Summer Manifesto Part 1



So I finally conquered my fear and grilled some corn for the first time last Friday.  I have never in my life shucked an ear of corn and for some reason I have been fearful of doing it. I can’t even recall seeing anyone in my family do it even though I grew up in the south and my family loved corn. I bought two ears of corn during a recent grocery trip thinking the whole time that if it doesn’t turn out I will have only wasted two. Even with them sitting in my refrigerator, I was scared to cook them.  It took almost a week for me to get up the nerve to do it. I have been collecting grilled corn recipes for years so finding a good recipe wasn’t even the issue. Ironically, I finally decided on a version from the recent issue of Healthy Cooking magazine despite all the ones I have collected.  

First, I shucked the corn and it turned out to be so simple that I can’t believe that I made such a big deal of it. All I had to do was pull up the husks and cut off the end. The ears I had barely had any silk on them so even that was simple. I put both ears on a double thickness of aluminum foil. The Healthy Cooking recipe calls for brushing olive oil along with garlic cloves on the ears and then adding a sprinkle of sugar. I improvised by brushing garlic powder along with the  olive oil as it is what I happened to have on hand along with a heavy handed sprinkling of Montreal Steak Seasoning and a pinch of sugar. As my family can tell you, if I grill it I usually put that seasoning on it. It always turns out great on anything you use it on. I especially like to use it on chicken and vegetables that I am grilling. The flavor is really robust as the seasoning is very coarse. The next thing I did was wrap each corn in its own packet and grill on high heat for about 15 minutes.

The result was delicious! The corn was the perfect consistency of crispy and tender. I plan to visit my local farmer’s market and stock up on some locally grown corn because I can only imagine how good this recipe will turn out when I use the best corn possible.  

One Summer Manifesto item successfully completed! Here’s to summer and trying new things! I would love to hear your grilling tips and summer eating ideas.

A Father's Day Tribute

I am a scrapbooker and have been for a long time. I love the idea of my words and pictures coming together in a special way that will be treasured long after I have left this earth. I used to consider my scrapbooking hobby and my writing to be completely separate pursuits. As I have matured as a writer though, I see them coming together more and more which has been an enlightening  journey  for me. My pictures inspire my writing and my writing inspires my pictures and other times the two just somehow immerge together like with this recent project I want to share with you.

I like to hang up scrapbook layouts which showcase my kids on their bedroom doors. I got the idea from my sister who got the idea from Stacy Julian who featured the idea in her book Photo Freedom which I highly recommend every scrapbooker read.  It works out well because kids love seeing themselves in the pictures and the creator gets to enjoy her newest creation before they go into an album. I had been sitting on all these pictures from my trip back in April to visit my Dad and Step-mom until this weekend when I had some extra time (still don’t know how that happened!). I was planning to work on a layout highlighting the activities of the trip when a theme presented itself- the love shared between my daughter Riley and her GrandPops. I knew that I didn’t want to work on anything else but a layout about them. The fact that it was Father’s Day weekend made this project even more meaningful for me as I was able to not only reflect on their love but on my love for my Dad as well.

I am happy with the way it turned it out and I hope that it inspires you in some way too. Making time for art in your life is about making time to explore your thoughts and feelings about the world. I find that it helps me to be a better mom and person when I am more connected with my feelings rather than denying them the time that they deserve. Once I give them some attention, I can move on. As my Dove chocolate wrapper so aptly describes it, “Renew your sense of discovery.” I would add “Renew your sense of self-discovery”.  

Journaling: I love to see Riley’s relationship with her GrandPops grow. I love the fact that we both share a special love for him. I love that their interactions are a window into my childhood with my Dad. It is easy to imagine what he and I must have looked like together when I was three. It is easy to hear the kindness with which he must have spoken to me. It is easy to see the patience he must have had with me. It is easy to see the gentleness with which he held me. It is so very easy to see why we both love him so!

Happy Father’s Day Dad! I love you!

A Cute and Kid-Friendly Craft Project

We made this lady bug brick paver this past week at a structured play group that we go to during the week. Apparently, it is a project that they do every year and I totally see why. I have to say I am a little obsessed over the cuteness of it! I am already thinking of other ones that I would like to make. I googled lady bug pavers and came up with all kinds of cute ideas for this project as well. You could make a snail, a turtle, or a bee with this same paver design. I have also seen a cat.

What I most love though is that it was something that my three year old and I were able to work on together. We painted the entire brick red with acrylic paint while we were at the play group. The bricks were then put out in the sun to dry while we continued with the play group activities. Afterwards, it was dry so I took it home to continue to work on it. During her nap I went over it again with red and painted the head black and the spots. After nap I showed it to her and she was so excited to see it completed. I have to say I was very impressed! It looks great out on our deck. I  love red and yellows as my deck colors and it fits right in and looks  cheerful. Let me know if you try this project or have done it in the past. I would love to hear about it!

I love Elmo

I was in the shower savoring some early morning peace and quiet before the chaos of the day began when Riley came storming into the bathroom with a confused look on her face. Her arms were shoved above her head in an odd manner and it was then that I realized that my almost four year old was struggling to get into one of the baby’s t-shirts which happened to be of Elmo. “Mom!” she exclaimed frustrated. “Look at this!” She then proceeded to make growling noises which I have to sheepishly admit she learned from me as I tend to do the same thing when I get frustrated.

I couldn’t help but laugh. I guess I had accidentally put it in her drawer when I was putting clothes away.  Just last week I had found some jean shorts for the baby in Riley’s drawer that  had been missing for weeks.  It was a good thing that she had not tried to squeeze herself into those. I made a mental note to begin working on having her put her own clothes away, but for now it sure was a humorous way to start our busy day. Once again, Elmo was good for a laugh. I love Elmo. I loved him when I was little and I love him now.

Posting Schedule

Just to let everyone know...I won't be writing as much during the month of June. I am the Vacation Bible School Director at my church and it will be held the last week of the month. Of course there are tons of things to do and since this is my first time doing it, there is even more to do. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding. Keep checking back with me though. I have really enjoyed our time together and I look forward to being more focused with my writing in July. In the meantime, I would welcome your thoughts and comments on any of my older posts. It is my goal to build a community with these posts where we can share our ideas. We are better together- always! God never meant for us to do this journey alone.

My Summer Manifesto

I recently visited one of my favorite blogs at http://aliedwards.com/ (excuse my ignorance here about how to create a link- I haven't learned how to do it yet!).  Ali focuses on everyday life but from a scrapbook perspective. Her website is a wonderfully fun collection of words and images focusing on celebrating your life and cultivating a creative spirit, two topics that really touch my heart.  Her work inspires me and encourages me to live life to the fullest by not only growing and challenging myself, but by appreciating and paying attention to those small but special everyday moments that often get overlooked in our hectic lives.

She posted a summer manifesto and I liked the idea so much that I decided to work on mine. I thought that with my oldest daughter’s first year of preschool coming to an end next week and our summer officially beginning,  now would be a good time to think about what I want our summer to look like and what I hope for all of us to get out of it. Perhaps my ideas will give you some as well.

My Summer Manifesto:

1.      Grow a tomato that tastes as close as possible to the fat, juicy ones that my Granddaddy used to grow so long ago.

2.      Make outside play time a priority.

3.      Visit new parks in the area that we haven’t checked out yet.

4.      Have picnics in our own front yard.

5.      Sit out on my front covered porch and enjoy watching a summer storm blow in.

6.      Enjoy the fireflies when they first come out at night.

7.      Make spontaneous ice cream runs as a family.

8.      Instigate “Spotlight Time” (I realize that this one needs some explaining. First of all my husband is a closet redneck. One of the things he loves the most about living on three acres in the country is the freedom to throw our watermelon rinds into the woods anytime he wants. He loves to shine a spotlight at night around our property and see what wildlife can be spotted or anything else interesting for that matter. The last time we did this we stood in the bed of our truck in our driveway and shone the light only to see a skunk walking around in our back yard. The sad thing is I didn’t even realize it was a skunk. He had to explain that they don’t all look like the cartoon character Pepe Le Pew. What can I say? Cheap fun and it would earn brownie points with him.)

9.      Read a novel in one of my favorite genres, young adult fiction, just because it is fun and makes me connect with myself as a teenager while bringing back old memories and dreams long ago forgotten.

10.  Check out our weekly kid craft time at the library.

11.  Actually play with the girls in the sandbox.

12.  Take the girls to the beach.

13.  Take the girls to the pool and forget about worrying what I look like in a bathing suit.

14.  Grill out often.

15.  Organize that neighborhood block party I keep talking about doing and everybody is sick of hearing me talk about doing.

16.  Take my oldest to the movies for the first time.

I feel like I could go on and on but the main thing I keep hearing in my head is to simply life this summer and to make time to have fun with my family. I want this summer to be one filled with happy memories, not items on my never ending “To Do” list. I would love to hear your comments on the subject as well. Will you join me in taking this challenge? Let’s make this summer one where enjoying our families is the priority, not just one of enduring all this extra time together since the kids are home from school.

The Power of the Pedi

I had a little mommy break the other day and it was AMAZING to say the least. I have had to start going to physical therapy twice a week now and because of that one of them is a late appointment in order for my husband to come home and take over for me to go. He was recently out of town for two weeks hence the reason that my blog postings haven’t been happening regularly lately. When he came home after his time away, we talked about my obvious need for a break. It didn’t take much convincing when the day he came home I went to bed at 7:30pm followed by a three hour nap the very next day. So it was decided that I would take the night off after my next appointment.

The appointment itself went really well which set the tone. I am beginning to feel stronger and my pain seems to be improving. I’m even breathing better. Afterwards I headed for a rare treat- a pedicure. I haven’t had one in so long. I opted for a more edgy purple color with sparkles that my daughter likes to call sprinkles. Every time I look down it reminds me that I need to take time to care for myself. Besides, I live in sandals and bare feet in the summer so it just makes sense. I used to do them for myself in my bk (before kids) days, but now it is rare to even take a bubble bath which used to be the perfect place and time to do them.

For me nothing says pampering like a pedicure. The very act feels indulgent. I love feeling the warm water on my tired feet. The sound of female laughter surrounds me and my writers mind loves overhearing the conversations. The candidness between two female strangers never ceases to amaze me in places like this. Somehow sitting beside another woman soaking your feet together makes it feel right to go deep and discuss anything and everything. I love the feeling of being taken care of for a change.  I catch snippets from talk shows- just enough to feel as if I am in the land of adults. I flip through the latest celebrity gossip magazines like I don’t have anywhere to be and nothing more important to be doing. The massage chair soothes as the vibration goes up and down my back.

I should do this more often. But I don’t. I should become someone they know by name. Maybe I will. For now, I will appreciate this moment and drink it up like I plan to drink that strawberry pineapple smoothie which will be my next stop on my way-too-brief mommy break tour.