What's for Dinner?

A really quick no recipe version of Beef Stroganoff!

hamburger, chopped onion, can of cream of mushroom soup, Greek yogurt, elbow macaroni, pepper

Brown the hamburger with the onion and drain; add soup, yogurt and sprinkle of pepper; stir well and thoroughly warm up mixture; add cooked pasta. Stir again and serve.

No complaints from the peanut gallery here tonight. Ian came back for two helpings!

A Sweet Boy and His Puppy

Yesterday was Easton's last day at his first house. I wanted to take a picture of him in his bedroom and Baylee the Beagle decided she needed to be a part of the picture, too. L-O-V-E this picture of them!

Phase 1 of Jen and Brad's move is almost complete. We worked hard Saturday and Sunday to get things boxed up & moved into storage. Their house in Yakima should close on the 7th of September and then we'll do Phase 2 and 3. (Phase 2 is prepping the house to move in...sanding floors, etc. Phase 3 moving boxes again into the house! Strength training at its finest.)

This morning I'm enjoying the last vacation Monday morning (the Beagle Boys and Manchas are barking up a storm!) with a cup of coffee and some cool temperatures. I need to plan my menu for the month, make a shopping list and check out sales. Watering the garden, picking the ripe tomatoes and the oops, grew too big zucchini. Just kinda puttering and then it's off to school to see what's taking place at the library. Excited to get started.

Happy Monday!

It's a fun sub start job!

Yippee! I had a phone call from the sub desk today. I'm going to sub start as a part time librarian for the first three weeks of school. The cool thing is I'll be back at Bemiss, where I taught first grade last year. That means I get to see all of my kiddos!

We're spending the rest of the weekend with this cutie and his parents. They're packing up their duplex and moving to Yakima as soon as their house closes. What a long process this has been.

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter & Jen starts teaching @ West Valley HIgh School in Yakima and I'll be at Bemiss in Spokane. Let the school year begin! (But let us enjoy the nice summer days for a lot longer!)

Advice for Myself

I'll offer this to all of my friends, too, for those tough times.....but for now, I'm claiming it as my own advice.

"If I only had a brain....."

This morning's rush out the door was to get to the neurologist for a quarterly checkup for MS. I can almost do all of the tests by myself; it's become that routine in checking for anything new or different. I'm not doing an MRI this year due to there not being any change in the last year. Pretty stable, which is great.

I found a yard sale on my way home from the dr's office. I only had three dollars so I was hoping for some sweet little deals. Yep, I found them. A pretty blue tall metal pitcher for my outside table. Perks up that little spot quite nicely. Two rustic reindeer tea light holders...cute! And a small birdhouse that fits in with my other two birdhouses on the piano. I look at my finds and they make me smile so three dollars well spent.

Checking out a new Pho place in town. It's a Chinese place that went out of business and now they're offering $5 Pho. Carrie (from Whitworth) and I are going to try it out before she heads to work. We'll let you know how it is!

Happy Friday!

Facebook

Tonight I'm saying goodbye to Facebook for at least until Christmas. The pain I've felt the last week has been too much and it's better to be off of FB rather than feeling sorry for myself because I don't have a lake place, a boat, a teaching job, no exotic vacation, big bucks in the bank to play with, etc. I'm going to focus on what's important and healthy for me. I miss being a part of people's real lives & being invited to share in the activities of the summer. It gets pretty lonely.

Keep in touch with me through my blog, email or phone messages. I'll post pictures and recipes here.

Kerri

A Week @ Lake Kachees (nestled in the Cascades of WA)

It was finally our turn for vacation. David was done with school for three weeks and we'd "reserved" the Gilbert's cabin for a week. Jen, Brad and Easton were able to join us for three days and our friends Jim and Jackie scooted over from Spokane for a night, too. Fun and quiet week. Lots of berry picking, walks, card games, sunshine, book reading and naps.

Kerri, David and Easton

A sweet baby boy with his Oma

Easton and his daddy at Gale Creek

Easton (8 months) on the stump