Fall Happenings

Although I titled this post "Fall Happenings", there really hasn't been a lot happening worth blogging about. I've just put up a few picture from the past few weeks. Her's the pumpkin College Girl carved when she was home for the weekend. She's had a good transition to college so far, has made friends and seems to be doing okay, so that's a relief.
TB's football team got to play their last game of the season on a stadium with artificial turf, so that was kinda cool and not nearly so messy. Unfortunately they got walloped, TB didn't even get to play, so it was kind of a sad end to the season. He had a good time playing football even though he didn't see a lot of playing time in games due to an injury and inexperience. He was sick again this past week with an H1N1 type thing, but he was over it in about 4 days, so it may have been something else.

One last fall picture from the yard. This bush surprises me with its color every year, waiting til most of the other leaves have fallen. I've done pretty well with the yard work this year hauling many bags of leaves out. Now I just hope it waits awhile longer before we have any more snow.

Next week will be a busy one. Besides the usual activities, DH is making a trip to his parents to tour apartments with them, trying to convince them to down-size before winter. Over the weekend we will go to my mother's to move her out of her house. She wants to go to an apartment, but unfortunately her house has sold and none are available in her small town right now, so she'll move in with my brother temporarily. That's about it for now, I'm hoping for a nice evening by the fire watching my favorite hockey team play. Go Gophers!

Quilts, Snow, and more

Wow, it's been almost two weeks since my last blog entry. More of the same old, same old around here for the most part. Over the weekend I took in our local quilt show and had a nice lunch with my girlfriends afterward. It was either that or drive and hour to sit in a 30 degree wind and maybe watch TB play football. I felt a little guilty about not going to his game, but he said he didn't care and it was nice to get out with the girls. He ended up playing a lot and having his only reception of the season, so I was sorry to miss that. He also got tackled hard and hit in the helmet so hard he was dizzy, so it's good I wasn't there for that. I might have embarrassed him by asking if he was okay or something. I woke up this morning to see the ground white with snow. It was very depressing to me, I certainly hope some nice fall days return or it's going to be a very long winter. Thought I'd post some of the quilts from the show, it was very inspiring. I hope to make a fall themed wall hanging for over the fireplace soon. I'm thinking about a version of one of the leaf quilts I saw. I took a lot of pictures, so I'll put up some more in a day or so.

An Addiction to Confess

I confess, I've become addicted to Facebook. Neglecting my blog is just one of the symptoms. I might have to go into treatment of some kind if the symptoms don't start to subside. It all started innocently enough, but now I'm on there way too many times in a day. It has its pluses, chatting with my kids at college is one, but the downside is getting sucked into playing these stupid and addictive games for hours on end. I need to find a balance for sure.

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Things have basically been okay lately, but it's been kind of a roller coaster. Some of the lows: DH getting his hand cut at the shop he works at very part time thereby losing a week of income, TB straining his foot, worries about money, kids, parents, etc. Some of the highs: Kids off to a great start at school, winning the grand prize for my Block of the Month group (free quilting on my quilt), a winning football season, fun times with friends, good health, etc. Pretty much like everyone else I guess, life has it's highs and lows. I'm thankful my roller coaster is an easy one right now with no extreme highs, powerful drops to a valley, or twisty upside down turns!

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Before said injury, DH completed our new kitchen table. He had worked on it on and off for about 8 or 9 years I think. The wood was from a big pine tree that was in the back yard of the house I grew up in on the family farm. The tree we always had our picture taken in front of. It had to be taken down when the old house was moved so that my brother could build a new one on the same site. The wood was rough cut into 2 inch planks and DH did the rest all by himself. It think it turned out great and it will be a nice memory for me- both of the tree and DH's work on the table.

Friday Night

It turned out to be a really nice day yesterday. I met some friends for some sewing in the morning. I made it through the first week of school and it went well overall. After school, I went out with a few friends from work, came home to some homemade fettuccine alfredo that DH had ready for me, and we headed off to the football game. We always sit with a large group of friends from church, share some candy, and cheer on the band and the football team. All of us have kids in the marching band. I mentioned the budget cuts another time and the fact that the band wouldn't be marching on the field this year. It was part of the reason TB decided to give football a try for the first time. At 6'6'' and 165, he's not exactly built like a football player, but he has grown some muscles and probably improved his speed some. His real goal is to make the varsity baseball team in the spring, so he'll have to keep in shapefor that. I went to a tiny school in Iowa, so the city atmosphere of a cross-town rivalry, fancy band, and danceline are all new to me. It's a lot of fun to watch though and we won the game 32-6. TB watched the action from the sidelines; he would have played in the JV game this morning, but it was canceled, so we'll have to wait to see him play. After the game, we went to one of the friends home for munchies and drinks and ended up visiting until 12:15.

Flowers

Here's a couple of pictures of the flowers on my patio. We have a concrete patio out the back of our house with this brick wall all the way around. It makes for a nice place for flower boxes and pots. They have really done well this summer. Usually by now they are looking pretty dead. I guess starting out with some better fertilized soil and the right amount of rain and sunshine has made the difference. I've just never had geraniums that looked like these-kinda cool. I planted more impatiens this year since they do better in the shade than the petunias, but both are doing well, so it was a surprise.

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It will be kind of a busy day today. I'm getting together with my friends to do some sewing this morning. Haven't decided if I'll actually sew or just bring along some cutting and handwork projects. I have to be to work at noon and everyone else has the whole day, so by the time I get there I won't have a ton of time. My new machine is great, but it's heavy and not very portable, so I don't know if I want to drag it along. TB has his first home football game tonight, so I hope the weather will hold. It's been really nice so far this week and seems nice this morning. After the game we'll get together at a friends house, mostly the same group from this morning plus husbands. It's great to have friends. It will also be nice to have the first week of school done. It's had it's ups and downs, but overall been okay.

Harvest Time

Well, it's almost harvest time around here. The crops haven't done so well this year though and the produce will be enough to garnish approximately one side salad. Oh for a sunny spot in which to have a real garden. It hasn't been a good year for the food plants on the patio. I've only had enough basil to make pesto once and my regular tomatoes (all two of them) are still green and show no promise of supplying enough for even a BLT. On of these years maybe I'll go back to having a garden plot in the country. I did that many years ago when the kids were little and it was a disaster. The deer ate all of my beets at the moment they were ready to be harvested. The kids ran wild resulting in one really bloody accident involving one hitting the other over the head with a glass bottle. The weeds had a heyday and very little produce of any kind was harvested. One funny memory was that there was a port-a-potty at the garden. Little TB thought it was the coolest thing ever and needed to visit it every time we were there. I'll have to remind him of that. Ah, those were the days. File under "what was I thinking?!!".

A Couple of Movie Recommendations

It's been a beautiful day today in Minnesota. Over the weekend we had Iowa-like humidity, wind, and rain. We needed the rain, but it sure made things sticky. I celebrated my birthday on Friday. DH and SD made me homemade beignets (French fried pastries) and chocolate flavored coffee for breakfast. They got the mix for them when they were in New Orleans and had the real thing at Cafe' DuMond. They were pretty tasty, but the deep frying sure made the house stinky for awhile. Then later in the day, DH and I went to a matinee and over to some friends for supper. The girls went and saw "Julie and Julia" and the boys went to "G. I. Joe". My friend and I loved "Julie and Julia" and I would highly recommend it. It was a real feel good movie...a few sad parts, but also a lot of humor and it made me want to go out and get a Julia Child cookbook. I learned a lot about her life; she was quite an interesting lady, and she had a real peach of a husband also.

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The other movie I saw recently on DVD was "Marley and Me". Another good movie, but I'm glad I didn't see it in public because I was practically sobbing by the time it was over. I'm not a big cryer, but this one really got to me. A great story and I don't think you'd have to be a dog owner to appreciate it.

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School is starting in many places, but we're lucky here to not have to go back for three more weeks. My kids and I all start the same day, Sept. 8th, although the college kids have to be on campus sooner than that. The big move in day for them is the 1st, so we'll see how I deal with having two kids in college. Poor TB will be the only one left at home for me to pick on. The poor thing is so tired from football and mowing lawns he probably won't even notice.

Skywatch from Iowa

Here are a couple of shots I took with my cell phone on my trip to Iowa earlier in the week. I live in Minnesota now, but I grew up on a farm in Iowa. It's nice to get down there this time of year when the crops are at their peak. This summer there has been plenty of rain, so the corn and soybeans are thriving and all of the grass is still green with wildflowers blooming in the ditches. Unfortunately though, a bad hail storm went through about 10 miles to the north of where I was driving causing a total loss in some fields. The weather can be friend or enemy to a farmer. These clouds looked like something was brewing and it was interesting to see the formations change as I drove across the countryside for about an hour. I live in town with a lot of trees in my yard, so sometimes I miss the open spaces, seeing the sunsets and being able to see for miles in any direction. Check out the other Skywatch posts for many varying scenery options!

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In other news, TB is at school getting his football gear today. We were surprised at his decision to play football this year and I hope he will continue to enjoy it once two-a-day practices start next week. Budget cuts in our school district forced a down-sizing of the marching band program in our school to the point that he did not want to participate any more. Too bad, but I hope he will continue to play in the concert band.

One Year Ago...

I started my blog. I guess that means it's my blogiversary today. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before that word ends up in the dictionary along with frenemy, staycation, and vlog. As an aside, I wonder if the current definition of "sick" includes the way TB uses it- meaning something that is good in a very cool, surprising, or awesome way. Ha When I was watching golf for a while today, the commentator even described Tiger Woods' 33 foot putt as "sick", so I guess it's catching on or the commentator is actually 16. Anyway, I've had fun with my blog and it's been a bit of a creative outlet which is good for everyone to have. It's been a rather eventful week around here; time for the always loved bullets...
*SD left for a pre-college camp called Nature of Life, a requirement for freshmen majoring in Biology. She had a good time up at Lake Itasca. I told her that she has traveled from the beginning to the end of the Mississippi in less than a week and she said she'd already had that thought.
*My mom was finally able to move home from the nursing home and seems to be doing well now that her neck is healed.
*DH's parents had a bit of a set-back when his mom was admitted to the hospital today with pneumonia. His dad is doing real well, but I'm sure this will prevent them from moving home from their nursing home for awhile. DH is down there visiting this weekend.
*TB started football camp. He's never played football, but wanted to give it a try to keep up his conditioning and try to put on some muscle. At 6'6" he only weighs 165, so he'd like to gain some weight. He has been so happy this week that DH and I can't decide if it's the endorphins or if there's a girl he likes. Ha
*I finished summer school on Thursday. It wasn't too bad, but I'm glad it's over since it started so early in the morning. I deleted my rant about getting a new job since I thought it seemed so lame, but I'm still thinking about it nonetheless.
That's about it, thanks for listening!

New Orleans...vicariously

DH and my younger two kids got home from New Orleans yesterday. They had a great time, but were very tired. They got in a little sight seeing, attending a lot of large group gatherings, did a lot of walking, and did a service project in the lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. DH was very proud of the group of kids that they worked so hard and cleared 9 lots where other groups cleaned only a couple and quit before lunch time. It's hard to believe that nearly 5 years after Katrina that there is still so much work to be done. This convention, the ELCA Youth Gathering, was the largest convention group to attend in New Orleans since Katrina and numbered around 37,000 people. I'm sure it was a much needed influx of money to the area and each group attending did community service as well, so a lot of work got done. I'm sure a lot of the attendees will be inspired to return and continue helping if possible. A big emphasis of the Gathering was for each person to work for justice in their own community serving the needy, helping others, etc. so I hope that will happen. Anyway, I enjoyed my week at home but didn't quite catch up on all of my work. I've just got two more days of summer school left and then my schedule will be pretty free for completing projects.

Jewel Box Bank

Here's a few pictures of the Jewel Box bank on the town square in Owatonna Minnesota. I was exploring for a while the other day when TB had a baseball game there and actually had my camera with me for a change. This bank was completed in 1908, had subsequent additions and renovations, and was designed by Louis Sullivan a teacher of Frank Lloyd Wright. These buildings are pretty rare, but coincidentally our bank when we lived in Grinnell Iowa was very similar. Here's a link that shows pictures of both of those and some others too. Here's another one with a slide show and more information that you probably want. Enjoy!

Mrs. Fox

Here's the fox I called Mr. Fox until last weekend when I saw the four babies arguing over a rabbit in the neighbors yard. The neighbors on the other side had mentioned that they thought they had a fox living under the deck and eating all the chipmunks in the yard. Their house has been vacant since late last summer, so I suppose she felt comfortable over there. I was up to let Sammy out at 3:15 in the morning (note to self: remember to let him out before I go to bed) and saw Mrs. Fox standing in the middle of the street. Sammy saw her too and started barking (sorry neighbors). I wish these pictures were better, so hopefully I'll get another opportunity. The one above is of one or two of the babies and the unfortunate rabbit.

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In other news, TB will be playing baseball on the summer VFW league and has his first game already on Monday night. They had tryouts but everyone ended up making the team. He came home from the last tryout feeling pretty happy. His coach had given him some tips on pitching and batting and he felt like he did pretty well. To play in the summer league the boys have to write a little essay about their strengths and weaknesses as a player. That made for some interesting reading and really made me realize that he thinks of baseball on an entirely different level than I do.

Pictures of St. Paul....not!

We had a busy weekend with baseball, church, and moving CS to his summer living arrangements. He's staying in an apt. in St. Paul and continuing to work at his campus job, only full time. It took two trips to get all of his stuff from his dorm room to the house he's sharing this summer, partly because we had the van loaded with a bed and dresser also. The house seems nice and so do the roommates we met, so I hope it will work out well. I'm sad that he won't be at home, but it will be a good experience for him to learn to cook, etc. and these days you have to go where the jobs are. He loves his campus job doing tech support, so I think he'll have a great summer. He's living in quite a nice city neighborhood with lots of cool shops and close enough to some "big box" stores to do his shopping. Looking for a restaurant Sat. night was a little difficult, we ended up in front of the capital bldg. before deciding to turn around and go back. I got out for a photo op. since I had remembered my camera. Took a nice shot of the capital and got the message "no card". I had left my memory card at home on my desk! RATS!! I'll have to get some good city pics another time.

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Tonight is Senior Awards night for SD. They have a separate night to present all of the scholarships and certificates since there are way to many to do it at graduation like they used to do at my tiny school. She's not too excited about going, recognition isn't really her thing, but she got a letter from school saying that she was expected to be there, so we're going. So there will probably be some bragging in a future post.

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Speaking of bragging, TB got the game winning hit in his game on Saturday afternoon. It was really cold and windy and I had to bring out the winter coat and gloves along with a blanket to stay warm. His season has been less than stellar, but they're down to just a couple of games, so it was nice to see him have success at the plate. He went 2-2 since he didn't get in until later in the game. We have the last two games tonight and tomorrow night and that will be it until his summer league starts. I'm hoping for a little break to get through graduation.

Mother's Day Etc.

Here's a somewhat belated Mother's Day report. It turned out to be a really nice day, long, but nice. SD and I play in our church bell choir. We play at church only about once a month, so we play at both services that Sunday. That meant trying to be at church by 7:30, which for me means 7:35. The first service performance was somewhat of a disaster and included a page turning mistake of epic proportions. Oh well. We did a lot better the second time around, but I was more focused on the earlier failure. It was nice that we had a little volunteer appreciation coffee between services, so with all of the down time we got to enjoy some treats and some good Fair Trade coffee.

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In the afternoon we went to a concert by a local choral group in conjunction with Monroe Crossing, a Twin Cities Bluegrass group. (There is a link on the lower right of the page to hear some of their newest music) It was a wonderful concert, but the room was pretty warm and I was very tired, so I nearly dozed off a time or two. Fortunately, more coffee and some cookies at intermission perked me up. Part of the concert was a "Bluegrass Mass" and had all the elements of a worship service, very interesting. After the concert, we returned home with the two couples we went to the concert with and their families joined us for dinner at our house. We provided the main dish and everyone else brought something. DH made Key Lime chicken on the grill and homemade asparagus pasta with a yummy alfredo sauce with asparagus in it. It was very delicious, I wish I'd taken pictures. The others brought a salad, bread, cheese and crackers, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

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I'm feeling a little down about the state of our school system. We had a meeting at work yesterday. There was more of the same-"no news yet" -where my hours for next year are concerned, but I'm becoming pretty sure I'll lose some time. They've raised class sizes to the point that there will be as many as 32 in each third grade class next year and even more in 5th grade. Just two sections of each. Each will, I'm sure, have some challenging kids, so when you throw in some para cuts, etc., that will (in my opinion) make for a disastrous situation. We've got some great teachers, but it is going to be really tough and not fair for the kids. Think about that when you hear someone talking about how great teachers have it with "three months vacation" and all. We have a parent meeting tonight for band parents to hear about the "enhancements" for next year. Our new superintendent (once again IMO) wants to get rid of music in the schools so those areas are seeing lots of cuts as well. It will be interesting to see how they are going to sell it as an enhancement. It's discouraging and I feel bad that I've been taking my kids quality education for granted up to now.

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I almost forgot to mention that TB provided me with my only Mother's Day gift this year. He had been shopping with a friend the night before and picked me up a copy of Dream Girls. I thought it was very sweet. In all fairness, SD has promised to help me with some of the yard work I can't do because of my back. DH allowed me to buy tickets for a play in the cities in a couple weeks as a special outing as well. CS remembered to call, so that was nice. He has finals this week, so he's super busy.

Baseball

I've had kind of a baseball filled day and it was great. TB had a double header today, so I spent about 5 hours at the baseball field and it turned out to be a great day. We had temps in the 70's and a light breeze and it was just wonderful to be sitting at the ball field on a nice warm day again. It helped that they won both games and TB got to play his favorite positions including pitching a few innings. He did a good job pitching for the first time this year and got a few hits too. He was in a great mood after the game. Here's a picture of what I call "the look".

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I haven't followed the Twins as closely this year, but Jason Kuble hit for the cycle last night. In case you don't know, that's where you get a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game. His homer was a game winning grand slam, so I'm sorry I missed it. I hope we'll be able to get to a game this summer, but with all of TB's games and the expense, it might not happen.

A busy Saturday

It's one of those days where I need to pack a lot in and here I am sitting at the computer. I need to get to the baking, shopping, and cleaning for the day really soon. We had a nice afternoon and evening yesterday. TB's team won their first game. He didn't get in until the 6th inning, but ended up getting a hit in his one at bat. He was pretty happy to be batting 1.000! Then we rushed to the Good Friday service at church. It was a nice service and rather different than I remember in other years. Anyway, it was meaningful and beautiful. The only detriment was the cell phone going off during the sermon. An older gentleman that let it continue to ring while he walked out, took the call, and then walked back in later in the sermon. Of course all heads turned to watch. There were cell phones going off 3 times the night before. A friendly reminder: Turn off or silence your phone when you're in church! Later in the evening we got together with family friends, so it was kind of a late night.

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By the way, I'm approaching 100 posts! How shall I commemorate the occasion? I'd welcome any suggestions. Perhaps I'm supposed to wait until my official blogiversary to celebrate?

Skywatch Friday!

I haven't participated in Skywatch Friday for awhile, but when I was outside earlier in the week and saw this beautiful shade of blue and such white puffy clouds, I thought I had to share this. I can't wait until we get a few leaves on these trees! I hope to have the time to check out some other Skywatch entries also. We've had a lot of wind this week with temps in the 50's, so it is finally starting to feel more like Spring. Green grass and flowers can't be far behind, right? The in-laws down in Iowa got a foot of snow last week; I'm glad the storm missed us. Looking at any more snow would be cruel.

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It's going to be a very busy weekend for us with all of the activities at church. We've had extra music practices and I still have to bake several dozen rolls for the youth breakfast on Sunday. CS was able to get a ride home from college today, so that really helped. TB has his first baseball game this afternoon. I'm glad the weather will be nice and I hope he will get some playing time and it will all go well for him. We will most likely need to head to church before the game is over for the Good Friday service. I hope everyone will have a nice Easter weekend!

Super Weekend!!!

Who'd have expected that my weekend would begin at 4:00 pm on Wednesday? A benefit of the ridiculously cold weather we've been having is that school was canceled today and they've already canceled it for tomorrow. Monday is Martin Luther King Day, so there you have it...a super long weekend!! I finally got my Christmas tree put away on Tuesday, so I've been gradually cleaning the house, doing and redoing laundry, cooking meals, etc. as usual. I think a couple of extra days calls for something out of the ordinary. I haven't been down in my sewing room for well over a week. Our basement floor project is still half done. I haven't started on my photo organizing project yet. No excuses now, I'll have to get to each of those. We've also got plans to get together with friends for a matinee of "Grand Torino" and dinner on Saturday. We'll be taking CS back to school on Sunday. I think he's ready to go back and get away from me bugging him about getting a summer job.

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We got a new load of firewood this afternoon, so we're staying snug and warm despite the bitter cold outside. The actual temp this morning was -24 with a windchill of -49. I helped TB with his route yesterday and just about froze my fingers; I made CS help him today. Hope you're keeping warm wherever you are, be glad you're not here!

Minnesota Heat Wave

The sun is finally shining brightly here today and when the sun is out and the temps get into the high teens, it really is like a heat wave here in Minnesota. I was out this morning and helped TB with his paper route. It was so nice to be out in the sun, but it really was slippery in many places. Now the ice on the streets is melting thanks to salt and sand the city has spread out. Later I went to get groceries and a couple of sights prompted my post. A man in the parking lot on his way to go shopping had left his coat behind and was wearing a T-shirt. Later when I drove alongside a park on my way home, there was a group of about 20 young men out in the snow playing Ultimate Football or some such game without coats. I suspect they were members of our local amateur hockey team. Yesterday I saw a couple of high school kids jogging wearing shorts. I still stay bundled up myself, but it sure is nice to see the sun.

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We have a birthday at our house tomorrow. TB, the baby of the family, will be 16. The fact that the baby is 6'5" and will soon be driving on his own makes me feel a little old. My kids will be 16,17, and 19 for a few months and it always makes me remember how busy I was when they were little. Teenagers have a few challenges also, but for the most part, mine give me very little trouble, so I'm very thankful for that. TB has no interest in being mentioned in my blog and has forbidden pictures, but maybe I'll ask again tomorrow.

Lovely Fall Day

It is a beautiful day here today. We got some much needed rain last night, so everything seems very crisp and clean and the sky is a brilliant blue. I hope this nice weather will hold for the homecoming game Friday night. TB's marching band puts on a special show after the game. College son is coming home for the weekend for the first time since going back to school. The dress turned out good enough for Senior Daughter to wear, so I am very happy about that. It may be awhile before I tackle something like that again. I'm anxious to have the time to get back to some quilting. I have many projects waiting for me and I would especially like to make something for fall. I finished a wall-hanging this summer that I am rather proud of, there are quite a few errors as usual, but it's finished. It took me a long time as usual. I'm a firm subscriber to the "Better finished than perfect" philosophy. It was intended as a spring/Easter wall-hanging. I finally finished it in the middle of summer ( a couple of years after the Easter in question). I decided to hang it up for awhile anyway. I think I will take it down today and bring out my Fall decorations. I was inspired by Joan and her beautiful Fall decor. Usually it nears Halloween before I get things out. Ha