Get your peppers!!..and some other happy things

It's pepper time.

These huge bags of peppers just thrill me. 

Not only  because they were SO cheap ($7 for each bag at the farmers market), but because about an hour of work last night means that meal prep is now a breeze and we'll save so much money on peppers over the winter when veggies become ridiculously expensive. We do this with onions too, as I mentioned a while ago. 

Once the kids went to bed last night, Terry and I got our beloved chopper out and started washing, chopping and bagging all of these peppers so that we could throw them in our freezer. 

These peppers are great for throwing in crock pot recipes, casseroles, pasta sauce, omelets or any other meal. I really don't think that I could survive meal time every night without these suckers all pre-cut and ready to go.

So, if you're into doing this kind of thing--it's pepper season...so go on out and get some!

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And some other things that have been making me happy these days?

1) The Buskers festival

These three little ones actually sat there watching the street performers for longer than we could have ever imagined.

Jen and I looked at each other in disbelief--by golly, I think they're growing up.

We decided to top off the day with some ice cream. But after checking out the ridiculously overpriced cost of one tiny cone at the festival, we high tailed it over to the grocery store just down the street and bought a whole box of ice cream bars (enough to feed three families--we met up with some friends there too) for the same price as ONE ice cream cone at the festival. Score!

2) Meika.

Sometimes she drives me nuts, but I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate her swift cleaning skills when it comes to meal time. She leaves my floors spotless, regardless of how many Cheerios get tossed over board.

3) Her "big girl voice".

In order to curb any whining, we'll say to her "Where is your big girl voice?".
She shows us with this face each and every time--as if her voice is something that we can see in her mouth. Cracks us up every time.

4) Pool parties. Enough said.

5) Hundred year old reno finds.

My kitchen looks like THIS right now. Not fun. I've been living without an oven in my kitchen now for longer than should ever be possible when you have a family of four to feed. But alas...it's the cost of getting new appliances--and needing to get the kitchen ready for a gas stove.

But as the cupboards came down and construction began, THIS is what we found in the bulk head.

Crazy, eh? My 98yr old grandma I'm sure had one of these--but I have no idea why it was in the bulk head of our kitchen. Makes me wonder what other treasures might be hidden throughout our almost 100yr old house.

6) Our new gazebo...

...because, well if you remember from a couple of months ago...this was what the storm did to our old one.

And the bonus of having your gazebo destroyed close to the end of summer? We got ours for almost half the price! Love it.

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Happy Monday everyone--and sleep well teachers and kiddies heading to school tomorrow for the first day. I'll be thinking of you!!