soldier on

these are two classic ripley pictures. lately she's been spending a lot of time outside on the front porch just taking it all in now that it's cooler out.

isn't it silly when you put something somewhere and at the time, you're thinking 'this is an odd place for this, i'll never think of this when i'm trying to find it.' i did that with both of my pairs of sleep shorts and i've torn my room apart and can't find them. there aren't thattt many places they could be in this teeny house, but they're missing. and i knew i wouldn't be able to find them whenever i put them away. just silly.
love this picture of the pillow queen. humans aren't allowed to sit on her couch because it's so furred up.

but then i know it's growin' strong

listening to sweet caroline. handss.... touching hands.. reaching outtt!! .. touching me, touching youuuuu!!!!!!! :)

so last night my car was broken into, and i was bummed enough about all of the glass everywhere (that's now stuck in my fingers). but this morning i was looking for my library books and discovered that my bag was missing. then i realized i never brought it in from the car.. turns out they stole my favorite little blue and white flowered IKEA tote bag with my library books in it.. probably thinking it was a purse or something. so noww i'm paying a bunch to have my window replaced tomorrow andd i owe $42 for 2 library books. annoying.

other than that though, this week has been great. the cooler weather really makes everything a lot better. funny how 85 feels so much different than 95. it's the difference between it still being stifling hot vs it being cool when you're standing in the shade. ripley has just been camping out in the front lawn surveying the scene.

tonight it was just maj and i so we went to this german place in pflugerville that we've been wanting to go to. i ordered currywurst and red cabbage. the german woman taking my order said she did not recommend the combo. i told her it would be fine and ordered it anyway. it was deeelicious. maj had mushroom schnitzel and potato salad. yum.

why're you always lookin' so sweet

this is a bad picture but look at those teeny bell peppers. they're probably the size of golf balls right now. something is wrong with that plant though. the edges of the leaves are curling up and it isn't because of lack of water.

we had two mushy bananas the other day and i couldn't find a recipe that wasn't full of oil until i came across this recipe on epicurious for 'low fat banana bread.' we didn't have buttermilk, so i used milk with a squeeze of lemon in it.. worked fine. the bread was really good. didn't seem low fat at all.
but the best recipe of the season has been smitten kitchen's watermelon salad. i mentioned it last time i made it but forgot to take/post a picture. it's so pretty and so tasty and fresh. really fun to make too, especially if you love chopping. HEB was out of mint so i used some lemon basil from the garden ( ! ).
and last but not least on this random day is jeff's pictures of the new kitty on the block: our kitty's twin. our kitty is the one by the trash can, the new one is under the truck. we haven't seen either of kitty's girlfriends in quite a while. it's a mystery.
the weather in austin was unbelievable today. i think the high was in the mid 80s. it was crisp and the breeze felt cool. all of the kids at school were wearing pants, and a fair number of them had hoodies. it just felt like fall.

this time around

it is SIXTY SIX DEGREES in austin right now. hoodie weather! pretty exciting. we're not supposed to be above 90 all week. getting fall-y around here.

i had a really pleasant weekend. ready to get this last week of school overwith and on to china.

i'll post pictures of the garden tomorrow. the bell peppers have quadrupled in size.

fall

no post tonight, just a reminder to myself to take a picture of the tiny bell peppers and post it tomorrow morning.

your love as well as your folly

so we already found the cutest boy in the world, and now i've found the cutest girl. she used to just come up to me and stand in front of or beside me and lean against me and we didn't really talk a whole lot. but nowww we're besties. we hold hands and make up nicknames for everyone together. she is sooo cute. the other kids keep asking if she's my daughter. i hope my daughter is just like her.

running late! fun night, but i need to get moving. how impressed are you with matt's bread from yesterday? kind of amazing. i'm jealous. mine never turned out that well.

you give it all up

this house has become a fondue factory in the last couple of weeks, i don't know if i've mentioned it or not. but faj found these packages of fondue at world market. they're little boxes, and inside is a foil pouch that has wine and a mix of cheeses and spices in it. all you do is cut open the pouch, empty it into a dutch oven and stir it for 5 minutes until it gets bubbly and delicious.

the first and second weeks, we used baguettes from HEB. airy. not so tasty. except the cheese is so good that really you could eat it on white sandwich bread and it would be delicious.
but this week we talked matt into baking some bread (matt's been baking bread around the clock lately. i'll post some of the pictures at the end of this) and it was like the holy grail of fondue. fresh rye and french peasant bread.
after 3 weekends of fondue, i'm not sure how much more we can handle. i would be happy if i didn't have it again until i get back from the trip. but it is tasty.

matt's latest bread:

vermont cheddar
vermont cheddar again

sourdough deli rye

oatmeal bread

and for it being the last day of summer, it sure did feel a lot like fall in austin today. at one point while we were out on the playground, i was wishing i had a jacket. how about that! (it was probably in the low 80s...but in my defense! a storm was brewing and it was really windy and dark out.)