Today would have been a great day for baking, but instead I baked on Wednesday, when it was disgustingly warm and humid. Over the weekend, I had roasted one pumpkin, so Wednesday I finally got around to pureeing the flesh of it and then decided to just go ahead and bake with it. I used this recipe, and they came out good, especially once I added vanilla frosting. You are probably tired of hearing this, but once again it was a pretty awesome feeling to take something I grew and use it in regular cooking/baking.

I finally got the budget up to date for August. Still have to finish September. Lots of spending in August. Not good. Over budget. So I need to get back on track. I would say that in September — well, the second half — I was pretty good about cooking at home and eating leftovers. Wednesday night, I made a dinner that was so good, I stopped in the middle to text my husband to tell him to hurry up and get home before we ate it all. Just my standard pork chops and mashed potatoes, but somehow they were perfect. I also sautéed some green beans with garlic and crimini mushrooms so I was feeling fancy (but nobody ate them but me).

Took two of the kids to the dentist this morning; that was almost $300 and one of them has a cavity. 😦  Had to have my bridesmaid dress for my sister’s wedding let out, because even though I’ve had more than a year to lose weight before the wedding, somehow I gained weight. 😦 😦 Oh and they slapped a rush fee on there, because, well, the wedding is next weekend. Filled up the oil tank on Thursday. More dentist appointments next month…

On the bright side, I traded some kids’ clothes in to the Nesting House and received $17 in credit, which I turned around and used on clothes for my daughter. Always cute stuff there! I have at least two more bags of stuff to trade in. I also learned that our printer is in fact not broken. My husband fixed it. Of course, he didn’t tell me this til after I dragged the kids to Staples and bought a new one. So the new one is sitting in the foyer, waiting to be returned. I’m sure the minute I return it, the old one will break again.

This past weekend, we stayed close to home and kept things pretty simple. Saturday morning, both boys’ soccer games were at 9 am.

Post-game snack, the best part

After those, the kids played outside nearly all day long with a revolving cast of characters (except for my daughter, who was sick). I roasted the pumpkin, did at least three loads of wash, and did some much-needed cleaning of the house. I made homemade mac and cheese for dinner, with my mom’s recipe, but I was the only one who ate it. Between that and watching Gremlins on TV, I was in my ’80s glory.

Sunday, my younger son and I worked on decorating the front of the house. We tied some of the cornstalks from the garden to the railings, and shredded other stalks to make stuffing for our homemade scarecrow. I love how into it he gets. He has a future in the theater, I swear. Yesterday I gave a bunch of the stalks away to a friend and I still have a bunch left. I will always grow corn just to have the stalks, they are perfect for Halloween! 🙂

Need to work on all of this some more, beef up the stalks, etc., whenever the rain finally stops. The boys and their friend immediately took the stripped-down stalks and started beating each other with them, fashioning them into guns, swords, etc. I never thought I’d be one to say “boys will be boys,” but… 99% of the boys I’ve had the opportunity to observe since 2006 will beat each other with any object at hand.

Later, the boys and I walked around the corner to a birthday party for my older son’s friend. Didn’t have the ability to go to the toy store to get him a present, with my daughter being sick, but gave cash and was not sorry to not take all three kids to Toys R Us.

With all the rain that’s in store, I fear that this weekend will be less simple pleasures and more… yelling and ordering multiple movies on demand.