Queen of the Castle: Week 21

For those of you playing along...(if you've just joined us you can get caught up a bit here) we are on week 20 of the book Queen of the Castle: 52 weeks of encouragement for the uninspired, domestically challenged or just plain tired homemaker.

Chapter 21 is "Warm Weather Homemaking". "You wake up in the morning planning to catch up on laundry, change the sheets, and make a fancy dinner. But when you look out the window, you find it's a gorgeous, sun-filled day. What do you do?", asks the author. She has a lot of great advice. "Take time to wander amond the flowerbeds or push your children on the swings. Sit in the grass and paint your toenails or spread out a blanket and read to the kids", she suggests. I suggest you do both! You know, multi-tasking! ; ) "You can sit at the picnic table and pay bills while the kiddos play." The ideas are unlimited!

Lynn, the author, also has some snack ideas such as grapes, lemonade frozen in plastic cups, smoothies, etc. They all sound very yummy and summery to me!!

She gives some tips on line drying clothes, one of my greatest memories as a child, helping my mom at the line, the clean smell of line dried clothes. Snniiiffff!! Can you smell it?! These days I can't line dry much, we have horses to the west of us near the clothesline and our girls are allergic to anything with fur. I've tried line drying and it's not a great idea here, trust me.

May is National Salad Month! Did you know that?! I betcha didn't. That's o.k., I didn't either. She gives some great salad ideas and some salad dressing ideas. May is also Fungal Infection Awareness Month. Glad she didn't share tips for that one, huh?! ; )

I'll leave you with this great warm-weather homemaking idea:

Make a pitcher of sun tea. Fill a clear glass pitcher (or jar) with water, drop in a few tea bags, cover with plastic, and a place in full sun for an hour or two. When it's strong enough, take inside and pour over ice.