Is It July Already!?!?

Wow, the summer is going by so fast and I haven't blog posted for a loooong time!

I've even been nagged by my daughter to post so that's what pushes me to post today.

So, I've been busy and I'm here to show you what's been keeping me busy.

But first, I'm getting another newsletter ready to send so those of you who are not signed up for the newletter subscription, click on the button up there on the left to sign up for it. If you have already signed up for it but didn't receive the last newsletter with the free pattern giveaways, sign up again. I noticed that a few email addresses bounced back to me ...probably with the wrong address...

I have a new pattern almost ready to go so come back tomorrow to see!

Well, my summer has been spent playing catch up from last summer.  The picture above shows our new sidewalk that was put in last summer.  My hubby injured his ankle right affer the sidewalk was put in and then had serious complications from that so he was off his feet and not working until last December. 

Things went undone last summer because of it.  I tried my best to finish the area around the new sidewalks, but my hubby does everything better when it comes to hard physical labor.

When hubby was finally able to go back to work, he realized that after getting a taste of the good life without the drudgery of going to work everyday, he needed to retire.

During the time that he was off, we didn't kill each other so last February, he left Nova Chemical and he became retired and HAPPY!

So now he's home and we're both working outside to spruce the place up a bit and catch up from the lack of maintenance from last year.

Along with flower planting in the front of the house my new raised vegetable garden with squash, pumpkin and zucchini is starting to grow well.

Our tomato plants are full and green but not too many tomatoes are growing, which is a bit of concern.

We have a severe lack of rain in the Beaver County/Western Pa area so all the grass is now brown and dry and I'm doing my best to keep the veggies watered.  The sun is so hot, it's a losing battle to keep the soil moist. Since we have well water, it's really a concern because with no significant rain for well over a month and 90-100 degree temps, we might have a dry well soon. 

My other projects were painting the back door a lovely bright red....

Painting up an old chest of drawers to use on our side porch for storing my gardening tools and swimming pool toys.

I've spent quite a bit of time over two months, fighting these ants in our kitchen, by the sink. These lttle tiny devils caused me a lot of grief and frustration because I'd treat the area with bait, they'd feast and dissappear just long enough to make me believe that they were finally gone and then they'd reappear to battle me again.  This happened a so many times, I can't even count.  Finally, after getting the recipe from Pinterest, I mixed together some Boric Acid and sugar.  They feasted again and disappeared within a few hours, which was unusual.  They haven't been back since! 

The only positive thing to come out of my ant battle was that we ate out at restaurants quite a bit during that time since I refuse to cook with ants watching me!

My daughter and her hubby sold their home in Monaca and bought a home in Beaver so we've spent quite a bit of time helping them with the move and all that's involved with that, including getting to watch our grandson.  He'd much rather spend the day at our house, swimming and playing with the kitties than staying at home working with his parents on the house.

I must add that the new kitties are growing like weeds and causing much mischief in the house.  Two kitties are better than one in many ways, but two kitties chasing each other at full speed around the house, can cause quite a ruckus.

It sure is cute to watch but once they're a little older, I'm going to have to buy new sheer curtains for the living room.

The kitties love to hang, spiderman-like off the curtains.  They needed replaced anyway but it still makes me cringe when I seen them take running jumps for the curtains.

They've given us so much entertainment and laughs from their antics.

That's all for now.  I will be back to show the new pattern ... and to write more, hopefully!

Happy Day everyone!