Greetings friends – holy smokes a full two months of crickets, were you wondering where I was and what the heck was going on….? I’m guessing your life is just as busy as mine, and you were too busy to miss me?!

Lots of boat trips, camping trips, family time, creating time & even a wedding kept us really busy over here!

I received a call Wednesday saying we had to move our office — the next day — um…yeah, I’m busy. I had planned to take mom to Hovander Park to take pictures of the Dahlia gardens that day, so I said I would be in after my morning appointment Friday to see what I could do to help. By the time I had made it there, my co-worker had it all packed up (with the help of two other people) and the room was already being filled up by the next occupant. It’s strange to me how school district can do that to a department. Why not just give us a permanent home and leave us there? It’s disruptive to our work environment, it shows no respect for our department, it creates distrust and is a bit stressful. We are moving to a smaller space than last time, HOWEVER, it has windows & I have a table for my desk & one for the embosser.

Let’s see if I can find a bright spot….it’s a fresh start for the new person…we are both starting on even ground now, she gets paid more & is more important, so it was important that she was able to pick her place in the space first – sets a hierarchy in a way I suppose. It’s clean and has windows. We have a nice counter to work on-not just tables around the room….I’m sure it will be a good move. New staff, new environment, fresh start and it is closer to the school I will be spending more of my time at – at least that is the case as of this moment….we shall see if we get more students as the year ramps up.

We will be hosting a summer market on the 10th of September. I’m excited, but super nervous about it. The Spring Market went so well, can it go that well again? I participated in a market on Wednesday nights all summer long, never did really well, but a little here and there. Oddly…..I did more in the chunk of time in the yard than I did all together over the summer in the evenings spent at the market. So we decided to see if we could give it another go. We have 7 vendors collected so far, we shall see how it goes.

The garden is finally producing flowers. My Asters & Bells of Ireland were a complete disaster….as in…they didn’t make it at all. The green amaranth was an inch tall, the burgundy and orange were not very good, but I managed to get a bit out of it for my daughter’s wedding. The Cosmos, Zinnias, Marigold beasts, Strawflowers (the very few I planted), Mexican Hats, Statice, and even the Dahlias are doing well. I think the Glads just might have blooms for me before the end of the season, but I’m not sure yet – they were put in there soooo super late! I have another flower that is doing well, but have no clue that the name of it is, and haven’t had time to go investigate my bags of seeds to see what it is. It’s very pretty…

The weeds are great also….but that’s normal right?

I did manage to injure myself at the start of the season – last time I blogged I wrote about getting into the main garden to till – I had also weeded for several hours the day prior, and had also thrown several pots….in addition to mowing and mulching…..apparently that’s a great recipe for disaster! I ended up with a very painful shoulder — bursitis — the doctor diagnosed me with within two minutes of chatting with me, recommended a shot & rest….um REST? Who me?? Well, if you don’t rest, you risk more damage and very slow healing. I managed, but my garden suffered for it, but it’s just a garden, I need my shoulder for lots of other things. It obviously didn’t suffer that bad – because I was able to to the wedding, and there is still lots of color coming from it!

Update on mom….she’s doing well. Turns out I will not be needing to take a leave of absence because the Feds came in changing the requirements for people qualifying for Medicaid – she now is covered – and can now have in home care every day & even rides to doctor appointments. Great news! Now I can be the daughter again, and not the bossy, bitchy care giver–and save some money in doing so!

I better get a move on, the grandbaby is on her way to spend the day with grammy while grampy takes out the mom & dad for a fishing trip to find some yummy fish & hopefully some crabs!

Hope all is well with you and yours. Please take a few moments to enjoy your busy life – things can get crazy & we can forget to take care of ourselves! I did start a yoga for weight loss program about 12 days ago, it’s going well. I’m thankful every day I can get up and move. Until next time my friends – hugs to you~