Today was the first day of school...again...

Today was the first day of school here in Burke County. My bus route seemed to go off without a hitch. I have a bunch of kids who didn't ride this morning, so it should be interesting this afternoon. I am praying that our new assistant principal doesn't try to "shoe horn" the kids onto one load like the one we had last year!

There are still roads I can't go down, so I am just praying that the parents are too mad about their kids having to walk to the ends of streets, or home from the bus stop. The elementary bus driver was telling me about some of the "troublemakers" I will be getting, so I am preparing the first seats for them! Gotta love those "seats of shame"! :)

I normally only have trouble of the boys, but now I have three new cameras on my bus this year. No one will be able to get away with anything! Which is a good thing. I have started on my seating chart so I will be able to get to know each kid and where they sit. I have a couple of pieces of paper to hand out, and they will have to turn one in to me, and I am not really worried about the other because it should really be passed out by the teachers with the other paperwork that gets sent home on the first day. But then again, some of the info will be helpful in making my seating chart when it comes to medical problems.

I have baked lemon bars and raspberry bars this morning as well. I still have to bake some devil's food cakes tomorrow, too. Although, I might just bake these tonight so I can drop them off at the church tomorrow after WI. These will go in a bake sale at a yard sale for S.M.A.R.T. (Supplies, Materials, And Resources for Teachers) here in Burke County. All the proceeds will be used to buy school supplies for the teachers at all the schools. I only wish I could do more. I did donate three Explorer loads of stuff to the yard sale, made signs, and am doing the baking for the sale. I don't mind doing the baking, although there is a major weakness when it comes to lemon or raspberry anything!! I just keep reminding myself that the Points are just not worth it. Plus, they are just box mixes, so it isn't like I could actually rework a recipe to lower the Points.

When I get off work this evening, I have to rush over to my granddaughter's school and pick her up. My son-in-law works some crazy long hours at times being in the heating and air business and my daughter is back in school taking a phlebotomy class two days a week in the evening. In October and November, that will be a four day a week ordeal while she is taking two classes. I don't really mind though. I just hate the traffic near the local Walmart because it is always heavy between 3 pm until about 6 pm. I guess Walmart is the place to be! LOL

I am praying my granddaughter doesn't need anything extra for 1st grade other than what she took in at Open House. If she does, I guess I will be making a trip to Walmart or Staples to fill in the gaps. I bet she will have homework that I will have to make her do. It seems like that the is the first thing teachers do anymore, load the kids up with a ton of homework from day one.

Spent most of my day in the kitchen...

I spent most of my day in the kitchen today. I started first thing by canning 4 quarts of tomatoes.That meant washing the tomatoes, cutting an X in the bottom of them, cutting out the cores, dropping them in boiling water for about 30 seconds or so before putting them ice water and peeling them. Then I cut them up and put them in the jars and processed them.

Once those were done, I got started on my 3 pecks of apples I bought at the farmer's market Saturday. I had bought a peck each of Gala, Ginger Gold and Honeycrisp. I peeled and sliced enough to fill 6 quarts while making a thick sauce for them. I then added the sauce and processed them making 6 quarts of apple pie filling.

The rest of the apples went into my crockpot and a big stock pot and got cooked until they were nice and soft. I then put them in my food processor and processed them until there were only a few lumps. I managed to get 8 1/2 quarts of applesauce but I only processed 7 of them. The other 1 1/2 quarts I put in the fridge for use this week. (My hubby took the other quart from last week that I had in there out on the road with him!)
My back actually hurts from all that standing and peeling of apples. I had so many peelings and cores that I had to make 2 trips the compost bin with them all! LOL I am just glad that the grand kids were not here today because they like to be underfoot and it would have been impossible for me to get all the canning done. But I miss them at the same time. I am not sure what day they will back from their other grandma's house, but I am going to enjoy the peace and quiet while I can because school starts back next week and I will be surrounded by 80 +/- kids twice a day.

This is going to be a busy week for me anyways. Wednesday is my dentist appointment, Thursday is Weight Watchers and I also have a hair appointment right after my WW meeting. And supposedly my daughter is going to take me for a pedicure Saturday because I have lost 51.4 pounds since March. (That is when I joined Weight Watchers.) Oh yeah, and one day after my best friend gets off work, we are going to make a run to Hickory to A.C. Moore, Michaels, or Hobby Lobby to try and find goodies for her son's wedding. We are trying to help her soon-to-be daughter-in-law get everything ready. I am not sure if I will be able to attend the wedding because it is on the same day as my grandson's birthday. Everything is rather up in the air right now. I don't even have an outfit that I can wear if I do get to go to the wedding.

Wow. I think I need a vacation from my summer vacation! LOL

What a crazy day...

Today was the day I expected it to be. I was informed first thing this morning that my son-in-law was going to be at my house within 30 minutes to pick up the lawn mower so he could mow his parents yard. Needless to say, I quickly mowed my front yard so it would be done even though the grass was wet from yesterday’s rain. (I did take the mulcher out so it wouldn’t get clogged up. I was supposed to go to my best friend’s house and help her can pears and make our apple butter, but he didn’t get back in time. But he did mow the rest of my yard for me. :) For that I am thankful.

Since I wasn’t going to my best friend’s house, I ended up freezing another gallon bag of okra and canning 4 quarts of tomatoes. I guess I will work on the apples tomorrow. I will not be babysitting my grand kids, but I think I will have another friend’s kids, but they will just stay in the spare room watching movies.