Surviving and Thriving the Summer
It’s been a whirlwind of activity here so far this summer. Between fanning myself and trying to figure out ways not to cook, I have been busy!
If you’re new here then let me introduce myself. I am Lisa and I live in Texas where it is approximately 143° in the summer. Therefore, I complain about it from June through August and sometimes a little into September, depending on the temps. I don’t like to sweat and the excessive heat makes me feel nauseated.
But I love Texas and will never, unless Jesus tells me to Himself, move anywhere else.
I do have some tricks to make the summer more tolerable. Like the not cooking thing. I try not to heat up the house by baking potatoes or simmering soup. We use the crockpot in the utility room or the toaster oven instead of the big over if we can. Or if I have to cook I do it in the mornings before it’s so hot that the house won’t cool down again.
Also, we use fans like crazy people with several in each room and individual personal fans for each person. I walk around the house with one or two on me at all times. So if you visit us and wonder why there’s a slight buzz all the time….just lean close and feel the breeze baby.
I also like to spend as much time being wet as possible. The cool water on my hot skin makes me feel at least 20° cooler, making it seem like a lovely 123° if I’m lucky. Some mornings we swim in our pool, which is above ground and so, so wonderful. Sure it’s a little bit hillbilly, but then we also have a car up on jacks in the backyard and 7 cats, so it fits right in. When we have extra time we pop down to the river and swim there instead. We live right across the street from the river and our equally hillbilly neighbors don’t care at all if we trespass on their property to take a dip in God’s swimming hole. It’s all shady and cool and the best way to spend a Texas afternoon.
I do, however, add some Purification essential oil to the wash load after we’ve been to the river. Ya never know what’s in that water. One day last week I accidentally left some river swimming clothes in my shower and that was not a good idea. I couldn’t figure out why my bathroom smelled like a swamp. I washed those clothes twice then hung them on the line for the sun to do its magic. And Purification is THE oil you want to have around in the summer. It’s great not only for odors, but for those evenings when you’re out with the critters or after they’ve taken a few nibbles of your skin.
This summer I plan to spend a lot of one-on-one time with the kids. We are taking a school break and everyone here is thrilled. This is the first summer my kids can remember that they can do pretty much whatever they want all day long. Sure, they still have to do their chores and we do have some small cleanup projects planned, but overall their time is their own to do what they like. I did tell them that since we weren’t doing school they each had to make 3 goals for the summer. A physical goal, a mental goal and a spiritual goal. It didn’t have to be anything too challenging….just something to work on over the summer. My older 2 (can you believe I only have 3 school age kids now?!) plan to read 3 books each month, workout with their dad each night and they’ve made some Bible memorization plans. But Levi, my youngest….he is a little more driven. At least in the mental and spiritual areas. He told me, “Mom, I have made my summer goals.” OK, go ahead son and tell me what they are.
“I plan to memorize the Periodic Table and learn what each thing means (mental goal), Read the Bible every day and memorize 10 verses (spiritual goal) and be able to do 5 pushups.”
I suggested upping the pushups goal to 10, which he wasn’t too thrilled about but agreed to try.
So far this week he has already asked me a half dozen questions that make me wonder why I think I can homeschool this child. “Mom, what’s boron and what does it do?” I don’t know. “Hey Mom, how do you pronounce R-A-D-I-I?” I have no idea. “What is the difference between an atom and an electron?” Son, I will be handing your education over to your father from now on. I’ll be in the river until dinner time when we will have cold sandwiches and carrot sticks.
I made some summer goals of my own and they don’t include electrons or radii.
With my 6th child graduating from high school this year I am painfully aware of how quickly time flies and I don’t want to miss these last 3 growing up so I am planning a slow summer. We have been sitting and talking a lot and doing some straightening of a few closets and drawers. After getting back from the Young Living Convention last week, all I want to do is lie around with them or swim and talk. They tell me their ideas and I smile and say how smart they are. That’s my entire plan for the summer.
And trying to keep cool.
What are your summer goals??? Hop over to Facebook and share your brilliant summer ideas!