Updates....

When he gave us our air-rifles Atticus wouldn't teach us to shoot. Uncle Jack instructed us in the rudiments thereof; he said Atticus wasn't interested in guns. Atticus said to Jem, "I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever hear Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

"You're father's right," she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mocking bird."

-Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

I'm re-reading TKaM right now (for actually a pretty good reason) and I came across that piece of it last night and it just really spoke to me, so I thought I'd share it. That's such a good book, and it's been a million years since I read it in junior high. I'm reading my old copy of it right now, and it cracks me up to see all my old doodles and definitions of words I was unfamiliar with. Anyway.....

We had a nice Labor Day weekend, nothing great or big in the fun factor. Goal #1 is finishing the remodel right now before "junior" arrives, so about 95% of our time is spent working on that goal and generally keeping the house going. I also spent a good bit of time planning our upcoming vacay to San Diego, and I think I'll make my final hotel choices this weekend, and we have a list of some things we want to do and see.

We did pop by the pool at the downtown Y for the hour of the last day of its season this year. It was PACKED and it was so nice and sunny. We had a great time floating around in the pool and being amused by 3 college Louisiana evacuees and their college-girl banter. 98% of the crowd was just hanging out in the tiny rooftop pool (it's MAYBE 15 meters across, tops!) and then the other 2% - think it's actually a swimming pool. There was one odd couple in some seriously cheap goggles trying to "swim" around the throng of people hanging out. One of the absolute highlights of the afternoon was one of the LA girls telling the guy "Hey Michael Phelps, slow down!!" when he splashed the crap out of all of us. They took big head-bobbing, turtle breaths as they "swam" - this pool isn't even long enough to require even taking a breath. Then when he got to one end he told his little wife (they were prob 22-23 yrs old) that he was going to teach her a new stroke - he didn't know what it was called but he liked to call it "froggy style". That pretty much sent me over the edge of laughter, so we were both really glad we made some time for fun in an otherwise "all business" weekend.

Pippin didn't have the best weekend - he spent a lot of it in time-out. Sunday am while we were gone to church he got his bag of food down and starting his own self serve buffet. Sunday afternoon while we were at the pool he got my purse down, ate a pack of gum, probably a few cough drops and some Charms Blow Pop suckers (great for morning sickness). He got an hour in time out, and then as SOON as he got out he went to where he had hidden another sucker, so back in time out he went. Sunday was not his finest hour......

And then today - I got quite the wonderful package in the mail!!! Chocolate made by - Chocolate Runner Jon!! Yum, yum, and yum are all I really have to say about them!! Brent took some pics of Pippin's nose going crazy sniffing the outside of the box. Totally delicious, and I don't plan to share. =)

I've also got pics to share of our bounty from our garden this year. It's been crazy. We've had SO many tomatoes, and last weekend I started digging up sweet potatoes. The rain from Fran we had last week really helped my peppers, and I should have a ton of additional peppers soon. I don't think I've ever had such a good year for tomatoes or jalapeños, our weather has been so much milder this year and for the most part we've had pretty periodic rain, too.

I got my lunch workouts in on Tues, Wed and Thurs, so I'm a nice 3for3. I know I won't get to tomorrow due to a lunchtime wedding shower at work, but that's no biggie. Some days I really like having no pressure to train for anything specific. Actually, I haven't minded the cutback on training or felt like I'm missing the competitive part of running at all. I think I just have WAY too many things to stress about for training to even make the list right now!

Have a great weekend, I've got 72 posts (!!!!) in my Reader account right now, so I look forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!