bad mamma, bad mamma....

I am so sorry for neglecting you these past weeks- but things have really been on the move around here!
Last Wednesday I had a bit of surgery - teh girl kind so I won't bore you with gory details. Suffice it to say it was really easy - and I feel better already. Wish I would have done this months ago.
Thursday and Friday I had off - so I planted a couple rows of spinach in my garden then put a Bartlett pear tree and another Peach tree in the yard. My cherry trees bloomed - and I am hopeful that I might actually get some cherries this year.

Saturday I took Josh to get his learners permit. In true understated fashion, he came back from the test and said: Mom, I don't know how someone could not pass that test - it wasn't hard at all.

Saturday night we went to my sister in law's house. There are 5 family birthdays all around the same time, so we celebrate them all together. Justin has an "adopted brother" who also celebrates with us. Every year we get him something - and he never gets anything for Justin. So, I waited until Justin was done and when this guy still didn't give him a present, I put his gift back in the bag to take home. Is that horrible???? I'm not sure - but it irks me to keep giving to someone who feels no need to reciprocate even though he has the ability. That is one of my pet peeves - people who just sponge off of the good-heartedness of others to fill their seemingly endless pit of needs.

On Monday night, Justin got a job offer from a company he had been temping with - finally after all these months our days of penny pinching are coming to an end. We celebrated by taking the family out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant - and though we spent a bit of cash, there will be leftovers for many meals to come!

After dinner, I dropped off Josh at a friend's house. I love how even as a teenager he still kisses me goodbye. He is headed to Panama City, which I found out later is where most of the kids from his high school will be. Great. I told him to have a good time - but come home a virgin and without a tattoo. Yes, I know that is blunt, but for heaven's sake, I remember the silly things kids did on Spring Break when their parents weren't around - and you know how it goes - if you don't say it specifically, then kids think they can get away with it.

Have I mentioned how much I adore the porch? When I come home I can change clothes then stand out there and watch the ducks in the creek and the goats climbing up those fallen tree trunks - there is no medication like a little time with nature. I tied out a hammock and now in the evening when I return phone calls I can lay out there and look up at the moon through the shagbark hickory tree - it is just lovely. Since those dogs destroyed all my herbs last summer, I have put the little pots up on my porch - even the strawberries are sprouting now - which makes me a happy girl!

I took Dale's advice and signed up for a blessing in my e-mail each morning. Today it was talking about how we plant the seeds of our future, how we must quickly pull up those weeds that threaten to choke that future and how we can live in abundance by being careful about what we have planted. And the little song from some movie: the love you take is equal to the love you make... keeps playing in the back of my mind.

Things on the work front are interesting these days. I can't elaborate at the moment, but promise to when there is some finality. I am unabashed in my desire to try to change the world, though it seems to be one person at a time rather than those big brushstrokes that famous people use. That's okay with me - I have too colorful a past to be famous - but it sure would be nice to be financially sound as well as altruistic.