Chitter Chatter Summer Edition - 2022

[Ryrin]

My husband and a friend of ours went to the farmer’s market, came home and canned pickles and okra. We bought some of our own canning equipment! I really want to can smokey ketchup. Next year we will have our own garden. 
 

Any plans for Father’s Day? 

[LadyWordsmith]

Yay canning! Smokey ketchup sounds tasty. 

Well, we were in Virginia at my husband's family's house on Father's Day, so my mother-in-law made sure to schedule that as the big family get together day. We grilled and got to hang out with folks we haven't seen in a few years. 

We are now home from our two-week family trip (as of last night), and today we brought home our new puppy. Who so far has shared friendly sniffs with our older dog, and mostly ignored the cats, and has tried napping in about twenty different places on the floor so far in the kitchen and living area. 

[LilyElizabeth]

Yay for new puppy!

[LadyWordsmith]

I hope everyone is having a good July. We spent most of the holiday weekend with the puppy. Though we did invite friends over on the 4th to hang out with us. My life is now all about the furry toddler (house training and teaching him not to chew on ALL the things, and just his toys). 😉

The weather here is atrociously hot. It was 106 yesterday. I am hoping that we get the predicted rain this evening. It's a fight to keep my plants happy and alive right now. The dogs have decided that all wrestling and playtime will happen indoors and will only step out long enough to do their business and return to the back door. 

[Ryrin]

It’s been about 105 here. I’m having surgery again. Part of the repair is pushing against the tissue so a small part of the incision won’t heal. 😬

[LilyElizabeth]

Today is supposed to be 114 here. That's extreme, even for me. 

[JamesDavey]

On 7/8/2022 at 11:20 PM, LadyWordsmith said:

I hope everyone is having a good July. We spent most of the holiday weekend with the puppy. Though we did invite friends over on the 4th to hang out with us. My life is now all about the furry toddler (house training and teaching him not to chew on ALL the things, and just his toys). 😉

The weather here is atrociously hot. It was 106 yesterday. I am hoping that we get the predicted rain this evening. It's a fight to keep my plants happy and alive right now. The dogs have decided that all wrestling and playtime will happen indoors and will only step out long enough to do their business and return to the back door. 

Hi, I love puppies a lot. Can I see pictures of your puppy. Please :)

[LadyWordsmith]

Ugh! It seems like it's 'too hot' just about everywhere. 

I hope the surgery fixed things, Ryrin! 

I've spent most of this week on house organization projects that I want to try and get done before I go back to work for fall semester in two weeks. This week was 'sorting old boxes of papers' so I can put the things we need to keep into the filing cabinet I picked up, and shred/toss the rest. 

[Ryrin]

I’ve been organizing too. I’m having my 2nd surgery on 7/20. 
 

I just looked at my “files” in a box and wanted to cry. Lol. You go back to work in 2 weeks? 

[LadyWordsmith]

Yep, I go back August 1st. We have three weeks after that before the students start classes though, thankfully. But we have in-person teacher meetings, curriculum discussions and planning time, set-up and getting everything ready, and doing any professional development trainings we need to get done, all that stuff comes up before the first day of class. 🙂 

So since most of June went to preparing for and going on our family vacation, any non-work related projects that are time consuming that I want to get done around the house pretty much need to happen in the next two weeks. I have sorted through and gotten rid of stuff out of 'so many' more boxes this week! 

[LilyElizabeth]

Hi James! Welcome to the Kin. 

 

Lady and Ryrin, I admire you for getting that sorting done. I need to work on some boxes that I have never unpacked and either unpack or get rid of the stuff. That's what I should be doing with my summer break from school. 

[LilyElizabeth]

Well, I did unpack two boxes the other day, so that's something. 

 

I think I must be certifiable! I am going camping Sunday and Monday and it is supposed to rain a little. Did I mention we are going tent camping? Pray for me, please. I'm going with my new boyfriend, and he is a man I can completely trust to behave himself while sharing a tent. I meant to buy a two-room tent, but I bought it on Amazon and misread it, I guess. It was his idea to hang a sheet in the middle. I'll let you all know how it goes. 

 

[LadyWordsmith]

Have a good camping trip! I hope it's cooler where you are than it is here. 

We've used sheets as dividers in tents before. They work well. 🙂I look forward to hearing all about it! 

 

Started back at work this week with two days of in-service for faculty. Had a great time, and looking forward to jumping into the new school year. Today was a busy day of getting through trainings mostly and getting several other action items I put on my list from the meetings taken care of. 

 

 

[LilyElizabeth]

I live near Phoenix, and where we are going (Colorado river) is actually a few degrees hotter than here. That's a concern, along with the potential for rain, which is really low, but still there. 

 

I'll tell you about it when I get home. 

 

I'm planning to tell him I love him for the first time while we're there. 

[Ryrin]

So how did that go, Lily?

 

On Monday my 2nd set of stitches will come out and hopefully I’ll be able to walk again in the boot. This has gone on way too long. 

[LilyElizabeth]

It went really well. His smile lit up the sky!

 

The trip had it's difficult moments, though. I got overheated trying to set up camp, and he made me sit down in the shade. I finally got over it when I put on my swimsuit and got in the shower. Wearing the wet swimsuit kept me cool. Sleeping in the heat was really hard, too. But other than those things, the trip was wonderful!

[LadyWordsmith]

Hooray Lily! I'm glad it went well. 

Hot camping is probably my least favorite. (Though 'below freezing even during the day' may tie that. Not a fan of it either). I'm glad you were able to cool off, stay safe, and enjoy the trip! 
*****

That's great news, Ryrin! I hope you'll be able to walk again. Good luck tomorrow. 

*****
School officially starts for us tomorrow, so I get to have my first day teaching Twelfth grade instead of Eleventh. Though it means I have almost entirely the same students as last year (minus any doing Concurrent college classes, and plus a handful of new seniors I saw on my roster who transferred in). It's the start of my son's Senior year of HS, too. 

This weekend was exciting. On Friday we had my son's first College Tour and Interview! We looked at a small private college that's local to us that has a Nationally ranked Game Design and Animation program (which is his primary interest). It was everything we were hoping it would be, so right now it's the top of his list, and they really seemed to like him as well. He's got competitive grades and test scores, and they have a fairly high acceptance rate (I think just because people don't bother to apply unless they're really serious, so their application rates are smaller. It's a small school. Only about 3,000 students even with the Graduate programs). Which is honestly perfect for my introvert child. I'm just glad he liked it enough to be willing to consider doing in-person college. He really has loved doing Online the past 7 years, and there are online programs for what he wants to do. But I'd rather he got more real world person experience outside of our social circles and hobbies. 

Then Saturday was my "Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything" Birthday party. Normally I just have a nice dinner with my son and my husband and call it good. This year, given the fun theme options for the number, I decided I wanted to have a bunch of friends over. My husband grilled salmon, tuna steaks (so folks could say 'so long, and thanks for all the fish!'), pork ribs, and chicken, and we had a bunch of my favorite foods (my Mom's artichoke dip, polish cucumber salad) and some friends brought sides. 

My new favorite cake creation was I made a raspberry rum cake, with mascarpone buttercream icing (personal experiment, the rum was baked into the bread). I will definitely have to make it again! Though it's all gone now. 

[Ryrin]

Lily, it’s hard to camp in the heat. I did it once with the SCA and spent most of my time in the shower trucks having cold showers! 
 

Lady, it sounds so fun! Great food! I started a small game group and book club. I’m having fun with that.

 

My stitches look good. I’ll let everyone know. 

[LilyElizabeth]

I forgot to share pics! That's the London Bridge in the last photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lady, your birthday sounds like it was fun!

 

Ryrin, I'll be praying that they get you into a boot so you can walk again!

 

 

 

 

[LadyWordsmith]

What great views, Lily! You both look so happy. 🙂❤️

 

Your group sounds awesome, Ryrin! What are you all reading? 

We made it through the super-busy part of August. My son turned 17, and my husband and I celebrated our 21st Anniversary (they are two days apart so Labor Day weekend time frame is always busy!).  

Teaching has been awesome so far this year. We had a good time with Beowulf, and I've just introduced the Canterbury Tales. (I showed my son 'A Knight's Tale' because Paul Bettany's portrayal of Chaucer is one of my favorite things ever. Of course my son knows him best as Jarvis/Vision in the Marvel Movies). 

I have also been offered the opportunity to design a Creative Writing course for our school! Which I would then get to be the primary teacher for. 🙂 I'm incredibly excited even though that's going to mean a lot of work to get it put together so they can program it into a course (since we're an online school, and all of our curriculum is programmed into the system). 

 

 

[LilyElizabeth]

Happy Anniversary, Lady and Mr. Lady.

 

That creative writing course sounds fun! Keep us posted. 

[Ryrin]

Happy Anniversary! The Creative writing class sounds like fun! Right now we are reading :

 

Breath

Less

 

By Amy McCullouch

 

It’s a thriller! 
 

 

[LilyElizabeth]

I'm involved with a book club reading Christian books. We're on our second one at the moment. It's a new group. It's gotten me reading again, so that's good.