Thursday, August 30, 2012

Busy weekday

Today I'm making tomato sauce. All the tomatoes are from either my garden or my sister's, and I have enough for 10 jars. 4 are currently sterilizing, and I've got 6 more ready to go. Last time, I made 8 jars, and I think we still have at least 5-7 from last year, so I think we've got about 25 jars so far. I'll probably do another mini batch before the summer is over.

Today is actually a totally crazy day (but aren't they all?!) because tomorrow I'm leaving for a 2-night backpacking trip, for which I haven't started packing and I don't know where half my stuff is since I haven't been backpacking in years. I also ran 4.5 miles to keep up with marathon training, I'm prepping dinner, made a library run, and am doing laundry so the husband doesn't run out of clothes for the kids over the weekend.

The husband has been out of town for several days, leaving me at home with poor little Turtle who is unwilling to go to sleep in the evening these last two nights. He seems to be going through some sort of separation anxiety all of a sudden, not wanting me to leave his room in the evening. Last night, I tried everything I could think of - holding him, rocking him, singing to him, putting him in his crib and rubbing his back, nothing worked. In the end, I finally climbed into his crib and he relaxed and fell asleep. At 10:45. So that's when I finally go to start cleaning up after dinner and doing my evening chores. I didn't get to sleep until midnight, and then he woke up at 6:30. Needless to say, I'm tired.

When I dropped Turtle off at preschool this morning, he kept clinging to me and crying, which he hasn't done in weeks. Granted, he's not been THRILLED to be at preschool, but he's totally accepted it. It does sort of make me wonder when he comes running to me when I pick him up, crying "Mamma mamma mamma mamma, mia mamma, mia mamma." I don't know. It's rough. I'm worried about how he'll do without me this weekend. I've got jars sterilizing on the stove and peppers roasting in the oven, and I've got lots more to do today (besides finishing my iced coffee), so I'll hope for a better evening tonight with Turtle and get on with my day. Cheers!

Monday, August 27, 2012

So much for posting more frequently. It's the end of August, and I'm ready for fall. I'm ready for pumpkins and apples and pie and hot tea and warm sweaters and cozy slippers. I'm ready for fresh air and cooler days and fires in the fireplace and soups and casseroles. Life has been busy but really fun lately. The kids are just shy of 26 months, and they're so much fun. They talk so much, and I look forward to seeing what they learn each and every day. We're working sort of half-heartedly on potty learning, and we'll see how it goes. The garden went pretty well this summer! As usual, the peppers burned. Next year I will have to remember to plant them in a slightly shadier spot. The roma tomatoes have done decently well. So far, combined with Candace's tomatoes, I've made 8 jars of sauce and I hope to make another 8 or so this week, which is not as much as we need for the year, but we also have another 8 or so from last summer, and I might get more tomatoes to can, as well. It's looking good. The zucchini took over, of course. We got a lot of great yellow zucchini, much of which I am freezing, and some light green zucchini, too. And tons of green beans, including a super-long vining variety that I want to remember for next year. The eggplant didn't do much, I was disappointed. The heirloom tomatoes did ok, but luckily we got lots from Candace so we were totally covered. We have tons of cucumbers. Way too much! I've been baking lots of focaccia and whole wheat bread, yum! I have lots of new recipes I want to try, too, like a potato and roasted corn chowder. This week, I'll try to post every day to get up to speed on life and the going's-on around here. I can talk about the marathon I'm training for, the kids' preschool, our extra-curricular activities, career ideas for me, the garden, my crafts, and cooking and baking! So I'll be back tomorrow!