Good evening, All! Here I am, slacking off again on getting the thread started for the week 
We had a busy - but fun - morning today. Daughter texted "Patiently waiting until 7 am so I can text to see if you want the boys today".... at 6:42am
She'd been on a roll since 5 am - getting things put away and organized as she'd brought some more things home from the storage unit yesterday and was afraid she'd run out of momentum if she stopped to do anything else. So I crawled out of bed and stared at the coffeepot until it stopped dripping, then doctored up a big go-mug full and headed that direction.
Co-worker Buddy texted shortly after I got to daughter's to ask if he could borrow the boys today to help him pick up sticks left in his yard from the windstorm yesterday - what with them being so much closer to the ground than he was and not having artificial knees in to the bargain.... I think that it is good to teach the boys to help others so let them know that we were going to go help. We made one short stop at WM, then pointed the van his direction. It took about 2.5 hours, but we got all the big stuff picked up and broken into shorter pieces, and I raked up all the smaller stuff and leaves; we bagged those for me to pick up later in the week to dump on top of the trees and bushes I made cuttings of this year to help protect them a bit from the cold. With two big maple trees in his yard, I'm sure I'll end up with enough leaves to take care of those and likely the strawberries as well. The boys said they are looking forward to coming back over to his house to help so that they can jump in the leaves - I will have to remember to bring the small rakes!
Buddy ordered pizza for lunch, but I begged off and left him and the boys waiting on the delivery while I headed for Goodwill and Aldi. This coming week is 'Say No to Drugs' week at school and they have a dress-up activity each day - I feel for the parents who don't have grandparents handy or a budget that lets them do all this stuff. Monday is dress up day - both boys had grown out of their dress shirts but I found some in their sizes on clearance for $3 each when I popped in to WM earlier in the day, and both had ties, so that was taken care of.
Tuesday is 'Decade Day' where you dress like the decade of your choice - that's going to be taken care of by rolled jeans, white tee-shirts and slicked back hair.
Wednesday is 'Tell Drugs to take a Hike' so camping gear is suggested. We don't wear anything special for camping so I suggested just putting 'em in camo but daughter said that was hunting not camping, so I found a camp shirt for one boy and a fishing looking vest for the other at Goodwill for 99 cents each; might try to find some boonie hats to go with them and strap a fanny pack around their waist.
Thursday is Future Day - dress up like what you want to be in the future - older boy is going to wear one of my white lab coats from my early days in nursing (it almost fits him!), safety glasses, a pocket protector and a couple of test tubes in the pocket - he wants to be a scientist. Younger grandson has watched a few too many 'Forged in Fire' episodes with Papaw - he wants to be a blacksmith and 'make weapons'. I figure I did my part by braving Goodwill on a Sunday and spending $6 on a brown leather bomber jacket; now Papaw is doing his part by cutting said jacket into a leather forge apron. We're still trying to decide which one of us will be making a papier mache hammer to go along with it (unless we can find a horse shoe somewhere between now and then; not wanting to send a toy sword to school.)
Friday is - Thank Heavens! - School Spirit day so school shirts/colors are suggested; I've already got a good stock of those thanks to various sports the kids have been in.
Tomorrow, Hubby and I are going to level an area by the compost frames and set up another set of frames to start a new pile. I need to harvest the potatoes that sprouted and grew in last year's compost frame; then add a layer of leaves, I will plant sweet potatoes or melons in this frame next spring. This year's compost frame will get a wheelbarrow load or two of soil dumped on top to bump up the mircoherd; then it will also be topped with leaves for the winter.
We managed to get all the house plants moved inside the house before the windstorm/temp drop yesterday, but settled for covering the rooted cuttings and the rest; looks like they all came through it okay, but I will be potting some of the herb cuttings up to bring inside for fresh use this winter. I also need to dig a few of the small lemon balm plants I allowed to grow in one of the flower beds and pot them up for fresh use; then pull the rest to dry for use in tea. I also need to pull the dried pole bean pods now that they've dried out; and pull the dried zinna seed heads as well. The marigolds are still blooming so it will be a while
The sunflowers that were planted by the birds have been stripped of their seed by the finches, but I have three millet (I think) plants in a flower bed that were planted by the birds that I let grow - I'm keeping an eye on them and hope to catch the seed crop so that I can measure the yield before the birds eat it.
Holiday/seasonal items are starting to show up at Aldi - I found chopped dates in the dried fruit area today so picked up a couple of bags; I will add a couple of bags each visit until I have a year's supply; vacuum sealing them for storage as I build up a stockpile. I also lucked in to two bags of dried cherries at Aldi - they usually disappear as soon as they are set out. They are great to use in oatmeal, muffins, or to make a sauce to use over pound cake.
Guess I'd better finish this up and get it posted - don't know if it was chasing the grandsons or all the fresh air and outside work but I'm about to fall asleep at the computer!
Take care all; wishing you all a great week!
We had a busy - but fun - morning today. Daughter texted "Patiently waiting until 7 am so I can text to see if you want the boys today".... at 6:42am
She'd been on a roll since 5 am - getting things put away and organized as she'd brought some more things home from the storage unit yesterday and was afraid she'd run out of momentum if she stopped to do anything else. So I crawled out of bed and stared at the coffeepot until it stopped dripping, then doctored up a big go-mug full and headed that direction. Co-worker Buddy texted shortly after I got to daughter's to ask if he could borrow the boys today to help him pick up sticks left in his yard from the windstorm yesterday - what with them being so much closer to the ground than he was and not having artificial knees in to the bargain.... I think that it is good to teach the boys to help others so let them know that we were going to go help. We made one short stop at WM, then pointed the van his direction. It took about 2.5 hours, but we got all the big stuff picked up and broken into shorter pieces, and I raked up all the smaller stuff and leaves; we bagged those for me to pick up later in the week to dump on top of the trees and bushes I made cuttings of this year to help protect them a bit from the cold. With two big maple trees in his yard, I'm sure I'll end up with enough leaves to take care of those and likely the strawberries as well. The boys said they are looking forward to coming back over to his house to help so that they can jump in the leaves - I will have to remember to bring the small rakes!
Buddy ordered pizza for lunch, but I begged off and left him and the boys waiting on the delivery while I headed for Goodwill and Aldi. This coming week is 'Say No to Drugs' week at school and they have a dress-up activity each day - I feel for the parents who don't have grandparents handy or a budget that lets them do all this stuff. Monday is dress up day - both boys had grown out of their dress shirts but I found some in their sizes on clearance for $3 each when I popped in to WM earlier in the day, and both had ties, so that was taken care of.
Tuesday is 'Decade Day' where you dress like the decade of your choice - that's going to be taken care of by rolled jeans, white tee-shirts and slicked back hair.
Wednesday is 'Tell Drugs to take a Hike' so camping gear is suggested. We don't wear anything special for camping so I suggested just putting 'em in camo but daughter said that was hunting not camping, so I found a camp shirt for one boy and a fishing looking vest for the other at Goodwill for 99 cents each; might try to find some boonie hats to go with them and strap a fanny pack around their waist.
Thursday is Future Day - dress up like what you want to be in the future - older boy is going to wear one of my white lab coats from my early days in nursing (it almost fits him!), safety glasses, a pocket protector and a couple of test tubes in the pocket - he wants to be a scientist. Younger grandson has watched a few too many 'Forged in Fire' episodes with Papaw - he wants to be a blacksmith and 'make weapons'. I figure I did my part by braving Goodwill on a Sunday and spending $6 on a brown leather bomber jacket; now Papaw is doing his part by cutting said jacket into a leather forge apron. We're still trying to decide which one of us will be making a papier mache hammer to go along with it (unless we can find a horse shoe somewhere between now and then; not wanting to send a toy sword to school.)
Friday is - Thank Heavens! - School Spirit day so school shirts/colors are suggested; I've already got a good stock of those thanks to various sports the kids have been in.
Tomorrow, Hubby and I are going to level an area by the compost frames and set up another set of frames to start a new pile. I need to harvest the potatoes that sprouted and grew in last year's compost frame; then add a layer of leaves, I will plant sweet potatoes or melons in this frame next spring. This year's compost frame will get a wheelbarrow load or two of soil dumped on top to bump up the mircoherd; then it will also be topped with leaves for the winter.
We managed to get all the house plants moved inside the house before the windstorm/temp drop yesterday, but settled for covering the rooted cuttings and the rest; looks like they all came through it okay, but I will be potting some of the herb cuttings up to bring inside for fresh use this winter. I also need to dig a few of the small lemon balm plants I allowed to grow in one of the flower beds and pot them up for fresh use; then pull the rest to dry for use in tea. I also need to pull the dried pole bean pods now that they've dried out; and pull the dried zinna seed heads as well. The marigolds are still blooming so it will be a while
The sunflowers that were planted by the birds have been stripped of their seed by the finches, but I have three millet (I think) plants in a flower bed that were planted by the birds that I let grow - I'm keeping an eye on them and hope to catch the seed crop so that I can measure the yield before the birds eat it.
Holiday/seasonal items are starting to show up at Aldi - I found chopped dates in the dried fruit area today so picked up a couple of bags; I will add a couple of bags each visit until I have a year's supply; vacuum sealing them for storage as I build up a stockpile. I also lucked in to two bags of dried cherries at Aldi - they usually disappear as soon as they are set out. They are great to use in oatmeal, muffins, or to make a sauce to use over pound cake.
Guess I'd better finish this up and get it posted - don't know if it was chasing the grandsons or all the fresh air and outside work but I'm about to fall asleep at the computer!
Take care all; wishing you all a great week!
- a few evenings ago. That's about all I had the energy to do - I read about folks cutting and stacking cords of wood and feel like a total slacker