My Labor of Love for Labor Day Weekend

It's the Labor Day weekend! Yea! Aren't you excited for a long weekend? I sure am. Every year we go down to Lake Barclay and stay with Mom and Dad. We have not had good luck this summer, every time we have gone down it has rained. Correction, not just rained, it has poured. Of course, this weekend the forecast is calling for rain. This time I'm taking an arsonel of activities. The kids get so bored when they can't swim, I mean how many episodes of The Suite Life of Zac and Cody can you watch in one weekend, seriously? I got this idea from over at "Just A Girl". Just like her, I had most of the items already, I grabbed a few extra things in the school supplies section at Wal-Mart and then a few more things at the Dollar Store. I already had the little pails and used one large soup can. There is absolutely nothing in this basket that my kids haven't seen/used before, but because it's new and organized differently, I think they're going to be so excited!

Sometimes you just HAVE to have it

A week or so ago I stopped by our local antique mall looking for anything I could paint, strip, decoupage, or otherwise destroy. I ran across this old door and instantly,pasionately, 100% fell in love with it. So I called my mom and said "I just HAVE to have it!" Since she agreed that "yes, you just HAVE to have it" well that just added more fuel to my fire. When Hubs got home that night I told him all about it, promising to do all the work, lifting, etc. if only he'd help me get it home in his truck. He then asked the big stinker of a question, "how much?" Well, I hadn't actually found that part out (honestly, I didn't really care) I just knew I had to get measurements and go back and get it. On Saturday I ran over and took the measurements and it, of course, fit perfectly. So then came the time for me to ask, "how much?". Brace yourself, $12.00! Can you believe it? For that price I would have strapped it on my back and carried it home. So Hubs went back and got it for me that afternoon. Once I convinced him that , yes, I was sure that I didn't want to scrape, sand, or paint anything on it, he conceded to help me. We basically built a cleat and then hung it on the wall. It is perfect! My only mistake in this whole process is that while hanging it up, Hubs asked me to run and get a tape measure. I quickly said "Oh, I have one in my purse!" Ooops, that was his favorite one he's been looking for!

Also, the bedding was a project I did last year before I started blogging. I bought the coverlet at TJ Maxx and then made my shams and throw pillows, except the leather one of course. This was one of my first big projects and Mom taught me a lot about becoming one with my sewing machine!

Back to school

I've not been very good at keeping up my blog this summer. It seems that this summer has flown by. I'm pretty ready for the kids to be back in school. I'm sure at this point that people with more than 2 kid are rolling their eyes right now. I am craving some sort of routine. We seem to run crazy all summer long, stay up too late, sleep in too long. Is it wrong of me to be ready for school to begin? Just for a few moments of quiet, sweet, sweet quiet. Just for one day of a clean (enough)house. Just for one moment to have an uninterupted thought.

Of course, I got all that on Wednesday when the kids went back to school. I spent the morning doing laundry, mopping floors, went to Wal-Mart and worked on pendants.

I spent the afternoon (with my uninterupted thoughts) staring at the clock, counting the minutes until they came back home. I emailed the Hubs once to see if he had seen them and how were they. I couldn't wait for them to get here to tell me everything about their day. I really missed them.

But it was nice, for a short time.

What do I do with this?

Look what I found on my porch this morning. . . .

A couple of months ago my wonderful neighbor, Ray, stopped me and told me he was growing cucumbers in his garden and I was to help myself when they were ready. Well then a few weeks ago he sheepishly told me those weren't cucumbers he was growing, but I told him "never fear, I love zucchini too!" So this morning I awoke to a rather large pile of zucchini. I am determined not to let it go to waste, so I started stalking other bloggers looking for ideas. I found a recipe for I Hate Zucchini Bread, Bread, I'm definately going to try that one. I also found a recipe for Zucchini Fritters. So that is what I did today. Oh and guess what Ray has on his front porch this evening? You guessed it, Zucchini Fritters!



They remind me very much of Fried Green Tomatoes.

Here is the recipe:

5 T Bisquick
1/2C Parmasean Cheese
1/4t Salt
1/8t Pepper
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
2C Grated Zucchini

Mix it all together, drop by spoonfulls (I used the large Pampered Chef scoop) into a hot skillet/griddle. I used butter for the first round (in the picture) but after that I used non-stick spray. Both worked fine. Let me know if you try them.

Oh and I have since figured out that I can freeze some of that zucchini. We'll have fritters in February! Enjoy!

Picture perfect

A couple of weeks ago Kennedy performed at the Somerfest parade talent show. She did a ballet dance to "I Love Being A Girl". There were 7 girls in her group and they were so lovely. I knew she would only wear the dress a couple of times and since they were quite expensive, I was bound and determined to get a good picture of her. I ended up taking her to the backyard, putting her on a towel and standing on a chair over the top of her, then taking several pictures. Next I went to Picnik.com and played around with the picture. I'm really proud of the finished project, of course having a stunningly beautiful model makes it so easy.

Oh yeah, they got FIRST PLACE in the Gibson County Fair talent show!

The summer heat is upon us

Today was one of the first days that I really felt the heat. I wanted to do something fun with the kids, but since I worked today there wasn't much time. So we made snow cones.Even Daddy took some time off from working and came downstairs for a treat. Saylor got a treat too, but hers was plain ice, no cherry syrup for her. Can you imagine what she would have looked like? A pink Bichon!

It's the most wonderful time, of the year . . .

We pulled the boat out last week! Yeah! I took this picture of Wes as he was handing all the stuff over the side. We always take the first week to clean and wax and polish the boat. After all, it is a part of the family. We took it to Lake Barclay over Memorial Day weekend, but it was almost a complete wash out. It rained the whole weekend. So we are starting this weekend on the Ohio River. We are so excited! Sand, sun and water: here we come!

From Wes

Sometimes I wonder, what did I ever do to deserve this beautiful life God gave me. From a ten-year-old boy this is as mushy as it gets, and I absolutely LOVE it. Thanks Wesley, I think you rock, rule and are "aswem" too!

Kennedy's First Communion

This past weekend was a huge milestone for my littlest monkey. We celebrated Kennedy's First Holy Communion. We are so proud of her. She takes the sacrament so seriously. We spent a few weeks getting ready for the big day. We shopped, we planned the menu, and we made invitations. I took my wedding dress to a wonderful seamstress, here in town, and had her dress made. The veil was also made by the same person. My friend Michelle did the beading on top. I think Kennedy was a little disappointed that we didn't get to go shopping for the dress. But those days will come. Once we picked up the dress, she was very excited. I stressed all week, because it rained, and rained, and rained. As the weekend approached the chances of rain hovered around the 80% mark. I was a mess. Our house is just so small to have 25-30 people here. But, as you can see in the pictures, it was a blessed day. The weather held, my daughter received the sacrament of Holy Communion, and my tender heart survived another step in this journey of watching her grow up.

Save me some smashed potatoes. . . .

Such a sick little boy. Wes woke up Thursday with a raging fever. I qualify for "Mom of the Year" because he woke me up in the middle of the night and said he wasn't feeling well. I felt around on him and told him to get a drink and go back to sleep. John woke me up about 6:30am and told me to come and feel Wes. He had a temp of 103.4. Poor kid fought it through Saturday before it finally broke. When the kids are sick I make them a "sick bed" on the couch. He slept in his sick bed all day on Thursday and Friday and woke up Saturday feeling better. His biggest worry through all of this was that he wouldn't get any mashed potatoes and corn (mixed together, he is my kid after all) at his sister's First Communion Party on Sunday. He was a trooper and kept telling me he was sorry, as if he could help being so sick. I realized it was all over on Saturday afternoon when he got in trouble for, once again, throwing a football in the hallway.