Memorial Day weekend really started to feel like summer! The weather was warm and we did summery things. Since summer is just about here, Lisa and Rabia, hostesses of Tuesday Ten want to know what our bucket list is for the summer!

10. Plant a butterfly garden. We have an empty space where our willow tree used to be. Last fall, when we had to have our willow tree taken down, I promised the girls we would plant a butterfly garden. I already have a few plants in place, but there’s a lot more work left to be done!

9. Use our backyard more. We have such a great back yard, but we neglect it in the summer when we should be outside playing! This goes along with our butterfly garden. If our backyard is prettier, maybe we’ll want to spend more time back there.

8. Build a raised garden bed. Now that we have more sun shining in our back yard, I want to try to grow some tomatoes and peppers. We went to Home Depot yesterday, and got a great deal on a raised garden bed kit! The packaging had been damaged and some pieces are missing, but we can still use the pieces to make the garden bed I want. They gave us a great discount!

7. Read, read, read! One of the things I love most about summer is the extra time to read! I can’t wait to dive into a good novel! First on my list is a book my aunt loaned to my step-mom who then loaned it to me: The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey. It takes place in Alaska, one of my favorite places. I can’t wait to crack open this novel to the first page and dive in!

6. Walk every day. I really need to exercise! I was doing so well for a while, but then…life happened. I need to get back out there!

5. Go to the pool. Every year, we get a pool pass for the summer. I’m looking forward to sitting by the pool again!

4. Use sun block more diligently. Going to the pool means getting a lot of sun…I really want to take better care of my skin this summer.

3. I don’t want to forget my husband’s birthday. Yes, I really did forget his birthday once. We were at a big family reunion in Colorado. I just got so caught up in all our activities, seeing my family, and taking care of Lily and Emmy that I completely forgot it was his birthday! As we were signing the waiver for zip-lining, Ed kept looking at me as I was writing the date to see if I would remember. I felt so awful when I finally realized what day it was–June 17! I’ve tried to make up for my ditzyness since then, but I’m not sure I’ve succeeded!

2. See my sisters and my brother. We don’t see each other as often as we should!

1. Spend time with my daughters when school lets out of for the summer. I love being with them!

Slurpees on 7/11

What’s on your summer bucket list?

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In honor of Mother’s Day, Rabia from The Liebers and Lisa from The Golden Spoons gave us a lovely prompt for this week’s Tuesday Ten: Ten Things I Love About My Mom.

My mom was very close to all her kids; I have two sisters and a brother. When she died when she was only 67, we were all devastated. I don’t think we’ll ever stop missing her. But we are all so lucky that we had such a good relationship with our mom. She was the best!

Here’s just ten things I loved about my mom. I’m sure I could write more!

Mom and me

10. We read the same books. We both loved reading the Inspector Lynley books by Elizabeth George, we read from A to T in the Kinsey Milhone series, and Nevada Barr kept us on our toes. I was always putting the newest book on hold at the library and had to wait to read it, but Mom would be too impatient and she would just go out and buy the book! The next time I saw her, she would give it to me to read.

9. I helped Mom look for a house when she and my dad decided to move out of the parsonage. After they bought a house, we would walk around the neighborhood and compare the various house model in their suburban development. I do the same thing now, in my own neighborhood.

8. When I was a teenager, I would come home from school and Mom would just listen to me talk and talk and talk while she was making dinner. She taught me that sometimes, I just need to listen to my own daughters.

7. She loved to garden. One of my earliest memories of her is watering her flower garden after she put me and my sister to bed. She always said the evening was the best time to water so that the sun wouldn’t burn the wet plants. When I was in the hospital having Emmy, she and Lily planted flowers in our front yard as a surprise for me.

Mom husking corn with Lily and Emmy.

6. Mom took care of me whenever I was sick; even as an adult, I stayed with my parents when I had mono and then when I had breast cancer. Mom always knew how to take care of me. She saw me through several surgeries and sat with me through chemotherapy. She helped me buy a wig, which then I never wore. But she didn’t care. Later, when she had radiation treatments on her skull, she decided not to wear a wig, either.

5. She believed in using lots of butter on toast and lots of sugar on berries.

4. Mom had a beautiful singing voice. She sang at weddings and funerals, at Christmas and on Easter. As little girls, my sister and I went to voice lessons with her. As an adult, I gave her moral support at some auditions. She sang in several choirs and even was in the chorus for an opera. I loved to hear her sing.

3. When us kids thought something was funny, she didn’t always laugh out loud. I’d ask her why she wasn’t laughing, and she would say she was laughing on the inside. But every once in a while, she got the giggles, and then we all wouldn’t be able to stop laughing!

2. Mom was so excited to become a grandmother. She simply adored them and spent as much time with them as she could, even though she lived 350 miles away.

1. My mom was my mom when I was growing up; she was strict about my manners and made me clean the house on Saturday mornings; she pinched me when I talked in church and put me in time-outs when I fought with my sister. When I grew up, however, my mom became my best friend.

What do you love about your mom?