Pure Sugar

Hello, friends! Thought I’d just drop a few notes here on my blog. I didn’t take any photos, but we had family over on Saturday to celebrate my oldest’s college graduation and all three summer birthdays. The weather was perfect! We all were relieved after it’s been so hot and humid here.

I kept the menu pretty simple: grilled London Broil, fried chicken (from the grocery store deli), marinated pasta salad (a dish I used to make all the time years ago — I just recently found the recipe!), creamy cucumber salad, and baked beans (courtesy of my mother-in-law). Dessert was lemon bundt cake and tiramisu. I had taken Friday off, which made my life much easier in terms of cleaning the house and prepping dishes. It was nice to see everyone and I think a good time was had by all.

Yesterday we went to the movies to see Longlegs, which was pretty good. I definitely enjoyed it, but I think they gave some important points away too early. There were also a couple scenes that just didn’t seem to fit in. I don’t know… I’ll have to watch it again when it’s on streaming.

And now here we are… I have a very busy week ahead, and I am already looking forward to next weekend! I’m considering joining the Study of Christmas Cookies Throw Crochet Stitch Along. Maybe. I have a number of projects-in-progress that I really should finish first! On the other hand, it would be a good stash-buster. Decisions, decisions! 

Hope things are great in your corner of the world!

In a word… busy! But good busy, of course. I remember the days when I was a SAHM and while it’s easy to get nostalgic, and sometimes I miss them, honestly with the kids all older now, I have no idea what I’d be doing with myself! I loved being at home and I am grateful that we were in a position that I could be a SAHM, but now it’s so rewarding to serve my community. This July marks my 5-year anniversary in my role as Library Director, which is so hard to believe. I feel like I have a good balance between work and my homelife and honestly… I am pretty darn lucky! 

Anyway! Besides being chock full of activities, Summer here in the Hudson Valley has been very hot. Summer is not my favorite season, but it has its lovely moments. I have been…

Enjoying my garden

Listening to audiobooks

Driving kids to and from work (and getting to enjoy gorgeous views I wouldn’t see from my own yard)

Enjoying the fun summer reading programs we’re scheduling at the library (yes, that’s a baby kangaroo!)

Planning an end-of-summer getaway

Before you know it, my middle kid will be heading back to college and my youngest will be starting Sophomore year in high school. Time sure does fly! Hope you all are doing your best to enjoy it!

Tell me you live in the country without telling me you live in the country.

We had special visitors for today’s storytime — a very sweet llama and alpaca! Not sure who was more enamored, the kids or the grown ups! 

One of the nicer things about being a mom to older kids is having the freedom to go out without need for a sitter! Last night we saw comedian Tom Papa at the fabulous Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie. (We saw Jon Stewart there recently as well!) I love the marquee, don’t you?

Tom put on a great show — one of the best comedy shows we have seen recently (honestly, I think he was even better than Jerry Seinfeld)! I love his humor because it also has heart. If you have the chance, definitely catch him on tour!

It’s here! I am very excited for today’s solar eclipse! Although I am not in the path of totality, here the Hudson Valley will see approximately 90% to 95% coverage, depending on location. I remember the 2017 partial eclipse and even at between 65% to 70% it was still something wonderful to behold. 

Here at our little library we have given out nearly 400 pairs of glasses and I have 100 that I am reserving for our viewing party this afternoon. I love anything that brings the community together! Hoping you get to enjoy this wonderful experience (safely of course) if you are in the path!

Well, I didn’t blog over the weekend, but here I am now! Today it is very spring-like here in the Mid-Hudson valley! It is currently 60 degrees out, which feels really nice. I’m definitely taking advantage of every single excuse to duck outside today.

My day started super early. My husband had to leave at 2 AM for a business trip and it took forever for me to fall back to sleep. He is in Mexico for the week — neither of us have been there so I’ll be curious to hear about it.

One thing about when he travels? I get so much done in the morning before work! I did a load of laundry, changed the sheets, called the vet to get our cat’s eardrops refilled, texted/emailed our plumber about an inspection he needs to set up. And on top of it all I made a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit. I’ll be crashing early tonight, I am sure, though.

In other news… I got a new car last week and I am totally in love with it! It was time to trade in the 2009 Forester, which had served us well over the years. Two months after we got it, I found out I was pregnant with Laura so yes — it’s seen a lot. 

Our new car is a 2024 Hyundai Tucson. Way back in 2001, an Elantra was my very first brand-new car and it was so reliable and great that we felt it was time to go back. The 0% financing helped too, LOL! Anyway, it has been so fun learning all the cool new features and enjoying how quiet it is, especially compared to the Subaru!

We also had a fun night out on Saturday and saw Jon Stewart perform at the gorgeous Bardavon Opera House. Unfortunately there was one loud, obnoxious troll in the audience who wouldn’t stop yelling out obnoxious comments. Jon handled it with grace, of course. And then, after the troll screamed out some bizarre noise (triggered by the mere mention of Barack Obama), another guy in the audience yelled, “Will you shut up?” Jon Stewart said, “Me?” and the guy replied, “No! That moron over there!” The troll did stop after that, thankfully. I really don’t understand why you’d pay a bunch of money to see someone just to be a jerk, but… sadly this is the behavior that has been normalized. I was just happy he was put in his place and the rest of the crowd could enjoy the sold-out show. Years ago D. and I got tickets to see a live taping of “The Daily Show” when Jon Stewart was still hosting it, so it was really cool to see him again.

Other than that, it’s pretty much the same old, same old. Work is busy and people are already starting to ask if we have eclipse glasses. Sigh… the madness begins! This bingo card is (sort-of) a joke that went around during the last eclipse, but I am sure it will apply again.

Well, I suppose that’s all I have today! Hope you all have a great Monday!

I know I’ve been absent from my blog, but since Leap Day only comes around once every four years, I thought I should pop in and say hi since it seems that is about how often I blog! All kidding aside, things are great and I am going to try to “spring” ahead and try to get back to blogging at least a little more often. I’ll see you tomorrow for a check in on everything going on!

Be sure to make the most of your extra day!

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!