Happy 4th / Burning Down the House....

Happy 4th of July everyone!
Hope all of you had a great Independence Day! As a tradition, our family descended on my aunt and uncles house and pool, in China Spring for the afternoon. As is also our custom, there was lots of good food. I took my potato salad. We had a fun day of cannonballs, diving, and cousins drenching each other in the pool. After we ate and watched a little Star Wars ( yes we are all SW geeks) we drove in towards the Lake and watched the fireworks. There was a bigger display downtown at the river (where we usually go) but, the Lake fireworks seemed enough this year. We had a great 4th!

Oh and about that potato salad...My cousin Ashley told me to just go buy some at HEB in the tub already made. I should have listened to her, but no, late Sunday afternoon I put a huge pot of potatoes on to boil so I could make home-made potato salad for Monday. Sunday evening we went to a cookout at our neighbors down the street. My potatoes weren't done so I set the alarm on my cell and planned to walk back down and turn the potatoes off in 30 minutes.

We had a great time at the cook out! We have great neighbors who we always enjoy visiting. Rhett and Kolby had a blast in the pool with all the neighborhood kids. About 9pm we wandered back down the street. I heard Rob yell something as he opened our front door but, I wasn't sure what he said as he was a ways in front of me. Then I noticed the smoke billowing out the door. Still it did not register. Finally Kolby ran out of the house and informed me I had forgotten the potatoes. OOoopps!

Luckily nothing burned but the potatoes and the pot. I am very VERY grateful that I did not burn down the house making potato salad!!! We have some smoke damage, but nothing too terrible. But, OH what a smell!!! Evidently cigarettes and potatoes give off the same aroma when burned because our house smells like a bar at midnight...

I am typing this from across the street at my parent's while two big ozone machines from my Uncle's restoration business work to scrub the air in our house. Ozone is great for scrubbing the air but, not so good for lungs. We are to stay out the house for the rest of the day. I am hoping that the smell is gone by the time we come home from Rob's softball games tonight. Never a dull moment!

I was totally disgusted at having to stay away from the house today because, as I mentioned last week, I am in full closet clean-out mode. I have tackled two closets and a mountain of items have been hauled off to Good Will and such... But there are still four or five more closets/areas to go. I had planned on getting a lot accomplished during this last day of MDO before Kolby goes to Camp Success next week. I was really grumpy about it all.

When dropping my kids off at Mother's Day Out this morning, I ran into a friend who just hung up her cell from a call from her husband telling her he had been laid off. They have three kids and had just come home from a 9 day vacation. She was beyond shock. Please pray for my friend if you get a chance. I feel so bad for her and for her family! Her awful news put my day into perspective.

This morning I woke up and grumped around because my house smells and I have to stay way from it all day. How dare I? I am blessed way beyond what I deserve to even have a house as nice as ours. The fact that I only made it stink and did not burn it down is another great blessing! We have so much. All this reminded me to give thanks for all we have and to choose to live happily in this moment because today is a gift! We don't know what will happen tomorrow, but there is usually more to rejoice and give thanks for than there is to mourn. In my down time out of the house this blessed day I am going to take time to give thanks and rejoice for all the good in my life. Anyone care to join me?

Happy 5th of July everyone!