All Grown Up!

Diary of a mom on her only child's first day of school:

Lucy waits for the bus. Everyone's smiling. Mom is only a wee bit misty-eyed.


Lucy gets on the bus. Mom's eyes are tearing up.

Mom waves bravely goodbye and then promptly follows the bus to school so she can embarrass Lucy there, too!

Lucy has a friend in class! Must take plenty of pictures of Lucy and friend.


Time to line up for class -- please note that I am not the only mother present.


You'd think mom would leave after this, right? Wrong!


Lucy still waves cheerfully.


But now mom's presence is getting old. Mom is cramping Lucy's five year old style. Sigh.

Mom left, but only when forced. And I was waiting with Lucy's Schultüte when she got off the bus.

Hurrah! I made it through the first day!

My Toothless Beauty!

Harvest Time!

This week's harvest creations:

bruschetta, blackberry preserves, zucchini bread

Pluggin'!!

SYTYCD nerds (or enlightened souls, as the case may be): check out my Potatoes blog:

Potatoes Unite

Garden Gone Wild!

Coupon World

Just went on my first real couponing grocery trip. Had a minor throwdown with the cashier, but otherwise I found the whole experience very satisfying (actually that throwdown was kind of fun!). Here's the loot:

Total I paid: $25 (although I am going back because they overcharged me by $2.50)
Total value: $77
Total savings: $52

I will be taking my bows all day.

Update:

Because some of you (Rachel) are not convinced of the food-worthiness of the items purchased, I will give you a breakdown:

2 5-packs Mac and Cheese
2 packages Capri Sun
2 bags Bear Naked granola
1 tube Banana Boat sunblock
3 boxes Kellogg's Mini-Wheats
1 box Raisin Bran
2 dozen Organic Valley organic eggs
2 half gallon Newman's Own Lemonade
1 box Butoni fresh linguine

Please feel free to throwdown with me regarding the integrity of these foodstuffs; if you know me, you know I'm always up for a good fight!!

Garden Progress!

Finished!!

If anyone else asks if this snake is a worm, I will personally climb out of your monitor and bop you over the head!

April Tragedies and Triumphs

First there were freshly planted currants:

Then the beast dug them up. The beast barely avoided becoming dinner.

We replanted the currants and built beautiful garden boxes (yeah, Mathias!):

Then the dreaded beast dug up the garden boxes. I preheated the oven in anticipation of doggie dinner. But the beast somehow avoided death again. The garden was replanted and is now a beast-free zone.

And then there was the knitting. First there was the yarn:

Which then became hundreds of knitted rows. Which then, between sobs, I unraveled because the purls were wrong. Now the purls are right and the yarn is this:

Which, for all you non-observant stinkers out there, is a snake. And I can't believe I finished the knitting! Now for the sewing and stuffing.