Fwd: [thesimple_life] What's your Summer Bucket List?

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Sheryl Simons <thesimple_life

thesimple_life

Sun, 5 Apr 2009 7:42 pm

[thesimple_life] What's your Summer Bucket List?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Simple Life

By Sheryl Simons

 

" The happier you are with the simple things, the easier it is to be

happy. "

 

" Spring is when life's alive in everything. " ~~ Christina Rossetti

 

" Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every

time we fail. " ~ ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

We were out raking some of the yard, burning some trash, and doing a

general yard clean up this weekend when I thought of an article I

skimmed over the other day. It was Martha's Spring Yard Clean-up Tips.

You can guess which Martha. It started out, " Call the Arborist to… "

Huh? The Arborist? She lost me. Honey, this is Michigan at the tail end

of a recession, we don't have money for arborists, and if we did, we

wouldn't call him anyways.

I guess Martha (don't get me wrong, I love watching Martha and learn a

lot from her) is not my kind of gardener. When it comes to working the

soil, it's just plain ol' us. Ain't nobody else going to be trimming my

trees, or planting my plants, or watering my flowers. That would be

taking away 99% of the fun. When it comes to working in the yard or

swinging in the hammock, I'll take the yard work anyday. Gardening is

fun! Planting those20seeds and watching them turn to small seedlings and

then into a flower, and then a small pepper or tomato is the whole fun!

It's the do-it-yourself in me that loves it so much. I couldn't get any

satisfaction out of watching someone else do it for me. Each piece of

" work " really isn't. It's another accomplishment. It just gives you

more to look forward to. Just like anything else, we were created to

enjoy the " work at hand " . So find what you like and get your hands

dirty, or find what your hobby is and do that. The more you practice,

the better you will get. No, you probably won't be great in the

beginning, but you will make mistakes, take a few falls, just like a

baby taking his first steps, but it will get easier, and easier. Dig in!

 

Summer Fun!

The older I get, the more I realize how important every minute is. I

won't waste another minute worrying over things that I can't do a thing

about. But what I can do, is make this the best gol darn summer EVER! I

will picnic and garden, and beach it, every chance I can. I will sit by

the campfire, go to yard sales, laugh with friends, give lots of hugs,

enjoy my job, keep on baking cookies, put up some fresh-from-the-garden

produce and jam. I will pick berries, go camping, water the garden,

pluck that first strawberry and find my favorite guy to share it with,

go to the dulcimer music festival, be thankful for every minute, go to 0D

a couple country fairs, and use lots of sunscreen because I plan to

enjoy every moment of sunshine possible. That's my " bucket list " for

summer. What's yours? Don't blink, it'll be gone!

 

Simple Oatmeal Cake

 

– everybody likes this so much, I wanted to repeat this recipe from a

couple years ago! Great for a pot luck, or the upcoming picnic weather.

Stir together:

1 c quick oats, 1-1/2 c boiling water

 

Set aside. Cream together: 1/2 c butter or oleo, 1 c light brown sugar,

1 c sugar, 2 eggs

 

Sift together: 1-1/3 c flour, 1/2 t baking soda, 1 t cinnamon

 

Add to cream mixture and oats. Bake in 350` degree oven in greased 9 X

13 cake pan.

Topping

On stove top mix: 1/2 c butter or margarine,1 c brown sugar, 1 c nuts,

1 c coconut, 5 T evaporated milk. Bring to boil till sugars melt. Pour

over cake, put under broiler till coconut is toasty.

 

Keeping it Simple,

Sheryl