Pathetic Garden of 2012

Oh, how sad it is to see our garden this year.

First of all we were late planting.  And then something dreadful (like a hungry bunny or two) got into our seeds.  So, only one lettuce plant and one carrot came up.

Record temps, record number of days over 90, and record drought have combined to make this garden sad... You can see in the photo below that only my daughter looks healthy and vital.

The corn isn't even as tall as my girl.  The green beans made maybe a dozen green beans and our tomatoes are not very good.  We've never had such a short sunflower.  sigh.  It has been a very tough summer on our plants...

After I took this photo, my crusty yard gave me a splinter in my foot!  It is that bone dry.  Ouch!

Summer Reading- Finished

Bam- we did it!  Both my daughter and I met our summer reading goals!

She completed two reading programs... finishing 70 books on her OWN!  That is a big deal for my girl who'd prefer to play or watch a show than read.

And I did a new record of 5,095 pages this summer.  Woo hoo!  (My family has only seen the top of my nose buried in a book all summer.)  The Bonhoeffer biography truly tipped the balance on numbers.  It has been a decade or longer since I indulged in such a massive amount of fiction reading... You will be pleased to know that every murder suspect was caught and every guy got his girl!  ha ha!  What fun!

Sigh.  Now onto some autumn goals!

House Remodel 2

With our clean slate... it has been time to make some decisions on interior decor.  Each of us had our ideas... and a limited budget so off we went to the local home improvement store that has everything (even for doll houses!)

I must say, once we told the folks in the paint department that we need paint samples, contact paper (i.e. wall paper) for a dollhouse- they were overjoyed with excitement about our project too!  Even the dudes got into the act suggesting smaller paint containers, and small print contact paper for proper size dimension.  What a hoot!

With our supplies bundled into our arms... we brought home our goodies... let the remodel begin!

As you can see our daughter is finishing the exterior painting.  After removing the wallpaper we needed to clean up the walls... so must of the interior had a coat of white paint applied.

Since this photo, I am pleased to say we survived wall-papering the attic (who knew my marriage could survive wallpapering?!) and the master bedroom.  The kitchen and living room remain unfinished along with all of the flooring.  (You should have seen us at the home improvement store picking out laminate floor tiles!)

As I promised the staff at Lowe's you'll see a finished photo soon!  A focus wall in the living room is currently drying from a second coat of red paint that we applied this morning.

Move in date is yet to be determined...  :)

House Remodel

My little family has recently become addicted to HGTV... watching hours of home, bath and even kitchen remodels and makeovers.  Throughout the summer we watched closely the competition for HGTV's new Design Star (which finally was revealed last week!)

Of course, with all the beautiful ideas and suggestions streaming from our television at all hours of the day... our family enthusiastically decided to conquer a home remodel project!  We've been hooked!

Mind you we are starting rather small....  with my circa 1981 dollhouse:

As you can see... this house 'should' be condemned after residing the past couple of decades in my grandmother's attic!  (By the way, my grandfather built the house, my grandmother did the interior decor and my father did the electrical.)

Instead, we just gutted it.  After we cleaned out the dead bugs.  Flooring, wallpaper, and all electrical have been removed.

Now we've got a clean slate to start our project:

And the house even smells better already too!  Nothing like family home improvement projects to keep you cool during the hot steamy summer days!

No Time to Write!

Geez... where has the month gone?  My blog writing reflects the summer drought we've had.  Dried.  Barren.  Wasteland.

Actually, I have been busy in other ways...wrote a three part sermon series and got to deliver it.  Yay!  Haven't done that in 10 years or so.  Very cool and very challenging.  Stretched me.

Since July 4th ministry has kept me busy:

• two mission trips (Belize and Mountain Top) and all the prayer partners, commissioning(s), send offs, and return stories
• two funerals (on the same day by the way)  I got a chuckle that both ladies were avid basketball fans.  
• one staff farewell reception (boo hoo- we'll miss you Alison!)
• three performances of Fiddler on the Roof by our own TFC!
• three weekends of worship that were so packed and full of testimonies, baptisms, commissionings and the 'usual' worship stuff

This is why I have not been writing.  I've been too busy WRITING with sermons, Prayer Notes for missionaries, Prayer Emails to our TFC cast and Crew, and just running around like a crazed person!

I'll make up for it... wait and see.  I've got lots more to blog about... like the remodel of my 30 year old dollhouse for my daughter, the pathetic garden of 2012, and how to help your spouse get ready for school.

Yes, there is plenty in my life to "mine" for blogging material... and now is the time to get that writing finished!

Convertible Rides

Convertible rides like the car are very versatile.  A ride after a tough day at church, say like doing  two funerals in a day or multi-tasking because you are needed to put out 'fires' of the people-sort, really changes your mood.  With the top down and the wind blowing in your hair you no longer hear anything but the sounds of the world around you. Blocks out all else.  And keeps you in the moment.

Or a ride on a Sunday afternoon with your daughter and her friend to go get frozen yogurt completely refreshes you as the backseat is filled with giggling girls, ponytails, and 'Wheeeeee, go faster Mr. Eric!'  Such playfulness, pure joy, and fun!

Or there are rides for just my hubby and I... cruising in the sunset toward a date night.  Leaving behind the dog who eats everything, the kid who refuses to count during her piano lessons, and the house filled with un-finished home improvement projects... driving our red Mustang with the top down pushes all that stuff to the perimeter of your view... leaving the open road- full of possibilities, hope, promise, and some good ol' fashioned adult time. 

Sigh.

Our red Mustang convertible may have been our most expensive spontaneous, emotion-driven purchase to date...  but I have decided it beats filing insurance claims for therapy!  Certainly is more versatile than a shrink.

Summer Rant!

Our hot, drought ridden summer has not been a great one for time in the hammock.  In fact we've had no hammock time this year.  Our grass is so dead that it tries to leave splinters in your bare feet.

Diana's pitiful garden (in spite of our watering) is so pathetic and sad that the critters are not even eating it.  Our corn with it's tassels are knee high.  We've got one ripened tomato that a worm attempted to eat but gave up for lack of juiciness.  I thought I spied one lone green bean.  Sad.

We're tried the local pools, but the water there is so warm it's like taking a bath in a oven.  Not exactly refreshing.  We tried the Zoo, but too hot.  We went to the Children's Museum last week and it was packed with all the other families who were avoiding the heat.

The only thing this summer has been good for is reading.  And have I ever been cranking out the books!  I have long pasted my reading goal from last summer and am into competition for the Nook at our local library.  Woo hoo!  I am pushing 3,000 pages plus at the rate I am going.  (Reading this much 'leisure/pleasure' book material along with lots of other work-related texts- is a true treat for me.)

I refuse to buy school supplies for another week or so.  Maybe it will be cool enough we can try the Indpls Zoo, again and see the new baby elephant.  Maybe.

Unplugged

On the second day a weird itchy twitch developed.  By the fifth day the twitch was replaced with this foggy sense of being an island unto myself- I was bereft.

Unplugged. Off the grid.

My desire to abstain from technology like email, cell phones, blogs, and the hardest one of all: Facebook began to take its toll.

The harsh reality of my addiction to constantly being fed information overwhelmed me.  I had no idea I had 'it' that bad until I left it all behind.

By the eighth day I was cured because I did not want to go near the computer at all. The twitch was gone.  In its place was this quiet contentment I have not had in a while.  Maybe that's why it has taken me this long to blog.  Just did not want to disturb the re-discovered peace.

Now, how do I keep that?  Or find another way to live amongst the 'noise'?  That is the best question... yet to be answered....