Summer Things

Mint Syrup:

A new summer tradition (well, 2 years in a row) is to plant mint, make plenty of mint syrup, and let Nathan make me a mojito in the evening.

It's a pretty easy recipe:

1 cup fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup to 1 cup suger depending on how sweet you want it

1 cup water

Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes and smash the mint leaves with a wooden spoon as it simmers.  

My mint plant is pretty scrawny right now, but I know they tend to take over wherever they're planted.  One plant usually gives us plenty of mint leaves to feed us mojitos all summer. :)

Fluffy Stuff:

It's like making snow balls in the summer.

2 boxes of corn starch
1 can of shaving cream
Mix it in a big bowl with your hands.  It holds together well enough to form into balls, but once you throw them they bust apart.  We just saved ours in a gallon size bag and they're reusing again today.  We may add another can of shaving cream to it to see what that does.

They got nice and messy and then played in the water afterward.  Perfect.

Other summer things we've done:

Anne of Green Gables - this is an abridged version that is perfect for the girls.  I've been reading it to the 9, 7, and 5-hr-old, and they love it. They laugh at how dramatic Anne is.  I think we're about to cry though.  Matthew's heart isn't doing well. :(

Library - summer reading program (got a sticker in our book)

Sam's - Not so fun, but necessary

Mowed the lawn - I've realized I can ask Claire to make pbj, ask Riley to get out the black bean salsa, invite the girls to eat their lunch, and run out and mow the lawn real fast.
I mowed the back yesterday while they played in the "fluff stuff", and mowed the front lawn today, while they probably ate too many chips.  It made me happy though.

Not sanding - Just priming.  It was so depressing on Monday when I decided to tackle some sanding.  I stepped out to the garage, found my little piece of 220 grit, shoved it into the groove with my fingernails and went at it.
30 seconds into it, the screaming in the house became too much.  And the next 7 minutes was me going back and forth 13 times, sanding until my fingertips got hot and running inside to see who was killing who.
It only took those 7 minutes, and I said to myself, "Amanda.  This was not meant to be."  My cabinets were not meant to be fully sanded.

To further convince myself that I should quit, I did the math and concluded that if I hand sanded the grooved perimeter of all 12 doors, that would be 1,248 inches of blasted, depressing sanding.

I fingernail picked the bad parts and started priming, and immediately felt my depression leaving me and my joy returning. :)

After all that, I decided not to exercise.  Wherefore the rather brethren, I ate a piece of leftover mocha cake and watched an episode of Call the Midwife during Lola's nap.  It was a good day.

And by the way, season 1 is on Netflix, and season 2 of Call the Midwife is on the pbs.org website until June 16th.  Watch it while you can!