Took the opportunity to play with GIMP a little today since Mom had the baby while Rosie and I had lunch (and she was keeping her until dinner). Thought I’d post and share…
(this is cropped for a 5x7)
Bye-bye summer…hello fall!
Well, it may not have been a warm summer (there was that one week…) and I guess it’s still here for another couple of weeks but for all intents and purposes, fall starts today. I think we made the most out of our last summer weekend; here’s a recap:
Friday 
Started the day off at the outlets in West Branch with Sandy and Keri. Fabulous sidewalk sales. It’s just crazy how cheap you can get stuff sometimes – it makes you wonder what their profit margin is on stuff normally! Of course, my favorite is the Carters store because you can take stuff back there FOREVER. So I like their clearance sales because I can stock up on stuff I might need this winter or spring or next summer and if I need it, great, I got it at a good price, and if I don’t need it, great, I just take it back! I’ve talked about it before but the system that works for me is writing the date on the hanger and then keeping the receipts in a separate envelope that way it will be easy to take things back and find the right receipt for the item.
The busy weekend continues because when I got back it was time to start getting everyone ready for Megan’s wedding. (btw Megs – loved the “When Hardy Married Hoover” line on the photo show at the reception) The weather was absolutely perfect for a wedding and the venue had a ton of awesome flowers. I think most married people think of their own weddings when they go to another and I always enjoy refreshing my own memories so that they don’t slip away. Ever notice that about memories, they stick around better if you refresh them every now and then…that’s why I sometimes let me mind wander from thought to thought and really try to pay attention to what it wanders to. Of course, after a while, I like to try to retrace my steps to figure out how I got to that thought. But I digress… Sophie was pretty good at the wedding and reception…no angel, but not bad for someone who hasn’t even finished 8 months of life yet. It sounds really crazy when I say it like that.
Saturday
Saturday should probably be considered the unofficial start of fall since Michigan opened up the season against Western. Ok, I admit it, I was dreading this a little. I didn’t know if I could take another fall where I was apathetic about Michigan football. I didn’t even care last year if I watched the games, that’s how bad it got. But I have hope this year. The offense isn’t completely offensive where was last year it was completely offensive (read the two meanings into that word and you’ll get what I’m saying). Seriously, last year I was the absolute biggest critic of the Spread Offense because it was ridiculously bad. I still prefer the Pro Set and it was just one game, but I have more hope than last year and it actually looks like an offense. Keep your fingers crossed…
We also got a chance to hang out on the Queen Bee on Saturday (Jamie and Keri’s boat). It was a fabulous day to be out on the lake – calm and sunny! We cruised around a little before heading out to the island and anchoring for a while. Everyone got in the water for a little Frisbee action. It wasn’t exactly a hot tub out there, but it wasn’t that bad. Brisk and refreshing were words that were often used. After leaving the island, Jamie wanted to take advantage of the situation and get in a little last season tubing. Good fun was had by all as we watched him bounce around behind the boat. Next year may be the year that we have a boat of our own – it’s tough being this close to the lake and not having one! When the day comes, I’ll through out a poll for boat names for everyone to weigh in. Feel free to leave ideas in the meantime (either ones that you think we could use or ones that you just think are funny). 
Sunday
Started the day off early with a little harvesting in the garden. Need to head back today and need to spend a day canning some stuff. Waited too long on the potatoes, some were giant and others actually fused together to form crazy giant Mr. Potato heads. Something is killing our plants right now, they’re getting brown spots and dying off. Not sure what it is (bug or disease) but it’s threatening to end our growing season quite soon. Second round of corn looks like it’s about ready. I think it will be hard to use this summer as a judge for next year’s garden just because it wasn’t really warm. Ever.
After gardening it was a quick nap for Sophie and then off to Ingrid’s for a cookout. The whole crew was there (except Connie and the kids…apparently the commute from Florida can be a pain…) and it was a nice day to just hang out. Sophie was pretty good for the day, especially since she really didn’t nap much before. Other than just kind of sitting there and chewing on things, she got a chance to show off her army crawl (can’t just throw any old toy out there for her to get, it has to be something she’s not supposed to have and then she’ll really move!)
After Tom went to the gym on Sunday we had a few people over (Jamie and Keri, Mike and Stephenie, and later on Dwayne and Marsha) for a little Apples to Apples action. It’s usually a funny game and it started out with giggles on the first card. Mostly it seemed like we were poking fun at Mike (Wow…wow… – …wow) and Tom (well, the Mississippi River thinks it’s the best river around). There were definitely a lot of laughs for that game – it was a great way to wind down the weekend.
Monday
…and that brings us to today. I think we’re heading back over to the garden to finish up some harvesting. Other than that, Rosie is coming up tonight with Cali to take her to the vet up in Tawas to get a tooth pulled (and a cleaning while she is under). It is ridiculous how much more expensive that stuff is in the city and opposed to up here. When Zeke needed his pulled (was it getting run over by a car or kicked by the horse that broke it…it’s hard to tell) the vet down in the city wanted to do a root canal. A root canal?? Are you serious!? He’s lived a pretty good life with one less tooth so I’m glad we just got it pulled. Tomorrow Sophie and I will hang out with Rosie for the afternoon and then it’s time to start waiting by the phone for someone to call for a sub. 6-12 Social Studies/History anyone? Anyone? no? ok then…maybe next time.
Oh, and for those of you keeping track, Sophie has 4 teeth now: her two bottom ones, her top right middle, and her side one that is just left of middle. Yes, she’ll look goofy if she starts getting them every other instead of symmetrical. She’s cruising through size 12 stuff (shirts anyway, the pants still can last longer, all of her length seems to be in her upper body) and is probably at the upper end of size 3 shoes. I have to actually start putting shoes on her now that the weather is cold.
