Needing to sleep

Life has been fast-paced these last few weeks for our family. No time to blog or when I do, the desire is not there. Sorry. Football practice is three times a week so as I pull into the driveway, the guys are getting ready to leave. Quick hellos and in passing we chat: how was your day, good luck and see you when you get home. We two girls are getting to spend a lot of time with Ruddie. Not that we signed up for that. He is a good pup though. He needs his exercise so we get out and play with him after we eat dinner and clean up. Add school work on top of this, papers to sign, days and other things to talk about. I feel like we all hold our breath until the weekend arrives. Are we living for the weekends? It feels like it. Yet they are just as busy. This weekend we had shopping to do as they both needed jeans. We found some and on sale. Smile! Olivia also shopped with her birthday gift cards and she got her ears pierced. She called her father to make sure it would be okay and he approved. She did it! She has beautiful September birthstones in her lobes. She felt faint after the piercings but lunch and the car headed toward home made her feel better.

The night before, that would be Friday night, she had a dance to go to and Elliott’s team was invited to the varsity football game after their practice. It was a dreary rainy night. Not cold but damp and wet. The youth football teams were introduced during halftime! Here he is waiting for half-time:

Below, in the dark picture, they are getting ready to line up and walk to the end zone.

What a great way to show support for the up-and-coming football players and cheerleaders. Go Panthers! So after that excitement, I went to pick up our dancing girl. I was escorted by a football player.

Besides running the roads, and settling into a some-what routine, we have been a sickly bunch. Olivia was sniffling the night of her slumber party. The two girls were picking on her saying “what do you expect when you sit by so and so and they are sick?” They had a fun time – lots of food, cake and a late night. Elliott decided to be the photographer as a way to hang out with them for a while.

Three raccoon-looking girls sat at our breakfast bar that morning. So after one day of school, one child was sick. The first week of school (the week started on a Wednesday) was very short. Due to the rain and flooding, school was cancelled Thursday and Friday. We had lots of rain, our lower pond flooded over but we did not suffer damage as surrounding towns did.

Our drainage ditch, trying to keep up with the water fall

Second sickness hit Monday night after football practice. His system cleaned itself thoroughly. I was home Tuesday, shampooing carpets, washing bedding, cleaning bathrooms…just a busy day. He bounced right back and wanted to go to school but I told him he needed the rest and he couldn’t share this with his classmates. Wednesday, I woke up with a terrible cold. I am still fighting it but we all seem to be on the road to health again.

Before we got sick, I made a loaf of bread that was soooo good. I had made it years ago but as I browsed through my collection, I noted it and made it for Sunday afternoon. Yummy – light and airy. Great warm with lots of butter. Great toasted with butter too. It disappeared real quick.

I have yet to make my J recipe. Why? It’s a good one; rather, it looks to be a good one. This weekend I will make it. We have a football game to go to as a family and then Elliott’s game is Sunday. The weather looks to be wet and rainy so I hope we don’t have to endure the game undercover. Although, if the game is played like this past Saturday's game (37-6), I won't care what the weather is like!

Winners walking off the field


Hot and happy - another win!

Rain, Rain, Rain

Today is our third day of rain. Dark days and lots of water falling from the sky. Today was the first day of school! Guess what? Due to the weather, the schools were closed early today. That decision only affected our daughters’ school day. If that wasn’t enough, I received an email stating the bus that I usually take to and from work, was picking up early – 3 hours earlier – due to the weather. I called my Big Guy and told him about the closings and the early bus route. As I type this, he is on his way home. He’s going to call me to tell me if I need to leave work early. I don’t mind rain, but I don’t like being stranded AWAY from my family and home because a creek is flooded.

Labor Weekend is behind us. We labored some. We played some. We relaxed and celebrated! Our son had his first football game on Sunday. It was a hot and humid day. 88˚ plus humidity. Dressed in black from head to toe, he played almost the whole game. Not bad for his first year. Although his team lost, we are proud of their effort and sportsmanship. It is hard to watch those little guys walk off that field with sad eyes. Our son just wanted to go home and we weren’t supposed to talk to him about the game. We talked later after he cooled off – in more ways than one. He is now looking forward to winning his next game (fingers crossed, so are we) this Saturday. We saw improvement from the first quarter to the last in his first game. Way to go!


Look for 43 (pre-game warmup).

We also celebrated our daughters’ eleventh birthday on September 6. WOW! Where have those eleven years gone? She is a beauty. For their birthday, they get to chose their cake (or pie) and dinner. She wanted steak, mashed potatoes and corn. She is a pie person. She has a favorite - coconut cream pie. I however, suggested making an Impossible Pie. It has coconut in it (selling point) and it can be my I recipe! She agreed. I was happy. As her brother and I mixed this one-bowl (thus impossible) pie up, she got busy frosting her cupcakes. Her brother is not a fan of pie, so to include him in the celebration, she made cupcakes and then got to practice her frosting techniques. (She plans to have her own cupcake bakery but that’s another story). So after mixing all the ingredients together, dumping it into a pie plate, I put it in the oven for 1 hour. It smelled delicious and looked delicious.
What do you think?



Impossible Pie
recipe submission-Ruth Phillips from The Joy of Sharing Cookbook, Magnolia United Methodist Church – a gift from my sister)

4 eggs
¼ cup butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup flour
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
2 cups milk
1 cup coconut
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients well in a blender (we mixed in a bowl). Pour into a 10-inch pie plate. Bake 1 hour at 350˚. Cool complete. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Well, I have to say…I LOVE THIS PIE. It has a wonderful flavor. A custard base and the sweet flavor of coconut tops it off. Unfortunately, our daughter said she did not like it after eating her birthday slice. The Big Guy tried a bite and said he is not fond of custard. The Little Big Guy, even though we made him a small coconut-free pie, ate a cupcake. Yet this is a KEEPER, selfish that I am; however, I was kind enough to share this pie with my co-workers, as I would have eaten it all by myself and that is a no-no.

It’s quick. Easy. Okay, it has to bake for one hour and then cool but hey, it might be good warm too?! I might have to find out.

I am signing off with some pictures of the birthday girl who showered before we celebrated her birthday with yummy pie, cupcakes and presents.





First day of school pictures:


Not sure if she is trying to look cool or if I captured her attitude? (Actually, she was mad at me because I asked her to wear her new rain jacket to school. After all, it was pouring outside and she wanted me to order it.) Still love her though.