brain dump

My garden is doing horribly this year. The green beans wilted, the carrots never came up and I haven't gotten one tomato. The tomato plants look full and lush but looks can be deceiving! I've had plenty of green tomatoes but the bugs eat them before they get past the palest orange stage. This has never happened in my 20+ years of gardening. No matter where I've lived I have planted a garden every summer. It's one of the few constants I cling to. I've thrown probably 30 rotten tomatoes into the woods. I had a big summer goal of making a meal of homemade bread and homegrown tomatoes. Looks like I'll be eating my bread with store bought tomatoes. 

Speaking of bugs, we had our house sprayed for roaches. I saw what I believed to be a mouse run through the kitchen twice. Both times the kitchen light was off but it was light enough to see something scurrying. We didn't see any signs of mice in the pantry so Christopher said it must be roaches. So that's great. I've killed several bugs longer than 2 inches but for me to think what I saw was a mouse means it had to be even bigger. At the Y yesterday I saw a bug on the ground larger than Annabelle's hand so that must be what it was. A man came to spray and since then I've found little piles of dead roaches around the house. When I say I want country themed decor I don't mean I want live/recently killed animals in my house.

My car has been invaded by ants. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN. I've vacuumed it out multiple times but I keep seeing those little black ants scurrying around.

It's either 174* here or it's pouring.


On to less Debbie Downer topics!


AB has a pretty firm grasp on our country and can identify several states and who lives there. She knows where the White House is, who the president is and what the First Lady does. We've talked about the United States ever since she was old enough to have a conversation. Several weeks ago I was explaining to Annabelle the history behind the 4th of July. I went into detail about the 13 colonies, delegates, the Revolutionary War, taxes from England, the whole thing. I finished up the lesson by saying that America is a great nation and we should be thankful we live here. She pondered the information for a minute then said, "Wow. That sounds like a great place. I'd like to live there someday." I guess we'll be going back to square 1. 


"Look, Mama! I'm standing like a sunflower."

Sesame likes to use afternoon quiet time to reaccessorize. Her recent favorite is putting her bathing suit and/or her bumble bee tights on over her clothes. They don't call her stylin' Sesame for nothing!

My friend Amy came over for a visit today. Annabelle threw up during the night and she had a fever so I warned Amy she might have the stomach bug and I'd understand if she didn't want to come. She said she could get germs anywhere and she would still come. I am SO glad she did. We've been here almost the same exact amount of time and we're both having trouble adjusting. Sometimes you need to spend a few hours commiserating about how hard life is. 

I made us dentist appointments the other day. I found the dentist on the insurance website and left a message on their machine. The next day a lady called me and said "Hi, it's me. You called and left a message." ???????? Normally people identify themselves but I'm not so good on the phone myself so maybe I shouldn't talk. Finally, she clarified where she was calling from and she started to get our information. I don't have a hard name to spell. It's been on the top 100 girl names lists since 12 BC.
Her: What's your name?
Me: Sarah with an H.
Her: So that's S-h-e-
Me: S-a-r-a-h
Her: S-a....what's next?
Me: R. S long pause A long pause R
Her: S-a-r-s-r-a-h
Me: ........................................................................S.......A......R......A......H.
Her: And what's your daughter's name?

You can use your imagination on how spelling her name went.