Family that Plays Together...

I started a post last week and realized it was all whiney, so I deleted it. And that's all I have for excuses.

We start our work furlough on Monday. The entire library system is closed from Aug 31-Sept 6, then also closed Monday Sept 7th for labor day. No pay, so I have been working on saving some money up and I think everything will be ok. Except for the speeding ticket I got on my way back from Spokane. And the doctors bills I have from my wellness and hearing check up (it costs a ton to go to the doctor these days, even with insurance!) Oops, there I am whining again.

Last night I went to see Tacocat with my dad's family. We went to the Funhouse which was a weird kind of treat. There is a basketball court in the back, so we played Horse and two on two with the monorail going by in the background and music pumping (do you say pumping in punk speak? Shows I am not a punk...) out the door. I played a lame game of horse, but made it up a bit during the two on two. I am a bit sore today from all that jumping around.

Tacocat was pretty good, but Used Kids did a longer set and weren't as much fun to listen to. The music was mostly a wash, but at least it was only a $5 cover and we had a great time otherwise.

Still Crazy

I have been promising a wedding recap for a week now, but things are still so busy, it will have to be a short one.

The bride was absolutely gorgeous. She was definitely not a bridezilla and everything was so laid back. I can't imagine how stressed I would have been if Sister M had been a task master. This wedding was proof that you don't have to control every little aspect of your wedding and everything will still turn out ok. I actually think that trying to do so will make something go wrong.

We had a great time. The ceremony was short, beautiful, two of my brothers did readings. Kissyfur read "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss and Manny read an Irish wedding blessing. Little Bear was a flower girl and she was so cute walking down the aisle with a 4 year old boy from the grooms family, her flowers falling out of her basket on accident. The two girls, Bear and little J, did an impromptu tumbling act on the steps until their mothers took them in hand. After food and the traditional cake cutting, toast and bouquet/garter toss, the dancing began. More tradition, the bride and groom danced, then the bride and her father and the groom and his mother. After that, our side of the family went all in. We danced to the corniest and the funniest and the fastest music. We kept the dance floor alive up till the last minute when the caterers were kicking us out. My feet hurt soooo bad after! It was so much fun!

When I came back to Seattle, it felt really good to be here after a week gone. It was even cool that it was raining, because it made it feel even more like home. I am still super busy until Monday. Dr. T is moving into my apartment and The Boy and I are camping with Dad's Family this weekend. That is getting cut short now because The Boy starts football practice at 8 am on Monday morning.

And now my mentee is AWOL. She went to visit friends in Kent on Monday and never went home. They are putting a run notice on her now. I hope the baby is ok.

Dinner? I hope so!

Home today from Spokane. I will have more wedding goodies to share, but first on my mind is my p-patch (only because I was just there). Thanks to my friend and Dr. T, it is still alive. Behold, CORN:

And very green pumpkins!

My harvest for today:

The carrots are tiny, but really yummy, and I plan to make some mashers from the potatoes I dug up last week and add the chives and green onions. The tomato isn't quite ripe, but it started raining out there and it is supposed to get worse, so I wanted to make sure I got to eat at least one of them. I harvested a couple of the young pumpkins to eat like zucchini. The plums are from a neighbor's yard (I got permission, promise) and the funny white thing in the front actually came off of my potato plant. According to this q and a, they are how the potatoes produce seeds. They are poisonous, so I won't be eating them. Here is a pic of them on the plant:

Toasting the Bride

Wow, am I tired. What a week. I drove over to Spokane last Sunday and I am still here. The Boy and I will head back to Seattle tomorrow.

I have stayed with my brother and sister in law all week and they have been really nice to put up with both me and The Boy that long. My sister was here too and we had a nice time hanging out, running errands for the wedding, going to Cordelain to play at the beach and going to the various pre-wedding festivities. I have really missed her since she has been in Nevada.

Being the maid of honor, I had to come up with a toast. This was harder than you might think, and I kept going back and forth until someone suggested that I tell a story about her. I came up with a pretty good one and about 30 minutes before the ceremony, decided that I should write some words down and I started crying although I managed to avoid major tears. I was misty all through the ceremony, but luckily the kids distracted me and I made it through. Finally time came to the toast and I said:

"I have known Meagan since she was born. She is my sister, but also my best friend. It hasn't always been that way. When we were younger, she was always sneaking into my room and wondered how I knew. She always left a toy behind. Since then, we have become best friends. We have traveled together and even though she lives far away now, we find time to visit. Since she has been gone, I am always looking around for signs of her. The one saving grace of having her so far away is knowing that she has Troy. Please join me in a toast to Meagan and Troy!"

This worked really well, or would have if I hadn't started crying right after I said "she always left a toy behind." I barely made it through the rest, but I did manage to choke it out and was able to pass on the mic to her dad. It was a really beautiful day. More soon.

An Experiment

After reading Amy's comment on my last post, I decided to sacrifice just one of my little darlings to the WTF surgery god. So I brought home a medium sized specimin (remember that the ones I grew last year were smaller when they were totally orange than this one is now).

(The potatoes are ones that I grew from a sprouting yukon gold. Mostly just here to show off my potatoey thumb.)

So then the poor guy got his head chopped off and his guts exposed:

As you can see, he has the makings of a great pumpkin in him. That is a pretty much full sized pumpkin seed down there near the bottom. Unfortunately, now he will never make it that far. I wonder how young pumpkin (otherwise known as green or not yet ripe) tastes?