Labor Day - History, Projects, and Food

It's hard to believe that Labor Day has already passed. Where did the summer go?

I was looking on Pinterest and found a bit of history about Labor Day. The pin led to Cross Cards, and had a quick background on the holiday.

This past weekend was focused on getting some writing projects done; reading and taking notes from library books that I've had for a while; coordinating a planting project for our local community; finishing doing the syllabi for homeschooling courses I'm overseeing for the girls; helping Sophia set up her schedule for her three PSEO courses and courses at the homeschool co-op; and making food for the upcoming few days. 

Our annual tradition is to go out for a treat at Dairy Queen which we did again this year, after seeing "Crazy Rich Asians" at the local movie theater. This is the last Labor Day that Sophia will be living at home. Next year, she will be college. We are now entering the phase of "This is the last..." It's a bittersweet time as we watch Sophia get ready for her next phase of life at college; and yet sad as we realize that our time of having both the girls living together with us is coming to a close. 

Now to focus on the memories we are creating and traditions we are enjoying:

Planting Project for the Community

I was asked by the City Administrator if I could get some volunteers for planting two large gardens that mark the intersection that is at the central point of our city. On Saturday, September 1st, Sophia, Olivia, and I - along with 9 other volunteers planted a variety of perennials and bushes, watered them, and then put down mulch. 

It was a lot of hard work, yet we are happy we had an opportunity to plant these gardens that our neighbors, community, and visitors alike can enjoy.

There is fruit on some of the bushes. Supposedly they are edible.

Here are the volunteers (minus two teens who left after about an hour of work since the younger one wasn't feeling well in the heat).

This is what the garden on the southwest side of the intersection looks like.

This is another view.

Olivia concentrated on planting perennials.

Sophia planted both bushes and perennials.

Here we are again by the finished garden.

This garden is on the southeast side of the intersection.

The is another view of the garden.

Needless to say, after working for three hours in the upper-70s and low-80s, we were ready to come home and enjoy the air-conditioning and get cleaned up.

Making Food

I used the new salsa maker that Paige got at the State Fair. We had one a long time ago, but from overuse, it finally broke. He got one as a surprise on Friday. Today, I made lots of food since prepping some of the ingredients took a fraction of the time with the salsa maker. 

First, I made four batches of salsa using tomatoes that were given to me from one of the volunteers who helped with the gardens on Saturday. I used onions and a jalapeno from the farmers market; and garlic from a friend who is a farmer. 

Next, I used up a zucchini to make spice bread.

I used a cabbage, several carrots, and an onion to make coleslaw. Miracle Whip, vinegar, and sugar along with Watkins Coleslaw Seasoning made the dressing. It tastes like coleslaw you get at KFC except with more flavor.

Also chopped up green peppers and put them in 1/2 cup packages to use during the winter. This saves a lot of money. The 12 cups of green peppers that I froze (24 packets total) were only $5...compared to $1+ per green pepper I would have paid during the winter.

Crazy Rich Asians

The girls had wanted to see "Crazy Rich Asians" since it came out. 

So, on Labor Day we went to see it as a family. It was fantastic! It was very funny...though touching and sad in other parts. There was a lot that brought back good memories of our trips to China. I think we also learned more about Chinese culture and family expectations.  

Dairy Queen

As we do each year, we go to Dairy Queen on Labor Day...the last day before we officially start homeschooling. 

Paige had a chocolate malt, I had a small vanilla cone with crunch topping, Olivia had a small Oreo Blizzard, and Sophia had a small caramel sundae. 

We had a good Labor Day weekend this year. I hope to continue to put a lot of effort into these "last" holidays this year so that we can all look back and have good memories of this pivotal year.