Rest from our Labors!

Last week I came to the realization of why napping was a good thing to do on the Sunday. I'd always considered taking a nap a way to make sure you weren't doing something you shouldn't! (I don't know if I should admit that.) Now, I have new appreciation for the Sabbath as a day to relax, renew, and rest--by sleeping, if necessary.
I've been burning the candle at three ends, so to speak, and was very grateful to sit at the General Relief Society Meeting last night and be fed spiritually. I was worried that I'd fall asleep because I'd been on my feet canning all day. Instead, I found myself renewed and able to do one more batch of peaches after the meeting. How grateful I am for today, Sunday, and a chance to truly rest from my labors.

But, speaking of labors, I know blog posts are a little dry without pictures, so here are a few views of the 'fruits of my labors'. Yesterday I did 21 quarts of peaches, 14 quarts of pears, 8 trays of prunes, made a new apron, delivered Avon, test-drove an Acura MDX SUV (bad sound system, but comfortable seats), bathed the dog and gave him a preliminary haircut, and attended the General RS Meeting, and finished up by relaxing with John as we watched UNLV get beat by Nevada--in between channel jumps.


My attempt at homemade prunes--gotta use that 'Italian prune' tree for something!









Though I keep canning and keep canning, the fruit doesn't seem to get any less.









A few of the many bottles of peaches and pears I've done this year.

Summary of the week

It's been a busy week. I am now officially under contract as the K-4 music teacher at Timp Academy. I attended my first school social, the beginning of the year BBQ, and my first faculty meeting. I bottled a couple dozen quarts of peaches and pears. Today, I swept, vacuumed, and mopped my upstairs. And I babysat L and AB. That was the best part. I even have pictures to prove it! Cleaning, canning, and lesson plans--story of my life right now, and I'm loving it, even the cleaning part. On our date tonight, J and I talked about using the square footage of our home more effectively, and he had some great ideas. He pointed out that we're living in our home as though we still had all 5 kids here with us. We have 3 unused bedrooms that could be put to good use in organizing and and re-structuring our living areas. We need to maximize use of those empty rooms and empty closets, and have a place for everything. That is a fabulous concept: a place for everything. I think it can be done! Stay tuned...and enjoy the pictures while you wait :)

Sewing room: still cleaning

Back in May I wrote a post about cleaning out my sewing room. I even took 'before' pictures so I could show them with the 'after', if that ever occurred. Well, this morning I couldn't sleep so I went to work on my sewing room yet again. I should have taken new 'before' pictures, because it looked much worse than it does in the pictures. Too many sewing projects, and not enough cleaning in between...



Now you can see my pretty room that I love so much. I still need to clean one more wall of the room, but I've been successful at keeping my sewing table clean ever since May.

Flowerbeds

Remember back in June when I weeded all my flowerbeds so we could plant annuals? I never did get much planted in the alcove, and I don't have a picture of the front flowerbed right now, but the flowerbed at the very back of the yard turned out beautifully. J says we're going to plants annuals back there every year, now, with lilac and rose of sharon bushes behind the petunias. Hopefully, the bushes will hide the lovely weeds along the canal...

Cutest!

I have two of the cutest grand-daughters on the whole planet of Earth---Take a look at those cheeks!