READING: The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland. No, no this is not some sort of romance novel, it is a book about Emily Carr, a Canadian painter who traveled (in the early 1900s) through the forests to locate Indian totem poles so that she could paint pictures of them in their natural habitats to preserve the memory of them as they were in danger from natural disintegration, destruction, theft, and being sold to private collectors. It is interesting to learn about the totem poles, the stories they represent, etc. and has inspired me to learn more about them in a historical context.
LISTENING TO: Rebecca had this on her blog this week and I thought the little slide show was so beautiful that I have listened to it once a day in quiet moments appreciating the advice of slowing down a bit, Rebecca is good about reminding me of that always. Click here to link.
SWIMMING NEWS: College recruiting season continues and Matt is enjoying meeting swimmers who come in each weekend to check out the IU swimming/diving programs. They come from all over the United States so Matt likes to hear from them about their areas of the country, their swim programs, and to show them what IU is all about. One of the things he is in charge of on Friday mornings (since he has no classes on Friday morning) is showing the guys the dorm rooms that the swimmers at IU have. He says it is also a good excuse for him and Ian to have their room very clean and vacuumed each Friday!
COOKING BYTES: With the cooler temperatures we have been having, my bread baking desire has returned and I've been firing up the oven for bread again. Kneading bread is so soothing and relaxing, I did miss it over the summer.
FAV NEW FIND: A few months ago I learned of a new-ish site called Eat Your Books (a search engine for your own cookbooks, i.e. the cookbooks you already own). It sounded intriguing and upon further investigation, I found a wonderful resource that anyone who owns cookbooks could absolutely use each and every day. The site indexes cookbooks and recipes/ingredients. It costs about $25 a year to join (since I was a food blogger, I was able to have a free year as a gift to try it out), and I am figuring it would save me that amount in time and food easily. So many times I use half of an ingredient and then wonder what to do with the other half and sometimes (shame on me) the other half goes bad before I can figure out what I want to do with it. This is no longer happening here because I can type in my ingredient at the site, and it pulls up all the recipes in the cookbooks I own that use that ingredient. I get the name of the book, the name of the recipe, the page it is on in the book, and a list of all the other ingredients in that recipe so that I can see if I have or need to buy other ingredients to make the recipe. I wanted to have it a couple of months before I wrote about it because I wanted to make sure it was worth it, that I would remember to use it regularly, and that it would be something I would want to recommend to others. It is all those things. What a deal this is!! Here's how it works: you join, you type in the names of all your cookbooks, it keeps a list of them in your "library," and whenever you are looking for a recipe or a way to use an ingredient, you type it in and it gives you a list of all the ones that are in the books you own. Yes, it is fun to go through your cookbooks looking for recipes and picking out ones suitable, but on busy days, it is also wonderful to just plug in what you have on hand and be able to go right to the cookbook and page and have the recipe ready to go in a matter of seconds. Sometimes I remember a recipe we liked but I can't think of the specific cookbook it is in, so this is a great help for that as well. Give it a try...and remember to use it! You will find that all those partially used ingredients you used to throw away are now easy to make use of...it will save you money, what's not to love about that?! You will also feel really good about using the cookbooks you already own and getting your money's worth out of them now. Click here to find out more.
FAV THING THIS WEEK: You know, Empty Nest has its good points...either I am in shock and it will all hit me at a later time, or I am doing remarkably well with adjusting to it. Since Mark and I were married 14 years before the boys came along, it feels now like we are getting back to those pre-children years and I have to say, it is quite nice. I miss the busy-ness of the boys and I do miss them and all, but it's kind of nice for Mark and I to just have time hanging out together and going/doing whatever suits us at the time. Now, if I could just not worry about the boys on their own quite so much...when does that happen? 
WEEK IN REVIEW: It would be nice to have a lot of really exciting things to put in here this week but the fact is that we had a very quiet week and didn't feel the need to wander out much since last week and next week will be much busier. A nice quiet week. Mark and Alex finally saw the Harry Potter film, the Hoos and Hawks both won this week on their football fields, Matt had a great time at the game and he and Reyn and a bunch of friends watched movies in the dorm afterward as they had to "rest up from watching a four-hour football game, the tailgating beforehand, and getting back to the dorm when it was all over." Temperatures still cool here...was hoping for a bit of hot weather yet before we say goodbye to summer, so maybe this week will bring something along those lines. Maybe.
PRAYING FOR: For families grieving the loss of a loved one, please join me. 
The boys of summer are all off at college now...a parting shot...Matt, Nik, Daniel, and Kiernan.