Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner.

 I've had just the nicest few hours of summer today. 

See that big ole' mess?

And this one too? 🙂 

 

They're just about as good as life gets around here.

 

And I loved every single blessed minute of it. 

 

My kids start back to school next week.

 

I'll have a senior, a freshman, and a fifth grader.

 

ooch. 

 

My temptation as a scatterbrained-working-mom-from-home-taxi-driver-meal-maker-laundry-doer-dinner-cooker-peace-keeper is to race through summer from laptop to carpool and never take a moment to breathe. 

Of course, then I see pictures of people on Facebook and Instagram who are hauling their kids to the zoo, or off to see a movie, or heading to a fancy new restaurant while I'm hiding away in my office praying my kids don't interfere once too much.

 

(did I just say that?) 

 

ahem.

The truth though for me is that I don't want to take my kids to the mall, a fancy new restaurant, or even out shopping.

 

I just want to be right here at home making this place a haven with them that one day they want to come right back to. 

 

(For a day or two. Not forever. I'm all about them leaving this nest one day!)

 

But this morning we made a few waffles.

 

Fried up some bacon. 

 

(B.A.C.O.N.)

 

(FOR HEAVEN SAKES.)

 

(on just a plain regular Thursday.)

 

(that just doesn't happen around here.) 

 

We baked up a batch of cookies.

Prepared chicken salad for lunch and buffalo chicken lettuce wraps for dinner.

 

Made one heck of a mess. 

 

 

Then cleaned it all right up again. 🙂 

 

In the midst of that craziness?

 

My youngest had a few friends over who enjoyed a quick feast.

 

My middle learned to fry up that bacon without completely smoking up the house. (That girl of mine has been babysitting all summer until this week when she started cross country, and good gravy, I've missed hanging out with her.) 

 

My oldest chowed down on his waffle, some bacon and a cookie, then asked why on earth we'd had such a gloriously gluttonous day. 😉

 

I told him just because we could. 

 

Do you know what I realized? 

 

So often I settle for mediocre days, behaving like a mediocre mom, fighting to be just a mediocre blogger, and good gracious, completely acting like such a mediocre wife living a mediocre life, when I have crazy ridiculous abundance all around me that deserves better than mediocrity. 

 

Today instead of settling for mediocrity going thirty-three-hundred-and-two different ways,

 

I just settled for more than mediocrity right here in my home. 

 

And I loved it.

 

But you know what?

 

 

We have this crazy abundance because of tiny steps along the way.

 

Because way back when we decided to live differently.

 

Stuck to a budget.

 

Clipped a few coupons.

 

And learned easy ways to live a life of abundance every step of the way. 

 

And if you're like me (needing some time to just catch your breath before the school year begins ~ EEK!), set aside a few hours to just stay home, cook up a few yummy meals, and spoil your very favorites today.