cheerios and chickens

Hello, hello!
Lots of stories to tell.
Yes, we are still successfully grocery striking..(going on vacation for a whole week really helps!!)

1. Finished my summer coursework on August 6th!! Yay!! 14 hours of all Reading Methods.
Ask me anything about phonics, or helping to teach reading to students with disabilities.. I DARE you. I am quite relieved for this summer to be over. I worked my ass off.

2. Took a 3 day vacation...just the 2 of us.
Complete bliss. Went shopping at some outlet malls, gambled a little bit, ate magnificent food, went swimming, and remembered what it is like to finish a sentence without some little short person cutting me off in mid-syllable. Also remembered that I really love my husband, and have a great time when we are alone for a little bit. Sigh... that was a really nice little trip.
But ALAS!! --all trips cannot happen without a little bit of drama. We had to help the vet put my in-law's dog Thor to sleep, and then bury him before we could leave that morning. If you know Thor, you know just how much we all miss him. (not really).He was the meanest, moodiest dog in the world. The world is a much safer place without him.

3. Took a 4 day family vacation... just the 5 of us. Mommy, Daddy, Grant, Stella, and the 3rd spouse, Uncle Jason.
We trekked to Pittsburgh where we stayed with Aunt Cindy and Uncle Brian. We had an amazing time with the kids.
We went to the Pittsburgh Aviary (Bird Zoo) and since my brother has Zoo friends everywhere, we were able to get in free, get a private behind the scenes tour, and even got to play with a flock of penguins. Seriously. We played with 5 penguins like you play with a litter of puppies. They were running around us, sitting on our laps, and just being goofy little penguins. At one point, I turned to my sister and said.. "Holy cow, we are literally sitting here petting penguins...this just doesn't happen everyday." We also saw almost extinct birds, rare birds, and the like. But of course, my son kept asking where the elephants were. You just can't please some kids.

We of course went to Ikea and stocked up on fun kitchen gadgets, and toys for the kids.

Also hit Pittsburgh's infamous "Strip" of ethnic markets. If you have never been.. it is fabulous. I could spend 2 days there. You can buy everything from a whole side of beef to gallons of olives.

Hit the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. Very fun! Saw the Clifford the Big Red Dog Exhibit.. (slightly a let down), and loved the Mr. Roger's neighborhood exhibit. Even got to sit on his swing and watch the trolley go by. I almost got emotional while in the exhibit.. didn't think I would cry over Mr. Rogers.. but I came da#n close.
Celebrated Aunt Cindy's 25th birthday ( I can't believe the baby is 25. I remember Mom telling us we were going to have a new sibling in August of 1982.)

We are getting better at long car rides. Not perfect.. but not so many meltdowns. Only 2 major ones that I can remember... and one of those was me.

4. Took my father in law to see the Ohio Roller Girls for his 63rd birthday. He LOVED it. Even wants season tickets! I am not kidding. He got all worked up and wanted to know all the rules and was yelling and screaming at the the race track. Joe and I just sat back and watched him.

5. Back to work at school for about 10 days now helping to open up a new school! My middle school has decided to open up an elementary school, and since I have elementary experience, guess who got moved down without her consent!! My position has changed. I am now teaching 2nd and 3rd grade math and science. I am excited to do something different, but I was hoping to not have to start over from scratch all over again this year. I will not miss the raging mood swings that middle school students have, and the lack of parental involvement was just downright scary. So instead.. .I will have very lovey, needy kids whose parents are in my face every day. You win some, you lose some.


6. Grocery Strike!
Really doing well. We are really getting creative with meals, and are finding out how much we really like cooking. We are running out of a lot of prepared boxed foods and are venturing into meals that take a while to prepare.We are also drinking a crapload of iced tea. We had 1 1/2 boxes of tea bags lurking in the back of the cupboard. Some recent favorites include pizza from absolute scratch with tomatoes and basil from our garden, and of course crab leg night. Yes, my adventurous husband purchased 2 lbs of crab legs months ago and forgot about them. I have even baked a cake for my father in law's 63rd birthday. Even more surprising, I iced it, let the kids decorate it, and wrote ~Papa~ in icing on top. I outdid myself to the hilt. Martha Stewart had better watch out.

Our latest guess is that we can make it to October 1st without going to the store. When we get down to just condiments in the fridge, we will consider this little project a success. We are having fun. My mother even lent me her bread machine so we can make bread. I have to admit I feel slightly Amish!!