Plans for Summer 2015

The heat of summer has arrived in my area. It took so long to arrive, I was beginning to questions its existence. Within days we went from mid 70's to nearly triple digit temperatures. I like the heat. I hate the heat. No, wait, I like it...sometimes.

It is definitely a love hate relationship with the heat. The rain continues to visit us. We are having the most difficult baseball season. I heard a rumor the baseball league has had to reschedule 400 baseball games this summer. That is a lot of missed baseball!

Our yard and flowers love the rain. Everything here is so green. I wonder how long that will continue now that the heat has arrived. We have an active summer planned. It is so hard to balance all the fun things going on in the summer with rest and relaxation.

Luckily for us the Graduation Party forced us to get many of our summer projects done early. We did some landscaping, some mudjacking, and some deep house cleaning. Two areas that did not get organized before the party was the basement and the garage. I am happy to say that after two weekends at home both areas have been cleaned and organized. What a feeling when you can go from this:

to this!

For the first time in history, my craft supplies are actually organized and easily accessible! Another big summer project: CHECK!

As I mentioned earlier, summer activities in full swing. Both kids are playing baseball. The Short Chic is also attending summer school.The Boy is working. And the neighborhood pool is my kids' favorite hangout spot.

We have some travel plans for summer. Mostly camping trips. We are actively seeking out Second Camping Award. We plan to visit five different Missouri State Parks this year: Weston Bend State Park; Crowder State Park; Watkins Mill State Park, Montauk State Park, and Johnson's Shut In's State Park. The closest park is within 20 minutes of home and the furthest park is nearly 7 hours away.

Summer would not be summer without a float trip down a Missouri river. This year we are exploring the Black River out of Lesterville, Missouri. If we are visiting your part of the world, give me a shout out to your favorite things to do. We would love to develop our "must do" list when we are there!

I have also spent some time developing my summer reading list. I have been a little bit of a slacker in the reading department. But some days there is nothing I would like to do more than lie in the sun with a book.

My summer reading list looks like this:

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
War Brides by Helen Bryan
Sweet Forgiveness by Lori Nelson Spielman
Hugo and Rose by Bridget Foley
Things You Won't Say by Sarah Pekkanen
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

So, please share, what is on your summer reading list? What are your summer activities? Where are you traveling to this summer? What summer home projects are you completing?

My Weekend Project: A PVC Camping Lamp Post and Flag Holder

I have seen a few of these around campsites and I knew I would like to have one. The only problem that I had is The Husband. He already thinks we drag too much stuff with us when we go camping and if I had told him my desire to have a PVC Camping Light Pole he would have shut it down quickly! So, that leaves a girl with only one choice: Figure out how to do it by herself. I did some internet searching and found a few road maps on RV forums. They seemed easy enough! I visited the local hardware store for the supplies: An exterior post lantern light 2 inch PVC pipe (I used 5 feet but had to purchase a 10 foot piece) A 3 inch toilet flange A 3 inch to 2 inch Reducer PVC Glue A 12 foot electric cord kit 2 - 3/4 inch PVC Caps I also used a few supplies we already had on hand: White Spray Paint 3 1/2 foot - 3/4 inch PVC Pipe Drill Bits (1 inch and 1/2 inch) Tent Stakes The first step was preparing the lantern light. I could only find black i...

Liver Cheese: A Family Tradition

Today is an anniversary date. One of those dates you wish you did not have to remember but there is no way you can forget. Fifteen years ago today,two days after his birthday, my father died of lung cancer. He was a lifelong smoker and his cancer was aggressive. His battle was short. He fought for six short months after his diagnosis. He knew the chemo was not working and that his time was limited. When he came to this realization he became the best dad in the world. In the days before my father's passing, my family shared some memorable moments. One of those moments centers around the deli meat: Liver Cheese.I would not be surprised if you have never heard of it, or even never tasted it. But I was raised on it as it was one of my Dad's favorite things. What is it? Well, it is a German food that is...

Tonsillectomy (Warning Photos!)

The Short Chic came down with a pretty nasty case of strep throat back in April. So, when The Boy started complaining about his throat hurting about 12 days later, I was pretty confident that he had inherited his sister's strep. Instead, The Boy was diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess growing on his right tonsil. We had to immediately see an ENT Physician who took a needle and drained the abscess. He removed about 5.5 cc of puss from The Boys throat.and then told us that once you have a peritonsillar abscess you were high risk to keep getting them. The Boy's tonsils were now compromised and needed to be removed. We were told to plan for a two week recovery so we worked a surgery into our summer plans. Between family vacations, summer sports, and the beginning of school The Boy had his second surgery. A tonsillectomy. Pre-surgery prepping went well. It must be nice to be young and have healthy veins for an IV! The Boy had lots of pre-surgery vi...

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