Happy to See This!

Happy to see this new article, Into the World, in Missions Mosaic.

It has been a whirlwind summer!

Selling our home, moving into an RV, fixing the RV set-up, sorting belongings, giving away stuff, acclimatizing the kitties to living in said RV, learning how to cook in an RV, . . .

The list is much longer, but just that much lets you know why I have been lost in cyberspace.

On to fall. The dust is settling, and in just a few more days, we will have only 1 home to care for.

Writing is back on the menu, boys! (Can you name that movie reference? Comment below!)

Into the World

Here is something I'm happy to see, rewards from past labors. I love this magazine, Missions Mosaic, and am honored to write for Woman's Missionary Union in several different areas.

You might want to check them out here.

Missions Mosaic

Happy reading!

Back to the chaos.

Summer Fun & Beat the Heat ~ Kids in Water

Nothing beats the summer heat like a wading pool and sensory table filled with cold water. Ok, maybe a deeper pool would help those standing over 3 feet tall.

Splashing,

Drying,

Wading,

Posing,

Pouring,

Drinking,

Lounging...

Water. It's the deal.

I once exclaimed to a child, "Hey, what's the deal?" when said child was doing something questionable.

Pause.

"What's a deal?"

Water is the real deal for the summer. Get some.

Staying Cool Fun at Nana's

Staying cool at Nana's incorporates several strategies. These are especially important since Nana is most of the time overheated anyway, regardless of record shattering temps.

Play and rock inside the cool living room. Ceiling fan on, AC on, shades at half mast to keep out the morning sun. Check.

Play and help your younger cousin go for a ride on the tricycle. Outside time in the morning, lots of shade under the patio for the driving loop, plenty of liquid to drink. Check.

Play in the patio shade with waterproof toy foods and dishes. Water the plants, splash the water, make up some tasty foods, put up tent for more shade. Check.

Play and have fun. Driving, cooking, splashing, swinging, pushing . . .

Always revert to water table to get wet. Check.

The Pool

I love freebies.

This summer, we have been plagued by heat.

Long, sweaty stretches of heat. Miserable heat.

Usually, the grands and I break out the little plastic wading pool. The three of us barely fit anymore, which is just as well. Since it bit the dust. We had one good use early on, then crack. A goner.

Enter said friend from the post yesterday about getting a free book. While on a rubber stamping trip to her home, she remembered that she had a pool.

An inflatable, bigger, deeper, plastic pool. For free.

Granted there were no guarantees on seaworthiness. But it was worth a try.

After picking off snails and earwigs (it was in storage, after all, in a damp climate), I popped it in the trunk. Upon arriving home, we spread it out to dry and wait for the grands to appear.

Oh, joy! A POOL.

Totally excited, they didn't care if we needed to add dish soap to help scrub the bottom while playing. Actually, I almost lost the whole bottle of concentrated Dawn when the younger decided to help speed things along.

The pool, large enough for even Papa to join us, works perfectly! Well, the sprayer umbrella thing is broken, but since sister is afraid of it, no biggy.

Summer, I can actually bear your heat.

I can even do some gardening. As long as I am in my Nana swimsuit and can take cool-off breaks, it's all good.

Thanks, friend.

Ice is a Great Way to Cool Off in Summer Heat

This is a fine way to entertain and cool off during summer heat - a great 2-fer-1 deal!

Ingredients: plastic tub, water, food coloring, freezer

Fill a plastic tub at least 2/3 full with water. Add swirls of food coloring. Freeze. Ours froze with weird lines, but I found out the lines corresponded with the rungs on the freezer shelves.

First we played with the ice in the tub.

Then we dumped out the ice and played.

Next we added water to the ice to see what happened (different color for a different day).

Finally we smashed the ice to smithereens.

Can't beat this cheap activity!

PS There was minimal staining on hands from food coloring. It didn't even last the entire activity.

Scream Door

We have a scream door!

Remember mom (or myself at my own children and the assortment of their friends and pets) yelling, "Shut the screen door?" Scream door may fit better than screen door.

The sounds of our new screen door slamming brings back so many summer memories! Just the noise alone should scare off the flies and outdoor pests trying to gain entry into the food and cool zone. But the banging sounds like summers past...kids in and out. Cat and dog in and out. And in and out.

But we finally have a screen door. My honey worked several hours to attach an old-fashioned wooden screen door to our, as we discovered, odd sized back door. Good thing the screen door frame is wooden. He had to shave several inches off of the top and bottom to make it fit. He was so careful to match the hinges and hooks to the illustrations. So what if the inside handle is at knee level (otherwise it hits the regular door handle and they won't close). It is great for the cooling of our home. We can even hear the fountain on our patio through the scream door.

And then he tried to open it.

Crash.

Duh! Only on our porch would there be a weird 1 x 2 about a foot from the door along the patio ceiling. Uhm. Only skinny people need try the screen door. Haha!

Now our screen door has a lovely cove corner on one side. And it still hits, but we can also use the 1 x 2 as a door stop when unloading the car. So there, weirdly placed 1 x 2. Take that!

Gotta go open the scream door. It's getting hot.