I hope everyone is having a good week so far.  Mine has been pretty good and I cannot complain.  I've been picking tomatoes left and right and enjoying every minute of it!  There is nothing like a homegrown tomato!  My beans, despite having been attacked by deer several times, have produced enough beans for us to have for dinner most nights I want them.  I just planted a tiny new crop of beans to hopefully carry us over till early fall.  I also started some cherry tomato plants a few weeks ago and they are doing well.  I'm very proud of them because I started them from seeds from a cherry tomato!

My blueberry bushes are small, but still alive, and the grapevines are growing some leaves.  They came to me as bare root twigs so leaves are exciting to me!  Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed my garden this year and hope to do it every year.  Not everything turned out the way I wanted.  But, other things turned out better than I imagined.  I'm going to try to grow a few things through winter in an enclosed area I am planning.  We'll see how that goes.

I got a check in the mail today!  More mystery money!  This mystery shopping is definately the answer I was looking for.  I get out of the house once a week and get to do something that is on my terms without someone breathing down my neck.  And for the amount of work I actually do and the time it takes, it is quite lucrative.  I hope I can keep getting a steady flow of mystery shopping jobs for a long time.

It seems as if I have learned a lot of lessons this past year.  Boy, I don't know about you, but I hate the actual process of learning hard lessons...but it pays off in the end.  I've learned, mostly, that getting back to my roots and appreciating the tried and true constants in my life is very rewarding.  Somewhere along the way, I think I started to take a lot of aspects of my life forgranted.  Take, for example, old friends...It's not that I stopped being friends with them or didn't enjoy their company anymore.  But I think, like many relationships, complacency sets in and I tended to overlook them and assume that they would be there for me.  Well, that part was right; they are there for me and I am finding so much  pleasure in savoring their presence and who they are and always were to me.  It's comforting to sit with an old friend, whether by phone, in person, or on an instant messenger, and just revel in the familiarity. 

Now, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to make new friends.  Because even the oldest of friends was once a new friend, right?  But I found that over the past year I was being consumed with trying to please the newer elements in my life.  Are they going to take what I say the wrong way?  Do they really appreciate honesty?  Are they really willing to take their turn and give to ME when I need them the most?  Unfortunately, the answer to almost all of those questions has been a resounding "no." 

But the old friends?  How comforting it is to be able to share your feelings with a good friend and know that they are not taking your every word and misconstruing the meaning.  There is a deep understanding that goes unsaid.  It is a wonderful thing to not have to worry about walking on eggshells about your friends.  When a true friend of mine comes to my house, they know they can roam freely and make themselves at home.  And, likewise, when I am visiting them I feel like a part of their home versus a guest. 

I guess I will name a couple of names now, just because I can!  My friend, Adrienna, is a soothing and calming presence to me.  She and I can sit in a room and never say a word...but we still feel like we have visited.  It is almost as if we read one another's feelings and can go beyond what words offer.  Don't get me wrong, we can talk ourselves silly.  But no matter what I do....and no matter what she might do...we appreciate and respect one another.  We might not always agree and we might not always approve of what the other has done, but the love we have for one another transcends the pettiness.  There just aren't any words to describe our relationship.  It is a very emotionallly close relationship based on trust and understanding. 

Now Kathy...she is someone I met online, strangely enough, and has lasted for years now as a daily force in my life that I look forward to very much.  Our relationship consists almost entirely of instant messaging.  We have visited in person several times and talked on the phone.  But 98% of our friendship has taken place through the messenger.  Kathy and I TALK.  There is never any kind of silence between us...only talking.  And, like with Adrienna, we may not always see eye to eye on certain subjects (although most we do) but we are able to express our thoughts to one another without worry of ticking the other one off.  Kathy has a very strong sense of opinion, as do I, but she has a way of saying it like it is without shoving me away.  I hope I am able to do the same with her!  Kathy doesn't hold back to spare feelings...if she feels it's something important, she will tell me and I never discount what she has to say; even if I don't think that she may be right at the moment.  Usually, though, she is right and I'm glad that she gave me the head's up!

Ohhh there are so many old friends I just cannot sit and write about all of them.  In the past year I have reconnected with a couple of old school friends.  And you know what?  They are the same friends I remember in high school...but they also have changed.  However, the changes we have all went through seem to be accepted with open arms and with love.  The history we share is enough to get us through any changes and differences we now have.

Essentially, the lessons I have learned over the past year have been difficult and painful, but ultimately a growing experience.  I'm thankful that I have started appreciating what I always had.  I'm also able to view new relationships with others differently so as to prevent difficulties that may arise.  I put stock in what has been proven to me and learn to be a bit more lighthearted with the new. 

I'm tired and probably not even making a lick of sense anymore so I'm off to bed.  Everyone have a great day!