The Last Dog Days of Summer

Why in the world is it called the last dog days of summer?

My children are enjoying the remains of summer before school begins. There has been lots of swimming, a trip to the park, Monkee watching, X-Box playing and all that good stuff. It's always to bad when the summer ends, but I'm glad it will be warm for several weeks after school begins. That means that when they kids get out of school, they can still enjoy their favorite summer-time activity, swimming. This is the last season for our huge above-ground pool. It is falling apart, the liner has many holes and really, it cost a lot to run. I will miss it when it is gone and next summer will be very different without it. Our backyard is going to get a lot bigger soon. Until the end of September, though, we will be loving the last of the pool.

My scones turned out well yesterday and they tasted great. The enrichment night was international night. Women brought food to represent Paraguay, Germany, Hawaii (not another country, but certianly another culture), the Phillipines, West Africa, and Brazil. Oh, and of course, I did Scotland. I took my photo album from when I went in 1992 and a few books I bought while I was in Scotland. I talked a bit about my amazing great-grandmother who had been born and raised there until she was about 21 and then she married a Texan called Tex, moved to Texas and saw Scotland only once more in her long life. She was an amazing lady.

Each morning we have the breakfast delima. The family likes cereal, but cereal doesn't last long in our family. It is expensive and just isn't worth the money. So, often, I make butterscotch oatmeal, mush, or pancakes. This morning, nothing sounded good to me and I didn't feel like cooking. I decided I'm going to bake tomorrow. I'm going to make pancakes and muffins and keep them in the freezer. That way I won't have to cook every morning. I don't mind usually, but some mornings..... I just can't. I've also been making my own bread and I need to make another batch tomorrow. We are running low. Everyone loves toast. Tomorrow will be a baking day and for dinner we have been invited to someone else's house to eat. Bonus! I don't have to cook or clean up after it!

Well, that is enough babbling for tonight. Speaking of babbling, my sister and I (who spend a lot of time on the phone with each other thanks to unlimited long-distance) have started "chatting" during the day. We just leave up the chat box all day and add things here and there for the other to read. It has been fun. It is almost like having her with me. The joys of the Internet!