A weary Independence Day update

I'm tired.

Work is extra hectic this week since for all but half a day, we only have two therapists on. If we were fully staffed, we would have three full time, one 80% and one 50%. Our new therapist doesn't start until next week and the other full time person is on vacation this week. Due to our 50% person working the weekend, she is out for a day and a half for her comp hours. Ugh. Extra work combined with being tired from our weekend trip makes me cranky.

But still, after dinner this evening I went out to the garden and weeded for a while. I was disappointed to find that the excessive rain and heat did in our last chinese cabbage. It is now a stinky mound of decomposing smush. Ick. And, I discovered the first japanese beetles of the year. There were quite a few of them so they must have emerged sometime when it was too wet to get out there or over the weekend. There are still parts of the garden where it is too wet to walk in but it was a sunny, breezy day in the upper 70s. Absolutely fabulous! And it's supposed to be this way all week. Finally a break. I'll have to spend a few hours out in the garden each evening after dinner.

V and the children worked on J16's room some more today, finishing all the sheetrock on the walls. Now all that remains is to hang half of her ceiling and it will be done. Well, it will still need mudded and taped and painted and finish carpentry and.... But next the "rumpus room" will be constructed and the finish work done all at once on those two rooms.

But, it's Monday and that generally means an Independence Day update. Here goes.

1. Plant something- nope, but I need to figure out when I need to plant my fall broccoli and cabbage seeds. Soon, I think.

2. Harvest something- Hmm, not much this last week- it was just too wet! A few peas and carrots and some herbs. I tried to get back to the raspberries but started sinking since the ground back there is still so wet. Hopefully tomorrow. But we have LOTS of tomatoes set on and some are starting to get big. I've got a paprika and a hungarian wax pepper that look eating size so maybe hot peppers will appear in something this week. Mmmmm...

3. Preserve something- froze a few sugar snap peas but not much else. I STILL need to get some herbs picked to dry. The marjoram is going absolutely crazy out there, as are the oregano and the summer savory.

4. Waste not- hmm, not much unusual. in fact, there was some food waste last week. Without J16 here, the leftovers caught up with us and a few things got lost in the back of the fridge- oops.

5. Want not- While we were at the Mall of America, I went to the Williams- Sonoma store. My MIL gave me a $50 gift card from there for my birthday and we don't have a store anywhere near here. Oh, I know, I could order online, but then I have to pay shipping. Anyway...I got a really nifty colander with extendable handles so it will rest either way across the sink. I also got some food safe wood wax/preservative for some of my wooden bowls and my hand carved salad tongs that my oldest sister brought back from Kenya for me. They are looking a bit worse for wear and need some attention. My final purchase (besides a set of penguin coasters) was a cookbook (yeah, I know, I need another cookbook like I need a hole in my head! LOL). This one is called The Produce Bible and has loads of information for fruits, vegetables, herbs and nuts- all kinds of produce. It gives recipes for some of those veggies that you may see or grow that you're going: Hm, what do I do with this? It looks like it could be useful. Another reference cookbook plus loads of information. Both the book and colander were things that I probably wouldn't have normally gotten for myself but, I had the gift card and they were both on sale at 1/3 off. You can't beat that!

6. Build Community- not a thing. Although we did try to get together with V's cousins in Minneapolis (it didn't work out :( But there will probably be more trips North.

7. Eat the food- Nothing really stands out this week. We ate out on our trip so didn't eat at home for 3 days. We're kind of in the in between stage of the garden- the early stuff is done and the summer stuff hasn't kicked in yet. But we're still eating out of the freezer. But, I desperately need to sit down and menu plan for the week.

Now, I'm off to bed, I'm beat. But, first, maybe I'll bathe the dog- he really smells bad after coming home from the kennel this morning. Or maybe not...that's a LOT of dog to bathe.