A Lot Going On

We've been busy lately with not much time left for blogging.

Scott was out in the field for several days last week, and Jack and I took that opportunity to visit my family in Sioux Falls. Two days in the car, two days there. I had a great time exploring areas of town that were new to me. (I've been gone almost 20 years - is that even possible?) My mom and I took Jack to the Butterfly House - a conservatory with tons of butterflies inside. It was beautiful and Jack was so happy that he was squealing. My mom took great photos but - unfortunately - I can't share them here because I only have hard copies. Suffice it to say, the Butterfly House was a real highlight and I plan on going back.

Our spare time is being spent on The Homestead. We've met with a couple of excavators to discuss installing a septic system, and one of them gave us a brand new idea for where and how to build the house on that lot. Before we talked to him we had a plan all drawn up, but now - since we like his idea so much - we are starting over. Unfortunately, that is a hold up because we need to submit our building plans to the bank with our loan application. Nevertheless, we have had the preliminary meeting with the title company and we are still hoping to get a shell built before the winter.

Jack is doing great. Happy and sweet, enjoying the world. I recently ordered the book "Mothering Your Nursing Toddler". It has been incredibly inspiring and I feel a renewed commitment to being here for him during this precious time.

I have a ton of great materials and ideas for sewing projects, but not much time to work on them. I don't think that I'll have enough projects completed to participate in that art show being held late August. But, I'm okay with that: I would rather enjoy being with Jack, and enjoy what time I do have for creating, than to put a bunch of pressure on myself. If I did that, everyone would probably just get cranky, and my projects would probably not turn out very well. I figure that I will wait until I have a bunch of stuff done and THEN look for sale venues.

Gus is still hanging in there and not really showing any signs of his cancer - as long as he takes it easy and gets his pain medication. Both of those are tricky since he loves going out for adventures and hates taking his pills. But, it looks like he will last longer than the vet's worst-case scenario of one month. He still seems happy and hungry, just our good old Gus. If I hadn't seen the x-rays myself, I wouldn't even believe this was happening.

I did take some photos while out on an adventure today -I will try to post them tomorrow.