One day a couple weeks ago I asked Jubal if he wanted to stick his usual oatmeal cream pie in his backpack for an after school-before ball practice snack.
“You know,” he said, “I actually eat my oatmeal cream pie right after band. It gets rid of my trombone breath.”
I wish I was still uploading At Home Ed cartoons because it’s made me laugh ever since.
Something about a seventh grade boy makes me feel like all will be well in the world. That’s opposite of how I felt before I had a seventh grade boy. I was nervous for him because I assumed he was a little version of me.
I tell my six graders in class to stop touching each other all the time and recently I paused after saying it and thought aloud, “why in the world would you want to touch each other? I hated it when people touched me when I was in middle school!”
Really? Why? They asked.
Well, it’s because I was a hot anxious mess, that’s why. I was hyper aware of everything: worried my hair was messy and gross, worried I was too sweaty, too hairy, too loud. Obsessed with drawing the wrong kind of attention or getting teased. On edge. Life made me very, very uncomfortable and very, very aware of it all.
“So stop touching each other! Not everyone likes to be touched!” I finished.
I’m a great, super reasonable teacher. At least I think I got their sympathy and a surprise free therapy session for me. Ha.
We are raking up our September garden on the weekends. Cosmos are dying, gomphrena is thriving, celosia is dropping seeds and looking lovely, dahlias are magnificent (even if poorly staked). All in all, I am tickled. I’m ready to move on, get some layers going in the garden, and plan to put in a bunch of tulips in October.
The pumpkins we’ve neglected on the vine have been infiltrated by squash borers. They are a little creepy but I say ‘tis the season.
The tomatoes are having a heyday. My little cherry tomatoes are squeaking in last week of September but I did plant them as seeds in July I think so I am not complaining. Why oh why do I ever begin seeds inside in the dead of winter? Just to torture them and myself.
I do love little tomatoes (and the biggies). You’d think I’d eat them all the time for a snack, but I mostly eat them in salads and I haven’t had a lot of time to make them lately. While I was off school yesterday for pinkeye (thanks to those dirty kindergartners who all make me open their milk cartons during lunch duty) I worked on a tomato project.
Sun-Dried/Oven-Dried Cherry Tomatoes
- All your cherry tomatoes
- Sea salt
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Slice tomatoes in half, arrange cut side up on pan. You may crowd the pan; they shrink a lot. Sprinkle on salt. Dry at 210 degrees for several hours until nice and chewy.
I’m sure this would work in my air fryer but it might cause a sticky mess. Plus parchment likes to burn in an air fryer. It’s easier to cram a bunch on a sheet tray and go on with life for a few hours.
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