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We are winding up our last days of summer. The boys start school on Monday. They should find out who their teachers are today. Pumpkin will receive a phone call or an email. He'll only learn his home room teacher and the teachers on his team. He'll have to ask around to find out who else might be on his team. Peanut's teacher will be posted on the school doors at 5pm this evening. I like how they strategically place it after all the teachers should be on their way home. I am excited to see who they get.

The last two weeks have been pretty easy. I think I want them to be bored so they appreciate school. Ha! Pumpkin had a break from swim practice. We keep joking that he is going to sink when he goes to the pool on Monday. Peanut had soccer practice in the evenings, but enjoyed his days of leisure. The extreme heat broke and they actually got to play outside. We had lots of rain yesterday. It has been such a long time I could not find my umbrella.

I started The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Folliett. My sister gave me the book for Christmas. I was intimidated by it. As you can see it will require a big chunk of time. I am a quarter of the way through and am thoroughly enjoying it. I know the story web is just developing and am curious to see how it all comes to resolution.


I have quite a bit more pages to get through. The scary thing for my family is that I can feel that magnetic force pulling me to find out what happens. I hope it doesn't affect our weekend plans.

The boys have helped a bit more in the kitchen. They are pretty good dish doers and dishwasher unloaders. While they were cleaning up one day I noticed a half bag of chocolate chips and a half bag of butterscotch chips. I went to work on cookies. It was fun to modify the recipe at my fingertips. They turned out good but the butterscotch chips are not a favorite.

I bought two containers of blackberries this weekend. They must have been older. They did not hold their shape. I made a blackberry, strawberry and blueberry cobbler with some and made blackberry muffins this morning. These are too fancy for the boys. I will have to wait for the Big Guy to get home for the evaluation. I think they will be great with our yogurt for breakfast. I have some bananas thawing in the frig and need to get busy on banana bread.

My friend's mother is battling breast cancer. This is a reoccurrence. She had a mastectomy in June and is undergoing chemo. I saw this pattern at the stitch store. My initial idea was to make a towel but couldn't find the right size ready made. So, I am stitching it on paper. I think it will be a large book mark or a magnet. Any ideas? It is really just the thought that counts. I don't expect her to display it on her mantle. I also finished a birth sampler for my niece. I forgot to take a picture before I sent it to the frame shop. It should be done soon. I will post a picture before I send it away. Lastly, I am making progress on my sock mate - slowly but surely. The funny thing is I have so many other projects I want to do to!

In between, the boys and I have been test driving cars. My first choice would be a Mini Clubman. There is such a demand that it would have to be ordered. I just hate the thought of having a car made. There are so many already in this world. We've started watching the classified. I would be happy with a MINI too. Again, I'd like to go the preowned route. We baby steps of progress in the car search. Fortunately, my Volvo just keeps on running.