Getting ready for School!

I didn't get this updated this Thursday because I couldn't get to my computer! I was knee deep in school books and boxes. I finally got tired of going out to the garage and moving boxes around to find specific books and decided to bring them all into the house, re-organize and catalog them to make it easier to find what I need. It took almost 4 days to get it done, but it finally is, and Angel and I just finished taking the boxes back out to the garage that we are not going to need this year and getting the school room all ready for Monday, our official first day of school. Well, Michelle's first day anyway. Grandma asked if Angel could come help her at the Meals on Wheels site Monday so she's getting a slight reprieve. :o) I think it will be good for Michelle and I to start the first day together anyway since this will be pretty new stuff for her.

We are grateful for the rain this last week. We would need a lot more to fill the ponds and creeks, but at least the plants are getting a good drink. A few weeks ago we noticed a lot of tree's leaves turning orange and yellow already because of lack of moisture. The rain did help the berries a bit, but I think it's a little too late for most of them. It doesn't seem like we'll get much more of a harvest of blackberries this year but that's OK. I think I have enough in the freezer to make one more batch of syrup, and maybe some jam. YUM!

Speaking of syrup, Angel and I took some with us last night to a fun sleepover at church with most of the other girls and their moms. We had a lot of fun playing games, doing hair, getting to know each other, and of course, getting very little sleep. The syrup was yummy on the Swedish pancakes one of the moms made for us for breakfast this morning. That's a recipe I'm going to have to learn.

The guys managed to get Nick's Tracker running last week. I think they've mentioned an oil leak they need to fix, but it should be up and usable for him pretty soon. My van is next on the Dr.'s list once the Tracker is in remission. I pray that it doesn't take long to fix and doesn't cost too much.
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Update: I meant to post this last Saturday but wasn't able to and then simply forgot in the midst of a busy school week. We did start school on Monday, and things are going well. I'm sure we'll be tweaking the schedule a bit here and there until we find what works best for us this year, but so far, so good. Angel's attitude has been wonderful. In fact, she's been up, dressed and ready to start before I am each day. She was even patient with my grumpiness this afternoon during math. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to help Darlene with the paper route much longer. Five hours of sleep does not make for a very happy teacher, or a very focused one.

Here's a of pictures of Mike and the kids working on my garden fence and the finished project. He needed the kids to hold the log still while he cut a notch in the end. You can't see much of the garden because there weren't any flowers in bloom when we took this picture and the greenery just kind of blends into the overgrown lawn around it. :o) Oh well, all of the plants in the garden, except for the two rose bushes on the end, were transplanted from elsewhere on the property. There are daisies, strawberries and black-eyed Susans. There are even some chives in there that our Pastor gave to me and I didn't have any other place ready for them at the time so they were put in here. I guess you could call this a "holding" garden as I've put most of these in here to hold them until I can find a better place for them and to keep them from being mowed down by the lawn mower.

Anyway, I don't have a lot of time. I realized yesterday that Michelle's Birthday is coming up very quickly and I am hosting part of a church progressive supper the weekend after that. So, this next week I will be busy with a few craft projects and trying to finish up a few projects around the house here along with making sure the girls and I don't get behind in their school work. So, with that in mind, I should head off to bed and get some much needed rest.

Till next week, God's love and blessings!

I'm a Grandma-again

I first became a Grandma when Angel adopted her cat Princess, now my youngest has become the mother to a beautiful monarch butterfly. Length: 2 inches, width: 4 inches, black fuzzy body, orange, black and yellow wings, sex: I have no idea! Isn't it beautiful?

In work related news, Mike really likes his new job. I like that he gets home pretty early and we still have the afternoons to spend together. Nick was just hired at the Subway here in town. It's not much, but it will help towards his college. And, I'm hoping to get a card class going in a couple of weeks--maybe that will help me get my Stampin' Up! business up and running again.

I've been having so much fun outside these last few weeks. The weather here is great and there's so many new things to discover on our property. The girls and I went out picking berries again today and harvested some of the herbs in the garden. Here's a picture of today's harvest.

It's not much for berries. Last week I pretty much filled this basket with raspberries each day. The raspberries are slowing down and the black berries are just starting to ripen. I also think the birds have finally found my brambles and are beating me to them. By next week this basket should be filled with blackberries every other day or so if I can beat the birds. Unfortunately, the blackberries are a lot harder to get to than the raspberries and they are a LOT more thorny. The white flowers in the basket are chamomile that I dry and make tea with. The leaves are oregano, basil, and chocolate mint. I'm drying those right now in my dehydrator along with the chamomile. Yes, my kitchen smells a bit different right now, especially since Angel and I just processed a bunch of the berries to make syrup with later.

We're supposed to get rain for the next few days, so I'm going to find lots of indoor things to do. I need to go through our school books and get next year's curriculum out and get the bookshelves organized. After that, I think I'm going to work on Birthday cards and some scrapbook pages. Mike and Nick are working on Nick's car to see if they can get it working pretty soon. I would appreciate any prayers lifted up in their behalf. I can't seem to keep enough band-aids in the house for them when they're working on cars! :o)

Well, I'm off to get dinner started. Till next week...
God's love and blessings to you!