Just Stuff....Procrastinating on Work Tonight

I should be downstairs working.  Instead I'm sitting on the couch as Jeopardy is on the television. Tonight there are children competing.  They are smart.  No doubt...but missing some pretty easy questions from the Bible category, which makes me want to teach them.  Once a teacher, always a teacher, I guess.

Speaking of teaching....September is coming which means I'll be back to teaching music once a week at our former homeschool co-op.  I'm so ready to see those kiddos again.  I'll miss the ones who moved up to the high school level.  But will welcome in the new ones from the younger grades. Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm formulating class ideas and plans but haven't set down to put it into writing yet.  I feel a bit more prepared this year than last ....since I have a better idea of what is expected.

In the background I hear Warren working at removing a wall in the basement.  He is working on the bathroom down in the "flood zone".  This was actually in process before the flooding happened and is only now being revisited.  I don't know how many times we (he) moved the bathtub that was sitting there waiting to be installed over the week of the many mini floods.  I know I was climbing over it and other things to get to the "drain".  The drain was the toilet phlange.  Every time the water got high we opened that baby up and let the water run into the septic system.  That was scary because we were not sure if that would lead to the need to replace it or not but the water coming in had to be dealt with and we had no other options.  That won't be a problem again since we now have a pit with a pump in it.  Thank the Lord...and a loving family member who helped us make that happen.

Mini note on flood damaged toe....The new nail has grown enough that I could actually paint it this week.  :-)  Such a cute little nail.

I spent time with Chelsea and Chadd today.  It seems they take turns having good and bad days. Today was Chelsea's turn to have a bad, bad day.  It is good to see them support each other but hard that they have to.  Chadd continues to make good progress physically.  He is a very determined young man and other than continuing to worry me with his lack of appetite and weight loss is making excellent progress.  Please pray with me that he would be able to get back the muscle he has lost and that the new muscle that is being formed in his left leg will mature and grow nicely where it needs to.

I did something that makes me pretty frustrated with myself.  In trying to get a fundraiser flyer made up in time for a kick-off tomorrow night I used some photos that ended up looking terrible in print.  I tried to live with them...truly, I did.  But alas, they were just making me crazy.  And so, in spite of the money spent I reworked the entire flyer.  The other evening I was in my shop shooting new photos...and then editing...and asking my friend, Melissa, to look it over.  She made suggestions, I made those changes and more of my own and then reordered the flyers.  What a waste of the money spent on the first ones but I just couldn't bring myself to hand those out.  First impressions and all.  At least, I could put a rush on it and got the new ones today...just in time for tomorrow's meeting.  I cut that one pretty close.

We had a good scare here in the neighborhood last evening.  There were storms to the East but nothing here....except one HUGE lightning strike/thunder boom that went on and on.....
I heard from other neighbors that they, too, thought something had been struck right outside their homes.  This one was so big and shook the house so much that Jonathan came running up from the basement to see what was damaged.  Still...no storm.  That was it.  Weird.  And that was after I had commented that it was eerie outside.  When I took the dogs out there was a swarm of huge dragonflies circling in the front yard with a flock of birds diving after them.  The air was so still and heavy.  I couldn't wait to get back inside.  Think sci-fi setting.  Stephen King style.  Spooky!!  So, just hours later BOOM!! with the huge bright flare of fiery lightning.   I just knew it.  Eerie.

On a brighter and final note...dinner tonight was kind of fun to make.  Chelsea and I decided that it should involve chicken and peaches.  She found a recipe on Pinterest with ginger, garlic and peaches that sounded like it would work.  And it did.  Not quite as much flavor infused in the chicken as I would have liked...perhaps next time I would cut the chicken into cubes rather than the larger pieces that we used tonight.  But overall the peaches were pretty amazing in it.  I like cooking with my girl.

I hope you are enjoying these last days of Summer.  It will be gone before we know it.  At our house we are not really trying to hang on to 2015.  It is welcome to pack it's bags and go... we are hoping for a brighter 2016.  One that includes happiness and a wedding.  Please Lord.  That would be pretty special....