Summer is gone. All the dreams and goals and "This summer I'm going to..." have met their expiration date. There are items on our (my family's) "to do" list that have not been checked off, but I'm going to forgive myself and give some "atta boys/girls" where they're due.
Atta boy, Gabe, for getting your driver's permit. I like the way you took the practice tests every day until you were ready for the big leagues, aka Georgia DMV. You totally passed the test and have done a nice job driving around the neighborhood. We'll keep working on driving to the church so you can drive to seminary every day and log in your 40 hours.
Also, Gabe needs to be complimented for dominating "Twist it." He's been working on it for a couple of years. This is a very intense puzzle that I won't have anything to do with. It looks like stress in a sphere to me. He has affirmed that observation by throwing it to the ground in frustration from time to time. Just like losing a pinewood derby race teaches sportsmanship the ugly way, "Twist it" teaches perserverance and patience, also the ugly way. More than once he said, "I quit," and then one day he said, "Guess what? I won." Well done, Son.
Rebecca was on the "Learn to cook dinner program." This is more than "learn how to make some meals" This is "learn how to feed the family day in and day out." And don't forget to try some new recipes, oh, they're all new recipes? Well that won't last long. So baby girl made spaghetti, egg plant Parmesan, chicken pockets, coconut chicken curry, fajitas, crepes, fish tacos. She received compliments and gratitude, but she also received complaints (she has a brother) which I view as part of the education. She learned a few tricks of the trade along the way like: 1. Wear an apron. It gives you confidence. 2. Sunglasses keep you from crying when cutting onions.3. Meat takes longer to thaw than you think. Nicely done. You'll make a great adult.
Guess what else Rebecca did? She finished her quilt. She really wanted to learn how to quilt and asked me to teach her. Aren't mothers the ones to pass on those skills? Well, in this house the mother is still learning how to sew triangles together without lopping off their points. I sent her elsewhere. A friend in Alabama (Kelsey Galvin) got her started. (Yes, this began 5 years ago.) My sister helped her along the way, and a friend here in GA (Ruth Campbell) worked with her until her project was finished. Ta da!
They all won!
One of my greatest summer accomplishments was sorting the music. Rebecca helped me sort said music, but the job was huge. I'm just so stinkin' proud. We now have religious choral music in alphabetical order by title, pop choral music in alphabetical order by title, piano music in alphabetical order by title, violin music in alphabetical order by title... So much alphabetical order. It just makes my heart sing. Maybe next summer I can sort everything in the garage into alphabetical order: sports junk, craft junk, camping junk, yard junk, and why-do-we-have-this junk.
I'm going to call my gardening a win and here's why. Every year the deer eat my tomatoes. This year I outsmarted them by putting the tomatoes in pots on my deck. He he he. No deer allowed, Unfortunately I did not account for unidentified disease infecting my little plants. This was very unfortunate, but my brave tomato that had fruit, fought the good fight and didn't succumb until 5 tomatoes had ripened. Five tomatoes is five more than last year, so that's progress. I was also successful with the squash plant that came into existence when Gabe sprinkled the seeds from the expired squash 2 seasons ago just for fun. Had he known it would yield squash it's the last thing he would have done, but as it is, we'll be in squash forever. I will also claim victory for the marigolds which have prospered. They have done a very nice job keeping the bugs away from the...weeds, but no matter. Let's give them a high five.
One more little shout out to me...I got my picture wall up to date :) Woot.
And Paul deserves a pat on the back for many things. Among them are fixing the toilet, replacing a crippled electrical switch, figuring out how to make the car radio work, finding the warranty on the dishwasher so the service visit was free, changing the lights, making real dinner while I was on a road trip with Rebecca, helping Gabe drive all the way to the church and back, and taking Rebecca to get her phone replaced. Yay for great husbands and Dads.
It was just such a great summer.
