The Latta Family

Lately I have been starting to wonder if I'm going to make it 30 years teaching (I'm on year 20).  I have been wondering how I can possibly do . . . everything.  We already do so much with so little . . . it's taking a toll on my positive attitude.  I feel a bit overwhelmed, so I decided the best way to deal with this situation was to make a blackberry apple pie.  I went to the produce stand on Monday to get apples and something else that I don't remember now.  While I was there I saw they still have blackberries! Oooh, I love blackberries in a baked good.  I didn't have time to do anything with them on Monday, and Tuesday we were super busy, but today I decided I HAD to have that pie.  That pie would fix my morale.   Who actually bakes a pie on a random Wednesday?!  This girl. Don't worry, it's store bought crust.  :-) The blackberries make it a little liquidy, but I drizzled it over the pie . . . and I scooped it into a spoon...

I started this quilt forever ago.  I finished it this weekend.  A friend- who is a serious quilter, as opposed to myself- just a "for fun" quilter, invited me to go on a quilting retreat with her and some friends, and told me to bring my mom along. We went to this lovely little place in Waynesville, NC. (if you're interested, go to Facebook, and type in Ponderosa Quilt Retreat). We showed up Friday, and started quilting practically as soon as we walked in the door and kept right at it until the minute we packed up to leave around noon on Sunday.  It was the most awesome place and after being there, I totally understand why women participated in quilting circles back in the old days.  Being surrounded by women, sewing, the mountains, beautiful weather, and open windows . . . it was perfection. Literally nothing could have made it better. This quilt started with me saving some of my favorite of Andrew's and Alexa's baby clothes.  Then I decided, I needed to do s...

There are some days with Alexa that are just . . . clumsy.  Excessively clumsy.  So, so, so, so clumsy. She and I stopped by school (Doug opens and locks up the school every other Sunday for a church that rents it, so I was able to get in, once they were done) and I got myself a little more organized for the week.  (This week will NOT be like last week!).  Anyway, while we were there, she was drawing on the board, and as she found dry erase markers that didn't work she would "throw them away."  Or . . . they would get tossed in the general direction of the trash can and go every which way except IN the trashcan.  After a bit it was comical, how they NEVER got in the can. Then we stopped by the grocery store to get a rotisserie chicken for dinner.  We were maybe 50 feet from the entrance.  It took her forever to get out of the car- because she had flung off her flip flop in the car, and then couldn't get it turned in the right direction to get ...

Oooh y'all, this one might be one of my most favorites! We have this gigantic spot above our kitchen cabinets with nothing but blank space.  That blank space has bugged me.  It was so blank, so boring, so blah.  I wanted something up there, but I don't like a lot of knick knacks.  They look cluttered, and they get dusty.  I didn't want to look up there and see dust and spider webs.  The other thing was, what would I put up there?  Kitchen things? Eh, our kitchen and living room are all one room.  Living room things, then?  But then, I would have to buy things to put up there, which requires shopping, and I don't like shopping.  What a dilemma.  😏Finally, I decided I wanted to do something with old recipes, if we had any from either of our grandparents. I don't remember exactly the order of how this idea came to me, but I do know Doug's mom was pretty much the main contributer.  If it weren't for her, and her treasure of a ...

The last time I wrote on this topic, was almost exactly a year ago.  I assumed since I had MOVED I was safe.  I treated the topic in a non-serious way.  I made fun of my over dramatic reaction; but now I'm wondering if maybe I should have taken this more seriously, because  clearly this is real, and should be treated as such.  Y'all, I have a black cat situation. Yes. Another one.  Or the same one?  I don't know!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's crazy!!!! In case you forgot, or didn't know, last June, I started having unusual encounters with a black cat ( Episode #1 ,  Episode #2 ,  Episode #3 ).  But we moved, so the problem stopped.  Or, it should have stopped.  Except, on Thanksgiving Day we saw a black cat walking up the back line of our property.  We got a good chuckle out of it.  I felt pretty sure it wasn't the same one, but still in the back of my head, I thought, "How weird.  There are probably people who g...

Teachers had the option of starting back this week.  I only went to school Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday.  I left right at 3pm because I had to pick Alexa up from Pottery Camp.  There were no kids, and not a lot of teachers on campus.  Each day I came home EXHAUSTED.  Had to lay down and take a nap as soon as I walked in the door because I just couldn't think about anything else. My naps are only 10-15 minutes.  They're not so much for physical exhaustion, they're to reset my brain.  I am finding that the older I get the more I am impacted by external stimulation.  Around July 4 when we were putting the river rock bed in, and it was so stinking hot, or the weeks when I was cleaning up from all the tree debacle; I would work so hard.  I would be a sweaty gross mess.  My arms or back would be sore, but I wasn't mentally exhausted.  Being around people is so much more fatiguing to me. All day long I have to think of the correct...

I am still swimming laps.  In fact, I've been getting up this week progressively earlier, to get used to getting up, get the routine down, and have it down to a science when school really starts.  Right now, the alarm goes off, I get out of bed, put my suit on, my cover up on, grab my stuff- carefully placed near the door- and leave.  My eyes are hardly open.  As I walk down my porch steps, I sort of lurch and stumble out to my car, as my feet are still stiff.  Then I drive in silence to the pool, drinking water, and eating my snack. Once I get out of my car- I'm not much more awake.  I'm bleary eyed, off balance.  I probably look like death warmed over. Since I've been swimming most of the summer, I am starting to pick up on some of the "regulars." There's a couple of people I frequently see, when I go.  This morning- despite my early early early arrival- that woman was there. I saw her a few feet in front of me as we walked into the facili...