Taking a Break

 We love tea.

No, no! Not from the blog, don’t worry. It’s just that I have been going all day so I decided to take a break and check in on blogs, Facebook, etc. and pop in and update here since it’s been a while. I’ve been keeping up with my #HandletteredABCs over in IG, but I probably won’t get to post them here today. But here’s one of this week’s letters.

 

A photo posted by Carol Bancroft (@carolwrites) on

Honestly, I’m just wiped out! I’ve been cooking, cleaning, doing laundry… Drew and I brought in wood for the wood stove stove and stacked it. I poached chicken, made peppermint brownies, made turkey tacos for lunch, then cleaned up all the dishes from that. Might not seem like much but as many of you know, all those little things add up.

Finally, I’ve decided it to call it quits for the day. I made a fire, made a cup of tea, and that’s about it! Let’s see… what else has been going on? Drew was in Boston for work this week, and I admit I was a little jealous. It was funny — he texted me that he drove through the same intersection we went through all the time when we were dating and he’d drive me home from his apartment in Framingham to mine in Somerville. A lot of stuff has changed; it’s been almost 18 years, after all!

So, he got home around lunchtime on Friday and then Friday night was Cub Scouts. Aside from Blue & Gold Banquet in a couple weeks, it was the last pack meeting we will ever have to do. While we have certainly enjoyed our time as Cub Scout leadership, I have to say that I’m ready for it to be over and let someone else take the reins. Noah will be bridging over to Boy Scouts, and we will be taking a back seat. Drew is still very involved because he has a lot of fun, but it will be nice to relinquish the responsibility, you know?

On a completely different note, I’ve been having fun playing around with the Silhouette Cameo I got for Christmas. I am still learning, and there’s a lot of trial and error, but I’m figuring things out. I bought some vinyl the other day, so I am looking forward to making a custom travel mug for myself. The hardest part is deciding on a design! Mostly, I’ve just been making stickers for my planner. It is really cool to have the machine make the detailed cuts. Using an X-acto knife or small scissors is so much work. This speeds things up considerably!

A photo posted by Carol Bancroft (@carolwrites) on

And while I haven’t actually done any crochet, I’ve been organizing my yarn and patterns with the intention of getting back into so projects this week. I bought a lidded basket to keep my current project stashed away, safe from playful cats. And I’ve been putting my patterns into a binder so they’re all in one place. 

Well, I guess that’s about all for today! Hope you are having a great weekend!

TGIF

april sunrise

What a week. What can I say? Ugh, it’s been a bit stressful with some unexpected news that wasn’t entirely unexpected, but… The timing just suprised us. Sorry to be so vague, but it’s not something I can get into just yet. Suffice it to say, we are seeing a problem as an opportunity, and going from here.

Aside from that, things have been pretty quiet. Just another week with school and work. Last night I got together with some of my favorite ladies for our monthy “Sips & Sups” gathering. Everone brings a dish and we enjoy delicious food, wine, laugh, and great company. Someone brought THE most delicous green bean dish: roasted green beans topped wih caramelized onions and dollops of whipped cream cheese. I am still craving it and will try duplicating it tomorrow.

Tonight is our very last Pinewood Derby — bittersweet! I think if I were just one of the parents and not a leader I’d be much more sentimental about it, but putting the event together is a lot of work, and D. and I will be happy that it is out of our hands. N. is very excited, though, and it will be a fun night!

sugar n' cream <3

I’m looking forward to a pretty laid-back weekend. Aside from a birthday party, there’s nothing on the agenda. I’ll need to catch  up on everything that fell through the cracks this week, though. Hopefully I will be able to carve out a little time for dishcloth knitting. (There’s always time for that, right?)

Happy Friday, everyone!

Chilly Sunday

week

Hello, hello! Hope you all have been enjoying the weekend. As usual, it’s been pretty busy around here. It’s easy to gripe and say I’d rather be at home (which is true), but at the same time I’m thankful for a part-time job that I love, friends to see, and activities to keep everyone happy.

Friday night was our Cub Scout pack meeting and we held a rain gutter regatta. For those who don’t know what that is, the boys build boats (similar to Pinewood Derby cars) and then by blowing throw a straw, they sail them down the channels of an inflatable rain gutter. This was the first year we used the inflatable “gutters.” In previous years we used actual rain gutters, which were bulky and messy.

Rain gutter Regatta

Rain gutter Regatta

The boys all had a great time! We just raced for fun. Then I suggested that the parents race their kids’ boats. At first there were a couple moans and groans but you could tell everyone secretly wanted to do it,  ha ha! It was great!

Yesterday I worked at the library in the morning and then we went to a friend’s birthday party in the afternoon. I did a little shopping at Michael’s and Sam’s but let me tell you — I am not exactly digging the “holiday spirit” out there, especially this early in the season. Everyone is impatient and rushing and angry. Kind of the opposite of what this time of year is supposed to be about, isn’t it? We did what we had to do and came home. Between people’s attitudes and crazy traffic, I had really had it.

Today was much different. I helped set up the parish center for tomorrow’s very special preschool Thanksgiving feast. I made a quick run to Stop & Shop (again, it was crazy but at least being by myself it was easier to handle). And that was about it. It was freezing out there today, so I was happy to come home and make a big pot of chicken and rice soup. I also decided to bake a pie since I have so many apples in my refrigerator for some reason.

Now I’m just getting dinner ready: the soup, some oven fries, and sandwiches. Easy! Though I’m mostly looking forward to a slice of pie for dessert 😉

applepie

This week should actually be pretty relaxing. I’m not cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year — I just need to make the sweet potatoes and cole slaw — so I can relax a bit. The kids have a nice break for the holiday. And yes… I am very much looking forward to putting our Christmas tree up at the end of the week!

What are you all doing for Thanksgiving this year? Staying home? Travelling? It is my favorite holiday, and I just can’t wait!

 

Saturday Catch-Up

poet's walk pavillion

Hey everyone! I know, I know… it’s been a quiet week. My MIL took the boys to Maine earlier this week, so I guess I’ve been on vacation of sorts too. Things just weren’t on schedule, you know? We were going out more, I was being a little bit lazier… but I guess that’s the beauty of summer, right?

They came home on Friday morning and had a great time! They walked on the beach, swam in the hotel pool and had a ton of fun. Meanwhile, we kept things pretty quiet. We did go to the Indian buffet (Laura was obsessed with the mulligatawny soup!)

laura

We kept things close to home on the 4th of July. We grilled burgers and watched movies. Nothing too crazy.

I finally (finally!) got my new crock pot. Oh yes, I definitely needed an appliance lift. As I mentioned, my old slow cooker died. Today I broke in my new one with sauce, turkey meatballs, and Italian sausage. Sure it’s great using the slow cooker when it’s cold, but it is a life saver when it is hot & humid — no heating up the kitchen!

new slow cooker

This morning we headed over to Poet’s Walk Park in Red Hook. Although it’s a very popular place to hike we’d never been there before. We all had a great time!

This is the bridge I drive across several times a week to go… well, pretty much anywhere (Walmart, Target, Michael’s, Dollar Tree, any and all fast-food restaurants). I love getting the different perspective! That’s the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains you see in the  distance.

kingston-rhinecliff bridge

I also decided to step WAY out of my comfort zone and plank in public. I’ve been doing the 21-day Plank With Bex challenge. I started out at around 58 seconds 12 days ago. Today I was up to 2 minutes 10 seconds!!! It’s amazing to see how much progress you can make in just a few days — so awesome!

planking at poet's walk

Ugh, as for tonight, I’m just trying to keep cool. It has been ridiculously hot & humid lately. Hate it! I started a granny stripe blanket and I love it and I need to blog about that, too. But honestly? I think all I’m doing this evening is drinking ice water (actually, chewing on ice) and vegging out to whatever we put on Netflix.

Tomorrow Jake has SCUBA (seriously, he does the coolest stuff with his Boy Scout Troop! We absolutely made the right decision when weighing the two different troops in town). Then we need to head over across that bridge and get house stain at Home Depot. After that, who knows? Lake? Sprinkler? We shall see…

Pinewood Derby 2013

pinewood derby pit passes

Last night was our Cub Scout Pack’s Pinewood Derby — the first with Drew as Committee Chair — and can you believe this is the only photo I took? That’s right, mama left her SD card in her laptop and didn’t even bring her iPod Touch. Talk about a momentous mama failure.

Sigh… Well, at least we didn’t forget any of the other 8.5 million things we needed to bring! I think it went well. As you can see, I made up “pit passes” for all of our little racers. I also made “VIP All Access” passes for the “Pit Crew” (that would be the leaders and anyone else who was helping out.

Drew donned his mechanic’s jumpsuit (I don’t really know why he has one, especially one with his name embroidered on it, but whatever… he was psyched to have a reason to wear it), we made a quick photo booth out of a checkerboard sheet and the American flag, we had pennants, we had pizza, and we had our brand-new track. Of course, the night was not without its problems (is any pack m eeting ever?), but I hope the kids all had fun.

There was another big event going on in the cafeteria across from the gym (where we were), so we hung up flyers decorated with race flags and advertising “Pinewood Derby” just in case anyone wanted to know what was going on. Maybe we even got some boys interested in scouting.

A few members of Jake’s Boy Scout Troop were there in uniform, and they were such great help to us! From keeping the little kids wrangled, to helping with the event, to cleaning up — they were always there for what we needed. Love those boys — definitely gives you faith in the younger generation.

Noah’s car ended up winning first place for his den, so that was very exciting 🙂 By the time we got everything packed in the car and got home, it was super late, but I was not about to skip a celebratory glass of wine (what was I thinking giving up wine for Lent? I made it three weeks, at least…).

vino

So, we have a few kinks to work out for next year, but overall I think the event was a success! One thing that seemed to go over well was the Recognition Awards I made up. I wanted every boy to get something, even if he didn’t win a race. So we printed up participation awards and after I looked at the cars I gave them silly superlatives like “Sparkliest” and “Most Dotty.” Totally goofy, but at least all the scouts left with something. I think that’s important.

You know, and I’ll bet though these things make me stressed and crazy, in a few years when Noah is done with Cub Scouts I’m going to totally miss it.