Rough Draft

The Death Of Language

Is it just Facebook and texting or are we really this stupid?

I admit, I will text a "u" and a "b" and maybe even a "ur" (but it drives me crazy every time I do), but for the love of God do people truly not know the difference between words like, "new" and "knew"?  SERIOUSLY?  I get that maybe they are in a hurry or there is auto-correct but can't we take an extra second to write the CORRECT word?

I try to overlook it.  I mean, what can I do? Grab my virtual red pen and begin editing Facebook updates? I immediately cringe and shake my head EACH and EVERY time I see the misuse of words. 

"Too" and "to" is another one.  Did everyone sleep through ninety years of English class?  Gawd. "There", "Their", and "They're".  "Your" and "You're".  Oy.  Double negatives kinda bug me too.  Oh, and words that aren't words like, "funner".  Or, when to use a simple "a" or "an" before a word.  Holy crap, I think I could go on and on. 

The Earth Is Shakin'

Okay, so the east coast had an earthquake.  The first in decades.  But, come on guys, a 5.8?

I'm sorry, I need a break to stop laughing.

Funnier still, the many who vacated their homes and businesses and...walked outside? Apparently, these folks were never taught from the age of four to "duck and cover" under your desk or table.

I guess growing up in California you become rather immune to the fear of earthquakes.  We had earthquake drills regularly in school (and in the work force, too, for that matter) and while you never knew exactly when one was going to hit...I don't remember ever sitting around feeling panicked over the possibility of an earthquake.  And even today they don't really scare me.

A 5.8 is not really much to write home about, East Coast.  Pull up your pants and head back inside.  You are going to be fine.  A little jolting, a little rolling.  Over. 

There are a few things online that I found amusing.  One, when an earthquake happens we automatically need confirmation from someone.  I remember waking up to an earthquake and nudging Larry awake to see if he felt it too?  Two, the image of a patio set with one chair knocked over that they are calling "2011 VA Earthquake" and "We Will Rebuild".  Oh My Gawd, I laugh every time I see that image.  Let's get off our dramatic horse, okay?  Silly East Coasters.

And, lastly, the joke about how Cal Tech have traced the quake to an ancient cemetery just outside Washington, DC.  The apparent cause was due to all the founding fathers rolling in their graves at the same time.  Now, I realize for the purpose of the joke it is necessary to word it that way, however, it is also quite inaccurate.  There are only a handful of founding fathers buried in Viriginia and I don't believe they are even all in the same cemetery.  Most are buried in places like Philadelphia or their own home state.

I am going to guess that the east coast will be talking about this earthquake for months...until Blizzard 2011 hits.  Are we just a nation of drama queens?

Summer Did List

I love making lists of goals, which allows me to focus on actually getting stuff done...and even if they don't always get crossed off, I feel motivated by lists and by goals.

And because my lists usually focus on what DIDN'T get crossed off and is therefore still left TO DO, I thought I would share what I/we DID this summer instead.  I call it my/our Summer DID List.

1.  Went swimming almost daily.

2.  Celebrated both Jennifer and Josh's birthdays (okay, and Larry's too plus friends...).

3.  Managed to get the yard and my garden up and running and weed-free all by myself.

4.  Maintained my vegetable garden...watered everyday...weeded regularly and the result was/is a wonderful bounty of fresh produce! Love, love, love gardening!!!

5.  Got a phone call from Larry saying he got a job here in Idaho and will be moving back!

6.  Did over 100 loads of laundry.

7.  Cleaned out umpteen drawers, cabinets, and closets.

8.  Swept floors, mopped floors, wiped countertops, cleaned walls, washed windows, washed dishes and started the dishwasher over 35 times.

9.  Trimmed willow, picked roses for the house, staked my patio tomato, killed weeds.

10.  Went to the library dozens of times.

11.  Waited patiently for Larry to return!

12.  Fired up the BBQ.

13.  Played frisbee, bocce, and horseshoes.

14.  Rented movies and ate bowls and bowls of popcorn.

15.  Made my bed every morning.

16.  Flossed after every meal.

17.  Baked, cooked, and did crafts with the kids.

18.  Attended a wedding.

19.  Scrapbooked with friends.

20.  Read a dozen books.

21.  Took walks.

22.  Made yummy risotto.

23.  Did things with zucchini I never thought possible.

24.  Got together with family.

25.  Took a walk on the Boise Greenbelt for the first time, ever.

26.  Took a few naps.

27.  Slept in.

28.  Uploaded photos.

29.  Went to a Boise Hawk's baseball game.

30.  Filled the bird feeder twenty times.  I love birds.

31.  Took the shelves down in the two-car garage!

32.  Went to a local winery a few times for music, wine, friends, food, fun.

33.  Hosted a dessert party.  Yum.

34.  Watched the house next door being built.

35.  Decorated file folders.

36.  Bought enough milk to warrant our own cow.

37.  Went to see an ABBA tribute band!

38.  Registered Josh for 11th grade and Harrison for 8th.  I'm poorer now.

39.  Bought school supplies.

40.  Took a drive to visit a local college to check out their culinary programs for Josh.

41.  Spent the afternoon at Eagle Island Park.

42.  Went to Lucky Peak.

43.  Swept the garage, hosed cobwebs off house, swept and hosed off patio.

44.  Went to friends houses.

45.  Turned on the air conditioners.

46.  Watched helplessly as Bridget killed several baby birds that landed, motherless, in our backyard.  Damn dog.

47.  Enjoyed a couple of rainbows, lightening shows, and summer rains.

48.  Packed up all the gloves and hats and scarves.  Where they are, I have no idea. (And right now I do not care!)

49.  Cooked dinner (almost) every night.

50.  Ate fresh summertime fruit.

51.  Wondered why my eggplant, rosemary, basil, cilantro, and tomatillo plants have not done that great.

52.  Discovered, however, that I have a massive sage plant growing among my rock beds that I must have forgotten I planted years ago.  Stocking up and freezing fresh sage.

53.  Talked on the phone, answered email, updated Facebook.

54.  Wrote.

55.  Planted a winter garden.

56.  Wore sandals everyday.

57.  Answered the front door.

58.  Walked out to the mailbox to retrieve mail.

59.  Met friends for lunch, at the bookstore, and for dinner.

60.  Mourned the loss of lazy summer days as the return of school, and fall, loom closer and closer.

61.  Watched a bunch of cooking shows!

62.  Stayed home and didn't travel anywhere! GLORIOUS!

63.  Fixed the kink in my hose.

64.  Listened to music.

65.  Filled my cup up with ice water every day and night.

66.  Walked around the house aimlessly.

67.  Painted my toenails and treated my cracked heels.

68.  Filled all the soap dispensers.

69.  Helped kids clean their bedrooms!

70.  Checked Facebook on my phone...hundreds of times.

71.  Drank (with help) dozens of bottles of wine.

72.  Hand watered dead spots on the grass.

73.  Walked in shed, armed to organize, and walked back out again vowing to do it another day.

74.  Welcomed hubby home wearing nothing but a trench coat.  Okay, I didn't do that but I wanted to see if you were actually still reading this list.

75.  Drank hundreds of cups of coffee.

76.  Created menu plans for the month.

77.  Kept the house standing, the car full of gas, and the children from going hungry.

78.  Provided warm blankets for the dog to sleep on.

79.  Popped popcorn in the microwave without a care in the world.

80.  Made a new friend.

81.  Worked on a super cool new book project.

82.  Took inventory of freezers and pantry.

83.  Wrote on my blogs.

84.  Ate a burger.

85.  Baked a cake.

86.  Baked some french bread.

87.  Went to a cherry festival.

88.  Pitted twenty pounds of cherry and froze them.

89.  Called school to see if I still got a job.  I do.

90.  Got a tan.

91.  Some days let my hair go curly and some days I made it straight.  Oh, the wild and exciting life I lead...

92.  Made room for Larry in our bed, our closet, the bathroom, and the shower.

93.  Shaved my legs.

94.  Texted. (Not while driving.)

95.  Argued with my lovely offspring.

96.  Wondered, thought, dwelled, analyzed, critiqued, shook my head over, and pondered hundreds of different things.

97.  Took Advil for headaches over #96.

98.  Walked up and down my stairs.

99.  Talked to my neighbors and invited them over for dinner.

100.  Organized, filed, threw away mounds of paper, and organized some more.

By Now

Typically come the middle of August I am so D.O.N.E. with summertime and kids and gardening I am ready for fall to begin and routines to start and kids to head off to that wonderful place we call SCHOOL each and every glorious day.

But that has not been the case this year.

Summer is going way too fast for me.  The kids go back in just over a week?! Didn't we just get out? What the hell?

I think it is because Larry is back that I am wishing summer would last just a wee bit longer.  With him gone the days and nights were long and lonely.  The to-do list daunting.  The kids, exhausting.  The house and yard: overwhelming.  Back to school, ho hum.  Back to juggling it all solo.  Blah. Well, that is all changed now.

Since Larry has returned, I feel less "tired" everyday, even with the kids all home.  We have entertained more in the past six-seven weeks than we did in the seven years we have lived here!  Get togethers, dessert parties, winery, outings, walks on the greenbelt, BBQs...and while I am feeling a bit exhausted by the sheer number of commitments on our calendar at the moment, I am also loving it! Sitting outside enjoying the warm weather, firing up the BBQ, sleeping in, lazy days...

Pretty soon we will be back to homework and early morning wake-up calls, lunch making the night before, and shuttling kids to and from school.  I'm simply not ready to give up on all this just yet, dammit.

Now, I will admit that I am looking forward to some peace and quiet so I can get more writing done during the day...it is hard to concentrate when they interrupt me constantly in here.  AND, I will be more than glad to see the constant stream of food depletion plugged up...the endless "I'm so hungry!" will no longer be heard from 9am until 5pm.  Thank God.

In the meantime, we have done all we needed to do before school starts.  The kids got their backpacks and binders.  I stocked up on pencils, pens, and lined paper.  The counters are full of jars of freshly sharpened pencils, new pens, and markers.  The boys got their hair cut and they have enough clothes to weather out the last of the warm temperatures.

This weekend we are cleaning and preparing for my mom to arrive in about five days.  Next weekend we will have my brother and sister-in-law over for dinner on Friday and head out to the winery on Sunday for the last of the music festivals of the summer...and for Labor day we are inviting our neighbors over for dinner.  I still hope to get a few more little "get togethers" in before we start wearing sweaters...not that we can't still entertain when it is cold, but there is something so nice about warm weather and flip flops.

I'm not even tired of my garden yet.  Quite the opposite, another first.  This year I am planting a fall/winter garden with kale, collard greens, swiss chard, turnips, beets, lettuce, beans, onions, and parsnips.  I'm hoping for some fresh veggies all through winter (fingers crossed, this is all new for me here in Idaho) and a few goodies come spring as well when it is time to start again.

In the meantime, I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that summer is almost over and we will be enjoying autumn in Idaho very, very soon and while I love ALL the seasons here SO MUCH, I wish I could cling to summer for a little bit longer.

Wordless Wednesday

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  
 

Pet Peeves

1.  When I have containers in drawers, cabinets, and closets meant for items to be placed INTO and yet "people" (they will remain nameless) put the stuff outside the containers.  My Gawd, is it that hard to see that a measuring spoon belongs with the fellow measuring spoons in the cute little container in the drawer? I don't think so either.

2.  Books that the library are marking as Young Adults when they are CLEARLY NOT.  Who is in charge of this? I mean, I get that they see an author that has normally written for the young adult crowd and suddenly writes an adult novel, but this is part of their jobs, yes? I think it is totally careless for the library to mismark books like this.  I have had THREE books all from authors that have now written an adult book and it's marked for the young adult crowd.  And the book I'm reading now has more sex going on than a Danielle Steel book.  COME ON!

3.  Wal-Mart's "back to school" aisle with boxes of Cocoa Puffs, Reece's Puffs, Cookie Crisp, and dozens of other over-the-top sugar cereals, boxes of pop-tarts, soda, chips, boxed Rice Krispy Treats, and those God-Awful Wanna-Be-Fruit-Jelly things (gross!).  Really? So, I guess we are supposed to fill our children with sugary CRAP as they head back to school.  Yeah, REAL SMART.  For the love of God parents, please stop filling your children with all this unnecessary sugar CRAP food.

4.  Bored children.  I truly cannot tolerate kids that require bells and whistles from every day of summer vacation.  IT IS OKAY TO BE BORED.  IT IS OKAY TO NOT HAVE TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN BUSY 24/7.  IT IS OKAY FOR THEM TO HAVE DOWN DAYS DOING NOTHING.  How far do we have to raise the bar? I mean, really, think about it.  Around here we do not fill our days with constant activity and "fun" things.  Some days are kinda boring and I like it that way and I'm convinced that one of these days they will appreciate it.

On Entertaining

 

I think entertaining simply runs in my blood.  I love it.  I love having people over.

Growing up my parents were always inviting friends and family over and my mom continues to be awesome at putting together any type of shindig.  We had parties outside, inside, and in the garage.  We had dozens and dozens of people over and we had one or two couples over.  They ate, drank, talked, laughed, joked, yelled (we're Italian, come on, it's natural! Which reminds me of a funny story: When I had my fellow cheerleaders over to practice they would hear my parents talking and ask me, "why are your parents yelling at each other? Are they fighting?" No, they weren't fighting...that is just how loud we talk!  But, I digress...), and played games.  As a kid, I used to love it when people came to the house! It meant fun and noise and laughter and probably a slight ease-up on my bedtime.

I remember very late nights...after a meeting or a dinner dance or something my parents were involved in ended...we would never all just go home...we ended up at someones house and that would require more food...usually either a breakfast meal like waffles, pancakes, or eggs or pasta with olive oil and garlic.  Whatever could be thrown together quickly for a large group.  I love that part of my history and I have tried to show and teach my children how to throw together a meal quickly and with what you have on hand!  I wonder now how these people weren't always bone tired? Or, how they managed to get up the next day and mow their lawns? Or, how they got up the next day and went to work?  I didn't give that a second thought as a kid but today I wonder how these adults managed it all?  Makes me wonder if all our technology hasn't hurt us more than it has helped and has only made us more tired, overwhelmed, and stressed?  Maybe we are more committed to all the stuff in our lives and not focused on people and relationships and simply having more fun?

I think the part of me that isn't ready to let go of summer yet is the same person that keeps thinking I can only entertain in the summertime!!  Summer just seems to be the ideal setting for entertaining but for the first time in three years I am going to try and break that line of thinking.  There is no reason we can't still gather, inside of course, during the other three seasons! What have I been thinking?  Sure, sitting out on the patio would be out but that doesn't mean we still can't talk, laugh, eat, drink, have fun, and play games inside!

We have been entertaining a lot since Larry got back (dinners, dessert parties, etc.) and I still have a long list of people and neighbors I'd like to invite over and I can't seem to find enough weekends in my month!!! I have decided that I love to entertain probably as much as my mother does/did and I am going to concentrate now on filling my life with less stuff and less important "things" that bog our family down, especially during the school year, and try and have a bit more relaxing fun with friends and family!  Who cares if the house isn't perfect or spotless? Who cares if my dog barks when the doorbell rings or when everyone is sitting at the table (she apparently does not like that)! Who cares if the meal isn't fresh out of Martha Stewart's kitchen?  Come over, let's have something simple to eat, laugh, play games, and enjoy a nice glass of wine together!  Not perfection, but real life the way it is meant to be lived...with one another.

  (Pictures from our recent dessert party...the boys all played frisbee until it was too dark to see!)

Filing Hell

I hate to file.

No, I HATE to file.  Filing has never been my friend.  Even in the workplace many moons ago the only "negative issue" I had during review time was my lack of filing.  I hated filing then and I hate it now.

My total hate and disgust for filing has created a bit of a pile-up of problems for me in all areas of my life.

For instance, my writing.  Oy.  I used to have papers and ideas and notes scribbled everywhere.  Notebooks, binders, tablets of paper.  My published clips and character sketches in piles living wherever they happen to land.  I worked hard at the beginning of the year to remedy this situation.  I have noticed, however, that I am a constant note-taker on any bit of paper I come across.  I'm not sure why I can't rid myself of this habit, Lord knows I've tried, but I don't care how many notebooks I use to write stuff in I inevitably slip and write bits and pieces of information on anything I can reach fast.  I still have some minor "filing" to do in my writing but overall this is probably the one area that has remained rather "tidy".

My scrapbooking.  What I need to do is just purge all the papers and start over fresh.  But, I can't seem to bring myself.  I have torn out ideas from magazines, lists of projects I want to do, ideas for pages, and memorabilia piles.  This is still a work in progress because I have yet to come across an organizational plan that seems to work for me.

And finally, my household paper clutter.  Dear Gawd, does it ever end?  Mail, bills, school paperwork and art, brochures, insurance paperwork, savings statements, receipts, and so on and so on...AND SO ON!

I will admit something here.  A small confession, if you will.  This household paper clutter has been in shambles since we moved back to Idaho.  I'm not sure why exactly other than the sheer overwhelming situation I was in the middle of.  For example, when we moved back last year I had carried with us (in the car) all the kids school documentation so I could get them registered easily.  After visiting three different school over about six different days I came home and placed all the paperwork in the middle desk drawer in the laundry room.  I haven't touched it in a year.

 

I am holding my head in shame.

In fact, I pulled out papers for fundraisers, photo-day, and class schedules for last fall. 

I'm surprised we managed to pay our bills (there were a few minor bills that did fall between the cracks, oops)because there was zero rhyme or reason to the cabinet.  In the cabinet where we kept the bills before was also filled with gardening paperwork, school paperwork, art projects, CDs, nail polish, candy, maps, etc.

Now, all that is in there are bills to be paid, envelopes, 3-ring binders, organzing books, extra set of keys, and the pool key.

And that brings me to my recent revelation over filing and my use and love affair with the 3-ring binder.

I believe that we can have world peace, clean water, and food for all if we just embrace the 3-ring binder.

I love, LOVE, LOVEEEE the 3-ring binder.  It solves ALL PROBLEMS.  Swear to Gawd.

Okay, so this is what we USED to do.  I had a filing cabinet and inside a couple of drawers I had tabs for things like: school, cars, insurance, job-related, house, garden, medical/dental, savings/retirement, etc.

I noticed one big important thing about this way of filing: once it got into the filing cabinet, it was lost into the abyss forever and ever.  The stuff in there QUICKLY became outdated and upkeep on the filing was too much and too painful and simply too bloody awful.  Therefore, I never did it.  Larry never did it.  And the dog certainly never did it.

I can't tell you how many retirement statements I have in there from Larry's days at BigUmbrella, Incorporated.  Or, how many pieces of paper from when Josh was in the fifth grade, Jennifer's preschool data, first communion paperwork that took place five years ago, and car insurance information on cars we no longer have.  The list goes on and on, believe me.

Oh sure, you perfect people are like: when something new comes in, take out the old, and put the new stuff in.

Yeah, Whatever Superstar.

It ain't workin' that way around here, I can tell you right now.  This is the one thing about organzing that I have learned:  When it doesn't work one way, change it until you find a system that works.

I have ALWAYS thought to file that way...by subject.  My parents filed that way.  Larry wants to file that way.  So, we filed it by subject and twenty years later I am STILL struggling with filing!

Have I mentioned how much I hate to file?

Anyway, today I had a breakthrough.

I used dividers by subject and file paperwork by YEAR in a 3-ring notebook.  Ding, ding, ding.  Alex, we have a winner!

Here is my thought process...

I made the dividers for things like utility bills, housing, car, insurances, retirement/savings, grocery receipts, taxes, school, and jobs.

Utility bills: I am keeping only one so I have information at my fingertips.  We pay our bills online but we aren't technically paperless since we still get a bill in the mail every month.  Just a couple of days ago I went over all the utility bills (the ones that flucuatae so we can not only budget easier but also try and "beat" same-time-last-year numbers.  Yes, we are dorky on things that bring us joy!) over the past year and was able to spot a difference in our cable bill.  Larry called yesterday and we were able to save $10 a month.

Housing: I have notices from our mortgage company indicating year end information like paperwork we just received informing us that our fixed rate mortgage was going down by $40 because our property taxes are lower now (yippie!).  I keep anything relevant from our homeowners association, repair receipts, and anything else related to the house.

Car: Here we keep the registration information, receipts on oil changes and any other work done on the cars, and a couple of statements so we can see the balance going down on the new car.

Insurances:  Information on doctors and dentists, paperwork from appointments, and our online perscription paperwork.

Retirement/Savings: We have to consolidate the 401ks one of these days so I have several different statements in there, stock information, and IRA documentation.

Grocery Receipts: This is simply for me and my silly obsession with food shopping totals.  I think it will be really cool to see and total up all that we spend on food every year.  I also think it would be handy to see how much certain items increase year after year.  Other than receipts for my garden (also for obsessive documenting purposes) and tax-related receipts, the grocery ones are the only ones I save.

Taxes: This is more for income tax ease come spring.  I keep forms in there so we can track information and data quarterly, making April 15th about a billion times easier.  Now, if I can successfully get beyond quarter one and this truly makes our lives easier, I'll let you know.  But, I have hope.

School: Just yearly information about teachers, classes, and anything else that is worth saving during the school year.

Jobs:  I keep my paystubs for my little crossing guard job, information on Larry's new job...I would even consider putting updated resumes here as well.

Here is why I think it will work:

1.  At the end of the year, I can just file the binder somewhere out of sight.  If I need to know what our property taxes were in 2011, I can grab the binder.  If I want to compare utility bills from the ones we paid in 2011, I can grab the binder.  If I want to see if bread has increased since 2011, I can grab the folder.  If I need information on our car, or a phone number for the cable company, or if I need to get in touch with Josh's fourth period teacher, or if I want to cry over how much our 401k's have plummeted, I can grab the binder!  (I was also thinking how freakin' cool it would have been to have file binders for the past twenty years and be able to track, via the tabs and binders themselves, what we paid for things, where we stumbled, what our mortgage payments were in, say, 1993, and what it cost to operate our cars through the years.  OR, if I didn't care about any of that, I could simply file the binder away and forgetaboutit.)

2.  I am convinced it will make tax time SO MUCH EASIER.  I am always scrambling around trying to find what our property taxes were or how much we paid for car registrations or what we paid in internet costs.  It'll all be in there all handy and ready to help me help Uncle Sam.

3.  Binders with the help of the File Folder.  Okay, so there still needs to be a temporary "home" for the paperwork that comes in otherwise Mr. Ugly Pile appears and then Ugly Pile takes over and demands food and a bed to sleep in.  So, I have made up file folders for similar topics: housing, school, insurances, receipts, financial...etc. plus others like: brochures/pamphlets, church, needs attention/to-do/to-read (I'm not sure what I am titling it yet).  This way, I have a place to put that insurance paperwork that comes through the mail, the paperwork from the kids school, information on their religious education, and brochures from things I like to order fairly regularly like Scentsy bars.  Here is the key to the File Folder: it has to be worked regularly.  Not everyday (that'll never happen) but I'm hoping for once a month when we pay the bills.  I can go through the File Folders, throw out what is no longer needed and file the rest in the binder.  Done.  I feel confident about this working because I have a very similar set-up for my recipes...I have file folders titled the same as the 3-ring binders and I just grab a file folder, the matching 3-ring binder and bada-bing, bada-boom it is done.

I'm pretty excited about my new system and I think it is going to work out really well.  I'm also so relieved to put the big filing cabinet to rest.  That thing has always given me nightmares...I hate to file!

 The organized cabinet with my 3-ring binders.  (Only one of them is for 2011...the other two are for Important Documents and School Records.)

 Here is a wide shot of the laundry room desk where the cabinet above is located.  The rack to the right holds envelopes for tax receipts and one for various restaurant coupons, etc.  This will also be where Mr. And Mrs. File Folders will sit and live happily ever after.

Wordless Wednesday

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Q&A

 I came across this Q&A in an old Good Housekeeping magazine and thought I would try my hand at answering the questions they posed to some celebrity.

My housekeeping style is best described as... Organized and tidy.  I am definitely not the obsessive cleaning type but at any given time if someone were to knock on my door my house would be picked up and tidy and have the appearance of clean.  Of course, there are days when I can see the layer of dust growing on my dining room table and that is my clue that it has been too long since we have "cleaned-cleaned".  I like/love a "clean" house but I am not a slave to keeping it perfect at all times. I do like having things organized which makes keeping it tidy much easier.  Everything should have a home!

My best decluttering tool is...  Totes.  I love using totes and baskets and containers in drawers, in closets, on shelves, in cabinets, etc. to separate like items and keep them from taking over counter tops and making a mess of drawers and cabinets.  I use totes everywhere and to house everything from plug-in scents for the powder bathroom, light bulbs in a cabinet in my laundry room, and baking supplies in my baking drawer.

My favorite daily activity is... Right now it would be watering my garden.  I look forward to going out there every morning and listening to the quiet morning as the sun begins to get hotter...it is my personal time when I can escape the house for a few minutes, relax, enjoy nature, admire my garden, take inventory of what needs to be harvested or what weeds need to be pulled, and spend some quiet moments in my head without the daily noise of children home on summer vacation!  There is something so simple and enjoyable about the act of hand watering!

The most used appliance in my house is...  I guess it would have to be my coffee maker since I make a big pot each and every morning.  However, my crock-pot and rice steamer get a hellofalot of usage too.

The least used appliance in my house is...  My food processor.  I guess I am a little lame because I'm not sure how to use it to its fullest potential.  I also hate pulling it out but when I do, I love it.  I have made purees easily and just this past weekend I made a cookie crumb for a peach pie in the food processor.

My favorite way to spend a Saturday is...  At home.  Maybe throwing dinner in the crock-pot, renting a couple of movies, popping some popcorn, and trying to get a little reading time in as well.  No bells and whistles...just relaxing at home as a family.

The most fun I've had on vacation with my kids lately was... Our trip to the east coast back in the summer of 2009.  We took nine days and saw amazing sights along the way like Mount Rushmore and Lincoln's tomb and homestead.  Mapping out our journey in the morning, making reservations in the car and telling the kids to be quiet while I called...going out to eat, which is a treat for us...and trying to find something to go and see or do in each city we stopped in.  I am all about the exploring and journey and we had a blast and saw so much history!