How I'm Spending My Summer

Since we last left this story... a restraining order was put in place that prevents me from giving further details about the aforementioned situation. Suffice it to say that proper steps have been taken to resolve the issue to our satisfaction. I'll update when I'm at liberty to do so.

In the meantime... Big Brother started again this Summer and again, I'm using it as a diversion. So far I'm partial to the returning players, especially Nicole.

I've been enjoying my nieces having a cellphone. Nothing beats getting random, "I love you" texts from my favorite redheads. I recorded the musical Hairspray for them the other day. I've got to watch it through again to scan for inappropriate parts but I think it's pretty innocent. I mean, as innocent as segregation can be.

Our blackberry bush is still producing fruit and I've been loving fresh picked blackberries with honey on my yogurt in the morning. My fig bush is starting to bear fruit. It did this last year and they all dropped off before maturity. I'm hopeful that this is THE YEAR it starts making edible figs. I love figs and you can hardly ever find fresh figs in the stores here. I'm still enjoying fresh cherries in stores and ... watermelon is so good right now. I'm a fruit fiend.

Mom just brought down some green beans she picked from the garden today and cooked this afternoon. That was dinner and that was enough! They were so good! Now I'm ready for some home grown tomatoes and cucumbers. I may have to visit the farmstand tomorrow.

Still diligently working on my Italian. I use the Duolingo app. I've learned all the words in it so I just do a review every day. I have done it 168 days in a row! I am using Memrise.com which is also free but has parts that you can pay for (I paid $19 for three months to upgrade my program - a bargain compared to most language learning programs). According to memrise.com I'm up to 2400 words of Italian memorized. I'm... ok with looking at a picture or English word and knowing the Italian word for it. I'm ok at looking at an Italian word and knowing the English translation. I'm not good at putting together sentences. The sentence structure is in a different order than English. I can read newspapers and websites in Italian and understand about half of what it says and can sort of figure it out. I can't listen to someone speak in Italian and keep up yet. I believe learning a foreign language is a good way to keep your mind stimulated and it's a great distraction for me.

Then there was the appointment I had yesterday that I thought I might be running late for... I called and let them know that I thought I could make it but was afraid school traffic might slow me down. That's right... school traffic. At the end of June. When school is out. I was so embarrassed when she said, "is there school in session today?" Nope. No, there isn't. It's just my out-of-touch brain. We had a good laugh about it when I had to go back to their office today. I confided that I was just a month post-hysterectomy and that I was having a little post-anesthesia/post-missing parts brain fog. She's having one soon so she was sympathetic. I should give her my blog link...

Our new deck is coming along nicely. The new stairs went up today. Still no rails around it so it's too scary for me. I am becoming a pro at backing out of the driveway with the big red dumpster in the corner and assorted pickup trucks scattered around. The guys who are building it are super nice... father/son/grandson. They start up around 7am some days but we're all mostly awake by then so it hasn't been bothersome at all.

Pain wise my post surgery healing is going nicely. Much improved since last week. Not holding things that are too heavy for me has helped, I'm sure, but my heart is heavy enough to make up for it. Stress does a number on pain sufferers and the humidity has been way too high. I've also done more physical things this week that have been necessary to resolve our situation but I can feel the extra activity in my pain levels. To summarize: my body hurts but it's ok.

I wore my fancy Tiek shoes to an appointment yesterday and they made me feel ten feet tall and bullet proof. My sister-in-law Helen (who gifted them to me) said they are my "power shoes". Every girl needs a pair of shoes that make her feel invincible... so grateful for mine!

Counting down the days until I can find my way back down to visit with Oliver. I facetimed him the other day and love when he recognizes me. He's just too beautiful for words. Of course, Austin and I both find ourselves breaking down whenever we see a baby... but we can't talk about that right now. The beginning of July is full of things that require my attention and then my dad is going out of town, which will require me to be around to transport Austin back and forth to work. The way it's looking, it may be August before I can squeeze in an overnight... or it will be just a short visit. At any rate... I need to snuggle that kid SOON!

I know there have been lots of crazy comments added to my blog and I know you guys know me and my kid well enough to sort those out. I feel like it's in our best interest leave them for now but it's all good. He's a good man, a hard worker and most importantly a great father and I have never been prouder of him than I have been in this past week. I'm pretty durn proud of y'all too. My blogger babes and mother hens are the best. Y'all give me strength in more ways than you know. We've got this, y'all.

Love and hugs and happy Summer! I promise to add pictures next time!