I don’t know how many days I’ve intended to post something. Here I am, finally, after what seems like such a long time. In a moment, I’ll have to make something for breakfast and send my family out the door for the day. Katie has been posting lists on her blog, and I love reading them (even if I do get a bit behind with my blog readings). So with lists in mind, these are the things that have kept me from blogging. Perhaps next week I can get back into my regular post schedule, book reviews, etc.. (Or maybe the week after that!)
1. Taste of India Luncheon and Silent Auction. Ray and I are leading a group of 10 on a December trip to work at our orphanage in India, so we had a fundraiser. (Airline tickets are very pricey!) The event was a huge success, but it completely preoccupied me for at least two weeks. We had live music (Indian musician friend and performer), Americanized Indian food, silent auction, activities for kids, free henna, etc. Three hundred people doesn’t seem like a lot, but trust me, it felt like a lot when we started decorating and cooking. Even now, over a week later, I’m finishing up the thank you notes and still don’t have an exact number on how much we cleared.
2. Chickens. Yes, chickens. It’s a long story, but Harvey the dog continued to be destructive, and he has gone to live at my parents’ house. I was the only one who cried in the family – my kids didn’t seem to care at all and Ray is the one who was most bothered by Harvey’s behavior, so he was thrilled. In my sadness, I started remembering all the things I had wanted my back yard for once it was being destroyed by our dog. Such as chickens. I’m kind of on a pet rebound relationship thing with these chickens. I read a book about them, ordered a little flock online, and then figured I had at least six weeks to build the coop since they would be in a brooder pen for a long time first. A trip to the feed store changed that – I was shocked and delighted to discover that they had almost all of the breeds we wanted, so I immediately canceled my online order and brought home 2-3 week old chicks the same day. Now they’re in my dining room and I have three weeks at most to build a chicken coop. My own fault, I know, but I LOVE stuff like this. A big project, a deadline, power tools, paint…can’t wait.
3. Taxes. Not personal taxes; those were don’t long ago. The tax forms for the nonprofit orphanage are due by May 15th, and it’s a long and painful job. I’m not an accountant. But I’ve done the taxes for our organization since the beginning because we don’t want to spend the funds raised to go to the children on an accountant or tax preparer. It’s not that difficult; mostly I just hate doing it. And now I have less than two weeks to get it done. Started on it yesterday.
4. Sewing. I lost my sewing job back in January, but my boss (aka my Mom) said I could sew the remainder of the pillow covers using the bolts of fabric already purchased. I figure this will equal about three more paychecks, and so I just stopped sewing until our bank accounts got low. Now is the time to cash in on one of those checks. I sewed a lot last week, got paid…and then spent a good deal of it to buy the kids a trampoline (aka their summer vacation since we’re staying home). So now I kind of need to sew some more. Yeah, we’ll see how I work that in!
5. School ending. This is more of what’s coming rather than what’s just happened. Everyone knows (if you have kids) how crazy things get in May with various recitals, ceremonies, tests, and end of school events and parties. There’s always something. I’m just looking forward to it all being over so I don’t have to get out of bed so early each morning. Ah, summer!
6. The yard. Did I mention that we don’t have a dog in the backyard anymore? I keep remembering that I wanted to plant watermelons, or a shrub, or make a path to the back gate. Soon it will be too hot to do much of that, and the time is getting late for planting seeds…so I’m trying to fit yard work in, too. By the way, my little vegetable garden on the side of my house is doing very well. Turns out watering helps a lot!
And now, my family should be leaving in about twenty minutes. I’m still at the kitchen table in my robe, no breakfast out, and my youngest still in bed. But glad that I finally posted something!
Today: yard work, gardening, and the beginnings of a chicken coop. Tomorrow: taxes (forecast says 97 for tomorrow). Hopefully: more blog posts. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll have the novel revised by summer. Oh well. In the famous words of Scarlett O’Hara: Tomorrow is another day.