Success??

Well, not exactly.  I was finally able to harvest two things from my garden: a cucumber and one blackberry...yes just one.  Something keeps finding its way underneath the netting and just as they start to turn black, they are gone!  The cucumber was delicious; Big Monkey ate half of it herself but the blackberry was sour.  It needed to stay on a few more days.  I am having a hard time knowing when things are ready to be picked.  My entire lettuce patch is finished and I wasn't able to get anything out of it.  Every time I tasted a leaf it was bitter. It is now too hot for lettuces, so I will have to wait and try again in the fall.  On another note, my melons are doing great and it looks like I have a few more that will develop. We can't wait for those to be ready!

This is all that is left...

You might be wondering how my "orange" was the past couple of days.  Well, I can say that I went the last  FOUR days without yelling!  Oh, wait, does it count that the kids were with my parents three of those days?  Hmm...that's kinda like cheating isn't it.  Guess my jar still sits rather empty :(  BUT, I did go yesterday without elevating my voice above a three!  I caught myself a few times and took a deep breath and repeated in my head, "They are just little kids, they are just little kids" and was better able to handle correcting them in a calm way. Let's hope I can earn another orange "love bead" today.  What do you do to keep your calm in those frustrating moments with your children?

Update: This afternoon I went to Hobby Lobby, picked up these oranges beads and made a bracelet to remind myself to think before I yell.  (All beads were half off by the way, so I only paid $1.99 for the strand.)