Camp Mama ~ A Day In The Life Of An Athens Georgia Mama In Summertime

The lazy days of SUMMER are here again! For me ….summer is the season for realizing my patience potential …realizing I have zilch patience…and just finally giving in. My littlest child is seven now…a girl with so much curiosity …and a whole lot of ENERGY. I am worn out after today….but feeling so fulfilled after a day of unplanned creativity, conversation, a little work, fabulous scents and tastes ….and hugs. I call days like today: CAMP MAMA!

Just a little glimpse into mine and Rosey’s day today. It all started around 8:30am …early because she had seen the sun printing kit and jumped around like crazy …begging me to finish my coffee and “do some art.” This morning…all that jumping around and persuasion made me grumble some…Now…at 10:30 on this Monday night… I’m glad I didn’t waste today. We had fun! We headed out to our back yard in our pajamas with fabric paint and a couple of old pillow cases and started our project ….after a breakfast of bananas and almonds. We decided we were gonna be healthy today. We cut some stencils out with paper ….but the best ones were from our back yard. The Japanese maple leaves were the prettiest leaves we found for sun printing. This was the first time I’d ever done any ‘sun printing.’ Basically….you just paint fabric or paper with a watered down fabric paint and while it’s still wet… place leaves and other stencils over the paint and place in the sun ’til dry. The sun bleaches out the spaces where the stencils/leaves are and leaves a ‘sun print!’

I could’ve been done for the day right there…but Rosey was full of energy! She had recently attended a sleepover camp where she learned how to make salt scrubs and milk baths. She said they used essential oils and her favorite two oil scents were lavender and lemongrass. So… we decided to get some public clothes on and head to Earth Fare for the oils ….but first a quick visit to my friend who was getting her hair done at Model Citizen Salon. We visited with my friend just long enough for a big semi truck to park on the road in front of where we were parked….so we couldn’t leave the area. Our hungry tummies led our feet walking down Prince Avenue to The Grit where we enjoyed an appetizer of cheese dip with tomatoes, cilantro & onion (Rosey’s choice,) a pizza topped with broccoli and a bowl of spicy tomato and zuchinni gazpacho. I’m so glad we ended up having lunch there. Rosey had never been …and now she’s hooked!

During the walk back to our parking spot from The Grit… Rosey ran her hand along brick walls of shops newly opened in the area I hadn’t noticed before and then she pressed her face to the window of the nail salon and waved at the people inside. I love these little glimpses into my little girl’s mind …the way she thinks and wonders and has no fear of judgment …she’s just HAPPY!

With our full tummies and boxes of leftovers to boot …we headed to the bank for some cash and then to Earth Fare for spa making stuff.

A bottle of Pinot Noir for me, a box of Epsom Salt, bottles of lavender & lemongrass essential oils and citronella essential oil for the mosquitos …and we were headed back home to play some more. We mixed Epsom Salt with grape seed oil and drops of the lavender and lemongrass oils for an aromatic foot scrub. I got rewarded for being super mom today very very well. Rosey gave me a foot soak and rub with a side of little girl chatter! I gotta say… she was right about the combo of lavender and lemon grass together. The scent reminds me of a spa I’m always walking past in a hotel we frequent on pickle sales trips…. so serene. Just. Perfect.

We’re told in our society money is the way to happiness ….not true. When you have more….you want more. Doing HAPPY things makes happiness!

To be completely honest…. I didn’t wake up feeling happy today. But…I did HAPPY things. And in doing those happy things, I became happy and my little girl was happy. Our day was very simple ….but extravagant too. They say ‘when life gives you lemons ….make lemonade.’ We all have those days. For me …the lemons were a Grandma’s 80th birthday party I missed, a scale that showed I’ve gained wine and bread weight, a feeling that I don’t measure up with other moms and wives and….. Well, you know. I think we’re all more alike than we realize. We all have junk going on. But… it really is okay to forget it all for just a little while. …especially with a little girl like mine who sees only the good and the fun and the HAPPY. After my foot scrub…we ate our leftovers from lunch for supper and drove over to our pickling facility to unload boxes of jars. Never a dull, too-relaxed moment in the pickle biz….that’s for sure. But, all play and no work makes ….um… well…..

….and the little girl got her foot soak too If there’s one thing you take away from this late night post from a very tired mama… it should be: Do HAPPY things.