It was one of those days.

A little too rushed.
A trip to the dentist.
A little whining.
A dog with a belly ache.
Where is my backpack, mom?
An expensive back pack full of soccer gear gone missing.
A fuming mad mom.
Late, late, late to soccer practice.
An overheard conversation: the coach, stern words, too many excuses from the player (my player).
Mom gets even more angry.
Dad makes a quick dinner.
More whining.
Dad lectures.
Dog does NOT want to go in the kennel again.
A long drive to a lost and found.
The dog goes for along for the ride.
The door is locked.
A wait for the key.

Backpack found.
Gear retrieved.

The mood lifts. A little time on the playground. Dad stops lecturing. Mom apologizes. The boy jokes. He smiles. He promises to work harder at the next practice and keep better track of his stuff. A beautiful sunset. A discussion about sun rays. and cameras.

A few minutes to spare before bedtime.
The dog gets his walk.

(and the photos are unrelated to any of it. Nighty-night.)

"Oh goodness! I would love one of those. I'm woefully underaccessorized. So very cute!
I'm super excited about Heather's book and can't wait to get it."

Posted by: Sarah :: greenclogs | August 19, 2010 6:10 PM

Yay, Sarah! Just email the circumference of your wrist and your mailing address and I will send it right away!

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And for the rest of you, I wasn't kidding when I said it was easy. You can make one of your own! The hardest part might be finding the perfect leather belt. I preferred the ones that looked a little worn, but I'm sure that's my inner hippie trying to escape.

Here's what you need:

L to R:
A leather punch (my mom had this one, but they sell simple little ones at the hobby/craft store.)
a nice all leather belt (or two or three)
the leather snap kit (I got this at Hobby Lobby in the leather tooling section.)
a small hammer
strong-ish scissors

Measure your leather out to your desired length and cut neatly across. Don't forget to take into consideration the overlap needed to add the snaps.

Carefully round the corners of the ends to make the cuff look a little more finished.

Decide where your snap will go and punch a hole with your punch.

Insert the little snap/rivet thingy into the hole. It should be tight.

BE SURE to read the instructions on your snap kit carefully. You'll have to do a little bit of thinking to figure out which side goes where- you'll want the finished side of your snap facing the outside of the cuff.

Hammer the snap according to the packaged directions. It said to use a mallet, but I just been used my little jewelry hammer down on the floor, and it worked fine.

The finished "female" side of the snap.

Mark, punch, attach, and hammer the other side of the snap at the other end of the cuff the same way.

Make sure you've got your snap parts facing the right directions. Double check this before you hammer them.

Voila! So easy.

So this is my routine: I go in all nonchalantly. I pay and thank the nice photo guys. "Yes, thanks! You have a nice afternoon too." I can't open them right there, that might show that I'm anxious (which I am.) I drive about a half-mile to the first side street and pull over. Then I look through the photos slowly, one at a time, handing each one back to N if she's with me. When we're through the stack once, she gives them back and we drive on. Sometimes I'm pleased, sometimes not so much.

Today I was thrilled!

Not only did I love most of the photos, they were a little gift wrapped in a white envelope. Just as the first cool fall-like breeze blew through the open car windows, I held in my hands a stack of 36 photos that represented our entire summer. That film had been in the camera all summer long, and I've been stingy with the photos, film or digital. Camping trips, hanging out in the yard, swimming in our friends' pool, get-togethers on the patio, summer food, vacations- only a few of each- but they were all there.

Thanks, film guys. You made my day and you don't even know it.

When I saw Hannah's leather bracelet in this photo, I wanted one. I figured I could make one, but the end of the summer was just too full for frivolous accessory making. So this morning I headed to the thrift store for a couple of nicely worn leather belts and to Hobby Lobby for a snap kit (hello, 40% off coupon) and lickity-split I've got a leather cuff factory going on over here.

So it turns out a waist is much bigger than a wrist. Do you want one too? If you leave me a comment on this post, I'll pick a name on Wednesday (8/25) and send you one. I'll even make it custom for your wrist size. OK? OK.

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The other thing I want is my friend Heather Smith Jones's book. Have you pre-ordered your copy? I have. This woman has been pouring her heart into this project for a year, and I'm guessing it will be nothing short of amazing, especially since my other friend Rachel Saldana took all the photos. I. cannot. wait.

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I feel a storm of making stuff rumbling around now that I've actually got a few minutes of quiet time to think. I hope it pans out, because it is long overdue.

I sort through their clothes, fill backpacks with school supplies, vow to stay on top of the paperwork. We send them off swinging lunch bags, running to find buddies. Kindergarten is a new adventure. Fourth grade is old hat. She's not too big for one last peck on the cheek. He's not embarrassed to sign "I love you" through the car window. And I'm thankful for that.

Returning home after a meeting, I suddenly find myself alone for the first time in months. It's so quiet. The dog sleeps. There are murals to paint, photography jobs to schedule, and pieces of furniture to refinish. There are checkbooks to balance, loads of laundry to fold- always plenty to do. But today, during that first hour alone, I sit and eat a bowl of cereal in silence. And it's a good start.

We went to the lake last weekend with good friends, and it was a nice, little mini vacation. We returned Sunday ready to take on this week: Back to School.

Back soon. xo.

Yesterday was the Susan G. Komen walk. I swear there are more people every year. I also swear it gets hotter every year, and I always grumble about waking up at the crack of dawn.

But once we get there and look around and feel it all, just like always, I'm really glad I didn't miss it.

(Love you, Mom.)

It always seems this time of year there's just so much. So much of everything.

Kitchen counters fill with squash. Cucumbers stack up. The farmers market is bursting at the seams with food and people. Mom makes jars of pickles. I repay her with homemade blueberry jelly. Picking peaches and freezing tomatoes. Even the grocery stores are selling off produce cheap.

The last of the summer activities overlap with the start of the fall ones. We squeeze in a few more trips to the pool but soccer practice starts. We take one last weekend to the lake right after we buy school supplies. Calls are made to friends to see who has which teacher. End of the summer pool parties. Last minute sleep-overs.

I love summer and hate to see it go. But fall is exciting, full of fresh possibilities. It's enough to make an already-sentimental girl melt into a puddle. A tired and thankful puddle.

This is Jerry. (I voted for Phil. Brian wanted Carl. We all thought Jerry was pretty funny, and it's sticking.)

The truth is I've been trolling Petfinder and the shelter websites for about a year. Petey had been pretty feeble and crabby for awhile, and I wanted the kids to have a dog that they could play with and cuddle. Deep down though, we all knew it couldn't happen until Pete was gone.

Brian and I always assumed that we'd find another Jack Russell- with the typical white body and brown/black spots. But seeing those little dogs that look so much like Pete was too hard. The sadness is still fresh.

The kids and I saw this little fella at a local shelter, Animal Haven. He's a terrier mix- probably about 2 years old. His appearance is different enough, but he's the right size for us. We walked him around the shelter grounds and he was super affectionate to the kids. He played with the other dogs. We took Brian to see him and he agreed.

So we said yes.

As he settles in here, I realize he's much more Jack Russell than I thought. He's almost the black version of Pete, with a longer body and a longer tail. But his demeanor is much more easy going than Pete's ever was. He's a little doggy-ADD-ish, but what young terrier isn't?! He seems happy. Thankful even.

I braced myself for the adjustment period, but honestly there hasn't been much. Knock on wood, I do believe he's already house-trained! A day and a half have passed accident free. He walks well on the leash. He happily greets new adults and children. A small handful of treats later, and he's learned "sit". He stays off the furniture. He fussed in his crate for a couple of minutes last night, but quickly curled up and drifted off.

It's fun getting to know each other. I hope things continue this smoothly... this pup has some big paw prints to fill.

We're back from our long camping trip of the summer. We went to Buffalo Point on the Buffalo National River. It was peaceful and amazing. Also it was very hot, but the hot was fine by us. We didn't need much of an excuse to float around all day. Plus It cooled down nicely at night. We all slept like logs.

Camping is the perfect family vacation for us. The kids took their first canoe trip. They played uno and mancala. They spent their money on little souvenirs- a fancy walking stick and a bug box. We caught frogs and heard rumors of rattlesnakes. Very large rattlesnakes. Without television and video games and computers to distract us, we reconnected with each other and nature. It sounds hoaky, but it's true. We didn't even get cell phone reception. It was much needed after the rough week before.

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I wrote a long list of camping tips last year if you're interested. Check out the sweet photo of our dear, dear Petey in that post. Sniff, sniff.

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A few of the best small people quotes of the camping week:

N- "Are we in Arkansas yet? Do they speak another language in Arkansas?"

J- "Hey mom. How do you make a vodka tonic?"
I actually started to explain then thought better of it.

N- "MOM. You REALLY need to get over this tick thing."

J- "Hmmmm... is there anything left to burn?"

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Come back on Thursday and visit me. We may have news about a new family member!

Not. a. baby. You're not even funny. ; )

Best dog there ever was. We miss you already.

So, we came back home to a clean house (what a good feeling.) and after about an hour's worth of unpacking and starting of the laundry, we were out back on the patio, eating said left-overs, lounging around, making smores over a fire.

Oh, yeah...

I kind of fizzled out there on Color Week. Dang.

But I am going to join in on the habit party this month- when we're not vacationing. : )

Our good friend Scott and my sweetie channeled their inner lumberjacks this morning and tackled a crazy-hard job we've been pondering for years. With minor incidents only. I'm glad it's done, and even more glad they didn't get hurt.

And that's just one limb that had to come down. The rest of the tree is fine. Huge but fine.

Yellow is the color of summer. Don't you think?

A round yellow sun drawn with long rays and a smiley face.
The light on the tree tops in the evening.
Lemonade from a kid on the side of the road.
Dandelions, daisies, sunflowers, black-eyed susans.

Yellow polka dot bikinis?!