Zach & Sarah: As school time increases, cooking and blogging time decreases

It's a simple formula, really. The more time I spend at school (aka, my job) the less time I spend cooking and blogging. "Directionally proportional" is the math term, I think. As one goes up, the other goes down.

Well, and less reading.

And relaxing.

And having a life.

Oh wait. Those days are done.

It's fall. I don't care what the calendar says about the first official day of fall being at the end of September. Summer ends when school begins. For me, it ended when I got my classroom assignment. All those precious few last days of sunny, warm summer.... I spent in a classroom...inside... with no AC... cleaning & organizing. Blech.

Don't get me wrong, I do love fall - the cooler nights and mornings make it irresistible to stay under the covers in bed. The process of leaves changing from summer's lush green to crunchy reds, yellows, and oranges is quite a sight to behold.

A few quick updates.

We finally got a move-in date to our next rental home: October 1st. It's the cutest little blue house surrounded by a cornfield. The best part is that the owners gave us a key so we can start moving boxes over a few loads at a time until we actually move in in October! Whew! No massive moving trip this time! At least this way it will be easier to get in the swing of full time teaching on my own AND packing up a whole house. Oooooh my. I don't want to think about it right now.

My yucky smashed fingernail has started to detach. But just in the smashed bottom right corner. I can now lift up the nail and peel it back. Sounds gross, and it is. But it's still hanging on by the tiny portion that is still alive, attached, and flesh colored. Regretfully, I do not have a photo of it at this point. You're probly glad. :)

The garden is probably about to burst with tomatoes. I see canned tomato soup, diced tomatoes, and spaghetti sauce in my future... Also, we will be canning peaches from the local farmer's market on Saturday. (28 qts. here we come!)

Back to School Night is TONIGHT! Actually, it starts in about 30 minutes but I just had to get out of the building for a few minutes so I'm sitting in the one coffee shop in Big Rapids to escape. My classroom is finally done ---I think. For the most part. At least for tonight it looks good enough. (Pictures to come, later) I made a little scavenger hunt for the students to do while I chat with their parents. PTO is cooking out hotdogs (right in front of my classroom! Another reason I didn't want to stay there and get saturated with barbeque smell!) and the school is clean and waiting. Overall, I'm eager for the year to begin and so happy with the other two 1st grade teachers with whom I'll be teaching.

Ferris Students are back so BR seems extra busy. The streets are now super busy at rush hours... okay, well I guess busy is a relative term depending upon where you live.... There's students walking everywhere, tons of new faces in church, and extra long waits for everything around town. BR population must double when Ferris students come back.... that's what it feels like anyways.

We had a bonfire with our small group out at our house on Saturday night. First bonfire in our backyard was a success! We cooked out burgers for dinner then sat around the campfire and ate DELICIOUS cake balls made by one of the wives. I'll make those and post the recipe at some point because I could've eaten the whole platter! Here's a few pics of their cute kids! (I should probably preface these by saying that the kids picked up some cucumbers I had thrown out into the woods...)

So the pictures didn't upload fast enough so I had to bail. Now I'm home and can post them leisurely and with captions. :)