weekly goals

So this is a day late, due to our camping trip over the weekend, but it's time to lay out some goals for this first week of fall (hooray for fall, by the way!), and at least try to get them done.

For starters, I need to clean up the camping aftermath, but that's kind of a given.

I'm STILL trying to get some homemade mozzerella done. This really needs to happen.

I also need to make yogurt. Homemade yogurt is so good.

I've got a pile of peppers (all kinds of peppers!) to do something with. Need to do something with the last of the tomatoes as well.

I really, REALLY need to shear Cirrus, before the weather gets too cold. Don't worry, I've got an old wool sweater to put on her if she needs it.

And lastly, it's time to do some serious fall housecleaning.. there's only one  more week til October, and Halloween decorating time!!!!

Speaking of... we stopped at a pumpkin stand on the way home from our camping trip and let Punkin pick out the one she liked best. After much serious deliberation, she picked this one:

Not exactly the traditional choice, but the kid knows what she likes. 

camping with toddlers...

...is like .. uhhh.. nevermind.

Yes. We are crazy. Thanks for asking.

Also - I'd like to apologize to all the other campers who heard me say "Maezie, NO!" or "Maezie, get out of the road!" at least fifteen HUNDRED times. The child is nothing if not persistent.

and cute.

Seriously, though. We took our girls on their very first camping trip this weekend. After a whole lot of thinking and rethinking and wishing we could go to Florida, we decided on Cades Cove. This is usually one of my favorite spots - it's so peaceful, restful, tranquil. Other than the excessive traffic and "bear jams" every 500 yards or so. Still. I've always loved to get out into the woods and walk by a quiet stream, and imagine what it must've been like to actually live there a hundred years ago. I was excited to share this with my girls.

What a perfect place to spend the first day of Autumn!

All things considered, it could have been much worse. While it was definitely not tranquil, or peaceful, or restful, it was good to take the girls out and let them get some camping experience. I firmly believe that they will get better at it with practice (and age). Punkin did great - which wasn't surprising because that kid LOVES to be outside. Maezie learned a lot about boundaries this weekend, and delighted in pushing them. I learned that a firmer parenting hand with my youngest is probably long overdue.

There were a lot of special moments.

There was very little sleep.



Hello, gorgeous.



Bottom line?

I can't wait to go again.

yes, please

end of season

Yeah. So that's our vegetable garden. Under about a foot and a half of water. Oh dear.

So glad our house is on top of a hill.

Just the other day Davey and I were talking about how we'd like to eventually build raised beds up by the house for all of our vegetable gardening needs, and converting all of the lower areas into pasture (animals can be moved in bad weather.. plants - eh, not so much). This morning, that seems even more like a really, really good idea.

Sunday, I went out and picked everything that was ripe in the garden - pretty much a ton of peppers and tomatoes, a dozen eggplants, the last of the shelling beans, and a few pumpkins. I have no idea what this flood will do to the potatoes...  I'm hoping that if the water recedes quick enough that they'll still be diggable. Same for the parsnips and onions. The peppers and tomatoes? Who knows. I think the sunflower heads will be ok if they can get dry - the sun is supposed to make an appearance tomorrow. And oh.. our peach trees!

(Also - we've had crazy rain for 2 days, and somehow, we still have internet. This is big news, folks, since this has been the summer of  "oh,no! It's overcast - bye bye internet! We'll see you in 2 weeks!"
Seriously, I have no idea why it's working through this mother of all rainstorms but didn't work every other time we had a little sprinkle. It's a great mystery of the universe, apparently, because the satellite company can't explain it either.

Sorry. End rant.)

I'm so thankful this happened at the end of the season, and that we had been totally lazy about planting any winter greens yet. We'll still plant them, because we're eternal optimists, but clearly it won't be happening this week. Instead, it feels like a good week for soup. And bread. Is it too early for a fire in the fireplace? Because I'm so there. Summer is OVER. Minus the whole raging floodwaters thing, I'm pretty excited. It's time to cuddle up on the couch with my snuggie and a cup of something warm while the girls watch Annie for the umpteenth time and wait for the sun to shine again. Maybe make some cookies. Start contemplating fall/halloween decorations (don't worry - I won't actually start decorating til Oct 1st - but it helps to have a plan). It's my time of year - pumpkin and hot cider and sweater time. The other seasons all have their special charms, and I appreciate all of them, but fall - fall is mine. It's when I wake up from the long swelter of summer and feel ALIVE. Unstoppable. It's magic, pure and simple, ya'll.