We had an awesome lazy weekend. I really needed it. There was nothing going on, no events, trips, or sports. Kids played outside with their friends; my husband and I did a few things to my daughter’s room so that she could start sleeping in there. Got some laundry done. I even was able to clean up the backyard, do some weeding, and prep some planters for new seeds. I even got out my pitchfork and turned the compost pile, and added dead leaves. It felt wonderful to start to feel back on track. Ha! Can you tell I really don’t like chaos? I rewrote my white board, which still said “July” across the top, and I feel pretty confident that all important tasks are now on there. I went through my Gmail and processed anything that I hadn’t dealt with. I added dates to my calendar, made phone calls, paid bills, etc., etc.

This week is generally quieter than last, but now soccer is starting, so there will be practice for someone three nights this week. Plus a school event on Thursday. And I haven’t even found something athletic for my daughter to do yet, which I want to do. After I leave school today, I have to go to the bank and then to Dick’s, for new cleats and stuff for my oldest. Then pick up the kids, then back home to figure out dinner. There’s no food in the house, because I decided to push food shopping back to tomorrow morning. Going to have to get creative.

Out in the garden, there are seven pumpkins on the vines. I keep finding new ones. I put a wad of that black plastic netting under them to ward off fungus.

Some interesting (to me) things have happened. A lettuce plant that I never picked went to seed (“bolted), and grew a tall spike with yellow flowers.

Some sunflowers that got knocked down a while back, and which I gave up on, stayed alive and eventually bloomed, with the stalk being less than half as high as the normal height sunflower.

I was in the habit of scattering dead marigold heads throughout the garden, so that the smell would keep critters away. One of those heads sprouted and turned into this robust marigold plant, but it doesn’t look like the plant from whence it came; the leaves are different.

As a chapter of one of my garden books put it, plaintively, “Plants just want to live!” Some of them really don’t go out without a fight.

In other news, I found a rack of magazines for the taking. It’s in a nearby town, outside the library. The library takes donations of recent magazines and puts them out on the rack for anyone to take. I scooped up copies of The Atlantic and People. Pretty great idea.

A couple weeks ago, my husband was making fun of my beach/pool bag, begging me to get a new one. I realized he had a point:

Judging by the beach tags on it, I’ve had it for 10 years at least, and probably more. It really was a good bag, with all its pockets. My reliance on one bag for 10+ years ought to count for something in nonconsumerland. It ought to balance out all the Ziploc bags and plastic water bottles. But I can’t claim it as a sacrifice, a hardship. Seriously, I just don’t notice things like this. If he hadn’t said something, I probably would have used it til it fell apart. 🙂