This weekend we’re off on a camping trip with some friends from church.  Aside from feeling like I have to pack everything and the kitchen sink…I do enjoy camping.  Once a year or so.  And in nice weather. 

Thankfully it’s going to be perfect weather this weekend!  And…we decided that since we have it, we might as well take our concession trailer.  We’ll have to sleep on the floor since of course it’s a concession trailer, not a camping trailer, but we figure it’s not much different from sleeping on the ground in a tent, right?  AND…a concession trailer has a refrigerator, a stove and a sink!  See…I am packing everything and the kitchen sink!!!  Oh, yea for me.  I can do dishes while I’m camping instead of bringing all home dirty to do when I get home!

So, think of us while we’re out enjoying nature and eating hotdogs and Doritos.  (We are camping after all.)  Hey, I packed grapes too…  :) 

Do you like to go camping?  What kind of camping do you like to do?  (If you’re a Holiday Inn kind of camper, I’d like to know about that too!)

Remember how the baseball game we traveled to got rained out and how we had to stay an extra night…and how that gave me extra time to GO SHOPPING at an outlet mall that was close by? 

It ended up not being that great of an outlet mall…but it did provide a couple hours of fun bargain shopping…and I got a pair of black slacks for a good price that I think will actually fit me well!  (I come across pants that fit well about once every 3.7 years.) 

Anyway…I do love shopping, even though I don’t really do it very often.  When I do go shopping though…the fun parts for me include finding awesome sales in which I can buy cute clothes for incredibly cheap prices.  Like Old Navy jeans for $3.99.  Or a sweater from Kohls for $6.99.  Oooh, now THAT’S fun shopping!

So, how about you?  Do you like to shop?  What do you like to shop for?  Where are your favorite places to shop?  

Come now…tell me all your shopping secrets! 

We arrived home from our fun baseball trip Friday afternoon…just in time for me to do laundry and give the boys showers and send them all off for Dads-n-Lads, a yearly retreat for dads and sons.  (Don’t ask me why I felt I’d better give them showers before going to camp for the weekend.  Like they need to be clean to go camping?)

The boys have been SO EXCITED about this trip for weeks, and who can blame them?  A whole weekend with all boys doing all the things boys like to do best.  With their daddys!!

So here I am…in my very quiet house.  A house, I might add, that has stayed clean for longer than five minutes at a time.  It really is quite a treat, but I’m not sure how long I can stand it.  I MISS my boys and their daddy!

However until Sunday afternoon, I have some bigs plans for myself in this big ol’ quiet house.  I plan to not go anywhere if I can help it.  I plan to eat whatever I want whenever I want.  I plan to watch a chic flick or two.  AND, I plan to sit here at my computer working on two ebooks that have been in the works for a while.  With no interruptions.  What in the world might that be like?! 

So my question for you today is…if you had a weekend all to yourself with no obligations and no responsibilities…what would you do?!

Ooh, I can’t wait to read your answers!

Just so you know…even though we all know junk food is terrible for you (and I go on and on about how and why to eat real food)…there are still some things that I love and indulge in every once in a while.  Like Nacho Cheese Doritos…and Hot Tamales…and Whoppers.

They’re horrible…and I know that…and I don’t eat them much because I know better.  But sometimes I just want something naughty.  Because I do.  And I wish I didn’t, but I do.  Hmph.

So, leave a comment and tell me what your favorite naughty foods are. 

And then let’s everybody go eat a carrot.

Here’s what I’ve been thinking. 

You know that we’re beginning to get busy with soccer season.  You know that I’ve been gardening and freezing and canning fruits and veggies.  You know that I have a new baby nephew.  You know that we started school and that we’re off to a good start.

Now I want to know a bit more about what YOU’VE been doing lately.  Leave a comment and tell me something like:

“Laura…I recently just bought a new pair of tennis shoes.  They are blue and gray.  We took a short trip to a nearby theme park last week and my son threw up in the back seat of our mini van on the way home.  This Wednesday, I baked an upside down blueberry angel food cake and it’s super tasty.  Tomorrow we’re headed to my in-law’s house for a birthday celebration.  I think I’ll wear my new tennis shoes.”

See, because if you’ve been hanging out here for a while, I like knowing what’s been going on with you lately.  And if you’re fairly new to this site, I like getting to know you better. 

So, share!  Share!  Whatever interesting (or mundane) information about your life that you’d like.  I’d love to hear about it!  (In fact, we’d all like to hear about it, right?)

I’m not a big movie watcher…and rarely do I think a movie is worth watching more than once.

My one exception is the movie, “Return To Me”.  I thought that movie was so sweet that I watched it back to back to back when I borrowed it from my friend a couple of years ago.  So if someone were to ask what my favorite movie is…I’d have to answer, “Return to Me”. 

So if someone (like ME) were to ask you what your favorite movie is…what would you say?!

With SO MANY great fresh fruits and veggies available this time of year…it’s hard not to get excited! 

I think my favorite is a peach.  Or corn on the cob.  Oh, or fresh tomatoes. 

Okay, I can’t decide.

What’s your favorite!?

My question for you this week is coupled with Frugal Friday…because it has to do with money…MOOLA…the green stuff!

And kids.

Our oldest son, Asa age 11), has been able to earn money this summer working with us in two of our family businesses.  He works a little at our shaved ice trailer, and he helps Matt mow the lawn at the storage units that we own.  Asa’s been loving the responsibility…and his growing savings account!

He’s been learning more about money management, giving and saving…and it’s been great for him. 

We’d love to come up with more great ideas for our other kids (ages 8 and 6) to earn a little money too.  (We figure maybe the three year old doesn’t need an income yet.)  It’s not too big a deal…but it’s kind of fun for them to learn how to work hard and see some returns for their labor.  (The tooth fairy just can only come every so often, you know?)

So, I’m curious…

What are some of the ways you earned money as a kid?  What do your kids do to earn a little money?  What are your opinions about paying your kids to work around your own house?  What do you think about giving kids allowance?

I am just oh, so curious…

It was so much fun to read your answers last week about what you loved reading as a child.  Wow, are there some great books out there or what?!

Thinking about books I loved to read made me think about the toys I loved to play with.  I was TOTALLY into everything girly….and well….I LOVED dolls.  I got a new doll for Christmas every year (until I got married)..and I played with them all…forever.  Oh, and my mom almost always made a big box of homemade dolls clothes for my new Christmas doll to wear…and usually she made them out of the scraps of material leftover from my clothes…so my dolls and I matched.

I remember in the seventh grade being embarrassed that I still played with dolls.  I had some friends coming over one weekend, so I went down and messed up the little doll house section of my basement so that it wouldn’t look like it had been recently played with.  (You’ve gotta love Jr. High.)

Besides baby dolls, I loved paper dolls, barbie dolls, teaching school to all my dolls, dressing up all of my dolls, cooking meals with my little dishes…for all my dolls.

I probably had some other toys too…  But I mostly remember playing with dolls.

 What did YOU love playing with as a child?!

I’ve told you that I have been looking through catalogs getting ready to order our school books for the year?

It’s bringing up SO many fun memories as I look through the long list of great books to read! 

I remember sitting down to read as a little girl…Little House on the Prairie books (of course I thought it was SO COOL that the main character and author’s name was Laura)…The Boxcar Children (I have an awesome story to share with you about my own boxcar!)…Anne of Green Gables…

Those were some of my very favorites.

So the question for today is…What were YOUR favorite books to read as a child?

(You know we’re all going to have to go to the library after we read all of these answers to check out some of these memories, right?!)