We're Still Here!

Sorry for the blogging silence; it seems everything electronic in our lives has gone haywire lately.  Our home phone is out (AGAIN, a problem with the phone company), my cell phone is acting up (yes, the new one I just got and now need to return), and blogger wasn't letting me add/change anything on my blog.  But I think I have that problem figured out now.

I don't really have that much to share, because we have been drowning in a sea of pears here.  SIX BUSHELS of pears.  If you don't know how much a bushel is, let's just say it's a lot. We have canned and canned and canned some more.  We made pear jam, pear butter (like apple butter, if you are familiar with that), pear sauce (again, like apple sauce), whole pears, and pears spiced with vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves.  On Saturday night, we finally pulled the last cans out of the canner at ONE IN THE MORNING. Oh, the pregnancy cankles! Oh, the carpal tunnel! (Did y'all know carpal tunnel syndrome was a symptom of pregnancy?  Apparently since it's all related to edema, it's common for pregnant women to experience carpal tunnel. And this time around, I definitely  have it. Bummer.) All together, we did over 100 quarts of pears.  Lest you think I jest, here is a small portion of what we did, after my SIL took some home and we moved a whole bunch to the basement. 

Here are two small updates, though.  First up, my little fashionista.  This little girl really is all girl--she looooves to have purses, bracelets, shoes, bows, any kind of accessory.  (The other day I was in Gymboree with her and she went right for the purses and the bead necklaces and squealed with delight "Purse! Beads!" and tried to grab them.  They were super cute, but decidedly NOT in the budget...) People always told me when she was little to  enjoy putting bows in her hair while I could, because soon she would not tolerate them and pull them out! We haven't hit that stage yet.  Currently, she is asking for bows in her hair and becomes very distressed if they come out!  Here is one of her new favorite accessories-- my black dress shoes.  I wore these to class on Thursday and she has been trying them on and clomping around the house in them ever since.  She actually gets around pretty good in those things!

And because I decided I needed just one more thing to do, I have started a cross stitch afghan for Baby Boy.  I did one with Collette, (you can see that post HERE) and decided that this little guy needed one, too.  Here is the basic design I'm using, although I will make a few alternations and include his name, birth date, etc. on it:

and here is what it looks like on an afghan:

(via)

I don't really think it will be finished by December, but it is a good activity to work on the evenings after Collette goes to bed, especially in the fall and winter months, and hopefully it won't take too long!