Summer Update Part Two

Happy Fall! Seeing fall arrive is always bittersweet. It’s my favorite season by far, but I also know
what’s coming next and fall in this area can be much too short. Before we get too deep into the new
season, I need to finish updating you all on my summer. My first look back on summer can be found
HERE in case you missed it.

My summer certainly didn’t turn out as I had planned. I had a long list of projects I wanted to accomplish
as well as some time to really get my health and well being back under control. For the first time in many
years we were able to obtain health insurance which is all well and good except I was sent for all kinds
of tests because I had never had them. Labs were done as well as a colonoscopy. Without going into
too much personal detail my labs weren’t completely clean so I was sent for more tests and specialists.
All this as well as catching up on my dental and eye appointments. Instead of working on what I had
planned I was running the highway to and from the hospital. The good news is after all that, nothing
serious was found but I have to return in six months for some re-checks just to make sure.

In other news our garden was a bust. Very little came up, we think the Father’s Day storm that flooded
our area washed away most of our seed. We did get a few green beans, carrots (enough to fill two
freezer bags full), some lettuce and about eight or so beets that we lost when something or someone
broke into the garden and took every single one, leaving the greens behind. We certainly are not going
into winter at all prepared.

Today I did finish the projects I had to get done before the bad weather set in. I feel accomplished with
that. In the coming weeks in between my teaching and practice schedule I will be focusing on my fall
house cleaning one small project at a time. We've had a lot of gray, rainy days already that just make
me want to curl up next to this guy and forget everything else.

I still have a lot to catch up on, be watching for part 3.

Oh My Goodness !!

We certainly do have a lot to catch up on! I had to go back and read up on what I posted last...I almost got lost trying to find my way around LOL! So here's the plan...there is a lot to share and I don't want to overwhelm you all in one post, so I will be working on the project of sorting and cleaning out my computer files and pictures and sharing things with you as I go along. By the time I finish, we should be all caught up...that is if I can do it fast enough LOL. 

So we got our first big storm of the season yesterday, dumping approx. 24 inches of unwelcome white stuff. Here is a picture of our downtown that someone posted on Facebook:

Most of my students yesterday and today cancelled so I started a major cleaning project that has been waiting for me for weeks. I cleaned the kitchen walls and ceiling to get rid of what swatting mosquitoes this summer left behind. I still have the rest of the house to do, but it's a start. While in the kitchen I also cleaned the stove, refrigerator, microwave, windows, coffee cart and counters. I hope to get to the cabinet door fronts soon and clean out the cupboards. I'm saving floor scrubbing until after the family leaves after the holidays. No sense cleaning before we have 6 dogs in the house!!

So with the coming of winter, I will spend today sharing our last bit of summer with you. We had a garden again this year, but it struggled due to our colder than normal temperatures. One day as the season was winding down and I was out picking some of the last of our produce and I snapped a few photos of the plants as they were going to seed. 

Hubby tilled it under and got the manure on it just in time before the snow began to fly! I'm already missing my tasty veggies...I'm so spoiled! I cooked up some frozen spinach from the store the other day and it was so bad I couldn't finish it! :P I even had a friend out there this year, though I was never able to get his picture. I named him Timothy (after the NCIS character Timothy McGee), he was a toad and I thought he truly did remind me of Sean Murray! He didn't seem too frightened of me as long as I watched where I stepped. His favorite place to hide was under the spinach! 

Well I hope you enjoyed the last of summer with me, I enjoyed visiting the garden one last time. 

More updates to come, stay tuned....

Summer Begins

I'm sorry I've been gone so long - I've been reading, just haven't had the time to respond. Let me see if I can update you without getting too long winded. 

Son and his girlfriend came for Mother's Day - it was such a nice visit, she and I are trying to get to know one another better. 

Son bought girlfriend a ring...hasn't popped the question yet, but has the ring. They just bought a house - it's been stressful as you can imagine, but the house payment will be less than the rent on the apt., so it should be a good move providing Son finds a job soon. He only has another 4 weeks before he loses his unemployment - he's been sending out resume's but no takers. Please pray something turns up soon.

Daughter#2 got an internship at Quicken Loans in Detroit. It's not what she wanted, but it's good, paying work for the summer. She is a tiny, country mouse in the big city and she's not liking it one bit! This is her first time away from home completely alone. Please pray for her safety in the big city.

I'm missing all my "babies" and my mother a lot lately. I'm so lonely, but I'm digging in to some neglected projects around the house. I started work on my studio - the clutter is closing in on me. I've gone through and reorganized all the music by level and now I have to reorganize my scrapbook/card making supplies. It's a mess!! I hope to have gone through everything by the end of the month and be completely done with the house project by the July 4th weekend. My neighbor said if I have anything to sell that I can put it in their sale at the end of the month. That's a motivator right there! 

I just found out this week that the scrapbook store where I go to purchase all my supplies will be closing their doors by the end of the summer. Businesses are dropping like flies around here. I will no longer have a place to get supplies for my scrapbooking and card making. I'm so mad and sad all at the same time. These ladies in the store have become very good friends as well. It's the last place in town where I could go to see people and enjoy conversation. 

Also this summer I'm trying to shed some pounds...I have a good start, but haven't lost anything yet. I'll also be practicing a lot, teaching a few students, gardening, and deep cleaning the entire house. 

Student recital was last week...Thursday night. That's everyone , minus Carol who takes lessons via the internet. It was a big night as we focused on a senior recitalist. Everyone did very well and I was so glad when the evening was over and it was very stressful.  I have leads on three possible new students for next year! I'll lose one (my graduate) but might gain three, that's good!

With all my projects, I've been trying to better discipline myself and make better use of my time which means the computer must come last. I miss being on here, but I must do this for now. Also, the screen on my laptop is still broken and I have to borrow a computer. Please pray I can get the screen fixed soon. 

Hubby planted the garden on Sunday, he also purchased a new machine (on faith). We pray it will be the thing to get our business back on it's feet, making a profit. 

Our weather has been beautiful, coolish but mostly sunny. I'm fine with the temps in the upper 690's and 70's! 

That's about all for now. I hope to be a more regular poster once I have things more in order around here. 

Very Fall Saturday

For those of you who might be wondering, no, I did not get everything accomplished on my to do list of yesterday. I did manage to get quite a lot done though and went to bed knowing I had done my best and took care of the most pressing.

I got my chores done and my errands run and after supper I went out to the garden and pulled up everything except the tomatoes which still have not ripened and the rutabaga. I do need to go out and pull up one rutabaga this morning for my stew I'm making for tomorrow. I did pull up the remainder of the carrots and beets and brought in what greens I could salvage - they're not good enough for a salad, but I will juice them just to use them up. I even found some wild Johnny Jump-ups in my garden among the tomatoes and decided to pick a few and press them for my scrapbooks. I hope to go out next week and dig them up and transplant them to my front bed and say a prayer that they will come up next spring. Whenever I see a Pansy or a Johnny Jump Up I think of my mother who loved them. When we moved in here just after her death, they were popping up every day all over the lawn - now in the garden. Somehow I think it's her way of letting me know she's smiling down at us and approves of our endeavors. That's what I'm going with anyway.

Last nights supper of hamburger patties, home fries and steamed garden beets and carrots was amazing!! Beets and carrots together make a wonderful fall vegetable choice and so pretty to serve out. I just love that color of purple in the fall and that combined with the orange of the carrot was just as pleasing to look at as it was to eat. I took a picture, but it didn't turn out.

My projects continue today - I hope to get to my letter writing and my computer files...I can't find anything in there! Before all that though, I'm planning a trip to the scrapbook store - they're having a "make and take day". We go in at our convenience, sit at the table and make cards from kits they have created. Each card we make costs only $1.00 and the proceeds go to the local animal shelter. It will be nice on a gray day with Hubby gone teaching an all day hockey seminar, to get out and visit with the ladies and hopefully come home with some new card ideas.

Well, it's time to get my cleaning done so I can head over to the store.

An Absolutely Gorgeous Day...The Better Version

A good share of this post is a duplicate of an early entry. There is some added text and all the pictures have finally been uploaded. I hope you enjoy your walk with me.

October 3rd, 2012...I am absolutely amazed at how beautiful that day was! 

   
The fresh air, sunshine and temperatures in the low 70's literally beckoned to me. I got my housework done and after lunch planned to go on a walk around the lake for about 45 minutes or so. 
   
With Suki in tow and my camera along, I took off! This is a favorite spot in the area where we walk our dogs every day. 
 
 I have been fascinated by this old building since we moved here. My son and I have often dreamed of restoring it and making it into a fabulous home decorated in an industrial style combined with a pop of warmth. It would have an open concept main floor with the bedrooms upstairs. All the floors would be wood and I'd keep as much of the natural stone as I could without it being too dark. Keep your eyes open, I had some fun with this old place.
 
  The sun was warm but not hot, and the sights, sounds and smells immediately lifted my spirits.
   
 I wanted to somehow scoop up and bottle the scents of pine, dry leaves, moist earth and moss to open again on some dark winter day when the The Little Turquoise House is full of stale air from being closed up. I found them intoxicating!
  The water sparkled, the birds flitted from tree top to tree top and the leaves delicately swirled to the ground. My creativity was renewed and I wanted to take photos, write, scrapbook and compose all at once. My mind was full of ideas and thoughts and plans. Days like today are truly gifts and blessings from God!   I dawdled and soaked up every bit of natural vitamin D I could get to shine on my face.
   

Suki and I enjoyed the view from this bench for quite some time. 

   

Here is another glimpse of the old building.

   
 I absolutely did not want to come home and so I dawdled some more and nearly didn't make it back in time for my student that afternoon. Instead of 45 minutes, we had been gone 2 hours! Before going in, I stopped by the garden and found these Johnny Jump Ups still in bloom. They popped up right next to the vegetable garden this summer. A bit of a story here, these flowers and the larger version, the pansy have always been my mother's favorite flower. We bought this house right around the same time my mom passed away and she was more heavy on my heart than the furniture we were moving. With all the doubts and fears and stresses we were experiencing, I found peace and comfort when these flowers started blooming all over our new front yard. Call me crazy, but I took it as a nod of approval from my mother, that we had done the right thing in buying the house and that she was pleased with it and happy for us.  Now this year we planted our first ever vegetable garden and this little patch of flowers showed up only here and no where else in the yard! October 3rd is a day very near and dear to my heart because it's her birthday and this was the perfect way to celebrate it. 

I hope you enjoyed your stroll with us. Welcome back to the Little Turquoise House!

Fruitful Garden

Blessing for today is the fact that God has touched our garden and it has been producing LOTS of lettuce, spinach and kale, so much so that we have to share, Hubby and I cannot eat it all! It looks like we'll have a good crop of beets and peas and carrots. The broccoli however doesn't look too healthy and we're afraid the tomatoes won't mature before we get our first frost. Still, for our first attempt at gardening, we are pleased and grateful.