Happy Fall!!

I know, it's not Halloween yet ... we're NOWHERE near ready at our house either! But I loved this background so I decided to get in the mood anyhow! I love the crispness in the air at this time of year. I love the breezy days. I love the way the trees on our street start to turn and are so beautiful. I am resolving to take MORE PICTURES of this beautiful time of year.

Spencer's first Boy Scout awards

Wednesday night was a court of honor at church, and Spencer got his first Boy Scout awards. He earned four merit badges, his Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class patches. We're very proud of our little guy! Plus he looks so darn cute in that scout uniform! Here are some pictures. The first one is Brother Shannon giving Spencer his merit badges. The second one is Brother Shannon, Spencer, me, and DH (who came in from his Webelos group for a few minutes) (pardon DH's filthy jeans. He worked hard and didn't have a clean pair to change into -- bad wife moment LOL.). Of course Spencer didn't want to pin the pins on me, but he did anyway. He also didn't want to kiss me (LOL), but I did snag a hug!

In Honor of 9/11/2001

I changed the blog background. Just for a week or so, so people who might visit won't forget. And so I don't forget, in the hecticness that is my life right now.

I love this country. What's happening to it scares me. A lot. That irritates some people, I know. Sorry. But this is my blog and my feelings and it's important to me to document them. If you're my friend, you'll understand this about me. If you don't understand, then ... the answer is pretty clear to me, anyway.

Always remember how we got complacent and what happened as a result. Always remember that people got complacent again, and we made some choices as a country that are frankly very very scary now. In time we'll be able to fix them. Pray that it's not too late. I do, every day.

Wow ...

Long time no post. Sorry about that! Been a little busy here what with vacation prep and the actual vacation. Back home now and SO glad to be! Apollo missed us terribly even though he was fed and loved by Emily (thanks Emily!). We went to Lincoln City, Oregon, for a week (8 days, actually) with the Noakes clan. Love 'em but sometimes 13 people in one house for that long is a bit much for me. Sigh.

We picked up Sarah's class schedule today. She has a full plate (see her Facebook announcement), but she'll do great. We are very proud of her!

In other news, I see the surgeon on Wednesday regarding my pesky gall bladder. I will update with the news once I get some.

And just because I want to post a pretty picture, here's one of the sunsets from the beach below the house.

My Babies are Back!

Both my babies are home now. Sarah got back Friday about 1:30 pm. She had a blast. The 4th years went on their own hike and campout and she really had fun. She was ticked off when they got back to camp because the younger girls had basically tossed everybody's stuff in the tent and then walked over it to get to their own things. Sigh. Her glasses case got broken; luckily no glasses were in it, and her gray flip flops went missing. She's cranky about those, they were her favorite. But she lived and had fun, so that's great.

Spencer got back Saturday, around 2. They said 5 pm originally, so we had canceled dinner with Gma Noakes thinking he might not be up to it. He was actually pretty bouncy and lively. Talked about the merit badges he worked on and seemed to really have a good time, eating issues aside. Said he had a couple of days where he didn't feel very good. I'm actually thinking from what he said that he might have had some heat issues like his mom. He said he had a headache and queasy stomach and just felt bad. That's what heat does to me. Plus Sarah had a bad cold the week before camp so he might have had a touch of that too. Spencer does colds like Alan does. Two days and then he's done. I hate that. Sarah and I have colds and they last eons. Anyway, he got over it and had a great time, it sounded like. He had money left over and actually did eat better than the scout leader initially thought. There was a camp store and it had snacks so Spencer spent some money on those. Not the best diet but he didn't starve. And he got three merit badges done and a couple more worked on. Pretty good I'd say!

We went to Applebee's for dinner to celebrate them being home, and they both plowed through their dinners. Then we went to McDonald's for shakes, ice cream, and a McFlurry, then came home and after showers we all watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. And Spencer had popcorn and a baked potato. LOL.

And today we went to church and Spencer actually passed the sacrament again. The counselor conducting made a point of saying the deacons had been to camp and it was great to see them all there at church to pass the sacrament. Spencer did ask to go home before priesthood, though, so Alan took him home. When we got home he hadn't been to bed yet, so we made him go lie down, and he conked out. We had to wake him up at 5:45 to go to Gma Noakes's house for dinner! So the little guy must have been tired, after all.

And Just Because

And just because it just doesn't seem like a great week unless there's a new Apollo picture, here's one of him in his favorite window spot. Notice the, "I am so tired of you BUGGING me" look on his face. LOL. He has had a reprieve this week with the kids being gone. He is in for it starting Friday though! Sarah gets back first, then Spencer on Saturday.

Explanation of Wordless Wednesday

Yes, that is Alan, wearing a really trashed shirt after working on the Taurus and getting the starter changed out. Yay! I really really appreciate that he knew how to do it and we didn't have to fork over the money right now for a mechanic! He did change his shirt before eating dinner on his birthday.

The second picture is of one of my set of Rachael Ray pans. I LOVE THESE PANS! They are SO easy to use, they heat SO evenly and well, and best of all -- NOTHING STICKS to them! I made sesame chicken with a teriyaki and honey sauce, and you can see nothing stuck to the pan. Love these, love 'em, love 'em! And love that Alan told me they were at Costco and to buy them for myself for Mother's Day!

Wordless Wednesday (late!)

And they're OFF!

I now have NO children at home. For the next FOUR DAYS, then Sarah gets back from girls camp. Spencer doesn't get back until Saturday, though. Wah! I am having a hard time letting him go. I guess because he's the baby? He's never been away from home for this long and I got home from taking him to the scout leader's house and BAWLED! It didn't help that the car wouldn't start and I had to hitch a ride home from one of the other parents. Luckily she'd stayed to say goodbye to her son also. (Thanks Deena!) Alan thinks it's the starter (again), and says it's an easy fix. I hope so. I can't handle hard (or expensive) this week!

I am headed to bed as soon as I publish this post. I'm exhausted (basically NO sleep last night), and my head is threatening a full-fledged migraine. Bleck. Night all ... earplugs are going in and the nightgown is going on!

Blah Blah

I'm not having a great couple of days. I'm tired, stressed out (who knew preparing a 12 yo for his first Scout camp was such HARD WORK!?!), tired ... did I mention tired? I haven't slept very well for the past what, three nights now. I'm headed for a serious nap in a couple of minutes. Alan's home and I'm gonna crash for a bit. He and the kids can handle Papa Murphy's for dinner and then they can wake me up for Jeopardy! (maybe ... maybe I'll tell 'em to DVR it and wake me up for Eureka ... sounds good!). One thing I've accomplished is making the invites for Mom's 80th birthday celebration. I'll put one below so you can see what I've done. I have to get the envelopes addressed and mail them this weekend. One more thing!

Lavender Farm

I'd read about a lavender farm outside of Walla Walla (about an hour away) and wanted to go to it this year before all the lavender was gone. So we went today since Alan had the day off. It was very nice! It's called Blue Mountain Lavender Farm and they have a ton of lavender that you can pick, plus plants you can buy and sachets and dried lavender, all sorts of wonderful things!


After the lavender farm, we drove to Hat Rock and then to McNary Dam to see the fish running. Not any great pictures of the fish, but here's a couple of Hat Rock and one of the viewing area.

Wordless Wednesday

Spencer's Rash

And in other news, Spencer has a weird rash that broke out yesterday. He was grumpy all day, finally after his shower he came out and said he had a weird bumpy rash. I sent Alan to the store for Benadryl and cortisone cream (yeah, bent the Sabbath a bit there but we had no liquid Benadryl and Spencer can't swallow pills yet). It looks a bit better today, but here are a couple of pics of how it looked last night.

Organized Linen Closet

I love the organized linen closet! Kudos to Sarah and Spencer for doing this on Saturday for me. Kids can be GREAT when they're in a helping mood, LOL! Here's a couple pictures of the nice, organized closet. Still a lot of stuff in there, but the closet is VERY small, so we're stuck.


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Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson died. Wow. I am almost his age (well, give me a couple of years). Alan's older than MJ. Kind of freaky when your generation starts dying off. I have to confess, I didn't love MJ's lifestyle or personality, but his music was terrific. Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean ... too many more to mention. It's just a sad thing.

Dentist Followup

I went back to the dentist yesterday and they filled the tooth that had the root canal. Apparently the endodontist put in some packing or something, and the dentist took that out and filled it like a regular filling. I will have to get a new crown on that tooth; that crown is 7 years old and with the drilling and such will probably not last too much longer. So I went ahead and scheduled that for September, after the kids are back in school (assuming I'm not working). I really hope that I can stay home and get some home-based earning going on this summer and fall. I so do not want to go back to an office environment, but I think that's where my best money would be if I do have to go back to work. Sigh.

Apollo the patient cat

AAnd just for kicks, here's a picture of Apollo enduring the indignity of having Spencer put string around him. LOL. He's a very long-suffering cat. Ignore the weedy backyard, if you can see it. Well, now you know it's weedy even if you can't see it! Forget I said that!

Spencer left for a two-night scout camp tonight. They're going to Trout Lake, near Mount Adams. *Sniff.* First time he's been gone more than one night, and those have pretty much been to a grandma's or a friend's in town. I'm not sure how many boys are going; there were about 5-6 that I know for sure were going to be othere, including Mark, my niece's son. When we pulled up, Mark said he was claiming Spencer for his tent, because it's a two-person tent and Spencer's skinny. LOL. Here are some pictures from the packing up of the trailer at the Shannon's house. Mark is in the second picture with Spencer. The dog is the Shannon's, named Bogus. Cute, huh?

We had chicken enchiladas tonight for dinner. I found a couple of recipes that looked interesting but I didn't 100% like either of them, so I took what I thought would work from each one. Here's what I came up with, if anybody's interested.

Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded finely
1 can refried beans
1 pkg cream cheese
1 cup salsa

Put the above ingredients into a saucepan or frying pan, melting the cream cheese and blending together. When well-blended, put filling mixture into a 9x13 pan that has a layer of flour tortillas on the bottom. Top with more flour tortillas, grated cheese, and bake until cheese is melted, about 15-20 minutes at 350 F.

Pretty easy, huh?

Okay, I have a confession. Well, a couple. I am addicted to Fox News. There, I said it. Sue me. LOL. I love Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity. I referred to them in an email today as my Trinity. In fact, I just bought Glenn Beck's newest book, "Common Sense", that just came out TODAY! I didn't even wait to go to Costco. Bought it at Walmart.

Second confession. I love trashy novels. I said it. My favorites right now are the "In Death" series by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts). Love 'em! They are a fast read, but interesting, and I decided to start at the beginning to see how the relationship between Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke has progressed over the series, as well as how the other featured characters grow. I just really have liked this series, in spite of some rough language, and I am saying I think it's fine! I look at blogs that list all these esoteric books that the bloggers read, and I think REALLY? What ELSE have you read that you're not putting on the list because you think it's too trashy or political or whatever? There. I said it. It is that kind of day, I guess. Having a root canal will do that to you!