August 2018 – Pure Sugar

Decorating with Silk Plants from Museum Trees

Posted on August 28, 2018 by Carol — No Comments ↓

I love changing up my home decor for the seasons, and when fall rolls around I love to get especially cozy. However, I do miss the lush greenery that comes with summer. I don’t exactly have a green thumb, so I rely on beautiful silk plants to bring the outdoors inside year-round.

Museum Trees offered to send me one of their high-quality products for review, and I was thrilled to see what their plants look like.

The silk plants are shipped in a sturdy cardboard mailer, and my ficus was snug and secure inside.

After I took the silk plant out of the packaging, I just had to fluff up the leaves and it was ready to go.

I’m impressed with how realistic this silk ficus looks. From the leaves right down to the trunk, it is very convincing. (In fact, one of our cats is still fooled into thinking it’s real — she’s obsessed with it!) The base is weighted so the plant doesn’t fall over. I have it in a corner of our living room and once the weather is cooler, I plan to add some twinkle lights to up the “cozy factor.” I just love it!

Museum Trees offers a huge selection of silk plants perfect for your home or office. I would certainly recommend them to anyone looking for an easy decor update that requires minimal fuss!

Last Week of Summer Break 2018

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Carol — 7 Comments ↓

Another week is starting! I had a great weekend, so I’m ready to put everything I’ve got into the new week. It’s the last one before the kids go back to school next Wednesday, so I have plenty of organizing, paperwork, and schedules to take of. I think they’re ready, though. Seems as though the high school had some kind of SNAFU with students’ class schedules (Jake’s included), so hopefully that will get fixed before classes actually start! Anyway, let’s get to it!

The weather in my neck of the woods:
Last week was so beautiful and so comfortable and it looks like this week we’re back to horrible hot weather. I hate it so much. Saturday’s temperature looks a lot better, though it’s still supposed to be humid.

Monday – 89/70
Tuesday – 95/72
Wednesday – 94/71
Thursday – 84/63
Friday – 78/61
Saturday – 75/64
Sunday – 82/65

Things that make me happy:
Seeing old friends and catching up, visiting places that were important to me and still feeling the love, getting out there and doing stuff (I’m always happy I did, even when I don’t feel like it at first.)

Book I’m reading:
This week I’m starting Ghosted by Rosie Walsh

What’s on my TV today:
We’ve been watching Veronica Mars with Jake, and when the kids are off doing other things we’re watching Maron. Looking forward to the new season of Ozark coming out on the 31st!

For dinner tonight:
Sausage and peppers
Roasted potatoes
Salad

On the menu this week:
I need to do my meal plan today!
Monday – Sausage & Peppers
Tuesday – Roast Beef in the slow cooker
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

On my To Do List:
Vacuuming, washing the floors, tidying up the kitchen, getting everything organized for the start of school next week.

In the craft basket:

With all kinds of other fun things going on last week I didn’t pick up my crochet (even though the temperatures would be perfect for it). I think I’m going to take a break from Atlanticus because I keep messing up one one particular round. Instead I want to start on the Mosaic Baskets from Yarn + Chai and then come back to the blanket.

Looking forward to this week:
Nothing in particular, really. I have two evening programs for work, but otherwise I’m just hoping for a productive week.

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):
Before the concert on Thursday Drew and I walked around Boston Common and just relaxed for a while. It’s such a beautiful spot! The only problem with visiting Boston is that it makes me wish I never left!

Lesson learned the past few days:
Age is just a number and you’re only as old as you feel (or act, I guess!). No need to get all grouchy and feel like to have to sit around just because you’re not in your 20s (or 30s) anymore. Get out there! Create! Make music! Do stuff!

Belly at Royale

Posted on August 25, 2018 by Carol — No Comments ↓

One of the nicer things about our kids being a little bit older is that it is way easier to do things without them. Like go to concerts. Sixteen years ago I could barely fathom having the energy to go out to dinner, let alone head out to a club to see a show, but now we can. And we do! Thursday night we drove out to Boston to see Belly play, and to say it was amazing is an understatement!

Belly is one of Drew’s favorite bands, and I have always liked them a lot too. Back in March we saw Tanya Donelly play a show with Kristen Hersh. And it was great, but seeing Belly rock out was just the best. No opening act. Two awesome sets. And an encore. I heard the three songs I really wanted to hear (Super-Connected, Feed the Tree, and Low Red Moon), and it was so much fun!

I love the new music on their new album, Dove, and seeing them play these songs live just gave the music a completely new dimension for me.

Next up, we’re going to see Yo La Tengo in a couple weeks. But this time the show is a little closer — actually it’s across the street from my husband’s office, so that’s rather convenient!

One Crazy Summer

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Carol — No Comments ↓

Again, my blog has suffered! I’m a broken record to be sure, but this summer has just worn me down. I feel like if I was’t at work or driving the kids around I was busy around the house just trying to keep up with cooking, cleaning, and laundry. Add to that the horrible weather — incredibly high humidity and either sweltering days or tropical downpours. Hello! This is upstate New York! This isn’t the kind of summer we’re used to!

So much has happened and I wish I’d documented it here, but… sometimes Instagram and Facebook are the easier alternatives. Though honestly I haven’t had as much time for those, either!

Summer is definitely the busy season when you work at a library. We had so many great programs this year! It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work too. In between I did manage to pick my Atlanticus back up (though I did not finish it in time for the fair — maybe next year)

I’ve been trying not to get in too much of a cooking rut. Earlier in the summer I was on a roll, trying lots of new recipes. I was really into cherry clafoutis for a while (recipe to be posted), and blueberry muffins were also a popular item.

We had a great time at the Hudson Valley Hot Air Balloon Festival. Definitely worth waking up at 5 to see the sunrise launch!

The boys spent a week in the Adirondacks at Boy Scout Camp. Laura had fun at rec camp. And the boys had their birthdays last week (16 and 13, if you can believe it!).

For me their birthdays always signals a transitional period. I’m ready for fall. Ready for schedules. Ready for new things. I read this post by Ali Edwards this other day and it really resonated with me.

To me, that is really how it goes with blogging. Especially as I wade through motherhood, so many things change and evolve. Life constantly keeps us guessing! So yes, sometimes it’s simply time to start again.

Here we are. The end of summer. We still have a few fun things planned before fall starts in earnest, though! Around here, school still doesn’t start until after Labor Day, so two week from tomorrow the kids will be heading to 4th, 8th, and 11th grade. So crazy to think about! But it’s all good, and hopefully getting back into a routine will get me writing more. No promises, though, because we know how that goes!