Harvesting Motherwort and other changes

My motherwort is in bloom so today I will harvest much of it. I'll put the leaves and flowers to dry in brown paper bags. I like the bags because I can shake them up and get even drying. Later I'll store the dried leaves in glass jars. Yes, I am one of those people who wash and ry glass jars!

Since I'm a woman of a certain age I'll use the motherwort in a tea for hot flashes. It doesn't taste great so it isn't the type of tea you sit and enjoy while reading a great book--it is the type you let cool, then chug a lug.

Next year I'm going to add chamomile and mint to the garden for tastier tea. I wonder if anything with caffiene grows in Wyoming? I might have to research that.

Motherwort helps with women's transitions menstrual cycles, birth and menopause.

My life is changing in so many ways. My job is ending, I'll be starting grad school and either subbing or finding other gainful employment.

Then there are family changes. My oldest daughter is a senior in highschool and we're getting set for college. She's looking at communication with a secondary teaching option so she can  teach high school speech and forensics.

My twins will be juniors, and we have to start thinking about college for them, too. They don't know what they might want to major in, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had a band teacher. It is both exciting and scary to be a mom at this stage with teens. I'm glad we are in Wyoming, which has a two year scholarship for Wy highschool grads. My girls are all good students and I expect they will all graduate from college. I'm thankful Wyoming makes college so available for the students who want to go on to higher education.

In my writing I am still trying to make a change and write a contemporary romance. I love writing speculative romance but feel I need to be more versatile. My goal is to finish this romance and submit it to Silhouette. I'm not sure if I'll use my Melisse Aires pen name or another. Still playing with the pen name.