Summer!

Looks like it's summer again. It's felt like summer for weeks now but we had to wait for the official beginning on the 21st, my niece, Heather's birthday. Somehow I always have this belief that life should be more relaxed in the summer. Probably a hold over from the endless summers of childhood. Remember how those days seemed to last forever? I thought it might feel like that forever - until I shifted over to the adult viewpoint of summer. Yup, the days seem to last forever but not in a carefree way! More like a how long can a day be way instead!

Some days I have no idea what I did to be so busy. Like yesterday. I remember I did stuff---wash, shopping, cooking tacos. (When Jenny comes to visit we have to have tacos. No one makes them for her at home.) I got out some crafts I'd bought and the three J's---Jenny, Jarrod and Jeremiah, painted little clay figurines of bugs, horses and dogs. It kept them all in one place, semi-quiet and doing something. When they got done, we went to play Putt Putt golf. We manged to get passes this year during the half price sale.

I raced back, got ready for the summer crit group and raced to the library. Only two of my friends showed up so we spent more time gossiping and discussing life than doing a critique. Although I did get two commas taken out of a perplexing query letter. After the group, I went with the children, two sisters and my bil to walk two miles around the college track. Do my feet hurt!

Would like to say I got to write but that would be a lie. The only thing even approaching words on paper were the emails I wrote. Today, I have Emma here. Some people might be able to write with a two year old, I can't. Except for this because she's out in the yard with the grandparents.

Spent an almost sleepless night worrying about a problem I'd have liked to discuss with someone - anyone. Made a decision this morning, after two aspirin and going back to bed at 7:30. Second guessing myself if it's right. Only time will tell.

As Scarlett O'Hara used to say, "Tomorrow is another day." And I'm sure Ziggy or someone used to say, "I hope it's better than today."

My life in sound bites. . . . Some weeks the days go by in itty bits of moments. Like this past week. Thinking back I'm trying to remember where it all went. Monday is a total blank. Whatever I did, it's lost. On Tuesday, I know I met the Cookies and Milk ladies for lunch at Bob Evans. The boys went with me and were super good. It cost us over $30 bucks for a meal--YIKES--but Miah couldn't finish all his Western Omlet and brought some home for an afternoon snack. We stayed almost two hours. Came home and I think I did some writing. Most days I do some writing. Then I went to visit Gwen, the super lady who started us off on our newspaper page with her encouragement and caring. I took one of my manuscripts for her to give a thorough read through.

Wednesday the boys and I got up early to be at the Cinemas for a free showing of "Charlotte's Web." Every summer the merchants in town sponsor free movies on Wednesdays. The boys had never seen this classic, not even the cartoon, and loved the tale of Wilbur, the pig. We met my friend, Patty, there and had a nice mid-week visit.

Sister #2 got off a bit early so I had time to write on Wednesday too. Then went for the weekly night to clean the church offices. Got home early and went next door to watch the boys on the trampoline.

Thursday, I got a rare day OFF of everything. Spent most of the day writing, cleaning, and loafing. Did several scrapbook pages and had an idea for an article. Read a lot, walked a lot and enjoyed the freedom. Worked on planting marigolds and seeds in my garden. Also spent part of the day searching for a missing library book on woodpeckers and the case to "Chicken Little." (What is it with the missing birds around here?) Found the video case behind the couch. The book is still missing but the library let me renew it.

Friday we did school work. Yup, our new books to work on through the summer came. We took a trip to the library in the afternoon and watched a movie, "Savannah Smiles," when we came home. Had yummy garlic bread pizza and ended the day playing poker and Wheel of Fortune.

I love summer! The peonies have faded but you can see how the front porch looked last month. In the edge of the left front of the photo is part of my mailbox.

A week in review----

Welcome to my newest great niece, Hayleigh Marie! Here she is just 36 hours old. Thankfully, the last time I saw a baby sale too good to pass up, I bought several PINK outfits. (Baby clothes are one of my vices. I love buying them. Usually, I pass them on to someone who actually HAS a baby. Sometimes, I hoard a few outfits for a bit or use them to dress my keepsake dolls.)

One day I'll have to take some pictures of the dolls. I have several that belonged to my nieces Heather and Jenny, a set of Dionne Quintuplets I made, a walking doll my dad won at a fair in Texas as well as a bunch more. When I get tired of how they look, I dress them in something different.

Oh--yeah, the week in review. . . can't say it was much of a red letter week. I did get some lovely free time on Memorial Day. Can't remember what I did, but I know I sat and wrote or edited something. Felt very virtuous to be working on a holiday. I did figure out how to use the OCR on my scanner. This translates typed pages into my word program. Have been working at this for YEARS and never got it right--until now! I scanned four whole pages and all I had to do was tweak it a bit. Look out files, here I come! I have years of work I could be recycling but didn't want the bother of putting it into the pc.

The next day, I had several nice surprises. Got a HUGE birthday box from my sissy (okay, so I adopted her and she adopted me--LOL!) Sherry, in Tennessee. Lots of cool presents for Christmas, Easter and my birthday. I mailed out a query that I've been debating for weeks, printed up two articles to send out and actually sat down to watch an episode of Big Valley in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY. Total decadance.

Of course, that was also the day (I think) that I went rushing toward the bathroom and rammed my foot into the doorjam. My two pinkie toes went crunch and they sure felt broken. I could barely hobble to sit down. Soaked them that night and realized when I tried to walk upstairs I couldn't. All the extra babies and activity this week did a number on my left knee. If I bent it, it screamed. It happens and I take it easy for a bit. I'm sure I resembled Quasimodo lurching from my owie knee to my huge toes. Couldn't get my shoes on for two days. (It was sooooooooo nice! I couldn't drive anywhere.)

But, all good things must come to an end---the swelling is going down so it must be getting better. Showed the kids the bruises at the pool yesterday, they were impressed.

The rest of the week zipped by as we try to finish school for the year. (Although we generally work during the summer too, we do ease off some.) Friday, we skipped school all together and headed for Jenny's pool. The kids stayed in about three hours while I read "Quaker Summer." (This was so I could have two grown up books to list when I play tag with Erica's blog. I was too embarrassed to list 3 kids books as the last three I read. Even though it WAS research, I swear.) Even though I had on tons of sun screen, I managed to get burnt--in two nice neat circles around my ankles. Good thing I have stopped hobbling and can walk semi-upright. I'd sure look weird hobbling along with two pink ankles.

Saturday---I actually got to work for two hours straight! Funny, I kept waiting for someone to call or some disaster to strike. And something so GOOD happened today---Erica helped me solve a year long mystery. I now have all the lyrics to a Donny Osmond song that's been driving me nuts. And I am not dumb enough to tell anyone what song. You might think I am very weird.