Wow, wow, wow! Hard to believe we are in the last days of October! It has been a whirlwind of a month, and the last week has been especially hectic. Good! But hectic.

Last Thursday I celebrated my birthday! I always take advantage of my free birthday coffee from Starbucks, and even though my day was jam-packed, I went out nice and early for my venti Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso. It was so hot that I just couldn’t do a pumpkin spice latte (which is typically my birthday go-to).

It was a full day with a major program at the library, then a 5PM meeting, then Confirmation rehearsal followed by Adoration. Whew! I do have to say the Adoration was a lovely way to wind down from the chaos of the day. After that we went home for birthday cannoli!

Friday was Laura’s Confirmation. It seems like we have been waiting for this day for so long. We had a houseful of guests and my parents stayed overnight. My mom was her sponsor and did a wonderful job supporting her!

Check out the size of her Confirmation class! There was something like 75 kids and 5 adults. This is actually the result of the combination of our two parishes, and it is also three grades. Our new priest is lowering the Confirmation age, so this is a group of 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. It was a beautiful service and I don’t think I’ve ever attended anything in the church with this many people. At Mass on Saturday, Father said there were over 700! It was held in the gym, because neither church is big enough, LOL!

I definitely felt a sense of calm and relief this weekend after everyone went home and everything was cleaned up. 

Now things really slow down and I can start planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am happy that I won’t be entertaining anyone in the near future, LOL! Thanksgiving will just be our little family, and Christmas is TBD, but I think we will likely go to my mother-in-law’s for Christmas Eve and enjoy Christmas Day at home. 

Hope everything is good your little corner of the world!

The last days of summer are here, and I can’t believe how I have barely written over the last few months! It’s really just been go, go, go with all kinds of things. But the days are starting to get a little less crazy and we are adjusting to a much quieter house.

The boys are doing great in college and just enjoying every minute. Noah loves his classes (well, except for Mathematical Logic, which he finds boring — ironically, I loved Logic when I took it my freshman year)! He has also found a new band, so he’s out there playing a bunch too. Jake is in an apartment this year with some friends and one of the things he is enjoying is cooking. In fact, he’s been making his own pasta! Leave it to him to keep his roommates well-fed!

Laura’s killing her Freshman year in high school so far. Volleyball has been a little rocky, but she’s sticking with it. She left one practice in tears, and then the next day played what she felt was the best she’d ever played. This year she doesn’t have her best friend on the team, so I know that is making it a little more challenging, but I’m proud of her determination.

As for me it’s just the usual! Over Labor Day weekend our town held its annual Community Day. It was a long day (and LOUD because our booth was position right near the band), but it is always fun seeing old friends and meeting new people. Here I am with the Library Booth!

I’ve been working on some knitting and crochet projects, too. I am almost done with this adorable bear hat for a couple up the road who just had their second boy. You forget how tiny baby clothes are! What else… ugh, tomorrow I’m off for an ultrasound first thing in the morning. I usually get it right after my mammo, but this year they had to split it up. My mammo was fine, but my doctor wants me to do the U/S to be sure so that’s where you’ll find me bright and early. There’s a Starbucks next door, so maybe I’ll treat myself to a fancy coffee afterwards.

Today is cool and rainy and really has me excited for Fall! I have so many things that I’m looking forward to in the next few weeks:

• taking a trip to Lake George
• attending An Evening with Al Franken (which should be especially entertaining/enlightening with everything currently in the news)
• going on a walking tour of NYC churches and Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral 
• my birthday
• Laura’s Confirmation

I’m also hoping to squeeze in a trip to The Clark to see the Edward Munch exhibit before it’s over. Oh, I just love this time of year!

Hoping you all are doing well — I’ll definitely try to visit all my blog pals this week and catch up on things!

Wow, just like that the summer is over! The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity (and driving all over the state). Last week both boys headed off to college!

Jake headed off to the western part of the state, 5 hours away, for his senior year! He is finishing up a psychology program and as of right now he plans to apply to grad schools for next year. He would like to get a certification in mental health counselling to start. It’s no surprise, really. Earlier in the summer we found some old home movies when he was so very little and he always had this thoughtful, caring way about him. He is in a student apartment this year and is thrilled (yes, really!) to be cooking on his own. He really enjoys cooking and has requested that I put certain recipes in a Google Doc to share with him. Love it!

The next day we brought Noah about an hour south to start his first year at college! Noah was accepted into a unique studio composition program within his school’s music conservatory. He sees himself composing music for television, film, video games, etc. School is just a train ride into the city, so I’m sure over the next four years there will be so many opportunities to network and perform. All of the professors are working musicians, and I know he is just so excited to absorb all the knowledge he can.

I’m so curious to check in with him over the weekend and see how Week 1 went. Hopefully all is going well and he’s settled into his dorm by now.

Friday was Fair Day. Drew and I both took the day off. Laura and her friend spent hours and hours on the rides. It was so strange for me and Drew, walking around by ourselves! He indulged me as I spent way too much time in the barns talking baby talk to the pigs, goats, and sheep, LOL! 

I loved looking at the floral displays too, especially the two pictured below — pumpkins and corn fashioned out of flowers. Cute!

The fair food wasn’t all that enticing to us, so we only indulged in a few things (though the choices we made were delicious at least). We got pickles on sticks and then for dinner he got a gyro and I got this kielbasa Reuben (which was really good). I also bought a candy apple to take home and enjoy later.

I think we are good for a few years now. The last time we went was 2019 and we agreed that there did not seem to be as many vendor booths as in years past. Even for the competitions — the handicrafts and culinary and kids’ stuff — the participation just seemed low. Hopefully it’ll pick back up. In the meantime, the Sheep & Wool festival is always awesome, and I think Laura and I might try this Handcrafted Harvest Festival happening at the end of September. It’s kinds of nice living close to the county fairgrounds — all this fun stuff is less than 15 minutes away!

School here doesn’t start until next week (that’s right — we are one of those rare districts that doesn’t go back until after Labor Day), but high school sports are in full swing. Laura has volleyball practice every morning, so we are up bright and early and at the school around 7:45. Today they had a pre-season game and she was a little bummed that neither JV or Varsity won, but like I told her — the season is just getting started.

As for me, work has been keeping me busy as usual. Saturday is Community Day so I will be at the library’s table from 9-4. There are some good food trucks scheduled to be there, at least! Hopefully the time will pass quickly. Next week I’m taking some time off just to organize the house after the chaos of summer and maybe even do a little reading and crafting. Wouldn’t that be something?

Wishing you all a great long weekend!

Yes, it is a double birthday week! Yesterday we celebrated Noah, who turned 18. It was a pretty low-key day, but we all enjoyed a fun dinner of noodle bowls from his favorite Asian fusion restaurant. So delicious! A week from now he will be settled in his dorm, so I am soaking up the last few days with this guy at home. 

I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was very fun, but very busy! It is birthday week here so on Saturday we had a family party celebrating these two goofballs!

I always try to find a silly cake for theme and I thought the dragon was pretty cute! Noah joked that it was too scary, LOL! Always kids at heart! The food was great! I made chicken schwarma, tumeric rice, and salad. I was up at 7:30 grilling the chicken thighs ahead of the party, but it made things much smoother once people started arriving.

Yesterday I drove Laura up for her week at Camp Veritas. She had such a great time last year that she couldn’t wait to go back! (And as a bonus for parents, in our parish attending camp means your kid can skip the weekly CCD classes.) It was adorable as we were hauling her stuff to the cabin and all these girls she made friends with last year would yell out her name and come over and give her a big hug! I’m sure she’ll have a fantastic week up there.

And today is my oldest’s 21st birthday! So hard to believe!

He does have to work all day, but I think he plans to hang out with some friends afterwards. Then we will have a late dinner around 8 because I also have a board meeting I need to attend for work. Later this week will be Noah’s big day and college for both of them next week! The time just flies!

Hello, hello! It’s been a while, I know, but summer is just such an incredibly busy time around here that the blog had to be put on the back burner for a while. The time just flies by, doesn’t it? I can’t believe the last time I wrote was in early June. But things start to slow down a little in August so I thought I’d pop in and say hello!

Noah, of course, graduated at the end of June and will be moving to college three weeks from today! I am so excited for him — the program and the school are just a perfect match and I can’t wait to see what he’s going to do! Laura wrapped up the club volleyball season and her team came out on top, which was exciting! Now we are getting ready for JV tryouts later in the month. And Jake has spent the summer working and hanging out with friends. He also goes back in three weeks and will be a senior. It’s just unreal to me that we will have two college students and one high school student. Wow!

We’ve been watching lots of great shows and going to the movies. For TV my favorite summer watch so far has been Will Trent, which we watched on Hulu. It was so much better than I expected it to be and I am really looking forward to the new season. Something about it reminds me of Monk, another favorite show. We also binge-watched The Last of Us this weekend and oh my God, talk about just constantly having your heart ripped out. Amazing writing, amazing acting… absolutely worth the hype. The second season of The Bear was amazing too! For movies, no surprise, Barbie has been my hands-down favorite! I was Barbie-obsessed as a kid, and to this day love her. We all wore pink to the theatre (no I didn’t even ask anyone to!) and it was so fun seeing how many other people in the audience did as well. I thought the movie was so smart and funny, while successfully dealing with many issues facing women today. My husband and son enjoyed it just as much as my daughter and I did! I want to see Oppenheimer, but I think I may wait and stream it or watch it on DVD. I know it’s going to be a heavy movie (not to mention, hello, three hours long) and I think my comfy living room might be best.

Let’s see, what else? Earlier this summer we were hit hard by the Spongey Months (formerly known as Gypsy Moths). The oaks around our house were eaten bare. The leaves have since grown back, but at the end of June it looked more like early spring. And then, of course, the disgusting sound of the caterpillars. Yuck!

Weatherwise, with the exception of this week, the weather has been the pits this summer. Either oppressively hot and humid or thundering/lightening/storming. It’s been like nothing we’ve ever had here.

I’ve been crocheting and crafting whenever I have a chance. Oh! Everything worked out fine with my D&C — the polyps were benign, and my recovery was, honestly, pretty easy.

I guess I’ll leave you with some random photos from the last couple of months. Gorgeous sunsets, delicious food, and flowers everywhere!

Hope you all are doing well and I will be around to visit soon!

Twenty-two years ago we said, “I do!”

Gosh, the time goes by doesn’t it? 

Yikes! Well, so much for that Blog365, LOL! I didn’t expect a two-week hiatus, but honestly I just have not had time to blog or visit everyone. Things have been just non-stop since I last wrote! Well, I definitely plan to pick up the pace again. Probably not every day, but I’m going to shoot for a few times a week during the summer. 

Honestly, I’m not even sure what to catch up on so I am just going to keep this short and sweet for now and say hello! I’ll write more soon (really, I will LOL!)