A frost's a-comin'! by Abby

So the local meteorologists say that a frost is likely tonight.  While this is exciting news because cold weather and fall and cardigans and blankets rock, it is not good new for our garden or our 6 tomato plants heavy with green tomatoes.  Apparently frost (which I keep trying to capitalize) is not good for vegetable gardens. 

After work I picked a bowl and two pockets full of green tomatoes, peas, squash and some red tomatoes.  I had no idea what to do with green tomatoes besides fried green tomatoes or some sort of chutney- neither of which appeals to me- so I googled for recipes and found a green tomato cake recipe.  I did not follow the recipe as it was written (who does that?), but I think the cake turned out pretty well.  It has diced green tomatoes and raisins and nutmeg.  The recipe called for pecans or walnuts, neither of which I have, so I didn't add any.  I am not sure how Matt feels about the cake since I burned his tongue on the second bite I fed him. I made lots because we had/have lots of green tomatoes and this way both Matt and I can take some to work.  Yay cake!

Pretty Prairie Weekend

Short, quick, and finished before you knew it are how I would describe this last weekend. Abby's grandparents, Otto and Dottie along with her sister Wendy and brother-in-law Randy all stopped in for the night before we all left for Pretty Prairie Kansas on Saturday morning.

Abby and I took on Otto and Dottie in a match of Rumikub (they called in Rumi-cube which I had never heard) while waiting for Wendy and Randy to arrive. Glad to say Abby won round one and I won round two. We gave tours of the much-cleaner-than-Wednesday house and all settled in for some nice conversation.

Saturday morning the water heater had enough hot water for all (YES!), we enjoyed Abby's freshly baked zucchini (from our garden!) bread, cereal, good coffee, and more conversation before leaving for Pretty Prairie. 

Abby rode with Wendy and Randy, Otto and Dottie took their car and I was left with two smelly dogs, one with some BAD gas, for the 4.5 hour trip. Had a great drive and I got to enjoy the convertible top down once it warmed up to 65. This also helped my sanity and air was much more pleasurable than before.

A great time ensued. We all enjoyed a fantastic lunch upon arrival to Abby and Wendy's parents and a relaxing afternoon was then enjoyed by all watching college football. Wendy and Abby created multiple appetizer-like dishes that we enjoyed into the evening. My evening ended on the couch watching a GREAT K-State football game! The clan was mightily impressed with my differing vocal octaves while I was yelling and cheering throughout the match. 

Around 5:45 a.m. Autumn, our German Shepherd, decided to leave us a wonderful gift on the carpet at the end of the bed. I don't get it. Sam, our Basset/Lab mix lets us know when she's not feeling too hot or really has to go.  Autumn has perfected the "I am SO sorry and feel SO guilty for doing this to you" look. Abby's mom saw it and commented: "Well, you're getting ready for kids" or something to that effect which we hope to be true, but doesn't sound good at 5:45 a.m. 

We cleaned it up, but couldn't fall back asleep afterwards so I vegged in front of the tv watching K-State highlights and Abby did a productive walk around the property. We all enjoyed some awesome French toast made from Beth's homemade zucchini bread and homemade fresh peach syrup! Oh-Yeah! The men-folk settled into their veg-like state while the women-folk got gussied up and left to do some shopping around Wichita. Randy and I watched some Rams/Packers football, I washed the dogs (yes, they REALLY needed it), and then we took off to meet the women for an early dinner at On the Border in Wichita. 

Abby and I arrived home around 9:00 Sunday night. I have to say this was an awesome and relaxing weekend. Thank you to all who made it so enjoyable!

Welcome to Life at Two-Fifteen

Just like we are starting out in Missouri, we have chosen to document our story as we adapt to our new surroundings, home, make new friends, and enjoy a new university.

Abby continues to go through notes from her new job at a local bank. Being the perfectionist that she is, she wants to make certain customers loans are processed and things go as smoothly as possible for them. I continue to learn my new assistant professor position at the University of Central Missouri. What a great group of students and an incredibly supportive department.

We're looking forward to a great weekend with Abby's grandparents Otto and Dottie coming into town for a visit! PLUS Wendy and Randy will be joining us from Chicago! We get to show off the new home, the new furniture, the fact we've really cleaned the place for their visit, and hang out with an incredible group of family! Then we are off to the rents homestead in little Pretty Prairie - so named cause it is "a pretty prairie".

Well, I'm closing this post out with a lot of anticipation of a great weekend even though I face two more evenings of cleaning before everyone gets here.