My Summer Update

Summer....how on earth does it get so busy???

What I've done on my summer vacation so far:

Spent way too many hours on my XHMTL Video Curriculum in the hopes of releasing it around December 07, and at the very least having it ready for the 08/09 school year for your children. I know they will love it. I'm hand animating many of the portions (using flash) and trying to think of creative ways to explain some of the more confusing XHTML concepts.

Spent equally large amounts of time working in the garden, only to have a jungle yet again. The good news: the fruits and vegetables are growing every bit as fast as the weeds, but the bad news is htat the weeds are growing insanely fast this year...I seem to have gotten rid of the "lambs' quarters" from several years of weeding diligently, but now there is some crazy vine that I have, and according to The Weed, Disease, and Pest ID guide by Rodale, this one will grow even if a small portion of it hits the ground (which seems pretty obvious if you look at my garden LOL). Last night we had corn on the cob from the garden. WOWIE. There is nothing like it.

I've spent time getting ready for next year's homeschooling co=op. I'm teaching a class on Cartooning and one on playing chess. Lest you think they are two totally different topics....well they are, but playing chess was a prerequiste back in my pre-christian days to create the whole "intellectual artist persona" while hanging out in chic coffee houses. thankfully I've gotten really good at both. :-) Now let's see if I can teach some kids the finer points of both....

I've created my lesson plans for the kids for next school year. They like to have a detailed chart of what needs to be done when...especially my oldest. Normally I say "we do one short lesson per day" but they said it would be helpful for me to write it all out, as I did in my first year homeschooling them back when Ruth was in kindergarten (she's going into 9th grade--yikes!!!)...so I did in Microsoft Publisher. Thankfully now that I have the template all set up I should be able to get this all together easier next year. :P

I had a garage sale for a friend...

I made 17 bottles of drink syrup (sort of like a homemade koolaide but with stuff out of the garden so it is slightly more healthy and definately cheaper!). More in a future post about that. This year we made gooseberry and chocolate mint. We ate all of the raspberries. :-) I plan to make some "birne-melissa" (German for Pear with Lemon Balm) syrup after trying some a few years ago in Austria. That soon became my own personal favorite!!

Canning salsa....that will be ongoing for the next little while.

I joined the Handbell Choir at our church. I love it. Most of my musical talent (word used loosely) comes from playing clarinet and saxophone but with my ongoing chronic bronchitis problems I find it too strenuous to play anything involving my lungs. ;) I'm also taking piano lessons. LOL You can teach old dogs new tricks.

Creating a website for someone from church....www.silverdollarkennel.com

Updating my own website...which will be done soon.

And of course going to the beach occasionaly,and playing at the park, and grocery shopping, and so on and so forth.

What are you doing in the summer vacation?