When the slate is clean!

I awoke today with such a sense of freedom. For the first time in months, I don't have any major event or project hanging over my head. While there are plenty of items on my "To Do" list, none have any looming deadline attached. That, my friend, is a very good thing.

Christopher's graduation day was amazingly wonderful. I'll share more about it this week. All the extra work and stress of the past couple of months resulted in more than one joyful and memorable event (or produced the money needed as in working full time at the bookstore at the end of the semester).

Today I need to make out a grocery list for our "stock up" days, most likely tomorrow and Wednesday. I don't have much wiggle room in the food budget this month so I've set aside only $20.00 (for now) to use for deepening the pantry. I'll peruse the sales brochures for the grocery stores to see if there are any deep discounts (like I found last month). If there are none in the foods I use often, I'll probably purchase a container of canola oil, one container of coffee, my favorite herbal tea (still at a great price at Target), and perhaps Seventh Generation dish washing liquid.

Either that or I'll order a few bottles of my favorite Mrs. Meyers dish washing liquid, just to have a nice selection of aromas as I stand over the hot suds! Since I get such a great price on the Seventh Generation at Target, Mrs. Meyers is half again as expensive. However, it is so concentrated that I use much less so it comes out fairly even in cost. So, why not save money and use something like Dawn? I spend a lot of time doing dishes and I like the fact these products are environmentally friendly (to me especially) and the aromas make me happy... even when doing dishes. They say you can't buy happiness, "they" haven't been at the sink over hot, sudsy water late in the evening. :)

I'm heading out to my front porch now to read a few Psalms, a chapter of the Elizabeth George Proverbs 31 book, write a grocery list, and perhaps adding to my scrapbook journal... especially a list of project ideas I want to work on this summer. I can see an hour or so of reading when the daily "to do's" have been marked off.

I may begin baking to stock the freezer today, while the weather is only warm (it can get hot quickly). I know I'm going to peruse my two Marcia Adams Amish cookbooks and perhaps my Mennonite cookbook (which was a gift from us to my mother-in-law long ago). There are already a couple of recipes I want to try from the Amish cooking brochures I brought home from Lancaster county.

It sounds like a full day already but it is full of my choices and on my schedule. I can feel the tension easing already. :)

Picture: Spring Front Porch; allposters.com