Teens and toes

I know I don't really have anything to complain about. I'm not staring down the barrel of a hurricane. I've got a job I love, a lovely home (albeit in pieces), a loving husband and wonderful children. But I'm a bit cranky.

First, I'm pretty sure I broke my toe last night. 4th toe- left foot. Ouch. It is all black and blue on the bottom and is pretty uncomfortable, if not downright sore. I kicked the corner of one of the drawers in the pedestal base of our bed last night in the dark. Stupid. I was laughing and crying at the same time.

Second, J16 is being such a teenager. She seems to think that the rewards should come before the work. Hmmm.. V just ordered a new computer (his first in probably at least 10 years), important to him for his work. He has made his old machine do things it was never designed to do but it has been causing him so many problems recently that it is time to upgrade. Of course, the current promo is "buy a new Mac, get an ipod free". So, we got the ipod touch. V and I both have one (I've had mine for at least 2 years) so we thought we would be nice and upgrade J16 from her current old nano to something bigger and better. Of course, there were stipulations. She needs to clean up her room and keep it that way for a week. No problem you would think, right? Uh, no. She is one of the most disorganized, chaotic teens I know. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not super organized and we're not asking for things to be spotless. We just want the clothes off the floor and to be able to walk around the room without stepping on junk. Oh, and she needs to actually keep the sheets on her bed and NOT sleep directly on the mattress (that one just burns me up). She has known this was coming. However, when the ipod arrived today she seems to think that she was entitled to it. Au contraire. Her room looks like hurricane Earl just swept through full force. So, she is a little miffed that she still needs to pick it up and keep it that way for a week before she gets her new toy.

I'm sure she is venting to her friends online right now about what wretched parents we are. C'est la vie.

Good luck, thoughts and prayers to everyone on the east coast tonight and tomorrow. Stay safe.

Edamame!!

When it rains, it pours!

In doing the record keeping for the garden trial, I was to count the number of pods per plant. The winner- 126! Of course, I was outdone by my parents who had one plant with 165. sigh. But I haven't picked all of them yet. Maybe I can still beat them with varieties 32 or 42- they aren't quite ready yet....

I don't feel productive.

It seems like it has been a really long week. And it's only Monday. That's the problem with working 6 days in a row. It just makes things seem LONG. But, on a brighter note, this means that I've got a 4 day weekend coming up. WOOT! Of course, we have plans so I won't have much down time but at least I don't have to go to work. And we're planning some fun stuff. Friday the children all still have school but V and I will be home. Hopefully we can get some projects done or at least progress made. One of my goals is to sort my closet this weekend- we'll see if that actually happens. Saturday will be busy. V and J16 have Tae Kwon Do and Kum Do in the morning, there is the farmer's market and then I13 is having a friend come over in the afternoon... A GIRL!!!! Ack. It's bad enough having one interested in the opposite sex, I'm just not sure I'm ready for two. Evidently they have been talking about video games and I13 asked her if she would like to come over and play. And she said yes! Oh how quickly they grow up.

But the highlight of the weekend will be Sunday. We are planning to go to Mt Pleasant to the Midwest Old Threshers and Settlers Reunion. This is an annual event that we have been to multiple times. I've been going since I was a child since my grandfather and then my father were exhibitors of antique tractors. It is SO much fun to watch the old steam tractors in the cavalcade of power every day at noon. They parade around the grounds and every steam engine blows its whistle at noon. They also have teams of draft horses, demonstrations of threshing, veneer making, sorghum making, a blacksmith... you name it... if it was done by the early settlers it's probably done somewhere there. The children love it. It's nice to see them excited about looking at museums of "old time" tools and washboards and (not too) graphic descriptions of hog butchering. They also have a buckskinners camp and last year they had Dexter cattle and goats. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures- I usually do.

Monday- we don't have plans but I'm sure things will be busy around here.

But, it is another Monday and I usually do my Independence Days update. Here goes:

1. Plant something- nope

2. Harvest something- tomatoes (not too many), eggplant, hot peppers, pattypan squash, cucumbers, herbs. I noticed this evening when I was out that I'll have to harvest and process the edamame tomorrow. It was getting too late to start.

3. Preserve something- hmm, not much. Made some refrigerator pickles but that's about it. Things have slowed down enough (except for cucumbers) that we have been able to eat what's coming out of the garden. Well, except for the peppers- we could probably eat hot peppers every day for the next two weeks and still have plenty. I'm waiting for a few more to ripen then I'm going to start drying them.

4. Waste not- nothing out of the ordinary. More repurposing, as usual.

5. Want not- Not much going on here. I've been too busy to do much.

6. Community food- hmm, I didn't get to the farmer's market last weekend and haven't been much of anywhere recently.

7. Eat the food- we're not doing too bad here. Things are starting to get back into the crazy busy evenings with activities for the children starting up again now that school is back in session. I've been pretty lax over meal planning over the summer but V and I were talking this evening that we need to get back into the swing of things and get organized again so we don't end up resorting to convenient junk.

So, my goals for the week- a) plan the menu, b) finish the laundry that didn't get done because I worked the weekend, c) sort my closet (or at least part), d) pick and process edamame, e) register J16 and I for our bellydancing class. Oh, all that and having events for the children both Tuesday and Wednesday. Our class will begin in a few weeks on Thursday evenings so that will make three nights that we need to be places right after dinner. sigh. And so it begins....

Construction update

It's been a while since I posted an update about construction around the house. Many, if not most rooms are still somewhere in states of chaos and construction. We (or should I say V) are making steady progress on the basement. The rumpus room needs to be finished by the end of October when we expect delivery of our new couch.

The moisture barrier and subfloor are down for the rumpus room and V's workroom.

We are fortunate that we don't get huge amounts of water in the basement during big rainstorms. In fact, we have managed to do enough to keep the basement dry unless we have HUGE amounts of rain. We've discovered that 6 inches of rain in about 48 hours or less is the critical threshold for water leaking in. To avoid ruining things, we've discovered this great stuff that goes under the subflooring. I forget the actual name but we just call it "dimple board". It is a plastic (?) product with a waffle pattern of dimples that lets water and air circulate under the subfloor, keeping things dry. It will raise the floor by about another half inch but if it keeps things dry, it's worth it.

Ready to finish framing the walls.

V has an article deadline for his paying job tomorrow but after that will probably start framing the walls of the rumpus room. Then comes more drywall and the floor! The built-in bookshelves may take a bit longer but the books have been boxed for so long I almost forget what we have!

I have been busy setting up the guest/sewing room.

Why am I excited about an empty box?

Because my fabric stash has a new, permanent home in our antique dresser!!

Well, that's part of the stash- and some of that is even J16's fabric. I need to get a new cabinet for my craft and sewing supplies since the one I had used before was left out in the shop and evidently absorbed enough water that the particle board has started to crumble. In fact, part of the side fell off when the cabinet was moved. V will repair it and use it in the shop so I get a new one. After I get a cabinet, I can unpack the rest of my craft stuff and the last of the fabric.

When V's workroom is finished he will move his desk in there and out of the food storage room. Then I will move the table that is currently in my sewing room into there and bring in my big sewing table. So, we will be playing musical furniture. V's study will eventually be upstairs in the addition but not until all the books and other boxed stuff is out of there and he can build in bookshelves. And yes, we're considering the kitchen remodel. I truly think we're insane.

Late August wildflowers

I took a walk yesterday. It was early evening after I had gotten off work (Yup, it was my weekend to work).

We have had an explosion of wildflowers this year. I believe it is due to a combination of the land not being grazed for at 2 years, the weather and it being too wet for V to go mow happy. Along with the explosion of flowers, we have also had an explosion of butterflies this year as well. I though I'd share a few photos of my walk.

The sun is setting. Look at all those flowers!

It was kind of hazy for a long distance shot but there are thousands of flowers in the wetland.

Monkeyflower

The goldenrod is starting to bloom

Bees and butterflies LOVE the boneset that is growing everywhere.

Purple spikes of Lobelia mix well with the golden Sneezeweed.

Looks pretty messy doesn't it. But there are at least 6 different flowers blooming.

And the marsh grass (I believe it is called Barnyard grass) is beautiful against the blue sky.

This hill was covered in the summer with bergamot and Queen Anne's Lace. Now it has lobelia, boneset, sneezeweed, goldenrod and Pale Touch-me-not

We had a few days of cooler weather but today we're back near 90 and it's been dry for a while. My tomatoes are ripening very slowly (the ones that haven't died completely. However, the vine crops are going wild! I'm still getting lots of cucumbers and pattypans and the pumpkin is still bent on world domination.

Today found V and I at the home center for a while, contemplating flooring for the basement family room. I think we may go with bamboo. It's exciting that we're getting ready for flooring down there! We were also eyeing tile for the kitchen. However, we have decided that if we are going to redo the floor in the kitchen, we will tackle the cabinets at the same time and do a complete kitchen remodel. Yikes. We have always planned to replace the old built-in cabinets that came with the house and if we are going to cut tile to fit the kitchen, we want to make sure it fits the footprint of the new cabinets. We are hoping to be able to salvage enough useable pieces of the vinyl flooring that is currently in the kitchen (it isn't really adhered to the floor very well so should come up easily) to use as flooring in V's planned workroom in the basement. We don't want to spend much money on the workroom but want something down over the subfloor. I'm not sure when this project will start but be ready for lots of tirades from me when it does. I HATE having my kitchen in an uproar. I'm guessing that I'll be exploring crockpot options for a while when it happens.

Back to school night

Tonight V and I got to go back to junior high. I always enjoy the back to school nights they do for the junior and senior high. As a parent, you start out in your child's homeroom where you get a copy of their schedule and your "Powerschool" login. Powerschool is the online grade reporting system so at any time, day or night you can check your child's grades, see about assignments that are due (or late) and check out those test scores. It can come in handy when trying to decide about privileges!

Anyway- back to school-- After homeroom you get to follow your child's schedule, having the same 4 minute passing period to get from class to class, and have an 8 minute period for each class where you can meet the teacher and learn about what their expectations are for your student. Pretty awesome.

It is also pretty cool that I13's language arts teacher has a blog where he posts daily about the assignments and what was talked about in class. Handy for parents who want to be in the know or if your child has missed a day of school. I think I'll be following along...

Next week we get to go back to high school and follow J16's schedule.

More flashing lights and loud rumbles

Nope, it's not a thunderstorm- although you would kind of expect that this time of year in the midwest. The road construction crew is back. Working in front of the house. At night. Now they are grinding off the old pavement from the highway and will repave. They are working on the far side of the highway tonight. I almost wish they were working on our side so they would get rid of the annoying pot hole. It's not a problem for us to drive through but it's really loud when trucks hit it in the middle of the night.

So, it's another long night of a vibrating house.