Monday Miscellany

*I know! I haven't posted in a week! I've been busy. Here's just a little preview of why:



That's Chicago, folks! While Randy and Duncan were at Boy Scout camp last week, I had an adventure with my daughter and her two best friends. But that for sure deserves its own blog post.

* I sure do love coming home after vacation. I came home from Chicago to this:

We had a really big storm while we were gone! What you don't see in the photo is that my Dad and a friend were already clearing away the mess before I even got home, hauling off debris and sawing off pieces of the tree in temps close to 100 degrees. I'm telling you, we are so blessed with the people in our life! The next evening more friends came over to help finish the job.



Just look at Randy up there being manly! He learned a handy new skill or two with all of this, and now, of course, he wants his own chainsaw. Too bad Father's Day is over.

* We had a love/hate relationship with that Bradford pear tree. It blocked our house, which was irritating, but it was really pretty in the spring. It also provided lots of shade and it was Duncan's favorite climbing tree. So what we didn't realize is how naked we would feel without it.

I have some serious pondering to do about curbside appeal now that passersby can actually see our house. I'll be spending way too much time on Pinterest, gleaning ideas! Unfortunately, most planting will have to wait until next spring, as the ground will remain much too hard and dry for new plants. Hmmmm.....

* School supplies are out and on sale in my neck of the woods. Good grief.

* My 14-year-old is fixing dinner tonight, which makes me very happy. Although I will say that we ate out so much last week in Chicago that I am ready to cook again. The problem is that I would have to go grocery shopping in order to cook.

* And that's all I have to say right now. I'll be catching up on all kinds of blog posts over the next few days, so stay tuned!