End of July

This picture is just fun to me. Laugh-out-loud fun. Literally, because that's what she was doing. Not screaming or anything like that. Just a big, funny, laugh.

I finally got around to updating my photo gallery, so if you are family you should have the address for that. If not, just email me!

Nothing new really happening here.. hoping we can switch to a day-shift lifestyle soon, though it's not too bad how it is. The hardest part of having a husband working evenings is keeping a clean house and relaxing I think. We want to spend mornings together as a family, but of course there is breakfast and lunch to cook, the clean-up for them, the preparation for his dinner at work. Not to mention the care of a 3-yr-old and any lawn care that needs done. So by the time he leaves for work it's mid-afternoon, I'm ready for a break, and the house is waiting to be cleaned. Yuck. And we miss the relaxing evenings. Even if they were short, they were more relaxing I think. The day's work was done. We could just wind down together. I miss that. I didn't know I would, but I do.

Nothing else really going on. I'm tired of the summer heat and humidity here. And the mosquitoes. I've had to start wearing long sleeves, in addition to the long pants I was already wearing out there. And socks and shoes. Although now I have 2 bites on my neck. I've never seen mosquitoes like these anywhere else. They are truly terrible up here. I've been out pulling weeds... again.. I am about ready to sow grass in all these formerly landscaped areas. I am just not into landscaping. Give me a few raised containers to grow some stuff in - great. But that's it. And speaking of growing - our single red bell pepper plant has several peppers on it! We can't wait to eat them. Our basil is growing like crazy and I need to find more recipes for it! I got to use fresh thyme in a pot roast last week, as well as homemade chicken noodle soup. Yummy! Our lettuce plant continues to grow well and free of bugs. It is fun to go pick some for a sandwich, and then more grows. We have had a salad from it too. We are excited about planting lots of greens and other cool weather veggies for the fall. We are definitely learning as we go.