Fall Exhaustion

 There is so much anger, hatred and pride in the world.  Far away and even close to home.  Not enough patience, calm and love. Why can't people be kind to each other?  Be civil to each other?  Be patient with each other?  Forgive each other? 

It makes me really tired.

I just want to lock myself in the house and not deal with anyone.  I wish I could just sew and work away my frustrations through creativity, but there is too much to do in my house distracting me too.  

No rest for the wicked, huh? dang.

So... on to my monthly blog post!  Pitiful that I haven't posted since October 2nd, but here we are. I suddenly found myself with 30 minutes and nothing that I felt compelled to take care of immediately, so I thought... blog!  Spill it all out!  Well, not all or you'd think I was losing my mind.

Halloween trick or treating is tomorrow night.  I'll have my bowlful of chili with a mask on, listening to spooky music, sit next to the firepit and hand out treats to probably a dozen kids.  Actually probably more than that.  Kids are wanting to feel normal again. Me too!!

Leon will be at his mom's, so there is that too.  It won't be the same.

My MIL is in the hospital, but not for Covid.  Probably for a couple more days.

First snow of the fall...   Meri and three of her daycare girls admiring the first snow flakes with the window open. It wasn't even cold enough to close it.

JUST before our first snow and freeze of the season,

I was able to pull in about 3/4 of my cherry tomatoes, most were green.  

Got them cleaned, chopped up in the food processor and frozen in freezer bags for future use.  

We just ate up the ripe ones...

Did you know that you can make salsa out of green cherry tomatoes?  

That's what I'm going to do.  However I now have 8 bags of stuff that were reported as looking like bags of frozen snot in the deep freezer.  Some day soon, I'll thaw a bag out and mix it with salt, lime juice, cilantro and jalapeno peppers and we'll see if the online recipe for green tomato salsa was a bunch of hullabaloo or not.

The day has barely begun and I wish I could just go back to bed.

The Fall Is Strong In This One

 

 I found the rake that Leon left in the yard when I was mowing last week (chopped off two of the metal prongs) and at Leon's request, did a little raking with something that looks like a first grader... *missing the two front teeth*

He wanted a big pile so I could bury him in it.  I'm not opposed to that!

He meticulously undid my raking with some awesome throws. 

I LOVE this one!

 

 We pulled out the 3 bags of webbing and did up the yard.  He wasn't the best help as he kept getting his head caught in the stickiness of the webs...  But it got done.

 The spider webs wound all around the porch and any tree we could stick it to.

 

 I plan to make a giant spider on top of the pergola again.  Just trying to come up with the best way to do the legs.  

I don't have enough cans around right now to do the ones like I had years ago.  

2006 monstrosity.

Well, MAYBE I do..... hmmm

Because that would work perfectly.  We'll see what I'm in the mood to do on Saturday...

Frosty Mornings

I got a LOT cleaned out of my closet last night!  Sluggy would be so proud...  There are roughly 6 white garbage bags full of clothes that I either hate or hung onto for the kids for some unknown reason... Maybe they'll like them again someday?  Or shrink back to preteen sizes?  I don't know.  And one full black garbage bag of things that I'd held onto that NOONE would want anymore.

There is enough room for 12 of Meri's prom dresses now!  

I wonder how many she'll go to...

It's a very deep walk-in closet.  I'd show you a photo if there wasn't so much stuff in it...

Leon had a blast when he discovered what I was doing.  That's his adventure room.  He climbed on the pile of clothes on my bed that I was keeping and knocked it over. 

thx.

Climbed on the pile of clothes for the Goodwill.

thx.

And climbed on boxes towards the back of my closet seeing if he could reach the high shelves now.  He seemed bummed that it might not be the same adventure by the next day.  So I ran out of steam and left a few boxes in there.  He's happy.

Anything for him!  

As soon as I get these bags out of the house, I'll venture back in for another round.

This morning, I woke up to this!  

In more ways than one...

I hope Facebook calms down soon.  People are not being nice.

Story of my life...

Yet again Friday has reached up and bit me.  

I can't believe we're here so soon.  Was it only last spring, I couldn't wait for the weekend???  Well, I still, privately, can't wait, but I had so much to do this week and didn't get it all done.  With work or sewing.  

or cleaning, or relaxing, or reading, or anything...

I'm attending a mission rally tomorrow instead of a sewing group meeting, but you know, you have to prioritize!  

Looking forward to a football game tonight where Meri is marching with the band. YAY! 

 Leon didn't really want to go to a football game, but Robb said there would be snacks.  :)  I'm so there!  

Walking taco please!?

Gotta run.  Story of my life...

Cream Cheese Garage Treasures

Leon takes after me.  I love gobs of cream cheese on my bagels.  Actually this was half of my own breakfast but after looking at my thighs thought that I'd give him half.  He's good with that.  It's blueberry, so he's happy.

Maddy is in the school rush now.  Things are all over the dining room table, boxes stored since spring are pulled out, everything is a mess.  Good thing Matthew went home on Sunday!  He is truly missing the real McMaddy household chaos.  

Leon and I worked in the garage last night and he found a blow up alien and a sand bucket.  He was THRILLED!  It's always a treasure hunt out there..  We came in filthy.  I'm planning on doing a LOT of work out there this fall and get things squared away.  I KNOW Sluggy doesn't believe me, but it's true.  

I'm even going to cull some of my fabric stash!!!  

*GASP*  

or just find new places to hide it all.

Falling for pies

Am I ready for fall?  No.. 

But it looks like God is, so I guess I'm going with it...

 

I need to mow ONCE more before the grass all goes dormant because I haven't mowed for like a month and this is a quick and easy way to pick up these leaves if I put the bagger on!!!  

Not sure when I'll get a chance to tho.  Maybe Sunday afternoon.  

I need to spend tonight on housework and sewing.  I've gotten the zipper and half the hem put into the yodeler's dress and the apron just needs a hem which depends on the dresses hem.  Then hopefully by Monday I can start on the blouse.  Meri is getting anxious!!!  The play is in 3 weeks.

 

Maddy is spending her fall break in Wisconsin with friends, a booth that she promised to man and thanks to my meddling, visiting my sister and her family!  Hi Ruth Ann!!!  She'll be there in time for Gabriel's party!

She doesn't get to see her cousins much outside of Thanksgiving or their weddings, so this will be a treat.

Trick or Treat, if you will...

Yesterday, Leon stayed home with his daddy and a couple of Ryan's friends came over and cleaned up a couple pumpkins.  The one on the far left is mine/Maddy/Meri's and shall not be carved for at least another week, unless I get the yen to make pumpkin pies.  

Guess which one Leon did?!  

This weekend I am attending my ASG meeting, which is our annual special event which will last much of the day.  THEN Robb and the kids will pick me up and we'll head to Living History Farms in Des Moines and let Leon trick or treat with a BUNCH of other kids.  It'll be a blast!  Especially when we get my kettle corn, get a hay rack ride and listen to the professional story teller!  OOooOOooOOHHHHH!!!!  That's supposed to sound like a ghost.  I don't know how to spell it...

Have a fun weekend!

It's in the air!

This morning might be the warmest for quite a while. No frost on the car that you have to scrape off with a library or credit card, no coat, no visible breath...

As I drove Meri to school this morning, she said that it's starting to feel like winter. I couldn't feel it, but she said that when she breathes in the air, it clears her sinuses... hmm.. Horseradish usually does that for me...

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Maddy just came home sick. School hadn't even started yet, but she was feeling crumby. She came out to my office to talk and I just happened to say something about how she talked with the school office before she came home. Um nope. HURRY Mom! School is just starting!! Call them now! I suppose before the truant office comes snooping around... Taken care of now.

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Maddy's letter jacket FINALLY came in yesterday, so I ran over at lunch to pick it up. Now we have to find the patches that have been sitting on our counter since last year and I get to sew them on. Probably won't have time until this weekend. It'll look pretty snazzy! I'll have to show you my school jacket someday. I still have it somewhere...

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The phones are kind of quiet this morning too! No prank phone calls because someone else picked up the automated political call before you did. No more junk mail, well except for the Christmas catalogs that have already started clogging our mailbox.

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It's looking to be a good day!

All in a days fun

Since the girls had the day off from school and Robb and I took the day off from work, we took a road trip! We stopped and took Ryan to lunch at a burrito place that is kind of like a Mexican food Subway. Each of us had our own guy or gal making our burrito and yelling over each other to find out what we wanted on our personally made burrito. Kind of confusing with my hearing loss... Don't know what ended up in it, but it tasted good and weighed about 3 lbs!

Ryan had to work that afternoon and had other plans besides, so we left him behind and continued on our afternoon out.

We headed to the same park that I took the girls on the last day of the summer, but the lower part of the park was still closed due to the flooding from the summer. BUMMER! I was so looking forward to it all cleaned up and looking normal. Hopefully next summer we'll be able to drive all the way down it. For the moment tho, we drove as far into it as we were allowed and then let the girls out to run around a little and goof off. And DID they ever!!Then onward to the train ride! The ride itself takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes and only goes about 7 miles. But most of it is glorious scenery! You wouldn't expect this type of scenery and hills in Iowa, would you?
It was a very nice afternoon out and Meri was bummed about going back to school today.

BUT

You've got to do what you've got to do...

Other scenes of the day..

And the weekend continues!

Hi all! The girls have the day off from school, so we did too! (from work, that is...) Going to go have some fun!

We're talking possibly Thai for lunch

and a train ride to see the beautiful changing leaves in our neck of the woods. Oh! And to get freaked out going over a super high bridge.And of COURSE I'll bring the camera!!!

Have a great Monday!

Fall back

Ryan was in a photography class a few years ago and took several pics of the creek area behind our house. He doesn't know I've kept these, but I love the fall look in them.

Hope is a dress that my mother once wore
A fiddle tune I heard that has no words
Hope is the one thing we have never lost…
-Susan McKeown River (song lyrics excerpt).

I hope you're enjoying your cool fall morning!

Super Villain Day

And I'm feeling like one today... Kind of a "feel like I could ground my kids for life" type of day.

But really... it's not such a bad day!

I couldn't find the cat ears and tail for Maddy to be Cat Woman for Villain day at school today, so she didn't wear anything special today. If anyone asks why she's not dressed like a villain, she's got a couple things she can say...

"What?! I can't let people know what my secret identity is!"
or
"No Way! I'm not going to dress up as Zach!"

I got a LOT of things done this morning before the girls got off to school. Had to get Maddy there an hour early for band practice. My hubby is out of town until tonight and this chauffeuring thing alone is getting pretty old... Then when I got back, Meri helped me clean up the hedgies cage and get the dogs fixed up for the day.

I even managed to iron some doilies from the auction and get them ready to take over to the booth sometime today. AND the dishes and laundry got moved ahead. My housework here is complete... Well - at least for the moment...

On the way out this morning, I took a few pics of the plants around our house. They're starting to look pretty wilty and brownish. I think fall is here... even tho I'm still wearing open toed sandals. It'll take more than this to get me into socks and tennies...

Maybe a blizzard.

Got meetings most of the day! So have a good one!