This time of year, a lot of people are thinking about cleaning.  Not just a quick, surface clean but a deep clean.  They want their house to be really clean through and through!  And some people think about cleaning themselves on the inside with a colon cleanse or some type of detoxifying cleanse.  They don’t want to be clean just on the outside but on the inside, too.

It’s such an exciting time when a new baby is born in the family.  I know first hand because our second grandson was born a little over a month ago.  His older brother was born 21 months earlier.  The whole family was elated and friends and relatives wanted to know the news and how much the baby weighed, what was the weight, etc.  And what better way to share about the birth than with some stylish birth announcements.

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#1. Do you celebrate Memorial Day with a picnic, cookout, road trip or some other way?

The past couple of years, we have taken a road trip.  This year, we might have hamburgers &/or hot dogs.
#2. What are staples at your summer time cookouts?

Just the usual things that go with hamburgers or hot dogs.
#3. What drink do you find most refreshing on a hot summer day?

Iced tea.  What’s really good is to buy a bag of crushed ice from Sonic or someplace, and have iced tea over crushed ice!
#4. Share a recipe for a picnic side dish.

My family doesn’t care for potato salad or cole slaw, so it would be beans.  A friend fixed some delicious beans:  1/2 pinto beans & 1/2 black beans seasoned with Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix and Liquid Smoke.

This is a fun birthday party to have at home.  These are pictures from our son’s birthday party several years ago.  My daughter and I had so much fun planning it.  The party can cost as little or as much as you want it to.  If you’re cutting costs, you can find party items at Dollar General and Walmart.  Here are some ideas:

• Make the birthday cake.  Decorate with blue frosting for the water and with light brown frosting  for the sand.  (Mix yellow, blue, and red food colorings a little at a time until you get the light brown color.)  Put little paper umbrellas like you get at a party store on the brown beach.  Also, look for little plastic trees in the cake decorating section of a craft store.  Make beach towels out of different colors of frosting.
• Serve fish crackers for a salty snack.
• Buy leis at either Walmart  where I saw some for 88c each or at Dollar Tree.  Buy one for each child.
• Play “Put the Coconut on the Coconut Tree” instead of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”  Make a large coconut tree out of construction paper to tape onto the door.  Make coconuts out of brown construction paper.  Blindfold child.  Spin them around two or three times.  Then let them try to tape the coconut onto the coconut tree.
• Play the Limbo Game.
  
• Cover small boxes with gold wrapping paper to make a treasure chest for each child.  Put party prizes in these.
  

When warmer weather gets here, people invariably start thinking about exercising more, taking weight loss pills, and losing those unwanted pounds gained during the holidays.  The older people get, though, the harder it is to lose those extra pounds.  Sometimes it’s a hormonal imbalance that causes weight gain.  I know that happened with me, but now that I’m taking natural, compounded progesterone by prescription, I don’t have the problem I used to with not being able to lose weight.  Check with a doctor before taking anything.

It’s been a crazy week for me and a lot of other people as well.  First, I was sick on Mother’s Day with a stomach virus, and so I didn’t get to wear my corsage to church and go out to eat afterwards.  That really stunk!  But I did get to wear the corsage on Thursday and go out to eat for a belated Mother’s Day dinner.

It took longer than usual to get my energy back from that nasty virus, and I ran a fever for a couple of days on Sunday and Monday.  Then, I did substitute teaching on Thursday and Friday.  Also, we’ve been getting things ready for a senior banquet and other senior activities this weekend, so my poor blog has been greatly neglected this week.   I have a cool smoothie recipe I want to post soon, so maybe tomorrow or Monday you’ll be seeing that.  For now, hope everyone has a great weekend!