In The Refiner's Fire

The question I get asked all the time when people find out what we have on our 'plate' at our house, is "How on earth do you get it all done?" The short answer is, I don't.  Not by a long shot. Yes, the kids help and they love to help and they're getting to the point now where they can be a pretty darn good help.  Yes, John helps a lot too - and I really don't know what I'd do if he didn't.  The piles of clutter (behind Buddy there in the picture) are finally gone. But it was a long, long process - over a year to be exact.  And we're still finding hidey-holes of clutter and have to keep on top of it to not have stacks of random homeless items end up all over the house. Our bedroom and the guest room seem to be the magnets for those two things - the guest room since we don't use it all the time and our room because the kids don't go in there.  We're a work in progress and we know that.  And we'll keep working on i...

This month got off to a very, very busy start!  The first week of June was also the kids last week of school, the week I'd designated for writing, and the week my folks left for their home out of state!  It was also the week that one of our Jazzercise instructors was diagnosed with a serious medical condition (and couldn't teach), that 2 other friends got married, my cousin was in town from out of state, and we didn't have childcare for 2 days!  Whew! Then we got sick - 3 of the four of us, John started summer intensives, a dear friend died and John officiated at a funeral, the remaining pastor at our home congregation (who I had been going to speak with) left to take another call elsewhere, they decided to completely rearrange the office I'm in at work (including new carpet, painting, and furniture), and I broke my 4th toe on my right foot (and then taught 2 classes at Jazzercise on it!).  And now this week starts our 9 weeks of marathon travel for John's pre...

Yumm....I love summer salads!  I mean really love. My mom used to make these when I was a kid and I turned my nose up so high.  I mean, really, who makes a salad and puts tuna on it? Or salmon? Or chicken?  Then about 3 years ago when we started growing lettuce in earnest I realized the wisdom of these things: dinner goes together in about 4 minutes, we get all kinds of goodies in one dish, no pots and pans to wash and we use up leftover meat!  A win-win all the way around! I even put tuna on one and told my husband "I'm turning into my mother."  He said, "It's okay. I like your mother!" **GRIN**   Anyway, we are now getting produce from our CSA and it is definitely spring/early summer in the upper-Midwest garden produce department!  So salads galore here! Here's what we're eating this week: Sunday, June 24th:   Brunch:  Baked Eggs, Sausages, and Lemon-Raspberry Coffee Cake*   Snack:  Caramel-Almond Popcorn* ...

 Yummy garden produce....  Super yummy salads...  Sand castles in the backyard...  And at the beach... My pretty flowers... Backyard bonfires... Smores... Pretty summer dresses (for me and the Missy).... Time with my family... What more can I ask for?   Truly, these are a few of my favorite things!