Well, the projector went back.  It was not worth the $ - crappy tripod, not a lot of video on there, and it was not going to set up well on the windows I wanted to use it on - nevermind my dislike of using double-sided tape on my windows.  The whirly ghosts are pretty awesome though - they're sticking around.  I had also bought some foam tombstones from party city.  Two of the 'nicer' ones didn't come with stakes and the others seem likely to get blown over, but they're up - we'll see how long they last.

The next thing I need to figure out is a legit full-sized Christmas tree (which I have to have now for what I think are obvious reasons) and stockings.  I either need another stocking like the ones I have or to find something new for all of us (dogs included) that 'match'.

Today, before my sister leaves us behind, we made the trek to Altoona to introduce Avery to all of her great Aunts and a couple of great Uncles.  I will still need to make a trip to Jingletown to introduce her to all of my friends.  But I feel better about it now that we got such a long trip under our belts with such success.

I caved and bought an FX projector for halloween (and Christmas).  I also picked up one of those whirly things that displays ghosts that I'll be trying to set up on the garage door.  I got rid of a lot of my junk halloween decorations before I moved, so there is room in the orange bin to put things away after the season.  I'll try to remember to report back on how it all looks.

Right now I can say that the screen for the projector is kind of crap - it isn't big enough to cover the entire double window and it comes with double sided tape to attach it.  My issue w/ double sided tape should be obvious, but if not - who wants to scrape that back off of the window after each season and then you have to keep buying more double sided tape - plus worry about it ripping the flimsy screen. It comes preloaded with a few videos, but my initial attempts to find some others for free has been fruitless, so this might be agitating to me - we'll see.

Boxes from the farm continue, and they continue to contain a great deal of peppers (several varieties).  I don't mind peppers, but I need them cooked so they don't repeat on me as much and there are only so many stuffed peppers I can stomach.  My sister introduced me to grilling them with some butter and seasonings, so that has been keeping the stockpile at bay.  We're also getting into some more of the fun stuff like spaghetti squash and butternut squash.

Girl child turns one month tomorrow.  Time has flown overall, but each day does seem to drag.  If you want more details on her progress ask for the link to the blog where I am focused on all things kiddo.

I shouldn't complain about my lack of sleep when I can also say that I've watched all but one episode of The Walking Dead, but to be fair, I turn it on when I am sitting here with a wee baby who is getting fed, wee baby being put to sleep after said feeding, or pumping - hence I must be awake.  Frankly, it seems like every moment is a must be awake moment and by the time I can put my head down to nap (if she's willing to zonk out not on my chest) I'm within an hour of the next feeding, so I may as well stay awake since that short of a nap just makes me grouchy.

We've tried to some venturing out.  Today included a meal out and Friday night was a trip to visit with some of my Favorite Eggs family.  Both of which went well, but those stretches definitely mean no opportunity to nap and they just drain me a little more.  I'm very lucky that my sister is here helping right now.  I can't imagine how little sleep I'd be getting if she wasn't.

I am sure I don't need to answer the question of where I've been. Baby came along on August 24th (5 days early) and we've been busy trying to find some new level of normal... or attempting to catch sleep where we can.  I'm figuring out how to leave the house and trying to still be me, not just me in the cloud of baby activities, but it's hard. This isn't a surprise, but it deserves to be said.

The house is a mess.  I'm trying to do a little thing each day in addition to the must keep up items (laundry/dishes/garbage).  Yesterday it was tidying more up in the nursery and scooping dog poop, the day before cleaning the kitchen floor and vacuuming, today was my bathroom sinks - and if I can a quick mow in the back yard would be a wise move.

Thank goodness that the last season of Walking Dead is now on Netflix, this is a bit of normal I need - although it is likely to distract me from getting extra sleep when I can.  I got pretty far behind last season, so I'd say I have 7-10 episodes to watch before the new season starts, but I got to watching those I did see earlier today - and allowed myself a nap during.

Around the house, my Favorite Egg's Dad has been employed to do some of the yard work I wanted done.  To this point the grass out back is looking good (like I said it needs mowed) and retaining walls are in out front and in the back.  Next up is planting and landscaping a bit to make it look nicer.  That is likely to happen in the next couple of weeks.  I hate eating through my savings while I am waiting for my first disability check to come through but it needs done, so - so it shall be.

I've been pretty tired, so I haven't done a ton of cleaning, but I have completed a few tasks to get them off of my plate for the next few weeks.  That includes scrubbing the guest bath tub, so I can soak in it as needed.  (I had a couple of guests that showered here and I'm weird about sitting in the tub after someone else has used it.)  I also scrubbed the bathroom floors, which is no small feat when it's hard to get down to the floor, harder to scoot around on it, and even harder to get back up.  I'm mostly caught up with laundry (I say mostly because that's is, after all, a constant battle.)  I also got more put away so there isn't a pile in the kiddo's room.  Of course, that did involve moving two bags of things into another room.  Yay for shifting piles.

I do wish I had more ideas for the bounty of veggies out in the kitchen.  I did use up the huge eggplant and the broccoli, but I still have plenty out there including some squash from my Favorite Egg's Mom, more peppers and tomatillos (they both came in Saturday's farm box), tomatoes, and some corn.  I picked up some chicken and wraps with the intention of making some fajitas at some point early this week to deal with some of this list, but I have been getting wiped fast.  Making the big eggplant I had to sit a few times and started sweating like crazy.

My Favorite Egg mowed yesterday (front and sides) so that looks tidy to get us through should anything change this week.  I'm starting to see some grass sprouting out back!  Fortunately, we had a few days with rain.  That spared me from a watering routine which involved going up and down the stairs 5-7 times (once every 15 minutes) to move the sprinkler around each morning.

My Favorite Egg also brought me a pair of eclipse glasses, so I feel like I should probably take a peek when it's happening.  I gotta admit it's creepy to me.  Normally I would have been trapped in an office building with no windows, but here I am where I'd notice it starting to get dim.

Last night was all about the cleaning after it was confirmed that the would be in-laws are coming today.  I'm hips and lower back were not happy with me after I put away two loads of laundry, scooped poop, weed eated, wiped down appliances (fortunately the dishes were all done from the day before and the counters wiped down), vacuumed, and dusted.  My favorite egg scrubbed the kitchen floor for me, thank goodness, because I was ready to wipe out.

Now that the vacuum upstairs has a new belt on it is working better than ever.  Go figure though my favorite vacuum downstairs seems to be a bit noisier and not picking up great at this point.  *sigh*  I wish they still made it so I could buy a second of that vacuum.

Happy birthday Danika!  Today she turns 12 - and just a few days ago she celebrated 10 years here with me.  She's a good kid.  I have the can of moist food ready to go for her birthday celebration since I'm simply not up for the longer drive to Petsmart with her in tow.  I'm not sure if the closer pet stores allow pets inside.

The weekend once again went quickly.  I gathered more goodies from the farm including another (huge) eggplant, a (tiny) watermelon, more peppers (so glad I had waited til Saturday to stuff the peppers I had waiting), a couple of beets (yay), kale which I left behind (I've reached my threshold), some tomatoes, and wax beans.

As noted we stuffed the heck out of some peppers later on Saturday.  The damn jalapenos had my fingers on FIRE for over an hour.  Sunday I turned my focus to all of the cabbage that was still here.  With the green and curly that remained I made my first attempt at haluski (no I didn't make my own noodles).  It turned out decent!  I have plenty of leftovers to eat off of there all week.  For the purple cabbage I roasted slices with a garlic-parm butter coating and it too turned out pretty good!  My final cooking action with all of the veggies building up was to make an enchilada sauce out of the tomatillos, which went into the freezer for the next time I make enchiladas.

I did not get much cleaning (other than dishes) done, which is unfortunate as I should have company here at some point this week.  My Favorite Egg's Dad is coming to my rescue as he is willing to bring his landscaping business on the road to deal with the mud pit of a back yard.  I'm excited!

I'm struggling to deal w/ other humans right now.  I just feel like so many people dog it and leave messes for others to clean up.  If I leave something to someone else to resolve it ALWAYS circles back to me - I do my stuff, I do their stuff every freaking time.  How does THAT work?  It sure doesn't make it easier to stay focused and barrel through my current task when I know the next task really should already be handled by someone else.

Thank goodness the weekend is near.  I could really use a nap here this afternoon.  I was feeling pretty sleepy yesterday too, but I had attributed that to not sleeping well the night prior and having a later evening out at the concert.  I hope this isn't another bout of tiredness leaning in on me - there is still plenty needing done.

Why didn't I have my phone within arms reach to capture the moment?!  This morning I got up a few minutes before the alarm and neglected to turn it off.  While I was using the facilities it started to sound.  Safyre had the most appropriate moan followed by a whine that it was going off.  She channelled me laying there groaning and pouting about needing to get out of bed.  I have taught her well.  Of course, she slept like a champ.  I know this because she joined me and proceeded to kick and twitch while I laid there for over three hours trying to find a position that would allow me to drift off.

Tonight's veggie adventures...
First up the patty pan squash:  I fried the smaller one with a light breading and ate the whole thing.  It needed more flavor in the breading, but I didn't want to put too much in as I wanted to taste the squash since it was my first exposure to it.  The other two I put in the oven with some savory seasonings.  It was ok.  Most of this I am going to attempt to freeze to have an easy to get to side dish.

Next up was the kohlrabi:  I've made this before, nice and basic - roasted with olive oil, garlic and seasoning.  I ate a little but that majority of this too will be frozen for later easy access.

I wanted to get to some of the cabbage that is here too, but it just wasn't happening.  I don't have the stamina to make it happen.  I also have a ton of peppers that need stuffed, but I need to get some meat to do so and that means making a run that I haven't had time or desire to achieve.  It's kind of sad how quickly the next weekend and new supply of fresh veggies come.  I knew that it was hard to get through a half share by myself, but here I am once again. At least I'm eating more veggies.

Official proof I'm crazy... I just snagged a ticket to go see Die Antwoord tomorrow night at Stage AE.  If kid is going to show up early, we'll know it - because she'll decide later today or tomorrow is perfect timing.

It's 61 degrees outside.  Damn you global warming.  *puzzled look*  It's okay, June was crazy hot, so I guess it balances out a little.  With my feet still swelling on me I am grateful for the break.  Of course, two days in a row of running around and being on my feet for 5+ hours will do that to you regardless of the temps.

The weekend went all too fast.  Saturday evening (after running about on my own most of the day) we went to a game night.  They played Magic most of the evening so I ended up the designated spinner for the kids there to play twister.  Sunday I had help running around - but only after we tried out the Original Pancake House.  Gotta do this type of stuff while I still can.

I'm working hard to find recipes for some of the items that came from my CSA farm basket.  While there are aspects of the one back in Jtown I miss greatly, this one has some other 'different' things.  I still have to cook up the patty pan squash (first for me), and figure out what to do with the tomatillos (I admit cooking with anything from the nightshade family puts a sinister smile on my face and makes me want to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas).  There is also a big purple cabbage in there (which came after we got through half of a curly cabbage) and another small green cabbage.  I did cook up the eggplant the other day - hey old wives, it didn't induce anything for the record.

It seems like most of my non-work time outside of the leisure of sitting in front of Netflix is spent on preparation activities that are captured on the OTHER blog about the kiddo and I have little to say here.  I guess some things are bound to bleed over, so I should simply allow it.

Signs of life have sprung up at the house that was up for sale across the street and up one - so I'm assuming they closed and it's a matter of time until I see a moving truck.  I'm officially no longer the newbie in the visible houses around me.  That sure didn't take long.

I also noticed that tickets still remain for a Die Antwoord concern next Wednesday at Stage AE.  If I'm still feeling well I am soooo incredibly tempted.  I think it would be a heck of a good time, but I hate the thought of going alone.  While my Favorite Egg also enjoys their music he seems to have no interest in live shows.  I'm just wanting one last hurrah before I am trapped at the house, is that wrong?