Pumpkins, Halloween, Charity and Waiting to Adopt

It’s October and that means a whole bunch of different things to me.  It means everywhere I go is all pumpkins, hay stacks and apples. Its young kids talking about the perfect costumes while shopping with their parents.  It also means isles full of bagged Halloween candy, costumes, and trick or treat buckets shaped like Hello Kitty, ghosts, or Batman. Its texts with pictures of my best friend dressed as the wicked witch in some form at someone’s Halloween party (we don’t live in the same state).

It used to mean trips to the pumpkin patch but without kids to enjoy the hayrides with or watch the immense joy at picking out their perfect pumpkin and watching them feed the animals in the petting zoo; it’s too expensive to go since they charge $15 a person to even walk into the patch now so I buy our pumpkins in the store or farmer's market.

It’s the time when everything pumpkin spice is released, which frankly is out of control. . I admit I love to make pumpkin bread from scratch as well as apple butter and a nice curry pumpkin soup.   I love pumpkin spice lattes and most things pumpkin but I certainly don’t want or need pumpkin spice Oreos or M&M’s. I saw this video posted to a friend’s wall and its perfect (warning not safe for work or kids due to brief language).

October also has National Chocolate day on the 28^th so what can be a better way to celebrate our “go live” date. That’s the day we officially went into circulation meaning our letters and link to our online profile would go out to expecting parents thinking about adoption.

October also means it’s another year waiting to adopt.  Which starts me thinking how much longer will I put us through the emotional meat grinder.  I know in my heart the answer but with each passing year it gets harder to wait.

October also means another trip to Ghana for Don. This year the charity is building a playground for the school and is focused on the kindergarten class.  We’ve had friends and my cousin generously donate puzzles, harmonicas, and Beanie Babies so far.  The lady at the coffee shop has younger kids so she thinks she has some books they’ve out grown to donate and I’ve picked up dice and wood building blocks so far.  I’ll be hitting up Good Will too to see if they’ve got books and games I can send over.

 Last year's Team in Ghana in front of the newly finished school

Don teaching his class about computers last year

This October also means our basement remodel will be completed and I’m super excited.  Our cabinets were installed yesterday so we are inching closer and closer to being done. Then we can start shopping for new furniture and relocate our living room into the new space. With this remodel it opens up a large section to be a great play area for our future little one to play in.

October means that Football season is in full swing and Baseball season is coming to a close.

Us on Sunday at the Seahawks first home game

What does October mean to you this year?

Photographic year in review

It’s officially our one year anniversary for the adoption “Live” date. 

Here is a picture review of how we've spent that year. You'll notice I'm usually behind the camera and didn't include all the gardening, pumpkin picking, and pet photos. 

October 28, 2013

 Iheart page

November 2013

Driving to CA to see family

December

 Date night

 

our nephew at our place for Christmas

January 2014

Our Maui trip

February

Superbowl

March

Playing games

April

 Volunteering

 Painting

Our 18th wedding anniversary

May

grandpa's 91st birthday

Don's birthday

June

 Las Vegas trip

 my birthday

family time

Seeing friends and family in Dallas and Brady

July

 redid the front deck

BBQ and movies with friends

 Swimming at the lake

4th of July

August

Dragon Con in Atlanta with friends

Finished the upper patio and walkway

September

The guys out salmon fishing

Happy dogs

October

baking bread

Ghana trip to build schools

Prepping for Ghana

Don is going to Ghana again this year with some of his co-workers and the charity Adanu. They build sanitation facilities and Schools for the local Villages.  He went last year and loved every minute of it. I love his enthusiasm about going and helping this Charity. We believe in the work they do and I’m glad Don can be a part of it.

Last year they stayed in town but this year they will be staying in the village. Don is excited about that. He enjoyed the town last year but not the long bumpy drive every morning and evening getting from the inn to the village and back.

Team arrival

This was the good part of the road

They don’t just build but get a few side trips while there as well.  They went to the Monkey Sanctuary, Water Falls, The market place in Accra, and the beach last year.  I think they are only going to the Market and Monkey Sanctuary this time.  Don said he wants to take video of the monkeys this year.  They are so quick to grab the bananas from you and run.

The prep this year has been a lot easier than last year and we've gotten some great deals on things to donate.  We found 192 notebooks for .22 cents each.  That was the best deal of the day I think. We also found boxes of 48 crayons for .45 cents a box so we bought every box they had.  These are going to be great for the schools and the kids. I just bought Soccer ball pumps and needles today so once they get to the Charity headquarters they can begin pumping up the soccer balls they are taking. Don is also taking 400 dice to donate and teach the kids and adults some dice games similar to Yahtzee.  The dice can also serve as a math teaching tool for the younger children. The balloons they took last year were a huge hit with the kids but they don’t last, so Don thought the dice would be a great alternative.

  

Carrying bricks 

Last year's team 

I know they plan to visit schools from previous villages they've gone to so I'll be excited to see how it's going and if the kids remember them.  Above Don is in the classroom teaching the kids how to play hangman. Last year we made and donated a bunch of Science project books to the teachers and other team members made books for Math, English, etc. I hope they're well used. The teachers were super excited to have new creative ideas for teaching the kids in fun and interesting ways. 

While we have bags upon bags and boxes all over right now, the prep is pretty much done for this year.  Don is going to check one more store for additional classroom supplies and pick up what he can then the fun begins, the packing of the bags.

If you'd like to know more about Adanu and what they do please click the link to visit the website.

Baking, Cooking, Cooking, Baking I'm in Love!

 

I have always loved cooking, started making scrambled eggs at age 2 and moving up to grilled cheese and many other things by age 4. I began making cookies and candy with my mom and aunts for holidays around then as well, a tradition I hope to pass on to our little one.  Outside baking I never really used cookbooks to cook.  I'd just see what was on hand and throw something together.  Some of our favorite meals came about that way.

 I bought my first cookbook when Don and I started dating and boy was it a horrible one.  We still laugh about one meal I made exactly as the book said and it was hideous! That book went bye-bye but thankfully I didn't stop there and have many books now from vegetarian meals and ethnic cuisines to basic all encompassing books to baking.  I even gathered yummy recipes from the internet, long before Pinterest was around but they've made it easier to find way too many things to try.

My favorite time of year has arrived and the baking and making of good comfort food has begun.  I enjoy cooking anyway but I rarely bake unless the holidays are upon us or we can get fresh pumpkins.  I steamed some pumpkins and made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting yesterday and in the oven now is pumpkin bread.  I’m keeping a loaf and taking the other plus the cake to my grandparents.

I also made lasagna yesterday to take to my grandparent's tomorrow. Grandma was super-excited to hear all the goodies I would be bringing down for them.  Her response is why I love to cook.  It makes my heart smile when people enjoy my food or shared recipes.  I can't wait to share my Love of cooking and baking with our son or daughter. I can only hope they'll love it half as much as I do.

Don's experiment and the dog who ate a shoe!

Today was a good day of running errands, stopping in to see my favorite waitress I haven't seen all summer and cleaning.  Then Don calls and wants to make Sriracha from scratch.  Well OK I get everything we have at home out for him while he grabs the peppers and sugar from the store before heading home from work. Everything looks good and as it ferments over the next 7 days it's like a little experiment.

 Our mix   

Like I've said before Don likes Hot, spicy food, sauces, etc.  He puts rooster sauce on darn near everything.  I'm sure it'll be good but we will find out in 7 days once he cooks it, strains it and tries it.

The more interesting thing is the dog who ate a shoe.  *SIGH* So back in July for some totally strange reason Tucker ate the side of my shoe.  Now my dogs aren't usually like that.  They tend to stick to their toys or bones.  Every now and again they get into something they shouldn't but this was beyond me.  I had just taken it off.  Well I bought a new pair of shoes. Fast forward to tonight and BAM! I hear a clink, clink of a dog tag and Parker isn't on his spot (he has a pillow on the couch) so I go find him in the bedroom eating the inner sole of my new shoe. GRRRR! Thankfully I caught him before he ate the shoe but good grief.  Why are my 8 year old dogs suddenly into eating my shoes? Of course I'll never know but it isn't how I wanted to end what was otherwise a pleasant day. So looks like I'm shopping at the outlet mall for shoes tomorrow because I don't know if inserts will work in half eaten Toms. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Family and pumpkins

My Uncle is coming up from California to visit soon and I really want to share some pumpkin recipes while they are in town.  So I went and got some pumpkins to cook and plan to make some homemade pumpkin bread, some Curry Pumpkin soup and a handmade pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.  My grandparents house is where we all meet up together and play games, eat, and enjoy each others company.  We always look forward to it.

I'll also be bringing my mom and grandparents some of the homemade apple butter I made. My love of canning comes from my grandma so I like to show what a good job she did teaching me as I grew up and all the canning books, recipes, and jars have gone to good use.

As Fall tries to approach

It's been unseasonably warm for this time of year but Fall is just around the corner. The leaves have been falling for a couple weeks now but you'd never know it from looking at the trees. That means an almost winter leaf clean-up.
It's also time to dig up the Iris, divide them and get them replanted.

One of the many types of Iris in the yard

I also need to start pulling out the vegetable garden.  I'm hoping our eggplant and tomatoes make it another couple weeks but that'll depend on the weather forecasts. The pumpkins are still growing and I can't wait for them to ripen so I can make fresh pumpkin bread and curried pumpkin soup. Two of our fall favorites. The dogs also eat pumpkin with their dinner every night so they benefit from our garden too. I can't wait to share my love of gardening with our child.  It'll be so much fun to watch them plant their first garden with me.

One of the heirloom sugar pie pumpkins 

 A few of our ripe heirloom tomatoes and a wee eggplant emerging.