Preparing For Summer

With only 1 day of school left (we have to go in on Wednesday, but the kids won't be there, so I'm not really counting it as a school day) I just can't stop thinking about the summer. It seems like every year the end of August rolls around and I think, "Man, I wish I wold have gotten more accomplished this summer!" or "I wish I had done more fun stuff!" Well this year is going to be different.

First of all, I've decided that this summer is a chance to play housewife. This is the first year that I've gotten year-round pay working at a school, so it's the first summer I don't have to take on a summer job. There are a few goals that I want to accomplish daily since I will have free time:

1. Wake up early! Early for me would be between 7 and 8. I am going to try to wake up early every day. I hate it when I sleep in late and feel like half of my day is wasted! That's not going to happen this summer. I think maybe I'll wake up with Luke and see him off to work in the morning. He would probably appreciate that :-)

2. I'm going to try more new recipes, and try to improve my cooking and baking skills with every opportunity I get. I kind of got a jump start on that tonight, because I fixed a new recipe for dinner. It came from Taste of Home's "Cooking for Two" magazine. I tried the Santa Fe Chicken and Rice:I was so thrilled with how it turned out! First of all, it actually looked like the picture. This never seems to happen for me, so I was excited! And it tasted pretty good, too! It was a little spicy, because I accidentally used medium salsa instead of mild. Which, I loved, but Luke doesn't like anything spicy. I will definitely save the recipe and re-make it later. Next time I'll use mild salsa, but I think Luke liked it this time even though it was a little spicy. It was so easy, too! So anyway, I'm really looking forward to having lots of spare time to cook and bake this summer!

3. I'm planning on making t0-do lists and schedules and sticking to them, using my household organizing binder. I want to accomplish a lot inside and outside my home. I will NOT let myself sit around when there are things to be done!

4. I want to stick to my "Read through the Bible in a year" plan. I've been doing it for a month now, and have been sticking to it! I want to begin every day in God's word.

5. Finally, I want to get in shape! I will either walk, run, ride my bike, or do SOME kind of exercise as often as possible.

Now for the fun stuff. I don't plan on working every free minute. I want to enjoy myself a little bit too! So here are my "fun" goals:

1. Every Monday my mom has off work. I'm looking forward to going out with her and my sister on a lot of Mondays. Next Monday, Mom and I are planning on driving up to Akron to pick my sister up and go to the Akron Zoo, and then do some serious shopping and possibly a movie :-)

2. Luke and I are planning on doing some fun, different things that we haven't done a lot of. We're going to make a to-do list of things we want to do together over the summer, and see if we can get them all done before school starts again. Some examples are: bike riding, trip to Cedar Point, trip to Amish country, hiking, drive-in movies (we got rained out last weekend!), etc.

3. I feel like this year has been extra stressful. Probably the most stressful year of my life because of so many changes! So this summer I'm making it a point to do something fun or relaxing EVERY DAY. It will be hard to think of different things to do every day. But it could be as simple as going thrift store shopping, taking a walk through a nature trail, going to the park to feed the ducks, visiting Julie at college, going to White House Farms and picking berries, going to a matinee with a friend, swimming at Mom and Dad's, having an at-home spa day with a friend, etc. You can see I've got lots of ideas already ;-)

4. Read, read, read. I can't wait to have lots of spare time to read! Of course, with all my other plans, I may not have too much spare time to read!

5. Reconnect with old friends. Last Thursday night when I went to Dunkin Donuts with some of my friends, I realized I really need to keep in touch with my girl friends. I've been hanging out with Luke and JC and all of their friends a lot, but that's just not the same as having close, GIRL friends. I want to spend a lot of time with them this summer.

Well, now that I've made some summer goals, I'm really ready for it to begin! It will officially begin at 1:00 on Wednesday. I'm so excited...last year the first half of my summer I was preoccupied with wedding plans, and the second half I was preoccupied with adjusting to married life. So I'm ready to have a pretty free summer this year.

Oh! Before I go I have to share some great news! I wrote the other day about how Luke and I are planning on saving up for a new camera. Well today Luke surprised me by saying that we have an extra $300 this month that isn't budgeted to anything yet. We decided to spend half of the money on the new camera, and save the other half. So tomorrow night after work, I will be meeting Luke at Wal Mart and we will be picking up this beauty:
Yay for a new camera! My Kodak Easyshare is just not cutting it anymore. I can't wait to get my hands on this baby and play with it all night tomorrow! It's going to be a pretty great day: last day of school with the kids (although I will miss them!) and then immediately picking up our new camera. And then we'll head over to the park (where Luke happens to work) for Luke's first church softball game. You better believe I'll be takin' some pictures there :-D

Have a great night...Happy early summer!