Posts from — August 2011

Phew! Our whole family’s exhausted. We went camping last night and stayed up too late, then woke up too early. I’ll have a report later, but now I’m too cranky. Lucky for me I’d worked ahead on this week. Here’s what I’ve found:

All Week:

• The Tri-City Valleycats have evening home games Tuesday through Thursday.

Monday, August 22nd:

• Starting at 9:30 am there’s a La Leche League Meeting at Bethlehem Public Library.
• From 2-3 pm there’s Summer Science: Live Animals at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga. For ages 5 and up, $2/child.

Tuesday, August 23rd:

• Registration for Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library’s “Kick Off to Kindergarten” program begins today.
• Regal Cinemas in Crossgates is showing Charlotte’s Web and Planet 51  today and tomorrow at 10 am. Tickets are $1.
• NYC Kids Theater are performing at 6:30 pm at Cook Park in Colonie.
• There’s a Water Ski Show at 6:30 pm at Jumpin’ Jacks in Scotia. I recently posted some links about water skiing.
• It’s a Schenectady County Movie Night, showing Shrek Forever After at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.
• At 7 pm it’s Watchable Wildlife: Bug Eaters at Five Rivers.

Wednesday, August 24th:

• At 9:30 am, kids 5 and up can do Texture Painting at the  Open Door Bookstore. It’s free, but call to register.
• Regal Cinemas in Crossgates is showing Charlotte’s Web and Planet 51  today at 10 am. Tickets are $1.
• From 10-11:30 am, it’s ‘Tute for Tots at the Albany Institute of History & Art.  Preschoolers can do Tree Magic art for $7/non-member.
• Learn about the Mysteries of Matter at the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology. Ages 7 and up, $2/non-member. Pre-register.
• At 10:30 am today and tomorrow, Joyful Jumpers is hosting Zoo to You Stuff-n-Fluff Parties. The cost is $15 per animal.  Pre-registration is required.
• Do an art Project with Peggy from 1-3 pm at the New York State Museum. Free.
• Ages 12-15 can participate in Summer in the City Workshops from 1-4 pm at the Albany Institute of History & Art. Tuition is $20/non-member, and you can register online. Today’s theme is Albany Goes Pop.
• At 5 pm, Blue Hand Luke and 3-4-3 are playing at Rockin’ on the River in Troy.
  
• Legacy is performing at 6 pm in Halfmoon.
• Kidz Theater at Music Haven in Schenectady’s Central Park at 7 pm.
• Doc Spring’s Rehabilitated Dixieland Band are performing at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.

Thursday, August 25th:

• From 7-8:30 am, there’s a Beginning Bird Watching walk at Albany Pine Bush. Got a little one waking you up waaaayy too early? Here’s a chance to embrace it. $3/person, $5/family; pre-register online.
• The Albany Institute of History & Art has Thursday Art Workshops. Ages 6 to 8 meet from 9 am to noon, and ages 9 to 11 meet from 1-4 pm. The cost is $20/non-member, and you can register online. Today’s theme is Wire Paintings.
• At 10:30 am,  Joyful Jumpers is hosting a Zoo to You Stuff-n-Fluff Party. The cost is $15 per animal. Pre-registration is required.
• It’s Jazz on Jay in downtown Schenectady at noon.
• From 1:45-2:30 pm it’s World Travelers to France at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga. Pre-register; it’s free with admission.
• Deluka with Ten Pound Tiger are playing at 6 pm at Wiswall Park in Ballston Spa.
• At 6:30 pm, Kristen Caesar’s Kidz Theater will be singing vocal harmonies at the Crossings in Colonie.
• Electric City Horns will be playing high-spirited pop/rock at 7:30 pm at Guilderland Performing Arts Center at Tawasentha Park.

Friday, August 26th:

• At 3 pm, take the BKFK Sikorsky Helicopter Challenge at the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology. Ages 5 and up, $2/non-member. Pre-register.

J borrowed my camera to take some pictures the other day. I loved looking at them–well, most of them. The picture of me was not the most flattering, but it was so interesting to see her perspective. I look tall, towering even.

One of my favorite things about parenthood is when you get new insight into your child’s perspective. When they were infants, it was discovering a light or pattern that grabs and holds their attention. When they started to move, I was fascinated to learn: where do you want to be, little girl? Then they’d start to talk, and the suspense was almost unbearable. I’d been talking at them for a year or a year and a half: what are they going to say to me? It’s even better because they like to go to interesting places, and they say such hilarious, wise, goofy things.

Anyway, here’s life around our house from J’s perspective:

Mary's house

You know Mary, right?

Swing

There’s a swing story, too, if you don’t remember.

Tomatoes

Flowers

Nice. J has a good life.

Apparently this weekend was brought to us by the letter A! Here’s what I’ve found:

All Weekend:

• C.A.S.T. presentation of Once Upon a Mattress at Steamer 10 Theatre.
• West Side Story is at Proctors all weekend. It’s recommended for ages 13 and up, and tickets range from $20 to $65.
• It’s the Altamont County Fair. $15 admission.
• On Friday and Saturday at Ballston Spa High they’re performing Hello, Dolly!

Evening of Friday, August 19th:

• It’s Family Game Night at Schodack Island State Park from 6-8 pm. Pre-register; it’s $3/person.
• It’s Parents Night Out from 6-9 pm at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga.$20 first child, $10 each additional child, and the theme is Carnival Night.
• At 7 pm it’s a Family Movie Event at Guilderland Public Library. They’re showing Horton Hears a Who.
• Our Own Productions are performing Altar Boyz at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.
• From 7-8:30 pm, find out Where Have All the Bats Gone? at Albany Pine Bush. It’s $3/person or $5/family.

Saturday, August 20th:

• It’s a Family Fun Day at Historic Cherry Hill.
• Go on a Salamander Search at Thacher Park at 10 am. For ages 7 and up, call to register.
• At 10 am, it’s Play On! Musical Enrichment for Infants and Toddlers at My Place to Play. $7/one child or $10/family, with free play afterwards.
• Learn about bats and then build a Bat Box at 10 am at Mine Hill Park.
• From 10 am to 12:30 pm, go on a Scavenger Hunt at Moreau Lake.
• Celebrate National Aviation Day from 10 am to 4 pm at the Empire State Aerosciences Museum.
• At 11 am, it’s a Kids Craft Under the Big Tree: Watercolor Painting at Schoharie Crossing State Park. $1/child, for ages 4 to 12.
• It’s the Saturday Star Show at 11 am at the Henry Hudson Planetarium, part of the Albany Visitor’s Center. This show is geared to ages 3 to 7. At 1 pm, there’s another show for the more sophisticated 8 and up crowd.
• At 1 pm, take the BKFK Sikorsky Helicopter Challenge at the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology. Ages 5 and up, $2/non-member. Pre-register.
• Do a special Art Smart project from 1-3 pm at the New York State Museum. There’s a fee for this program, $10/non-member. It’s also a Family Fun Day from 1-4 pm.
• From 1:30-3 pm, it’s a Fun with Flowers Craft Program at Albany Pine Bush. Pre-register; it’s $3/person or $5/family.
• Our Own Productions are performing Altar Boyz at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.

Sunday, August 21st:

• It’s the Shalom Festival in Saratoga Springs’ Congress Park from 11 am to 4 pm.
• At 1 pm, it’s the Junior Birder’s Club at Thacher. The theme is Waterfowl, and it features a dip in the lake.
• It’s Flower Appreciation Day from 2-4 pm at Schodack Island State Park. It’s for ages 2 and up. Pre-register; it’s $3/child.
• From 5-8 pm, there’s a Community Block Party at Schenectady’s Central Park.
• The Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company are performing at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.
• New York Rock & Soul Revue will be performing at 7 pm at Clifton Park Common (it’s on page 12 of the booklet linked).

It’s Wednesday and I hadn’t posted yet, so I thought that you might be concerned that I’m drowning under the weight of my CSA produce. Indeed, we’ve had our hugest haul yet, but I’m feeling like it’s under control. The freezer is my friend. I’ve washed a bunch of greens. I have two recipes in the hopper (thanks to those of you who sent me recipes, by the way) and a solemn vow from Cute W that he’ll make zucchini bread. Still, there are so many greens that I’m using some of them just as home decor:

So, that’s under control. We had a Date Night tonight:  actually  one-on-one Kid & Parent Night, so the girls chose the destinations, with Cute W and M going for Thai while J and I had Chinese (yes, the girls like some ethnic eating).  Then there was washing CSA greens, and finally, I was working on the weekly newsletter for Kids Out and About, which you should totally just sign up for already if you haven’t. Oh, and there’s a huge kid-music-library-giveaway that you should check out, too.

Phew! Finally done with all that, and super-excited because after our date, J and I visited the library where she got her very own card and I got myself a small pile of books. Because I needed a decent book desperately. I’ve been grouchy, and I think that part of the reason is that I’ve had a couple of duds in a row. First one that was good but a bit of a slog because it was long and dense (it reminded me, actually, of zucchini), then a “light” book that turned out to be depressing, then an historical fiction that I aborted after 75 pages because I’d already tried to take notes on the characters to keep them straight and I still couldn’t keep them straight. Phew. So I’m going to tuck myself into bed. I’m not even proofreading, so forgive my flaws.

Oh, and for this morning’s bike ride, I managed a photo of Miss J. The outfit is not quite as fabulous, but you do get to see the shoes. This was taken while I was biking, so it was my best effort.

Hooray for a break in the weather! This afternoon we took J’s first on-the-road bike ride around the neighborhood. She did great. In fact, the whole time I was wishing that I’d taken a camera with me, because she was so cute. She’s quite the style maven, and this afternoon she was wearing zebra-print flats that we’d found at Trendy Tots and a scarf out of the dress-up collection that she put over this Justice t-shirt (although, jeepers, we did not spend $15 on it) that made her look like she was a very small-but-stylish 11-year-old. Alas, no camera.

Toward the end of our trip, we were stalled at a 3-way stop sign because J is still intimidated by going downhill, plus it was busier than most of the other roads that we’d conquered. So M, who had biked slowly and patiently for a good twenty minutes, was a bit ahead and waiting down the street. J and I stopped, and I looked up to see all the friendly neighborhood drivers stopped and waiting for us to go first. So I had to gesture “No-no-no, I insist, you go!” until they did, then I bent over J with more pep/strategy talk. I looked up again and a new crowd of drivers were waiting for us at their stop signs, including a police car. More gestures and a yell to the cop that we just weren’t quite emotionally prepared to go down the hill yet. I parked my bike and moved away from it, hoping all those nice drivers would take the hint.

Finally J negotiated the hill with great success and arrived at the driveway just in time to meet the police officer, who’d double-backed to present us with “Good Driving Tickets” for biking with our helmets: coupons for free ice cream cones at Stewart’s. Yep, it’s a lovely place to live.

Anyway, if you’re in the mood to leave town, here are a couple of suggestions:

A friend told me about Shakespeare & Company’s The Venetian Twins. The theater is in Lenox, MA, but with rave reviews like this one, I’m tempted to go myself. My friend said it was “a hoot.”

A reader passed along information about Railroads on Parade, a new model train museum in Pottersville, NY. If you’ve got a child in that train-crazy phase, it might be worth a trip.

Speaking of trains, did anyone else see that New York Times article about how the New York Transit Museum is so popular with autistic children that they’ve begun developing program specifically for kids on the spectrum? We used to love bringing kid visitors to that museum when we lived in New York City, so I’d recommend it in any case. But this just makes me like them more.

Okay, anyone else feeling bitter about the rain? Of course last week, when my children were gone and I was hunched at the computer and/or doing housework, it was bee-yooo-teee-full. But now, with no camp whatsoever and plenty of time for the pool, it’s rainy and even chilly.

I’m not ready. I’m not ready for fall, or school, or feeling chilly, or any of it.

Ugh.

So, what are we going to do with ourselves, folks?

MOVIES:  We’ve got our free and cheap offerings (listed under the week post below), which are not awful. Actually, yes: Marmaduke was awful. Or I thought so, at least. There’s also Cars 2 at Scotia Cinema, and of course, The Smurfs hither, thither, and yon. Okay, why the heck is my beloved Neil Patrick Harris doing that movie? Does someone know? Was it just way too much money? Is he trying to prove he’s family-friendly to middle America after singing about Broadway being not just for gays anymore? (you saw that, right? If not, do click and watch!) I just don’t understand his motivation.

HOMEWORK: Would you believe that we have summer homework? Well, it’s not much, but there’s no sense in leaving it to the last minute when the weather stinks. Besides, J can squeeze stress out of even the most basic assignment. Today, she was making a picture for each letter of the alphabet (along with reading a book with me, the only thing she had to do), and she burst into tears because she was unhappy with the shape of her violin. That’s right: her violin. And I have to tell you, it was a pretty freakin’ good violin.

SCHOOL SUPPLY SHOPPING: That’s on our agenda if the rain persists. M isn’t enthusiastic, but there’s something about having a stack of shiny new folders that can’t help but make you a teensy bit excited, right?

INDOOR OUTINGS: A friend recently visited Crailo Historic Site and said it was great, so that’s on our list. I recently visited and reviewed My Place to Play. Has anyone visited the World Awareness Children’s Museum in Glens Falls? That’s on my list, too.

RESEARCH ON ACTIVITIES: If you’re thinking of signing your child up for any classes, this might be a great week to call and ask if you can observe or do a test class. You’ll be chewing up some rainy-day time and knocking things off the back-to-school To Do list. Hey, that’s not a bad idea. J’s decided that she wants to try ballet instead of Ginny Martin this year, so if anyone has strong ballet-near-Schenectady endorsements, I’d love to hear them.

J just said to me, “Mommy, I think it’s almost time for us to put the fuzzy blankets back on our beds.” Bite your tongue, sweetheart! I need some more summer first.

So, anyone have a favorite rainy-day activity to recommend?

Wow, you guys. It’s looking like a lot of rain this week. I’m not psyched about that. After all that camp fun, the girls are ready to slob out this week. We’ve also got a dentist appointment for M and we might do some Back-to-School shopping.

Oh, and M’s going to get introduced to her cello. This is sort of funny, actually, because I showed up at the music store to sign us up for a school-year rental, and the guy said that their usual procedure is to just deliver the instruments directly to the school so that kids can get started with the teacher when school starts. Of course in my hyper-competitive snooty-suburban school district, the music teachers had advised us all to get our instruments and take a couple of private lessons to get a “jump start”. And so, of course, I am bowing to the pressure because God forbid my child doesn’t know how to hold her cello on the first day and next thing you know we have completely eliminated our chances for senior high orchestra, much less Carnegie Hall. So, we’ll see how that goes.

Here’s what I’ve found for this week:

All Week:

• West Side Story is at Proctors  beginning on Tuesday and through the weekend. It’s recommended for ages 13 and up, and tickets range from $20 to $65.
• It’s the Altamont County Fair begins on Wednesday and continues through the weekend. $15 admission.

Monday, August 15th:

• Go on a Scavenger Hunt at 10:30 am at Moreau.
• From 11 am to 3 pm, it’s Family Fun Day at Peerless Pool at Saratoga Spa State Park.
• The Colonie Town Band is playing at 7 pm at Colonie’s William K. Sanford Library.
• Go on a Full Moon Walk at 7:30 pm at Moreau.

Tuesday, August 16th:

• Go on a Mud Pond Hike at 9 am at Moreau.
• It’s a drop-in Music and Movement for Little Ones at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library. 2- and 3-year-olds from 9:15-10 am, 4- and 5-year-olds from 10:30-11:30 am.
• Bowtie Cinemas in Schenectady is showing Shrek Forever After for free today and tomorrow. Doors open at 9:30 am, movies are at 10 am.
• Regal Cinemas in Crossgates is showing Marmaduke and Monsters vs. Aliens  today and tomorrow at 10 am. Tickets are $1.
• At 11 am, it’s Tuesday Trails at the New York State Museum, a free program designed for preschool to 6-year-olds.
• At 3:30 pm it’s the Sikorsky Helicopter Challenge at the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology. Ages 5 and up, pre-register, $2/non-member.
• Starting at 5:30 pm, there’s a Camp Out for Families at the Adirondack Museum, designed for kids ages 6 to 12. Pre-registration is required and it’s $45/person.
• The Rymanowski Bros. are performing at 6:30 pm at Cook Park in Colonie.
• There’s a Water Ski Show at 6:30 15 pm at Jumpin’ Jacks in Scotia. I recently posted some links about water skiing.
• It’s a Schenectady County Movie Night, showing Despicable Me at Esposito Park in Rotterdam at 7 pm.
• At 7 pm it’s Watchable Wildlife: The Great Egret at Five Rivers.

Wednesday, August 17th:

• At 9:30 am, kids 3 to 5 can make a fish-shaped book on a hook at Fish Tales at the  Open Door Bookstore. It’s free, but call to register.
• Bowtie Cinemas in Schenectady is showing Shrek Forever After for free today. Doors open at 9:30 am, movies are at 10 am.
• Regal Cinemas in Crossgates is showing Marmaduke and Monsters vs. Aliens  today at 10 am. Tickets are $1.
• From 10-11:30 am, it’s ‘Tute for Tots at the Albany Institute of History & Art.  Preschoolers can do a Rubbing Design for $7/non-member.
• Do an art Project with Peggy from 1-3 pm at the New York State Museum. Free.
• Ages 12-15 can participate in Summer in the City Workshops from 1-4 pm at the Albany Institute of History & Art. Tuition is $20/non-member, and you can register online. Today’s theme is Word and Image.
• At 5 pm, The B Street  Band, a Bruce Springsteen Tribute Band, is playing at Rockin’ on the River in Troy.
• There’s a drop-in Family Story Time Program at 6:30 pm  for kids aged 3 to 8 and their families at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library. Today’s theme is Let’s Go Camping!
• Sensemaya are playing Latin jazz at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.
• There will be kid-friendly Tales N Tunes at 7 pm at Clifton Park Common (it’s on page 12 of the booklet linked).

Thursday, August 18th:

• The Albany Institute of History & Art has Thursday Art Workshops. Ages 6 to 8 meet from 9 am to noon, and ages 9 to 11 meet from 1-4 pm. The cost is $20/non-member, and you can register online. Today’s theme is Imaginary Colors.
• It’s Jazz on Jay in downtown Schenectady at noon.
• Ryan Jenson with Matthew Carefully are playing at 6 pm at Wiswall Park in Ballston Spa.
• At 6:30 pm, Holly McCormack is singing opera at the Crossings in Colonie.
• There’s a Water Ski Show at 6:30 pm at Jumpin’ Jacks in Scotia. I recently posted some links about water skiing.
• Our Own Productions are performing Altar Boyz at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.
• It’s a Schenectady County Movie Night, showing Shrek Forever After at Schafer Park in Duanesburg at 7 pm.
• The BOBs, a vocal a capella group, will be singing at 7:30 pm at Guilderland Performing Arts Center at Tawasentha Park.

Friday, August 19th:

• It’s Summer Cinema with Tangled at the Bethlehem Public Library at 2:30 pm.
•  At Tiny Tots Tearoom there’s a Rockin’ PJ Party from 9 am to 7 pm. $25 includes 3 hours of drop off and food for the first child, or $7 for open play for the first child.
• It’s Art Night Schenectady from 5-9 pm.
• It’s Parents Night Out from 6-9 pm at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga.$20 first child, $10 each additional child, and the theme is Carnival Night.
  Our Own Productions are performing Altar Boyz at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm. Free.
  C.A.S.T. presentation of Once Upon a Mattress at Steamer 10 Theatre.

. . . And all’s right in our little corner of the world.

M loved camp. I drove to Wa Wa Segowea to get her while Cute W stayed local to get J off the bus from her daycamp. She gave me a hug, then pulled me by the hand around camp looking for her best camp friend who was, indeed, the girl I’d seen in those much-examined Facebook photos. Then she picked out the single most expensive item from the “camp store” (ie. some stuff laid out on a table): a cozy sweatshirt (I made her pitch in for it). Then she took me on a tour.

“This is the chapel. In the old days people were here all week and they’d do church on Sunday, but now we just go there to talk about their feelings,” she explained.

The tour was longer, but I’m too tired for a full report. We ate dinner (food was good, and M reported that one meal in particular was “the best lunch ever“), then headed home.

On the way, we passed through West Stockbridge, where they’re having a Zucchini Festival this weekend. We’d chuckled at the zucchini flags on the way up to camp last week, but now that the festival’s imminent there are tons of extra homemade zucchini signs advertising all sorts of treats. Zucchini bread, zucchini smoothies, and more. Pretty comical considering my recent zucchini-inspired vegetable meltdown. So of course I had to take a photo.

I wanted to take more pictures, because there were numerous signs with a wide variety of zucchini-inspired items. But I’m not particularly skilled at navigating or driving, so throwing photography into the mix was too much for me.

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If you’re interested, Kids Out and About is giving away of Selena Gomez tickets for Saturday, 8/27 in Syracuse. I’ve also added some articles at Kids Out and About from our recent visit to Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD.

Hey! It’s the last M-less night at our house. I can’t believe that it’s already getting cooler. Plus, Lowe’s had a bunch of mums outside. I’m not ready for mums.

Here’s what I’ve found for this weekend.

All Weekend:

• The Tri-City Valleycats have evening home games every night.
• I realized that I’ve been neglecting the Mac-Haydn Theatre this year. Yes, it’s a drive, but the shows are wonderful. This weekend is Snow White, and tickets are $9.

Friday, August 12th:

• Drop in for a Family Friday Movie at Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library at 2 pm. Today’s is Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.
• From 5-10 pm there’s an Eid Bazaar held by the Islamic Center of the Capital District.
• Enjoy Friday Game Night from 6-8 pm at Schodack Island State Park. Pre-register; it’s $3/person

Saturday, August 13th:

• From 7:30 am until 4 pm, it’s the First Annual Mine Kill State Park Fishing Tournament. Entry fee is $10/adult, kids 15 and under free. There’s a $3 vehicle fee, too.
• Bike the Byway starting at 9 am in Colonie.
• From 9 am until 7 pm, it’s Canal Splash Tour Day at Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site. $3/adult, $1/kids under 16. There’s a Kids Fun Tour at 2 pm.
• It’s a Summer Festival at Mine Kill State Park starting at 10 am. Pool, music, activities, free ice cream.
• At 10 am it’s Family Fun: Life Underground at Five Rivers.
• From 11 am to 9 pm, it’s the Coxsackie Riverside Festival. Crafts, foods, entertainers including Andy the Music Man, fireworks. Admission is $2/person.
• From 12-8 pm it’s Carama, a Caribbean Cultural Festival, at Schenectady’s Central Park. Costume parade, music, food, and more.
• Do an art project as part of Creative Art Day between 1 and 3 pm at the New York State Museum. Free.
• Go on a Scavenger Hunt at Schodack Island State Park from 1-4 pm. Pre-register; $3/participant plus vehicle fee.
• At 2 pm, participate in a Dragonfly Census at Five Rivers.
• Skeeter Creek are playing country at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.
• From 7-9 pm, it’s the final Howlin’ at the Moon Concert at Mabee Farm. $2 donation/person.
• Ajkun Ballet presents Sleeping Beauty at The Egg at 7:30 pm. $29/adult, $19/student.
• Go Stargazing at Thacher Nature Center at 9 pm.

Sunday, August 14th:

• It’s free Sundaes on Sunday from noon to 4 pm at the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center in Niskayuna.
  
• Slick Fitty is playing rockabilly at 6 pm at the North Greenbush Gazebo.
• David Wilcox is playing at Music Haven in Schenectady’s Central Park at 7 pm.
• The Lustre Kings are playing rockabilly at Freedom Park in Scotia at 7 pm.
• Captain Squeeze and the Zydeco Moshers will be performing at 7 pm at Clifton Park Common (it’s on page 12 of the booklet linked).

I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Wednesday is my CSA pick-up day, and as you know, I’ve been getting tons of vegetables. Tons. I’ve been eating zucchini at least once a day (starting with those eggs) for weeks, Cute W made pickles, and I’ve been smuggling the unpopular yellow squash into meals. We’re putting in some serious effort.  But like Newman’s mail, the vegetables just keep coming.

This morning I was still feeling optimistic. I cubed a couple of pounds of zukes to freeze for future egg breakfasts, I found a new recipe, Cute W said he’d make zucchini bread, and I tried out zucchini pancakes.

An in-progress photo, because I was still optimistic

The pancakes were okay. And by okay I mean, I ate half of one, then pushed it aside. The recipe I tried was too egg-ish (“Yeah,” reader scoffs while viewing the above picture, “Ya think?”). I do like zucchini, corn, and cucumbers, but I’m sick of it all.

Finally tonight, I threw in the towel. I just shoved all those vegetables in my fridge.

More Bok Choy! Mustard greens, so much squash, cucumbers, 8 ears of corn, so much more. . . .

For the good of the family, for the sanity of his wife, Cute W will make a huge deposit in  Honest Weight’s  Squash Hunger drop box tomorrow on his way to work.

And I’ll try to prepare for next Wednesday.

The whole vegetable thing is symbolic of a larger problem of setting my sights too high. I’m now more than halfway done with the long-awaited camp week, when I’m alone in my house from 8 am to 5 pm. Oh, I know. So many of you would kill to have an hour to yourself. I was there. I know that I’m fortunate.

But I just have to lower my expectations. I wanted to clean and organize my entire house, write a bunch of articles for Kids Out and About, catch up on neglected blog stuff like What About TODAY?, work out daily, and find some delightful leisure time.

Indeed, my floors are washed, papers filed and organized, many store returns returned, 4 articles written, legs sore from  workouts, numerous checks placed next to items on my list, and yet there’s still so much I would have liked to have gotten done, and with a day and a half left (I’m picking M up Friday afternoon, and it’s a drive), I can’t decide if I should push hard to finish more or take a half-day to be a slob.

So I’m discouraged, and feeling pathetic.

Which I totally shouldn’t, because in other ways, I am really rocking this whole organizational thing.

Remember that  I’d begun a new chore initiative  that was met with a lack of enthusiasm–okay, sobbing? Well, the throw-errant-items-in-the-trash method has gone quite well, thank you. Part of the initiative was rearranging various  various shoe-organizing devices, and our main closet’s floor still looks like this:

See all that floor?

If you’ve ever been to my house, you’d know that it never looks that good. To make it even better, it’s lasted two weeks. In other words, it’s not just that my children are not in the house: it’s actually been working when they’ve been around, too.

I also installed a stylish new dry-erase board just outside the girls’ rooms upstairs, and it’s been surprisingly effective. I started to make a morning list myself, but then M wanted to write the words and J drew pictures. . . in other words, total buy-in from the children. Without any further prompting from me, J’s continued to check items each morning this week even though we’ve been getting out of the house super-early.

My goal was to try to get the new habits well-established before school starts again, and we’re well on our way!

Finally, we’ve made a new dental choice that is proving to be almost as gratifying as the Great Switch to Electric Toothbrushes of ’07:

Okay, I’ve always thought that these little pick/dental floss holder things seemed both wasteful and stupid, but J was so enthusiastic about the dentist’s sample that I went out and bought some. The girls and I (I forgot to poll Cute W) find these things much easier than traditional dental floss or even those longer floss-holding thingies. It’s a revelation: J can mostly do all the flossing herself (we used to do half-her, half-us), and she’s doing it at least once daily without any nagging so that she can check it off her purple morning to do list. I don’t know how all of you do, but for the record, 1 to 2 times per day represents a vast improvement over our previous stats.

Which is excellent, because shredded zucchini can really get stuck in your teeth!