Diversity or Adversity?

Yeah, my very first buckwheat crop is sprouting.



Diversity or is it adversity? I was told all my life to develop my talents. And I've given the same council to our children. Only problem is, I didn't know what my talents are so I just learned to do lots of things stretching my list of duties on beyond my endurance.


I'm wondering if many others have been given the same advice for recently I've discovered the siding company does not have skilled workers who can design the outside of your home and besides the cost of their materials plus labor is greater than the money in our bank account. So off to the Internet I went last week to check out materials and designing ideas. Did I ever tell you I'm just dumb enough to try all kinds of things especially if cost is an issue. Here's one example, I did the flowers and about everything for our daughter's wedding. Oh I didn't do the cake as a friend of the families did but our oldest is insistant that we will be doing hers. And I bought the wedding gown but had to shorten it six inches, take it in, add sleeves, a piece over the bodice and one in the back along with designing and building the veil. Even the flowers didn't' cause me to hire out as I gathered every book I could find on the subject and watched films until I figured I could handle the task at least awkwardly. Did I find I was talented, not really, but they did come out lovely.

So now I'm trying my hand at combining different material for a hopefully striking curb appeal for our house. We've decided to put off construction until next spring. But I can't quit and put it totally on the back burner or next spring will arrive and nothing will get done. I know how long it took to design our kitchen and make changes to the design to perfect it.


But even thought the siding is on hold, the water repelling landscaping can not be put off and I've been thinking about it for a long while though my ideas are yet quit solidified. Nor can the attaching of the house to the basement walls be put off. Can you believe they didn't do that when they built our home 30 years ago? The walls are tipping a bit inward putting those two projects on the have to right away list. Now if we can only get the contractor to call us back, we can move forward on the project. Kirk can't shovel much as he's had three back surgery's and that is one task that puts him down every time. Hence, hiring it done. Siding, I think we can handle as we can lift. Problem is it's been three four weeks since the contractor came to check out the damage and he doesn't return our calls. Pretty typical for around here.


Meanwhile, our daughter, with the three kids, finally got fed up with her crazy unscheduled work time which leaves us all wondering what we'll be doing next. That meant resume time and I'm the resume writer for the family. If I only stunk at it they wouldn't keep coming back to me but they land jobs and that fuels the cycle.


Of course since none of our kids do anything alone, ---I swear they don't.


Our other daughter has been thinking she should write a resume also. Which is a good idea since in her employment the past four years she has gained a great deal of knowledge and skills. I can see where it would be helpful to have a resume in furthering her opportunities within her company. She sent me the really rough draft to work on. No copy catting here as this resume will be nothing like our other daughters in style or content. It will in fact be far more difficult but I've never done one like we have planned before so it's a good thing I'm not scared to try something new.

Funny, but I've never written a resume for myself. Wonder what I'd write.

Can do basic hair cuts when not cornered to do so late at night. Then I've been know to put the wrong attachment on the clippers and do a buzzed spot in the middle of the head.
Skilled poop scooper - doesn't matter if it's goat, beef, horse, or chicken.
Vegetable gardener, organic methods preferred.
Talented cook when my eighteen month old grandchild is not hanging on my leg crying.
Spins a variety of fibers into yarn
Knits and crochets while hubby drives down the road and talks to me. This means I can multi-task.
Skilled teacher having a great deal of experienced working with tots to adults
Do my own taxes, but not always correctly as the IRS can attest for they sometimes correct them.
Not afraid to try something new though not a quick study of any particular subject ask my son how long it took to teach me to fly fish.


Mm......maybe I'd best stick to doing others resumes.



Beyond resumes, I even wrote a letter of recommendation for my sister once. Oh not for her getting a job but for one of her friends. One I've never met. My sister later told me her friend profusely thanked her and said it really help her get the job. LOL. How did I do it? I just looked at what job she was applying for and deduced what kind of skills and personality would best match the position. Then I asked my sister if the gal had those qualities and to give me a few examples of them. Sometimes I laugh at my audacity.

But before I could start working on our oldest's resume, beyond discussing it with her, my husband wanted some more of my talents or is it developed skill? He needed some photos taken of his knives for his web-page. Soon we will be off the American Bladesmith show in San Antonio, Texas. And before that it was discussing choices of handle material etc. for each knife. I want to do some fancier photos but for the moment,
( check them out at http://www.rexroatknives.com/ )
I haven't time,too many skills, too little time to complete them all. See what happens when you develop your talents and you don't know what they are.


And really I've got to quit complaining to you because I've hair cuts to give, a bowl of beets sitting in the kitchen waiting for me to get off this computer and can them, and peas to shell. Oh yeah, I'd better get hustling and mop the kitchen floor before the kids arrive this afternoon. I'm only getting this morning's break because our daughter hurt her back and is taking a couple days off from one of her two jobs.

But before I go I'll tell you what I've learned in the garden this morning as I was trimming the tomatoes. These little Siberian or Glacier tomatoes would be great planted in between the Roma and other larger type tomatoes because they produce early and are so little and short. The larger tomatoes planted together block light but this wouldn't be the case spacing them with these short varieties. I think I will try it next year. I'm also anxious to see if they do well with the colder temperatures this fall.