Unrequited Pecan Pie

My life caught up with me.

There's been a standing offer for a prize for the person who found the source of a "locker room" smell in my house this week. I cleaned, I searched, I concluded it must be the dampness or the wet kitchen towels that had to wait too long to be washed. On Friday, I took to the basement to look for the booster seat Colby needs that I must have sold in a yard sale and found the problem.

The ancient upright deep freeze door had been open for twelve days. Twelve. Days. Ick.

While trying to get out of the house with my brood to head to a get-together at my aunt Shel's, I had asked Max to go in the basement to get a pecan pie out of the freezer. Lily raced ahead and got it herself, with a mad Max trailing and Colby bringing up the rear. In the end, two boys were crying, a girl victorious, and, unbeknownst to all of us, the freezer door had not been shut properly in the fray. (And we didn't even end up needing the pecan pie, so it was all for naught.)

This is where I thank God for my husband, who took care of the entire problem with no assistance from his raw-meat-hating wife. Thank. You. Shrek. I love him for being strong enough to take care of the deer meat, the corn, the things he found that he said must have been in there for the entire eight years or so of our deep freeze ownership. That's all I'm going to say about that.

But I think my thaw came with the deep freeze thaw as well. I'm feeling more human these days. The pall has lifted yet again. I have had an insanely busy weekend, and the next three weeks are nothing but go time.

My plan is to keep my head up, keep my heart in it and get through it. I'm going to pause when I can for hot tea, fall candles, moments of clarity and the people who make my life an incredible, blessed journey.

And I'm going to keep a better eye on not only the open doors in front of me, but the ones that should be closed as well.

Right Where I Need to Be

Ahhh, life. I'm happy, busy, stressed, tired, loved and blessed... usually all at once. I am holding on to my reasons, my job, my blog, my dreams. I trust that I am exactly where I need to be.

Where I needed to be this past weekend was Lake Tweet. And the Waterford Fair. And, on Friday, saying goodbye to a cousin gone too soon.

Summer is ending. This weekend marks the back-to-school part of our annual happenings. I'm ready. It was a good summer, but I'm always happy to welcome fall. We still camp, we still have those rare days when we're all in the house, bored with each other or ready to pull our hair out with the housework. Those things are part of my summer too, and part of my life. And I'll still do these things, no matter the season.

Fall brings cooler temps, crisp air, the apple and leaves scents I love. The mums, the Octoberfest, Halloween, the celebration of the birth of my first babe, Thanksgiving. Yes. I will admit it, as if it isn't already known: I'm in love with fall. With the feeling of promise that "back-to-school" brings and the anticipation of the winter holidays.

It will all be here soon enough. But tonight, let's take another look at summer. All photos from Lake Tweet!




Stay tuned, as I'm scheming and planning for tomorrow night's second annual "Back-to-School Feast" and hoping to pull off another sweet sendoff for the kiddos.

Now, I need to get where I need to be: in my bed with my hubby with all my chicks safely sleeping in our nest.

These are My People

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."
- Jane Howard

Well, I can't believe it, but I don't have a group photo of my family women this past weekend. I'll have to add one when I get one from my aunt. We had a fabulous getaway. I'll share some of the photos I do have, which prove that we ate well, laughed often and made time for each other. Make no mistake: I love these women, and they have helped to shape me in so many ways.

I am going to take the easy way out and just post some photos of the trip. My bed is calling my name, and it sounds so sweet.


Cousins are like Bras…close to the heart and there for support.
- Anonymous



If you swear at your friends; you get in a fight,
If you swear at your sibling; you get in trouble,
If you swear at your cousin; You guys laugh and get over it.
- Anonymous



Cousins are the sisters God forgot to give us.
- Anonymous

It is difficult to imagine anything more nourishing to the soul than family life.
- Sir Thomas More

Living My Real Life

For starters, I can't believe how much laundry this family makes! I've spent the better part of two days hauling, washing, drying, folding and putting away about 10 loads of laundry. Hmm, another baby into the mix? No problem!

While I fold and carry and trip over random toys, my boys have been playing together well. There are more wheeled vehicles and toys in my house than I can count. Lately, Max has taken to giving Colby what Max calls "field trips." Check it out.




Basically, Max picks a vehicle and rigs up whatever kind of trailer he can think of to pull Colby around the house. Sometimes, it's a bottomless tent and Colby actually crawls behind him, inside the tent, Flintstone-style. Boys are hilarious!

I just can't tell what Max is going to be. He loves Monster Trucks, trailers, tractors and the Power Rangers, but, also, he's a bit of a pastry chef. He adores baking. He's quite the master with the KitchenAid mixer. This morning, at his insistence, we had banana bread out of the oven by 8:30 and a double batch of sugar cookie dough whipped up and in the freezer for later by 9.

I've had a busy couple of days, and I'll soon be off to a Girls' Weekend with my mom, sis, aunts and cousins. I can't wait to relax and reconnect with these amazing women!

So, tonight, a bit of a random post. But I'm living the real life, the one where you want to lock your husband out of the house when he gets home from work in dirty clothes because you have--finally--rid your house of every single dirty piece of laundry and, just for awhile, you want to keep it that way. I'm living the life where one second I'm hearing "Mommy, you're my best friend" and, not five minutes later, from the same kid, "You ruined my life!" after I've refused bubble gum for the 50th time in one day. I'm living the life where I'm looking around the homestead, so proud of the house we've built and missing my husband who has been busy and away a lot this week, but knowing that we'll have the rest of our lives to hang out and that this weekend is for me and the women, the glue, of my family.

So long for now. I've got some living to do. But I'll be back to tell you all about it.

Warning: Big Weekend Ahead

Colby passed out in a precarious position on the loveseat after a long morning of yard sales and cleaning the house. Meanwhile, the other two kids were proud to show off their yard sale finds....


We've got a very special friend campfire to enjoy tonight, a wedding that will be gorgeous, fun and kid-free tomorrow and two family meetings to attend on Sunday. (One on my side of the family, one on Shrek's.) These meetings will pack a wallop on a Sunday, but I am confident that, through the grace of God and the meek following of humankind, these meetings will bring about peace, and not just change and heartache.

So. It appears this tired momma is missing naptime again.

Gotta go. May peace be the centerpiece of my weekend and yours.