Where have I been?

Earlier this week, it was a brain slap when I realized I had not posted anything since the end of July. Dovetailing with that, it was at least that long since I’ve made my blogosphere rounds to see what everyone was doing. Even though I “see” some of you on FB and Instagram, it’s not quite the same.

What happened?

I blinked and July and August were gone. I can only blame it on the virus or politics….because that’s what seems to be the easiest excuse for behavior these days. I actually can blame the pandemic for some of my absence. While our part of the world has not experienced drastic shut downs, because of Entrepreneur’s cancer, we’ve tended to stick closer to home than normal.

I counted it up and since April, I’ve made almost 30 masks. Most of them have been for the grand girls to wear for in-person school and their Mama for work; one for another cancer patient so she could feel more confident going places. Of course, Entrepreneur got a few tailor made with his favorite sports teams. Welcome to mask central. Since this photo, more fabric has been added. The grand girls have Halloween prints picked out….you know….for the masked holidays.

Home maintenance. Never ending when you’re a homeowner. From spring through summer we planted another veggie garden, mulched all the flower beds around the house, power washed the driveway and patio, painted the trim inside the house. In a fit of over achievement, Entrepreneur helped our daughter mulch and re-landscape part of her yard to control water run-off. I joined for the fun part of spreading straw on the ground to prevent the seed from washing away. Did I mention it was one of the hottest days of summer? Fun times.

Even though the grand girls were gone most of June and July for their dad’s visitation time, it was back to providing child care when they returned since Mama’s HR team is alternating time between the office and at home. Since Peanut’s church camp was canceled, we took them to Branson for a few days for an end-of-summer consolation trip…..masked, of course.

The garden did relatively well. After getting 5 dozen ears of corn from the local Mennonite community, I had enough to freeze for winter. Most of the corn in our garden ended up on the table before I could get it cut off the cob and into the jars to freeze. I’m currently in the throws of okra picking/freezing/pickling. Some of the green beans never made it to the table.

Oh yeah, there was this big event in July. Entrepreneur and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary! Our favorite restaurant opened up to dine-in just in time. Steak and lobster special. And, don’t you just love the salad presentation?! I honestly didn’t think we’d see forty. 

Our daughter and her husband from Florida came for a visit, and to play on a few of the golf courses in the area. It’s been since February since we’ve been able to see them in person. The grand girls/goddaughters made up for lost time with playing in the pool and tennis in the driveway.

I’m back in the classroom for fall semester again working with strategic communication designers on their capstone team/client project. We’ve started the semester with the option of in-seat and/or online classes. Mine will be a hybrid until the university decides to go 100% online like spring semester. One of my students had to Zoom into the class since he has already been exposed to the virus after only two weeks of being on campus. So sets the tone for the semester.

So, I hope to get a better handle on time management here soon so I can return to writing and sharing with everyone. In the meantime, take care and stay well. I’m sharing with Brian’s Thankful Thursday because I’m thankful my family is still virus-free and we have the ability to see each other and enjoy the things that make life worthwhile.