Procrastination

Procrastination is the key word of the day. I am tired from working 10 hours in the yard yesterday preparing for the snow/rain we are supposed to get later this afternoon. No, I am not ready.

I also have my first Cub Scout meeting today that I am not prepared for. I had all summer to get ready. I guess I work best under pressure.

Q&A: Why do I have a sheep?  -  I usually answer that question "Because I can". I live further out-of-town so I can do what I want (for the most part). City living in a subdivision would drive me insane. This is Daisy's sixth summer and she is purely a pet. I have never used her wool as it is expensive to process and I don't have the means to myself. I was thinking of doing a little of it next spring just to have a bit of her to save when she does pass on.

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel (I just throw in a splash of lemon juice from a bottle because I never have lemons on hand)
1/2 cup walnuts

In a mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. In another mixing bowl combine sugar, shredded zucchini, cooking oil, egg, and lemon peel; mix well. Add flour mixture; stir just till combined. Stir in chopped walnuts. Pour batter into a greased 8X4X2-inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350* oven for 55 to 60 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove bread from the pan; cool thoroughly on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicking. Makes 1 loaf.

(At this house it gets cut hot and two loaves are eaten in about 2 hours. I freeze my zucchini in 2 cup portions so I can make two loaves at a time).

September 5....
They are just so darned cute. Foggy morning.

September 6....

Elijah running it in for the first touchdown of the game. We won this one!

Muddy game as it had been raining for a few days prior. Sprinkled some during the first half.

September 7....
Our last game of croquet for the season.

I love to sit by the fire pit. Wish I had the time to do it every night because our Fall is pretty short. Soon it will be winter and I'll be sitting by the fire inside.

 I'm really happy with our area. Twelve chairs so plenty of seating and the rock keeps it so clean.

September 10....
This is where we are with the hill. The two landings will be for gardens which are not going to be ready this Fall. The dozer went back so we aren't even sure we will get the fire pit and snowboarding hill done. Hopefully we'll get to use it one last time to finish up.

September 11...
I was at the school so I could go to Girl Scouts with Olivia. I saw this poster she made on the wall in the halls. She was the only child with ten family members. The most anyone else had was six (mom, dad, four kids). Guess she's lucky. She wishes for two dolphins. Not sure where that's coming from?

They had snack on the floor (I wish she would have had them sit at the tables).

Then they made a book. It's a two hour meeting and everything she had planned was done in about 50 minutes so they went out to the playground. We stayed 20 minutes and left. Delaying dinner and taking up our evening for the playground is not why Olivia is a Girl Scout. Hopefully in  future meetings they will do more to work towards their badges.

We stopped by the store because I had promised a trip to the toy aisle. Those two have to look at every single thing before making a decision. Ug! Grabbed some groceries and home for dinner.

Again I seem to be failing in the photo department. I am floundering and so far behind. My time management is pretty decent (except right now), but it seems there is just too much for one person to accomplish in a day. I guess *when I have time* I am going to have to better organize myself. I can do this!!

Wrapping Up August

(Post #3 on 9/12)

August 27....

I grew hundreds of peppers and they are still out there. These are yellow banana peppers if that tells you anything. I'm not sure what my deal is.... I just wasn't into harvesting this year. In a few days I will go out and pick them to freeze for stir fry this winter.

Olivia is such a big help... peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, early girl tomatoes and green beans.

August 28....
Emily attended the home school orientation and then helped me. (Home schooling is going great and she was ahead of the game, but then she spent two days with Grandma and now the last two days in bed sick... Nick, too... so she's about even right now).

Homer putting on my moose lights for a down and back trip to Anchorage. I can't see so well in the dark anymore and when it's raining and dark I feel almost blind.

Mandy.... if they would only stay out of the beds.

Emily and I went to town for "Gym" time. We saw Lucas on the playground.

She roller bladed and I walked Mandy.

At home we pulled the onions.

I taught her to braid them to hang.

August 29....
Put the Lucas and Olivia on the bus....

....and then left to Anchorage with Elijah. He had an appointment and Nick rode along to keep me company. On the way back we stopped at the State Fair and let Elijah go to a rap concert. Nick and I walked around and then I got a half-hour nap before the 300 mile drive home. We left at 9:30pm. Ug!!

I stopped once to sleep a few hours and then a second time for an hour so that the sun could rise. I was starting to see things in the dark that weren't there and was afraid I'd miss the moose that was!

This is what it looked like at 7:00 AM about 30 minutes from home. Why the big rush? Elijah had to be back so he could go to school Friday so he could play in the football game that night. He slept the whole ride and then a couple more hours when we got home before he went in to his class (he does the other's online). We got here just in time for me to put Olivia and Lucas on the bus. Then I went to bed for about four hours exhausted. (And I'm going to do it again tomorrow. He plays in Wasilla and I don't have a sitter so I'm going down in the morning, watching the game and coming back at 9pm so I can be here to watch the kids on Saturday. Gee.. it's only 600 miles and one game).

August 30....

Here's the game that we had to get back for. The Dog Bowl.... cross-town rivalry between our West Valley Wolfpack and the Lathrop Malemutes. We've won the trophy the last five years... unfortunately this year we lost and gave the trophy to them. Elijah is #13 in red.

He almost had a quarterback sack, but #74 held him all the way around finally letting him go when he was by the QB. No call. Our refs are horrible. Horrible.

The sunset during the game. My nieces Tisha, Michele and G-nieces Destiny, Jadyn & Justise all came to the game.

Playing under the lights.

August 31....
Thought I'd go ahead and wrap up August. Then I'll be out splitting wood while my sick kids lay on the couch using the Internet to watch movies on Netflix. Nick's throat is horrible and he has no health insurance so he doesn't want to go to the doctor. I'm just going to have to take him in because that isn't going to get better without antibiotics.

This day I worked on cleaning out the flower beds. Not my favorite thing to do by any means. It's depressing.

The rocks are almost done on part of the hill. Next to it I intend to make a Koi pond, but still haven't got it started. :(

Such a long process... pull the plants (compost bin or Daisy), clean off the wood chips (we stored in a pile), pick up the newspaper (went to the compost pile), till and then rake smooth. I like to be able to walk out in the Spring and get right to planting.

Homer took a week off to work on projects that need done before the snow. He really needs two months at home!

Second Game of the Season

Wendy... the tattoo really didn't hurt too much. At the time I was getting it I thought I was dying, but it was more fear of the unknown. When it was done I realized it really didn't hurt that much. Yes, I am a Cub Scout Leader again this year.... we will be the Wolf Den. I'm only meeting every other week so on the off weeks I can join my daughter at Girl Scouts. Seems like I never get to do things with her because I'm always leading/coaching Lucas.

August 23....

This turned out to be Em's last day at public school. Over the weekend she made the case to home school.

It was a Football Friday. There's Elijah #13 wrapping a guy up.

Here he is making a touchdown. So awesome that all I got was the arm of the guy in front of me. :/

He made the first field goal attempt, but there was a penalty and he missed the second try. How cool would that have been to score the whole 7 points?

Not a very good shot, but here's my boy carrying the ball.

I am so completely unmotivated today. I'm like a bear and the cool Fall weather has me moving into hibernation mode. I have so much to do inside and out....

Football Season Starts

August 14...

 After a few trees were dropped the work began. I cut limbs for a couple of hours then Emily finally got up and started hauling the branches away.

Nick showed up about 2:00 to saw and at 3:30 the neighbor came by to cut as well. Emily and I hauled all the logs to the big pile. At 6:00 dad got home, another neighbor stopped by and the guys drank beer and the work ended. LOL 

Some more shots of the moose in the garden.

She's sticking her tongue out at me... na na na na!

Staring longingly at the pool.

August 16....
Emily, Olivia, Lucas and I drove down to Anchorage and spent the day school clothes shopping. This is Emily with Daisy who is Mandy's sister.

The little ones really liked Build-A-Bear.

Then Dorene took us all out to a very fancy dinner at Kobe.

Look at Lucas' face!

 August 17....
In the morning we drove out to Chugiak for Elijah's football game. He's #13 this season. He played offense, defense, punter and field goal kicker. It was really hot and since his accident his brain doesn't control his body temperature correctly and he has a tendency to overheat. Well, it happened and the next thing we know it's half time, he's on the ground vomiting and almost non-responsive. Then they cooled his body down too far and he was hypothermic going into shock about to get an ambulance ride. By the 4th quarter they finally got things straightened out and he went back into the game. My life with Elijah is never dull.

Jessika and Dorene went to the game to cheer him on. 

After the game I got "Homer" tattooed on my ring finger. It's my first tattoo. 

Instead of riding the bus back Elijah stayed with us. We played board games until late. My kids are so happy at Dorene's house and they cry every time we leave. They are really good people. 

August 18....
On the drive home it rained the whole way. Boo! The kids slept and I was on my own to entertain myself. Funny how the 360 miles there is always so quick, but the 360 home takes forever.