New goals

I've decided to update my blogs weekly on different days to try to be more consistent. For a list of my schedule check out my main page
www.geocities.com/mommoboys
I am trying to organize my time more strictly as the end of the summer nears and things begin to get hectic with the start of the school year and the start of the ministry year at work.
We'll see how it goes. Today is my day off and I've already gotten my 30 minute walk done, as it is going to be a hot one! I'm heading out to the garden with my long list of "to dos" and plan to enjoy this respite from WORK (meaning at NCCC) by "working" outside until the heat gets unbearable. I have some inside jobs in my pocket for the heat of the day. I miss the freedom of vacation and the open feeling each day had - but I intend to make my day off each week be my mini-vacation as much as I can. Will update everyone on my progress tonight on my garden blog.

Goals

One of the things that I took time to do over vacation was to review my goals for this year. We are 6 months into the year and a good time to see how I'm doing and re-assess to see if I still desire these goals. It is a good exercise for me - I sometimes set too many goals for myself and then get depressed because I can't pull everything off. A mid-year reevaluation helps me keep my expectations in line. One thing that I do want to be more committed to is writing. After visiting with my Uncle Joe and being reminded by him of the importance of recording our memories - I want to take more time to do that. So I need to set aside time each day or two to record memories. A blog seems like the perfect place to do that.

Vacation is over

We have had a wonderful vacation and now it is time to return to reality! It was great having some days to "play" in my garden. Then a wonderful time in Indiana and Michigan with our family reunion. We got to visit with my Uncle Dick and Aunt Kay - getting a chance to see my Grandpa's farm and all the hard work that Dick has done there. Time at Posey Chapel, visiting my dad's grave. A great Mexican meal with Uncle Joe and Aunt Pat, Mike & Patty, Dick & Kay! So much fun to have everyone together. Lots of nice visiting time...got to go to the Lake, shopping, our traditional lunch at Carlson's Drive-In, driving by all the old houses. Uncle Joe & Aunt Pat treated us to a wonderful dinner at Ryan's and then we got to look through Joe's scrapbooks from the trip he & Aunt Pat took with my parents to Scotland. Several of us went to see "Pirates" at the late movie. Then John & I drove to Iowa to see Andrew. We had a wonderful time in Cedar Rapids. Andrew took us to see a great garden, where they had every variety of flower and had them all labeled. It was so cool! On Wednesday, Andrew took the day off work and we went to the Amana Colonies. The history at the museum was so interesting. I got to see several old looms, all kinds of farming equipment. We visited Lilly Lake and all the lillies were in bloom. Then we've had several days at home to catch up on everything before going back to work.
Well that's the short summary of 2006's vacation...I'll post pictures as soon as I locate my cable to download them from my camera.
Everyone have a nice week!

Miss my Mommy!

It was so nice to be able to talk to mom whenever I wanted - and now I am really missing her! We did get her safely home and I think accomplished all the things she wanted us to help her with. Now we are planning for a big weekend with Andrew driving in from Iowa. I have a 4-day weekend and so does Daniel... we weren't expecting Monday off, but Marc told me to switch my days off so I could be home with AJ and Daniel just found out he has both days off.
Spent the day cleaning out the greenhouse and re-potting alot of plants. I have way too many tomatoes and peppers...so if anyone wants some - let me know. Back to work today and also have a DMI newsletter to get out. So it'll be a busy weekend.

Wednesday Update

Worked today, so I could take tomorrow off. My college roommate is driving over from Indiana for a visit. It'll be great to catch up on each other's families. We are having such a good visit with my mom...I hate to see it end. We are driving her home on Friday. We are going to help her finish her flower beds and plant the irises we are taking up from my neighbor's yard. Daniel will get some night driving hours in during this trip and hopefully can take his driving test soon.

Mom's visiting

Michael and I went to Buffalo last weekend and brought my mom down to Cincinnati for a 2 week visit. We are having a wonderful time with her! She has been happy to see everything that we've changed down here - since she has not been able to visit since July 2003. We've had a nice Father's Day today. I made John a strawberry/rhubarb pie with rhubarb fresh from the garden. Mom took all of us out to Applebees for lunch and then I made a big chef salad for dinner...I just love being able to go out to the garden and pick most of dinner!! I probably won't blog much this week between visiting and gardening....will write as I can.

Sorry can't "blog"

No time for blogging today - getting ready for mom's visit! Michael and I leave Friday to go get her and bring her to Cincy for two weeks! So look for a post on Saturday to hear about our trip. Gotta go run the vacuum!

Happy Memorial Day

Wishing everyone a Happy Memorial Day and hope your celebrations include family and friends as we start the summer! If you still need a great salad to take to your picnic go to my recipe blog at
http://www.freewebs.com/mommoboys/
and try my Aunt Pat's Famous Layered Jello Salad - it's wonderful and I'm serving it today with BBQ'd chicken, baked beans and potato salad!
This is a short post as we are also spending the day working on the yard and gardens. Things are really shaping up and I'll post pictures soon. I have to take advantage of having my strong men off work and school today (you lucked out again Andrew!!)
Did you get to see the race yesterday? Fond thoughts of my dad as well as a lingering sadness because I miss him so much! Heaven will be a great reunion! Sam Hornish won and Danica came in at eighth - which isn't fantastic, but she finished. Gotta go plant my corn!!

The sun is shining again

After a week of rain, today the sun broke out again. Partly cloudy, but that was good for gardening. I spent the whole day outside and loved it! Now I'm waiting to hear which of the 3 remaining "idols" goes home. This season has been packed with really talented contestants, and I hate to see any of them leave. This may be one cd I will get! I think many of the contestants will get recording contracts this season. Well - gotta go - time for the announcement!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!

I ho.pe everyone enjoys a special Mother's Day tomorrow - remember:
"A Mother holds her child's hand for awhile, but holds her child's heart forever"

Rainy days and updates

It's raining today (great for the seeds I planted yesterday) and also a great opportunity to do some updating on my multitude of websites & blogs. Kathy's Korner has been updated with easier access to all my sites. So if you are interested in just one of my many interests - here's the place to go to get to the site you are most interested in. And if you see a Star next to it - that means it has been recently updated. Be sure to check out my new photo album also. Check out Kathy's Korner at www.geocities.com/mommoboys
Hope you enjoy at least one of my sites! Email me with any comments or suggestions. Each site has it's own email.

Weekend Update

Saturday was a productive garden day with everyone pitching in, except Daniel who has "sore" quads from Lifetime Fitness class. We finished blocking in the tomato bed and I planted 5 varieties plus all the banana peppers. I also worked a little on the squash bed. John plans to finish it tomorrow. We are almost done with switching over all the raised beds from wood to cement blocks. I am beginning to set out many of the flowers, now that Mother's Day is a week away (that is the 'safe' day to plant annuals according to Cincy gardeners). No blooms on any of the flowers I've planted from seed - but the plants are getting huge. It will be a busy week, getting most of the seeds in. Beginning to make plans to bring my mom down for a visit in June.

Update for Tuesday

Posting is hard when I'm spending all my time outside. Briefly I have the sunflowers, sweet peas, dill, cumin, cilantro, lilly of the valley, candytuft, lavender, chamomile and tarragon seeds planted. The plants in the greenhouse are HUGE! Tomorrow we are going to have great weather....sunny and 78! So I will start outside as soon as I take Daniel to school. Tomorrow I hope to get the lettuce bed planted and finish putting the cement blocks around the second 4 x 20 bed. We finished one 4x20 and planted all the mustard family plants in it (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc). We also have moved the wooden bench to the location of the new flower gardens. I need to put together my trellis for the morning glories and moonflowers. I'll try to update again before the weekend.

Everything's okay

It went down to 31 last night, but all of the plants made it. I covered everything and put lights in the greenhouse. I did not cover the new pear tree, but it is fine. Worked in the yard all day today. Finally got up to 60
Planted all my sunflowers along the back garden fence. Tonight it is only going down to 39 - so everything should be okay. I probably won't cover everything but will still put the lights on in the greenhouse.

Winter's back

Thank goodness the guys got the greenhouse assembled before this last little taste of winter came. I just spent the other day getting all of the plants off the porch and into the greenhouse and tonight we have a frost warning. I have lights up in the green house to help keep the temp above freezing. I've already planted the cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprouts - but had put up row covers over them when I did - at that time I did it to shelter them from the bright sun and 75 degree weather we were having, but it will work just as well against the cold tonight. Most of the flowers that are up are hardy enough and I covered my pansies just to protect the beautiful blooms they have right now. The other good thing is that the apple tree has already lost it's blooms, so it should be okay. I'm not sure if I should cover up the new pear tree or not.

Great Quote

"As a rule, young people do not care for gardening. They lack the necessary patience and perseverance. But in the years of middle life, when one's sun is slowly setting and interest in the world and society relaxes, the garden, with its changing bloom, grows ever dearer." Helena Ely

Hosanna!

"Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey--even on a donkey's colt."

May you have a blessed Palm Sunday!

Spring in Cincinnati

Yesterday 80 Tonight 30 Typical Cincinnati Spring. Had to cover up the new pear tree. Even though it was chilly today - around 50 - John and I still got alot of yard work done. Here's some pictures of our flowers that are up and blooming

Opening Day & Tournament Final

What a day - opening day in Cincy for the Reds (almost a city holiday) and tonight NCAA final men's basketball tournament in Indy! None of my teams made it to the final, but I'll still enjoy watching UCLA and Florida on the court tonight. The Reds lost to the Cubs...but then they almost always lose on opening day...too early to tell much about them, but hopefully we'll have a better season than last year.
Crazy weather...hot yesterday and then expected to be 31 tonight. Terrible tornados yesterday all around the midwest. We were okay here in West Chester, although other parts of Cincinnati had wind damage. Nothing like they had in Tennessee....pray for the families there. I'll have to check with AJ to see if Cedar Rapids had any of the bad weather - looked like it was south of him. How did all of you in Indiana fare? They say it is going to be a wild spring.

April Fool's Day

Well Daniel is off on a Youth Retreat, so we've been safe from practical jokes around here - although I think the biggest joke of the day is having to turn the clocks ahead tonight! When it's the semi-finals!! There's no way I'll be going to bed until basketball is over tonight. Looks like George Mason may lose...but I'm still hoping for a rally. Gotta love a team that can knock UConn out of the tournament.
Spent the day transplanting again...the plants are taking over. I need to get some of them out to the porch, but the temps dropped today and I didn't want to risk it. I think it's time to put up the row covers so I can at least get the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts out. Well the pizza's done and time to get back to the game.