Getting Ready for School

I spent the morning in my classroom today, trying to get organized a bit before Faculty Conference begins tomorrow.  So far my largest class is only 16 students, so I'm hoping I can keep the arrangement below that allows for a lot of space to move around the room in between tables and such.

Four groups of four

I left school a little after lunch so that I could come home and can a batch of tomatoes.  With the remainder of what I got from Becky plus some from our garden I had enough to can 7 quarts of diced tomatoes.

Aren't the orange WV slicers pretty?

I also tackled the pile of squash and zucchini that I got from Heidi yesterday.  I chopped a gallon bag and put it in the fridge to roast on Thursday for the EMES Back to School potluck.  Then I put the rest of the squash on the stove to cook for puree.  I decided I would can it for use in pies or other baked goods.

Squash cooking in the pot

Five pints of puree

Then I shredded the rest of the zucchini in the food processor.  This I'll freeze for use in zucchini bread or other baked goods.

9 quart-size bags of shredded zucchini

We had a good storm this afternoon and evening, and the girls were excited to see this rainbow in the east as they were getting ready for bed.

A picture doesn't do it justice

They were supposed to go to a friend's birthday pool party this evening, but we had cancelled because of Hannah being sick still and Sophie appearing to maybe be getting a temperature as well.

Tomorrow Faculty Conference begins with our annual omelet breakfast at 7:15am.  That's early!  I've been getting up early this summer, but I haven't been finishing my morning routines until about 8am, so I'll need to hustle tomorrow.  The girls will be going with Grandma and Grandpa to the mountain tomorrow.  I'm sure they'll have fun.

Overflowing Gardens and Sick Girls

Today was my first day back to school.  The students start next Monday and the rest of the faculty starts Wednesday, but we had our middle school meeting this morning.  I have totally taken the summer off from school and wasn't sure I was ready to go back, but hearing about everyone's summer and thinking about the kids that will be returning next week is getting me back in the "school" frame of mind.

After our potluck lunch I had several other informal meetings and then tried to do a few things in my classroom.  I knew I needed to get my computer plugged in, but wasn't sure what to do beyond that.  Usually I have a "to do" list a mile long by now; my plan is to create that list tonight so that I have some focus when I go to school tomorrow.  Since faculty conference doesn't officially start until Wednesday, I'll have the entire day to work in my room tomorrow since Grandma is graciously watching the girls all this week.

Speaking of the girls, Hannah is still not feeling well.  Today her head was hurting her (along with her throat) and her temperature was up to 103 degrees.  We gave her some meds to help with the pain and fever.  I'm hoping it will break overnight so she'll start feeling better.

Sick girl

On my way home from school I stopped by my friend Heidi's house to raid her garden.  (This seems to be a theme of late.)  She's gotten so much zucchini and squash this season that she's sick of it and doesn't want anymore.  We found a bunch of HUGE specimens for me to bring home, 22lbs worth in fact.  I'll probably shred and freeze a good portion of it.

22lbs of squash and zucchini

I also need to can another batch of diced tomatoes since my windowsill is quite full.  Maybe I'll have time to do this after working at school tomorrow.

Tomatoes ready to be canned

Last Day of Summer

New (old) watch that was my grandmother's.  I'll have to start wearing one again tomorrow.  I don't wear watches during the summer as a matter of principle.

I'm beat.  I can't even tell you what the girls did with most of their day because I spent the whole day in the kitchen trying to preserve items from the garden before I go back to school and meetings tomorrow.

I started my day with a 4-mile run in the brisk morning air.  I crossed over the one-lane bridge that will soon be replaced with something bigger and more modern.

New bridge construction on the right.  I'm glad they're keeping the old one as a pedestrian bridge. It has so much character.

After a shower and breakfast, I got to work in the kitchen.  First I made a batch of fresh salsa to take to the middle school potluck lunch tomorrow.  I washed and cut some celery for the week and then began making a batch of salsa to can.  My old friend Becky graciously let us pick tomatoes from her garden yesterday, otherwise my garden wouldn't have produced enough tomatoes for this project.  The tomato plants are getting blight, so I think their days are numbered.

10 pints of salsa canned today

I didn't like how vinegary the last batch of salsa was, so this time I used a little lemon juice instead of vinegar and then processed the jars in the pressure canner.  It tasted good before going in jars, so I think this is the method I'll use in the future.

Charles worked in the yard and garden all day today.  He's currently asleep on Hannah's bed while she does her evening reading in the TV room.  I guess that means he's beat too!  He picked over 100 ears of corn from our second planting.  Some of them were not mature or never fully developed, but we ended up with around 85 decent ears.  We picked the best ones out for dinner tonight and froze the rest, 11 quarts worth.

Peaches 'n cream corn ready for freezing

We had guests for two meals today.  Chris and the boys stopped by for lunch on their way back from a Jeep event in Pennsylvania.  Since Charles was busy in the garden and I was knee-deep in salsa in the kitchen, we decided to just order some pizza for everyone.  They had lunch and hung out a bit before heading home to Charlottesville.  Then we invited Grandma and Grandpa to join us for dinner.  I'd been craving stuffed peppers so we had those along with our garden-fresh corn on the cob and some delicious cantaloupe.

The cantaloupe is from Becky's garden too.  Thanks, Bec!

Now that the kitchen is clean and both girls are showered and ready for bed, I'm ready to relax.  School starts tomorrow!

The Visits End

Today everyone went home.  Before Kelly and Carter left everyone had to get in final snuggles.

Big C and Little C

Hannah holding Carter very carefully

Sophie snuggling Carter

Smiling mom and baby

Granny and Charles experienced the Rt. 11 Yard Crawl today.  It truly was an all day affair, and they only hit the portion between Mauzy and Woodstock.  Charles scored an early find in New Market with a metal shelf that can be used in the basement for additional canned storage.

My second canning shelf

He also found himself a hammer and a scooter for the girls to ride on.  Granny found a number of things she "needed."  Both said they enjoyed the day and would like to do it again in the future.

Me? I'm happy to skip such events.  While we were home today, the girls got into Lego creations,

while Kelly and I "shopped" the stash of Grandma and Grandpa's items that my mom has been hanging onto since their deaths.  I decided to keep an antique silver baby spoon and fork, a relish fork, a couple of brooches of Grandma's, both their Bibles that they used regularly, three of Grandma's watches, a couple of fans from China, the old Rummy-O game that they always played, and a green (jade?) box from India.  Mom also let Kelly and me have some of the many baskets she's collected over the years.  I chose five of hers and one that used to be Grandma's.

My "loot"

After the yard crawl, Granny was ready to go home.  We met Papa for dinner at Mrs. Rowe's in Staunton.  We all enjoyed our food, but Sophie gobbled up all hers and then some.  She was one hungry girl, eating all her mashed potatoes, a hot dog, one and a half rolls with butter, and some vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Granny and Papa viewing yard crawl pictures at Mrs. Rowe's

The girls got to bed late again tonight, and Hannah was coughing, complaining of a sore throat, and running a 100 degree fever.  We'll need to keep an eye on her tomorrow.

Granny's Visit in Pictures

Morning visit from Carter

Pizza, gyros, and salads at Dave's

On to the pottery store for Granny to make her Christmas gift

Finished products: a bowl, a jewelry tray, and a keepsake box

Looking at the ducks in Blacks Run after getting cupcakes at the bakery

Granny's introduction to the "best little fair anywhere"

Enjoying the rides

Waiting for Hannah and Kelly to get off the longest ferris wheel ride ever

Scary clown trash cans

One of the last rides of the evening before ending the night with a bowl of ice cream

Carter's Visit

Today was all about our favorite little man Carter.  This morning we took a walk down to the park, Carter in his stroller, Hannah on her bike, and the rest of us on foot.

Kelly and Carter

Hannah and Sophie on way to park

 The girls played on the playground for a bit, including letting Carter take a ride on the ducks.

Isn't this a great picture?

He liked it until he bonked his nose; then he wasn't too happy.

So cute, even when crying

Shortly after, the girls wanted to take a walk around the 1/2 mile walking track.  Again, Hannah rode her bike while the rest of us walked.

Taking a break on a rock

I also canned 17 pints of marinara sauce today, using the half bushel of tomatoes I bought at the farmer's market on Tuesday.  I'm not sure how successfully I completed this task, since the recipe indicated I should get 6 pints, and I came out with 17.  The sauce never did thicken to my liking, even though I let it simmer for nearly 3 hours before adding a small can of tomato paste and some Clearjel to try to thicken it up a little.  By that point I was out of patience, so I just decided to can it "as is."  I am left wondering how long it would have taken to cook down to an appropriate thickness.

Helping core the tomatoes

As the girls were going to bed, we were blessed with a second visitor for this week.  Granny will be staying with us until Sunday.  We're planning to attend the Bergton Fair, create works of art at You Made It!, and she and Charles will experience the Rt. 11 Yard Crawl on Saturday.

Fussing at me for taking her picture

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been taking a break for canning the past few days (not by choice) as I wait for more tomatoes to come in from the garden and for my half bushel from the farmers market to ripen.  School starts for me on Monday so I'd rather be canning now, but the tomatoes just don't agree apparently.

So instead today tackled some small projects that I've been putting off while canning.  I cleaned up my sewing area (otherwise known as the dining room table) and went through some school resources that needed to be organized.  The girls' dolls have had really gross looking hair lately.  (Actually, it seems to get nappy almost as soon as the doll gets played with, despite the fact that the dolls' hair is silky and luxurious when it first comes out of the box.)  I had seen a tip on Pinterest about taming wild doll hair with a spray made up of fabric softener and water, so I decided to give it a try.

Before

I chose the doll with the longest and nappiest hair, aka Rapunzel.  I sprayed her hair and brushed beginning at the ends and working my way up.  I pulled out a lot of hair, tugged, yanked, etc. for a good 10 minutes or so.  I eventually called it "good enough" and gave up.

After I quit and gave up

It was somewhat better but certainly not tangle-free and silky like when she was new.  The girls have been into braids lately, so I braided it in an attempt to keep it from getting too nappy again.

My more exciting project was making homemade laundry detergent.  The recipe that I used calls for one bar of Fels-Naptha soap, washing soda, and borax.  It makes a large 5-gallon bucket of concentrate that you then mix half-and-half with water to fill your chosen laundry detergent bottle.  Since front-loading machines require only 1/4 cup of the finished detergent, the blogger calculated that each load costs less than a penny.  Can't beat that!  Here are some photos of the process:

Grating the soap

Heating the grated soap with water to melt it

My cute helper stirring the almost finished product

Hannah also helped me mix up some chocolate ice cream mix, which I'm sure tastes much better than laundry detergent.  She's been wanting me to make chocolate ice cream (her favorite) since we bought the ice cream maker for Charles' Fathers Day gift back in June.  We'll have some for dessert this evening to celebrate Kelly and Carter coming to visit.

Dissolving the cocoa for the ice cream mix

Carter's arrival attracted the crowds of paparazzi.  Poor little guy had cameras and little girls all in his space.

Sophie would take videos of Carter and then play them back for him.  He would watch quite attentively.  Watching the videos held his attention more than the scores of people all around him.  Next Grandma arrived to get her Carter time, and she had him laughing in no time.

He grows so much in between the times that I get to see him.  His six-month birthday was yesterday, and he's almost sitting up on his own.  The first year of life is so incredible!  We're happy to have him and Kelly visiting for a few days.