Lots of stuff

First, I thought I'd write that Missy's mom seems to be doing better and they think she will recover without any long-term effects. She regained consciousness last night and was responsive to Missy. I did call and leave a message to let Missy know we are thinking of her and her family and let her know to call if there's anything we could do. I just feel better being able to let her know we are thinking about her. Not much, but there's really not a lot more I can do.

Other than that--I'm beginning to realize I might have a few too many "irons in the fire". I mean, it's great that I've discovered a whole new world of stuff that I never even realized existed--stuff that just absolutely meshes with my interests and even the interests of Kaeli and I think Paige, too. But, I'm feeling just a tad bit overwhelmed at the moment--it's been a rough day.

First, I spent a good bit of time on the phone yesterday trying to figure out where I could get lots of "redworms" to start a composting bin. I did end up getting a phone number, but it took approx 5 phone calls to get it. If anyone else decides to embark on a journey like this, let me give you some information that will help. Just start off by calling your state's Cooperative Extension. It's going to be affiliated with one of the state colleges.

So, today I finally got in touch with a "master gardener" at the cooperative extension--I'm not sure how they attain this status, but they are volunteers that basically help people like me. The lady I spoke with today was soooo helpful. She's going to send me information on composting workshops. She also told me about a composting outpost they have in our town where they have many different forms of composting on display. She felt that worm composting was more work than the other methods, but that's ok since I'm mainly doing it for the kids more than just to make dirt. Maybe I'll do the worms just for the kids' pleasure and do a real compost pile outside (when I get around to it). I also told her about some kind of gnat population we've developed in our garden already. She told me to catch some of the flies and bring them in to the office for identification. Once they have identified the flies they can tell me what, if anything, can or should be done about them. So, this is just incredible that I now know I can just pick up the phone for help when I run into a problem with our newest undertaking.

Of course, stumbling across the Cooperative Extension led me to all the 4-H club information and camps. I cannot believe I didn't know about this before now! I think Kaeli would just LOVE to be a member of a 4-h club! There is a science adventure camp in August that I'm definitely signing her up for. It's 2 nights and 3 days and is right here in town. Unfortunately, Paige isn't old enough. But, I'm not sure if she's into science, anyway--we'll have to wait and see what her interests really are. I spent a good bit of time on the phone finding a club to join. The first club leader I spoke with was nice, but I realized each club kind of has its own "personality". And, their specialty seemed to be in the realm of livestock. Their current project is raising an animal (goat, horse, etc) to take to the state fair. I could just see us trying to raise a goat in our backyard. I told the lady about the only thing we could raise is a dog or a cat. Besides, they are raising these animals to sell---I can just see Kaeli getting attached to an animal for months and then taking it off to "market". Nope-that would NOT be a pretty sight.

I do think I found a good match for Kaeli and Paige, though. The club we are interested in has 3 different projects running right now. One is sewing, one is cooking, and the other is photography. I think my girls would enjoy either of those 3. Also, she said that next year the projects would change based on the kids' interests. I'd like to see a project involving science. MAYBE I could even volunteer to lead a science project since that is definitely my "thing". The culmination of the projects is that the kids end up with a product for display and sell it at the state fair. It really sounds like a lot of fun!

With all the garden stuff going on I haven't had much time to devote to learning about scrapbooking. Oh, and of course, the laundry and general housekeeping tasks keep vying for my attention. Actually, the housecleaning part is what has me frustrated. I want to concentrate on all this fun stuff, but now the house is becoming a little disorganized and THAT drives me absolutely bananas!! Today Kaeli actually had to dig through folded laundry to find some shorts. Paige went to school in an outfit that actually embarrassed me this morning. Normally, on Sunday night I lay out 5 outfits for the girls to choose from all week. This makes it easy because then *I'M* the only one digging through their dressers and I don't leave a disaster behind like they do. And, Paige doesn't have the best sense of style. Let's just say she is quite the "creative" fashion diva. Today she went to school wearing a cute sleeveless summer dress with opaque (wintery-looking) tights and a pair of athletic shoes. Not terrible, but there was just something about the combination that made me laugh--of course, I didn't laugh in front of her, though. So, needless to say I absolutely HAVE to get up to their room and re-organize their dressers and lay out clothes for the rest of this week. There is no telling what Paige will come down wearing tomorrow if I don't get things back under control. :) So, sadly I must spend the next couple of days doing housework and organizational tasks instead of all the new, cool, fun stuff.