It's All Over But the Packin' (and Shippin'...But Who's Counting?)

We picked our last tomato this afternoon, and this evening we packed our last box of the 2011 packing season. Thank the Good Lord! It is a bittersweet moment, but I have to say that I am ready to get out of this packing house and get on to my summer. Here are some things that have gotten me through this season of sitting at my desk in the hall day and night...and night and day:

:: These guys. Now, I have always loved the regular Werther's, but I had no idea they had ones filled with ooey-gooey caramel goodness. And now I am eating them by the handful, which I am sure was not the intent. In fact, I would probably fist-fight someone over the last one if it got down to one left in the candy basket and two of us wanting it.

:: Pandora. I know I am not telling anyone anything new, and this isn't a new discovery of mine, but I had to have my music blasting at all times -- sometimes to tune out those around me!

:: Holding Ross Baby (so named by Gibson). Ashley, my cousin's wife and mother to Ross, would come up to the packing house often to get out of the house, so those of us in the office got to fight over holding and cooing over the baby. He is a doll, and a great distraction from work.

:: Our cook, Sarah. Aside from being a fabulous cook and trying to make us all fatties this summer with her delicious cakes that she would make from scratch every day (yes, every. day.), Sarah was great for our family. She was cheerful and funny and really great for us when we lost Granddaddy. Sarah goes to our church and fits in perfectly with our family. She always knew how to be a bit of comic relief when we were getting a little stressed. Sadly, her father had a stroke last Friday night, so we have been dealing without her since Saturday, and it shows. We are all praying for her dad!

:: Pioneer Woman's iced coffee recipe. I saw it on her blog, showed it to Hunter, and we made (well, really, Hunter made) it right away. It is so good, and it is nice to just run to the fridge to pour a nice, humongous glass of iced coffee whenever the need strikes. If you like iced coffee, make this!

:: Dreaming of and planning for our next family vacation to Peter Island. (Remember this one from last year?) When Granddaddy died, Daddy decided he wanted to plan something for Nana to look forward to, and this trip is the result. This year, Nana's sister and almost her entire family are going as well, so it is going to be a wild time. Peter Island and its other vacationers are not going to know what hit it/them.

And now I have managed to survive another season! We just have to get all of the tomatoes shipped on their merry way...and, oh yeah, all of our customers to pay for them!