New Beginnings

I've been thinking about my cousin lately.  When I asked how his sister was doing, his typical gregarious response was: "Don't ask!   It is a mystery even to me.   I think she is somewhere on a pink bus with orange polka dots!"   This was a long time ago but for some reason those words stuck in my mind.  Maybe because I read a lot more into it than I should have.

Lately I'm on my own pink bus with orange polka dots.  It's a very mysterious place to be.  I've flung caution to the wind.  I seriously don't care.   I've pealed layer after layer off to look at the very first signs of new skin covering the wound in my soul.

I am venturing out on my own.  I'm cautiously optimistic and like a young child just trying to figure out what I want to do, but I think I took the first steps to starting my own business this week.

More to come later.

Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day is all about the most important man in our lives!  As one of my daughter's stated quite clearly when she found him outside mowing the lawn "It's Father's Day weekend.  You should not be doing anything!"  We always make a weekend of it and we aim to please with gifts, his favorite foods and whatever he would like to do for fun.

Friday night we celebrated the end of a busy work week with our once a week movie night.  In our home that means homemade pizza

and freshly popped popcorn which somehow found its way downstairs to the basement in the split second I turned my back!

We had the most gorgeous weather this weekend!  Perfect for barbecued, al fresco meals; ice cold beers and the number one request hubby had all weekend..........

to go out on our boat, swim, float around the cool waters, eat more treats,

 Homemade Brownies

drink a few more beers and to build sand castles with our girls until the long afternoon shadows overtook the island of choice;  signaling an awesome weekend drawing to a close.

Everyday Life

I prefer to focus on the beautiful and the positive things;  things I'm grateful for and appreciate about every day. Some will even claim I'm looking at life through rose-colored glasses. But sometimes it takes a lot of imagination and strength to find these nuggets of beauty hidden in between episodes of craziness making up our day to day life.

Take for example last week Wednesday.  It was one of those days where I looked back on the morning in a bit of disbelieve.

My girls kicked the day off cutting 100 pages of colorful construction paper into one inch size squares and then strewing them like rose petals as far as the eye could see.  Even though they had to pick up every shred of paper, I in my heart knew they meant well and wanted to "surprise" me, so no biggy right?

But it was not one hour later I heard a commotion upstairs and went to investigate.  I opened the bathroom door and there they were at the sink;  one holding down our cat Knight while the other one was busy giving it a bath.  The bathroom was a mess.  Water and cat hair were everywhere;  wet towels draped over every surface and when I looked over at the tub my heart sank..............

Staring at me from inside the tub were the pretend horses they got as Christmas gifts.  I think I heard one scream out loud "Help me, please!"  Or maybe it was my subconscious mind grabbing for the last straw of hope;  or maybe it was the straw that broke the camel's back, because when I looked inside the tub they crayoned the tub's bottom a "lovely", bright meadow green.  Yes I know horses need grass to eat, but I had no sense of humor left at that point in time.  

They lost several privileges on the spot including our once a week movie night.

It took what felt like an hour to clean.  Lets hope this was the worst week ever dealing with my little girls at home.

Summer

Summer is the time of year everything happens a little slower.

Homemade Lemonade

We walk a little slower;  we laze a little longer on sandy beaches dotting the lake

and we savor the flavors making this season our favorite.

Homemade Ice Cream

And every now and again we take a refreshing dip to breathe new life into our sun baked limbs.

First Week On Summer Break

Our first week on summer break has been a blast.  I've witnessed some disagreements between the girls and now and again they develop a bit of amnesia when I ask them to pick up after themselves, but overall we've done so many fun things already I thought I need to revisit my summer bucket list to ensure I have a solid backup; just in case.

Fortunately for me;  I love it.  I love coming up with an itinerary of ideas.  It does not matter if it is travel, food, work, parties or figuring out what I would like to do with our girls every day of the week!  And fortunately for me too;  the girls have been blessed with the same genes.

UPS Boxes Make Great Impromptu "Puppet" Shows

I finally sat them down this week and talked about our school at home.  We picked out a name for our school, which might still change ten times before we pick a winner.  We had a competition to see who can whiz around the fastest on their swivel chairs;  but all joking aside we talked about learning at home and what it means and all the activities we will be involved in.  They are so excited!  I had to tell them more than once this week to put their math and science books away, but they want to start "school" right away!!!

Magnetic Mosaics

We have been playing, swimming, hiking in the woods, creating masterpieces in the driveway, marveling at fuzzy tailed insects and woodpeckers drilling away and most importantly just laughing!!  Wait a minute...........I guess school is already in session!!

Swingball