CRAZY BUSY!

I promised myself when I started this that I'd try to get at least one post up a week. And here I am...pushing the envelope...

So, as an update I will say...Summer is here! Which means, it's time to get the pools open. I had a great week off while mom was here but now it's time to hit the ground running! That's what I've been doing this week. I've been going into work around 6am every morning (Yes, that's AM!), and getting off anywhere between 2pm yesterday (because one of my youth kids had invited us to graduation) and 6pm tonight.

Saturday the pools open and things should slow down a bit. Which I am thankful for.

Austin, Alex, and Aaron are truly being awesome! They've been helping to keep the house up and resisting the urge to kill each other!!! Adam has been traveling all week and they have been left on their own more than I like. Austin has even been running a few errands for me all week. This is a nice littler perk to having teenagers!

Thanks guys, for hanging in there!

HOME IMPROVEMENTS AGAIN!!!

It seems like everytime we have visitors, we end up putting them to work. Guess that really makes you want to come visit, right? lol! (Laughing out loud-just in case you don't have teenagers around).

My mom came to visit like she does just about every spring. We've had a GREAT time...walking downtown Huntsville, seeing all the blooming flowers (she's from Brandon, South Dakota, and spring is just breaking there), pulling a few weeds, eating out, shopping (her favorite), and sewing!

I've been lacking a curtain, as some of you know, in our guest bedroom...well, LACKING NO MORE! Thanks to my mom, we now have a curtain in there! Woohoo!

Check them out, we were a little concerned because the fabric seemed so yellow, but on the wall it seems to be taking on just the right colors to accent our guest room. I'm sooo excited!

WE CELEBRATE THE "LITTLE" THINGS, TOO!

Even though I say it's a "little" thing, it is really a "really BIG" thing!

Austin has finally finished his research paper! Yeah! You have to understand! He has been working on this required "junior paper" since last January. The process consists of...putting together your draft and turning it in...then you get it back with corrections that need to be made....then you make the corrections and turn it in again...then you get it back with more corrections to be made...then you make the corrections and you turn it back in...then you get it back again...over and over and over....eventually, hopefully, you will get a "GREAT JOB" and be all done! That is very exciting!

And now, finally, He is ecstatic to know that it is done (as you can imagine)! If you would like to read it, send me an e-mail and I'll be happy to forward it to you!

OUR "GARDEN" IS GROWING!

Since we moved last spring I've been trying to figure out, how in the world I can have a garden. This has been a great dilemma for me. Our yard has over 50 very tall trees in it leaving us lacking direct sunshine that gardens like to have. I think I might have found an alternative. Only time will tell.
















I just happened to catch an info-mercial on TV for this hanging tomato planter thing, and I thought "hmmm, this might work". But of course the "baskets" they were trying to sell looked totally CHEAP! YUCK! So, Adam and I put our heads together and found these hanging baskets at Lowe's. So we figured we'd just cut a hole in the bottom and plant the tomato plants in them -upside-down. I like them...but we had a "cup full of dirt" with something green dropping out of the bottom of it. This is not good enough for me!
















I was talking with my friend Jill one day and she tells me that military families will often plant their "gardens" in baskets because of the frequency of their moves. So, I naturally, put 2 and 2 together and decided that I would attempt to put the two ideas together and see what

















would happen. So, here is the start of our experiment. We have planted 2 pots with peas. One pot with green beans. We have squash and cucumbers. And finally, one with parsley and oregano. It will be an interesting thing to see if they have enough "room" to grow.

But so far they are lookin' pretty cool! We'll keep you posted on what happens!