How to Clean Your House in 10 Minutes or Less

Gotcha, Amy! That heading was just for you! After you said how you hate those articles, I got to thinking how much I hate them, too! Yes, it would be impossible for me to clean my house in 10 minutes. Perhaps that time frame is possible for some people, one of whom might be my sister, but it is not possible for me. And yes, Sara is home! Yay!

The more I thought about this concept of cleaning one's house so quickly, the more I thought on how I'm not fast at all...on anything really. Maybe cleaning up from lunch takes 10 min, but the house? Phew! I have a monthly schedule for that! And I still can’t get it all in. Now Sara & my mama, on the other hand, inherited a gene called "Quick Carl." They can do just about anything quickly! I inherited my daddy's gene, which apparently is called "you think too much" because that is what she is always saying to us. O well. If there is a person who can sit and think... in my bed, in the living room chair, anywhere outside on a sunny afternoon, on the back porch, in the car. Oh yes, riding in the car is one of my much loved activities, which is akin to going on vacation. Part of the enjoyment for me is getting there. Anyway, if there's anyone who can sit and think...it's me. Well, I get it honest. It's quite a nice past time, really. In the Bible focused thinking is referred to as meditating, and many times, especially if I'm outside (which is also why I love the Smoky Mountains so much) I am meditating on God's creation. At home, I often meditate on the miracle of having a child in my care! What an amazing creation and awesome responsibility!


I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. (Psalm 143:5)
They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. (Psalm 145:5)

Give it a try, but remember to get back to work cleaning your house because it will not get done while you're sitting and thinking!

Trains, Planes and All We're Up To

Welcome home Sara! She flies in to Nashville tonight! Tomorrow is "Hey Day" where we get to spend some time with "Hey," Carter's nickname for her.

With school starting today, ZZ and lots of friends, both teachers & students, are on my mind. I hope everyone has had a good day, since its already dismissal time! I miss seeing them everyday, but I am thankful to be home with Carter. Being his mom & homemaker has been such a blessing in our lives. We wouldn't change a thing. Along with those thoughts, I wanted to share what we're doing. The Rutherford County school schedule seems like a good time to start Carter back into some old habits and establish some new ones. We've enjoyed being relatively unscheduled, save playdates, naps and meals. I want to take advantage of some of the free & inexpensive things Murfeesboro has to do. I never knew! We went to Barnes & Noble storytime today and met some people who we may see again on Wednesday at Barfield Crescent Park for Wild Things. Since the park is too hot (we could only take about 12 minutes today), we'll stick to classes for a while. Sports*Com and Patterson Park have some things to do, and we like going to Discovery Center, the Stones River Battlefield and visiting different places in town. We're also starting some more "sit-down" time I guess you can call it to learn shapes, colors, numbers & letters. I hope Carter enjoys it. He loves to learn new things.

So that's what we're doing. I must add from today that Carter loved the train table at Barnes & Noble! I excitedly sent Jimmy a text: datenight at B&N is back on! B&N is one of our favorite places to go after supper on a Friday night. I think Carter will enjoy the bookstore now as much as we do, for a different reason. He didn't want to leave, and before I knew it we had been there 45 minutes! We then ran into my Uncle Jerry at Arby's for lunch. So fun to see people we know out like that. Sorry, Aunt Susie, don't be too jealous. We can meet you one day (on purpose)! So after the post office, the park, a visit to Granny's house, storytime, playing with trains, and lunch out, he almost nodded off in the shopping cart at Kroger. We made it home for naptime, and I now have a good idea on what to stock up for Christmas...trains!

Late summer, where does it go?

I got a catalog that said Late Summer 2010, and I hear people saying that "s" word alot...school? Already? Macy and I were discussing the topic of where does the time go...and that was over a week ago! Where does the time go? Well, some of it goes to fun! Yes, there are also the days of working inside & out. However, this post is meant to serve as a reminder to me of the fun stuff we've done and answer the question, where has the summer gone?

My aunt, Aunt Big Sister, has invited us to swim with her, which is so much fun and has taken up more than a few days! I think she has made a point to see Carter no less than twice a month since he was born! She brought Granny to his band class this spring or came out here to visit or we went to her house. Carter loves her patio and fountain with rocks in it. (I realize some people don't know the origin of her name, and I love how she got it, well probably because I had something to do with it. She's my mom's older sister, so they all called her "Big Sister" growing up. When I came along, I thought that was her name, so I affectionately added "Aunt" thus you get the whole name, "Aunt Big Sister" and it stuck.) So thanks Aunt Big Sister for our fun relaxing days with you, especially when Jimmy is able to join us!

Another fun thing Carter enjoys is to visit Granny where we watch the firetrucks next door and the trucks, cars and bikes go by on Hwy 231. Watching traffic is quite entertaining and surprisingly relaxing, too. I just hope we never witness a crash. He has to check on the lawn mowers and garden out back before we leave.

Carter enjoys his Bobo & ZZ, Ben & "X" (Ben's girlfriend, Alexis, who Carter thinks belongs with him not Ben). We've been here and there with them, and sometimes they go with us swimming or we just hang out or shoot fireworks...well, that's for another time. For some of the best times,and if you haven't yet been to Lanes, Trains and Automobiles, grab some cash and go! It's so much fun!

Carter also enjoys seeing his Papa & Gram Gram. He's been over there where he loves to feed the birds, and we all enjoyed a good supper for Jimmy's birthday along with fireworks on July 4th!

It's been fun going to the Chattanooga Aquarium, Farmer's Market to get Mrs. Molly's strawberry jam, Miller's Grocery to hear the music and eat supper. Then back here, Carter enjoyed swimming with cousin Hayden. We also enjoyed Uncle Dave Macon Days and many nights just coming home to sit on the back porch and listen to the frogs and crickets.

So over all, late summer is welcome, we've been busy enjoying all the fun summer offers!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We love you!

Father's Day

Father's Day follows the very busy week of VBS. In case you don't realize, VBS is next to Christmas for us. That's why I didn't want Father's Day to slip up on me. I have been thinking for weeks for how to make Jimmy's day special so he knows how much I appreciate him. He really went all out for my combination Valentine's Day~ Birthday~ Anniversary package for our trip to Louisville on my birthday weekend. Mother's Day was sweet, too. He had Carter walk in to our room where I was getting ready and hand me a card with a gift card tucked inside. We celebrated with our moms that weekend, too.

A few weeks ago as I'm brainstorming how his gift and day should be something practical, useful, but something Jimmy wants, too, a thought seemed to be eluding me. What is it that keeps dancing in my head, but not making itself known? Then it occurs to me that I not only have him to think of, but I have a daddy, too! Wow...glad I was thinking on the subject for a while. The gifts, just so you know, were for Daddy Bobo (my dad) a Life is Good shirt, "Father Mows Best." He loves these, and I do, too. I just haven't found one I can't live without. (Future gift idea folks...hee hee!) I got Carter one with a soccer ball on it. He loves balls! For Jimmy I found a replacement electric razor, but included a Starbucks gift card to keep it fun. Jimmy prefers practical useful gifts. Yes, he actually was very happy about it! But that's not all. I wanted his whole day to be good.

I set my alarm for 5:45 a.m. to get up and get ready then make his favorite breakfast of biscuits, bacon & eggs. After church I made another favorite meal for lunch, eggplant parmesan with a side of pasta and sweet tea. Then I baked homemade chocolate chip cookies. (Thanks again, Jen, I'm forever indebted to you for sharing the recipe for these amazing cookies!) I had frozen some coffee in some ice cube trays to make frappucinos. This little snack tasted direct from Starbucks without using the gift card. So all that to say, Jimmy was a pretty happy dad. So happy in fact that in the course of conversation, I asked him, "So what did you do for your dad today?" He got sort of a sheepish look and replied, "What? Well in all this celebration for me I guess I kind of forgot about my own dad...Whoops!" We had a good laugh about that one, and I shared with him my thought process from a few weeks earlier about how I knew I had someone else to remember, but couldn't. I guess having your own child and spouse to think of and show appreciation for takes up quite a bit of time & energy. I'm just really glad Jimmy was enjoying himself; he certainly deserves it. I think he & his dad have lunch plans one day this week. Thanks to Jimmy, Daddy-Bobo and Papa Don for being great dads and granddads! We couldn't make it without you!

Fried Squash and VBS

Does life get any sweeter than fried squash from your garden and VBS? I didn't know it could...

We always sit Carter in his high chair with bib on before we prepare our plates at the stove and then sit down to eat. Tonight as we fixed our plates, we heard him jabbering, rather seriously, and looked over to see what he was doing. He had his head bowed and his hands folded to pray! He was saying the prayer for our supper! I just think that might be the cutest thing he's done yet. Saying "pleasies" for more vegetables last night was pretty cute, but the prayer tonight takes the cake! I'm thankful he's made the connection between fried squash & VBS.

Busy month of May

Wow! Is Memorial Day weekend already here? Where has the month of May gone? I realized it is almost over since "ZZ's" birthday is Thursday and then we have the School's Out Party Friday at Barfield Crescent Park! These have to be a couple of my favorite things marking the beginning to summer! Mama will have chocolate cake, and of course we love to hang out with them, but she will have chocolate cake. Oh, sorry did I already mention that? We also just love BCP (the park) and sharing a meal and spending time with friends there. By the way, Carter can go down all of the slides by himself now! This accomplishment is big to me because it wasn't 2 weeks ago that he wouldn't go down even the smallest one alone. He braved the twisty one all by himself today! He's growing up so fast!

The month has been so busy, and we have something planend everyday for the rest of it! I guess that is what makes time fly by! Jimmy & I celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary! Our friends from Orlando, Rachel and Paul, were in around the middle of the month to visit their Tennessee friends, and stayed with us a couple of days. It was Jill's 30th birthday. I was so sad to miss the big birthday celebration because I sprained my ankle on the day of the party. Jimmy helped me rest so I could be ready for our next big week--Sara was home!

We got to see her a few times, and she and I took one big shopping trip to load up for her next adventure--Honduras for 10 weeks! We have some great pictures from the park of Sara & Carter that may get posted by the end of summer since they went with her on her camera. We got to visit with Granny & Aunt Big Sister, and enjoyed getting to eat out a couple of times and then all together at Bobo and ZZ's house. Thanks to ZZ for giving me a pair of tennis shoes she didn't want anymore so I could manage to keep up. I think I owe it to those shoes because I have a full recovery! No more ankle pains!

With the new shoes I have found a rejuvenated spirit to exercise. I had started walking with my friend, Beth, and her son, who graciously share a pew with us on Sunday mornings, along with books, toys and cars to keep the boys occupied during service. Thanks Beth! We just happened to be at the park a few days at the same time, so we decided to start getting in a couple of laps. Well, I thought, I can manage the other 3 days a week on my own to get fit. Another friend shared with me about running in her driveway when her daughter was a baby to shed some pounds. She'd make a lap and check the baby monitor. Great idea! So, here I go outside yesterday at nap time. I laced up my "new" shoes, put on my IPod, propped the monitor in a chair by the garage and set out to do some laps. At some point I felt motivated to do jumping jacks...perhaps it was the shade by the garage or one of my favorite work-out songs. Just as I'm really getting into them I notice a red truck out of the corner of my eye coming up the drive. (I had felt safely out of sight of anyone up to this point!) It was the meter reader! Agh! Yikes! He saw me exercising! I could have crawled under a rock and died! I stopped abruptly and "fiddled" with the monitor out of the way while he checked the meter...oh my goodness...could that have taken any longer? Needless to say, I kind of lost my motivation by then. As he drove away, I managed to push my way through the rest of my playlist to get my time in. Thankfully our walk at the park this morning will count for today, and I still can't believe someone saw me working out! Isn't that the way it goes? Hopefully tomorrow I'll get back out there, but if you're coming to visit, call me first! Hahaha!