An Intertuption to a current thought

I know I have been busy playing catch up. It is actually kind of fun writing about the fun things we did during the summer while it is cold and gray outside.

Most of you know of my recent diagnosis with breast cancer. I am feeling a little unsure of how I will get through this and still take care of my family, since that is my job.

Yesterday on a trip to the temple and IKEA with my mom and sister-in-law Courtney I was reminded of my first trip to IKEA by myself accompanied by my boys. Let me recap for you.

Parker was 2 and Preston was 4 months old. I really wanted to go to the zoo. Parker loves animals and so do I. IKEA is only a few exits away from the zoo exit and if I am in the area I might as well make use of the trip right?


Keep in mind that a 4 month old baby is still nursing every few hours and needs several diaper changes too. Parker was still in diapers at this point too . I brought my sling and stroller so that Parker could ride in the stroller and I could wear Preston. Just thinking about this makes me tired.

We made it to the zoo and I really enjoyed myself. It was a hot day and after pushing around the stroller, there are some big hills at the zoo, we were wiped out. Then it was time for our next adventure, IKEA. We left the zoo in the late afternoon, right about rush hour. I drove through rush hour traffic and then got on the belt way for more stop and go until we reached IKEA. All I remember is Preston crying and not being able to stop because there was so much traffic. When we finally got there Parker was asleep and I attempted to shop pushing a toddler, wearing a baby and some how holding my "stuff."

As I pondered this, I thought "What was I thinking?" And I can't believe I did this. To me this is an accomplishment. Knowing what I know now, I don't know that I would have attempted this again. We didn't get back to my folks until 11pm.

If I can handle a day of traveling with a crying baby, and toddler complete with a trip to the zoo followed by going to IKEA maybe I can figure out how to get through this cancer experience. For now this is my motivation that I CAN do this. I am going to print this picture as a reminder of this day.

Ag Progress Days

An annual event for us is Ag Progress Days. They are located 15 minutes from my house. This year we went by ourselves. It was just a busy time for anyone to come and go with us.

There are certain stops that we make each year. The corn maze that is full of agricultural facts.
The food is another reason to go. Some of PA's best. Here is the Hatfield Pig. I am often switching purses and bags. Sometimes I throw my wallet into the diaper bag to simplify. When I went to look for my wallet, I couldn't find it. I was so sad. And then to tell my hungry boys, I am sorry Mommy forgot her wallet and doesn't have any money. I called Jim, but he was busy at work and the drive from work to give me some cash would have taken too long. I did get lucky and the beekeeper's associate would take a check. So we at least got some honey ice cream.
Speaking of ice cream, I think this is the size my husband needs.
We went to see the horses. Here was Parker's response to the Percheron's we saw, "Mommy that one is a boy." Yes he sure is.
At this tent, the dairy princess was handing out cold samples of chocolate milk. Even I had to have one of those. I just loved this saying...
We finished up with a peddle go-cart ride for Parker. No tractor peddle pull. I was so disappointed. It was the first place I went.

Make a splash at your Library

We are big supporters of our local library. Each summer they have a summer reading program. The boys are young enough that they are still in the "read to me group." Each book read must be written down along with the number of pages. The kids get prizes for completing certain goals. The library also recognizes the person that reads the most books and most pages.

The Library hosted a water fair on a Saturday. They had stations for the kids set up, duck pond, bubbles, bean bag toss. I was running a station so the boys were there all day with me. They had a lot of fun playing with the bubbles.

As for our results, I read about 60 books to the boys. The winner was over 700 books. We happen to know this family and had invited to go to the Amusement park with us and that was considered frivolous. Now I know why, they were spending all their time reading. Either that or the mom picked out the skinniest books she could. Oh and the prize was a pass to the Amusement park. I wonder if they used it then. Any way we enjoy reading and we loved going out to eat at Applebee's with our cousins.

I think this is Parker's last year to be in the "read to me group" so he will have control over the number of books that he reads. The summer can be a difficult time to sit still and read, when there are so many other activities going on.

They also offer if for the adults. Of course it takes awhile to complete just 1 book.

Chicago

I have been selling Pampered Chef for 4 years now. Each year they have a conference for the Pampered Chef in Chicago. The first 2 years I was unable to go due to Mommy duties. I now look forward to this little break in Chicago each summer.

Pampered Chef has their headquarters in Chicago, so we go to them each year. It is a great opportunity to meet others in the business and see how they do their business. It is also a chance to see the bigger possibility and see others be recognized for their work.

I am a country girl and have not been out much, so was a little nervous to go to Chicago, the 3rd largest city in the US. However after having visiting there and seeing it is a beautiful and clean city I have changed my tune. This past year I even ventured out on my own.

Chicago is known for its deep dish pizza. I talked the ladies in my group to trying it. I think I will stick to traditional pizza next time. There was so much cheese on the inside.


I went shopping with my friend Kathy and met the silver guy. Come to find out he makes his living by dressing like this everyday and gets tips from passerby's like me.
I took a boat tour of the city and loved learning some of the history of Chicago.
At the conference itself there was opportunity to see the new products, go to classes to learn how to be a better business woman. Plus the chance to converse with consultants all over the US to hear what works for their business. Pampered Chef rewards their consultants that work hard by taking them on a trip. This years trip was for Hawaii. Here I am with the girls I traveled with.

Lasagna Gardening

Lasagna Gardening. It is not about growing a garden so you make lasagna, although you could choose to grow those plants. It is a no till, no weeding and no digging type of garden.

I checked the book out from the library. The author tried this method of laying wet newspaper, followed by peat moss, organic matter, more peat moss, organic matter. You can make as many layers as you want. If you make the bed in the fall you can cover it with plastic to help it "cook." In the spring you have beautiful dirt to plant in. She ended up throwing her rota-tiller away.

I have these visions of beautiful beds filled with flowers, a cutting garden, bulbs, perennials and some vegetables in there too. But if you have ever scene PA soil, it is clay and rocky. Even when you do rota-till the ground is still hard and weeds seem to find there way back. I want the kind of dirt that looks like it came out of a bag, only with out paying for it come out of a bag.

Plus I have grassy areas that I would like to turn into gardens. I don't own a rota-tiller. We have ended up asking a neighbor to come over and do it for us in the past. This book really appealed to me.

So we tried it. It was great. And the best part is we recycled half of the ingredients we used. And this was one job the boys could actually help with.

The first step was marking out the space. We used painters tape to mark where we wanted the garden. This is in my front yard.

Our next step was to soak newspapers and cover the grass. We soaked the newspaper in water from our rain barrel.


The next step was to cover the area in peat moss. Well this is our version of the idea.
I then called a friend who owns horses. She had plenty of manure, the factory is always open. I took a pick up load home. The remainder I put in a small pile behind my garden to save for the next project. At this point is just looks like dirt or mulch and I don't even think the neighbors suspect it. We did see some white butterflies flying around. I believe they help with decomposition.

The next thing I did was put some top soil on top. We did the condensed version of the idea from the book. She uses more layers, but this seemed to do the trick for us.

I did go back and add some mulch around my plants to help hold in the moisture. I forgot to take a picture of my garden later in the summer for you. Our garden did pretty well considering it did not get planted until July. I harvested basil and made pesto. I got a few sunflowers. And my swiss chard did very well. I got several cuttings from it. Next year I just need to start earlier.

I have big plans for my gardens in the years to come. Next year I want to try more veggies. I want to do another bed by the road and plant wild flowers, black eyed susans and daisies and such. I have already got a jump start on my newspapers.

I should also mention that I started one last March on my rocky bank. I never had to weed it all summer.