Weekends

Weekends come around and the list of things to do grow longer.  I love taking Saturdays and accomplishing unfinished tasks around our home and garden.  I also love taking Saturdays and spending some time enjoying my home and my family.  I sometimes struggle with finding the right balance between working and relaxing.  Today I have enjoyed the work that my hands have found to do, and I have also found time to enjoy the ones I love.  For me, this is the perfect balance on a hot Saturday in July.  I hope you enjoy your weekend as well.

grace and peace,
julie

A Day In Court

Today you will not find me in front of the stove with my canner.  I will also not be found in the garden enjoying my summer bounty.  Instead you will find me in a far away county in the courthouse standing before the judge.  Well, I won't be standing before the judge.  No sir.  I learned my lesson about driving fast when I was in my early twenties.  You will find me with my son who will actually be the one standing in front of the judge explaining why he was speeding.  In the state of Tennessee, any teenager who receives a ticket also gets a trip to court to visit with the judge.  Notice I didn't say a free trip to court.  Nope...it will have to be paid for by the one who broke the law.  His ticket will also have to be paid by him along with his date with traffic school.  The state doesn't say who has to pay for all of these items, but Michael and I demand that the teenager must be the one to pay.  That is our rule, and thus far it has worked out well for our family. 

At first, I told Michael that it was his turn to stand in front of the judge with our child.  I went to court with our first son when he got a ticket so it only seems fair that Michael should go to court with our second son.  He was in agreement with our arrangement.  Then it dawned on me that if our third son went to court for a traffic violation that it would once again be my turn.  Now I love our third son, but he is always a handful and I am never for sure what he might do.  I decided that I would rather go with our second son rather than our third.  Our second son is easy going and you can always count on him to be responsible.  I went back to Michael and begged for the opportunity to go to court today.  I hope this doesn't back fire on me.  I would hate for Michael to get the idea that I love going to court with our traffic violators/children!

By the way, you may not want to call me today. I have a bad habit of not turning off my phone.  I sure would hate to make the judge mad!

grace and peace,
julie

Summer Thoughts

Summer is racing quickly away to a new school year.  Just a little over two weeks left before our kids start school.  I have so enjoyed the slower pace of summer days.  The garden is keeping me busy, but that is a fun kind of chore.  I have been canning and freezing almost every day, but that too is somewhat fun.  I sure am enjoying watching my canning shelves fill up with food.  There is still a lot of canning ahead of me before summer slips away into autumn. 

With the new school year comes a new teaching job for me at our local high school.  I am so excited about the new chapter in our life, and  I am so thankful that the Lord opened up this door for me. 

grace and peace,
julie

Summer Thoughts

Hope you are having a relaxing summer just like Missy and Seth!

grace and peace,
julie

Creative Fun for a Summer Afternoon

Our daughter enjoys watching shows like Cake Boss.  She would love to decorate cakes someday.  She sits around and designs cakes in her free time.  What is a wanna be cake decorator to do when she can't find any fondant to use for practice?  Hope took play dough and made roses.  I was impressed with her creativity as well as her flowers.  I now have many play dough flowers sitting on my side table as decorations.  I was pleased with her success.

grace and peace,
julie

Garden News

Forgive me for such a long pause since my last post.  I have been busy enjoying life!  (By the way, Happy 4th of July!  We celebrated last weekend in Kentucky with our family so I almost forgot today was the actual holiday)!  One aspect of life that I dearly enjoy is the garden, and our garden is doing very well this year.  I have had much loot from the flowers that I planted.  These flowers have resulted in endless smiles and bouquets for me.

These sunflowers just make me happy!  I have pitchers filled with happy sunflowers all over my house.

What other bounty from the garden are we enjoying?  Lots of zucchini and finally some yellow squash are showing up on our dinner table.  Our cucumbers are just starting to spit out one of life's finest summer treasures. (You can find one of my favorite ways to eat cucumbers here.   Just scan to the bottom of the post for the recipe).  We picked our first red cherry tomato last night.  Michael ate it, but he did find one more to share with me.  For just a minute, I was very unhappy with him.  Green onions are still abundant, and our okra is producing just a bit.  It hasn't  made enough for a meal yet, but soon enough we will have our fill of okra.  I also have baby cantaloupe along with  watermelon blooms.  Our green beans should be ready to pick some time this week.  The neighbor did share a 5 gallon bucket of his green beans so you can find me canning green beans this morning should you happen to need me.

And this will be my view from the stove...a beautiful  arrangement from our garden along with an English Mastiff thinking about her next adventure. 

grace and peace,
julie