The Dirty Life

I listened to The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball. What a love story! I love the shared experiences with farming. The overall tone of following the path that life leads you on is a good message. It makes me want to take a roadtrip to upstate NY and see the farm.

~Hoping they did not suffer too much from Irene!

Homework @ Chik-Fil-A

We had a few of those days last week.

On Tuesday, Peanut had a doctor's appointment for his thumb. (He is good to go - just needs to wear the splint to school and for sport for a month.)

We needed to have the Volvo serviced and were half way there. I called the Big Guy and could meet us, but not for an hour.

We pulled in to Chik-Fil-A. I told Peanut he might as well get dinner. Soccer practice was not that far away. I suggested he bring in his homework and get started. Peanut was mortified. He did not think anyone did homework there! I convinced him to "hide" the backpack and make his way inside.

Guess what we saw when we got in? More kids doing their homework. Imagine that!



He got the work started, we dropped the Volvo, picked up Pumpkin from the pool, and made it to soccer practice. The rest of the homework got done after that:)

Unbroken

Photo grabbed form here.

I've started listening to audio books while I walk the puppy dog. I finished Unbroken this weekend. It is an amazing story. I don't usually gravitate toward war stories. But, this one is a story of heros. Hillenbrand must have done lots and lots of research to write this book. I marvel at the fact that the main character is still alive - in his mid-90's. It is a story of survival, war, strength of human spirit, and the power of religon. It was a page turner. I donned my headphones and found excuses just to listen to the book. It is moving and I find myself thinking about different parts of the story. The end, not included in the book, is even more inspiring. Mr. Zamperini, the lead character in the story, gave his purple heart to the author. Ms. Hillenbrand struggles from a fatigue disorder, a struggle harder than what he went through! Again, very moving!!

The Boys' Lunches

My boys all take their lunches. After a week back to school, I have to say I am back into the routine of packing their lunches every morning. Yes. The Big Guy is spoiled. But, he deserves every bit of it!

I try to minimize the impact their lunches have on the environment. We bought two of these Kleen Kanteens. They are personalized with the boys' names on them. Who knew they would be so excited to take these in their lunches. I think they get this environment thing - sometimes! I hope to purchase beverages in bulk minimizing the waste from the individual containers. Pumpkin takes chocolate milk from the gallon container. Peanut takes tea, crystal light, water, or lemonade. Because we only have one for each child, the container has to come out of the backpack and get washed every day. It hasn't been a problem at all.

We don't have sandwich bags in the house anymore! Last year, I bought our first snackTAXI bags. I can't say enough about them. I turn them inside out and drop them right into the laundry. Easy and reusable!

I volunteer at the middle school in the lunch room. It bothers me how much waste is generated. They recycle cans only. All the utensils are plastic. They do have a trash compactor which has to help.

Our actions are just small small steps which are pretty easy to do. My hope is the cummulative effect will help just a bit!

Celery & Cucumber

Yesterday, was the first Sunday for PRE this school year. We drug ourselves out of bed, went to 8am mass, and Peanut headed on from there to PRE. We thought about going to breakfast without him. But, that would not be very nice or very fair. We decided to wait until he was done, pick him up and go out from there.

When we got home, I couldn't wait around w/o eating. So, I changed the plan deciding we'd eat at home.

I got busy and made a blueberry coffee cake using up all the fresh blueberries. You'd think I had planned it. The cake came out of the oven right when Peanut walked through the door.

I cooked up some remaining sausage patties. I know they aren't the best for you, but they are a hit with my boys.

I scrambled up eggs, shredded Swiss on top and added a bit of Salsa. I love my eggs with Salsa.

At the last minute, I decided to make smoothies to go with it. After a dig in the frig and freezer, I dumped in an orange, a frozen banana, the remaining frozen fruit, a four inch hunk of cucumber, about two stalks of celery, a handful of ice, and a few dollops of vanilla yogurt. My dependable, no-name, blender, did the trick again mixing it all into a yummy purple-ish concoction. I poured it in cups w/o revealing the ingredients. The Big Guy picked right up on the cucumber. Peanut took one sip and did not drink much more. Pumpkin took one sip and asked if there was celery in it. I could not believe it. I don't think that boy has ever eaten celery. How does he know what it tastes like? I fessed up, but Pumpkin did not seem to mind. He drank his and the rest of Peanut's. Peanut is a funny one. He'll eat all that stuff straight up but could not get past the idea of it all being mixed together.

Anyway...it was a yummy breakfast. We just think we might do it again this Sunday!

Wonton Lasagna Convert

Who knew? Wonton wrappers make lasagna easy! I searched for recipes one day this week. I ended up using a version of this one. I scaled it for us using about a half pound of Italian sausage. I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta as that was what I had on hand.

These were so easy to make. They came out of the pan w/o a problem. I have to admit I was a bit nervous. I love that they are individual servings just as is. The leftovers stored in the frig and reheated well in the microwave. I may not make traditional lasagna again!

I have half a wrapper of wontons left. Need to search for something else to try 'em...any ideas?

School Year '11-'12

Yesterday, Pumpkin pulled up a How To and covered his Bedford Reader in contact paper. I never saw the finished product. I can only hope he can follow directions!

This morning, the alarm went off at 5:20am. I am not sure if I am ready for this routine. I heard Pumpkin's alarm as I headed out for a quick walk with Buddy. When I got back, he was still asleep! He pulled it off, though, without a problem.

Here he is ready for his first day as a Junior!

He kept telling Buddy how much he was going to miss having the boys home.

And, he was off...

He's got a little less than a mile walk to school...

About a half hour later, Peanut was up and getting ready. We were a bit nervous as the start to school last year was a bit rocky. I am so proud of him. The start of 7th grade was a piece of cake! Yahoo!!

And, he was off...


I grabbed Buddy's leash and headed out for a long walk. I walked slowly until the bus rounded the corner to pick up the middle schoolers.

I can't wait to hear how the first day went!!

Last Saturday of Summer

The boys wanted to go downtown for dinner on Saturday night. I wasn't complaining.

We decided to head to church down there before dinner. We went to St. Mary's. Wow! It is beautiful and old. I enjoyed gazing at all the decor. The pews were very uncomfortable. I guess that is a small sacrifice! The priest was wonderful and we enjoyed the mass.

A funny story from the homily - the priest had all of our attention centering his homily on seeing Christ in all people. All of a sudden, the priest stated that we have visitor. The folks in the pew close to him squealed and lifted their feet. The priest started stamping his foot. We all quickly realized it was one of those big nasty bugs! Fortunately, he got it. Then, he blessed it hoping Christ wasn't in the roach! The bug was gross, but I loved how the priest handled the whole thing bringing it back to his main message.

After mass, we headed to Trolley Stop Market for a casual dinner. The Big Guy and I had their yummy pizza. I may just have to make a tomato/basil one here at home. The boys enjoyed their meals too. I won't talk about Peanut catching his hand on his iced tea glass. Yes. He got to wear a bit of sweet tea on his shorts!

After dinner, we stopped at YoLo's in Midtown. It is the flagship shop and I've never been there. The expresso yogurt was yummy! As we made our trek East and towards home, we called my inlaws. We stopped there and chatted with them for a few hours. It was a nice evening. My FIL tends to tell stories from his life. We were all thrilled that the majority of the stories were new ones. I'm going to post about some of them soon.

Here's to the last day of summer! School starts bright and early tomorrow morning!!

Cast Off

Peanut got his cast off on Friday!

They were able to use a scissors to cut it away. He carefully pulled his thumb out. I think it looks great. Peanut, on the other hand, is having a hard time looking at it.

I did get a smile, but I had to work hard to get it!

The color drained out of his face a couple times while we were at the doctor. The PA who looked at his thumb even laid him down. Peanut got a washable, velcro splint for the thumb and needs to wear it the next two weeks. At that time, we'll go back to the doctor. I am just so glad it is not his dominate hand.

Now. His hair is another thing. I told him not to get that buzz cut. Part of me is savoring the notion that he is fine with his sticking-up-colick on the back of his head. He'll be trying to look good for girls soon enough!!

New Shades

Frosted Mini Wheats taste better with new shades on.

I am so glad you can find inexpensive polarized shades. Pumpkin's track record as far as sunglasses go is not the best!

Productive Weekend

Started the weekend with a "double header" (quoted by Adam) of Redbox movies, Source Code and Unknown.

Went through the boys' dressers, closets, and desks. Tried on shorts, shirts, and pants. Purged the stuff that did not fit. Recycled notebooks from a couple years of school. Rooms are ready! Started on the guest room/sewing closet...

Visited the Nike Factory Outlet. Peanut got some much needed running shoes. That boy flies through the shoes!

Dinner Saturday night at Central BarBQ and lunch on Sunday at Huey's.

It is hard to believe but summer is grinding to a halt. We are on the homeward stretch.

The boys are ready to see all their school friends. We are all ready for this heat and humid to go away! We are NOT ready for the homework!

We are going to enjoy this week and savor the nothingness!