Suddenly it’s gotten quite hot and sticky these last couple of weeks and there’s no denying summer is here. Well I think it officially doesn’t begin for a few weeks, but close enough. So like many people we’ve been thinking about getting a pool for our yard for the kids to enjoy - and the adults too. While having a pool can be a bit of work and maintenance, you just can’t beat the hours of fun and relaxation it gives you. No lugging towels and toys off to a community pool, just step out back day or night for a nice cooling off in the privacy of your yard.
Of course, the trickiest part of setting up a pool is not the pool itself, but getting the ground level to support the pool properly. When they advertise those wonderful, affordable “easy set-up” pools in the store circulars, its probably the furthest thing from most minds that their yard might not be flat enough. Getting it level can be very tricky, but if you don’t take the time to do it right, you’ll surely shorten the lifetime of your pool.
While I really enjoy cooking during the cold winter months, I can’t wait to start using the BBQ more often now that the weather has gotten warm. Many of our winter meals are rich, warm, and filling - a lot of comfort foods. We try to avoid the oven when the weather gets hot, so many of our meals are based on using the stove top and the outdoor cooker, though I do use my electric slow cooker all year-round. I do find coming up with summer meal ideas to be more of a challenge for some reason, so I think I need to start scouting around the recipe sites for some fresh ideas for this year.
We recently ate dinner at a neighbor’s house and the meal was delicious and simple. Along with some tossed tomato pasta and some grilled chicken, they made some scrumptious grilled veggies that were absolutely wonderful. They simply sliced up the eggplant and zucchini lengthwise, coated them in some olive oil and grilled them outside on the BBQ. Simple, healthy, and delicious!
For weeks we’ve had a coating of potent green pollen covering everything outside. Everyone’s car looks green, and there’s really no point in washing them at this point since a brand new coating of pollen will be covering them again within another day or so. Porch furniture is green, parking lots too. Even the grass in the yard has a powdery green coating layered on top. Of course that means we’re all inhaling this lovely pollen too. Our local news recently quoted that it’s the worst pollen count on record. It’s no wonder that allergies are off the charts too.
The tricky part with allergies is finding a medicine that works without making you feel miserable in a different way. Some of the non-drowsy medications don’t seem to always work as well, but if you take the other allergy pills you end up feeling a bit off-kilter. So then it’s the question, do I deal with the ridiculous sneezing or do I take medicine that make me function at half power. It’s crazy!
Yesterday we celebrated Easter with our family at my sister’s house. Now, even though as adults we should know better, we still start the holiday digging into the kids baskets with them. Well, we actually eat some of the candy that didn’t make it into the baskets rather than taking their candy. It’s a bit of gorging of course, but we figure it’s only one time a year so why not. Then after we rest and read the morning paper, we treat ourselves to a big breakfast of French toast or pancakes with bacon and lots of syrup and juice. After Church it’s off to the big family get together, where we eat again.
So the family dinner includes ham, roast beef, mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, and more. After sitting around chatting and stuffing ourselves we usually try to get some fresh air and make room for dessert- a perfect time for the kids to do an Easter egg hunt. Why do so many holidays revolve around food? Of course along with dessert there is usually a second round of Easter candy to go around. After all of the sugar and food, it’s no wonder we all crash early for the night.
It seems that as soon as the lovely spring flowers and trees start to show their first blooms the rabbits show up in our yard and start munching on the new buds. We have a beautiful patch of lilac flowers that the rabbits seem to enjoy the most. As cute as rabbits are, I would really like to keep my flowers! I tried a few different tricks and found that Deer Off spray (bought from my local home supply store) really works. Okay, it doesn’t smell very nice when you first apply it, but it keeps the critters away. You just have to remember to spray again after it rains.
While I was outside spraying I couldn’t help but notice all of the yard work that needs to be done (again!) And along with the spring flowers come the weeds of course. Maybe I should learn to love the weeds? Even if I could I don’t think my hubby would. He’s already started his first round of yard care and attacking the weeds in the lawn was top on his list. And to be honest, I don’t like it when they try to take over my flower beds either.
Okay, I feel like I’ve become obsessed by weather lately. I think the colder, grayer, and drearier the weather becomes the more it distracts me. It could be because the gloomier it gets the more I start wondering when we’ll have a nice sunny day to enjoy. I miss being about to go outside without having to bundle up in a warm coat or hiding under a hood or hat to keep the rain and sleet off of my head. And we live in the South, where the winters are supposed to be milder. Well, not this year it seems.
So I realize my obsession is not so much the current weather as to when will the weather turn nice again! We recently had a beautiful day only to slip right back to the winter weather the very next day. On a positive note the kids love being out of school and getting to play in the snow and build a snowman. So I guess not everyone is feeling gloomy about the forecast. Meanwhile, I’ll just keep longing for springtime!
The weather has been so cold I don’t think I’ve stepped out in to my backyard in weeks. And when it’s not cold, it’s raining, so the ground is saturated. When I look out the back windows, everything looks so gray and bare compared to lush colors of the spring and summer. I see that the squirrels have knocked over the bird bath again in their attempt to jump up to the bird feeder. As a matter of fact I’m overdue to refill the feeder, so I guess I’ll have to get myself into the backyard soon to take care of it and have a good look at the rest of the yard while I’m at it.
When I look at the winter yard, it makes me miss spending warm evenings on the back porch, though it doesn’t make me miss the mosquitos which come uninvited every year. We’ll need to spruce up some plants this spring, and trim back a few overgrown bushes. Our vegetable patch was pretty sad last year, so we’re going to have the soil tested this year before we do any planting. Yes, I’m looking forward to a beautiful warm spring.
Finding the perfect gift, isn’t that the hardest thing to do sometimes? Shopping for some people can be easy because you know what they really like and so it’s fun to head out to the stores and find something you know they’ll love. Sometimes choosing just one thing for someone like that is impossible! Then there is the person that’s hard to buy for because either you don’t know them that well or perhaps they seem to have everything already.
Some of the toughest people to shop for can be teenagers, especially if you don’t have a clue as to what their tastes are. You can always go with the gift card to be safe, but if it’s someone in your family or extended family it can seem kind of thoughtless. But then again, it’s probably better than buying them something they can’t stand that ends up stuffed in the back of their drawer or closet. If you don’t know what to buy someone, it can’t hurt to ask them or someone close to them what they might have on their wish list. This way you’re sure to buy them something they’ll enjoy and you won’t be throwing your money away.
So who’s coming to your Thanksgiving feast? Or maybe you’re the one hitting the road and visiting friends and family at their place instead. That’s the easy part. But if you’re the one hosting the dinner at your home, it takes a bit of planning and shopping to make a nice holiday meal. The first thing to do is figure out what size bird you’re going to need, so you’ll need to get a solid idea on the number of people you’ll be feeding. Once you know that, you’ll want to pad the pounds a bit so you can enjoy some leftovers during the week. If you’re doing all of the cooking you certainly deserve to have some extra food to eat throughout the week
Now the tricky part is trying to please everyone. For instance, you might have a few vegetarians in the family, so you’ll want to make sure you have some dishes they’ll enjoy during the meal - you can ask them what they like or they might even prefer to make them at their homes and bring it over for the holiday. You probably also want to make sure you have a few favorites that everyone enjoys, so everyone get a taste of their favorite side dish or dessert.
Just when I thought I could put off thoughts of Christmas and Christmas shopping, family members who live out-of-state have started asking about gift ideas for the children. While I love that they care enough to want to give our kids a gift for the holidays, the very thought of thinking of the holidays starts my head spinning. I mean, I’m still adjusting to the fact it’s already November and that I’ll have to start planning a Thanksgiving menu soon. But I guess there’s no escaping it, is there?
I have some friends who do a really good job of keeping the gift-giving to a minimum. They feel that their children are always well-provided for and do not need to be inundated with gifts like that in one day. Plus it takes a way from the meaning of the holiday. I admire that they’ve been able to keep it to one special gift for each person since I have a hard time not wanting to load the tree with loads of beautifully wrapped boxes. But if you were to ask me what we got each other last Christmas I would have a hard time remembering. So I guess the trick is to not go so overboard but still make it special.
While we haven’t even had a chance to enjoy Halloween, people on the radio on mentioning how many shopping days are left until Christmas! Forget a mention of Thanksgiving - is it because there just isn’t enough money to be made marketing that particular holiday? Well I for one wish it would just slow down a bit and that the stores would stop pushing Christmas before we’ve had a chance to enjoy living in the moment and the current holiday.
Halloween is fun but Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite food holidays and family get-togethers. I enjoy the big turkey and all of the delicious side dishes. And what’s not to love about all the yummy pies and desserts. While writing this I do realize it might sound like I love it most of all for the food, but truly it’s also fun to be with some of my favorite relatives and siblings. Especially when we cook together for the day - half the fun is messing around in the kitchen together. Cleaning it up is another story!
I know I’m dating myself by saying this, but when I went trick or treating as a child we were given things like candy apples, homemade candy, and loose candy packaged in a small paper Halloween bag. Now of course it’s all pre-packaged candy for safety reasons. If you’re having a small get together at home for the kids or friends you can still have some fun making homemade goodies. The Food Network has some great ideas for treat recipes that would be a lot of fun to try, and they don’t look too difficult to try to make either.
I love their ghouly cupcakes, covered in a froth of icing with floating eyes on top - cute idea! Then there are other goodies like a witch’s hat cake and a delicious looking creamy pumpkin cake roll. You’ll find everything from cheese ball ideas and pumpkin seed roasting tricks that you might want to try. There’s something for everyone at every level of cooking. A little homemade fun can make any holiday special, especially for the kids. It makes for great memories too! So while they can’t get candy apples going door-to-door anymore, they can still enjoy them right at home. And they can even help make them.
It happens to me every year as summer starts wind down. As the second month of summer starts to near its end I find I have had just about enough of the heat. That’s probably true for a lot of people, though maybe not those fortunate enough to live near the beach. There you can escape the hot sun with a jump in the cool waves and rest on the sand with a ocean breeze to keep you cool. I actually used to be fifteen minutes from the ocean and while I miss it most of the year, I especially miss it during the hot summer months.
Now I am more than ready for crisp fall weather, for the chance to wear a light jacket or sweater and a pair of comfortable jeans. Right now, where I live, you can’t even take a walk in the morning without breaking a sweat from the humidity. Ah, but in the autumn months it’s the perfect time for long hikes in a park or just in the neighborhood. You can comfortably enjoy outdoor fairs and flea markets and spend many enjoyable hours with your family outside in the fresh air.
Between different jobs, school, sports, and other responsibilities, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to find the time to just kickback with the family. It really seems like we’re all so busy working and running around that we don’t even have the time to appreciate what we’re working for. And for all of the wonderful technology that is supposed to make our lives easier, life seems crazier and more hectic than ever. There’s no doubt that computers and hand-held devices have allowed work time to creep into family time so much more than it used to years ago. I can even remember when we didn’t have telephone answering machines. Now we have cell phones that allow people to reach us around the clock, any day of the week. No wonder we’re so tired sometimes!
Perhaps the trick is to just turn it all off sometimes. As much as I love my computer, there are days that I just don’t want to touch it for a change. The email can wait one more day, can’t it? And I can’t imagine what is so important that some of us can’t seem to stop chatting on the cell phone rather than enjoy a quiet walk. A better balance in life is something worth striving for, isn’t it?
Recently my friend’s van has been giving her a lot of trouble. So since her husband needs the other car for work she’s spending many more days at home then she’s used to. Without a car during the day, there’s no running out to buy groceries or take care of errands. Now that the kids are home from school for the summer it’s a bit more challenging. Luckily they have a nice yard and a pool so they can get outside and have some fun. Plus they can have some friends over. But now that they’ve been home for a few weeks everyone is getting pretty restless. You don’t realize how much you need your car for so many little things until you actually have to go without it.
I phoned to speak with her the other day & she couldn’t talk at the time because they were all in the middle of a “Lord of the Rings” movie marathon. That’s over ten hours of movie time! But they sounded like they were having a blast and least they were all enjoying it together. The funny thing is I don’t know what she’s going to do when school returns and she’ll have to go back to work too. I suppose that is the key to having fun in the summer whether you’re young or old, just being able to just kick back & relax and not have to be anywhere at a certain time. Sure sounds good to me.
Cutting down on clutter is always a battle. And unless you live alone, you’re not just dealing with your own clutter, but everyone the junk that everyone else brings into the house as well. So even if you have the very best intentions to stop collecting trinkets and other things that seems to multiply in a home, you have to contend with others that might not feel the same way. The trick of course is to attack a little at a time. The easiest things to try and get rid of is old magazines and papers. Unless it’s a collectible, there really isn’t any reason to hang onto old magazines since the truth is we rarely if ever open them up again. So out they go, whether it be donating them to a doctor’s office or another place people sit around for hours, or off to the recycling bin.
If you have children then you also have a lot of toys around and lots of little plastic things they’ve brought home from various birthday parties and outings. Now some kids like to hang onto every last bit. it’s best if you can first try to get your kids to help you sort through the stuff - maybe some is worth selling and the thought that they might make a few dollars could inspire them to action. If not, then you’ll have to tackle it discreetly when they’re at school or asleep. Be sure not to get rid of anything they really love though, because they’ll haunt you about it for years to come.
Like a lot of people, I’m a bit more careful about what I buy these days. I’ve always thought that I was someone who spent wisely, but I have quite a few impulse purchases around the house that really weren’t worth the price that prove me wrong. I’m not the only one guilty of it in our home, both of us have quite a few gadgets in the kitchen and garage that we’ve used once or twice only to discover they weren’t quite as useful or handy as we thought they were going to be. And shopping wisely is not just about the money since all of these extra items seem to add a lot of clutter around the house.
So I’ve found it works much better if I take a little time to decide whether I really need to make a certain purchase or not. Browsing through advertisements or the stores can be pretty satisfying even if you don’t take out your wallet. I often take an extra day to mull over a purchase and if it’s something I still want the next day or the next week, then I go ahead with the purchase. I’ve found it really cuts back on the impulse buys and saves quite a bit of money. And what to do with the old impulse buys? Sell them online or in the local paper - it clears up some of the old clutter and gves you some extra cash too.
Wow, the heat of the summer is upon us. Somehow I always seem to forget how hot it can get in July until the month arrives again. While I do love the summer months and the time we can get out to the beach or the pool, autumn is by far my favorite season. There’s nothing quite like the cool, crisp air and the beautiful fall colors. Plus during the fall months you can enjoy going out and about wearing a light jacket instead of the breaking into a sweat just going to your mailbox in the summer’s sweltering heat.
So what’s the trick to staying cool this month? Well for one thing, it’s a good idea to get your outdoor chores done early in the morning or later in the evening. If you’re going out during the midday, it’s important to cover up well and slather on some good sun block too. Of course there’s nothing like cooling off in the water to take the edge off of any hot summer day. Even if you don’t have a swimming pool or beach nearby, you can just turn on the hose or the sprinkler for a little fun. You can even get a kiddie pool to soak your feet in or for you favorite furry friend to cool off in.
Wow, it’s hard to believe it, but next weekend is the July 4th holiday already. Time feels like a runaway train sometimes. The news channels seem to think it won’t be as big a travel holiday as it has been in the past since gas prices have gone up a bit again and many people are still struggling in this economy. I’ve never been very big on traveling on the holidays myself. I usually try to avoid it if I can since I can’t stand to be stuck in traffic or crowded airports. I much prefer traveling on off-peak times, so much more peaceful and generally less expensive too.
So this July 4th weekend we have a big neighborhood party going on. It’s great fun for everyone - lots of fun safe play for the kids with water balloons and harmless poppers. Then we’ll bbq and do the big fireworks when it starts to get dark. It’s a great way to get to know neighbors better and for the kids to spend time hanging out with other kids in the neighborhood. All and all a fun family way to spend the holiday. And then when things quiet down in a couple of weeks, we can head to the beach when it’s not so crazy and crowded.
I love to garden when I have the time, though I’m not practiced enough to be a pro at it. I don’t know the names of all of the plants we have around the yard, but I do try to keep care of them and keep the weeds to a minimum. One of our favorite annual traditions is planting a small vegetable garden. We don’t have a very big yard, so the spot is located in one of the open corners next to the shed and one of our big evergreens. The spot seems to have a good mix of sunshine and shade, though we live pretty far South so the summertime sun can be pretty brutal at times. As a whole, we’ve been able to grow some pretty good veggies over the years, mostly tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, cucumbers.
This year our little garden is failing miserably for some reason. Before planting we had added a good dose of organic fertilizer into the soil to replenish it. When we removed the plants from their containers we loosened the dirt as we always do, everything seemed to get off to the right start. But that was about a month and a half ago, and the plants are quite stunted. Oddly some tomatoes are popping out on a couple of the plants yet they only stand a foot or so high, which we’ve never encountered before. So we’ve turned the surrounding soil again and added some fresh fertilizer. I don’t know how much that will help. Otherwise it might be time to check with one of the local garden centers to see if we can salvage anything or if we still have time to start over.
It seems most of us end up running around all week long- whether its spending time at work and school, or running the many errands and carting the kids off to sporting games and play dates. So when the weekend finally rolls around we simply look forward to making time for some good old-fashioned family fun and much-needed precious rest and relaxation. While some people seem to prefer to pack their weekends with things to do, a lot of us prefer to try to schedule as few things as possible and take a break from the constant feeling of being on the go.
Top on the list is skipping the alarm clock and catching up on some much-needed sleep. Then there’s making time for some family meals, from big breakfasts of pancakes, bacon, and eggs to dinners cooked outside on the grill. Or maybe as a special treat, Mom and Dad can take a break from cooking and go out to eat for a change. Another favorite is family movie night - finding a movie everyone can enjoy and popping up a batch of buttery popcorn. It doesn’t matter so much what we do for family fun, as long as we focus on turning off the cell phones and spending some great time together.
Backyard barbecues and patios have come a long way over the years. In the years past a nice backyard might have had a simple wooden picnic table set on a concrete or brick patio. Dad would cook dinner on a simple charcoal grill filled with a bag of coals and lit with some lighter fluid. Now, years later, the backyard has become a festive outdoor living space, often treated as another extended room in the house, an oasisi lavishly furnished and decorated with comfortable cushioned seating and full outdoor kitchens with huge grill tops and refrigerators too. When it comes to decorating, no one does it quite like Martha Stewart .
If you visit her site you’ll find she has some wonderful examples of great outdoor living spaces along with fabulous decorating ideas in the outdoor living section. Her section on creative outdoor spaces has some great tips, descriptions, and photos full of fun and colorful ways to add pizzaz to your backyard areas. From canopies and handmade lanterns, to unique lighting fixtures and lovely grapevine covered arbors. You’re sure to find a theme that you and your family will love.
