Work, gardening, and (home) touring

First week back to work full time, done. Whew. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It helps that I worked from home all week, so when it was break time I was able to just walk down the hall and snuggle my baby. It also helps that I had plenty of things to do, so the diverse workload kept me busy and distracted. I think if I could always work from home, I wouldn't mind working as much. It's the days when I have to go into the office that are the hardest for me. (Not to be ungrateful for my blessings -- I know that my work situation is really wonderful and a lot better than many other working moms, and for that I am truly grateful.)

In less than two weeks we are going to officially publish my first major report, which is an analysis of skill shortages in a small segment of Oregon's workforce. The report was supposed to come out a month ago but the editing process took much longer than expected, then it got queued up in the graphics department behind a couple of other, large projects. Thankfully the delay gave me extra time to do some of the other finishing steps (creating a presentation of the results, writing a press release, etc.). I feel like I will be fully prepared when it is released on July 2. Stay tuned for a link to the report! Woot, woot!

Our garden is growing nicely. Since it's June and it's Oregon, the weather is swinging like a pendulum between cold and rainy, and hot and sunny. On the cool days, the onions get fat and the lettuce grows huge. Then the heat comes on and suddenly the squash-family plants are exploding. We chuckle about this every evening when we go out to look at the progress. The bell peppers are struggling and the tomatoes are still pretty small. I need to transplant my tomato starts into the ground soon. I also have a couple of tomato plants in my lettuce box (huh?) that need to be moved.... somewhere. Darn the volunteer plants! We have yet to put in corn or sunflowers; maybe tomorrow we'll get around to it.

Nate's big plan for tomorrow is to do a bunch of framing in the basement. His dad is coming over for a couple of hours to help him out. I think they will have the walls framed in no time at all, which means Nate might even start putting up some drywall. Wow, what a difference that would make. I won't hold my breath, though -- there are a lot of projects to finish. If he gets the framing done in quick time, I'd like to get back to finishing the shoe box in the entryway.

Our city is having its annual Tour of Homes this week. The Home Tour is a common summer event for many cities, so you might have one going on where you live. (There was a Home Tour every year in our college town, too; we always went.) It is very interesting to compare homes on the Tours from year to year. We started touring in 2005 or 2006, before the housing market collapsed, so we experienced a few years of ostentatious homes. Now the majority of the houses are very normal, modest family dwellings. There are a lot more "starter" homes on the Tour than what we saw four years ago.

There's a particular local contractor who we love to see every year. Nate and I decided that if we are ever in the financial position to do a massive remodel or build a new home, this is the guy we're going to call. He builds in a modern Craftsman style, with high quality products and a great eye for detail. (Coincidentally, the guy who does all of this contractor's tiling work is a friend of ours from church.) I really want to share some links and pictures of his work, but..... it would violate my self-imposed privacy standards (by revealing my location).... so I'll have to hold off. Sorry to be so suspenseful :)

Anyway, getting back to the Home Tour: Every-other night this week we went out to see a couple of houses. This usually meant putting Darling down to bed a little late, but we really enjoyed our "family dates". The Home Tour only comes once, for one week, so either we stretch our routine or else miss the event. The choice is obvious! In fact, I love touring so much that I might try to convince Nate that we should drive down to our college town, see some friends, and see some houses! (I'm looking online at the tour for that city, and it looks like they are still showing off lots of "McMansions" -- much cooler than our Tour.)

Okay... brain dead... I'm forgetting some things, but it's just about bedtime anyway. So goodnight. :)