liveforwater

Last night we had our final entry in the Meatloaf Sunday(Tuesday) hunt for the perfect meatloaf. To tell the truth, I was getting kind of sick of the whole thing. Two failures, one complete and utter, had pretty much done me in. Plus, at 2lbs of beef per attempt, it was getting kinda crazy. But at the final hour, GG gave me a recipe from my great, great Aunt Agnes and, being family, I decided to give it a try. THANK GOD!! It was as near perfect (once again, thanks to Donna's meatloaf pan) that I think I could ever hope to get. Anyone interested in the recipe had better get on the ball and ask me quick, because it just may just get filed under "secret". The major difference was the "cubed, soft bread" for which I used part of french loaf of sourdough. She also called for poultry seasoning. Who knew?

This weekend was a busy one. We started off with, of course, baseball. And this time, I had a camera!

The coach and his team (note the goofball at the end)

Ben fields one with Zack backing up

It was a crazy game with periods of sun and periods of torrential downpour that would send all the adults into the dugout and all fo the kids out into the field to see if it was hail or if it hurt to get hit by the rain....kids. We hope they are having fun, I know we, the adults are, even though we get to the end and are exhausted with trying to keep them somewhat interested in what is going on out in the field and somewhat organized. I have learned that I can NOT tolerate the sound of a metal bat being hit on the concrete floor of the dugout so have convinced the team that when they make that sound, they are playing with fire, I just may turn into the Hulk, or something equally as grumpy. They are starting to get the hang of my need for organization and I am starting to get the feel for their need to move around or else fall asleep. The last two innings of the game are always kid-pitch, which results in a lot of ball chasing by the pitcher and a lot of walks. I always hope that a kid is going to be over eager and swing at everything, thus striking out quickly. Alas, even these guys know that if it hits the ground five feet in front of you, it isn't worth swinging at.

Ben and Mac were with their dad and Nettie this weekend so we went home with only two kids, who, after playing for three hours on a wet play structure at the baseball field, only wanted to sit an vegetate in front of the Wii. So that left Jeff and I to piddle around ourselves, and as a result, I can't for the life of me remember what we did the rest of the night!

Sunday was a busy day. Starting with Dollars for Doughnuts at church, we were responsible for supplying a dozen doughnuts to be sold (for donations) to raise money for Race for the Cure. Our church has a team (of which we are members, so grab your wallets people) and along with doughnut sales, people have made baskets to be raffled off (one was nothing but M&Ms. LOTS of M&Ms) such as a ride in a restored Model T, or a three day stay at a vacation home on the Hood Canal (hmmm, I wonder who could be so generous). Well, I expected a sugar laced afternoon of misery with all those doughnuts floating around, but Jeff seemed to be the only one worse for wear, after, oh, 4 or 5....Silly Man.

Then it was quick back home to gather up all our garage sale donations (for a garage sale benefiting the same). This however, ended up being quite an ordeal for one of us. Thus resulting in a complete room overhaul with the help of two adults and LOTS and LOTS of trips to the garbage/recycle cans.

I have to say, however, that the end result was very nice (don't look at the bed, that was my fault, I had just collapsed from exhaustion on it).

But we weren't done there! Oh no! There were mowers to fix...

Which reminds me, I do remember what we did the rest of Saturday, Jeff spent the rest of the day performing feats of agility and mental logistics trying to repair a hose on the car, breaking it, then repairing the hose AND the car.

The ducks and kids and I worked in the yard. Picking up pinecones,

and weeding.

Lydia and I

were digging out the weeds between the sidewalk sections and JD was right there, grubbing along with us. A couple of times I had to be careful that I didn't poke her beak with the hoe and a few times she got my fingers, which were apparently in the way. Those ducks are nothing if not helpful. I have taken to having to mow with the broom in my hand to shoo them away from the front of the mower. I am not sure, but I think that maybe the vibrations of the mower set the worms to moving, and the only way to get those ducks out of the way is to PUSH them with the broom!

This, by the way...

is what happens when ducks attack. This is a hosta that is BEHIND a fence and SHOULD be quite large, lush and beautiful, like its sister in the front yard. Sigh. They figured out how to go around behind the garden shed, go under it to get to the hosta from behind the fence. Grrrrr.

The following is an essay that Noah wrote as school. I thought it was pretty clever. Of course, he has taken creative liberties, I can't remember the last time he had to empty the cat box....

Man, I can't wait to be 20. Right now, I'm stuck with changing the cat ox and emptying the trash. If only I could just speed up time.

I despise changing the cat box, because when I take the top off, I'm greeted by poo. First, I start to barf a little. Then I start to get dizzy. If I don't faint, I feel like I'm going to die. If I do faint, I hope I was leaning back. I'll never complain about bad breath again (or athlete's foot).

The final death wish is taking out the trash. I feel like someone or something is going to jump at me. Animals are coming for my brain!! They don't deserve me! They deserve my sister. Then all my problems are solved. Party time! I hope the animals are deaf.

Well, that's the two death jobs. If you mom or dad tells you to do one, show this paper to them.