Work news, old diet, garden news

The first quarter of the year has come and gone. I have to look back to keep that in perspective since I am already making plans for events at work that will happen in August. April is already fully booked and May is slightly overbooked with meetings and activities. June and July are still open for the most part with the activities picking up again in August and September. These next two months will be very busy months for those of us who get to keep our jobs. Announcements to those who will be laid off start this week.

I still have not heard from the hiring manager for the Licensing position. That is not unusual. He tends to be very prolonged in his interviews and subsequent selections. My current boss and my pastor are not looking forward to a positive response on my being offered the position. It would definitely be a life changing work schedule which would interrupt church activities. That’s the biggest drawback I can see at this point. As far as my boss is concerned, he would have to manage my group in my absence. He really does not want that.

Mama has determined that today is to be the first day in our new diet. Victoria and I are completely on board with the diet. It is mostly being done to help Mama but there will be long term benefits to all of us if we will follow this course of action. I think it will be most difficult for Mama because it eliminates all sugar from our meal and snacks for up to a month.

Mama did this same diet one time before in New Jersey and the results were amazing. Not only did she lose weight but her memory improved greatly. For some reason we lost the initiative to keep with the diet so all of us – especially Mama – have fallen back into old habits; not necessarily destructive habits, but non-profitable habits health wise. The first week will be the most difficult; especially with it being Easter week; cakes, candies, little yellow marshmallow bunnies and all.

Victoria is off today and Mama told me yesterday that Victoria and Erin are planning a shopping trip somewhere. I probably heard that too but for some reason it did not register. We had planned on the two of them doing some planting today – in the garden and around the house – but thunderstorms rolled in this morning and that will probably wreck any outdoor activities.

So far everything we have planted has done very well. The trees I recently put out are looking very good, especially the little fig tree. The blueberry bush I put in an open spot in the patio out back just to get it into the ground looks like it will give us berries this year. Our vegetable plants are struggling to perk up after planting but I think they will be okay in a few days if we baby them along. Mama and I will probably finish up the garden this weekend.

We still have beans, beets, squash etc. to get out as well as starting a strawberry bed. I hope also to put in asparagus, rhubarb, garlic and horseradish beds in this garden that we will gather from for years to come. This is much better ground than we had in Bowie. It is also shaded from direct sun and protected from the harsh winds we had through the growing season there.

Brittany and Andrew are thinking about coming over this weekend. It will be nice to have them.