Jenny's blog

Beat Out

It’s been a day-with-the-church-friends kind of day today. Made phone calls this morning for random RS stuff, then did a little Mafia Wars (I’m almost up to 100 mafia members), went to the ward picnic, delivered treats from the picnic to Bertie (the dying sister), and then went to Emily’s to play Catan. We invited a fourth couple, Lynlee and David, for the first time ever and played teams. It was lots of fun. Lynlee and David had not played Catan before, and it was kind of fun to teach it again. They liked it, and I think that we’ll have them come out to play again soon. Emily and David won. It’s so fun to be with them that I don’t even mind being beat. I did win last time, however, and the trophy has been at our house for a month. This time we sent it home with David — they are sure that we are nuts :)

Got home, and DS says “Mom can I talk to you in your room?” Hm. First time that has happened. Turns out it was actually minor — his little friend was showing out for him and did some inappropriate things that made him uncomfortable. DS was trying to be a good example but didn’t know what to do. I was so glad he came to me. I told him I’d talk to the boy’s mom.

DS has been sitting at the piano picking out songs himself. It’s a total shock. He can’t stay away from the piano. Right now, he’s in his room listening to a Big Band CD. He is Mr. Jazz these days. He has spent the past several days home from school due to allergies, and much of that he spent playing the piano. I got horribly ill on Wednesday — unbelievable sore throat, plus they cut the hay, and I ended up having to miss Enrichment. I was disappointed to miss it. This is after I had to miss Church just 2 weeks ago due to sunburn and last Sunday I taught Joseph Smith “under the influence” of Benadryl. I think everyone thinks I’m coming apart, but it’s just allergies coupled with an inopportune time for a cold.

I am getting very close on the new site design. Jared did some work for me on the website, fixed the node for YW lessons on the new template, and repaired the messed up activities. I spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas on making the site easier to navigate, and I think this new template is better. There is an IE bug that is messing me up on the left hand menu. It’s making me nuts. I think I will go with rounded corners and fills to cover it up rather than spend time trying to fix it.

The calling is still going along. Our new Bishop is amazing. He is very much hands on — almost to the point of over-doing it. And the man is Fearless. Love him. We have new SS president, ward mission leader, YM president, and HPGL, too, so the tone of our meetings has changed a lot. I miss the old good-ol-boy style meetings, but we’re getting so much real work done that I really feel like our meetings are even more productive now.

We’re eating lettuce out of the garden now — that has been such a success that we will definitely do it next year. What a money saver!!! A $1.00 packet of seeds, and I haven’t bought salad in a month. Even if we only made 1 salad we would have saved $2 in lettuce alone. I want Jared to make me two little shallow beds in front of the main beds, one for lettuce and carrots and the other for strawberries, for next year.

We got the mulch in at the front gate finally, and dug up the ugly daffodil bulbs. I am amazed at how they reproduced. I will drop them in up on the hill tho — each bulb had a minimum of 3 babies, and some had 7 or 8. The big bulbs that I love didn’t seem to multiply. But they are so beautiful I couldn’t care less.

I have been increasing my intake of vitamin B to see if that helps my hands, and they seem to be doing better.

Posted by Jenny Smith

I'm Jenny Smith. I blog about life on the 300+ acres of rolling farmland in Northern Virginia where I live. I like tomatoes, all things Star Trek, watercolor, and reading. I spend most days in the garden fighting deer and groundhogs while trying to find my life's meaning. I'm trying to be like Jesus -- emphasis on the trying.