Time's slipping away...

I think this has been the longest that I have neglected my poor blog!

Quick update on the "farming" side of my life: two eggs were laid the other day (!), we lost two chickens in as many days - silly girls flew out of their run never to be seen again, and a pheasant has some how gotten out of the coop so we are down to 19 chickens and 11 pheasants.

Now, let's see if I can do some recap... Boys and Hubby were off at the cottage and left me home alone for the week. I enjoyed that week even though I didn't really do anything other than housework and read! But I will admit that I did get kind of lonely, too.

The second week of Hubby's holidays was also a holiday week for me. We went up to the cottage on the Friday evening.
On Saturday, we went to the trailer park where Cuz has her 'summer home'. My cousin (that is Cuz's husband) has recently finished his stem cell transplant - which will hopefully knock this blasted cancer out of his body forever - and that Saturday was a fundraiser day for the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. (This is the cancer hospital where he underwent his treatment.) Although my cousin was supposed to me running this fundraising event, we knew the responsibility would fall to others as his heart is in the right place, but his organizational skills are just a little lacking...
Anyway, there was a pig roast, a live band, a motorcycle show-and-shine, and a horseshoe tournament, and the last report that I got is that the event raised over $3,500, which is pretty incredible considering the size of the venue. Cuz and I were able to sneak away to spend a bit of quality chat-time together, but of course it wasn't enough. We never seem to get enough of that.

On the Sunday afternoon, Sammy and her Hubby arrived at the cottage for a week of holiday fun with us. The weather did not cooperate for most of the week, but at least the Thursday and Friday were nice. (We are really having a terrible summer so far - the temperatures and sunshine don't seem to realize that it is July in Ontario!!)

We came home on the Saturday morning, and Sunday was the "Kid's Fishing Day" event for the Fish & Game Club we belong to. I tried - unsuccessfully - to wake the boys to come with me so that as a family we could assist the club, but since it was the first time the boys had slept in their own beds for quite a while, I guess they were happy to stay snuggled under the comforters.
I went to the event to provide my help, and it was very successful indeed! We had over 240 kids participate in the 4 hour fishing day, and it was really great to see the reaction of some of these children when they caught a fish for the very first time. It was also a very nice feeling to be able to give each child their own rod and reel when they left that afternoon. I'm sorry the boys missed it, actually.

This past week went by a blur, to be honest. Monday evening the boys and I harvested some lettuce and went to deliver a bag of it to our new neighbours. (Nothings says "Welcome" like a bag of fresh produce...)
On Tuesday I stopped in to see a friend on my way home from work, and ending up staying for a while to assist her with preparing a legal document. When I got home I started working on updating my resume.
Wednesday night took me to an appreciation dinner. We went to a wedding a little while back, and the parents of the groom held a dinner for those of us that helped with getting the tent ready. Isn't that nice? I told her we helped because we WANTED to and didn't expect anything in return, but they hosted a dinner anyway. It was a very enjoyable evening.
Thursday was my golf lesson night.
Friday I left work early - it was actually sunny and beautiful in the morning, and I'd made plans with Jazzy's mom to have an afternoon on the beach. It started to rain just as we were heading out, but we had a nice visit at their house regardless.
We didn't stay late that afternoon, although she was very kind and had invited us to stay for dinner. I had not been sleeping well last week, and after we left Jazzy's, the boys and I picked up groceries, and when we got home, I left them to put everything away so that I could lay down for a nap. I had a good nap and still went to bed that night at 10:30!

Last week Hubby was on afternoons, and my travels kept me away from the house for most of the nights until late, but the boys managed just fine. I'm in a state of adjustment right now, I think. I'm starting to come to the realization that my kids don't really need me anymore; they are starting to be independent individuals. Okay, that's not quite true - they still need me, but they don't need me as much, for as many things.
I remember longing for those days... when I couldn't pick up a phone without having the two of them break into a fight or suddenly have something they HAD to tell me, when I had to either make all my plans for when Hubby was on days or hire a sitter, when I had to make sure I got home right after work so that dinner was finished and we had some time together before they went to bed.
And now that time is here... now I am simply the person that makes sure there is food in the house and that can transport whenever necessary and that goes to bed before they even think about it... I'm not sure I'm ready for this!