A Few of My Favorite Summer Things

"Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you."--1 Samuel 12:24

It's been a busy week.  I've started longer hours at work because we are short-staffed for the summer, and it's been an admittedly hard adjustment for me.  Plus, we had some unexpected plans come up last weekend, which put me behind in housework and all of the other things that I normally take care of on the weekend, so I've been trying to catch up in the evenings during the week.  Today I feel exhausted, and struggled to get through my morning at work.  However, I enjoyed the drive in to work--I love the warm, muggy, hazy mornings that only occur in the summer, and this morning was perfect for that.  That inspired a list of my favorite things for the summer season.  What do you love about summer?

I love the smell in the air!  I love how fresh nature smells in the summer.  This is not as noticeable if you live in town, but the fragrance is intoxicating out in the country.  The smell of roses in bloom, freshly-cut grass, dew in the air...the smell of life and growth that is only experienced in warm months.

I love the heat!  I know that doesn't make me the most popular person in the world, but I enjoy it, because it makes me think of how much fun I had during the summer when I was young.  I don't necessarily want to be a kid again, but summer vacation was what I always looked forward to, because all I did was play outside.  I rode my bike around the neighborhood, roller skated (remember those?), played games with the neighbor kids, swam in the pools, and never wanted to bathe.  Maybe that's too much information, but I never wanted to come in at night and take a bath and have to go to bed.  It cut into my fun time too much.

I love to travel in the summer!  Seems like I do a lot of traveling in the summer, and always have.  You don't have to worry about snow and ice storms making the roads bad, and besides, there are just many more events to travel to in the summer, like festivals, beaches, cookouts, and tourist attractions.  I also just love sitting in a car with the sun shining in and the little air conditioning vents pointed right at me.  This usually lasts for about five minutes, and then I freeze, but I like it.  Just a great time of year to hit the road.

I love garage sales!  These only happen in the warm months here, maybe only six months of the year, sometimes less.  I don't know what it is about shopping for stuff in someone else's garage that is just so fun, but it is--you really never know what you might find!

I love gardening!  Even though I call it my "practice garden", I still enjoy tending the garden beds.  It's great for learning what works and what doesn't; for instance, this year, broccoli didn't work.  It bolted before we could get anything harvestable.  No big deal, I'll try again when I have a large garden--I also think that I didn't have enough room for them to grow.  I'm getting potatoes already, so I'm pretty excited about harvesting those soon.  I seem to do well with lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, and bush beans.  I'd love to grow carrots, strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, and other things, but now's not the right time.  I look forward to having my dream garden someday!

Enjoy the hot summer weekend, everyone!  And thank you to everyone who checked out my turtle cookie recipe in the Little House Living recipe blog hop last week--it was the most-clicked-on link in the linkup!  I hope you enjoy the cookies as much as we do!

The Little Things, Pt. 2

Philippians 4:18-20, NASB:  

“But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied...a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.  And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever.  Amen." 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NASB:  
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 


Since there is just not that much to talk about or share, I decided that a pick-me-up post was in order.  Finally into February, after what seemed like a very long January, this time of the year always feels like winter will last forever.  So instead of giving in to the winter doldrums, I decided that it would be fun to look around and find pleasure in the simple things around me.  So, what are you grateful for?



1) I'm grateful for a warm house in the midst of the snow.

2) I'm grateful for fresh-from-the-oven cookies.

3) I'm grateful for a poinsettia that has lasted past Christmas.

4) I'm grateful for my husband and life-long partner, represented by my stuffed Rudolph.

5) I'm grateful for a God who loves me no matter how much I mess up each day.

6) I'm grateful for a car that runs and a job that pays the bills.

7) I'm grateful for my creativity.  By the way, the ironing board cover works great, and I love it!  No more store-bought covers for me.

8) I'm grateful for the ability to work with my hands.

9) I'm grateful for the dishes that I have to wash every day, the clothes that I iron, and the indoor bathroom that I clean--because God has provided everything we need, and those are little reminders.

10)  I'm grateful for love.

The Little Things

Howdy!  How does time fly by so quickly?  Hubby informed me that it's been twenty days since my last post.  So, to the one person who checks my blog frequently for updates, I apologize for the delay in posting.

There's nothing better than taking pleasure in the little things in life.  So, I've decided that this will be the topic of this entry.  There are no big things going on right now, and I'm okay with that.  In a few weeks, my hubby and I plan to take a trip to celebrate our eight year wedding anniversary, but I'll tell you more about that another time.  It's so hard to believe that we've had eight years together, and despite the ups and downs, they have been the happiest eight years of my life.  I wouldn't change a thing.  And most of the time, it is the little things about our life together that I love most.  So, I present to you: The Little Things.

One day, as I was getting ready for work, I noticed my husband's bar of soap on the ledge in the shower.  It's not uncommon for him to use absolutely as much of the soap as he possibly can.  Here is a great example:

When I saw this, I started laughing very hard.  It was wafer-thin.  I kindly set a new bar of soap out for him to use the next time he was in the shower.

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When the weather warms up, I don't like to wear socks.  I like to paint my toenails fun colors and go out in sandals whenever I can.  When the weather was in the 80s back in March, I had cabin fever and was wearing sandals for several days.  So, I decided it was time to break out the nail polish and paint the piggies:

I went with a periwinkle paint and a multi-color sparkle top coat.  Sadly, the weather turned cold again and I've had to keep my toes covered ever since.  The paint job has held up remarkably well, though!

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I read online somewhere that you can grow lettuce indoors all year 'round, as long as you are able to keep the plants in a sunny spot.  Our house doesn't have any great spots for growing plants, except for one window in the kitchen that I've put a low table in front of to keep plants on.  I planted four romaine lettuce plants in a glass bowl and set them out:

Sadly, not long after this was taken, the plants gave up and died.  But there's hope in the future, though--in the background are seeds for other delicious goodies I plan to plant, possibly this coming week.  So rest in peace, lettuces.  I'll plant my garden in your honor this year.

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Our back yard contains one large lilac shrub.  I say shrub, but it's taller than the roof line on our house, and it's getting hard for me to reach the blossoms.  The lilacs bloomed extremely early this year, so by the time I found them open, half had already passed their prime.  But I managed to find one good bunch that hadn't faded quite yet:

At a few stores, I have been having the good luck of finding old bottles.  I have never been interested in old bottles until now, and I'm starting to love the look and character of the old glass.  I have a collection of four now, and the one in the picture is from my collection.  It's an old blue Philip's Milk of Magnesia bottle.  I loved the color, and it looked so great with the lilac sprig inside.  I tied the last of a spool of purple iridescent ribbon around the mouth of the bottle and had myself a nice little fragrant centerpiece.  The lilacs only lasted a day inside, but they looked and smelled like the spring.  

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One day this week, we woke up to a surprise.  In my half-awake state, when I got up for work, hubby, who gets up a half hour earlier than me, grumpily told me to look outside.  I did, and this was what I saw:

The first picture is of the two trees in our front yard.  The next photo is of the view down the rest of the street.  Some kids must have been bored the night before, and decided to leave those of us in the neighborhood with a festive toilet paper surprise.  It was annoying, because they make the mess and we all have to clean it up.  But we know from past experience that they could have done much worse.  Living in the country with a booby-trapped moat can't come soon enough for us!  Oh, did I say booby-trapped moat?  I meant duck pond (insert evil laugh here).

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My hubby decided to take a day off of work and spend the day with me today.  We decided to take a trip up to one of our favorite hangouts--the Toledo Zoo.  We had a great time and a beautiful day to enjoy together.  Here are a few photos from our day trip:

The polar bears were particularly active today.  There are three in the exhibit, but the two above were having the most fun.  Check out the teeth on the bear on the right in the bottom picture!

It's not easy to look this good all of the time.

 

 Just too pretty to pass up taking a picture.

I'm not so sure that this zebra is happy to be a part of the carousel.

The new tiger cubs...being cute is hard work.

The giantest crab I've ever seen.

 Even weirder close up.  "Look out, I peeench."

The Conservatory.  50 degrees outside.  100 degrees inside.  Not kidding.  Hot for even me.

 

 I didn't know you could grow Cheetos in a pot!

 A springtime stroll through the beautiful gardens.

 Mother Tiger, enjoying the peace and quiet of napping cubs.

 Come on, let us in!  We want to watch TV!!

Twweeeeet!  I'll give you the bird stink eye if I want to!

And thus concludes my observations of the little things that make life interesting.  I hope you've enjoyed them, too!

God loves it when we delight in Him and His creations.  Every time I look around, I marvel at the world that surrounds us.  If you stop and really think about it, it's astounding and reassuring that my Creator is an awesome God.  I have no doubt in my mind that He created the heavens and earth, and not some big bang.  I will never be convinced otherwise.  Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."  Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart."  I will delight always in the beauty of God's creation, and it will always be a reminder of what a great and awesome God we serve!