a week alone

Well this week I will be alone by myself, it will be interesting, trying to have alot of things to keep myself busy.  I do have one job this Thursday.  Monday will be traveling with Denise for Viv's surgery.  I will miss hubby and MDK, and I am still missing MLK but starting to get use to the fact that she has moved. 

Loved the rain yesterday, it was exactly what the garden needed, tried to weed last night but was sinking in, so will try again this evening.  Hoping to possible replant beans in the garden this week.  Zuchini has finally bloomed, tomatoes are rippening fast.  I put up corn from Kevin's patch and I might go back if he has more.  I think I got between 15-20 freezer bags full.  I have big plans for next years gardens. 

Been working on dishclothes with my extra spare scrap yarn I have some very useful dishclothes for myself that are really ugly.  I am hoping to work on my denim quilt again this week.  Well better get around for church this morning.

a soft gentle rain

Well it is raining here thank goodness as it has been so hot and dry and my plants need a good rain.  I forgot to take Tylenol PM so I was awake at 4 this morning, I think a nap is in order today.  Dave finished his route late last night, he got a call and he is going to be taking on an extra role at camp, that of boy's bible study leader, so the next few days he will be getting that ready.  Next week i will be baching all by myself. 

It is good to have MDK home, she and I had a good time talking and taking our "shortcut" home.  She is growing up so very fast.  A little worried about MLK as she didnt get a chance to test yesterday so she was a tad bummed.  Well better get off here maybe I can try to go back to sleep.

a few almost ripe tomatoes

Well i have five tomatoes sitting in my windowsill getting a little more ripe, my tomatoes this year are def. my pride and joy, they have done so well.  I am thinking about replanting some beans to harvest before frost, will see if Dave can plow up part of my garden again so I can do just that.  I have enjoyed playing around in the garden this year.

I get to get my baby this afternoon, it will be really quiet this next week with everyone gone.  I plan to go to Viv's surgery on Monday and then I have a job next Thursday. Been crocheting myself some disclothes since I usually give most of them away.  Well better get around, more later.

i hope it rains

Well, I hope it rains today, the scorching heat is not good for hubby or garden.  I watered my strawberries this morning some of them got baked.  They are doing good with their runners so I hope I got enough water on them and they wont die.  I planned to weed my potato patch but it was soooo hard that it will wait untill the next rain to be taken care of.  I was just pulling the tops off the weeds which does little good.  My potato are starting to die off so I am thinking in about a month we will be harvesting potatoes.  Tomatoes are gettting really really close to turning, I think they will all turn when everyone is away at camp.  I actually have two that are finishing rippening in the window sill hope to have them ready to go in the next few days. 

Yesterday I finished off MDK hair holder thingees and got my dresser cleaned out.  I am just plugging away at small projects around the house.   Also got most everything ready for MDK for this fall.  Not sure which project to start next I might do the closet in the girls bathroom it tends to be a catch all.  Well better get around and get off to the doctor. 

grandparents are a blessing

It has been a wonderful thing to know that when your daughter flies the coop that she landed in or close to her grandparents.  It gives me a great sigh of relief to know she has people that love her lots.  I really appreciated how Viv and Dave have opened up their home to her and how Dave Sr.  is helping out with the driving.  Pray for her as she plans to take her driving test this week, she needs that drivers liscence. 

Today has been a slow day, been working on different projects, cleaning out my dresser is one of them.  Working on crocheted ponytail holder for MDK to take for her campers.  Been somewhat a slow poke today just plodding through stuff.  The house is slowly getting clean.  I go to the doctor tommorow.  I am not looking forward to that much.  Took two tylenol pms last night and felt groggy all morning! 

Viv broke her foot today while mowing their embankment so she will be having surgery on it.  Will know more about that later. 

going to the doctor this week

Well I am going to the doctor this week,  it looks like an adjustment to my meds again.  I hate when this becomes necessary, but my doctor told me as my hormones change it is likely that some changes with my meds will be necessary.  Dave said last week, Chris you need to go see the doctor.  So with some arguing I went ahead and made the appointment.  I think alot of things have made this a little more intense then normal, the girls being gone, MLK leaving the nest, no jobs, finicial strain.  I usually do well with any one of these but all of them at the same time is a bit overwhelming.  However more importantly is the signs that my meds arent doing their jobs, my messed up sleeping patterns, my inablity to focus, my weepiness, my desire to do alot of nothing.  These are tried and true signs that I am not doing as well as I should.  So I will not fight it and I will go see the doctor.  I think that on the other side of menopause I will have alot of luck with my meds like I did for most of my adult life, however I think menopause might make for a bumpy ride.

My tomatoes are oh so close to being ready to turn red and boy do I have alot!  We had corn on the cob on Saturday, it was good, it wasnt as full as I would have liked but Dave said remember your garden flooded.  I also had two cucumbers from the garden.  That has been a delight, I can sit and eat them with ranch dressing, becoming one of my favorite meals,  but have to take the skin off.  Two of the three zuchini plants died off and still do not have any zuchini.  Just a handful of beans as most of them died off in the flood, and my peppers are getting big but not producing yet.  I dug up a few early potatoes, they were small but flavorable.  Also picked off a strawberry or two I missed, they were very tasty, Dave and I both had one.  I have been plucking off all the blooms so that they will produce runners and multiply.  Plan to put all the beds over there into strawberries, but it was too expensive to do them all at once, plus I can rotate them on a three year cycle. 

I have been doing crocheting ponytail holders for MDK to take to camp for the girls in her cabin and making a birthday gift, so been enjoying this.  I also work on my denim quilt from time to time.  The new kitty which is gaining weight in the girls bathroom has doubled in size, it is a girl so early October or so it will become an it.  One more month and outside it goes as it will be big enough then.  Well better get off of here for now.

up again no down again no up again

Well gotta a bit of good news, Sorenson video relay interpreters hire part time workers and take level 3.  I submitted an application via email this morning and got a response back that they believe postions will come open in August.  I will also have to apply online.  I have some jobs coming up end of August and then a steady one again in October.  So that is good, however one of my steady jobs right now got canceled so down, up down.  I heard back from the call center and it is a no go. 

I am making some crocheted ponytail holders for MDK to give to her campers so plan to work on those this week.  I dont think at the moment I have any jobs voulenteer or otherwise.  I have a very few for the month of August, but school will be starting up and quite a few of the school interpreters have small children and they may still be looking for one for St. Joe so that might generate some jobs there. 

Today the girls and I went into town, got hair cut, I did a short job, they shopped at Walmart, got undies and misc groceries and freon, going to try to get ac in MDK we are unsure if MLK car will hold freon so we will start with the car that had ac last summer. 

Hoping to get all of school planned for MDK this week, MLK says her fasfa info hasnt come in so will check into that for her.  She says Mom I am so tired of paperwork, I said welcome to my world!!!  She got her voter reg. card so practice with Gpa Dave and then test on Thursday possibly.  Well better go for now.

woke up in a blaze of heat

Wow menopause is not for wimps.  This morning at 5 am I woke up and swore I was on fire, hot flashes are well they are definately hot.  So I am up for the day, it is quite the way to wake up for sure.   Today I have enrichment class sign ups, and a voulunteer interpreting job tonight.  Then tommorow I make a trip to Iowa to get the girls for the weekend, that way we can keep the MLK car in Iowa.  Daves car is up and running and that is a good thing.  So MDK has her car back, pray for the car as it is acting funny.  MDK call it her POCC, piece of crap car, I told her work save your money sell this car and get a different one.  I get a chuckle out of her sometimes.  MLK talked to Dave last night and got registered to vote, so she is one step closer to her Iowa drivers liscence.  Dave's Dad is going to work with her on driving practice this week and if she gets her voter registration she might be able to get a chance to drive and get her liscence.  Then getting a job should fall into line due to the fact that everyone wants her to have a liscence before they hire her.  She has all her stuff done for her college stuff so that is good. 

Today I do enrichment class sign up and I am only signing MDK up, this is really starting to hit home just one kid left wow it just seems weird.  MDK and I have decided to start classes Aug 29, she also wants to get a job this fall so we will work out a schedule with all of it.  Algebra 2 this year, oh what fun,  she is also thinking about loading it down heavy this year leaving more flexibilty to go to Guatelma for a few months her senior year.  She is good at her studies just not as diligent as my other one was, MLK always loved learning, MDK tolerates it :).  She is thinking about getting a degreee in social work so she can work in an orphange somewhere, proably foreign as she feels that regulation her in the US are not benifical to children that need to be adopted. 

Dave has been such a blessing for me as I have been feeling down, just no kids, no work, and feeling of being lost and worthless at times has overwhelmed me, I think hormones might be part of the mix also.  It has just all hit at the same time.  I did put in an application for work at home call center stuff here in Saint Joseph so will wait and see. 

All for now

not a good day yesterday

Well just a bunch of stuff got to me yesterday and I was a mess!!  I wont go into detail, it was just a series of overwhelming things.  Dave came home for a while talked with me ate lunch and got out of the heat before he took off again.  He was able to help out alot, he is such a good hubby.

Today I do my one job for the next two weeks.  I have applied at the call center to see what might be possible to do from home.  I will have to wait and see what comes of it.  Just looking for other sources of income, also need to study for my sign language test. 

Well better go and get around.

frustrated

So very frustrated, and just dont know what to do, i had one job this pay period, our emergency fund is dried up and I asked them if the jobs are going to pick up and I am told they are not mind readers.  Well I just dont know what to do.  I am feeling very much at a crossroads.  I have enjoyed the last three years of interpreting but not the last three months, wow.  What to do what to do, well that will be a thing to ponder.

garden of weedin

Well I finally conquered it, the garden has been weeded, the garlic drown, I lost one cucumber plants, but the rest are coming back wit a vengenance, I had a handful of bean plants that lived, the pumpkin seeds rotted, but my tomatoes are loaded and some are almost as tall as my shoulder, the size of a small tree.  They look great, my peppers survived but are  slow grow.  My zuchinni are putting on new blooms so they should come out okay, the brochili went to seed right after the flooding.  My potatoes are starting to put on blooms and the strawberries are blooming, which I have plucked off all but one so that they will put out runners.  I am very exicitied about seeing the fruits of my labors, the fruit bushes all survived but my grapes are doing much.  Not sure what is up with that, maybe they just take some time to establish.  I ate the one strawberry that I let rippen it was yummy looking forward to it next year, plan also to put the other two bed into strawberry beds next year and maybe build one more bed this fall.  Want to do a flower garden around the garage but will wait and see how that goes.  Want to see if I can get cheap edging in the late fall when it goes on sale.


My denim quilt is slowly coming together as I cleaned my house and it doesnt take long for pickup with just the two of us.  I have a voulenteer job tonight as well.  Did hear a bit of good news, gas mileage remb. is going up and hourly rate for some jobs also so that is good.  Now just need some more work.  Well better go for now. 

she didnt get the Fareway job

Well they hired some other people that had applied before her and she doesnt have a drivers liscence so they told her to apply again in the fall that they will be hiring again.  So now she is working on getting a job at Casey's possibly.  I keep telling her she may have to flip burgers for a while but you know me I am the mom and that means well it means I am not going to be very wise until she is older.

I tried to go out and trim some bushes and was out for like only 10 minutes and started getting shaky and getting goosebumps so decided everything outside will just have to wait.  I suspect that it was because I got wayyyy too hooot yesterday so that means I will proably not do so well with the heat for awhile.  I need to trim some bushes and tree limbs and weed the main garden so we will wait and see, planned to do it yesterday evening at sunset but it was raining. 

Well gonna work on my quilt for now. More later.

rain

Got a hard fast rain, which we kinda needed and it brought down the temperature some today, hopefully it will stay a little lower and I can get out and finish some of my projects.  It was just too hot yesterday and I got overheated.  MLK called last night she was feeling rough got some kind of bug and wanted to talk to her Mom, she sounded pretty good, she is going into Fareway to see about the job, I hope she got it but if she didnt then onto the next one.  I think she thought that it would just happen overnight. 

Today I go and do some volunteering interpreting and also tommorow evening I do some from time to time but I could do more but dont want to use up alot of gas.  Well better go jump in the shower.

deep cleaning day

Ahh it feels good to have one of those days where you can do a deep clean, the only room I have left is the mud room and will do it once the laundry is done.  I enjoy having that feeling of satisfaction that I am not going to have to leave and get to it later. I did some weed eating for about an hour or two and got way too hot.  Neither I nor my sister sweat very much and I think that can become a huge huge problem, about once a summer I get close to having heat exhaustion and that can sneak up on you quick.  I realized that I was starting to get goosebumps and that is the big warning sign for me, as it was well over 90 and you shouldnt get goosebumps at that stage.  So I came in jumped in the shower, cleaned off but had the shakes in my hands for about two hours afterwords.  I am fine now but not going out till around sunset or after.  I hope Dave is doing okay, he has to watch his water intake as he sweats and sweats which in one way is good.  He is working on Saint Joe today.  This coming weekend is Gma Henderson b-day party on Sunday.  Well better go and get around. 

sick guy

Dave has been up and down all night tonight with a whole lot of drainage, I hope he can get some good sleep soon.  I slept well and then ding I am awake now.  So piddling on the computer till I get tired again.  Today i did a whole lot of errands and one interpreting job, came home and then went to Denise with hubby to get a part to turn in and get another part for the blue car.  It should be in awesome shape when he is all done with it.  Tommorow if it is cool enough I am going to try to get in the garden to weed and then hopefully weed eat part of our lawn.

I have been working on cutting out more five inch squares for the denim quilt, this seems to be a more labor intensive quilt then the others but I think it will be really nice and warm when I am through with it.  Maybe it will be ready by fall. Well better go for now.

rambling thoughts

Well went and checked one the garden that flooded and it seems to be coming back except for the beans lost a few cucumbers and the green beans but the cucumbers are coming back.  I really thought when it flooded that it would be a total loss.  The tomatoes look awesome and loaded!  I was hoping to can alot of pickles and tomatoes.  I think tomatoes will happen and we will have to see how the cucumbers produce after this flood setback.  The blueberries lost alot of their berries but the plant looks good, same with the raspberries, the trees seems to do okay too.  I have pipe dreams that may be a reality some day but would like to produce alot of food on our acre. 

The grass grew like crazy again due to all the rain so plan to go mow today once the dew has dried up some.  MLK said her interview went well, so praying she gets the job!  Well I had better get off here and get busy for the day.

just getting stuff done

Well today was productive.  I cleaned out MLK room, but all her stuff she didnt take into her closet and hope chest, and sorted out what else she might want in Iowa.  She called Dave to let us know she had her job interview moved up, hope she gets it!!!  It would be a nice thing for her to have a few things go her way right now.  She is registered for classes and accepted at Indian Hills, financial aid should be coming through in a few days. She is excited and overwhelmed all at the same time.

MDK and Dave are off to a camp training meeting tonight, and I am at home alone, working on my invoices and getting them all printed off for the year, should have done this earlier then July but better late than never.  It is a chore but well worth it when tax time comes around.  Please pray for me as the interpreting desert is really making it tight around here.  It seems like a catch 22 if I get a low paying job I then lose out on availability to do jobs at a much higher rate of pay and they keep saying hold on a little longer it will catch up.  I am thinking if by the middle of Sept. it is not back up I will be pursuing other employment.  We can get by barely on Dave's salary, esp. with the price of gas and how that effects all bills except maybe the internet.

I meant to get the third garden spot weeded this morning but woke up to a good downpour so the weeds once again win in that patch, but am going to go take a look at the cucumbers and tomatoes, i have alot of green tomatoes looking forward to the red ones!!!!  Got alot of little naggy things off my plate today and maybe tonight I will sew on my raggy denim quilt, but going to conquer the invoices first.  Well all for now.

growing them up and letting them go

Well it is official she is off.  It has been a hard transitional thing for me to do in my mind but something just clicked in my mind yesterday.  She is starting her own independent journey, doing her thing failing or suceeding on her own.  She is accepted into college and now she is ready to roll she has to register online today and get all her paperwork done.  So I hope everything goes well, she is still searching for a job.  She is hoping to get one this week.  Well I had better go cause if I dwell on this too long I will want to call her and tell her what to do.

woke up early

Well I woke up early and plan if I get tired to go back to bed as I still need some more sleep.  I looked over my garden and for the most part it faired pretty well.  I was afraid it was going to be a total loss but so far so good.  The green beans I think are gone and it knocked off all the blooms off the zuchini but they are hardy so I suspect they will be back with a vengenance.  My tomatoes look great and my cucumbers survivied it will take them sometime to rebound.  My potatoes and onions are great.  My weeds are doing well too due to the fact I cant get in there and get them taken care of!!  I mowed my part of the lawn yesterday after the rain, and it was very humid.  My rescue cherry tree is dead but will give it a shot in the spring and then pull it, the plum and other cherry tree are doing well.  My blueberries are mud covered so I cant tell which ones are ripe so I will have to dunk them in water.  I also ate a blackberry off my new plant, it was yummy.  My dream is that my gardens over time will take care of alot of our food needs.  I have really enjoyed gardening this year as I have time to piddle.  When we were at Fairport there was always something going on at the church, and when Dave kept getting worse I ended up picking up the loose ends.  Talking about Dave he has had the most trouble he has had in a few months,  so praying for a reprive for him.  He does so well most of the time, it is the nerve pain that wears him out at times.  He has a whole list of projects he wants done today so we will wait and see how it goes if he has the energy today.  We are hoping to make a flower bed and put in a clothesline and do a few outdoor chores.  Well I had better get off here.

introspection

Well I havent blogged for awhile due to the fact I have been extremly introspective.  Life has been throwing some changes with MLK being the big one.  She is now planning to live in Iowa, get a job up there and go to college.  We have come to the stage of life where she makes the decisions and I get to sit by and pray.  A new stage, good and bad all at the same time and I would say a more permenant change of life than before.  I will enjoy this new stage to the best of my ability but i will say this is a hard one.  You want to just tell them what to do and how to do it but that is not helpful.  It is hard to not want to do too much and then you offend their new sensibility of responsiblity and emerging adulthood.  An interesting tightrope. 

My garden flooded and I lost a few cucumbers but not the plants, however I think the green beans are done but everything else weathered the flood.. The weeds might take over as it is way too muddy to get into them.  I am pleased that so much of it is still alive, as I didnt think it would survive.  I mowed this afternoon and it looks better across the way as it doesnt have icky mud coat. 

Dave has had a hard time with nerve pain this week and I have encouraged to take it easy, we will see how he does and maybe get the clothesline up tommorow, however if he still not feeling well that will wait as he has a big week coming.

I am starting to feel the nuttiness of being "unemployed", it is an odd sesaation and I dont want to get a low paying job and then miss the chance to make good money interpreting so I will wait till August and September and see how it goes and then who knows.

Well better go for now.