Most people probably don't have a strong opinion about vinegar. After all, it's simply an ingredient, right?
Well, in my house it gets used for much more than cooking. Honestly, I rarely cook with it. Instead, it gets added to laundry to cut through the bad smells. It gets used with some water and lemon oil for mopping the floors or cleaning other surfaces. It can be used with baking soda to cut through grime in a sink drain.
​And, it gets used on my children.

Is it easy for you to understand people when they have a different accent from yours?
I live in middle Tennessee. The accents around here can run thick. G's are often left off of the end of words. And sometimes, we have particular phrases that don't mean the same thing in other areas of the world.
So, when a missionary comes and speaks during worship services, like one did a few weeks ago, it's not always easy to understand him, either. After all, people in Belgium and England, while they might speak English, don't have the same accents or tones as we do here. Especially when the man from England had grown up in Scotland. He had quite the brogue!
​

This summer has been very dry. And hot.
To a lot of people, that's probably just a typical summer. After all, I do live in the southern United States. However, to my garden, it meant trouble.
Last year, I ended up picking over 40 pints of green beans. This year, I've only picked about 27. They started off doing great, but then when it got so hot and dry, the plants decided to stop. The cucumbers started off looking good, but never actually produced anything. Even with us watering every night. And it took a long time for the tomatoes and watermelon vines and pumpkin vines and sunflowers to make much headway, too.
​I was about to give up.

When we finally started getting rain again after not having it for so long this summer, several of the showers came with some fairly strong wind. And when wind comes, plants get knocked around.
Well, this sunflower was right at the part in growing where it couldn't handle the wind, and it bent. I contemplated propping it up, tying it with string to the tomato cage, something, but never did.
A few days later, I came out and noticed this.

How's your reading going this year? I've got to be honest. I've had good months and slower months, but somehow, I'm still on target.
For the last few years, I've set my "goal" as 125 on goodreads. Honestly? If I don't hit it, it's not the end of the world. But it is fun to go back and look at all the books I've read through the year. The ones pictured above are just from the last few weeks. If you want to see the others I've read this year, check here.
​Want to know some of my favorites?

How do you know when you've found a nice guy? It might not be any big gestures. But there are ways to tell. Author Christina Sinisi tells the story of how she found her nice guy, and it might not be what you expected.

​My parents’ marriage was anything but romantic, anything but a role model of what I wanted for myself, my future marriage. After watching their fights over the years, the harsh insults and gestures, I wanted myself a nice man.
He could have crystal blue eyes, biceps I couldn’t reach my hand around, but none of that would matter. He had to be nice.
But how does one know, really know, if someone is a good person?
One guy that didn’t make the cut got furious when I got us lost in the city near my house that I should have known like the back of my hand, but I didn’t. I grew up on a farm, not in the city. When my cheap car broke down on the Blue Ridge Parkway, my future husband stayed calm and made friends with the rednecks who stopped to give us a lift.

When the husband has COVID is not a good time to decide to do something big ... like replacing the swingset. But when a swingset comes available on Marketplace for an amazing price, you have to snatch it up right then before someone else does. Especially when the swingset in your backyard is falling apart.
Needless to say, I relied on friends to help me a lot. They came with their trailer and helped load everything up at the owner's yard and then cart it all to my yard and unload it.
The kids were excited. Except for one thing.
​It was going to be a while before the new swingset got put together.

If you've been around here very long, you know I am a gardener. I love watching things (that I planted) grow and produce yummy veggies and pretty flowers. Weeds, I'm not so fond of, obviously.
Just like always, we planted our garden this year, giggling as the little leaves started poking up, replanting where they didn't, clapping when we spotted blooms.
And then it got HOT. Like, really hot compared to the last few summers. And dry. And plants don't really thrive as much when it doesn't rain.
​So, we've been watering almost every night. And coaxing the plants to keep producing at least a little longer.

Our 18th anniversary was on June 11th. Know what we did to celebrate?
Nothing.
Want to know why?
My husband was in the middle of a ten-day quarantine due to having COVID.
That's right. He was sick and so we didn't even get close to each other that day. No hugs or kisses. Not even a little finger squeeze in passing. 
​And I never want to celebrate an anniversary that way again.

Do you knowhow to do taxes?
It's not something I ever had any interest in. In fact, they were rather intimidating to me.
But for the last few weeks, I've been learning how to do taxes.
Why?
Well, because I've taken on a new part-time gig, working with a friend who is a CPA. I'm studying tax law and learning how to do taxes as well as getting ready to eventually help with people having trouble after filing taxes incorrectly. Sounds fun, right?