Egg Money...but not mine :(

We've started buying eggs from a guy at Tony's work - aren't they rainbowlicious! $2 a dozen...but these are organically hand-fed and pampered super-chicken eggs...and they're so dang cute.

Bagged 'em and Tagged 'em

As part of my effort to get the house clean enough that some complete strangers will want to buy it from us, I'm trying to organize and pack away my projects (instead of keeping them strewn about my house). It's heart-wrenching. I'm afraid they'll get packed away in a box that will fall off of our moving truck, never to be seen again. (Sofia swears that happened to a box of her toys - and I wouldn't doubt it! We did have a set of movers shoot off an entire bottle of bbs from Odie's Red Rider between Connecticut and here. True story.)


So, I have put them all in clear bags. Labelled. Ready to go into a tote...where I hope to be able to easily find them again.


I would give you a project "headcount", but I keep finding more!

Fair Enough

I've been on a blogging vacation of sorts. Well, I've really just been much too busy to write about any of the things I've been doing. This can be my catch-up week.

Quick summary: making things for my sister's charity auction (Bald for Becky!), spending every morning at swim lessons, getting entries ready for the county fair, attending county fair, getting house ready to sale, trying to scrape this year's school work together, walking with husband, visiting family....it goes on. It may not sound like a lot, but I really haven't had a spare moment (that wasn't consumed by obsessively reading The Hunger Games - yes, I admit, blogging comes after reading on my priority list).

We did ok at the fair this year. I was pleased that the kids wanted to spend lots of time looking at all of the crafty entries. Legos. Woodworking. Jewelry-making.

It took us forever to find some of the girls' entries - They were hanging from the ceiling!


Aren't Annika's pansies sweet! ( We tied this the morning entries were due!)


You can't see Sofi's free-motion-quilted horses in the photo, but they got a blue ribbon!


Which made her feel better about the red ribbon her shirt got.

Tony was able to come with us this year, but Anthony was still happy to take his little brother on lots of rides for me (fullfilling Boo's dreams of flying in a relatively risk-free way).


I even shared my elephant ear. Next year I'm going to get one while the kids are off on rides. :)

Peterson Farm

Huh? Where's that? You know that scenic spot just north of Silverdale Mall...to the right of the Trigger exit? Well, it's a giant farm. We hope it stays one.


So, we went to the "Save Peterson Farm" event last Sunday. Peterson Farm is nearly 180 acres - the largest farm left in Kitsap County. Since the owner recently passed away (and it's a difficult farm to purchase, due to its size), a couple of community organizations are working hard to keep it a farm (instead of a housing development) and help it into a new, farming owner. They are raising money to buy the development rights - something we're happy to chip in for.


In exchange for our proverbial buck, we got a hayride (complete with lecture on water rights, ditching and watershed - I was happy the kids were a captive audience for that one!) and a tour of the property.


I think we'll shoot for something just a tad bit smaller for our first farmable property.

National Mamalia Self-Appreciation Day

I just read Paige's List for "National Women's Self-Appreciation Day" (did she make that up?) and thought I'd make up a list of my own. While I'm pretty sure that I could do an equally long (or longer) "things I don't like about myself" list, why dwell on such things?

I like that I am a generous person, even though my first instinct is not to share.

I like my curvy figure. (It's gotten even curvier. This was 4 or 5 years ago.)


I'm proud of how I take care of my babies (with love and respect for their wants/needs)...and that I make the cutest babies in the whole universe. :)


I like that I've learned to give people the benefit of the doubt and try to see where they're coming from. I try to cut people the slack I'd like. (That's the golden rule, right?)

I like my short hair...and that I'm not very attached to it.


I like that I'm educated without being a big snob.

I'm proud that I've learned how to make a pretty garden and sew some useful (and beautiful) things.


So, Ladies, what do you like about you?

To Tillamook and Back

We used Tony's last few days of leave to make a quick jaunt down to Portland. It was a very spontaneous trip, so Sarah got as much notice as....well, as long as it took us to drive there. She's such a generous hostess! Fed us yummy food and showed us a good time.


We hiked to a lovely waterfall. (Which ended in tears, from the kids, and craziness, from Tony. The kids were bickering, so he declared an official end to all fun - forever.)



Then he was nice enough to take us all to the beach anyway.


...and to the cheese factory, where we were amazed by giant blocks of cheese/modern machinery...



...and hugged cows to thank them for their contribution to the yummy ice cream.


To top it all off, I got a super-fun belated birthday gift! (It seems to me that I'm the one who should have left a gift...other than the big mess we made.)


Oh, that silly thing I made? Curtains. Little curtains. For dolls. I know - I need help.

I lied. Leaving town. Show you later. :)