10.

1. Fall has definitely arrived in Spokane. It's COLD out there this morning. And the leaves are turning... I think it's the first year I'm not really ready... I want more sun! (Warm sun, specifically.)
2. Saturday morning my friend Ashley is going to do a photo shoot with our family. I'm so excited. It's so hard to get a good family picture. It usually entails me setting my camera on a rock or a garbage can lid and then starting the timer and running frantically to make it in the shot... needless to say, those aren't our best shots. Ashley's just starting out her photography business - but I've seen her work for years and am thrilled to get in with her before she becomes all famous and too busy!
3. I had a great weekend on ebay - I sold four old vintage Pelham puppets that I got at a garage sale over a year ago... and then I got a huge box of unopened vintage crepe paper at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago... paid $15 total for the puppets and the paper - sold it all in separate auctions over the weekend for over $215. Funny what people will pay for stuff. One of the puppets went for over $60. And they're ugly... but collectible, I guess... whatever - it's more $$$ for the Africa fund!
4. Gracie has become obsessed with squirrel chasing the last few days. She's always liked chasing them, being a dog and all, but lately the squirrels are driving her crazy because there are so many of them in the back yard making all their last minute provisions for the winter. I'd bet yesterday the silly dog asked to be let out close to 30 times - running like crazy across the deck and leaping into the yard, only to be too slow each and every time. Thank goodness. I'd hate to see what happened if she caught one...
5. Kyler has his first cross country meet today. I'm eager to see how he does. He's such a funny runner - because he's good - but he's not competitive at all. Weird. He just kind of saunters along at his own pace and then manages to place pretty well... funny kid.
6. Speaking of Kyler - we were informed on Sunday that he had to have a new calculator THIS WEEK for his math class... his old one didn't have graphing capabilities, whatever that means... so we went to the store to buy his new calculator after church on Sunday. And guess what? Graphing calculators are $120. What? Whatever happened to school supplies like a $.25 box of crayons and a package of lined paper? Fortunately, after making some calls we found a friend who had one she's willing to sell him for quite a discount... I would like to take this opportunity to say that when I was in school, we did all our graphing on paper, with pencils. By hand. Uphill both ways through a foot of snow...
7. Asia and I are getting excited for our trip to Santa Barbara at the end of next month for his dad's wedding... Asia has to go in and get fitted for his tux - and I tried on my dress the other day to make sure it wasn't going to be too big... I don't think I've ever been to Santa Barbara, except maybe to drive through it. We're leaving the kids - so it will be a nice little getaway for us! We've got friends lined up to stay with the kids already...
8. We had a potluck/recipe exchange/recipe book class at the store on Saturday... it was such a fun event - with SO much good food. I made a Fresh Tomato Tart adapted from this recipe. Yum. If you've got tomatoes coming out your ears, this is a great way to use them! I used fresh basil and substituted mozzarella cheese and made it in a tart pan instead of a pie plate. It was pretty darn tasty.
9. Money Saving Mom has become one of my very favorite blogs... I read it every day and find out about LOTS of ways to save money. She also has great posts on making the most of store promotions - specifically at places like Rite Aid and Walgreens. It's a bit of work, but last month, I got over $80 worth of stuff at Walgreens for free. Money Saving Mom really takes most of the work out of it and I'm all about saving $$$ these days. If you've got the time to make it work, it's worth the effort in my book.
10. Happy Tuesday friends. Smooch you all!