Friday, June 12, 2009

Summer Slow-Down

We're in the full throes of summer here at our house and between camps, swimming lessons and entertaining two boisterous, inquisitive little boys everyday, I'm finding that I have a little less time to linger over blog entries than I did during the school year.


Let's not forget that this is mainly a gardening blog and my garden is downright soupy (and dead) right now, which isn't helping. Please don't take this as an announcement of a blogging break, because blogging is one of the few things I actually do for me and I have no intention of giving it up for the summer. I think many stay-at-home-moms get so wrapped up in the kids and the home that they go days without doing anything just for themselves. I am guilty of that, for sure. That's one of the reasons I started this blog - it's my thing that I do just for me and I have no intentions of walking away from it for the summer.

However, I'm currently blogging six days a week and now that it's the summer, I'm going to slow down a little bit. I don't know if that means I'll have entries three days a week or five days a week, but it will be a little less than what I've been doing.

I've got to regroup on the garden and I know I can't plant any vegetables this summer. I made that mistake last year and have been told time and again that only very skilled gardeners dare plant in the summer in Florida. And as the name of my blog suggests, I'm short on gardening skills so summer planting is not in the cards for me. I think I'll focus on sunflowers this summer so I can do my part for the Great Sunflower Project. Sunflowers are something I've had success growing in the past, so hopefully that can be my summer gardening project.


Also, I need to get serious about my kid crafts and activities. Two boys. One long summer. It's too darned hot for mere mortals to go outside for most of the summer, so we spend a lot of time inside. As captivating as I might feel I am, the boys get sick of staring at me pretty quickly and resort to daring each other to jump off the back of the couch onto the tiled floor, so I know I'll need to get creative with some fun kid activities…many of which will need to be thought-up and put together at night while the boys are sleeping since their patience is thin for my prep time. I'm also hell-bent on teaching my 5 1/2 year old to read before he starts kindergarten because he's expressing such an interest in it, but can't quite put it together. So yes, my focus will have to drift away from the blog a little to accomplish that.


Finally, by the end of the summer I should have three mature hens popping out eggs like the lottery machine on the 11 o'clock news. They should be mature and of egg-laying age by about mid-August, so I've got that to look forward to. Plus I still want to build them an attached run to their chicken coop, but have to figure out how to do that on a very modest budget.


So there's my summer in a nutshell. If you see a day or three go by without an entry, just know I'm hard at work playing pirates or sculpting a masterpiece out of dried-out Play Doh or sounding out the word c-a-t for the 100th time. Or maybe like last night, I sat down to watch TV after an afternoon of swimming and fell asleep on the couch. I am sure I'll pick up again on the blog at full speed in the Fall once school starts and the new planting season arrives. But for now it's got to come second to my two favorite little guys because as any parent will tell you, they just grow up too fast.

8 comments:

Jeff Vandiver said...

Well....I hope you write something every once in a while. Your hens are really growing!

Kathryn said...

Hey Kate and Crew! Isn't it just too darn hot out there? I wouldn't want to grow in this heat either! Have fun with the crew because, as you said, they do grow much too quickly. My computer is on the fritz so I read your blog at work (don't tell anyone!!) but because of the firewalls I can't see the pictures :( Can I still plant sunflower seeds? Bought some but never got them in the ground. About the only thing thriving right now in my "yard" is the hydrangea - which tickles me pink, which is the bloom color of my Nikko Blue (go figure!) Have a great summer with the boys. K (aka Mad Beach Maven)

Kelly said...

Well OK Kate but promise to share any funny stories that come along because- no pressure- I come here for my daily chuckle and sometimes its not so funny when its your kids that stuck a pea seed up their nose or colored their entire torso with a blue Crayola marker. 8) Have a great gardening free summer, and if you miss the gardening drama just come on over to my blog- I know I'll have plenty to go around. (oh, and can't wait until the glas lay their first egg!!!)

Unknown said...

those boys are too darn cute! You are a good mom. Yes it is HOT here in Florida. We too are doing the Great Hunt For Bees, Sunflower Project. Do keep us posted on your progress. Our seeds are not up yet.

Annie*s Granny said...

Please stop by my blog-I have an award for you.

Ribbit said...

How awesome is that picture with the tongues hanging out. That's the best I've seen in a long time.

Annie*s Granny said...

See, you DO have skills! You can grow sunflowers. I think I've planted at least 50 sunflower seeds, and I have 1-1/2 sunflower plants. The 1/2 would be one, but the bugs ate half of it. The others either never came up, or the bugs ate them before I could see them. I just planted 16 more seeds in soil blocks in the house, although it's probably too late now anyway.

Cheryl said...

Keep us posted as much as you can.

I found a book called The Kids' Summer Handbook (one of my thrift store finds). It has a lot of old-fashioned, low tech, low cost crafts for kids. It's written by Jane Drake and Ann Love. It might give you some ideas.

Have fun with the kids!

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