Here comes Summer!

Hard to believe that May is over and summer is almost here. Even though it technically isn't summer until June 20 - I always feel like summer has arrived when the kids get out of school. Daniel is taking final exams this week - his last day is Friday. Most days he just goes in and has one exam - so he's done by 9:45! The school that rents NCCC is out on Wednesday...so it really seems like summer.
My back is much better - just soreness left - I was able to walk 1/2 mile today without hurting it too much. I hope to be able to do a little gardening tomorrow. I have to go over to the hospital in the morning to have my chest xray done. The doctor wants to make sure that the pneumonia is gone. Then I have an eye appointment at 10:30. After that I hope to spend the rest of the day outside. If I work carefully, hopefully my back will behave.
Well I'd better get working on the eggplant parmesan or we won't have dinner tonight.

Happy Memorial Day

Well it has been a bittersweet weekend - so many wonderful memories of Memorial Day weekend with my Dad in Indy - La Quinta, the parade, the time trials, the race...so many wonderful times he provided for us to enjoy with him! It is really hard to believe we won't get to enjoy those things with him anymore...we miss him so much. But we are so grateful that we have those wonderful times to remember - so glad that we got to be with him and share all of his Indy experiences and stories. I think he would have loved this year's race with Danica Patrick!
So, another "first year without Daddy" marker has come and gone. I know that each of the holidays and anniversaries that come up this year will be hard...but I will hold on to the thought of being able to spend eternity with him and be thankful for all the memories I have to recall.

Garden time

Well we have reached the time of year where I find very little time for the computer...so if you do not hear from me for awhile, it means the weather is nice and I am outside. I cannot believe how much there is to do outside this time of year...no matter how much I prepare ahead of time, there is still hours of weeding, clearing, digging, planting, etc. to be done. Part of it is that I do not like to use weed-killers or pesticides, so I make more work for myself, but I think we are healthier.
Yesterday I cleared and weeded and planted 4 of the flower beds. I still have 4 more that need attention...then of course the vegetable beds. I transplanted tiny little pansies yesterday...I started them from seed and obviously not soon enough. I have no idea how long they will take to mature, but I will definitely start them much sooner next year.
Well today's job is to plant lettuce. I am going to grow my lettuce in containers this year and keep them up on the deck where I can control the amount of sun they get. Plus it will be convenient for picking for dinner salads. It's an experiment. Everyone have a great weekend!

Mother's Day

Daniel and I spent the day together going to FOUR different churches! It was part of a project for his Christian Studies course. We visited a Roman Catholic, a non-denominational seeker friendly church, a Japanese church (yes, the service was in Japanese!) and a pentacostal church. It was a very interesting experience. Today the weather has been gorgeous, I think the frosts are finally behind us. They are prediciting mid-80's all week. I have moved all the plants outside and now can work on re-covering my house. It is hard not to feel overwhelmed with all there is to do right now, but I am trying to take it in small amounts. I need to remember Flylady's idea of just doing 15 minutes worth of work and then either resting or changing to a different type of job for 15 minutes. It can be a little chaotic, but hopefully in the long run I'll get more done. I was able to transplant the brandywine tomatoes into bigger containers (it's just a little too soon for them to go into the garden) But I am planting the early girl tomatoes in the garden this week. I've slowly been weeding and working on the flower beds... getting ready for the marigolds and snaps to go out. One thing at a time.

Another Virus

Wednesday I came down with the same virus that kept Michael home from work on Tuesday - I wonder if we pick up all these viruses because he works at a daycare center or our immune systems are just not working well. Anyway it kept me home from work today, but about midway through the day I began to feel better...so I think it was short-lived. It looks like the cold weather may finally be on its way out - I hope so, because things are late getting into the garden. Maybe we'll have a nice long, warm fall and plenty of time to harvest late. I am anxious to get going on outside projects, but between the weather and my health it hasn't happened yet. My mom is back in Buffalo after a wonderful visit with her sister Georgia in Texas. The cool weather will be a shock to her system! I hope she will have a nice Mother's Day at Jacque's home... we will be spending Mother's Day taking Daniel to three different churches for a school project. One is a Japanese church! It should be an interesting day.

Mid-week Debrief

We come to the end of another Tuesday. Since I work on Monday and Tuesday, I find it is usually Tuesday evening before I post my first blog of the week. So catch-up time:
Sunday night's small group at the Pfeil's was great fun...it is always a good way to start the week. We just show up at Peter and Liz' with whatever food we have on hand and then enjoy a true pot "luck" dinner together. We love to catch up on what everyone has been up to for the last 2 weeks and there is alot of good natured teasing! Then we close by praying for each other. Monday and today were great days at work...lots of tasks completed. We even had a good staff meeting today! (Meetings are not my favorites, but today's was more of a brain-storming session) It has been so cold here...frost warnings last night and tonight. I checked my tomatoes and put an extra cover on them...they look like they are doing okay. Tomorrow is supposed to be the beginning of a warm-up - so I plan to be outside in the afternoon - maybe I can get the petunias in the hanging baskets. Well that's about it from freezing West Chester...more tomorrow!

Busy Weekend

Wow, alot has happened since my last post. Friday Walter, Marc, Joshua and William took Monie, Noelle and I to the Olive Garden for Administrative Professionals Week. It was wonderful (I had my favorites: Eggplant Parmesan and Tiramasu for dessert!) We really enjoyed talking with each other (with no outside interruptions) and just had a great time. That evening was the CHCA Sacred Music concert. The students did a wonderful job, Daniel looked and played great! I only wish that John could make it to one of these concerts - he would be so proud of Daniel! Andrew came home for the weekend - it was so nice to visit with him. We watched the Incredibles this weekend and really enjoyed it. It is one we'll have to buy. We also watched "Flight of the Phoenix" (the re-make with Dennis Quaid - not the original with Jimmy Stewart). It was entertaining...the female lead was Miranda Otto (Eowyn from LOTR). Now we are getting ready to go to the Pfeil's house for our small group dinner and prayer time. I'm taking Mexican (since it's Cinco deMayo this week).