocking stuffers I needed and running a few errands.  Besides handmade gifts and a few online purchases, this was the only Christmas shopping trip I have done.  I couldn't really get any groceries at the same time because Matt met me uptown after work and we had a bit of a date to top off the evening.  After dinner, we went to Lowe's to get a new faucet for the sink and paint.

Matt hates plumbing.  He's been putting off the leaking sink for so long because he hates plumbing so much.  I hate painting.  I've been putting off covering up that horrible dining room wallpaper for so long because I hate painting so much.  But, I figure, if hosting Christmas Eve here wasn't impetus enough for me (and him!) to finally do it, nothing would be.  So I am going to be packing up the dining room and putting a fresh coat of merry & bright on it this weekend.  And I might just have a bright, shiny new faucet by Christmas too!

Two trips uptown in two days.  'Tis the season, I suppose.

 

P,H,F,R

~ Pretty ~

You never have to look far for something pretty around here.

~ Happy ~

We have had such a wonderful year of garden fruit this year!  Must have been the torrential rainstorms this spring that almost drowned my garden (more than once).  

We've been feasting.  

~ Funny ~

A glance out of the kitchen window reveals this...

 

Wait a minute.  Is that a TAIL?

Sure enough, it is.  There is Skeeter, looking a wee bit sheepish, I must say!

What is he DOING under there?

Hanging out and reading apparently.  

Naturally.  

~ Real ~

Boys and frogs- they have some sort of magnetism one toward another.  

Well.  Come to think of it...I suspect if  Mr. Frog and Mr. Toad had their way, the could do quite nicely with a safe distance from boys.

 Yes, that look pretty much says it all.  Doesn't it?

Judah's hands are enormous.  Matt takes great pride in it, I just sniffle because when I hold his hand, it is like holding Andrew's hand.  

My Hoss, I love him so.

My {P,H,F,R} Week ~in one big photo dump~

HI.

I have intended to blog this week, really I have.  But such is the way of things.  

This week.  Oh, this week has been a busy one.  A Pretty one.  A Happy One.  A Funny one.  But a busy one.

So instead of small nibbles that actually taste good- I have given you an enormous pot of things that were really never meant to be together.  There is a slight chance that it will somehow miraculously 'work'.  There is an even better chance this post may make you nauseous- but if I am ever to get caught up, then indigestion it must be. 

Let's hope, instead, it turns out something more like Hungarian Goulash:

(I don't know why I am referring to a blog post as something edible.  I must be hungry.)

{Pretty}

Laundry soap.

I canned pears.  I forgot how much I hate canning pears.  Home canned pears taste DIVINE, but they are persnickety things to can. 

~~

In a matter of seconds the sky went from this:

to this: 

~~~

I made such a pretty pineapple jalapeno salsa using only orange tomatoes.  

~~~

nasturniums 

The garden isn't quite as pretty these days.  Certain things are dying out and I am so busy harvesting that I haven't weeded in a month.  There is one death that is always welcome.  The gardens' death after a fruitful year.  The exhaustion makes it a welcome sight.

{Happy}

~ no broken limbs so far on the trampoline.  Lots of bouncing boys and flying girls and plenty of flips though.




The corn is finally starting to be ready to eat!  Nothing better for a long day in the kitchen than to throw a bunch of ears in the canning pot and call it dinner.

~~~~

A storm was rolling in- and oh, it was a scary one too!- 

The Mister was hauling logs in preparation for a big day sawing.  He kept going and going until I finally went out and got him.  Within three minutes the sky opened up, thunder rumbled us out of our chairs and lightening cracked.  What would he do without me, I wonder?

Be electrocuted.  That's what.

{Funny}

Penny, our Jersey, is a beauty.  I should say, pretty as a....Penny.  ;-)  Her most beautiful feature must undoubtedly be her plump and shapely lips.  Any girl would envy them, no?



If only they would aid her in getting some 'action'- the girl has been in heat twice now and goes hoarse from begging moooo-ing for 'it'- if you know what I mean.

She still measures pretty small to breed.  I am not sure how much longer she can hold off though.  A girl after my own heart. 

~~~

Plenty of summer days have been "GARDEN LUNCH!" days in which I say they may eat of ANYTHING that is in the garden and as MUCH as they can fit in their bellies.  I don't know if this makes me a bad mother or a good one- maybe just a lazy one.  But it is pretty funny to see children eating green peppers like apples.

~~~

He's tired:

He's not:

~~~

The only thing missing from this picture is a sleeveless shirt so I can see those bulging muscles.  ;-)

{Real}

I won't lie.  I was slightly (okay, a lot) overwhelmed this week when we picked enough tomatoes to fill a small kiddie pool.  I did the picking/washing/squeezo-ing....all...day...long...yesterday and today I will get it all canned.  The sauce is cooking down as we speak.

I've been wearing my hair like so to keep my pesky bangs out of my face (tomato hands swiping irritating bangs isn't a desirable look.)  Corynn asked me why I was wearing the bandanna backwards and I didn't really know.  

And then it suddenly occurred to me.  

A subliminal message to myself and all other busy ladies during these last few weeks of crazy-busy: