Bake at 350

Bam! One day of pleasant 70 degree weather, and I've got thoughts of fall decor, harvest baking, and food preservation in my head.

After the boys left this morning I swept the front porch, rearranged the trunk and flowers and imagined the mums that I'm hoping to use again this year. Griff is already talking about Halloween, but that's the next step.

I think I'm ready to do peaches. I can feel that macintosh apple fixation coming on (looking forward to apple sauce and more apple pie filling!). My cousin posted a pesto recipe today that has my mouth watering. Funny that she should mention gnocchi in her post - I've got some waiting for me to whip up some bolognaise - a good recipe for which confounds me. Do you think gnocchi would work as dumplings for a thick, beef stew? I'm salivating over hot pepper jelly with cream cheese on triscuits. I'm just waiting for April to send me the hot pepper jelly recipe...

So - all I need is a day off, some cooler weather so I can heat up my kitchen, unoccupied counter space, clean pans and canning supplies and the peppers, peaches and apples to preserve. Hmmm...

Dating Advice for Preteen Boys

Here's the deal. My dear Evan would absolutely dig a hole and crawl into it for the remainder of his days if he knew I'd posted this, but HELLO I'm a mom and a blogger. I can't make this stuff up, and it must be shared.

So Evan has captured the heart of one of his classmates. He's had her heart since 3rd grade, but really who's counting. Anyway. This year the girl has found herself, and she knows that Evan is what she wants. Please note that they've only been in school for one week - AND - his devotion has never wavered. Evan accepts things as they are, and this thing just was. In his world she and he are and would always be...

Last year they weren't in the same class, but the spark was still there. I guess she needed reaffirmation of his devotion, and she's had the gusto to extract him from his posse during recess to draw the line. My poor boy is clueless in the love department (and I hope he remains so for the next 10 or so years), and he had to ask his resident expert (me!) what most of it meant.

Are you still into me?

Can I call you after school? I think we should discuss this without anyone else around.

Unh. We're through!

This was at 3 separate recesses all on the same day. My poor Evan came home from school and wanted to transfer classes. He was baffled!  With the "into me" comment, he squeezed her shoulder and told her she was a really good friend. She responded by huffing off and stomping across the playground. He guessed correctly that he had not given her the answer she wanted. But to Evan's credit - he wanted to know how he could have responded any differently.

Because if I was "into her" what would we do about it? WE'RE IN 5TH GRADE!!!

He didn't get the "we're through!" and I explained that he'd been dumped. His response?

Shouldn't I be sad?

I told him that if he wasn't then it was OK. He was very nervous about going to school the next day - apparently rightly so. She apparently wasn't serious about breaking things off and spent her after school hours writing him a love song (on the piano!). Words cannot explain his exasperated expression when he came in the door and held the crumpled note up in the air and asked his brothers to leave the room.

Later I told him to tell her that he just wanted to be her friend, but his dad overheard me.

So now I give you dating advice according to Jon Hill. (As shared with me by Evan's older brother - this occurred while dove hunting - a trip attended by Evan, Carson, Jon, and 3 of  Jon's brothers - do you see where this is headed?)

According to Jon, telling a girl that you just want to be her friend is the worst possible thing you can say. This is the part that really gets me. Then Jon referenced The Simpsons (Season 4, Episode 8 to be exact) where Bart has a crush on his older next door neighbor, who trance-literally rips his heart out, throws it against a wall, and watches it drop into the trash, when she tells Bart that she has a boyfriend. I was choking too hard to hear what Jon's advice for fixing the situation is, but I'm sure that all that testosterone offered something...

We all are fond of this girl at our house. She's adorable, and I'm in love with her for identifying Evan as the target of her affections so early. I always have thought that Evan would be the boy who would find one girl and stick with her (he's just that loyal) - I just didn't think it would happen before he was 10. She's just got to realize that she is pouring it on a little thick - you just need to take it as it is with Evan. He'll eventually catch on and react appropriately. It just has to be on his time - and he's not one for pressure so you may be in for the long haul. Be patient - he's so worth it.

The Happy Door

Do you have one of these?

I know I haven't gone very far in the post, but I need to back up and start over.

I love my house - inside and out. I've talked a bit about indoor features, but I'm not so good about singing the praises of the outdoor spaces.

I don't love the weeds that overwhelm my yard, but that's something that in a good year I could fix. I love the mint that grows under the maple that Jon planted. I love the rocks that have been transplanted both from my back yard and from Michelle's yard. I love the daisies that came from Aimee's house. I love the lily and Russian Sage from Elaine. I love Griffin's strawberry patch that he lovingly weeds and waters.

There are just some characters in need of pruning. The burning bush (which is Jon's favorite) is taller than me. The Rose of Sharon and other beast on the corner? Those things are OUT OF CONTROL. I seriously think they're over 12 feet tall. They scratch on the house when the wind blows and that drives me CrAzY !!! I used to try to prune the corner shrubs/bushes, but they grow too much in one season and Jon attacks them with the trimmer - not even worrying about my angled cuts. So each spring there are lots of dead ends that result from his straight, ill-placed cuts. When they grow as fast and the thorns get as large as these do - Oh Well!

We've installed new light fixtures on the garage. I have my hanging basket on the porch. Jon's working on repairing the porch railing - while I'm dreaming of new, wider, angled steps that fan into the yard. A couple of years ago Jon painted our garage doors. I love that they aren't white, but they are taupe. It's a nice color, but there just isn't any punch.

Our front door was painted in Smokehouse (SW7040 - see swatch at right - if your monitor even does it justice - looks REALLY gray on mine). It was SUCH an improvement over the tired, sun bleached blue that was there before, but I have already grown tired of the monotone facade. So I got out my paint deck and started looking for color. I found one that immediately made me smile.

It's a close cousin for the shades of geraniums in my porch baskets. It's a shade that's going to liven up my winter. It's named for one of my favorite flowers - which does not currently reside in my yard... You ready?

Here she is: Coral Bells (SW6593)...

This photo shows Smokehouse (which is still the color of the trim) and our Coral Bells door.

My dear Jon said that it's a slap-your-face-pink, and I adore it. Know what else I adore? The names of the other colors on the strip -

Alyssum, Loveable, Amaryllis, Grenadine, Poinsettia.

Jon said I could keep Coral until after Christmas and then he'd need to change it. I'm thinking Poinsettia may be in order.


But for now Coral Bells makes me smile, and I think she says

Come on in!

Please do!