Summer So Far…

Where has the summer gone?

I spent sooo much time this past winter and spring waiting very impatiently for summer to arrive and now it’s half way over!  Yikes!
It’s been a busy summer thus far though.  I’ve been volunteer teaching at a company in Bolingbrook.  They wanted to give their employees the opportunity to learn more and better English skills and the organization I’m volunteering with stepped in and offered their volunteers.  They offer two classes on Thursday afternoons one upper level and one lower level.  The students are awesome.  They want to learn the English language so badly and they all have varied reasons.  Some want to be able to write their children’s teachers emails or attend parent-teacher conferences, others want to be able to communicate with a doctor without an interpreter, some want to be able to go shopping at non-Spanish speaking stores, and others just want to be able to read a newspaper.  They’re so much more motivated and willing to learn than most kids are.  I really love teaching adults.  I work with two other ladies, Susan and Pat, and they are fantastic!  Both so willing to offer their time and energy for these students.  I’m really enjoying getting to know them as well.
Jeremy and I started this summer thinking I would take a month or two and get some volunteer work in before finding a full-time job, but the more the summer goes on, the more I would like to continue this volunteer work.  It makes me feel good to contribute to society and help improve lives.  Many of these students would never be able to afford to take English classes on their own.  I’m so lucky to have the time and resources to be able to help.

This past week, I met with one of the librarians at the Aurora Public Library’s Main Branch about taking over the knitting group that meets once a month.  I managed to talk them into meeting once a week as that would be more useful in building community and relationships among members.  I’m really looking forward to this as well.  I’ve really missed my knitting group in Oak Park especially now that school is over and I have a decent amount of time to be knitting.
Our bedroom is still under construction, which means our bed is still in the living room for now.  Once our couch is out of storage, I might be more willing to do some hardcore knitting again.

Alice "supervising"

Meanwhile, we took Three Sassy Sisters on the road to Geneva, IL’s Swedish Days last week.  What was initially quite promising turned into a complete bust because of the weather.  We had a good time with my friend Jessica though.

Swedish Days 2011

 That little cutie is due in 2 months and already has a present from his Auntie Jessica. 🙂

Giraffe Buttons!

Moving along, we found 3 kittens in our garage at the beginning of June.  June 8 to be exact.  It was my niece’s, Calli, 6th birthday.  She and my sister stopped by to see them and decided to keep Milly, a very sick, grey kitten.
She’s 8 weeks old now and is a pretty great addition to their family.  My sister closed on her first house last week and they’re all living together now.  We jokingly call her “pure evil” because of her tendency to attack your feet, hands, hair, face, elbow… etc… but she really is a sweetie pie. 🙂

Lastly, is my garden!  It’s going well enough for my first garden.  Everything is growing.  I’ve harvested a TON of mints and basils.

Yum!

My tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, jalepenos, fennel, rosemary, strawberries, lavender, chives, peppers, basils, mints, sage, and feverfew are all growing and growing.  Of course, so are the weeds, but that’s a battle in itself. 😉

Wooo!

Some kind of animal, I’m assuming a cat or raccoon, has opted to sit in my catnip pot every night.  My catnip is very smashed, but I had Jeremy move it towards the house last night, so hopefully it will perk up. 🙂
That’s all I have for now.  Something else will pop up this week though.  I won’t leave you hanging. 😛