An Early Fall

We've been conditioned (brain-washed) into believing that Labor Day marks the complete end of summer.  For us, it certainly feels like we should be ushering in fall as school typically begins right after Labor Day and technically, summer break has ended.  But the summer weather is still very much alive in September.  Usually.  We had a good stretch of cooler weather roll through here shortly after school began and I was not ready for it.  It was hot again the next week because this is New England.  Perhaps the extremely chilly spring we had makes it feel like we didn't have enough summer weather because I am definitely not ready for what's coming our way.



Admittedly, I'm a bit of a grump when it comes to apple picking.  Perhaps because now that the girls are older, it takes approximately 15 minutes to pick a peck of apples.  And we don't need 50 apples so that's it.  (I know I can make apple sauce and apple butter and apple crisp and apple pie, but I don't want to.)





We apple pick every year with friends of ours.  At this point, it's been so many years, the girls view it as a must-do tradition.



The leaves of the trees in front of our house began to turn color at the very end of August.  I've been watching them change this past month.  The nights are cooler, jackets are needed in the morning.  The earth continues to revolve.  Life moves forward.  This month, I've wanted it to slow down.







I want to thank everyone who reached out to me with kind comments regarding my dad's condition.  And for all of you who have loved ones living with dementia/Alzheimer's, my heart goes out to you because it truly is devastating to witness.  My dad was moved to a rehabilitation center earlier in the week and is doing better.  The goal right now is to get him back on his feet so he can return home.

Life

My mind has been in a weird place this past month or so.  My dad is still in the hospital.  He has dementia, which we knew, but it has now been classified as a specific type of dementia.  There's some other stuff going on and really he's at one of the best hospitals in the country but as we all know, there's only so much doctors can do, especially when it comes to Alzheimer's and dementia patients.  What has been sad/scary/frustrating is his sudden decline and movement through the disease.  In the past six weeks, he has seemingly moved ahead in terms of years.

So obviously, I haven't been posting anything because there's been a lot going on here at home and my mind has been elsewhere.  I'm currently fighting off a cold, which was nothing but the sniffles to the girls, but wiped me out completely.  This makes me somewhat useless with respect to caring for and visiting my dad as the last thing he (or anyone else at the hospital) needs is this.

I drove into Boston twice last week to sit with my dad and dealing with traffic was an absolute nightmare.  Keep in mind that I need to get back in time to pick the girls up from school, which ends before 2:00, and on some days, like Friday, there is already outbound traffic at noon.  I live 35 miles from the hospital and it took me just over two hours to drive in on Monday, and I completely avoided the Expressway.  We are dealing with an outdated infrastructure.  The roadways aren't capable of handling all the cars, the subway system and commuter rails need major improvements and regularly fail, which leads commuters to turn to their own vehicles, which in turn, clogs up the already overcrowded roadways.      

Last month, I discovered that the tax role I had retired/resigned from three and a half years ago was open.  Again.  A piece of me wanted to reclaim what had been mine.  To take it back.  Because even with all the office politics and sleep deprivation and general bullshit, I was pretty good at what I did.  I'm not always the best at this stay-at-home mom stuff.  I don't enjoy cooking and cleaning and there are days I long for someone to hand me a tax return (my dad would say I'm crazy) but now is not the time for that.  Now is the time for me to be with my family.  (Plus, Rich reminded me of the less than ideal commute, and that greatly helped.)

Life is not easy.

The Last of Summer + Biking the CC Rail Trail

I had planned to post this last week, but last week did not go as planned.



The weather has turned.  Fall is in the air.  For most of the summer, Allie has been saying she can't wait for winter and the colder weather.  We had to run to the store the other night and it was pretty chilly out.  As we were briskly walking across the parking lot, Allie said, "I'm debating over whether or not I really want it to be cold out."



We have not been back down to the cottage since school started.  We had originally planned to go this past weekend, but with everything going on with my dad (he's in the hospital), it didn't make sense for me to not be around to help out my parents.



These photos are from our mini-vacation before the beginning of school.  It's funny, because typically the ocean warms up over the summer months but we could feel a chill in the water that weekend.











Last year, Emily and I biked 17 miles of the Cape Cod Rail Trail.  It was something that we talked about doing again this summer and we managed to squeeze it in over Labor Day weekend.  I decided to cut the ride short this year because she still doesn't have a good bike for this type of cycling.  I rode behind her to let her set the pace and I could see her pumping her legs far more than I had to.  I also had to keep slowing down, because her bike wouldn't coast as easily as mine.  Even though my bike is bigger, Rich, who is the one loading and unloading from the bike rack, pointed out that it is much lighter than hers.





Just like last year, we stopped at this pond/lake for a break.



We started in Dennis and ended at Nickerson State Park this time around - a bit over 10 miles in total.  This is a good place to take a break as there are bathrooms, picnic tables and benches.  There's also a parking lot, which made it easy for Rich to pick us up and get the bikes back on the van.





(Emily's making that face because Allie bombed our photos.)

I'd like to get in a much longer ride so I've come up with a plan for Rich to drop me off at Marconi and then pick me up in Dennis.  I think that's about 19 miles of the trail.  That's probably going to have to wait until next spring though.

Meal planning + meals for the first week of school

For me, the biggest benefit to meal planning is eliminating multiple trips to the grocery store each week.  I like to go once and get it over with.  We did try grocery delivery many, many years ago when Rich and I were both working and the girls were toddlers.  I didn't like how I couldn't pick out my own produce, or select the loaf of bread with the later use by date.  I know a lot of people like grocery pick-up and our store just started doing that, but again with not being able to choose which produce is in the best shape.  (I understand I have control issues, but the stores near us have food that needs to be tossed, expired items or near expired items.  You have to check everything.)

I also prefer to meal plan weekly for a couple of different reasons.  In general, I like to focus on getting through one week at a time.  It helps to eliminate stress.  Here's what I think about when meal planning:

1. What do we have for activities, meetings, family stuff for the week?
2. What food do we have that needs or should be used?
3. What's on sale at the grocery store?

The girls have dance classes on four nights a week this year.  The fifth weeknight they will have CCD, when it starts up.  Friday night during the school year is almost 100% pizza night for us because I have my tap class after the girls have dance.  There's only one night that's tough this year.  On that night, the girls all have dance in the afternoon.  Then, after an hour break, Allie and Emily have tap.  (Anna is still tapping, but because she skipped a year several years ago, she's a year behind.)  On that night, it's too early for them to eat dinner during the break before tap.  Plus, who would want to eat dinner right before a tap class?  So we all eat dinner after tap.  It's almost 6:30 when we arrive home and people are hangry at that point so dinner needs to be ready.

Here's a look at our meals from the first week of school.  We were still down at the cottage on Sunday night (we grilled and I didn't take photos) so this is Monday through Thursday.

Ravioli and tortellini with Caesar salad and garlic bread.

Mini turkey meatloaves (that's a ton of ketchup baked on top), roasted broccoli and scalloped potatoes.

Tacos - all veggie for me (roasted cauliflower and beans)

Spinach and tomato lasagna with greens.

The Not So Great Locker Heist

Ironic how the best blog post title in all my years of blogging is due to such an infuriating incident.



The girls returned to school last week after what felt like an extremely long summer break.  In the days leading up to the first day of school, they cleaned their rooms, emptied their closets of outgrown clothing and organized all their school supplies.  They even spent time on their Chromebooks creating covers for their binders.

The day before the first day of school was a weird one for me.  Have you ever had one of those days where it feels like the universe is fighting against you?  You're swimming against the current and getting nowhere.  That was my day.  The grand finale came at bedtime.  This was actually somewhat amusing, but I'm kind of getting sick of everyone getting offended over every little thing.  I shared a photo of my Stephen King wristlet on a FB fabric/sewing group.  Someone responded with the angry emoji, which one would immediately think was a mistake, because how can a wristlet cause anger?  But, no, it was no mistake.  She commented (and I'm going to paraphrase here) that because the wristlet showed the cover of the book IT, the wristlet contributes to a dangerous and hostile environment for clowns.

I wish I was kidding.

The next morning, I dropped the girls off at school and I had a nice, quiet day.  I thought the world was returning to normal.  The girls' BFF was coming home with us after school because they are all in the same dance class and that class is early.  Because my kids do not yet have phones (and thank god for that as you'll soon find out), she has my number saved in her phone.  So I'm sitting outside the school waiting for all the girls and my phone rings.  It's the girls and I'm thinking they're going to ask if it's okay to stay for a few minutes to set up their lockers.  But instead I hear how Anna returned to her locker at the end of the day to find the lock missing and her backpack gone.

I fly into the school and find them in their hall, which, I have to mention, is no easy task considering that the architect of that school must have been on drugs when he designed it.  All of her team teachers are there and two of them are going through every single locker in their team area.  Last year, their lockers had built-in locks.  This year, they were given an external combination lock to use.  The school has a master key and the teachers were checking to see if her backpack was in a different locker.  Now, I'm guessing they thought she may have accidentally placed her stuff in the wrong locker but didn't want to say this.

The teachers were very upbeat and optimistic and kept telling us that someone probably grabbed her backpack by mistake.  I'm very skeptical and I just couldn't understand how a 12 year old could grab the wrong backpack unless that backpack looked exactly the same as hers.  And if she had grabbed the wrong backpack, wouldn't her backpack be left behind?  I wasn't buying it.  Someone checked Lost and Found, the gym, the cafeteria, the nurse's office.  No backpack.

That morning, the kids had received their locks in class and locker numbers.  They had some time to practice with their locks and place their backpacks and supplies into their lockers.  Because you really only need something to take notes with on the first day of school, Anna did not return to her locker until the end of the day.  I should note too that they don't get locker breaks between each class.  Students are only allowed locker breaks at certain times.

I didn't find out until we arrived home after school that in the morning, Anna had emptied her backpack and placed all of her new, nicely labeled binders and notebooks into her locker.  She had also hung up her little whiteboard.  All of it was missing.  I immediately called the school and left a message for the principal letting him know this fact.  I had spoken to him before we left the school but I wanted to provide further proof that this wasn't a case of someone grabbing the wrong backpack.

So I know some of you are thinking that maybe, just maybe, there's a kid whose parents couldn't or wouldn't buy her new binders or a backpack and so she swiped Anna's.  Here's the thing - I thought that too, for a few minutes, but it just doesn't work.  Our school system has a program where backpacks and supplies are discreetly provided to those who need them.  Plus, wouldn't it be weird or obvious to steal and then use someone's (not very common looking) backpack from the same school?  In all seriousness though, my heart goes out to kids who find themselves in a situation where they feel like they have to steal to get the school supplies they need.  But I'm pretty sure that's not what happened here.

I believe this was a crime of opportunity.  Maybe Anna didn't secure the lock all the way that morning and someone walking down the hall noticed the lock hanging lower than the others.  Maybe someone in her homeroom sitting near her took note of her locker combination when she was practicing that morning and at one of the locker breaks, tried it out, took the lock off and thought it would be funny to move all of her stuff to another location.

As you can imagine, this has all been terribly upsetting to Anna.  The first day of school is stressful enough for her.  There's a lot to remember and she's afraid the teachers won't understand how she has to go to the nurse's office.  And then this happens.  If you've ever had your house or car broken into, or had something stolen, you know how horrible it feels to have your privacy invaded.  I was and still am very angry.  (I can't even really talk about how angry I am.)  I think it was someone being a jerk and that jerk needs to apologize and be punished.  The assistant principal is still trying to figure out who is responsible.  There are security cameras but when there are a ton of kids in the hall, it's hard to see details.

Last year, because the girls were entering middle school, I bought them new backpacks from Pottery Barn Teen.  They needed big, sturdy backpacks because of all the binders and books they carry to and from school.  I told them to choose wisely because those backpacks needed to last them through the three years of middle school.  I know some people buy their kids new backpacks every year.  I don't because I know the old ones won't get used, especially if there are five old ones per kid, and I just can't stand that kind of waste.  Friday night, I ordered Anna a new backpack from Pottery Barn Teen to replace the missing one.  We had to go out this weekend and buy all new notebooks and binders and binder dividers, and label everything all over again.  Thank goodness she was carrying her glasses with her.  Thank goodness she didn't have a phone in her locker.  Oh, another theory I have is that someone went into her locker (crime of opportunity) and thought he/she would find a phone in her backpack.  When no phone was found, the perpetrator took everything out of her locker in a fight of rage.  I know, I'm assuming a lot for a 12 year old.  But someone did steal everything from her locker!

I told the assistant principal that I'm expecting a phone call on the last day of school.  After all the kids clear out for the day, there's going to be a locker (on the other side of the school from Anna's hallway) with a lock still on it.  Someone's going to use the master key to open it and in that locker, they'll find Anna's backpack and school supplies.  She says she hopes to resolve the matter well before the last day of school.  I'm thinking because I went out and bought her all new stuff, the mystery will be solved tomorrow.  Isn't that how it always works?

So, yeah, the not so great locker heist.

I'm just a mom who needs to make dinner.

With school starting this week, I thought I would share the rest of our documented summer meals.  I'll talk a bit about how we meal plan and share our meals from the beginning of the school year (ack!) in the next edition.


Eggplant parm (frozen because I'm too lazy to make this from scratch) served over pasta, with Caesar salad and bruschetta, which I did make from scratch.



Veggie tacos (roasted cauliflower) with mexi-beans, which look like poo in this photo.



Spinach and goat cheese quiche (easy to make, in my opinion) with grapes and too many home fries.



Lasagna (my kids like me to assemble it with a ton of sauce), lazy salad (just greens) and garlic bread.  For the lasagna, sometimes I use what's on hand.  In this case, I had slices of provolone cheese I wanted to use up so only every other layer had ricotta cheese.  I added sliced tomatoes into the provolone cheese layers.  It was pretty tasty.



Make your own Cobb salad with romaine lettuce, eggs, bacon, tomato, blue cheese and avocado.



Pulled BBQ chicken (hidden under the lettuce) sandwiches with lettuce, tomato and cole slaw.  I took a whole bunch of chicken breasts and popped them in the crock pot with water.  Cooked on high for 4 hours and they were ready to shred.  I used that chicken for dinner 2 nights that week.



Chicken fajitas.  There are peppers and onions in there.  This was from the shredded chicken.  I mixed fajita seasoning with water in a pan on the stove and then added the chicken.  The moisture cooked off, coating the chicken in the seasoning while preventing it from drying out.



I don't think I've shared any meals this summer from the cottage because we mainly grill.  Well, Rich grills and I take care of clean up.  There's a veggie cheeseburger under the tomato.  Every so often, Rich makes steak tips.  There's a corn stand down the street from us and the corn is amazing.  I know, so much corn.  I can't eat it off the cob because of my fake teeth.  (What a lovely way to end a post on food.)

Monomoy Seal Cruise (Cape Cod)

As I mentioned last week, we went on a boat ride around Harwich and Chatham two weeks ago when we had family visiting from out of state.  This was a smaller boat, holding 35 passengers.  I was sitting in somewhat of an awkward position for photography but I did manage to get a bunch of decent photos.





The company running this cruise heavily advertises it as a seal cruise but only a portion is spent out in the ocean behind Monomoy, which is heavily populated with seals.  That was okay with us because we see seals all the time.







The cruise took us through Wychmere Harbor, which is considered one of the most scenic and photographed harbors worldwide.  It was scenic and I did take quite a few photos.  It had a very calm, peaceful feel to it.

















Apparently that house (I can't bring myself to call it a cottage) doesn't have electricity or running water but is still used by the family who owns it.





So here's where the seals come in.  We were in what is considered the open Atlantic Ocean.  Seals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which is why we have so many of them here now.  Under this act, one is not allowed to harass seals.  I'm assuming that's why the cruise only spends a small portion of time hanging out there.  



I cropped that photo so you can see the seal's face.  They do check you out.







The girls and their cousins had a blast and the adults appreciated the new sights.  There really is so much to see and do here.