What's Been Happening and a Blogging Break

I feel like the last couple months have been a blur.  A lot has been going on in our life.  I have been busy trying to keep the garden thriving, the chickens comfortable, the house picked up, the kids fed, delivered to events and entertained, the list is never ending.  I was excited for summer but I am missing the routine of the school year.  Summer has been WAY busier this year than I thought it would be.

Here is a quick update of what has been happening.

Garden.  The garden is still producing.  Amazing considering the drought we are experiencing.  I was able to can a total of 16 pints of green beans from our garden.  Squash, zucchini, and cucumbers are in full force right now.  I have lots of tomatoes on but I have a few plants that now look like they may not survive this heat.  The peppers have really been hit hard and are small in size.

Chickens.  Oh the chicken drama.  With heat indexes in the 100's keeping the chickens cool has been key.  I check on them a few times throughout the day and have been giving them cool treats like cold watermelon, yogurt, some of the abundance of squash.  So far I have not lost any birds due to the extreme heat but I have lost 2 birds in the last couple months due to a predator.  I also had a hen sitting on fertilized eggs and on Day 8 those were dragged out of the nest and broken open.  Bummer.

Family/Home.  We have had a lot of ups and downs the last month.  I am not going into detail but I have been dealing with some personal stuff with myself as well as my family.  The kids have been busy with summer sports, band, 4H, swimming, camps and all the other events that go along with have 5 busy kiddos.  While updating the calender I was surprised to realize that the kids only have a month left before school starts.  Where does the time go?

I have decided to take a much needed computer/blogging break.  I may make a few updates on my Facebook page but I will not be posting on my blog.  I plan to spend the next month enjoying the time that my kids have home before the rush of fall events hits us.  I will continue to host the Frugal Tuesday Tip each week with my fellow hostesses Julie and Jennifer.  I will not be doing Hy-vee or Fareway match-ups.  Those take up a lot of my time but I plan to do them again once I return.

I plan to come back in a month and hopefully be rejuvenated and ready to share lots of great information.  I am also planning an eat from the pantry challenge for September if anyone is interested in joining in on that.  I will post details about that once it gets closer. 

I hope you stick around to see what the future holds for Learning the Frugal Life.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.