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Home > I'm not dead, I've just been busy. Plus garden pics.

I'm not dead, I've just been busy. Plus garden pics.

September 4th, 2014 at 05:45 pm

Yeah. I feel bad. It's been months since I've posted. I've just been lurking, and not posting. Sorry about that. The kids just about killed me this summer. Summer break is sooooo long, and I gave myself a cheapache by not wanting to pay the exorbitant price for summer camps.

I paid for it in sanity. The kids seem unable to entertain themselves and seem to have infinite energy to ask you constantly to do the one thing you told them they couldn't. Oh well.

DH also managed to break his ankle, so I've been essentially a single mom with three kids to take care of for the past two weeks. He can't walk, can't drive, can't unload the dishwasher. UGH!

I've also been busy with my newest garden 'club', which is really a mentor program for backyard 'farmers.' And, you know, busy with weeds. They never end.

So, the update. The garden is going mostly great. We've pulled tons of veggies out of it (will update on my sidebar garden page soon), including onions to store for winter, tons of beets, watermelons, tomatoes out the wazoo, and two full 5-gal buckets of apples. This is exciting because it was the first year our new trees produced. We also pulled 5 pounds of popcorn out of the backyard today. My proudest achievement: We grew so much lettuce/ salad greens we donated 8 pounds to the food pantry. 8 pounds of greens is A LOT!

Now, I'm on the summer canning treadmill. I've done two days of tomatoes and a day of apples so far, but I'm just getting started.

As far as goals and money, we're getting our woodstove installed next week, so we can knock that off the list. And we finally started shopping for life insurance, although have yet to pick a policy.

On top of all the kid stress this summer, I felt a lot of money stress. We just finally managed to pay the CC bill in full on one paycheck this week. We got behind because DH decided to buy me a present for one of the first times in our marriage, and it just happened to be a ridiculously expensive $2000 laptop I wasn't planning for. Then, the in-laws bullied us into taking a family vacation, so another $2,000 there.

And it felt like it just kept going. We had to two get new tires for the car. I didn't take on as much freelance because the kids were home so we didn't have the liquid cash on hand, plus my boss forgot to pay me a couple of times, so it took a while to track down my checks. STRESS STRESS!


I keep wondering when this will get easier! Despite the broken ankle, things have been calmer since DS1 started first grade. Free all-day school is the best invention ever. He loves it, I get a break and only have to take care of one kid, and I get a lot done. It's magic.

We also appear so far to be on track to meet the mortgage goal for the year. Fingers crossed!

That's about all the news. On that note, I will leave you with some garden pics!




10 Responses to “I'm not dead, I've just been busy. Plus garden pics. ”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1409850197

    Young kids can suck the life out of us at times!! I had a chive plant that large...just divided and hope to sell the offspring. I can't keep up with a plant that big. Smile Your garden looks fabulous though.

  2. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1409850423

    Oh, so many superlatives to say about your garden endeavors, but I'll just keep it to what a smart arched trellis, reconfigurable and moveable!
    May I ask what is the large-leafed tall plant behind the red flowing plant? The one in front of the corn.

  3. ThriftoRama Says:
    1409850733

    The red plant is bee balm, the plant behind it is horseradish. It's about five feet tall. I'll be digging the roots soon. I'm excited. The trellis was made out of spare bits we had in the garage-- 6 foot tomato stakes, and some rabbit fence we had. It's been handy.

  4. CB in the City Says:
    1409855857

    Welcome back! I suffered a broken ankle several years ago and I can verify that it's quite debilitating! They say much worse than a leg break! I wasn't back to normal for six months, but DH's may not be as bad. Let's hope!

  5. MonkeyMama Says:
    1409879866

    Mental note: Don't break ankle. UGH! Actually, how did he break his ankle?

    Here is to "Back to School". Big Grin

  6. Bluebird Says:
    1409883943

    I love your garden pics! I'm craving a salad now!

  7. Tabs Says:
    1409917219

    Wow, great pics!

    Sorry to hear about being a single mom with 3 kids. Big Grin

  8. ThriftoRama Says:
    1409920510

    Oh, you know, he busted it playing soccer during his lunch break at work. They play on a field/lawn outside the building. The ball went behind a bush so he ran to get it and stepped in a rabbit hole. I'm making ouch pain faces just telling you this.

    The first couple weeks were the hardest. (Plus, he's stubborn about following doctor's directions). Now he's at least realized he can sit down and fold laundry! He used to get up with the kids and make breakfast and walk the oldest to school, which gave me 45 min or so more to rest, but now that is gone. Now I'm on morning til bedtime duty. I'm exhausted!

  9. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1409972666

    Your garden is just delightful!

  10. Looking Forward Says:
    1410049776

    Great pics! Big Grin
    Hope your DH is back on *both* his feet soon.

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