Hot, muggy, still summer

Everyone is complaining (including me) that summer is coming to an end, but today's weather in northern Illinois doesn't convince me! It is very humid and sticky.  There are signs that fall however, is right around the corner.

Too many zucchini's

We raise zucchini in our garden and we grow them so well that we run out of ways to cook them.  You can only eat so much of it before you get tired of it.  I put it in soups and salads, bake zucchini bread, fry it, saute it, and eat it raw.  I even "juiced" it once (minus the skin) and put it in a smoothy for my granddaughter.  She loved it!  I was encouraged. I even created a board on Pinterest to hold zucchini recipes. 

Mums

I find myself looking at the mums being sold everywhere now. I have needed to scale back on purchasing flowers because I am still unemployed on "Sabbatical" and trying to promote my new website to find clients. Yes, I guess this would be considered a shameless plug.

But back to mums - I have managed to keep 1/4 of my spring plants almost alive but the drought killed off most.  I salvaged 3/4 of the edible plants however, and nothing kills zucchini in my garden - so I guess I did OK with my first attempt at being in control of the household garden, after taking several years off. My husband and son planted, somewhat weeded, and grew lots of zucchini, tomatoes, spaghetti squash, beans, peas, kohlrabi's broccoli, peppers, radishes and onions for several years. This year, since I was home from the beginning of "gardening season" I started and followed through - including regular weeding - and have determined that they had a better crop, but my garden looked neater.

Hmmmmm........not sure that is such a good thing.  So again - back to mums.

I love the dark red mums so I think I will get 4 plants this year. To put in the front yard. And that ends the discussion on mums.

Christmas and Halloween and Thanksgiving pins

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am addicted to Pinterest.  Over the weekend I think I spent about 15-20 hours on that site. Really! One pin leads to another - on Sunday I found a Christmas pin that led me to a Christmas blog on tumblr.com Wonderful! I am linking you to it so you can find it easier.
Mistletoe and Glogg actually plays music! You can follow the little snowflake and click on the words Mistletoe and Glogg and it leads you to several pictures - you just need to check it out.  Of course it inspired me to start yet another blog so I can write stories. Mostly about Christmas but about other topics as well. It will be fun!

I also found many crafts, which I think I can actually make by myself!  I am not crafty enough to have a craft blog - thank goodness because I have started enough blogs for awhile - but I do enjoy making things for gifts or to keep for myself. I am in the process of taking an inventory of what I will need to purchase to stock my Santa's workshop for this year.  I am also searching for ways to incorporate Hanukkah into the holiday as my daughter-in-law and granddaughter are Jewish and we are celebrating both in our home now.

If you have ideas to share about how to blend both holidays - please share them with me!

It's really September already?

I can't believe the summer has passed so quickly. I feel like it just started.  Even the brutally hot 90+ days seem like a quick blip and they lasted quite a long time.  I guess I am just not ready for it to end yet.  I also think that it is another reminder that when I am busy, time passes too quickly.

While I am still officially on sabbatical, I did pick up a couple of quick jobs that distracted me from completing my goals set last spring. I am happy to report though that I am learning a lot about blogging, SEO - Search Engine Optimization, and how to set up and maintain weblogs.  I am very impressed with so many of the blogs I have found along the way.  I am also learning how to get my writing "noticed" by others which could potentially lead to contracts and other methods of getting paid.

I believe I have seen the last of my grant reviewing days for this year, and I mentioned in a previous blog that I have taken myself off of the job search boards, keeping a select couple so I still have the potential to find a job with benefits.  In the meantime, I am focusing on writing and promoting the skills I have developed over time writing and reviewing grants.

I also made this decision because I truly believe that my path is in God's hands. He only gives us as much as we can handle.  Apparently He has been listening to me lately! I spent so many years struggling to balance full time work with challenging issues with my sons, which included several arrests, drug over doses, a suicide attempt, and ultimately placements in drug rehab or prison. It was hard to know my son was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, hauled off in handcuffs, driven through a small town in a police car, and had his name in the paper several times, all while working in the public eye, needing to give a speech about where to go and how to find help for a child with mental illness. But I did it for several years.  And it wore me down.

I recently learned that my Dad has liver cancer. After spending several months de-cluttering, cleaning, remodeling, reading, and reflecting on my own life choices, I am now faced with helping my parents do the same.  Only this time it includes trips to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, radiation, chemotherapy, and helping them reconnect with and establish new relationships with "lost" children. I am also going to need mental energy to deal with relationships I have let go for good reasons, and be there to support my brothers who were much closer to my father than I was. I developed a blog to update everyone on his progress, never realizing that I would be able to put my new skills to the test for my own parents so soon.

Yes, it is going to be a challenging few months but as my son and his wife - who lost her father in his late 30's of a sudden heart attack - has pointed out, at least we have been blessed with this time and opportunity, whatever the end result may be.