Starting Out

   I have been blessed with lots of friends of all ages. Part of the fun with the friends my age is how we can watch each other's children grow up and start spreading their wings a little.
   One of my best friend's daughters has been creating things to sell in an Etsy shop. You should check it out. BePureBeBeautiful
   She is quite the talented young lady and has been creating some of my favorite things. Things such as candles, bath fizzes, and more.
   

 

Random Wishes

1. I wish I could travel back in time and smack the teenage version of myself. Why did I ever think it was a good idea to give my boyfriend an obnoxiously loud, musical alarm clock?
2. I wish I wouldn't be such a stickler for following rules. I feel guilty when ever we play Monopoly and put all the money from taxes, community chest, and jail fees in the center and who ever lands of Free Parking gets to claim it. It's a game, we're all in agreement. So why am I uneasy? It's not as if some kind of Monopoly police were going to show up and bust us for not following the rules.
3. I wish I could slow down time. I declare it seems like there are only three or four days in a week instead of seven.
4. I wish our house wouldn't get so dusty, so fast. It's sad having to take valuable time everyday to do dusting, when there are so many other things that would be more fun.
5. I wish that you could all see the view from the window where I'm sitting, and feel the cool morning air, and listen to the sounds of singing birds and my wind chimes.
6. I wish there was some way I could read all the books I want to read, while still getting all the things done that I want to do.
7. I wish being a grownup would be like I used to envision it when I was a child.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1.  I recently read here about four secrets to happiness from around the world. They were-

Overcome your fears by facing them head on, allow yourself to relax and reset, work to live versus living to work, and find the good in life. Not sure if these are the actual secret to happiness, but which of the four do you struggle with most? Which one comes most easily to you?

The hardest one for me would be facing my fears head on. I don't even know how to go about facing my biggest fear. I also have a fear of heights, and I certainly don't see how climbing up high somewhere would help me get over that.

Finding the good in life is the one that is the easiest for me.

2. How would you spend a found $20 bill today?

I would probably use it towards buying shoes for the children. They love running in their bare feet when ever the weather is warm enough, but colder weather will be here before too long, hopefully.

3. Ego trip, power trip, guilt trip, round trip, trip the light fantastic, or trip over your own two feet...which 'trip' have you experienced or dealt with most recently? Explain.

We've been dealing with someone else's ego/power trip way too much these past few days. It's wearying.

Trip over your own two feet, is something I could spend numerous blog posts regaling you with embarrassing episodes of my super clumsy years. Thankfully they seem to be behind me.

4. If you could master any physical skill in the world what would it be, and how would you use that skill?

Riding a bike, maybe. It would be nice being able to bike the trail with the rest of the family.

5. As July draws to a close, let's take inventory of our summer fun. Since the official first day of (North American) summer (June 20th) have you...been swimming? enjoyed an ice cream cone? seen a summer blockbuster? camped? eaten corn on the cob? gardened? deliberately unplugged? watched a ballgame? picked fruit off the vine? taken a road trip? read a book?  Are any of these activities on your must-do-before-summer-ends list?

• Swimming ..... no.
• Ice cream cone .... no.
• Summer blockbuster .... no.
• Camping .... no. They very thought makes me feel itchy, tired, and grouchy.
• Corn on the cob ..... yes.
• Gardened .... no.
• Unplugged ..... not exactly. Though more so than during the winter.
• Watched a ballgame ..... yes.
• Picked fruit of a vine ..... no, but we did pick fruit not growing on a vine.
• Road trip .... no.
• Read a book ..... yes, yes, yes! Love reading and I enjoyed some great ones so far this summer.

Not planning to do any of the no's on the list.

6. The Republican Presidential candidates will debate on August 6th. What's your question?

I detest political things. Any question I would have I wouldn't believe any of their answers anyway, so why bother asking?

7. What's your most listened to song so far this summer?

My favorite song keeps changing, I honestly don't know what I've listened to the most this summer. Unless you count Rosebud's love of classical and instrumental pieces. She plays one multiple times a day, but I have no idea what it's called.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

We've been enjoying the outdoors and recently came across a geo cache. Geo caching is something that has intrigued me ever since I first heard of it. Now that we have accidently stumbled across one, I'm thinking even more that it might be a fun thing to do for our family.

The Great Cookbook Challenge

I think I may have previously mentioned a little something about our cookbook challenge that the girls and I are doing. It all started when Rosebud decided one of her life goals was to make every single recipe in a cookbook.

She was thrilled that it was something she could start on right away. One recipe per week for however long it takes. She went through my collection of cookbooks carefully to make sure she chooses one that's not overwhelming, and yet has plenty of great recipes to try. She finally settled on one that will take around two years to get through. So far there was only one recipe that we know we don't want to make again. Most of them turned out delicious.

After week two of Rosebud's challenge Sunbeam and I decided we want to join. We each chose a cookbook we thought we would want.

I selected this one, and so far every recipe has been a winner. An added bonus is we get to enjoy a Mexican night every week.

 

Sunbeam chose to start the challenge with this recipe book. It didn't look overwhelming and the pictures inside looked good. It was a small recipe book that would only take her a little over a year to get through. The first recipe was .... eh. Not terrible, but not really good either. The next two recipes were no better. The one that followed was so awful each of us could only choke down one bite.

If you ever see this cookbook, walk away, do not buy it unless you enjoy dreadful recipes.

With that horrible luck we decided a new recipe book would be chosen for her. She settled on this one. After two weeks of delicious food she counted the recipes and discovered it would take her 14½ years to get through the book. That looked pretty much hopeless to her so once ago she chose another book.

There is nothing Amish about this cookbook other than the name. At least the recipes are great, and she has finally found the book that she will complete for this challenge.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Is your home air conditioned? If it's not air conditioned, is that by choice? Did you grow up with air conditioning? If not how did you cope with the heat? Share about a time or place you remember as being too hot-the temperature kind of hot, lest anyone be confused.

We don't have air conditioning in our home. I would love to change that, but for the most part it isn't too terrible with the windows open and plenty of fans in use.

When we were Amish and even fans weren't an option we used to get somewhat used to the heat. Being bare footed certainly helped, and on the hottest days the basement used to feel pleasantly cool if we needed some relief.

The hottest I have ever felt was when we were traveling through Texas one summer and stopped at a motel. It was 108º outside, but when we opened the door to our motel room the heat that came rushing out was almost enough to knock you over.

We turned the air conditioning on high and went to do something else for an hour or so in hopes our room would be cooled down considerably by the time we got back.
 

2. What's something in your life right now that falls under the heading 'up in the air'?

Some decisions that have to be made. Not really something that's ready to be discussed here.

3. Your favorite light and airy dessert?

A Fruity Fluff Pudding. I haven't made it in years, but it used to be the perfect refreshing summer dessert.

4. When did you last feel like you were 'floating on air'?

This answer seems a little silly compared to some of the major life changing 'floating on air' experiences I have had, but I love the feeling I get when our next years supply of curriculum arrives.

5. Airport, airmail, airtight, airhead...which have you most recently encountered? Explain.

Going with airhead on this one, and not the candy version.

A certain person was trying to say that hunting for meat or raising your own for butchering was simply barbaric when you could simply go to a store to buy meat instead and no innocent animals would have to suffer.

It's amazing to me how out of touch with reality some people can be.

6.  Have you ever been to the Alps? If so where did you go? If not, is this a destination on your must-see list? If you were headed that direction this summer, which of the following would be your preferred activity...a gentle walk, a serious walk, a bike ride, a boat ride around one of the lakes, or summer snow skiing?

I have never been to the Alps, though it has been one of my dreams ever since I read Heidi as a little girl. I'm doubtful I will ever get to see them in person. If I were to go my preferred activity would be a gentle walk and a boat ride around one of the lakes.

7. What is one saying or phrase that was considered 'cool' when you were growing up?

You know, this is one I have no answer for. 'Cool' sayings were highly discouraged in our home. We were taught that we will one day have to give an account for every unnecessary word spoken. We didn't use sayings, phrases, or other words to strengthen statements.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

A little over a month ago we got several baby kittens. I could spend hours watching them play, and I'm not even a cat person.

One of the sweetest things is watching our dog, Gypsy, try to take a nap with three kittens snuggled up next to him. He tolerates them very well, until they want to start playing on top of him, or with his ears.