Halloween-y

Music Man the Jester and Monkey the Knight.

Erin K the Witch Pumpkin. (What? It's a thing. Right?)

Warning: These photos will self-destruct.

Pregnant, much?

There is very little doubt that I am pregnant. You know, besides the 30-week belly and the fact that I can't sleep.

I have, in the last month, made a dough recipe in which I forgot the salt, not once, but TWICE. The first incident was pizza dough (on a day we had supper guests, no less). The second was bread. Not just one loaf, but a batch of three beautiful, salt-free loaves. Luckily for me, the Music Man insists that it's really not that bad, and it just makes him think of his Aunt who, apparently, always baked without salt.

Further evidence of pregnancy - Today I cried while reading "The Lorax" to Monkey. I cried. At a Dr. Seuss book. (a sad Dr. Seuss book, I will admit.)

Things have been chugging along around here. Nothing too exciting is happening, but we're keeping busy. Monkey turned three last Tuesday, and now has a plethora of fun and amazing toys. He also had his first dentist appointment this week (they call it a "Happy Visit". Like the rest won't be quite so happy). The hygienist was really great and showed him all the cool tools and he let her look in his mouth and count his teeth, so I'll call it a success. He is enjoying a "Dance Exploration" class at the local dance studio, in which his is, not surprisingly, the only boy. Oh, and he is excited for Halloween, now that I have finished sewing his Knight costume.

That's it for now. I may get around to posting a prego pic one of these days, but then again, maybe not. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Putting Up

We're finally having summer weather here, now that it's actually autumn. But I have been busy doing autumnal things, like canning. Here is a list of foods I've been preserving so far this season (going back into Spring. Why don't we call Spring "Vern"?)

*Frozen strawberries
*Strawberry jam
*Strawberry-rhubarb jam
*Frozen spinach
*Frozen chard
*Frozen basil
*Pesto
*Frozen zucchini (shredded)
*Spaghetti sauce
*Salsa
*Apple sauce
*Apple juice (well, okay, beverage)
*Pear juice/sauce

I have a number of things left on my list, like
*more frozen chard
*maybe another batch of spaghetti sauce
*beet pickles
*apple pies (I like to make a bunch and freeze them)
*frozen apple slices (for future apple crisps, etc.)
*possibly apple jelly, or apple-basil jelly

It all makes me feel very domestic. And it is mostly very fun, but I am usually very tired by evening. Speaking of which - - we have our ultrasound appointment tomorrow. It's pretty late, I'll be 26 weeks tomorrow. Okay, that's it for now.

Happy Autumn.

sing it!

We sing a lot at our house (which is no surprise, since we are both musicians). Sometimes actual songs, sometimes actual songs with new words, sometimes totally improvised things. So it is also no surprise that Monkey has picked up on this habit. It is, of course, exceeding cute to hear what he sings about. Sometimes he sings nonsense words until he finds some syllables that strike his fancy and then he repeats them over and over. Sometimes he sings about what he is doing or thinking about.

Yesterday in the car he started singing in the back seat. This is what I heard...

"Jesus is in Heaven. Jesus is in Heaven" (repeat)
"Jesus had to carry the cross
it was very heavy
and he fell three times
on his way to the gallery."

Be still. my. heart.

and Amen.

camp sad

I'm feeling camp sad. You know - the feeling when you come home from summer camp and regular life just doesn't cut it, and you only want to hang out with your camp friends and no one at home seems to "get it". That's how I'm feeling today about Fiddler being done. Just like that - a few days ago it was opening night and now it is all over. So I was a bit mopey yesterday, and will probably be today too, but then things will get back to normal and I can look forward to the rest of summer.

We had a really great show though. Well, aside from the fact that on opening night a really heavy pine table landed on my foot in the last scene of act 1 (In the wedding scene when the Russians come in and cause a ruckus. They knocked the table over and my foot was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No broken bones though, I went for an x-ray Friday morning.) Now I have a really spectacular, perfectly rectangular bruise on the middle of my right foot. We had to delay curtain on Friday and Saturday nights to make sure everyone got in. The show went great. Of course, Sat (closing) night was the best and if we had had more shows it would have gotten even better.

So today I'm doing laundry and being a bit mopey. But how can you help being mopey when the forecast calls for 18 degrees on the August long weekend...

Opening Night

Tonight is the opening night of Fiddler! I am excited, and not nervous (yet!) We only have a three night run, so by closing night on Saturday, we will just be getting into the swing of things.

[The pictures are from dress rehearsal last night. (The Music Man and Monkey came to watch last night, but they only stayed for the first act.) The first one is during Sabbath Prayer. I am in the centre beside Motel (in the hat/glasses). The second picture is Tzeitel (me) and Motel trying to convince Papa that we should be married.]

New. and News.

I did a few things today that I've never done before...

* I cooked greens for supper. This may sound weird, but we just don't eat a lot of cooked greens around here. Fresh greens, yes - we've been eating lettuce and spinach from the garden on a daily basis for a while already. But today I fried up some greens. Swiss Chard from the garden in a little bit of olive oil. And man, was it tasty.

* In the line of homey-things-involving-garden-produce, I blanched and froze some spinach. In spite of our aforementioned daily spinach eating, the stuff is getting a bit out of hand. So, hopefully I was able to follow instructions well enough and we can enjoy some garden spinach later in the year.

* I washed the supper dishes. Okay, this is not the first time that I've ever done this. But it is the first time in, oh, say, 10 weeks that I've done it. You know, since I started feeling like crap when I was 5 weeks pregnant.

* Oh yeah, did I mention I'm pregnant! Yay! A baby sibling for Monkey is expected to arrive on or around January 1st. So, that's one of the reasons I haven't been blogging much lately. I haven't been doing much of anything lately. But things are looking up, as evidenced by the fact that I washed dishes this evening without gagging.

I've also been busy with rehearsals for an upcoming community theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof. I'm playing Tzeitel and I'm super excited about it. We're just getting to the point when we realize that opening night is only a few weeks away and the thing is still a total mess. But that means it will really start to come together this week. I'm having lots of fun. I haven't done anything like this since high school and I'm realizing how much I have missed it. As long as I don't look *too* pregnant by the end of the month. (won't the seamstress love me if she has to keep letting out my costume...)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Wishing you all perfect beach weather and no mosquitoes.