My hands have been busy elsewhere

With this....We planted corn and green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, spinach, cucumbers, watermelon and Rhubarb.

And keeping this guy out...
My hands have also been busy pulling these...
I'm about half way done with the pulling of the weeds. And it's amazing the things you find when you pull the huge tall grasses out of the way. If you want to see what I found check out my Photog Blog.

So I hope you will excuse me from blogging classes for the next little while.

It's Question of Dust

(Props to those who can tell me what song title I am playing off of for my title)

How often do you dust in your house? Or maybe more appropriately, how often SHOULD you dust in your house?

Our house is dust central. We are very dusty here. So dusty in fact that my laptop keeps shutting down due to the fact that it's over heating because of dust...so says my husband.

I know I don't dust as often as I should. There is a sickening layer of the gray/brown stuff gently covering our entertainment center as I type.

It seems to me that we have an innordinate amount of dust and I'm wondering why that is. Our home is an older home and I don't know that the vents have ever been cleaned. Do you think that would help with the dust problem? Has anyone ever had their ducts cleaned? Do you think it's worth it?

You can leave your comments with your finger in the dust. I've got enough.

Quick Update

They've got dad all stabilized and he seems to be doing really well. I'm hopeful that he will only be in ICU for part of tomorrow and then they can release him back to the med surge unit.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers. He seemed in good spirits when I left the hospital at around 8 p.m. Hopefully there won't be any surprises during the night.

I'm still up at almost 2 a.m. trying to get things ready for that boutique on Thursday. I'm still not ready. I'm so thankful for my friend Heather who is helping me out. If it wasn't for her there is no way I would be ready for this.

We have to have our booth set up tomorrow night. It's all new and unknown to me so that causes me stress.

Dad

While I was on a field trip this morning with my littlest I missed a couple of calls on my cell phone. I knew that they were from the hospital because of the prefix but Ty was at the dr's and I thought maybe he was trying to call me about insurance or something and if he needed me badly he would leave a message.

The calls weren't from Ty. They were from my mom. My dad is in the hospital. This past weekend he went out deer hunting. My brother brought him back early yesterday with chest pains, difficulty breathing and a general bit of not feeling well. Mom wanted him to get to the doctor that day but he said no, he could wait until this morning when they had a scheduled dr's appointment.

He's got pneumonia and his blood has also gone a little septic. The last time this happened, two years ago, we almost lost him. He didn't go then because my mom was not ready to say goodbye. Talking to her today at the hospital I think that she may be ready now.

Dad is in ICU and they are having trouble stabilizing his blood pressure. I'm home for a few minutes and then I'll be back to the hospital to sit with dad and with mom.

I do not know what the next few days will hold for me and my family. If you are the praying kind would you kindly send up a prayer that whatever happens will be what the Lord wants and that our family will have peace and understanding. If you aren't the praying kind any good and kind thoughts would be highly appreciated as well.

What's in a Name

As I've surfed the blogging world I love seeing what every one comes up with for the names of their blogs and I wonder the thought process that went into it.

For instance. When I first started this blog I called it the Lilly Pad because that's a name that I've used on bulletin boards that I frequent. But then I changed it to Slacker Mom because I've felt like such a slacker as a mom off and on.

Then I decided to go with Just So. Why the jump from Slacker Mom to Just So? Because the So in Just So are/is(?) my first and last initials. My blog is about me, S.O. It's not because I have to, or even like or want to have everything "Just So". Far from it.

Most nights I go to bed with dishes in the sink. There is a large hole in our linoleum in the middle of our kitchen and another in the floor by the dishwasher that is held together by duct tape. My kids often have hot dogs or cereal for dinner. My laundry piles up and beds don't get made. I yell at my kids more than I should. I get my feelings hurt. My husband and I disagree on things. I love my kids even when I yell at them. I love my husband even when we disagree. I get my feelings hurt and get over it (most of the time).

In short I'm human. I'm just like most women. My life is not Just so. This blog is. It's just me.

A place for me to put things down that I probably wouldn't otherwise. I have a bad memory and I should keep a journal but I don't. So it's nice to have a place where I can go back and look and see what I was doing or thinking at a certain time. Like when I had back surgery. I can never remember that. (The actual dates...I can remember the surgery itself thankyouverymuch) But I can go back to an older blog that I have and see what the dates where when I posted about it.

That's the long and the short of it. What about you? Did you pick one name for you blog and stick with it or was it an evolution of sorts? You can comment about it here or post on your blog and let me know so I can come and read.

Weekend

Saturday we spent most of the day at my parents house taking care of their yard. It was our family's turn to go over and help out. We got the lawn and ditch banks taken care of. And about half of the hedge trimmed. We'll have to go back sometime this week and finish it up.

Sunday was church and then a bbq/dinner with some favorite cousins. I cooked up some steak and chicken on the grill but we didn't eat outside as it was hailing and raining and blowing. The kids had sleepovers half at our house, half at the cousins.

Today? Today I spent the day on the couch watching America's Next Top Model re-runs on MTV. I didn't even get to finish up the season but it was still fun. I wasn't feeling really great and since the weather was still cold, rainy and windy I felt that I could just sit and veg. I did actually get off the couch to get lunch and dinner but my oldest boy fixed everyone pancakes. I LOVE that they are getting old enough to do stuff like that.

Tomorrow it's back to school and then the day after tomorrow my M. will be turning 11. Crazy stuff. Basically pretty boring stuff but I'm thankful for it. I'd much rather have a weekend like this than one full of drama and stress.

I have this quote printed out and sitting on my bookshelf upstairs. It pretty much sums up how I feel.

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return."

Mary Jean Iron