Re-Entry

I’ve been a little MIA from this space for about a week now due to the big work fundraiser (our annual Arts & Crafts Show) I mentioned last week and then a little (way over-due) vacation!

Have you ever gotten back from a vacation and felt like you needed a vacation to recover?  Yep, that’s where I’m at after getting in late last night, not sleeping very well and trying to play catch-up all day today 😉  But life is good.  Really good.  Here’s little of what’s been going on/is going on in our neck of the woods…

First, where’d we go?  What’d we do?

Well, we drove out to southern California with a few friends for a few days.  We went to Disneyland and California Adventure on Day One, Newport Beach on Day Two, then down to San Diego and stayed in a wonderful resort (The Catamaran) for a couple of nights.  While the rides were fun at Disney, the day was long and hot and I could be happy to not experience that ever again.  Once in San Diego, though, we decided we needed to stay another day and extended our trip.  Luckily (thankfully), our house sitter was game.  San Diego is a place I will definitely be returning to.  And hopefully soon.

We walked a lot, played in the ocean, bay and pool, ate lots of not-so-good-for-us food (including, but not limited to, fast food burgers, fish & chips, hot dogs) and lots of sugar.  We also ate some yummy salads and a ton of crab and lobster.  I think I gained about 20 pounds.  OK, maybe not 20, but several, no doubt.

I crocheted a lot in the truck while Tool Lady drove.  I tried my hand at a couple of winter caps for babies, as well as a couple of purses using some leftover yarn from a few other projects.  I have lots of ideas and am contemplating adding some crocheted goods to my Etsy shop (which is in dire need of updating…good thing I have several paintings and pendants in the works, ha?).

I learned that my eyeballs tend to sweat in Arizona.  Really.  Even when only exposed to the heat for a few minutes to fill up the tank or grab something to eat on the way back home.  115 degrees?  Brutal.  I admire anyone who can live in that heat but I also think they’re a little bit crazy  😉

We experienced our very first (and second) earthquakes.  The first while at Disney (didn’t feel it, but all the rides were stopped), the second in my hotel room while I laid in bed the next morning.  Not fun.  It was little, too, but I’d rather not feel the earth moving beneath me, thank you very much.  I was more than happy to get back home where you can’t feel the earth shake.

I think that our house sitter was a bit intimidated by the garden, so she didn’t harvest much while we were gone, which wound up being totally fine.  Actually, this wound up being a blessing since I was able to spend a couple of hours in the garden this morning checking everything out, harvesting, weighing and assessing everything for some form of preservation (planned to happen tomorrow…roasted heirloom tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato basil jam…we have a lot of tomatoes).

What else…Well, I think we may have a broody black astrolorp.  I’ll give her a day or two to assess whether or not we’ll need to throw her into solitary for a bit.  We’ll see.

OH!  I also got an email from Erica at Northwest Edible Life letting me know that I won one of her giveaways!  I’ll be the lucky recipient of not one, not two, but three books!  Sweet!  I cannot wait to begin reading!

There’s a lot of happiness floating around right now, at the end of our time off.  We are standing on solid ground, have food in the fridge and more growing in the garden…I started my very first batch of vanilla extract a few minutes ago and Tool Lady is making us our very own batches of ice cream (mine is vanilla with chunks of peanut butter cups and heath bars in it).  Heaven.

Right now though, I will make some dinner, crack a beer (Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale) and then catch up on some blogs and emails.  If you’re waiting on a response, you’ll get it, promise.  And I’ll be floating your way soon.  I’m glad to be back.