September Mish Mash

In between these headliner posts (see below) came the everyday stuff…

Sandy and I walked a 5K on Labor Day that she had signed up for.  We did it virutally (but together).  We left with the weather apps saying we had clear – sunny, in fact! – skies with no chance of rain.  We walked most of the walk wondering whose weather they must be confusing us with.  We ended with this ominous sky – beautiful, but definitely threatening of rain!

The girls moved their individual rooms around into a new configuration.  (I love these pictures because their rooms are so CLEAN!)I gave Madison my bookcase that my dad built for me.  It fits her space to give her more vertical room for books and knick-knack type decorative stuff.

   

Ellie moved things a bit as well.  She wanted a fresh new look if Madison got one.  It worked well.  We gave her a chair to replace the pillow below so she would have a fun seat to sit on. 

   

Ellie had an eye appointment after saying the board was harder than normal to see.  Yep, her eyes are a changin’!  She was excited because it meant she could pick out some new glasses.  This was trying them on.

We all spent a morning (day?) going through our closets, taking out what we didn’t wear, and trying on things we weren’t sure of.  Jeremy pulled out a real throwback outfit – ONU (short) mesh shorts, ONU t-shirt, and an Above the Rim church league penny.  Stylin’

I took the girls shopping for a few things to Target. They really hadn’t been anywhere, except the grocery store, since January or February.  So, this was a real treat.  Ellie found her perfect Halloween costume.

For awhile now the girls have been asking to make Oobleck – a non-Newtonian fluid. I had resisted simply because I wanted them to have time to play with it if they were going to make it.  Finally, they had time the other day.  They mixed up the cornstarch and water and had a blast. 

Out driving in the country when we passed the house of the Paulis.  The girls happened to be out.  I made them all pose.  They got to play for awhile before we took off.  So fun.

Pepper has been trying out new spots in the house to be like us.

    

My goal is to not wait an entire month to post.  It takes up too much time.  But I feel better, and I love having these memories captured somewhere.

Visitors from NYC

Jen and Arturo decided to make a quick trip to Wayne County from the Big Apple.  It had been a long time since we had seen them – Christmas, I think.  We made the most of this past weekend with them.

Friday night, we had gyros at Gloria’s before heading to the (socially distanced, in person) concert for the MCC Relief Sale.  We started the night listening to A Girl Named Tom – an excellent folks-y band.  Then, Honeytown came on and played as well.  They are always fun to listen to. It was a cool evening and so good to listen to live music. 

    

Saturday we picked up chicken dinners from the Relief Sale and ate on our patio.  Afterwards, we headed to Cinnamon Lake to enjoy Jeremy’s cousin’s vacation house and pontoon boat.  The boat ride was peaceful.  The lake only allows electric motors and has a low horsepower limit, so you can just putter along quietly and hang out.  The girls even got to drive the boat!

    

We enjoyed the meal from the Masts that Gloria had purchased at the Thanksgiving day sale – pulled pork, homemade bread, strawberry freezer jam, homemade applesauce, baked beans, Texas sheet cake, and pb chocolate chip cookies.  It was delicious. 

Sunday, everyone joined us for church outside at Salem.  We had a smorgasbord of food for lunch, laid around, and finally headed to Barnes Nature Preserve to do a shortened version of the 5K walk in honor of pancreatic cancer Jeremy had signed up for.  Dariette for supper, returned home, and crawled into bed. 

    

They leave on Tuesday, but I’m not sure how much of them we will see today. 

Wayne County Fair

This year’s fair, due to COVID-19, was just a junior fair which is really the purpose of the fair in a lot of ways.  We wore masks when we were near people, but it was a pretty quiet place in the 4-H and school buildings.  The kids still had their artwork displayed.  Ellie had a book she wrote.  Madison had a mask and a action clay figure.

    

Jeremy found his friend, Bob Ross, at the fair!

Madison did scrapbooking for 4-H this year.  I think she enjoyed this more than the cake decorating, or at least went about it with less resistance.  She decided to do a nature scrapbook.  So, we went out a couple times and she took pictures of flowers, plants, and trees at different places.  We printed all 125 of these pictures!  From there, she grouped them by color and then started in on her scrapbook.  I think she did a great job trying to use some different techniques that she learned in her book.  For judging, she had to make a Flipgrid video to submit.  While in some ways this was less stressful, she also wasn’t exactly sure she covered what the judge would expect her to know/share.  She had great comments back from the judge though and got an outstanding on her project.

    

Ellie submitted a drawing of what she wanted to be when she grew up with the Cloverbud project.  She drew a picture of herself as a teacher and wrote a pretty detailed explanation. 

  

We went on Saturday to the fair for just one day.  Saturday was the opening day, and the best day for us since Sam and Lilli were showing their goats.  They both did a great job.

Sam worked hard with his goat, who was a little more frustrating than normal to him.  He placed first in his class and sixth overall in the Wayne County Born and Raised category.

    

I love Lilli’s eyes in the second photo.  Her goat had fought her throughout all the summer to brace properly.  He did it during the show like he was born to do it.  She placed 3rd in her class, and looked good doing it.  She was so happy!

     

We also went through most of the other animal barns. We stopped to say hi to the Clark sheep, the funny looking chickens and roosters, checked out the giant and miniature rabbits, and cruised through the pig barn. 

I just realized that while I only went on one day, Jeremy, Gloria, and the girls went back on Tuesday while I was at professional development meetings at school all day.  They had a good day that day, too.

This picture is of no one I know, but it is my favorite fair picture I took this year… maybe I’ll enter next year.

Unitl next year, fair…

Jeremy’s Birthday

So, September has slipped away between our fingers like sand on the beach.  I am slowing it down this morning and thinking about what the month has been like. 

We started with Labor Day.  Some years, my family does an impromptu gathering; that did not happen.  Jeremy wanted to try slow grilling ribs in the charcoal grill.  It was a labor of love – dry rub, basting, checking temperature of the grill – over a span of at least 4 hours.  He had to battle rain throughout the day which made it harder.  I made some in the oven for the first time, too.  In the cook-off, his won – they had a little more bit to them and the smoky flavor helped; mine were in there a bit too long… still good, just not as good.  We feasted on ribs, cheesy potatoes, and salad.   To be honest, the only thing really eaten was the meat; the sides were eaten the following days with the leftover meat.

    

Jeremy’s birthday always falls within fair week which makes it a busier time.  Sometimes, we just spend the day at the fair and celebrate with some of the fair food favorites.  This year for Jeremy’s birthday I made Salmon with mango salsa, coconut rice, and a salad.  Ellie fixed up key lime bars for dessert.  While it wasn’t a restaurant meal out, it was at least as good.  The girls made cards for him to finish the night off.