Christmas in August

I think I have typed and deleted this post maybe a dozen times--okay maybe not that many, but quite a few times. Yesterday was the girls' first day of school. I'm not really sure how to even describe the feelings and emotions related to it. I think Ashley summed it up well on the drive to school. She said it felt like Christmas morning. I'm not sure Sara would agree--unless she is scared of Santa Clause at Christmas. And I was a good mother and took pictures--maybe in a month you will get to see them.


PS School went great although Sara was somewhat disappointed that there are no snacks and no rest time in 1st grade. Recess was still fun for her--so much fun that she managed to get a blister on her hand from the monkey bars. Ashley couldn't really sum it up the first day experience. She did say she took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. She gets her times a little confused...

End of an era

We changed our move date. It was moved up about 3 days. I had a friend tell me yesterday "You NEVER move up the move date." After I freaked out for about 2 hours after the decision was made, I realized that we are in pretty good shape to load the truck on Thursday. I also came to the realization that I won't be here the day we load the truck which is a huge blessing. (probably an even bigger blessing to my husband than to me. maybe he planned it that way...) It is bringing closure to this era of my life much quicker than I had anticipated. Here are my most recent "lasts" that I have experienced:

• My last drink at Coffeesmiths. Can't even begin to tell you how many coffees have been consumed there or how much sweet fellowship has taken place.
• My last time to mop my orange floor (WOO-HOO)
• My last time to lay a sweet baby in our crib and change a sweet baby on a changing table. We gave them away yesterday.
• Probably my last time to sleep in a master bedroom in an attic
• The last time I will live in a house with squeaky stairs
• My last Iowa sweet corn while I'm living in Iowa (I'm sure I'll be back to visit and have Iowa sweet corn then)
• And, last but certainly not least, right now I am typing my last blog to be posted while living in Iowa.

So long wonderful state that inhabits more pigs than people. We've loved it here!

Mrs. Independent (NOT!)

I would like to say that I am one of those women who can "keep the home fires burning" while my husband is away. I would also like to say that I am a person who is really good under pressure. The last few days have proven once again that this is just not true. In theory I am very much a woman who thinks she can take care of EVERYTHING while my husband is off toiling for our family. In practice I am SO NOT that kind of woman. Joe has been gone since Wednesday morning. Here are some small examples since that time (for the sake of not embarrassing myself I won't give you the big examples). independent

1. One of my children started laughing at me because I couldn't catch said child to, um, discipline & train the child (yes, I finally did catch the child)
2. The first night I slept about 3 hours because it was lightening and raining outside
3. Last night I slept about 5 hours because I was awake between 1 and 3 listening for our stairs to squeak because I was convinced there was an intruder in the house
4. I kept forgetting to turn all the lights off downstairs at night (Joe usually follows me upstairs)
5. I couldn't grill anything outside because I'm always afraid I'm going to start an explosion (I did singe my hair once doing it, so it is not an invalid fear)
6. The yard didn't get trimmed because I can never keep the weed whacker plugged in as I move around the yard
7. Everyday suppertime has ended with me saying "Okay, put your PJs on and then you can watch a movie" and Sara consoling me with saying "Daddy will be home soon Mommy"

And it seems like it has been a month. He's on his way home now--Praise the Lord! My knight in shining armor to the rescue!

No yoke deviled eggs

Can a "no yoke deviled egg" really be called a deviled egg? I had promised Sara I would make her deviled eggs before we moved. As her days in this house are quickly dwindling (only 3 more to be exact) I thought I should probably do that today. I got my eggs boiled this morning and began working on them for lunch. Alas, I had packed my recipe books. (Maybe that shouldn't be "alas" but "hooray!") So I was at a dilemma--do I wing the recipe since I knew the ingredients or do I look something up on the Internet. (Totally off topic-I just did a spell check and the word internet popped up because I didn't have it capitalized. Is the word "internet" suppose to be capitalized? I did the check again and it didn't pop up on the ones I didn't capitalize. Weird!) I decided to check out the internet. I'm not usually very good at winging it on recipes--just ask Joe. So I checked out a highly recommended website (thanks to garden girl) and one of the first recipes that popped up was a "no yoke deviled egg" recipe. They substituted mashed potatoes for the egg yoke. I appreciate wanting to stay away from the highly cholesterol ridden yoke, but I honestly think that I would rather just not have deviled eggs than substitute mashed potatoes. GROSS!!!!! And so I got my entertainment this morning in seeing if I could think of anything grosser to eat than deviled egg flavored mashed potatoes inside boiled egg whites. That was about all the website accomplished because once I found a recipe that I thought was fairly similar to the one I typically use, I realized that alas, (whoops, hooray!) I had packed all my measuring devices. And so I ended up winging it anyway.