I love big box warehouse stores. I love wandering around oohing and aahing at all of the new products. I love finding out that I do, in fact, need a box of 7,450 post-it notes. But above all else, I love the samples.

Because of The Husband's work, we've moved around a lot in our marriage. Like a lot a lot. And I cannot explain the ecstasy I feel when I find we are moving to a place with a Sam's Club or Costco or BJ's. With this last and final move (seriously, I'm never ever moving again until I'm dead and buried), we now live 9.39 miles from the nearest Costco. Or 16.67 miles if I'm on the other side of the closest "big" town. Or 18.91 miles if I want to go over into the next state to avoid the sales tax. 

Here's a bit of background on my most recent experience......

Chuckles is entering his junior year of college and is FINALLY able to escape the mandatory dorm lifestyle and the even worse mandatory meal plan. So before he drove himself back to school, I took him to Costco to load up on nonperishables, toiletries, and post-it notes. 

And here's my story:

Scene: Costco (the one 9.39 miles away from The Homestead)
Players: Chuckles, Yogurt Sample Chick, and Yours Truly

Me: I'm so hungry I could eat my own arm. Oooh! Samples!!

Chuckles:  (He doesn't say a whole bunch in this narrative. He mostly rolls his eyes and then, towards the end, laughs so hard he hyperventilates....this inappropriate public guffawing is actually not how he got his nickname.)

Me: Yogurt. Meh. Oooh! Almond chocolate yogurt! 

(Sidebar: At this "sample station" there are three flavors of yogurt available: peach, berry, and almond chocolate. The Yogurt Sample Chick has a beautifully organized tray containing all three samples in front of her. In front of that tray, is another tray with one sad little berry sample sitting there all by itself. I don't want the berry, I want one of those tasty almond chocolate ones. So I ask.....)

Me: Hello! May I please try the almond chocolate?
YSC (Yogurt Sample Chick): No.
Me: I'm sorry...did you say, "No"?
YSC: No. It's not ready yet.
Me: So I can't try the almond one?
YSC: No.
Me: Because it's not ready? 
YSC: It's not ready yet.
Me: Can I have any sample? Or is it just the almond one I can't have?
YSC: You can have this one. (points to last berry sample on tray)
Me: Okay. Here's the thing....I'm not crazy about berry-flavored food so can I please just try the almond chocolate one?

(Another Sidebar: this aversion to berry-flavors is mostly a taste thing, but it has gone into hyperdrive ever since I read an article that claimed most berry-flavored food items are infused with something called "castoreum" which is basically a mixture North American Beavers make with a secretion from their castor sacs and their urine. So...yeah...pretty gross) 

YSC: No. It's not ready yet.
Me: I don't understand. Do you need to cook it or something?
YSC: No. It's not ready yet. (points to the berry one again)
Me: Okay. So the only sample I can take is this berry one? Is that correct?
YSC: Yes.

(I grudgingly take the berry one. At this point, Chuckles is unsuccessfully trying to hide his laughter. YSC removes the empty tray and slides the 2nd (full) tray forward.)

Me: Are those ready now?
YSC: Yes. They are ready.
Me: Okay. So can I try the almond chocolate one now?
YSC: No. You've already had your sample.

(We now have to leave the sample station because Chuckles is laughing so hard that he sounds like he's having a hard time breathing and he may be choking on his own tongue.)

END SCENE

You know how you feel when you should have called a friend a LOOOOOONG time ago, but now SOOOOOOOO much time has passed that you're honestly embarrassed and have to decide whether or not to just let the friendship die and pretend it never happened or suck it up, make the call, and try to salvage it? Yeah....that's how I'm feeling right now about this blog. I'm embarrassed. I should have kept up with it. I made bold promises and then bailed. I'm a slug. I'm sorry. Truly.

I'm calling a "do-over". Let's just all pretend that my last post wasn't FOUR MONTHS ago. Okay? Are we all good with that? Awesome!

So here's what we've been up to:

We finished the first year of our return to the fabulous land of homeschooling. All in all, I'm calling it a success. I think Babygirl and Beans would agree. As soon as I'm done writing this post, I'll post the recent YouTube videos I shot in which I review the curriculum we used this past year. (I promise I'll do this straight away. Like really promise this time. Pinky swear.) 

Chuckles came home for a bit after finishing his sophomore year at college. I cannot express the joy I feel whenever he comes home for a visit. He also left his teenage years behind him and turned 20. Good grief, I'm old. 

Babygirl continues to amaze me. She isn't perfect, but she's pretty darn close to it. I know I'm one of those rare mothers who loves being around a teenage girl and I am grateful. Shortly after turning 17 this summer, she and Chuckles took off on a cross country road trip to where Chuckles attends school. He needed to drive a car back and she went with him to share in the driving and to have fun with her pals from where we used to live. 

Beans spent the summer watching SpongeBob. I jest. He did watch quite a bit of that, but he also reveled in a vacation with his cousins, weeks of day camp at an area rec center, and a surprise visit from two of his best friends from our previous home.

We had a bunch of company this summer, a family reunion, and The Husband's first summer of our new garden was bountiful. He has put an impressive amount of work into this area and it's rewarding to reap the benefits. 

More homestead news: Our "baby" chicks are now bonafide egg layers. Sunshine, one of our older chickens, went and died on us which caused great sadness. And Lincoln The Turkey has joined the menagerie of animals at the homestead.

AND...... I spent just under three glorious weeks travelling around Europe (England and Germany with a touch of Belgium, France, and Luxembourg thrown in for extra fun) with one of my unquestionably favorite people. Over 30 years ago, she and I sat on her bed with travel books, a Eurail guide, and a map of Germany spread out before us. We didn't manage to execute our plans after high school graduation as we'd hoped, but better late than never. Definitely. 

That's about it, I think. We go back to school in a few days so I'm busy getting everything ready. Our school room looks like Amazon vomited all over it. I finished making this year's planner and now I just need to actually write the information in it. (I did a video for that, too, and will post it today. Again....I PROMISE!)

Thanks for reading and I'll write again soon....before another four months have gone by. I promise. :)