it has a nice ring when you laugh.

latest happenings:

jarred up some peaches in a light syrup. the jar promptly broke. put the peaches in a bag to ripen and get bagged and frozen. left them in the bag a day too long and lost half of them. bagged and froze the rest in a light syrup. i'm freaking SHOCKED nobody around here sells canning equipment. so, i have to order it. not to mention, leery of pressure canners. with my luck, i'd lose an eye.

wes has tried valiantly to save our dishwasher. it started with a clogged hose. then wes flooded the kitchen with what smelled like raw sewage. got that taken care of, snaked the hose, cleaned it out, got it hooked back up, and the motor has died. it's cool, though. no matter what happens, i'll be happy. we've talked about replacing it in a month or so with something that'll have one of those hard food thingies in it so it doesn't get clogged, but i think i'd be just as happy to put a rolling cart where the hole in our counter will be to have a place to put cookbooks and jars of food n stuff. not having a dishwasher is not the end of the world, although it's inconvenient.

something i forgot to mention - we saw a reishi type mushroom on our neighbor's lawn. i should go back and snap a pic of it. i didn't think reishis grew here. wes said it was probably a tsugae, but i don't know that those grow here either.

i have miss dig coming out to mark off lines and such so we don't hit anything while destroying our lawn.

there should be a new book waiting for me when i get home. andrew's got a school picnic tonight, so it's going to be torture!!

i got denied for a student loan. bummer. no idea how that happened. my credit should be great. could be all of the cosigned stuff though, like my house, and only counting my income. i'll have to pay off achs another way, i guess. or get a cosigner.

money, money, money. nobody's got any.

so, i shampooed and conditioned my hair for possibly the last time last night, if all works out. i'll be doing baking soda and apple cider vinegar with some essential oils thrown in. gotta get a natural bristle brush to distribute the oils, though. i can't remember the last time i BRUSHED my hair. maybe a couple of years ago when i had hair??

there is a crispness to the air at night i love. it reminds me fall is coming soon.

took a long hard look at my diet. realized i'm getting next to no protein aside from the occasional egg, and cheese. and yogurt. hmm. no wonder my hair is falling out. this could possibly be behind the dizzy spells as well, i don't know. been reining it in, though, and been trying to follow a balanced diet. stupid pms bloat gave me 5 extra pounds. now that pms is over, the 5 pounds are gone. who does that?! seriously! does anyone else gain 5 whole freaking pounds when they have pms??

wes kindly burned me some basmati rice in the rice cooker, so today's lunch was just as dismal as yesterday's. a couple of cups of rice with a peach on the side. yesterday i had two egg sandwiches. one for breakfast, another for lunch.

spent some lovely social time this week. i often forget about how young i am. i've been a wife for 3 years, home owner for almost 3 years, a mother for more than 4, i've worked a "grownup job" for 8 years, etc. i haven't looked to validation through socialization in quite awhile, it feels, but spent some amazing time socializing with a group of funny and kind folk at my favorite hideout downtown this week. not only was it refreshing, it was an out and out riot.

lessons learned this week:

+get some freaking canning equipment and do it right.

+don't freeze narrow mouth jars. even if you leave the cap off and leave what you think is enough head room, it could break. (wide mouth jars may work better for this, i don't know.)

+take a break to see your friends.

+if you don't have money, ask to barter. don't be a 'tard and miss opportunity just because you're broke.

+give sallie mae the finger.
(seriously. between wes and i, we have 9 or 10 student loans through them. all are paid on time, and double the payments. we both have good credit, all obligations are paid on time, or ahead of time, and they won't give me a student loan? thanks for the loyalty.)

+time doesn't stand still, even if it feels like it. life marches onward, and you are responsible for yours, and the meaning it has.
(i mean, i already knew that, but it was reinforced by a funeral i went to, and how life just thrummed on outside of the funeral home.)

+participate more in email group discussions.
i've traded emails with 4 people this week that i would never have talked to if it weren't for opening my trap once in awhile. these emails have enriched my life.