Party Girl

 Another month has passed, and I have stayed busy with work - I picked up a few extra hours, since I don't need to be picking anyone up from the HS any longer.

The produce in the garden is keeping me busy as well.  I have frozen 2 recipes of pizza sauce, canned more crushed tomatoes, frozen tomatillos and okra, canned pickled red beets and dried SO MANY habanero peppers!

Tomatoes, jalapenos, habaneros, tomatillos, summer squash,
corn, turnip, okra, red beets, cucumbers and cantaloupes

About 3 dozen dried habaneros made about 2 1/2 cups

I've also stayed busy shuttling L back and forth from college.  She is VERY homesick, and school is about an hour away.  I got stuck in post-Steelers traffic last Sunday and it took me an hour and a half to go about 10 miles!

In my free time, I've been partying!  2 weeks ago, I went to a "Sound Bath" at the Yoga Studio affiliated with the Hospital that I work for.  The leader did some breathing and relaxation exercises with us for a few minutes and then played the crystal bowls for about 40 minutes.  It was SO relaxing!  The following day, JP & I tried out a Float Spa.  You are supposed to float, almost weightless in salt water for relaxation.  Neither of us found it to be that awesome or relaxing to be honest.

On Friday, I drove up to the Eden Hall campus of L's school, about 1 1/2 hours away.  It is Homecoming week, and they had a special event there.  L and her roommate took the shuttle from the main campus and met me there.  We walked around outside, and had delicious food, including pizza made in the outdoor bread oven.  After dinner, a Jackson Tribute band performed, and we saw a beautiful sunset over the farm.  It was nice!

Last night, the Library held a Great Gatsby fundraiser.  I dressed up in J's prom gown, which was 20's inspired and joined in!  They had a jazz band, a bar, lots of food, 20's style dance lessons, and an escape room.  I also won a basket full of goodies in the raffle!

I was just out picking veggies in the garden again, so I will have tomatillos, habaneros and tomatoes to deal with again tomorrow.  It is winding down though.  Every time I go out, I pull out a few dead plants.

It is truly Fall now, so I will need to think about getting some apples to make applesauce as well.

Enjoy your Fall and cherish your free time!

Empty Nest

It's been almost a month since my last post, and up until this week, it's been really busy!  J & L finished up their jobs and went shopping for back to school.  We did take a couple of day trips before they had to leave for their respective colleges.  We went to Wheeling for an evening - did some antiques shopping, ate at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, and saw the Hospital where JP & I used to work being torn down.

We also spent a day at Ohiopyle, where J introduced us to the "Natural Waterslides."

We took L up to school on the 21st (a Wednesday) and got her all moved in to her room.  She did not want to let us leave!

J had to be back at BGSU on Friday.  We stayed long enough to take J and her friend out for dinner, and they showed us around in their ceramics studio.  P sent me a "First Day of School" photo of J on the following Monday.

In the meantime, the garden kept producing, and we have enjoyed the harvests!  I've also canned plenty of tomatoes and beans.

Tomatoes, tomatillos, beans, carrots, cucumbers & okra

Beans, tomatoes, corn, eggs and Honey Crisp apples

Dinner from the farm:  cantaloupe, corn and tomato sandwiches

Canned tomato puree

In addition, I took my Board Exams the week after taking J back to OH (found out this week that I passed!!)  After finishing my exam, JP & I drove up to Pittsburgh to bring L and her roommate home for Labor Day weekend.  I also finished making a T-shirt rug for L's dorm room.

That weekend we had a bad storm, which seemed to exhilarate L's roomie!  We had several trees down around the property and blew both clothes lines down.

The storm also blew all the pears off our tree.  The girls and I salvaged what we could from the ground, and I was able to make 3 pints of pear butter.

This week I started working longer hours at work, and on my days off, continued to work on cleaning up from the storm and getting the pool cleaned out at well (it was full of leaves.)

We had a bit of rain this past weekend as well, which is a good thing.  Our creek across the road is bone dry - I've NEVER seen it like this in all the years we have lived here!

I posted a few more fridge facts, which I have now discontinued since it's just JP and I at home, so here are the last 2:

Misc Edition

The Last One

Here's hoping your back to school has gone well as have your transitions to Fall!

Vacation, Carnies, and All That Jazz...

Well, it has now been a week since we returned from our annual Erie vacation.  Once again, we had a lovely time at the beach...

J & L played in the sand...

I studied for my upcoming Board Exams

We rode our bikes.

We just finished our 13 + mile circumnavigation of
Presque Isle

We spent a rainy day at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center.

We discovered Asbury Woods, a wooded park over 200 acres in size with lots of developed trails.  We hiked for several hours, and played in the river, and found the "Grandmother Tree."

We got home full into County Fair season in town, so the girls and I took in the sights from the Ferris Wheel this week.

When we got home, I discovered that the garden was going crazy the entire time we were gone!  I have tomatoes and beans to can or freeze just about every other day!

Dill, turnips, tomatoes, tomatilloes

Wax beans, tomatoes, cucumbers

We have a week and a half until L goes to Chatham, and 2 weeks until J goes back to Bowling Green.  It's hard to believe!

Fridge Facts

 I started writing an inspirational or funny quote daily on the refrigerator door, and an event from this day in history on the freezer door in dry erase marker when we got our new refrigerator last summer.

It has been over a year, and I have to admit that I am growing wearing of keeping up with it, so I plan to continue only until the girls leave for college (which is too, too soon!)

Here are the ones from the last couple of months, enjoy them while they last:

Look to the Future Edition

"Apache Blessing" Edition
(Discovered later this is NOT Native
American, but written for a movie)

"This is Spinal Tap" Edition

Travel Edition

Miscellaneous Quotes Edition

"Oh the Places You'll Go" Edition
(In honor of Graduation)

Inspiration II Edition

Bikes Edition

Veggie Edition

World Travels

L and 49 other students, teachers and parents left on June 12th for the Pittsburgh airport.  They took a flight to Edinburgh, Scotland to begin their Europe trip that they have been planning for the past 3 years.

I was sent daily photos of her with her 3 buddies from pre school on a daily basis, so I'll share them here:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Stratford-Upon-Avon, England

Stonehenge, England

London Bridge, London, England

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

Notre Dame, Paris, France

Their itinerary was non-stop for 10 days straight.  She came home thoroughly exhausted and slept for about 16 hours straight.

While she was gone, J & I travelled to the big city of Wheeling to see Donny Osmond in concert, and we wore our purple Donny socks in his honor.  It was a great concert!