Pickles, pickles, everywhere...

...and I don't even eat them! Tonight is day 4 of pickle-making...I have 11 jars of sweet relish, 7 quarts of giant dills, 20 pints of smaller dills (spears and chips). I think I'll go ahead and make something else with the cucumbers. Oh! Wait! There isn't anything else you can make with pickles. (Besides fresh in salads!)

I'm going to experiment tonight with some spicy relish for hot dogs. Less sugar, some hot peppers. The cool thing is these will all have homegrown onions and peppers! I have 22 cucumbers to use tonight. That's still saving some for tomorrow's salad.

I wish the tomatoes would turn red so I can make homemade sauce to can. I much prefer canning foods I'll actually eat. :-)

Tonight was supposed to be a writing night, but challenge soccer was canceled. I'll never get anything written while three Rouskateers pack for summer camp! It will be nice while they're gone. Jeff and I will be celebrating 16 years a few days after our anniversary so we can do so on a night sans children.

Too busy for trolls

Well, I've been too busy for trolls. With only 1 workday this year, we had to get everything done before summer in the library. That took awhile with inventory, shelf order, weeding the collection, fixed asset reports, media reports, etc. On top of that, I've already completed 3 rounds of canning...and it's not even the middle of June! We have green beans in the freezer, squash to be frozen tomorrow, and enough dill pickles to rival the grocery store shelves. Honest! One cabinet in the kitchen that used to hold the corning ware dishes is stuffed full of pickle jars! I made relish tonight for the first time. It tasted good; I just hope it cans well.

This, of course, means the trolls are still on their quest and there's no end in sight for them. :-(

Busy, busy month

This month is busy with everything going on at school...collecting overdue books/fines, inventory, collecting overdue books/fines, getting equipment in, collecting overdue books/fines, administering tests, collecting over...you get the picture! Half of everyday is spent going room to room to make children turn in books due 2 weeks ago!

I haven't had time to write anything about trolls lately. I have more things in my brain than time to get on paper (or in the computer. Same thing!). I need to get those trolls out of the woods, but then I got a really cool idea for a book about a "gift" (curse?) and how this thirteen year-old deals with it. Of course, I've been working with my other novel on Authonomy, which takes a lot of time. Right now it's #323, which is great! It keeps moving up in the rankings and, if it gets in the top 5, maybe an editor at Harper Collins will review it. Then there's the synopsis I'm working on to submit the same novel to the Delacorte/Yearling contest. It's due before the end of June, so I've got to finish it soon and mail it off.

At least the last of the projects are done, Girl Scout meetings are planned through June 15 (last meeting and the bridging ceremony), and the laundry is all done! (The last is remarkable, I know!)

My plan for the summer is to get those trolls moving faster, scan photos from old albums into the computer, clean out 2 closets, and finally fix the problem with my original novel (that has set on the shelf for 6 years because I couldn't figure out how to do what the publisher advised me to do!). Whew! How many weeks are there in summer vacation? Probably not enough!

Goals achieved...

...well, almost, anyway. The suncatchers are all ground and washed, ready for the next step in the stained glass process. (42 of them!) I managed to edit book two of my time-traveler series through chapter 5 of 11 chapters. The kitchen is clean, one load of laundry is done, and...the trolls are still stuck in the woods without going any further. Oh, well. I'm only one person. Now I have something to look forward to! (Along with foiling the suncatchers, chapters 6-11 being edited, volunteering at soccer tryouts tomorrow night, and a few more loads of laundry...)

When life gets in the way...

...make brownies! (Hey, that should be a bumper sticker!)

Seriously, I'm actually glad that this is our state-mandated End of Grade ("EOG") week. It will give me the chance to get caught up on many things. How, you might ask? Well, no need for lesson plans and my children have no homework to be nagged into doing when they really just want to run around outside with their friends. Because of EOGs, there are no after-school/evening activities to ferry them to and from so I get to...

DO LAUNDRY! (Just kidding. Sort of. Well, actually, I'm not.)

I'll also get a chance to finish the rewrites for book two of my book series and hopefully add the next chapter to my poor trolls' adventure. Tonight I'm planning to grind the glass for the 34 stained glass cancer awareness suncatchers sitting on my worktable. Then, once the Rouskateers are in bed, I'll revert to my trusty laptop for some serious writing time! (Oh, and since it's EOG week...they go to bed EARLY!!!!!!) I'm almost giddy with my anticipation.

For today's schedule...

...We have: 2 soccer games back-to-back, house cleaning, baking for the Relay for Life Bake Sale, working on the next set of 30 stained glass awareness ribbons for Relay, watering the garden, and trying to figure out the finances. (Our governor decided we could do with lower pay for 2 months and an increase in insurance rates for our families.) Grrrr.

On the other hand, all children were told that any fights/arguments would result in extra chores for EVERYONE involved, not just the instigator. I firmly believe that it takes more than one child to start World War III in our house.

Oh to have time to myself

Well, the garden and pool have taken a lot of my time, plus the end of soccer season for all 3 has kept me busy. Therefore, I've had no time to continue working on anything! I did start work on the summary and query for the Delacorte Yearling contest, but it's no where near perfect yet. That's my next focus since June 1 is looming. I can't wait for summer...in between cleaning closets, the garden, preventing WW III from erupting at my house, scanning in the pictures of 36 photo albums for my mother, and spending time with my kids doing fun stuff (and the not so fun chores that need doing), I'm going to write, write, write!