Gosh, it's been awhile

We've been busy... doing pretty much nothing. Doesn't it always feel like that though? I've uploaded pictures, so I'll just share those for now.


This was our harvest from the other night - 6 cups of basil, half a pound of green beans, tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, a handful of chard, and a bell pepper. That's working out to be about average, minus the basil - I had clipped off the whole plants that night. I got about 6 meals' worth of pesto out of it though, that went into the freezer. We also get cucumbers every so often. Tomorrow I'm going to make a big batch of pico de gallo and some tomato sauce, and probably blanch and freeze some green beans. The garden is at that point where it basically takes care of itself. I spent all spring working hard to keep the weeds out, germinate the seeds, etc. and now we're reaping the benefits. I've got 4 varieties of lettuce, spinach, and beets coming up now for a fall crop, but the neighborhood cats keep digging up the seed beds to crap in them, so I'm not sure what I'll actually get. I did sprinkle a generous helping of cayenne pepper all around the beds the other night though, so maybe that will help.

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A shot of my mom driving her pony in a dressage show:


I think this is kinda cool. My mom's had this pony for years, has always driven her just for fun occasionally, but is now finally doing something with her for real. She seems to enjoy it. We had fun watching the show.

My mom's pissing me off lately. I hate saying that. I love my mom, she's been my best friend for the past handful of years, since I grew up and stopped being a shithead. :oX But lately, she's just... not fun to be around. She always talks about my aunt (her sister) being negative, and set in her ways and unwilling to change... but she's starting to act just the same. She's been telling me over and over again how unfair it is to Chloe to homeschool her. "But what about socialization?" Ugh. I hate that question. I dunno... just in general, she's not fun to be around anymore. She's already complaining about Christmas. She complains about my dad all the time, how he goes out and does things and doesn't want to be with her. I feel bad for her, she's kind of in a crappy point in her life, but her negativity is kind of dragging me down at a time that I don't really need it. I used to hang out with her two or three times a week. Now it's just on Sundays, and mostly so we can see my dad. :o(

On the up side, my daddy is very supportive of us homeschooling, he's really enjoying having a son in law who is going hunting this fall, he tells me every time he sees me how proud he is of me and how much he loves his granddaughters. I'm not sure where this man came from, but I hope he stays and leaves my old dad behind! :-)

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My dad's brother and his wife came to visit this past weekend. On Sunday we went over for breakfast, and the guys were out fishing. My aunt started talking about homeschool: "Well, you aren't going to do it forever." "umm... yes, I am. at least until college." "Well, that's not fair to her. What about socialization?" Jesus. I was so well socialized that I was suicidal at fourteen! Her son was so well socialized that he's 32 and hasn't ever had a real girlfriend, can't hold a job, and lets his grandmother support him. Gosh, I wish my kids were like that! There was a long, drawn out conversation but I won't re-cap it all. It irritates me. It ended with me saying "{Aunt}, I'm done talking about this. I get lectured by a lot of people, and it hasn't changed my mind yet. You're not going to either. I don't want to discuss it anymore." I thought that was good. UNTIL!! As we're on our way out the door, she says to Chloe "Now, you tell your mom that you deserve to go to a real school and play and have fun just like all the other kids."

Oh no, she didn't. Ah, but she did. We didn't bother going back to my parents' house to see them after that. You can lecture me, question me, harrass me all you want for my parenting and educational choices. But DO NOT make my child feel bad for the decisions I am making, and DO NOT try to turn her against me.

I think livid is the best word to describe how I felt that day.

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Okay, baby is fussing. More pictures tomorrow. :o)