here in the Adirondacks...

Yesterday morning, I went through and answered all of the comments from Saturday, then little Anya woke up, snuggled up to me here on the couch out on the screened in porch. Well, I closed the computer right away, because live in the moment, right? We opened it up later to google earth our location and see what this lake looks like from above. Then life happened all day.

We swam and sunned and snacked...I had monster mix, it's from Target: peanuts, M&Ms (p.butter ones!), raisins, mini peanut butter cups, and some other crunchy crappola. It's NOT healthy, but it's sold with the nuts, and well, it's good. Too good. Dinner: grilled pork chops that were marinated in garlic butter, corn on the cob (here are my huskers!)



Wulf with Grampa!


I like the last one, Uncle Ben with Wulf. Wulf is Mr. Energy, the Energizer Bunny. He has a one track mind here, and it's OUTSIDE. He wants to be there, and you can see it clearly from every room, but there is a dock out there and water, and well...we have to latch all the doors, and be careful. His mama is going to have new baby next month, but she's young and in good shape, but still. We help her with him, he's adorable, and busy. He doesn't get much screen time, so when Uncle Ben showed him tractors and bulldozers, he sat there so tired and cozy...and Margaret got to rest.

Margaret is outside working out right now, and I'm on Wulf duty. He's fast asleep, but I have to make sure if he comes downstairs, to catch him, ha.

The lake is lovely, and the water lapping at the dock is such a lulling sound. I had to remind myself so many times already to breathe it in, and relax.

There is pork in the crockpot already, with some lemon juice and brown sugar, salt and pepper. Pulled pork for dinner, with homemade Mac and cheese and salad.

Ben's up now, so bye!

where's the outrage?

One thing that bothers me: when ordinary citizens tattle tale on their fellow man. If you feel threatened by Mr. Huffy Puffy's bare face, then stay away from him, or stay home, or perhaps let him know personally how you feel. Don't take his pic and social shame him, and dang it, don't call government officials and complain! The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and I think the squeaky Karens rule, blah.

Here's a game I like to play:
It's called Where Is It.

"It" can be either car keys, sunglasses, reading glasses, or my phone. Sometimes I play this game with myself, mumbling and murmuring and not listening properly to the conversation, "It" being my phone, when I am actually TALKING ON MY PHONE. The other day in the grocery store, I was looking all through my purse for my glasses, and Sonja said, "Mom, you have them on." Well, I should have guessed, I could see my purse mess very clearly! Now I have masks to add to the Where Is It game.

I can't imagine being in this predicament years ago, getting like 10 or 12 or 14 kids to wear masks, and to keep track of them all! oh dear.

We're leaving here in an hour, so I thought I'd sit down and blog, then panic and hurry out the door last minute.

Are we all packed? Well, Paul's rigging two of the kayaks onto the back of his truck, the third one doesn't fit, hopefully one of the kids with a roof rack can bring it up. With no motor boat this year, the kayaks will be hot commodities. I do have three inflatable rafts, but paddling isn't as fun as turning on a motor.

Last evening was fun, we grilled burgers, and served them with sliced tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, bacon, red onions, and little bags of chips. The health dept. guidelines were strictly followed, all wore masks, and we served everything outside. After cleaning up the kitchen, Paul and I came home, and the kids are staying there until Monday.

I feel like my brain has been on packing mode for so long, it short circuited and now I'm done. If I remember it, good, if I forget, meh, I'll live. I also feel like Mrs. Potato Head, stuffing the olive oil into the bin, a baggie of sugar, a few extra towels, markers and glue, crayons and stickers for the grandkids, more sunscreen, should I bring aluminum foil? I've got some disposable pans, and baggies, large and small, 3 kinds of salad dressing, oh, should I bring some honey? Yes, some honey. Oh good, my packing mode is turned back on! Bye for now!

it's so awful, but I can't look away...

But I CAN look at my pool. Don't you love the black duct tape around the filter hose? Paul's a genius, a fixer. He doesn't care how it looks though. Which has been a teensy bit of a problem for me through the years, but I'm still alive and kicking, and what doesn't kill you or irritate you to death, makes you stronger, and hopefully more thankful...? He fixes something, works so hard, then looks at me and says, "It's fine, right?" Well, yes, it IS fine. The window he replaced in the kitchen several years ago IS fine. It doesn't match the other windows in the kitchen, and it's a new building window, not a replacement window, so it didn't fit right, so the molding never got put back on around it, and sometimes I look at it, and it FEELS like it's gonna kill me, but it hasn't yet, so I just forget about it, and focus on good things. And he patched the hole in the pool, so I love him forever for that.

But the news lately, so awful. Does anyone else out there just get a sinking feeling sometimes, reading it? (We don't watch television news, our t.v. is ONLY on when we purposefully want to watch something, then we turn it back off. No droning on in our home, commercials, what are they?). But the news, if feels like the Twilight Zone, or Groundhog Day, or a big joke. It goes on and on, this virus, and more and more rights are infringed on, more divisiveness between political parties...here in NY, the gov and his posse are having a new-law-making fest.

In the grocery store yesterday, there were so many empty spots on the shelves. Aldi puts out these ads with all these wonderful summer items, but are they in the stores? Barely! You can't find a pool float to save your life. I actually paid ten bucks for one in the grocery store, there were only three left.

Evelyn Joy went on an adventure with me yesterday afternoon: to get some pallets. We fit 20 in the back of the truck.


So here's what's going on: our kids are going to a summer camp at church! Some friends from Connecticut and Michigan are coming too, there'll be around 100 of them. The Ohio and Delaware kids can't come, unfortunately, due to travel restrictions. Now, before you get all Karen-y on me, this is a plan that has been APPROVED of by the county health department. The kids are in small groups, and will stay in cabins with their small group, drive to activities with those groups, eat meals with them, ect. They CAN be with others, outside, and with masks on. The whole place has been cleaned and disinfected, which is what the kids have been so busy with. Emily and Mariel are making meals, tonight Paul and I are going to help too, actually in half an hour, I'm leaving. We will serve the food, socially distanced, outside, and will wear masks. The kids will have temperatures taken upon arrival, ect.

The weather is looking glorious for three days of outdoor activities. Our girls are doing water sports on a local lake. Oh, the pallets are being used to make an outdoor seating area, a cozy one. I'll put pics on soon. They'll have meetings and fun and swimming and more fun, and pray with me that they'll all stay safe and healthy.

But the pallet advenure: we drove about 45 minutes, and this was a small farm with chickens running around, very...rustic-y. You know, an old horse trailer with crates stuffed in where the windows would go, lots of little sheds and weeds. The guy was super nice, he got on his tractor and went to get the pallets while the other guy talked to us. Then a Mustang convertible came speeding into the driveway, blonde lady with the wind in her hair. A few minutes later, she came out with an old dog named Sonny, a limping old thing, so sweet and friendly. She said she had to leash him so he didn't eat the baby chicks. This whole thing felt like we were in a book, but a really interesting one. There was a teenaged daughter, who helped strap those pallets on to the truck. There was the awkward moment when the one guy asked Evelyn why she was back from California, and we were like, "What?!" Her phone number is from there, because she lived there for a few months a few years back, when she got her phone. oh. okay. not totally creepy then. Then the guy who was talking to us, who so obviously liked Evelyn, told her, "Well, when you get home, your boyfriend will have to help you with those straps." Well, she said, someone will. She has no boyfriend, but she wasn't going to announce that. The whole thing was quite entertaining. They were such nice people, so helpful, we were only paying a dollar each for the pallets, we tipped them.

So only Paul and I, Ashley and little Anya and Elise, and Margaret and little Wulf will be heading to the Adirondacks tomorrow. We'll have a quiet evening, then Ben and Abigail will join on Sunday. Monday, when the church camp ends, six more will join...then on Wednesday, Emily and Mariel will bring Lydia up. Molly might come up for a night if she can manage, she is working a lot next week.

So here's the truth, I am not a good meal planner! I can only plan for a few days at a time! I only have to do the first three nights of dinner, the rest of the meals the other kids are bringing. :)

So yeah, I'm leaving here soon to grill burgers and serve a nice outdoor dinner to lots and lots of kids...they're getting pizza as a snack in the evening, lucky kids. And goodbye to you, and to my comfy chair...I'll prob bring my computer to the cabin, so I'll blog a bit next week!

out and about all by my lonesome...

We're leaving for the cabin on Saturday, so I thought I'd get my shopping done this morning after dropping Jonathan off at work. He actually dropped himself off, then I got out and drove, because he's all about driving these days.

Price Chopper has London Broil for $2.49 a pound this week. That's cheaper than I've been paying for burger! I also got some pork chops for $1.89 a pound. The pork for the pulled pork was pricier, but I didn't feel like going to a third store. The snack table is coming along quite well:


I rather enjoy shopping by myself. I find myself apologizing to thin air, saying that I'll hurry, but have to just look at one thing in this aisle. I did make a friend in Price Chopper by cluing her in that I had asked the meat dept. guy if there was any of the $2.49 meat left, and he said he'd bring some right out. This lady was putting some of the higher priced stuff in a plastic bag, after looking around...so I figured she was looking for the sale stuff, and she was so thankful I had let her know! We got to chat while we waited for the meat dept. guy, it's hard to talk in masks, but we managed.

I also made a friend in Aldi, she was taking forever and a day looking at the steak while I hummed and zoned out behind her, she turned around, saw me, jumped a bit, and said, "Why didn't you say something, waiting for so long, I was just taking my sweet time..." I told her that I'm actually not in one bit of a hurry, and I sounded just like Chris Trager from Parks and Rec. Anyway, we chatted a bit too, she was so nice. Her mask was totally underneath her nose, and I loved her for that.

Home, ah home. I cleaned the floors, did some laundry, went swimming, oh dear is the pool nice today! Paul successfully repaired the leak, yay!!! I just LOVE the pool, I really really do.

Some of my kids (Emily, Abigail, Benjamin, Mariel, Evelyn, Sonja, Jon, Char, and Camille) are doing something fun this weekend, but I'm not saying much about it. It's totally legal, and directly in conjunction with health department guidelines, but I still don't want to say much about it because you know, there might be a Karen lurking, who would want to cause trouble. The kids have been busy preparing for it, and I'm helping tonight and tomorrow with it. :)

When at the register today in the store, I did issue a disclaimer to the cashier about the sheer volume of food (so much meat!) I put up there on that conveyor belt, I told her that I have 16 kids and at least 11 of them will be at a cabin next week...I didn't mention it will include 2 or 3 spouses, and 3 or 5 grandchildren...(Molly has to work, but might come up for one night!).

I'm also leaving some good stuff here for Joseph and Bethany, who are staying here to watch our doggies and keep up with the pool.

I am only doing three meals, dinner on Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
Saturday, there will only be a few of us there, we're having the London Broil, baked potatoes, and salad.
Sunday: a few more people there, grilled lemon-garlic pork chops, applesauce, thin green beans
Monday: pulled pork, homemade macaroni and cheese.

I'm also bringing some eggs and bacon, lots of snacks, English muffins...but the other kids will take care of the other meals.

Anyway. Summer is so nice. I am blogging in my bathing suit, bare feet of course, going to take another dip in the pool, then maybe grill some burgers...in my bathing suit...love it.

rain rain don't go away...

The forecast rain is fine, we need it here in central New York state. But the Adirondack trip weather is supposed to be too rainy, and a bit chilly, too! We were really really hoping for hot weather, to roast in the sun out on the dock, jumping in to cool off. We have rented this beautiful cabin in the past, but always in June. We thought the end of July, it would be warmer, but not according to the forecast. The good thing is that we'll still jump in and swim, rain or not. Also, we are pretty much all going to make the most of it, and enjoy ourselves no matter the weather.

This cabin is RIGHT on the water, with a nice big dock. We drag all the chairs out there, although the girls will just lie on their towels. You can fish off this dock, too. One year Aaron caught the biggest fish of the entire week, right from the dock. With no boat to use this year, we might just be doing that more, although we are looking into renting one for at least a day.

Anyway, the cabin is very nice. There are two full sized refrigerators, and three bathrooms. There's one bedroom downstairs, and three upstairs, one of them is huge-0, like a dorm room with a few double beds, some bunk beds, and a few single beds. There's also a little tiny cabin out back for extra sleeping room if needed. The living area has a fireplace and a woodburning stove, and there's a screened in porch. That porch is one of the best places in this world. If you get up early and bring your coffee out there, you can listen to the loons and just gaze out at the water. It'll wash your cares away for sure.

Today, I have a project, it's called Cleaning Out The Freezer, and not even the downstairs deep freeze, just the refrigerator one. The refrigerator too, actually. I do not like these projects, who does? But when it's finished, and things are more organized, well, who doesn't like opening an organized freezer?

Molly visited with little Miss Lydia and baby Ophelia Rose yesterday. Lydia played play dough, and with "the little things", Calico Critters and such, then wanted to go out front to the tree swing. It was a very lovely visit. I rocked baby to sleep, which is one of my favorite things to do.

Ah well...I have things to do.

a rush of joy...

Let's face it, it's fun to get something new and shiny. Especially when you rarely do. If I got a new car every week, I'd not feel so invigorated, nor delight in just the leather-ness of the seats. I wouldn't squeal over the push button opening tailgate, or the seats the flip forward to install car seats. Mmmm hmmm, it's nice.

I also understand that the flesh is never satisfied, and if one feeds it relentlessly, one will never be happy. Case in point: rich people, like celebrities. They have more and more and more, and then take drugs and get remarried and cheat and and and, are never happy. Well, maybe they are, but it takes more and more to fulfill those original lusts. Like when I was a kid, we were kind of poor, so a new pair of shoes was a huge deal. We appreciated EVERYTHING.

I like to take time and consciously appreciate things. To be thankful for what we have instead of wanting what someone else has, or always wanting newer and nicer, brings happiness. But ha, when something new and shiny DOES come, oh boy, I do like it.

Sharing is also good. Miss Sonja K. was going out to church last evening with the girls, to do some cleaning for the upcoming church camp, and yeah, I let her drive the new car. It was hard, but she's 18, had her license since last December, and is a decent driver.

I'm driving Jonathan, newly permitted driver, to work this morning, as I do every day, and guess what? Yeah, he gets to share the joy too. I haven't told him yet that he gets to drive, he'll be pretty happy. I'll be there to nag and scold, I mean to TEACH, ha.

Ah well. We took the new car to Target yesterday afternoon, Abigail, Sonja, Jon, Char, Cam, and I. We got McDonald's for dinner, because they had to places to go and things to do. It's a bit cramped in the back, the third row seats, but it's such a nice car.

Now, off to drive Jon to work...and then Sonja and I are going to Lowe's to get some palm trees...

some new things...

We are getting a new (new to us, anyway!) vehicle! Now you know how much I love our minivan, despite it's troubles, but it's getting on in age, 2008, almost 160 thousand miles, and well, we drive a lot! So...a 2019 Mitsubishi is coming our way. We bought it online without test driving it, can you believe it? Life is strange these days, with no-contact solutions to mitigate spread of certain viruses. To be fair, there have been these ways of vehicle commerce for a while now, before Covid, but it just makes more sense now. When you express buy, you do not get the pleasure of throwing out low ball offers and going back and forth while the salesperson pretends to run it by his boss. You just click "buy this vehicle", and pay for it. Maybe I'm wrong, and lots of other people have given lower offers and gotten better deals! But you know me, I googled the heck out of local prices and this was a good deal. It has only 7 thousand miles on it. It has leather seats and lots of bells and whistles, 4-wheel drive, and woo-hoo, third row seating, where some lucky kids get to smush in, so it seats seven. Of course a new minivan would have been nice, but with the snowy winters we get, 4 wheel drive will be sweet, and most minivans are front wheel drive, except for the Toyota Sienna, it's AWD. But too pricey.

We'll probably pick it up today, so magical. Back in the day, you had to go to motor vehicles yourself, now you just pay and they do it all, add it to the insurance and everything.

Yesterday, Abigail and I went on a little adventure to buy two balance bikes on Facebook Marketplace. They were two for $35. I looked them up, and wow, new they are pricey. Wulf is a bit too small for them now, but he's growing fast!


And new: our pool has a hole in the liner! I had suspected, the water level goes down more quickly than just evaporation, and sure enough, I found a gash where the old ladder had been. dang it. We're going to get a few pairs of good goggles, so Paul and maybe Jonathan can go down there and fix it up. I feel like I love the pool too much, and sort of knew something like this would happen. I just hope we can repair it...

Also new: Sam and Grace and little Grant left, it's so quiet here. He's such a joy, always so happy, wakes up in the morning all spunky and interested in everything...they're back in Virginia.

He helped me make popcorn...oooh, stovetop popcorn in coconut oil, with butter and salt...

Emily and Margaret with Wulf, and Evelyn came for dinner last night. We had hot sausages and burgers grilled by Paul, sweet corn, salad, watermelon and sweet cherries. Then, a dip in the pool. Adrian and Jonathan came home from a friend's house and joined us.

Our week at camp in the Adirondacks is coming up, yay! We can't use the boat this year, sadly. It was Paul's dad's boat, and now it belongs to his brother, and well, his brother happens to be planning to use it while we would like it for the cabin. We do have kayaks, and the camp is equipped with a canoe and a rowboat. Adrian is trying to borrow a boat from a friend, however...so we'll see. (I would definitely pay the friend). Or, we can rent one for a few days.

First world probs, even though you can't say that anymore, because it's a direct connotation that there are indeed Third World countries, which is now an insult.

Oh well. It's a glorious summer day, and there is much to do...