Too much effort

Every once in a while I am assigned to make a treat for Jim's office. Most of the time it ends up being Pride of Iowa bars, sometimes pepperoni bread, and sometimes it is whatever cookie takes the least amount of time to make. They are always happy with what is brought in. Jim's co-workers seem to have a high opinion of my creativity in Christmas ornaments, too, and I wonder if I will always be able to live up to it. Here is one way to do that. However, it requires too much effort... and too much candy! Maybe we should plan it as a party game?

Costumes and Candy, oh my

I'm not sure exactly what our final word is on the whole halloween thing. Sure, costumes are fun, candy is delicious, but there is a lot of not so good stuff that goes along with that. We don't have to worry about it this year, as halloween falls on a Wednesday - we have home fellowship group at our house that night.
Have you noticed how evil and scary the whole celebration is becoming? Every year new horror and slasher movies come out for this season, costumes become more gory, and new "haunted houses" pop up around town. In our neighborhood there are decorations - some simple: orange-and-black lights, jack-o-lanterns, blow-up Frankensteins, white fabric ghosts; some are more morbid: "funny" grave stones, "hands" and "feet" emerging from a "fresh grave." When did that become acceptable?
Jim claims we celebrate halloween a day late - at the candy clearance sales. Jamie claims that Uncle Michael and he are going to be dressed up as pumpkins together. (Not true, but that is what he thinks...) What are you doing for the holiday?

Whirlwind week

Mom and Dad came in for a visit this week. It wasn't a relaxing vacation in the least, but Mom and Dad seemed to take it in in stride, and the kids loved all the excitement, but me? I'm ready to recline on the couch and not get up until next month. Am I getting old?
Monday: tire playground, hike in forest, picnic lunch; H-Mart (korean market); grocery store; thrift store; dinner at home; watched "The Nativity Story" on dvd.
Tuesday: traveled up to Lancaster, PA for fast food lunch and Sight and Sound's "In the Beginning", traveled back to Baltimore in time to eat lunch and run out the door for Jamie's swim lessons.
Wednesday: general work around the house; trip to Sandy Point State Park where Jamie got soaked even though we weren't swimming, so we went to Goodwill for dry clothing; dinner at home; clean-up for home fellowship group.
Thursday: small home improvement projects; trip to Inner Harbor to tour the USS Constellation; picnic lunch; Dot's field trip at the Walters Art Museum; home in time to relax a little before eating dinner and running to Jamie's last swim lesson.
Friday: Mom and Dad pack up and leave; Jamie is sad that we cannot go with them, but is glad to get his room back; Dot, Jamie and I meet Jim for lunch - probably the most we have seen of him all week long.

end of summer garden

Most people have piles of produce by the end of summer, but not me. This summer we have one further and further into a drought, and it has caused most of my plants to suffer. Weeds don't mind drought, and they have done well in the garden... The tomatoes have fallen to some virus or such. The squash and watermelon fell to squash bugs. I thought the potatoes has also been eaten of bugs, but it didn't bother me much. This is the first year I have planted potatoes, and I didn't follow directions (I hadn't actually read any directions), so I didn't have high hopes for them anyway. Imagine my surprise, then, when I did some work in the garden Saturday evening, and found that the potatoes had actually produced! The white potatoes had a small pile of fingerlings, and the sweet potatoes had some small, funny-looking tubers, also. It was enough for a delicious saute to accompany our London broil on Sunday afternoon, and enough to encourage me to try again next year - and to follow directions!

Learning to swim

Jamie is now old enough to begin swim lessons at UMBC here in Catonsville. He is very excited about the lessons, but doesn't fully trust his teacher, Juan. It doesn't help that they are in a competition pool, so the water is over his head. Juan has taught him a very valuable skill - if you get water in your face, just spit. It remains to be seen if he'll actually learn any swimming skills, but at least he's getting more comfortable in the water. He has made a few new friends, and it's fun to watch them play while they sit at the edge of the pool. Jamie might not like to learn to swim, but he loves his swim lessons - he cries when we have to leave. Oh, and yes, we are still warm enough to have the lessons outdoors!