Snow Day!

Yippee! We woke up to the first snow of 2011! This was actually our second snow of the winter. Some of you may wonder what's the big deal...well, here in the southern part of North Carolina it is very unusual to get even one snow during the winter season. Last year we managed to get several measurable snowstorms. I wonder if our weather pattern is changing.



This was the view from my front porch this morning.



What does a young country girl do when it snows?



Doughnuts on a four wheeler! That was Carson's idea of fun.



My idea of fun was a little different. I kind of liked sitting by the fire drinking my coffee.



And when I got tired of that, I sat in the sunroom drinking my coffee.



Then, I did a little garden daydreaming.



After that, I heard the kitchen calling my name.



There is nothing like ending a snow day with a bowl of delicious mushroom and potato soup.



Snow days in the south are glorious! Since we are so unprepared for clearing the roads and sidewalks down here everything seems to stand still for a day or so...and that's not a bad thing. What do you do on snow days?

Summer Cool?

Summer cool? Wow, now that is an oxymoron! The heat is almost unbearable today. The girls and I spent the morning in Monroe at the doctor's office. They are both heading off to camp on Monday and Catie has been complaining of an earache. I wanted to have her checked out before she left to make sure everything was okay. Thankfully, the doctor was able to correct her problem and she is good to go!

When we returned home the heat and humidity was so high that I decided that the animals needed some fresh water. After about thirty minutes of watering the animals and the tomato and basil plants, I was dripping with sweat. I came directly into the house and slipped into something dry and cooler; and I have not been worth anything since. I don't know about you, but it seems that if I ever leave the house to run errands (especially in extreme heat), I am no good for the rest of the day.

I spotted the new Southern Living (a must read for any southern gal) and was intrigued by one of the cover titles. Summer cool.



I think I'll spend the rest of the afternoon in my artificially cool house reading it.



Although I love nature and the outdoors, today I am content to see it from here in my comfy sunroom.



Thankfully, it is shaded by several huge oak trees in the summer and the sun doesn't overpower it. Maybe in the summer I should call it the shaderoom. What do you think?
Do you find that out of the ordinary errands can disrupt your day and cause you to get sidetracked? Or am I the only one that has a problem with that?

Procrastination

Some of you out there in blog land may wonder why I have been missing-in-action lately. I wish I had some great excuse for my being absent from blogging for almost a week, but I don't. I have not been sick or on some wonderful exotic vacation. I have not even been really busy doing a lot of productive things. To tell the truth (and keep it real), I have just been procrastinating. There...now you know my dirty little secret. I am a terrible procrastinator!! I hate to admit it. I am even ashamed of it, however, it is the real me.

Last week, I went to take a picture for my blog and my camera card was full. Although I have been to the store a couple of times, I kept putting off buying a new card because I thought I had one already. The problem with that was that I could not, for the life of me, find the one that I thought I had. Has that ever happened to you? I searched for several days and could not find it. This little event actually brought another larger problem to the surface...my procrastination. Procrastination can be defined as the counterproductive deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Yep, that's me!

If you have been following my blog for any length of time you may remember some of my previous posts that show a house that is fairly neat.

For example...the post about my sunroom,


...or my bedroom.


And although my house is presentable most of the time, I have a couple of rooms that I would rather that no one see. One of those rooms is my storage room.


Several years ago when my husband built an addition on our home, he added a beautiful storage room. It was the perfect room. I loved it because he gave it plenty of shelves and it was big enough to house a Christmas tree fully decorated! It was the room of my dreams.


However, due to my procrastination, it has become a junk hole. It has even overflowed into the office that is adjacent to it.


I am so ashamed to show you this, but I do feel that it is necessary in order to be held accountable to someone for what I am about to do. I am going to put an end to this terrible procrastination and do something about this area of my house. I have been challenged by Maggie at The White Farmhouse to clean up my storage area. So here it goes...I am going to try the Flylady's technique of devoting a set time to work on it each day. I will set the timer for thirty minutes and work nonstop for that amount of time every day. I don't know how many days it will take, but I'll keep you posted! Hold me accountable! Don't let me give up!

"I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Even overcome procrastination!!

Sigh

You heard it...my sigh of relief. My last post explained how this was one of those weeks when things were so busy that I just wanted to get through it. Well, I am finally through it. After one of the busiest days I can ever remember, I am sitting on the sofa wondering how I ever got it all done.

With my piano recital scheduled for tonight, most of this week was spent readying the house and yard. Today there was so much to do that I didn't think I would get it all done. I spent the morning at Catie's awards ceremony, sang in a funeral this afternoon, and hosted a recital tonight. How's that for a busy day!

I couldn't have accomplished all of this without my wonderful family helping out. John worked super hard this week to finish putting out all of the mulch in the back yard. The girls pitched in on all of the house preparations, and my mom and dad came over to lend a hand. What would I do without all of them?


Mom and Dad stopped to pose for a quick picture after all of the work was done.


I rearranged the sunroom with all of the furniture facing the piano room for the recital.


With the sofa out of the way, it was easier to get a picture of the table along the back wall.



As you can see from this picture, it rained this evening so the reception had to be moved from the patio to the great room.



Thanks to mom's huge hydrangea, I had plenty of blooms to use throughout the house.




I only have several students this year, so the recital was very informal.


When I say informal, I really mean it. I just happened to look down at my own daughter's feet and noticed that she wasn't even wearing shoes!! I didn't mean for it to be that informal.


After all of John and Dad's work on the landscaping, we couldn't even use the patio for the refreshments.

Everything turned out perfect anyway. My students did a wonderful job and all of the guests really enjoyed themselves. I couldn't have asked for a better evening. Now, I think I will crawl into my soft bed and thank the Lord for blessing me with my wonderful family who helped me get through this busy week.

Favorite Rainy Day Spot

Another rainy day. It seems as though this winter has brought more cold, rainy, dreary days than any that I can remember. Today is another one of those. It is in the upper thirties. Usually, in our area, winter days are mostly mild, but not this year. I feel so blessed to have a room in my house that is sunny no matter what the outside weather. If anyone asked my husband or my girls which room is my favorite they would answer, "The sunroom, without a doubt." Everyone should have a place in their home that is cheerful and happy, a place to reflect and spend time with God. For me this is it. It overlooks my front yard with several bird feeders and our pond. I can sit and watch the birds for hours. We also have an otter that makes occasional visits to the pond to fish. I love to watch him dive and play in the water. I thank God every day for His blessings poured out on me. On this rainy, dreary day, I am especially thankful for my sunny room.