Five on Friday

In no particular order, I just have the itch to write a few things:

1. We are enjoying the fall harvest including 2 bushels of apples and a harvest of honey. Apple crisp is on the to-do list today and another crockpot batch of apple butter. The honey supers are sitting in my garage waiting to be extracted. I'm hoping to have an increase over my first-ever harvest last year of 5 pints. There are a few straggling eggplants from the garden, and tahini and chickpeas have been bought to make a dip (baba ganoush - sp?).

2. One of my biggest prayer requests for myself right now is patience with the kids right around dinner time! That seems to be crunch time, for I easily let myself get discouraged if I feel I didn't get enough done in the day by that point. Lord, help me to find joy and calmness even at the end of the day.

3. The soap-making is rolling along! Not only that, but lip balm, body butters and hard lotion bars are being concocted. Anybody want to place some holiday orders? :)

4. The children have been enjoying these Indian summer days. I believe even tomorrow a chill will set in. They've had lots of mosquito bites these past few days from being outside! There is a farm tour tomorrow, and we hope to visit a white-tail deer farm in our area.

5. Weight loss update (stop reading here if my battle with the bulge does not interest you; it doesn't offend me if it doesn't!). Well, there is good news and bad news. The bad news first - let this be a warning to you all - I had a lady approach me and ask if I were expecting. I am not. Boo. Please, please, please do not ask women when they are due if they haven't talked about their pregnancy first. It's rather humiliating for the women, and I speak from a vast number of personal experiences with this. Ok, whew, on with the good news. I have broken the 160 pound barrier! I am currently 159 as of last Monday! My goal is to reach 150, so I have 9 pounds left!! Most of the time these 9 pounds seem like an overwhelming mountain (of fat!), but I am committed to pushing through. That means I need to finish this post and get my hiney on the elliptical!

Cheers to a wonderful, crisp, hot cuppa of something Fall Day in your area!