fall sounds pretty nice right now....

Autumn...all crisp and orange, with pumpkin spice at every corner. What's not to love? Our summer here in central New York state has been hot and hot and hot. Dry, and hot. I am longing for a rainy day, but then I am a rainy day person. Perhaps I am under the strong delusion that a rainy day will mean crawling into bed with a good book and an endless cup of pumpkin spice coffee, and as long as we're dreaming, a tall stack of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I should clarify that I don't really eat cookies in bed, but shh, when I was in France, and had the lovely rainy afternoons all to myself, after wandering the village for hours, I may have had a pastry or two with my good book...with the window open, hearing the rain...with a few fresh strawberries and some local chocolate...

Anyway. Back to reality here. It's supposed to be 84 and sunny today, which is fine when you're going to the beach, ha. Our pool is turning green now, it's done for the season. And all the pumpkin spice things are off limits to me, I do not consume PopTarts, nor even Cheerios, although if I bought a box of pumpkin Cheerios, I would indeed eat the entire box. Low carb life is not fun for carbo-holics like me. I could totally survive on oatmeal, bagels, toast, rice (with cinnamon and sugar and milk on a cold morning!). I actually placed a package of pumpkin-cream filled Oreos in my cart the other day at the Price Rite in Rochester. But the more I turned it over in my mind, the more I realized that big ol' ME was the only one who would delight in those sickly sweet cookies...and why put myself through it? So I put them back. It was painful, but I did it.

I love pumpkin stuff so much I can't bake it or I'll eat it all. I'm serious. It's my trigger food. Moist spicy pumpkin bread or muffins, pumpkin cookies...I cannot resist them. I can bake a triple batch of chocolate chip cookies, and not eat one bite, but pumpkin stuff...nope. I have found some low carb, low or no sugar recipes that I like...like pumpkin cheesecake, which is pretty good, but not like the full sugar blast of a real pumpkin muffin.

But...we have found a really nice way to use up some zucchini from the garden! We are on our third double batch of muffins. The recipe I used last night is super easy, I'm not sure if I should copy it but just look up coconut flour zucchini muffins...there are lots of eggs in it, Martha, if you double it, you can use up a dozen! There are zucchini at stands everywhere around here, too, but we have lots from the garden. I put lots of spices in mine, pumpkin pie and allspice and cinnamon...they're really moist and good. I should try the same thing with pumpkin instead of zucchini.

Anyway. Sorry. Off On A Tangent is my middle name.

Yesterday was gymnastics class day. The kids LOVE it, even Jonathan. Before class, we went to the thrift store, because Wednesday is half-price day. I found Osh-Kosh baby overalls for Lydia for a few bucks, a nice tunic style shirt for Cam to wear with leggings, a "Call The Midwife" book, and a brand new coffee make, still in the wrappers inside the box, for just a few bucks, for Margaret and Adrian. They are getting married in December!

This fine morning, I have to get out of my comfy chair, and take the puppy to the vet. We are almost out of coffee, and with at least five coffee drinkers here, that could be classified as an emergency...

But oh the little details of life. Phew. I just had to take the dogs out quick. Sunny was circling around and YAY! She pooped outside, where it belongs! I started carrying treats in my pocket to augment the praise I bestow on the cute little beast, when she relieves herself in the yard. I prefer the positive reinforcement training, but when I catch her squatting on my nice living room floor, I tell her NO, NO!, then scoop her up and bring her outside. I wonder if it's a catch 22 sometimes, she loves going outside, so all she has to do is pee or poop on the floor, and voila, she gets to go out. It's getting better, but it takes way more patience than I possess. It's a darned good thing she's so cute. Right now, she has finally worn herself out and is sleeping on the rug at my feet. She jumps up on her hind legs and puts her front paws on my lap, and whines, she wants to come up here with me, but I am thinking she's going to get bigger and bigger, and um, it's probably not a good idea, so I make her sit, then pet her, then she finally sighs and lies down on the rug. I have to tell myself that she's not a people, she thinks she is.

So Emily has some aches and pains. She's a registered nurse, also going to Grad school to be a nurse practitioner, a very busy girl. She doesn't have time for injuries, ha. Although I'm thankful that it wasn't worse, of course...

Well, my computer is dying, and I have things to do...Little Miss Sunshine needs a bath before the vet, and yours truly needs to wash the hair...the princesses need some things to do, and there is laundry screaming my name....