::faithful

Praying for

• Friends who are caught up in difficult times
• A son who is struggling with learning difficulties and growing up at the same time
• A daughter (or two) who are determined to be adults, but who aren’t 100% up to speed
• Patience

Grateful for

Rain!!  We got rain this week.  We’re still officially in drought mode, and the heat is coming.  Every drop is appreciated.

Then, Sunshine!!  And an end to pollen season, which means the clotheslines get put back into service.  Yeah!!

::healthy

Outdoor exercise was curtailed this week.  Did I mention that it rained?  That’s okay, because we have a nifty gym at the office.  Lots of weight lifting, and practicing jump rope.  I’m not very good at it, and spend more time untangling my feet than I do actually jumping.  Silly, huh?

::delicious

On tap for this week – Nachos with pinto beans, Grilled Chicken and fresh zucchini, Pasta with eggplant and more zucchini, Hamburgers with cucumber and tomato salad (again, by request), Salmon and couscous salad, which will be a new recipe trial. First Cherries were delicious, and devoured within in minutes after the kids found them in the fridge.

::creative

On the needles – back to the mitten. The slippers turned out cute.  I’m going to felt them again, and add a flower or two.  THEN I’ll post a picture. Nothing like stringing you all along, right?

Other creative things this week include repairing some broken jewelry, painting a picture frame and trying to salvage my dried up garden.  The Daughters have salvaged an old headboard from a neighbor, and plan to paint it and turn it into a giant bulletin board.  I can only hope that it will get carried to one or the other of their school residences so that I don’t have to figure out where to put it at home.

::fun

Still reading the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with DirtBike, and finishing up The Pipe Dreamers for book club.  It was ‘meh’.  Neat little peek into the tumultuous 1960’s college scene, but not all that interesting to me.

Perhaps some kayaking one evening this week…

::faithful

Praying for

• more young friends as they graduate from high school – they are all so excited about going off to college!
• the mothers of these young friends as they look to their [grown] babies with wistful eyes, remembering their chubby baby legs and toothless smiles.

Grateful for

Mr. Pea!!  Thursday was our twenty-sixth wedding anniversary!

And This!

Yes, this is completely worldly, but by golly, I am over the moon with our new dishwasher.  Our old one broke, about ten months ago. We were investigating remodeling the entire kitchen, as it’s twenty years old now and could use some serious structural face lifting. However, life became more complicated, funds were needed elsewhere and the renovations were put on hold.  But I still didn’t have a dishwasher.  I have many children who have been washing dishes by hand, but it becomes tiresome to keep after them, and on school nights I usually excused them from kitchen patrol so they could finish their homework and study.

Memorial Day Sales, a coupon and a tax-free pass, along with reminding Mr. Pea that when we do remodel in the future we can simply KEEP THE DISHWASHER, brought this lovely to my kitchen.  So sweet.  So silent.  So efficient.

::healthy

Exercise was great this week, too, up until Friday.  Still learing to use the clipless pedals, I took another fall.  This time, though, the chainring bit the back of my leg.  It looks like a swirly tattoo with a string of holes at the end of it. Totally freaked out the guy in the Botanic Garden, as blood was dripping down my leg and leaving marks on the walkway. I thought he was going to faint.

The blurry camera phone snapshot is my leg today.  Note the ripped (as in buff, not actually torn open, though it could be interpreted as such given the rad abrasion below it) calf muscle.    Said “holes” are to the right. Mr. Pea says if I don’t stop falling soon, he’s going to take my bike away.

Weight Maintenance – down a few pounds again.  Must have been the blood loss. 🙂

::delicious

On tap for this week – Grilled Chicken and massaged kale salad; italian roast sandwiches and summer squash; hamburgers with cucumber and tomato salad; turkey paninis.  Oh Glory Be!!  Cherries are coming into season!!  Peaches, too!

::creative

On the needles – a pair of slippers that I made as a pattern tester. I need to felt them, then I’ll post a picture.  A pistachio green cotton baby blanket.  That second mitten has taken a back seat.

::fun

I’m reading the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with DirtBike.  It’s his summer reading assignment.   I just finished Ape House by Sara Gruen.  Eh.  I liked Water for Elephants better.