Busy Summer

I have a couple of thousand picturs to edit as soon as my software gets here (my trial program ran out of time), so this is going ot be a post sans photos.

July has been a really busy month for us. Jesse and Sam came to visit, and I have a bunch of photos from that to share. I loved seeing them again, and the kids were just thrilled to see "Uncle" again... he is a demi-god to them almost.

Jessica took an ACT prep class, and last Saturday took the actual test again, so we are waiting to hear her score on that. She already has a 22, which will automatically earn her some scholarships, but by raising it to a 25 or higher she can not only increase her scholarship amounts to most likely a full tuition, but she may also be able to earn her dorm expenses in scholarship funds as well. Cross your fingers and wish her luck!

Matt and Jessica are both heading out of town this weekend.

Our washing machine died and for several weeks we have been reduced to using the laundromat. I despise going to the laundromat... I hate the laundry build-up, I hate the way the clothes feel from the machines there, I hate paying a fortune in quarters to get clean clothes. Two days ago the part finally came in and our machine was fixed, and I am gleefully washing laundry today. The house smells so good with the fabric softener and laundry soap smells whirling around us. I am sure the gleeful feeling will end soon, but for now it is fun.

This week is Vacation Bible School, and what an initiation it has been. (I have never been a part of any kind of VBS before in my whole life.) The kids are having a blast. I am exhausted. I was assigned to be in charge of the preschool room, and there are 15 kids in there.

I start a new part-time job on Monday, and I am really looking forward to it. I have to get my garden completely weeded again before it starts.

And that garden... let me tell you.... it is a good thing I can laugh at myself. The dogs have knocked all my tomatoes over, my unexpected pumpkin patch is taking over everything, I thought I planted jalapenos and it turns out they are jabaneros (need a little heat anyone?), and I have some monster huge yellow squash (literally as big as Beth) that I have never seen before. Pictures to follow soon.


Anyway... I need to go mentally prepare myself for that preschool class for tonight, finish my laundry, and make a couple of phone calls. Have a good week, and I will have my pics up when my software gets here to edit them.

Mystic Caverns

I have a ton of photos to edit to show from the last week, and I wanted to show them without having a mile long row of individual photos. So I have been playing with a movie program, and turning the photos into slideshows when I have lots of them to show. Jesse and Sam were here visiting last week, and one of the things we did was go to the Mystic Caverns. They are natural underground caverns with gorgeous walls and stalagnites and stalagtites. Here are some of the photos of the caverns themselves, and I will be back in just a little bit with more pictures from the week with actual people in them! (These photos are not blurry in real life... I think the movie program condensed the files and reduced the dpi causing the blurred looks.... grrr) Just push the play button.

Growing new things

Just a real quick update... :0) This is the frame I made for Pastor David with the picture I took last week. The kids gave it to him at his going-away reception.

The garden is growing very well for the most part. I have yellow squash coming out my ears, and a variety of other veggies are sprouting. Here are some I picked the other day. I have about 100 jalepeno peppers out there now.

I showed you a plant a week or so ago that I thought was zucchini. Then the green plants started getting really fat, and I thought they were watermelon. They look like watermelon, right? So I picked one yesterday, and saw that the bottom of it is turning orange. My zucchini-turned-watermelons are in fact pumpkins. And I have tons of them out there. Tons. I sure hope that the yellow vining plants that I thought were pumpkins end up being watermelons!!
Jesse and Sam are here visiting this week, so I will have some pics of all of us together within the next day or two before they leave. Talk at ya soon!