P-p-p-p-p-p-p-projects

Shhhh...don't tell Justin but I may be in over my head with the projects I've taken on.  I snagged this wooden captain's bed with mattress for $35 last week to replace M's broken particle board one that we bought new almost a year ago.  I've actually already sanded, primed, and painted this bad boy but I'm going to attach the old ends of the kids' crib to be the headboard and foot board.  Sounds weird, I know but in my mind it will look awesome.  You'll just have to wait and see. 

I snagged this 3-piece old kids' kitchen set from the front yard of a person who was going to toss it.  I left them a note with my name and number on it and a day later I had inherited this laminate mess.  I've done a lot of work trying to assess whether it's worth my time (and money) to "refinish" it.  I'm hoping to keep the cost of re-doing it to under $25 (with the help of coupons from Michael's and Ace).  Quite a few pieces need to be replaced with plywood but with a recycling home store in town it shouldn't be too expensive, especially if I can learn how to use our neighbor's jigsaw and borrow a friend's circular saw.   

Not pictured are the new desk and chair for my sewing room.  And the dresser I'm taking the legs off of and turning into a dresser/window seat for our bedroom.  And all of the pear, apples, tomatoes, beets, etc. that I have to can.  But who's counting?  It's fall and this is the last hurrah before snuggling in to hibernate through winter. 

This apple didn't fall far

Parker has started imitating his dad...bike injuries may be genetic.  Unfortunately his helmet didn't have an attached face mask so P's lip and chin took the brunt of the impact.  In the bottom pic you can see that his front tooth didn't make it without some damage.  So glad that he's a trooper and things seem to be healing nicely (this happened Sunday evening).  

 

Bike accident

Tatts

We apparently have a tattoo artist in the making.  During their quiet time this week, Madeleine decided that Parker needed some ink.  He loved sporting it around the house and showing off his belly to the neighbors as they came home from work.  M took so much pride in her work that they did it all again the next day.  Crazy kids!

Preschool for two!

Madeleine and Parker had their first day of preschool today!  They'll be going half days on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  I'm excited we'll still be able to attend our Friday morning playgroup and it will be nice to ease our way into the school "week" by having Mondays together.  Both kids were very excited from the moment they woke up this morning and not a single tear was shed saying goodbye!  Such big kids.

A wrong equation

This

and this

equals

The great irony during canning season is that we rarely eat a homemade meal because all of my thought and energy is focused on preserving the foods that currently occupy the shelves and drawers in the fridge.  As of tonight, I have the following waiting for my attention: 1 head of green cabbage, 1 head of red cabbage, 5 large cucumbers, 1 gallon bag of sliced apricots, 1 qt. bag of gooseberries, 1 gallon bag of tomatillos, 4 pickling cucumbers, 4 zucchini, 1 qt. bag of shredded zucchini, 1 qt. bag of chopped cheddar cauliflower, 6 crookneck summer squash, and 1 gallon bag of beets.  On my kitchen counter there is a bin of apples, a bowl of tomatoes, the dehydrator currently drying apples, and 8 pints of canned German red cabbage are just starting to cool.  And Justin wonders why the laundry doesn't get put away!  I picked all of the produce in the above photos over the last two days and yet the kids ate mac and cheese for dinner tonight (J was out fishing until 10:30pm and ate leftover mac and cheese when he got home).  Granted, we do have leftover grilled eggplant, zucchini and squash in the fridge but it's buried underneath the cucumbers, I think.  The tops of the cupboards are starting to fill up with beautifully colored jars of raspberry jam, apricot syrup, and brandied cherries.  If all goes according to plan, I should have almost every color of the rainbow represented by the end of canning season.  Of course, we may also have a garbage can full of empty McDonald's cartons.

Fire in the hole

I currently have 16 half-pint jars of apricot syrup cooling on my counter but a few hours ago I had a small kitchen fire blazing in one of my drip pans.  Darn me for trying to double a recipe in a not-quite-big-enough pot!  Fortunately Justin kept his cool and turned the burner off while I was delicately balancing the still full pot of apricot syrup on the edge of the oven while trying to not get burned by the bubbling water bath next to me.  My response to the fire was to keep blowing it out whenever it flared up, all while digging through my cupboard for my baking soda.  I knew the fire extinguisher was under the sink but again, I wasn't about to let my picking/pitting/cooking go to waste.  Smart man that he is, Justin realized I was panicking and coolly turned the dial off.  He's awfully handy to have around in moments like this! 

I'm still pretty amped up by the apricot adventure.  I failed to add that I attempted this new canning recipe during the evening of one of the hottest days we've had this summer.  And there's a new forest fire that's close enough to add the smell of smoke in the air.  At least the house already smelled smokey when my fire started :)  So I'm sitting here late at night trying to calm down, cool the house off, and care for Mr. P who has a bad cold.  I think colds in summer should be illegal.  Not to mention it's almost impossible to hear his cries for help above the roaring fans we have in the windows.  I just can't win tonight.

This already sleepless night lends itself to helping me catch up on those elusive photos I keep bragging about.  JoAnn and George came for a full week about two weeks ago and at the end of every day we were wiped out!  The kids went to bed late and it felt like we were constantly on the go.  We had a lot of fun adventures with them in spite of not covering our whole to-do list.  Maybe next time!

Photo overkill

I have a gazillion photos to post.  I really do.  Justin's mom and her husband were here for a week and we did it all: raspberry picking, the rodeo and fair, fishing at Georgetown Lake, gem mining, playground fun, the market, everything!  And I have photos to prove it.  BUT I've run out of room to add images to Picasa to post them here.  Any suggestions?  I think it may be time to move my non-blog photos over to the external hard drive to see if that helps but it seems like a headache to save each picture individually.  Does anyone know a faster way to do it?  I'm hoping you do.  Help a girl out so you can delight in some awesome photos of Madeleine in her Christmas dress sitting on the ground trying to confine 20 worms in her hands.  Seriously, you're gonna want to see these!