Chock full o'memories

  

This week out of the year is always a busy time for us in our family.  It is our daughter's birthday.  School is in full swing. We have other family members' birthdays.  Plus, there are loved ones we have lost- both family and friends.  

So, it is bittersweet.  

9/11... Another sad memory.  We all remember where we were of course.  I am no exception: A young mom with a two-year-old and in the first trimester with my second child.  Still new at the whole "mom thing."  Couldn't reach my husband since all the cell phone lines were busy.  Ended up going to a friend's house to pray.  It was all we could do, and in retrospect, it was the best thing we could do.  

I remember the NYC skyline well, as I could see it from my room in college.  I took them for granted really.  Just part of the scenery.  But, I remember the first time I saw the towers up close- just years before everything came crashing down.  

And, I always loved, after my years of college, that I could see the skyline on one of my favorite brands of coffee.  But, the towers aren't even on the coffee canister anymore like they used to be.  They are gone along with so many people from our world: 

brave, heroic, frightened, young, old, friends, family... 

Some knew where they were headed for all eternity. 

Others didn't have a clue.  

This is the one thing that reminds me how important it is to continue to share my faith in God with others.  

We never know what tomorrow may bring.

  "Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever." Hebrews 12:2, The Message Version.

Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Homeschooling Smarty Pants Mama

OK, so first, a confession: I have never actually read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  I'm just good at faking cultural/literary references.  For this very useful skill I would like to thank my mom and my dad for completely sheltering me as I grew up in rural Pennsylvania (which I like to call HEAVEN!!!! every chance I get) while at the same time letting me read pretty much anything that was in our house.  Which was a lot.  And of an odd variety.  However, I never got to Dr. Jekyll.  Probably because I was too busy trying to finish the unabridged version of War and Peace before I graduated from middle school.  Or maybe it was Anna Karenina.  Yep, I'm bragging.  Or sounding pathetic.  Whichever.

Anyway.  I took issue w/ my wonderful friend Michelle's recent lament and thought what could be more fun than stirring up some strife, smackdown, trash talk reasoned debate on the blog.  :)  It should be very clear to our blog readers that ONE of us here on the blog does not like summer.  I am frequently mocked and maligned for this point of view, but I will say it again: summer is hot, chaotic, busy, you sweat a lot, and you wear less clothing.  None of this is good by itself and put together it is just torture.  This does not mean that settling down and looking forward to fall is the mature thing to do, however!!  No!!!  It should also be very clear that I have no more claim to maturity than the other 2 crazy moms who are part of this . . . oh wait, that doesn't sound quite right . . . hmmmmm . .  . umm, never mind.

Let me get back to my point.  Yes, I have one. 

This seems to be the time of year when my homeschooling friends in particular are falling into two categories.  (Note that I am carefully not saying which is Dr. Jekyll and which is Mr. Hyde.)  There are the people who are pining after summer even before it's left.  They are saying things like "But I don't WANNA be a grown up and start up school w/ my kids!"  "Summer is so much fun, I just want to punch fall in the throat!"  And my favourite, "I need more ice cream and homemade hot fudge sauce!"  They are checking Target for stretchy pants and tossing their jeans into the back of the closet.  I'm not calling anybody out here.  If the stretchy pants fit, than you know who you are.

Then there is the opposite camp.  These people are cleaning and organizing and selling old curriculum and holding yard sales of outgrown clothing and homemade aprons their children have hand knitted while memorizing the book of Revelation and planning and planning and TALKING about planning their school year.  Every school planner/school curriculum/kid chore system on the market place is discussed and the many ways to use them.  They wonder aloud if they are doing enough or committing the cardinal sin of overscheduling.  Perhaps they dust off their copy of Confessions of an Organized Housewife and peruse it as a refresher.  Or perhaps they give it to a friend.  (Note that I am carefully not admitting to owning this book and am definitely not outing any possible friend who might or might not have been on the receiving end of my generousity.)  They are probably excusing this behaviour by calling themselves geeks.  Or smart.  Once again, not calling anybody out here!  Just, look down next to your computer and see if there is a homemade school planner there.  Then take step #1 and admit you have a problem.

I freely admit that I drank the Planning Potion.  For 3 weeks or more in August, I was determined to finally get my school planning done RIGHT.  I bought a homeschool planner, started studying the directions, and came to find out that I was supposed to spend a day praying about my homeschool year before I continued on w/ my school planning.  OK, great!, I can do that.  The day after I decided to do that I lost the planner.  (Well, actually my husband lost it, just to keep the debate around my house lively.)  Prayer did NOT help at that point.  So then I rushed around (most of the rushing looked like me sitting on the couch and staring into space w/ a concentrated frown on my face) and tried to make my own planner.  I couldn't even figure out how to get past Monday, 10AM.  I had 1) Devotional w/ kids, 2) Math with .  . .?  I mean, there are FOUR kids running around my house.  I'm not even sure if all of them eat breakfast every day.

Finally, enough was enough.  I mean, three weeks of this?  My sanity was at stake.  One of my sisters said I should stop waiting until I got my plan perfected (clearly she was not aware of how close I was), and just get started.  So, since I use a very easy, scripted (that means a book tells me what to say) writing program, I started doing that with at least 2 kids each day.  No, I wasn't Susan Wise Bauer yet, but I was on the road.  Back in the game.  Finding my groove.  Yee haw!

Then I stole a bright pink binder from my daughter (just in case my husband helped me organize again).  And I wrote down all of the subjects that each of my kids needed to do.  This sounds like a no-brainer, but I would always forget SOMETHING.  Until 11 that night, at which point I would say something like "Rats, I forgot to make the kids do math today!"  Although I would often choose to say that silently in my own head, since I don't like to "debate" with my husband all *that* frequently.  And then I would lie awake all night worrying about how I was failing my kids and myself and that Susan Wise Bauer would kick me off the Well-Trained Mind forum.  (wait, is this tmi?  and is it more or less pathetic than the Tolstoy brag?) 

I divided the subjects for my 2 oldest with a fancy slanted line because my goal is to do skill subjects like math and language arts in the morning and content subjects like history and science in the afternoon.  (Sounds intellectual, doesn't it? I copied it from somebody else.  Yes, she's on the Well-Trained Mind forum.)  I put this fancy paper with my super crafty color-coded writing into the front of my binder, along with a pocket for my color-coded pens.  If you look carefully, you will see that I had to list things for my 4yo like puzzles and games because when faced w/ a little-person-demand to watch tv I would say something brilliant like "ummmmmm, uhhhhh, No. You can, ummmmm . . ." and then I would forget that I was in the middle of a conversation and wander off in a fog and he would take a screwdriver and conduct an experiment to validate his hypothesis on the structure and stress analysis of drywall and then I would wander back in to find him standing next to some new holes in my living room wall and I would get all mad and scold and threaten and then be all "YES you can go watch Little Einsteins.  Just be quiet!!  And no more holes in the drywall!!!"

Not impressed by my homeschooling genius yet?  Well, I use Sonlight Curriculum for my history and literature, and my next breakaway from my planning paralysis was when I discovered they have simple blank schedule pages in the back of their Instructor's Guide for me to copy.  So I copied a bunch and put them in my binder, along with a yellow sticky note that reminds me of the extra books I want to read with my kids while they bicker eat lunch.  I'm a bit of a book-a-holic, and I was forgetting to read all of these great books I have sitting on my shelf just waiting for lunchtime! 

So now, each week I fill out what I have to accomplish.  Not necessarily page numbers or specific books to read, but just the general, make sure you do math every day kind of stuff.  Although I have started making little notes to myself about page numbers where we stopped, or the book we just finished.

Simple.  Not super-planned.  But I love it.

I'm getting school done.  Spending time with 4 of my favourite people in the world and seeing them once again as People and not Subjects Who Will Not Fit Into My Plan(ner).  I'm not any more mature or organized than I was when it was still technically summer.  But I feel like I've found the happy medium between Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Homeschooling Smarty Pants Mama.  I need to think of a different literary reference.

I know!! I've become Anna Karenin.  Can I break free from the torment of loving my homeschooling, clutter-filled life?  Can I reconcile with the strict expectations of an organized home?  Will I throw myself in front of the train or not?

It might look like it is just a very cluttered desk.  But it's a train.  Trust me.  Stay tuned.

~Stephanie



Spoiled, rotten, monstrous, brat...

I can't stand the word, "brat."  Really.

It makes my skin crawl.  When my oldest child was born, there was someone in my life who thought that it was a "cute, pet name" to call our sweet daughter:  

"Brat."   

OR... my OTHER "favorite" from the same person:"Little Monster." 

This makes me crazy to say the least.  And, especially if you know my daughter, she is far from a brat.  Really.  Trust me.  

I have been in kind of a funk lately.  It's the kind of funk that is disgusting and frustrating to me.  It's not what I've been saying on the outside either.  It's the stuff running through my head and unfortunately my heart as well.  

It is an ungrateful funk. <gulp>

It is like I have ripped apart a field of daisies, and instead of whimsically rotating the words, "He loves me, He loves me not," I have been rotating words like these plucking off the precious petals set before me: 

"Have. Have not. Have not. Have. Have not..."  

NOT a pretty picture, I know. 

It is shameful really, because I actually HAVE. SO. MUCH.  I really do!!  Instead of focusing on the "haves," I have just chosen in my head and in my heart to focus on the "have nots."  And, then, it occurs to me that I am a 

Spoiled,

rotten,

monstrous

brat. 

I am. Because I have so much, and I have been ungrateful. 

Then, I remember one of my life verses that I have always held dear to my heart in my walk with the Lord.

"I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am." Philippians 4:11 (The Message version)

This makes me...

Convicted. 

Repentant. 

Grateful for what I have, and there is MUCH for me to be grateful for...

Grateful that God can forgive my 

Spoiled,

rotten,

monstrous,

bratty

heart.

I am looking at the field of flowers set before me with the hopes that I will just take in the sights.  I pray that I will be grateful again rather than tearing it apart because of any spaces that I may think I lack.  

Because I lack for nothing. I am blessed beyond measure. 

~Michelle

Living in fear. Like, making a home there, and putting up curtains.

Last night, i couldn't sleep. I just was laying there, staring at the clock. 2:35-2:36-2:37. Should i just go clean? Reorganize the bill and calendar box? Pretty sure 11yr old left dishes FULL of food in her attic bedroom from the playdate on Monday. I've been asking her every day to bring them down. I didn't do the dishes in the sink last night. It might be nice tomorrow, and i can't open the windows because spiders have made a home in the screens. What if one of my kids gets sick? What if I get sick? What if the husb trips at training today and falls off a mountain? (don't worry, my dear Mother in Law, he won't:) ) What will i do with my LIFE when all my kids leave me? I don't want them to leave me. I won't be able to blame anyone but me for the house. Because lets face it, it's probably 35% kids 15% husb, and 50% my laziness.

I want to do everything right, and i don't.
I want to help people more, but i'm tired or i don't want the obligation.
I want to be nice. I'm not.
I want to be encouraging to others. That would require me to be more friendly.
I want to be a rockstar at homeschool, but it is SO. MUCH. WORK. I hate math.
I don't want to be the grownup.
I want the kids to have an amazing, happy childhood, and i think i am failing at that.
...will they just remember me sighing REALLY loudly and mournfully, see THAT look of disappointment on my face, while i look out the window at the "fort" they are excitedly showing me, that is in full view of the street? The fort made of yarn, paper, and lawn furniture tied into a giant knot.

When i take the time to fold the laundry, have them come get their pile, and i walk past their room and see they threw it on the floor...i can feel IT bubbling up. Anger, worthlessness, sadness. I feel like i have friends who are able to laugh at these things. And i just want to go on a rampage, throwing things, ripping down curtains - go all Hulk on them. Because THAT would teach them. Riiiight. It's laundry. WHO. CARES. But in the moment, i suuuper care.

I'm just tired of fear being the base of so much of my day.
Fear that i am failing as a Mom, when my kids couldn't care less - they remember the same things i remember about my Mom, hugs, big breakfasts, laughing, crafts, reading books, the best holidays ever, 16 kinds of Christmas cookies, and being in an amazing environment of love.
Fear that i am failing as a wife, because he had to find his own socks, or the weight i gained...again, or the house wasn't pretty when he got home, or i don't know what's for dinner yet. My husband couldn't care less. He is a million percent happy with me. Why do i put all this on myself??
Fear that i am failing at school with my kids. Because i still am not ready to commit to the school year yet. Because i usually don't know what the heck other homeschool Mom's are talking about with curriculum (and, i will admit, it's because i don't want to). Because my kids aren't named Moses-Ezekiel and Hadassah-Mary, and they don't speak Greek and do advanced calculus at 4 years old. SO WHAT! I swear, i spend so much time making up fears for myself, then feeling like i don't fit in anywhere, it's totally ridiculous. The homeschool "society" in general is the most friendly, accepting group ever. I put this on myself. I do.
Fear of my own laziness. Now this is legit. 2 legit 2 quit. And it's going to be a battle.

*disclaimer: i will never, ever be one of the super moms who likes to be busy, so don't pray for that. i love being home with my kids and husband! i don't want to be busy every day. ever. it makes me sweaty and angry.

I am scared God will test me in life. I am terrified it's in His plan to take one of my kids early. And i will have to be that strong, Christian woman. I don't think i can do that. AND I DON'T WANT TO BE TESTED ON IT!!! I don't. I should want to. There are Bible verses on that stuff. But i want to live happily every after, go to Disney, and have passable smart kids with little or no effort. Oh, and have someone stop by, see our cute little family, and just give us $50,000. Just because we are so great.

All i'm really saying today is somehow, i want to stop being afraid of things. Like afraid to the point where i don't want to leave my home, or anyone to take my kids anywhere (koo-koo!!). Because somehow, my home is a safety bubble where nothing will go wrong?? That's not true! I TRULY want to replace my fear, inadequacies, and ridiculous worry with God. I always say this, but i feel like i'm always waiting for "it" to start....the perfect that is totally going to fall into my lap. I need to work for it. MAKE it happen. And stop being afraid.

Because fear is boring.
And no one likes a boring girl:)

Thanks for reading my rant...and Happy Thursday:)
~Sue

p.s. i'm not crazy. i'm not depressed. i'm not in need of "special help". blogging is how i work things out. please don't call 911 or stop by without texting, you will see me with makeup smooshed all over my face, sweats with a blown out crotch, and a tee shirt with no bra. and THAT is not good. no one needs that sight burned into their brain. i'm fine. you can just pray for me to stop being a lazy, fearful, whacko! unless you are bringing me donuts. leave them on the porch.

Top Ten Reasons Why I'm Glad Summer's Ending

Sunset in the Florida Keys while on a 14 yr. anniversary date with my hubby

As the sun sets on summer <sigh> I now must make my list about why it is so lovely that it is all coming to an end....<ahem>

Top Ten Reasons Why I'm Glad Summer's Ending

10. It won't be so hot. 

(Nevermind... we live in NJ & it could be hot until November...)

9.The kids can't wait to start school. 

Um... no, they can wait...

8.There are so many yummy Fall foods to look forward to. 

Oh wait... then, I will gain some more 

unnecessary pregnancy pounds...

<sigh> So, it's settled.  I can not go on with this list.

I'm really sad that summer is ending. 

Really.

Top Ten Reason Why I'm Sad Summer's Ending

10. I really do love the summer even if it is hot. 

9. My house is cleanest in the summer, so it only goes downhill from here.

8. I have to spend less time reading "fun" books like 

"The Hunger Games" and spend more time reading... curriculum.

7. I have to start nesting again, because the baby needs a bedroom.

6. I have SO much work to do with my business, home, school, and church.

5. My schedule is about to intensify. 

4. I'm at the point in the pregnancy where I'm remembering how little sleep I have left before I embark on the journey of endless sleeplessness for an undetermined amount of time. 

3. Though I am passionate about home educating my children and my children generally like homeschool, the thought of school beginning is still not a fun thought right after we've returned from a fantastic, relaxing vacation.

2. I will be gaining more weight over the next few weeks from delicious Fall foods that I love, and the pounds might take a while to come off.

1. The baby- though we might have atleast narrowed it down- still remains nameless until my husband and I can come to an agreement.

Really, when I think about it,

I'm just lamenting that I have to be a grown-up after returning from such a relaxing, worry-free vacation. 

I like being a grown-up... sometimes...maybe... 

Just not when the summer is ending...:)

My hubby and littlest guy fishing on vacation.

~Michelle

Losing My Religion . . . or Hair; no, what I really mean is my hair

So, part of the reason I have been pretty quiet on the blog lately (besides summer craziness) is because I've been spending a lot of time with a crazy, needle-happy dermatologist lately.  You see, my hair has been falling out.  Not I-just-had-a-baby-and-look-at-this-craziness level.  No.  Way, way worse than that.  For months and months.

My mom went through radiation treatments to kill a brain tumor when I was kid.  Her hair never really grew back in.  The brain tumor disappeared, though, so I thought it was a pretty even trade.  When I was a kid.  And it was my mom.  You know - not me.  My mom died right after I graduated from college, in spite of the cancer cure, from the radiation damage done to her brain.  Since my 10yo just asked me what it was like to be alive before women were allowed to vote, you know that was a Long, Long Time Ago.  But then, this spring I saw my mom's face starting to show up in the mirror as I quickly walked past it, and I pretty much got hysterical.  You see, I've pretty much been counting on my hair to carry me through life.  And two weeks ago, the dermatologist gave me the results from a biopsy and there was no reason to calm down.  Scarring Alopecia.  Some people's immune systems start to attack their hair follicles and kill them.  So you can't grow any more hair.


You go bald.


Maybe a delightful little fringe around the edges.


Even if you are a woman.


They don't know why it starts.  Stress.  Allergies.  Some treatments might stop the hair loss, most don't.


But you can't grow any more hair.


Yes, I am not even a little bit ashamed to say that I could barely get out of bed for a few days after hearing this news, even if some of you right now are thinking "Well, at least it isn't cancer."  It's only hair, right?  But, I still have days that staying in bed is a big temptation.  There are so many things just swirling around in my head.
#1) I am not really a vain person.  At least, I didn't think I was.  God couldn't transfer this diagnosis to somebody who Needs to Learn a Lesson?
#2) I have never even really WANTED to be one of those women whose sweet and gentle spirit is shining beautifully out of her face and making everybody forget what she really looks like.  I never trust those people.  They are too nice.  Unsurprisingly, I don't think I'm close to being one of them, either.
#3) My husband has always been better looking than I am.  And nicer.  Yet he isn't going bald.  And he COULD go bald and would not elicit horror-stricken stares that I am sure are coming my way.  And he will probably now get sympathetic looks when he is w/ me.
#4) If I *am* going to end up looking like a freak show, it seems like I will have to start dressing more carefully.  That seems like an unfair amount of work for a homeschooling mom AND counter-productive to what God would want if he really wants me to be focusing on that inner beauty thing.  And I clearly have a lot of work to do on that front.
#5) Oh for crying out loud, it turns out I really am vain.  So, now I'm going bald and I find out I'm a great big sucky hypocrite and pretty much not living by the faith that I claim to have.

Deep breath.

OK, here's what else I'm thinking (thanks in part to hours of crying on the phone with my two amazing sisters).  I'm not sure I have the faith I need to get through this with God.  God and I have been through some tough things.  My mom had cancer.  She was healed miraculously (and I don't write that lightly), and then died anyway.  One of my closest friends got cancer and died.  My house caught on fire.  My marriage almost burned up along with it.  And somehow I could still say with confidence that I am trusting God's plan and following Him.  I still want to serve Him and glorify Him in whatever way I can.  I would have said that He is my Faith.  But now, . . . I just feel broken.  I'm not sure how to even pray in faith about this.  Do I pray for healing?  For God to "use this for His glory"?  (Perhaps you can tell by the quotation marks that I might have some less-than-faith-filled thoughts about that.)  So, maybe He has been my Religion.  Maybe He is somebody I've just been paying lip service to, while I go on about my daily busy-ness.

You know how sometimes you hear the same song over and over on the radio and you start to wonder if you're supposed to be hearing a Message or what???  Well, I can't even begin to tell you how many times over the past 2 weeks I have heard Amy Grant sing "We pour out our miseries, God just hears a melody.  How beautiful, the mess we are."  And guess what?  I AM a great big mess.  About as far from a beautiful mess as can be.  But perhaps I do have some things I can learn.  Perhaps God does see me as beautiful.  Perhaps this is the end of my Religion and the beginnings of Faith.  Maybe what I really thought was me being weak before was me finding ways to stand on my own and being proud of what I thought God had taught me and that I had learned so well.  See all of that self in there?  Perhaps I need to lose my hair to stop claiming credit for God's work in my life.  But you know what?  I would still rather have pretty hair.  So, this is obviously just the beginning of my journey.

~Stephanie

The Summer Spin Cycle

OK, has anybody figured out yet that I am not the biggest fan of summer?  I sweat a lot, and don't like to sweat, so there's that.  There are crazy levels of activities, and I am a homebody.  But I do have a love/hate relationship with one part of summer: home canning.

I realize I might be speaking a foreign language right now to some of you.  But I grew up in rural Pennsylvania (HEAVEN! as I like to call it) in what was in many ways an old-fashioned way to grow up.  Plus, it apparently was a Long, Long Time Ago, since my 10yo thinks I was born before women could vote.  (Yeah, I'm not letting that go any time soon.)  So I grew up helping my mom make jam and jelly and canning green beans and peaches and pears and pretty much any fruit we wanted to eat over the winter.  I also grew up with an extremely frugal mom who thought fresh fruit was too expensive to buy in the winter.  Sigh.  Anyway.

So this is how I view summer:
end of May: Strawberry Season.  Get busy because it comes earlier in south Jersey and I'm still trying to do school w/ the kids.  But wait, south Jersey strawberries aren't that great so I need to make at least one trip up to PA to get some yummy, small, mouth-wateringly tasty strawberries from the Amish/Mennonite farmers who live around my Grandma.  Then go home and start making jam.  This year: 4 batches, 2 in which I forgot to add pectin, which is what makes your jam and jelly set, meaning I have 2 batches of strawberry syrup and 2 batches of jam.  Oh well.  Any child that complains WILL be given an extra chore to do.  So there.



It doesn't look like enough for a year, does it?  Hmmmm . . .

June: the crazy rush of berries.  This year I found a place close by where we could pick black raspberries.  This is a rare find in south Jersey.  (Heaven has them growing wild everywhere.)  So we spent time picking raspberries and making raspberry jam and jelly.  This year: 1 batch of black raspberry jam (that means w/ the seeds), 2 batches of red raspberry/black raspberry jelly.  At this point in the summer my daughter started signing her name as "Stirrer, Spreader and Consumer of M.A.D. (Mother and Daughter) Jam, Inc. - that's the company that's incorporated not the jam."  I sure do love that funny girl!

Also in June, going through July: blueberries.  My husband went vegan about a year ago.  All of the kids consider frozen blueberries w/ a little bit of milk poured over them a big treat.  Last year I froze 40 pounds and we ran out in December.  So, starting in mid-June, I bought one 20 pound box a week and washed and froze them.  Ideally I would like to pick (or buy) organic ones in bulk, but I'm in get-'er-done mode, and it's more important to me just to get tasty fruit that is better than what I can get in the grocery store in the middle of winter.  This year I believe I got 100 pounds, but I did give some away to my dad and my grandma, so probably I only have 80 pounds left in my freezer.

This is only a small part of the 80lbs.  It was hard
to find room for them, what with all the ice cream.

Also in June, going through July and August: my husband's garden starts producing zucchini.  He grates this and puts it in quart bags in the freezer.  SUCH a huge blessing in the middle of winter when I make zucchini-carrot quiche.  Seems a bit of a trial in the middle of summer when I'm busy with other things.  :)

60 quart bags - about as exciting to look at
in person as they are in the photo.  ;)

Then, August.  The Spin Cycle has me in its grip.  It is that crazy, last, flying burst of activity that won't stop until September hangs me up to dry.  Peaches. Tomatoes. Canning.  We have a gas stove-top and our gas bill doubles this month.  It is worth every penny, though!  This food is far tastier than anything we get in the grocery store.  It's not as cheap as the super-cheap, low-quality stuff you can buy w/ a zillion coupons, but this year we calculated the peaches are about 1/4 the price of the quality stuff that we buy.  So far we have 60 jars of peaches in the pantry, and plans for 20 more.  Tomatoes are coming on Monday.  Hello, heart-healthy tomato sauce.

Sunshine in a jar!

Have I mentioned that I look forward to September?

~Stephanie