Weekly Mish-Mash

Changes are a'happenin around here. Basketball has come to a close for the season. The boys made many improvements in their skills as the season progressed. Overall, I think they enjoyed it. They have about 6 weeks off now before track season starts. It will be nice to have them home before 6:45 at night. They will be participating in 4-H Day soon doing talks and musical ensembles as well as vocal and band contests for school.

The warm weather has allowed us more time outside these past few days, which has been wonderful!! I watered my newest plants and trees because it has been so dry here!! It also gave me the opportunity to ponder the next landscape changes to occur here, namely that of finishing a retaining wall with limestone rocks and a new limestone firepit. Hopefully that work will start in the next couple of months with a trip to the folks'. The kids have been on the trampoline, swing set, and bike riding too. It's been nice to see J's big shop door left open for fresh air.

Last weekend I took off for a local auction Saturday afternoon. My favorite kind. . . short and sweet. There wasn't a lot of stuff so it only took about 2 1/2 hours. But I love to watch people think fast on their feet and I really enjoy getting in on the bidding action. I came home with a huge terra cotta pot and some large shallow saucers, 5 tomato cages just the perfect size for my greenhouse plants (honestly, I had looked to buy some at Lowes several weeks ago and they didn't have any yet), an antique wooden cheese box that also happened to have a mint condition wooden antique curling iron in it (as well as an antique harmonica that works quite well, and a big whistle, which no one has found yet!), an antique tin that held milk sugar (used for making milk into infant formula way back when), and a couple of very cute bud vases, one of which is a pink fenton glass vase, that also came with an antique set of salt and pepper shakers in a real silver caddy. All of that fun and enjoyment cost me a grand total of $30!! I also enjoyed visiting with people that I never get to see--ALL BY MYSELF--and I loved every minute of it!

Sunday we went to the first bow shoot of this season. I continue to find that I really enjoy that. I am always just thankful to hit the target--anywhere, but this time even had a few bullseye shots! We break off and the guys go in a group and the girls start at a different time and go as a group--the company is enjoyable and there is no pressure at all. The guys on the other hand!! They have a great time too, but they pick specific "shots" to make it harder--I think that it is the testosterone influence. Dev got to shoot the second round with his good friend (whose parents host the shoot) and he was pretty pumped up!! The big boys didn't want to go--they would rather shoot their guns than the bow--but maybe we can get them practicing more so they will enjoy it!

Yesterday found me starting to clean out my office. I think the slower transisition into my part time position was actually a blessing for me, rather than doing it all at once. I am kind of easing into it!! We are finally getting our insurance issues lined out, the expectations cited from both me and the administration, and they will get my contract finished this week. I have finished all the frequent call and have one day of call this week and one day next week left there. I know that I will miss being in the middle of it all, but feel refreshed to get out of the middle of it all too. I will get to keep my office space but the new doctor will be taking up residence in it as well--he will only be in the main office 2 days a week, so it will work out well. As I went through things moving them or taking them home, I found a collection of notes written to me over the years. It was fun to re-read them. There were cards of encouragement and cards and notes of thankfulness. With that collection is also a number of gifted items from different patients as well as a second year sobriety medal earned by one of my most special patients that I helped get into a treatment program years ago. Those type of notes and memoirs don't happen very often, but it is always humbling when people share with you how you have touched their lives! It certainly made me think that we should all be better to do that more often!! Even those seemingly little things that we take for granted should get recognized with a heartfelt thank you!! My challenge to all of us this week is to concentrate on thanking people for their efforts!!

So, as I find my time at the paid job dwindling, I find myself trying to put a lot of other things in order. . . namely my kids and my house. The new secretary for the automotive business (um. . . that's ME) thought she needed a new desk unit to keep everything nicely put together. So after much searching, we found what she needed. A new corner unit from Ashley furniture. We messed with a lot of options and ideas for the space we have available, so I hope I like this one. It will be in around the end of the month. It will combine the two desks I have now for the bookwork and the computer system. It's mission style--my fave!

I have also decided to work on the kitchen at church. Some of the girls are meeting me this week so we can fix the cabinets and label them. Our basement at the church flooded several years ago, and was completely remodeled. Since then the kitchen has been a little. . . well. . .you know, disorganized. Now that we are trying to prepare suppers in it for 15 kids weekly, it has become a real source of pain in my hiney. I also found that our jr high Sunday school room/nursery needed some major attention as well. My noon Walmart trip took me to the home organization section for a good fix, so LOOK OUT WORLD--I'm in a nesting phase of life. (I'm sure there are people everywhere hoping for this to pass QUICKLY!) I'm by nature an organized, type A sort of girl, but if you aren't, you should check out the Fly Lady--she has her own web site. A friend loaned me her book once, which I found very interesting. She gives tons of pointers on improving your organizational skills and also some enlightening information on keeping your house clean without spending light years doing it!

This weekend will find us returning our hole-y toilet to Lowes. I spent 2 hours the other night on the internet researching different toilets to find the best rated. I found out that the one we bought only had a 2 star consumer rating (rather than the 5 star that Lowe's advertised it to be). Hopefully the one we come home with won't be such a lemon and will do a better job of staying a little cleaner by itself!! Enjoy your week!