Getting Back to the Norm

Since the art show, I have been a little "off my feed." I have not been sick exactly – just yuck. My mother would say, "It’s nerves." But I don’t feel nervous. One of the Painted Ladies said it was probably stress. But I don’t feel stressed. I think it was the burger I ate after the art show reception. Anyway, it tried to take me down, but I have been fighting it. Sunday, I skipped church and slept until about noon before I had to be at the art show to close‘er down. I think the rest was much needed.

The rest only lasted for a short time. Even with the art show closed, I had lots to do yesterday to catch up with all that I had put on the back burner. Besides tying up loose ends with the art show, I needed to do stuff like grocery shopping. Toby and Jesse would like to go back to a regular schedule of eating. They would probably like to walk through the house without having to avoid piles of laundry, paintings, reception supplies, etc. They have been very patient with me and even helped me lots, but now it is time to get back to the norm. I also had to buy new jeans. The day after we set up the art show, one of my friends mentioned that my jeans pocket was torn off. Sure enough, when I got home I pulled those jeans out of the laundry and the pocket had a big hole. Lord, I hope I was not wearing my purple panties. Did I mention that we started building on to our house: By the way, Lou would you stop by the lumber yard and buy eleven louvered vents...

Sunday, Toby went to Houston on business, but will be back tonight. I think he secretly wanted to escape the mess here at home. It never fails that things happen as soon as he walks out the door – like the hot water heater decided to go on the blink. Fortunately, Jesse caught him in time to fix it. Remind me to tell about the time that Toby was gone somewhere and called to say that I needed to put anti-freeze in the bulldozer. Or the time I dropped him off at the airport in Albuquerque and drove through a snowstorm to get home, built my first fire in the Avery wood stove, and pulled porcupine quills out of the dogs mouth.

The weatherman reported that OK might get their first freeze. Some madness along with a burst of energy overtook me and I decided not only to bring in all the potted plants (I almost put "pot plants," but that didn’t sound quite right – didn’t want to freak anyone out). I also decided to pick the tomatoes and peppers in the garden. For most of the summer our tomatoes did lousy. Then about September they came on with a vengeance. Then they sort of stopped, and it was a good thing, because I was tired of putting up tomatoes in the freezer. But with the mild weather, they have gone crazy. The garden is overloaded with green tomatoes. And the peppers would rival anything Hatch, NM, has. I picked until it was dark last night. I have bags and bowls of tomatoes and peppers, and I left quite a bit in the garden. Now I have to do something with all this produce. So much for getting back to the norm! Somebody shoot me. PS: Toby said he really loves a woman who shops at Tractor Supply for her jeans.