Sneak Peek

Yesterday we met Meg. She took our family's photo ~ 200+ of them. If you'd like a sneak peek, go here.

We're taking a break from reality for the next week. See you all again once my batteries are recharged.

Scenes from the Country

We got the girl home from the country yesterday. Here are a few scenes from her week. I'm so thankful for the lifestyle she was exposed to. It was good for her to be "unplugged" and working. There was some playtime too though as you will see but different than what she is used to. Her highlights for the week: learning to drive the 4-wheeler and driving a pick-up truck with a trailer (yes, you can do those things in the country well before you are of legal driving age).

Our New Neighbor or Should I Say Roommate?

I got a surprise as I was watering this plant the other morning. A bird flew out of the pot! Scared the bejeebies out of me.

The birdie parked its little self on a limb in our neighbors tree and started screaming at me. As soon as I went in the house, the screaming stopped.

Hmm....I wonder?

I had noticed lots of loose, mossy stuff down at the base of my flower (Flowering Maple). Could it be that it was a bird's nest? Sure enough.

The same scene played out the next morning. Scared me again even though I had told myself to be ready for it.

I've been very careful to not touch the nest or disturb it when I water. The placement of it is perfect as I can see the nest from the sidelight window at the front door. I haven't been able to tell what kind of bird it is but I'm going to keep close tabs on it. Wonder if mama will lay eggs? I'd love to have baby birds to watch.

A Little of This, A Little of That

If you're not looking for random thoughts or a post that jumps from topic to topic, stop reading right now. I've got lots going round and round in my head so I'm just going to dump it all here.

On Saturday we took our Madison to the country. She's staying with my nephew, David, and his wife, Amber for 5 days. This is about the 3rd or 4th year she's done this. This is cattle shipping season and they need extra help so Madison is there to do whatever they need her to. Not sure what that will entail but the adventure is good for her. She learned how to drive a 4-wheeler yesterday and they're having a weiner roast and s'mores tonight by the creek. Oh, and she took her friend, Kenzie, with her. It's a whole new experience for that girl.

When we dropped Madison off on Saturday, it was at a pasture where they had just finished shipping 544 cattle. I wish I'd had a camera with me (my camera has issues, another thought I'll get to shortly). When we arrived, the cowboys were all sitting on the cattle pens. It would have been a classic photo. The pasture is next to a highway and you can spot the tourists.....they slam on the brakes and crane their necks as if they can't believe what they just saw. Yes folks, there still are real cowboys out there.

About the camera...mine won't recharge. It's been like this for several weeks so I've been relying on the girls' cameras. It doesn't always work. I want a new camera but I don't need one because there are 2 others in the house. However, I've done a little browsing and the one I think I want is upwards of $500 which isn't in the cards right now. I'm trying to practice patience.

The rest of the weekend was fabulous. On Saturday when Lawman and I arrived home it took us about 30 minutes to decide that we needed to move, get some exercise. He set out on the road bike and I set out on foot. I can't tell you how good it felt for me to get out and walk. It had been 2 weeks since I'd done it last. It was hot but well worth it. Sometimes the hardest part of exercising is getting started.

We had dinner with 2 other couples on Saturday night. Shishkabobs - shrimp / mushrooms / tomatoes and bacon-wrapped chicken/mushrooms /pineapple - roasted potatoes, garlic bread, and champagne to celebrate one couples 25th anniversary (no, not ours).

I spent Sunday with Alison. After church we headed off for back-to-school shopping. I find it much more enjoyable when I do one girl at a time. I don't get so frustrated. It's a good opportunity for some quality one-on-one time. We covered lots of good topics in conversation on the way to the mall plus we stayed under our budget!

It's a short work week for me. I start vacation on Thursday and don't have to report back to the office until August 10th. I can't wait!

Ok, there's a lot here. A lot of nothing. I'm feeling like a bouncey ball -- bounce from wall to wall and all over the board. The cowboy stuff is blog worthy and would have been great if I'd had a stinkin' camera!

I'll try to get myself organized and back on track.

Lessons Learned

Here's a few lessons I learned last week during Vacation Bible School.

~ it doesn't take long to fall in love with a child ~ it's nice to have others prepare the evening meal ~ i prefer crafts that don't invole lots of paint and glue ~ i miss exercising ~ i'm not cut out to work 14 hour days every week ~ i need time to unwind at the end of the day ~ new songs don't take long to learn ~ my oldest daughter is a great pre-school teacher ~ my youngest daughter likes to have responsibility ~ young children crave the human touch ~ it's sad that not all children get it ~ excitement in a child is easy to see ~ i smile at joy in the face of a child ~ youngsters can praise our Creator ~ per a child, "sin is black & ugly" ~ per a child, "Jesus makes me clean like i just took a bath" ~

It was a good week at VBS. I'm always glad it's over but it's worth the time and energy required of me.

What Would You Do?

An unusual situation today.

I work in a college town of about 50,000. There is a district that caters to the college crowd. Great restaurants that are difficult to get into for lunch during the school year. Today our office went to lunch at one of those restaurants and we had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated. Not a problem.

Weather was gorgeous so we waited outside. While waiting, a woman approached our group. Within seconds it was evident that something was "off." She was standing close to me and it was obvious that she was already on her days drunk. She said she had free food (a sub sandwich in a bag) and she wanted money from one of us to go buy a drink. A few in our group said they didn't have change or only large bills, etc. One gentleman in our group gave her 2 quarters and said "have a nice day." She took his change but then gave us a lecture about how we need to change our ways, be grateful for what we have, help others, that she has terminal cancer and you never know when it's going to end. And then she told me that I was number one (in sign language....do you get that?) and threw in some colorful language.

She took about 5 steps back and then said, "You can all watch this and see how it plays out." She approached a group of 3 twenty-something men and I assume she gave them the same spiel she gave us. I don't know what their response was to her but she spit on one of them. Yes, spit. Do you know what his move was? He called the cops. She walked away and he followed her and remained on the phone. He's got grounds to press charges. That's considered assault (I got that information from Lawman). Did you know that? I didn't. I don't know how that situation ended but it left me wondering if I handled it poorly.

Should I have helped her? I'm willing to help others but I also think that others need to be willing to help themselves.

My first thought was that she's probably going to panhandle until she gets enough cash for her next drink and I'm betting it's not soda.

Have you found yourself in an awkward situation like this? How did you handle it? What would you do?

Strawberries::Waste Not, Want Not

I've been helping at VBS this week. Teaching in crafts. It makes for a long day...regular work day 8am-5pm...be at the church at 5:30 for dinner...prep craft of the day at 6:00...children arrive at 6:30...home at 9:15.

One of the benefits to me this week is that I don't have to cook dinner. Yep. Monday - Friday this week a couple of wonderful ladies at our church are preparing dinner for the VBS workers and their families. I can't tell you what a blessing this is. Saves me time. Saves us grocery money. Makes my life easy.

It also means there's a chance that any fresh produce in our fridge may spoil before I get it used. That was nearly the case with the strawberries.

Rather than letting them go to waste, I made a batch of strawberry syrup when I got home tonight. It's cooling right now and i will package it for the freezer before bed. I think Saturday breakfast will be waffles and strawberry syrup. Doesn't that sound good? I reduced the sugar by 1/4 c. but after a taste-test, I've made a note to reduce it by another 1/4 c. next time. It's still very, very sweet.

Warning: Weekend Behavior Could Be Addicting

Two weeks in a row. Does that constitute an addiction? Our last 2 weekends have been spent on the water. I'm not kidding when I tell you that it could be addicting. A boat. Good friends. Fun in the sun. Incredible weather. Making memories. What more could you ask for?

If I'm absent this week, it's due to Vacation Bible School. I'll be teaching in the crafts room each night this week.

Veggie Delivery

I had every intention of planting a garden this year. Really, I did. A teeny, tiny garden. I planned on putting tomatoes, zucchini and bell peppers in the ground. I love the thrill of finding a vine ripened veggie just ready for picking.

Despite my good intentions, the tiny garden didn't materialize. I don't have a good excuse either.

What I do have is a fabulous friend who has a fabulous garden and best of all is the fact that she is sharing her bounty. See those beautiful veggies up there? Yep. Sarah, bless her pea pickin' heart, brought those by yesterday. My girl, Madison, answered the door and then she called me to tell me what Sarah left. She knew I would be thrilled. Oh, that girl knows me well.

One More Month

That's what we've got left of summer. Hard to believe, isn't it? Our high school junior starts school on August 14 and the 8th grader goes on the 17th.

I started the purchasing of school supplies 2 weeks ago with volleyball shoes for camp and the upcoming season. Made a couple of other purchases last night. Enrollment information arrived in the mail a few weeks ago. Emails have arrived with more enrollment materials, important dates and forms. Sports physical completed. Eye appointment completed. Dental appointments done.

This is my least favorite time of summer. I begin to feel pressured about not having completed all of the activities we had planned and the list of things to do before that first day of class seems to get longer instead of shorter.

In an effort to alleviate that pressure, my goal is to create a master of list of everything I need to do before classes start and break it down into manageable chunks of things I can do each week. We have a lot of fun activities on our calendar between now and August 7th and I want to be able to relax and enjoy them as much as possible.

How do you handle that back-to-school list of things to do?

Weekend at a Glance

If a picture is worth a thousand words, these photos speak volumes about the kind of weekend we had. The kind I'd like to repeat on a regular basis.

t-shirts happen

I spent my evening with this little fishy. And 307 others just like him!

Sometimes I wonder how I find myself in these situations. I sure didn't raise my hand and volunteer. Someone else volunteered me. Volunteered me to design, order, sort and box 308 t-shirts for our swim league. Why would someone volunteer me for this? Let me just say that I think it's an example of one's organizational skills working against them.

They arrived today. I came home to find 4 large boxes in my living room. And how fortunate for my entire family to be unavailable this evening for sorting, organizing and re-boxing them! Lawman's going to have to load them for me tomorrow night because I don't think I can lug those boxes down to the garage and into the truck.

I made short work of it though. Sometimes it is easier and quicker to do things by yourself.

I'll get to see lots of happy little faces on Friday when I hand these out at our league swim meet. After 10 years, one more season is almost behind me.

Summer Fare | Homemade Ice Cream

I know, I know. This is starting to sound old....the whole 'summer fare' routine. Sorry, but I've been hooked on food the last few days. I'll try to add some variety this week but first, let me explain the reason for my fascination with food.

Our calendar was so jam-packed between June 24 - July 2 that I didn't really cook an entire meal that entire time. By the time the holiday weekend got here I was feeling terrible and I knew why. Too much fast food, frozen food. Just junk.

So, I was on a mission to get our family back on track. And, I think I can say that I have succeeded.

Homemade ice cream is a given on a holiday weekend, isn't it? Well, we don't own an old hand crank ice cream maker but I do have a recipe for an incredible easy and delicious ice cream that is done in minutes. Literally. Unless you count the freezer time it needs to set up.

It requires a blender and 3 ingredients ~ 24 oz. frozen strawberries, 1/2 c. + 1 T sugar and 1 1/2 c. heavy cream. That's it. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

To prepare it, place the berries in the blender. Whisk the sugar into the cream. With the blender going, slowly add cream through the opening in the lid, stopping to stir the mixture 3 or 4 times so the ice cream is smooth, with small bits of berries. Transfer to a shallow pan and freeze to a scoopable texture, about 2 hours. Garnish with fresh berries or whipped cream if you like.

It's delish! Lawman has already placed requests for other flavors.....raspberry, peach, blueberry....the possibilities are endless.

Summer Fare | Garden Fresh Green Beans

Last week my friend, Sarah, gave me some green beans. Garden fresh green beans. From her garden. I was thrilled. Nothing tastes better than garden fresh produce.

Now I have to make a confession. I had never cooked fresh green beans before. So I turned to a reliable source of know how in my kitchen. This book.

Did you know that fresh green beans need to be boiled and not steamed? I didn't, until now.

I followed the basic recipe for prepping the beans and then selected the recipe for Green Beans with Bacon & Onion. Dee-lish! They were a perfect addition to our July 4th barbeque. They were so good that our oldest made a meal out of the leftovers all by themselves.

Summer Fare | Potato Salad

Potato salad. It's standard summer fare in my opinion. I made my first batch of the season last night.

My mother always had potato salad in our fridge in the summer. It was my dad's favorite. Still is. She used russet potatoes, chopped onion, dill pickle, chopped hard-boiled eggs and a dressing of mayo, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper.

I've tried many variations of potato salad since I left home. Add yet another one to the list.

This recipe has great flavor (of course, I tasted it). The dijon mustard adds a bit of zip. And I'll just go ahead and say it, bacon makes everything better. I did deviate from the recipe just a bit as I added some chopped onion. I've also discovered that I like to mash the potatoes a bit. Doing that helps add some creaminess to the consistency.

I had a 3# bag of new red potatoes that needed to be used before they went bad so I decided to double the recipe. It will go great with the grilled chicken kabobs we'll be making over the holiday weekend.

See that jar with the lid in the photo? It's a salsa jar that I've saved. I have about 3 or 4 of them in my cabinet along with a variety of others in different shapes and sizes. I have this thing about jars. I don't know that I'd say I collect them but I sure do seem to hang on to quite a few of them. They're great for mixing marinades, dressings, sauces, etc. Just dump the ingredients in and shake away.

She Makes Me Smile

Seeing this girl reading makes me smile. I'm easy to please.

Since summer began, she's been of the mind set that it isn't necessary to do anything related to school in any way, shape, or form. In her mind that includes reading. She and I have differing opinions when it comes to this.

I've told her that she needs to read throughout the summer. "I don't care what book it is, but find one." Hearing your mom say that for the first 4 weeks of summer gets old.

She found a book last week. I thought it would be something light hearted, an easy summer read. No. She's reading Rachel's Tears. Not only am I happy that she's reading but this book has also provided material for discussion.

Do your kids read during summer vacation? If they'd rather not, how do you encourage it?