Well, it's been a productive summer and I have a few things to check off my list. Although I haven't been updating my progress weekly like #94 says I would, I have been busy doing a few things.
The garden is amazing this year. Even with the cooler temperatures, we have a bumper crop of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers and when the squash was at its peak we were loaded with those too. I haven't been able to preserve any of it yet though - we're eating it as fast as it comes in from the garden. Tomatoes every night, mostly just slice and eat, but the other night I made a great fresh pasta dish with peppers and tomotoes from the garden and some really good ravioli.
#5 - Redecorate the master bedroom is complete with the exception of a few new lampshades, I'm calling it done. It's a dramatic change - restful and minimalist. I didn't want to put back all the things that were in there before, I wanted to keep it as sparse as possible. I think it's a more restful space now. I'll let the art and accessories evolve. There are 2 small prints we got the first time we were in Hawaii that I know I'll use, but still need to find frames for them. The pics don't do it justice so next time you're here, we'll give you the tour. The color is a creamy coffee and once we ripped up the silver carpet to reveal beautiful hard wood the natural wood and the paint really came together. I was lucky enough to find off-white canvas curtains at the sample sale about a year ago. I had always thought I'd use them in the newly decorated bedroom, but I had visions of painting them with abstract designs for a pop of color. Today when I got them out the start that little project, I decided I liked the look of the curtains without color. So far I'm keeping true to that restful feeling I want. Nothing shocking or distracting, just soothing tones for rest and relaxation.
#11 - Read one book per month - well I've been a reading junkie this summer and have read quite a few - see the bookography list for all the titles. Lots of escapism and drama and very little substance, but that's what summer is for, right.
#99 - Create a space for writing and reading - I have an old library table that's been in my family for 2 generations and over the course of the last 52 years, it's served many purposes. Most recently it's been in the master bedroom functioning as my dressing table. When I started putting things in the room yesterday, it didn't make the cut. So I've positioned it under a window in one of the spare rooms, and set up my reading and writing space. The view outside this window is one of a massive pine tree where birds like to nest. It's a great little space for reading, writing, drawing, day dreaming, coloring, or blogging.
#77 - attend 3 car shows with Joe this summer - Well I went to the Good Guys Nationals kick off party back in July and then a few weeks ago we were headed to Fredericktown for a car show/Blue Grass Festival. It was going to be a great all day event with great food and music and old cars. We were so excited. But about halfway there our fan belt broke. My husband is a very 
creative guy and immediately began thinking outside the box for other things that might serve as a fan belt so we could at least get to the next town up the road and buy a new one. We thought about the belt he was wearing, the canvas straps on our portable chairs, etc. We quickly discarded those ideas and were thinking about calling AAA when a good samaritan stopped and asked if he could help. Probably a hundred cars had already gone speeding by without even slowing down so we were very grateful to him for even stopping. But he wasn't just a good samaritan, he was a great samariton. He made a few phone calls, found a auto parts store that was open in the next town and his wife went there to buy us a new fan belt. She delivered it to us at the side of the road. He stayed with us the whole time we were waiting for her. Not something you experience very often. Once we had it installed, we reimbursed them for their trouble and went on our way. The fan belt wasn't an exact fit so it didn't take very long before it started to overheat again. We had already decided to turn around and head for home, but we didn't get very far. We stopped at a few stores to see if they had anything that might serve to make the new fan belt "fit" and ended up using duct tape wrapped around it. That got us a few more miles down the road, but it melted off the fan belt. By now you're probably asking, why didn't they just call AAA and be done with it. But you don't know my husband. He has to be absolutely sure he's exhausted every possibility. So by now, we're sitting at the United Dairy Farmers discussing our options and another good samaritan offers to help. Actually there were 2 while we were sitting there. But this gentleman said he had a few fan belts back in his garage and offered to go get them and bring them to us to see if any would work. Again - he was a great samaritan. Well, he didn't just have a "few" he had about a 100, and, you guessed it - not a single one would fit. At 8:00 p.m. we ended up calling AAA. We were only 20 minutes from home, so close yet so far away.
creative guy and immediately began thinking outside the box for other things that might serve as a fan belt so we could at least get to the next town up the road and buy a new one. We thought about the belt he was wearing, the canvas straps on our portable chairs, etc. We quickly discarded those ideas and were thinking about calling AAA when a good samaritan stopped and asked if he could help. Probably a hundred cars had already gone speeding by without even slowing down so we were very grateful to him for even stopping. But he wasn't just a good samaritan, he was a great samariton. He made a few phone calls, found a auto parts store that was open in the next town and his wife went there to buy us a new fan belt. She delivered it to us at the side of the road. He stayed with us the whole time we were waiting for her. Not something you experience very often. Once we had it installed, we reimbursed them for their trouble and went on our way. The fan belt wasn't an exact fit so it didn't take very long before it started to overheat again. We had already decided to turn around and head for home, but we didn't get very far. We stopped at a few stores to see if they had anything that might serve to make the new fan belt "fit" and ended up using duct tape wrapped around it. That got us a few more miles down the road, but it melted off the fan belt. By now you're probably asking, why didn't they just call AAA and be done with it. But you don't know my husband. He has to be absolutely sure he's exhausted every possibility. So by now, we're sitting at the United Dairy Farmers discussing our options and another good samaritan offers to help. Actually there were 2 while we were sitting there. But this gentleman said he had a few fan belts back in his garage and offered to go get them and bring them to us to see if any would work. Again - he was a great samaritan. Well, he didn't just have a "few" he had about a 100, and, you guessed it - not a single one would fit. At 8:00 p.m. we ended up calling AAA. We were only 20 minutes from home, so close yet so far away.I guess my point is that all of the people who stopped - and there were a total of 5, didn't compare to the total number of people who didn't stop. For whatever reason, we don't offer help like we used to. We're in a hurry, we're afraid, we figure someone else will stop and offer, or we just don't care. I'm grateful for those 5 people in an 8 hour time frame on a busy state highway. I'm glad there are still people out there who will stop. I'm sad there are so few.
