Sunday Porch Sitting

I love my back porch. We sit on our porch here in Texas way more than we did in California, especially during the summer. I love the hot evening weather here. California got chilly, you had to layer your clothes in the evening as we lived near the coast and it cooled down quite early.

I found this sign on Etsy three years ago and it makes me happy every time I read it. It makes me happy to be living in the South.

As I typed this post yesterday I was sitting on one of the porch couches under a ceiling fan that was keeping the 90+ degree weather circulating. I was wearing my favorite denim shorts and a comfy white t-shirt. 

My feet were up. I was sipping THE BEST sweet tea made by my hubby. Country tunes were playing softly on the speakers behind me and I was watching my daughter and her daddy play in the pool. Simple stuff. 

It was about 5:55 p.m. as I typed and grilled burgers were on the menu. Burgers and sweet tea. Other than that, I didn't have anything else on my mind. 

This my friends, was Sunday porch sitting at it's finest. 

Just porch sitting.

Tackle A Task Tuesday

FINALLY!

I finally got around to tackling my pile of procrastination!

There was ONE task in the pile that was holding me back from just getting it done.

I was dreading that pile like the plague.

I needed to apply for a small student loan for my oldest daughter and I just did not want to do it!

This was my fourth and last year having to go through this process for her as she will be a senior this year! YAY! 

Anyway, I finally got through the loan process today which then mentally freed me to tackle the rest of the pile!

The good thing about waiting so long to tackle a pile of paperwork is that a lot of it expires or becomes unimportant if you wait long enough to get to it and then you have a really great pile for the trash!

As I am typing this my youngest is trying to earn a few dollars by cleaning out the food pantry. It won't be done how I would do it, but surprisingly enough she is becoming quite a good organizer. It's a win/win  for her as she gets to discover and snack on foods that have disappeared into the deep, dark depths of the back of the pantry as she earns money. 

Tackle A Task Tuesday may have to become a thing around here. 

Summer Mondays Are The Best

Summer Mondays are the best.

It is summertime in my house and the living is easy!

It's almost too easy.

I am a little bored.

Boredom has been slowly creeping into my life year by year as my children are getting older.

I am in the early retirement stage of my motherhood, this realization is both exhilarating and terrifying.

I am caught in this weird holding pattern where my youngest is needing me less and less and yet when she needs me, she needs me.

Somedays I feel so stinkin' lazy but mostly I really try to enjoy this time. Life wasn't always so sweet. This aging mama has seen and lived A LOT! And, this aging Mama still has a lot to see and live and it won't always be smooth sailing like this.

So, as I sit here on my back porch watching my youngest swim and waiting for my hard working husband to get home, I have to remind myself to soak it all up and simply give thanks!

This time in my life is a blessing from God. I spent so much of my earlier life wishing the days away, waiting and wanting for more. I don't want to do that anymore. The days are too precious. I really want to learn to live in the present and be mindful about it. So easy to say and yet for some reason so hard to do.

ALL days are precious and fleeting.

But at this very moment I am thinking that "Summer Mondays are the best"!

We Survived!

We survived the sleepover last night. Of course we did, God had my back.

Was it a bit wild and crazy? Yes.

Were the girls up later than I would have liked them to be? Yes.

Did I have to drive one little homesick girl home at midnight due to the fact that her daddy is a single guy with other children who were sound asleep at the time the homesickness set in? Yes.

Did we all have fun? YES! YES! YES!

It rained. We couldn't swim. My husband braved the elements though and grilled us some hamburgers and hotdogs. The girls made inspiration boards by going through magazines and finding pictures and words that inspired them - the chatter while they browsed magazines, cut and created was entertaining and funny. They danced. We ate ice-cream sundaes. They watched a movie. And, they had a hard time falling asleep, but once they did, all was well. They were easy to get up this morning as they were excited to be heading back to camp together. I packed up seven lunches and filled seven water bottles and drove them to camp. 

I am so glad my husband didn't let me cancel.

I can do hard things.

And when I do those hard things I am always glad I did.

The memories that were made last night and this morning were priceless.

We survived!

What Was I Thinking Wednesday

What was I thinking?

Well, when I planned to let my daughter have a slumber party tonight with SIX of her friends from summer camp I ASSUMED it was going to be 90 degrees, sunny and HOT! I ASSUMED we would let the girls swim for a couple of hours, BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs, watch a movie and put them to bed by 10:00 p.m. so that they would be well rested for camp tomorrow morning.

Rainy weather equates to an INDOOR party! An unplanned indoor party.

God likes to laugh at me. He loves to watch me squirm as MY plans unravel and I am forced to trust in His plan.

I mean really? What were the chances of 100% rain and thunderstorms today? In Texas?

I really wanted to cancel the sleep over. My husband thought that was wimpy.

And so, I have six little girls showing up on my doorstep in one hour. They will be full of energy, excitement and all of the wonderful stuff little girls are made of! I will delight in the fact that I am able to give them a safe place to hang out and have fun but I will also be internally cringing! The noise, the mess, the lack of sleep!

I learned a simple mantra several months ago that I use when I feel like I am losing control or need a little help..."Jesus help me". It works wonders. Really.

I need to finish getting ready now. My hair is wet and in a towel.

Jesus help me.

Tuesday Tip - A Last Minute Hustle

My day started early today, early for a summer day anyway.

I had to get up at 6:00 a.m. as I needed to get my car to the dealership for some work by 7:00 a.m. During the school year I am out of bed by 5:45 a.m. every morning, funny how after just a few days of sleeping in an hour later my body resisted the early wake-up call.

My daughter had a camp to be at that started at 8:30 a.m. so after the car drop-off and rental car pick-up my day was in full throttle mode.

After camp drop-off I had just enough time for a quick grocery store run before my 9:30 a.m. Bar class.

Immediately after class I met a friend for coffee and spent more time than I had hoped to chatting and catching up. I had hoped to run one more (not important) errand before camp pick-up but ran out of time. It was a wonderful visit though and I had to remind myself that people are much more important than running errands.

I drove the twenty minutes to camp, gathered up my daughter and made it home by 1:30 p.m. I was wiped out. I needed a nap. (Not only am I getting old, but Bar class just plain wipes me out.) We are waiting for "Storm Bill" here in Northern Texas and I kind of felt like a nap was calling to me. Gray, drizzly days are just good for napping aren't they? So I indulged.

Because I allowed myself to have a relaxing afternoon when 4:30 p.m. rolled around I felt like I kind of needed to pull it together...quickly!  I had dinner to prepare, a load of laundry to rotate and fold, a dishwasher to empty, a vacumme to run, brownies to make, and a shower to take.

So, I played a game that I often play with myself when I have a lot to do in a short amount of time. I made a cup of coffee, turned the timer on and set out to accomplish all of my tasks in ONE hour.

And, I did it! By the time my hubby walked in the door the house looked good, dinner was ready, laundry was put away and I was freshly showered! All thanks to a little last minute, calorie burning, hustle! If you don't already know this little "race the timer" game, you should try it! It works on kiddos too!

Dinner Time: This Is How We Do It

Today I am linking up with Ashley and Lori for a little sharing on the topic of the dreaded "DINNER TIME"!

Dinner. I love to eat it but dread cooking it!

I am the baker in the family. My husband is the chef.

I cook Monday through Friday meals - very basic. My husband cooks the good stuff - usually on Sunday nights. Saturday night we typically eat out. We are routine people.

In an effort to make a not so favorite chore as painless as possible, I keep dinner time as simple as possible. The key word for me in remaining sane during the process is PREPARATION. 

Dinner time in my home is bit different now that two of my three children are in college and my youngest is a 5th grader. The 5:00 hour is not quite as chaotic but it still isn't fun.

The weeks that I feel the best about dinner time are the ones where I have planned my meals out over the weekend and shopped on Sunday. I love starting the week with a full refrigerator and a plan. If I don't make it to the grocery store on Sunday the next best thing is knocking it out first thing on Monday morning.

When the kids were little I did a lot of casseroles and crock pot and pasta dishes. I still love all three of those options - I just don't use them quite as often. It is always such a feeling of satisfaction to turn that crock pot on at 9:00 a.m. in the morning and cross that task right off my To Do List. I also love applying foil over a casserole-filled pyrex dish early in the day and putting it in the refrigerator knowing that all I have to do is heat the oven to 350 degrees at dinner time. I especially love making casseroles on a Friday so that we can use leftovers for lunch all weekend.

Due to the fact that my husband and I have slower metabolisms than we used to, my dinner time has been made even more simple by the fact that I keep our Monday through Thursday meals really light and low in calories. We eat a protein and a vegetable and that is it. We eat a lot of baked and grilled chicken. I make turkey balls with ground turkey. Occasionally I bake pork chops or stir fry beef. I add vegetables to each of those and that is our meal. Done!
I always cook enough to pack a lunch for both my husband and me. I love cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and having our lunches for the next day taken care of as well. 

My best dinner time preparing days are those where I have "prepped" early on. Because I dread the 5:00 p.m. hour so much I love the days where I have washed, trimmed and seasoned the meat and vegetables early on. It cuts my work in half and feels less burdensome pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator when all I have left to do is cook them. All of the mess from the prep work is long gone and cleaned up and the only dishes I have to contend with are the ones I will use to cook with which isn't much, typically just a 8-1/2x11 pyrex and a vegetable steamer. 

I know, a protein and a vegetable is kind of boring and blah but it's really all we need and it makes me feel much less guilty about indulging in dessert.

During the summer I stick to the protein and vegetable combination but I make a lot of salads. Taco salads. Greek salads. Caprese salads. Caesar salads. Steak salads.  My 5th grader doesn't always love the mixed salads so I just serve her the greens (with plenty of Ranch dressing) and whatever protein we are having separately. Yes, she would much rather have a Sloppy Joe or pizza but believe me, she gets enough of that, four nights of healthy eating is o.k. for her. My college aged children have come to appreciate the healthier eating when they are home as they too get enough of the "good stuff" when they are on their own.

During the school year, on days that I haven't dinner prepped early on, I use my daughter's homework time which is right after school to start getting things ready. My children have always done their homework at the kitchen table and I have found that dinner prep is a good way for me to be present to them while being productive myself. On days that I haven't prepped early on I just have to suffer through it at 5:00 p.m. Lately I have been making a cup of coffee to enjoy while I cook. It gives me a little boost.

I like to clean as I go when I cook. I like to sit down for dinner with a clean kitchen and an empty dishwasher. Dinner time clean-up is so simple when all we have to do is rinse a few cooking dishes, the dishes we ate off of and stick them in the dishwasher. I use a lot of foil and pan-liners to keep cleaning my cooking dishes to a minimum.

We have always made an effort to eat dinner together as a family. Dinner time is usually around 6:30 p.m. and we begin every meal with a prayer.  I would love to say that the conversation is lively and exciting but often it is not. Often we are all tired and talked out and it is enough just to be together. I have had to learn that this is o.k. because sometimes the silence can feel awkward and it seems like we should be having meaningful and rich conversations about our days. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we just eat.

And then there is dessert. We like ice-cream in our house. Sometimes my dessert is just a cup of tea - but on the nights when I am splurging, you had better believe I am having a double scoop or serving of whatever it is we are having! Dessert is like the reward for making it through the never ending chore of dinner time in my opinion!