And Summer is Almost Over...Sigh

Greetings:

I swear on the basset hound lying next to me that I've meant to post a blog entry for weeks now.   I tihnk I always start my entries saying something along those lines.   I'm pleased to report that I have today off so I've been able to stay at home all day.  I had hoped to have accomplished more by now but I've made a nice dent in housework and laundry.  My current project is unpacking more in the home office area since I still have 5 boxes sitting in here.   I'm probably going to make a bigger mess by sorting through everything.

I haven't blogged since July 3 evidently so I'll re-cap the month's happenings:

• Summer Youth Fitness 2012 is over.   I sound like a broken record but I wish I enjoyed that program more.   The issues with employees, a few of the kids, and a few of the parents provides more stress than I like.   But it's a children's program so I should start expecting weekly stress from different sources.   The Family Night event went really well on Wednesday.   Like usual I didn't order enough food but had increased the amount from last year...I guess kids really like cookies.   Luckily we had the perfect amount of veggies and fruit though.   What surprised me was the fact the kids did portion control....it was the parents taking three cookies and huge platefuls of fruits and veggies.   It's like come on....I need to feed 100+ people, it's not a buffet.

• The garden is doing pretty well.   The dry conditions are causing our giant tomato plants to tip over though so we've been in the garden a lot trying to brace and tie up the cages around a few of the plants.  We've gotten our first riping tomatoes and picked a few peppers too.  What's really surprised me is the maturation of the cucumbers.  The are growing like crazy and I can't keep up.   They are my favorite thing to eat in the summer with some ranch.  

• Jon is going to start attending Weight Watchers with me.  We are trying to figure out a meeting date/time that works for both of us.   It may need to be Mondays at 5:30pm on some weeks but Jon may have evening meetings for work on the periodic Monday.   Another date/time is Wednesday at 6:30pm but that option won't last long since I need to teach on Wednesday nights for DMACC.  I'm assumining as he becomes comfortable with the program that he'll be fine attending meetings by himself on some weeks.   I may actually need to attend some meetings in Ames at times. 

• I officially checked out of my apartment yesterday.   We spent a lot of time last Saturday cleaning and it paid off.   Other than a broken towel bar in the bathroom, the rest of the apartment was clean.   I'm in love with Mr. Clean Magic Erasers for the bathtub since I only spent like 30 minutes cleaning my tub/shower.  As long as I've rented, I've not been diligent about cleaning my shower/tub and oven.   I always pay for it when I clean prior to moving out.  It felt good to hand over my keys and parking pass.  It felt excellent to hand over my keys to the cleaning closet for the apartment.  I never have to sweat and clean the laundry room and horrible hallways.   I am helping them clean on July 31 as the rest of the tenants move out that day.   Some extra money won't hurt but I'm sure it will end up being miserable.

• Random comment...I watched Bush perform a concert on the dish recently.   It's no secret that I used to enjoy Gavin Rossdale greatly in the 90s so I was intrigued.   The band has lost members.  I believe Gavin and the drummer are the only original members.   Sadly I wasn't super impressed.   Gavin looks the same (sorta) but it was weird for me to see a 40-year-old bouncing all over the stage like a cocker spaniel.   His voice sounded great so that was appreciated.   I also saw No Doubt's new music video "Settle Down".  I wasn't wowed by it but I've not been a huge fan of the band in the past. 

• I have the next week off from Iowa State University.   In theory, I have the following week off too but I need to go in to tidy-up my office and prepare for the semester.   Lots to do still and I didn't get even 1/16 of my prep done in June or July.   Bleh.  Luckily I can do some of it at hoem too and won't need to make the trek to Ames often. 

• Gavin is officially enrolled in the Ankeny School District.   They have an open house next week but unfortunately he'll be at a camp and unable to attend.   I'm hoping they can have him visit the following week so he's familar with the middle school.  We won't have a lot of school shopping to do as I refuse to buy any jeans until it's cooler out.   I'm hoping his new shoes are surviving well at 4H camp this week.   His school supply list is a lot more simplistic compared to Ames so we don't have a lot to buy for his locker or school needs either. 

Ok, time to dive into organizing and sorting so the office starts to look better.   Here's a picture for your enjoyment.

Ankeny Updates

I finally took some time tonight to wander the property and house to take some photos.   I think I'll start with the garden.   One half of it is really taking off and flourishing.   The other half (planted with seeds) is not doing so hot.   Mental note for next year.

We have it fenced in so the rabbits and basset hound stay out.   As you can see, the tomatoes are freaking tall. 

Many of the flowers are now small green tomatoes.   I only planted the BigBoy hybrid variety of tomatoes.  

The cucumbers are taking off too and starting to crawl up the lattice we set up.   There are a few flowers so hopefully we have some cukes soon.  

This is the "dud" side of the garden.  Two rows of green onion and two rows of carrots are massive fails.   We have maybe two successful carrots growing and two tuffs of green onion.   Boo. 

Just another view of the garden...

A project completed by Gavin and Jon.   We had an extra garbage can in the basement (used to store dog food) and decided to try and lower the water bill.   Some of the storms in June have produced a lot of rain water for watering the garden.

The next pictures are the updated status of the house now that our large furniture is now in place.   I'm really proud of the basement.

The treadmill and the love seat fit nicely.   Gavin's been spending a lot of time down here since it's really cold. 

We moved our shelf down in the basement to store all of the DVDs and such.

Our TV also found a new home in the basement.   It's not connected to the dish yet (it may not ever be connected to it).  It's nice having Gavin's Xbox down here and out of the way in the living room.

Nothing in this room has changed expect for larger and more frequent piles of dirty clothes.  I'm just happy that I have a washer and dryer that don't require the use of quarters.  It's also nice to not have to wait for another tenant to get their clothes out of the machine so I can finally use it. 

This is the living room with 3/4 of a basset hound.  She followed me during my photo shoot and I'm suprised she's not in more pictures.   I didn't add anything to the living room.

Just another view of the living room and the entire dog.

It's not a dresser and it's not a chest of drawers.   It's a "chesser".  The nifty feature of this piece of furniture is the center.   The square portion is actually a cabinet-like space that allows me to stick things inside the chesser that I'd typically put on top (jewerly box, perfumes, etc.) 

This is the wonderful new king-sized bed.   My back loves it.  I'm sleeping better.   I never make my side of the bed so I'm sure you can figure out where I sleep on it. 

I have a lot of things to try and get done in the next weeks.   I need to be out of the Ames apartment by July 31. 

• Get the rest of my belongings out of my apartment, especially the kitchen
• Prepare for Saturday's garage sale
• Clean the Ames apartment (blah)
• Organize my office area in the Ankeny home
• Reorganize the kitchen in Ankeny and create a pantry in the basement

I should put exercise, eating better, and other healthy habits on that list too.   Sigh.  Those aspects of my life haven't gotten a jump start.  By writing this, I've also realized that I neglected to make my next counseling appointment.  Whoopsie.  I'm proud to say that we've been putting more thought into meals.  I've remembered to set out meat to thaw for some wholesome meals.   We've recently made cranberry pork loin, pot roast, grilled, etc.   Sadly portion control wasn't necessary enforced.  

I guess that's enough for now....another update soon to come!