13, 19, hut, hut, hike!

It’s official, there are two teenagers in this house now!  With the milestone came the very anticipated and unexpected gift of a cell phone!  We have decided to gift our new teen with the latest technology far earlier than we thought we would but she has proven herself ready for responsibility.  This week has been spent figuring out which phone is the correct fit for our technological teen.  She’s beside herself with excitement and has been stretching her fingers for the great text-off!

19 years the Colonel and I have been married now!  The day couldn’t have been nicer, I went out on a little quest for treasure and came home with the above love!  Yeah me!  I also came home with lunch for the Colonel and I which we enjoyed outside on another gorgeous early fall day.  The third meal of the day was enjoyed by the two of us at a local Thai restaurant – this just might be a record, my husband home on our Anniversary and two meals together in one day – that I didn’t cook.  19 is shaping up pretty darn nice if you ask me!

I had some time on Sunday to play at the sewing machine and create something special for our friend Lilly who was turning two.   I came up with a roll of crayons, a handmade doodle book, and drawstring bag for the princess.  At the party we decided that Lilly needs to have her wardrobe updated with an array of  L’s similar to Laverne’s in Laverne & Shirley.

Now I’m off to pay a visit to Young Squire’s school.  He’s been back at the abc’s and 123’s for a week now, it’s high time I check in on all that’s new in fourth grade.

Hope  wherever you are the early fall is gifting you with great sleeping weather, crisp fall mornings, and sunny days!  Tonight I will bake the first apple crisp of the season with our first pick of apples from our orchard.  There don’t seem to be as many apples this year but the ones that are out there are big and juicy!  This year I hope to make many more quarts of applesauce than last year, we ran out far too early!

catch up…

So here’s what I made for the Alewives Fabric Craft Swap.  A couple of belts and watchbands!  It was fun to see all the different things that people made for the swap.  I was lucky enough to call Rhea’s quilt my own for about 5 minutes before someone stole it…but in the end,  I came home with a cute pair of hand knit socks!  I was hoping to come home with something I couldn’t make for myself and socks would definitely qualify there – I can knit a scarf and that’s it.  I really wanted Rhea’s quilt but I was a big girl and didn’t cry and happily went home with something else to keep me warm.  I think my belts and watchbands may be re-gifted by the recipient down the road but I could be wrong.  I had lots of compliments on them from other attendees but they went home with an older lady who didn’t seem to embrace patchwork quite as much as I.  But hey – I could be wrong!  It was fun to hear the lady next to me say, “I’ve seen that belt somewhere before……..”, pointing to the belt I was wearing!  She had seen it on my blog after clicking on the link to my blog from the Alewives blog.

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What else………..

Made myself some new kitchen towels.  I was sewing some for a wedding gift and decided I needed some too!  Super easy and super-cute if I may say so myself!

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Spent the last two weeks driving back and forth to Farmington, Me for the Autism Society of Maine’s yearly camp, Camp Summit.  Young Squire had a great time and was paired off with a fantastic counselor.  Each camper is paired with a college student going after a degree having something to do with Autism -  Little Man’s counselor is getting a degree in Rehabilitation.  She was full of energy and smiles and made camp a great experience for my son.  Two weeks of commuting for two hours a day was getting a bit old towards the end but it was so worth it to have the chance to be a part of such a great camp.

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This sunflower popped up in my windowbox of all places!  I believe this had a little something to do with the birds that visit the feeder near there!  A little tall for a windowbox but fun to look out the window at!

These gorgeous flowers have bloomed in my garden.  I don’t know what they are though, they were given to me by our CSA as extras…love ‘em whatever they are!

Squash, zukes, cukes, and carrots are a staple in the garden this year.  Sadly, I believe I’ve been hit by blight in the garden and my tomatoes look very questionable.  I’m not dealing with it well.  A summer with no tomatoes????  UGH!  I just shelled out another $5 at the store for organic tomatoes!  What the *$#%!~  Clearly I haven’t come to terms with it yet.  Damn blight!

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It’s easy to forget about the tomatoes when you wake up to this!

Went to visit some dear friends last weekend in Rangeley, Maine.  Everytime we visit there it’s as if I’m seeing the view for the first time – it’s breath taking.

New to this year’s visit was waterskiing and tubing with the Hot Dog!  Look at my oldest boy go!

I had gone back into the camp for a few minutes and when I came back out, THIS is what I saw!  Is that my baby tubing  behind a boat on a deep-water lake?!?  Why yes it is!  Apparently he wanted on after watching everyone else do it.  The big kids were very cautious and the boat didn’t go too fast but if you ask my older kids they think Young Squire could have handled FASTER!

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Last but not least….Young Squire lost his third tooth!  Yes, he’s almost 10 1/2 and it’s been close to two years since the first two came out.  He was a champ about it – I had to pull it out after giving it several days of hanging on by a thread – it was clearly bothering him or he would have made a stink I guarantee.  I need to take a picture of the space, the new tooth is already coming in.

That was lots of news to share, lots of pictures too, thanks for hanging in there – I was so overdue.  School starts in 9 days, the countdown has been officially started on the kitchen chalkboard!  With the start of school comes excitement for me because I will finally have some time to get caught up on some very overdue organization around here.  You should see my “to be filed” pile – embarrasing really!

Craft Swap tonight!

Finished up my project for the Alewives Fabric Craft Swap tonight!  I could tell you about it but then I’d have to kill you!  Well, that might be a little extreme, killing you, but I’d have to at least hold you hostage until the morning – that way you couldn’t be responsible for leaking the surprise.  I’m just looking out for you – I’ve got your back friend, nothings gonna happen on my watch!  Plus it’s a great catch if I may say so myself – I’d love to get this as a gift if I didn’t already make some for myself!  Stay tuned….I’ll share photos of my project and photos from the swap itself, looks like a guaranteed good time and a win/win for all who attend!  I think for me it will be a win/win/win, I got to sew something, which I love to do, I’m coming home with something handmade and great, what’s not to love about that, AND – Mama is getting a night out!  Now that makes it a triple crown right there!  Look out Damariscotta Mills, here comes Jayne!

Okay…off to come up with a creative wrapping job to make it look even more enticing………

enjoy the day!

Jayne