Finding A Sweet Spot

Last year, on a whim, we left one campground for another while following my little brothers around. One was visiting from SoCal and we wanted as much time with him, and with my other brother, as we could have. We went to the basic area they had in mind -- and discovered one of the best camping spots we have ever found.

We have since referred to it as “The Sweet Spot”

That’s where we are supposed to be this week if it weren’t for the gosh-dawg weather.

I can’t always be gallivanting about, but I do have Sweet Spots here and there around our home and property, that I can enjoy most every day. Some of them are areas where I have put things I love and provided with chairs and what-not (don’t you love when people use the word “what-not”? Once, when we were at a campground listening to a ranger give a talk, we counted how many times he said “what-not” and it was over 20! So I am using it here just for my enjoyment!).

There are other areas I love even passing by or walking to and sitting on the ground, or just standing and taking in the view and what-not.

View from my new Morning Sweet Spot

This morning I sat in a newly created Sweet Spot. Outside. Because my favorite Sweet Spots are usually outside. It was somewhat brisk, so I wore my (husband’s grandfather’s) old wool shirt over my pj’s and had a blanket (crocheted by my late step-grandmother) around me.

Someone gave us the table when they were moving, and I spray painted it lime green. Someone else who was moving gave us the cute Indian Blue papasan lawn chairs. They really are too low for this table, but I rarely read or use my computer on a tabletop anyway. I just need a place to set my books and coffee.

The pile of books I am currently working on

I found the quaint tablecloth for ten dollars. I love birds. Embroidered birds are especially sweet. And I think I mentioned that I have been falling in love with old linens. I was just thinking of how I wished I had one I love for that table and, out-of-the-blue, on an unexpected side trip from taking my son to lunch on Saturday, I found it – the perfect size and practically custom made to my preferences.

Each little piece of this spot has it’s own story – bought at the beach, love the size and shape, found at the GW and works great for this or that – but my post would be too long and boring if I told you all about each of them.

Today I even had my own special soundtrack. These two boys were having a crow-off.

You can see who got the girls…

I was rewarded for getting up early by this gorgeous, naturally framed sunrise behind my left shoulder…

And by getting a glimpse of this little volunteer who has been trying to bloom for weeks.

Being a morning person has it’s perks

I love that, no matter what our lack of budget, we can create little spaces that are our own, where the things we place there help us relax, breathe in the good things in life and reflect on sweet memories.

Where we love to be.

I hope that today you can find your very own Sweet Spot… and what-not. Enjoy your view!

Happy Labor Day!

Melon+Collie=

This is how I feel today.

Get it?




When I am melancholy, it is time to apply the "mantra" I heard from Gregg Harris at a homeschool conference and brought home about 5 years ago. As a family "we" have adopted it as a way worth living our lives. I have repeated it to countless friends and I am about to read the book his sons wrote on the topic for teens (really, I am. It is on my reading list and my virtual shelf, right?).



Do Hard Things? Today? I don't wanna.

When I am feeling low and just want to crawl back into bed, I usually analyze myself for hours at a time. Why am I feeling like this? At "my" age, I suppose it could be hormones, being low in iron, wakeful night-times catching up to me, something's unsettled in my spirit or with a relationship... The possibilities are endless.

I really don't feel like getting the house ready for company. I REALLY don't feel like "riding herd" on the kids to do work. I am tired.

I really don't feel like doing reading with my daughter out of the same reading book I've used for the four before her, saying it slow and saying it fast, sounding out the words and hearing the same silly stories I've been hearing for the past 13 years. I really don't. I don't want to hear her read the word hunting just fine then get stuck on the word at.

Or listen to my sweet 8 year old trying so hard to do it right so he overemphasizes emotion in his voice that is reflective of the punctuation of the story he is reading. So when it says "We better hurry!", he reads it like the whole town is afire by inflection and volume. WE BETTER HURRY!!!! I appreciate his heart in this and see how precious it is that he tries so hard. And I want to want to sit with him. But today I don't.

Let's not even talk about junior high and high school math that needs my attention. I will definitely raise the Star Trek wall and there will be no putting it back down today. Subject closed.

I don't want to unearth the buffet, recently having become a dumping ground (why, after 7 years of no dumping, I do not know). Nor do I want to face the pile of mail or spot clean the carpet. This is just the visible-to-company stuff. Not to mention all of the other projects that nag at me continually that I can't seem to make a dent in.

Here I can launch into all of the "I'm a Holy Wife and Mother" reasons why all of this will be a blessing to my family and how encouraging that should be to me. Or how I am sure that by tonight I will be so glad I did. Or I can spend some more time analyzing why I am feeling this way.

But what it all boils down to is... when I say the words "do hard things", it isn't just for those days when I purposely take on an extra challenge like walking to the blinking light and back with a baby on my back or in a stroller (3 miles of hills), or those hard things forced upon us by necessity like tracking down a cow and calf over the countryside and trying to get them a mile back up the road and into a stall.

For ladies like you and me, it is just as much, if not more, about these day to day "I don't feel like it" moments and days. !!!

So here I go. I am sticking my chin out and letting my strong stubborn side prevail for good.

Here I go to DO HARD THINGS. 1....2....3....