With October’s schedule rolling rambunctiously out of control,

I stopped to smell the roses…well, umm…not quite,
but does “stopped to pick some apples” count?
I have one month (and I am living it) where things are not in balance…not one bit.
I am admitting it, confessing it, laying it out there for all to note.
The Queen of Intentional Living is out of balance, and it was brought on by myself.
(Yes, I do recall that Saturday I was the ‘Queen of Best Intentions’, but can I not declare myself Queen on a number of platforms…with a bit of the good, bad and ugly tossed around in there? Thank you for the permission…I will).

Yep, from now until November 10th….I am teetering out of balance – too many speaking things, home school things, craft booth things…just THINGS.
Good things that sometimes get in the way of more important things.
Great things if they had been spread out a bit more on the calendar,
but at least I am owning up to it, and working on ways to deal with it,
while not harming my children in the process.
I have admitted it…there is hope…hee hee

If you can relate in any small way,
one of my anecdotes for busy living is spontaneity.

When was the last time your were purposefully spontaneous?
Or was that something that was washed down the toilet with a husband, kids, work, and any multitude of other fill in the blanks?
Now I understand that busy and spontaneous may appear to be an oxymoron,
but the concept and execution can work wonders for the slivered soul.
It can weave the spirit of intentionality into your timely tapestry, even when you’re falling into more shares of bedlam moments than you care to admit (and yep…we even had one on this adventure)!

Last Friday, we had that choice.
My sis-in-love dropped off a box of my catalogs that had mistakenly been sent to her house.
Now one would assume that since we live together on this happy homestead, we would savor coffee bonding times together on a regular basis….NOT!
During the fall, we wave in passing. Summer is our season together.
During our 30 second exchange, she mentioned buying some apples from a local orchard when she went to pick up her van from the shop.
I gushed, “Let’s go, let’s do it!”
Yes, I do believe in invite myself.
Some times you just do what you need to do.
It took us a few moments to actually determine that we were more than just talk, and this might just work if we left immediately – without thinking through the ramifications.
But we did it. (JUST DO IT!)
We made a spontaneous decision,
and it was a memory making moment at its finest!

With our open window of just an hour, the children raced through the rambling rows.

rsz_running_in_orchard

We chit chatted with the orchard owners (notice my nephew’s hand on his mom’s shoulder. He was waiting patiently to interrupt. I didn’t even know I captured this, but it’s a great example of rewards that are reaped from beginning that character training young.)

Here are two of my blessings digging into the goodies. We surely have enjoyed baking lots of apple creations this week, but do you know how many peeled apples it takes to make just a little homemade applesauce?
An hour’s worth is all I can say about that. 🙂
Enjoy that Mott’s because you won’t see me sharing any of this with you…hee hee!
(Just making sure you understand that the cute litte bootie did not come from this momma 🙂
The two little cussers (from a past post) enjoying the bounty.

Where my oldest daughter came from, I do not know?
She did NOT want her picture taken, and tried various attempts at averting the zoom on my camera.


It’s amazing what they can get away with for the sake of a blog post.
Nope – didn’t even discipline her for this, in fact, shuckled and thought it was awfully cute!


So finally, I gave my nephew full reign on the tickle factor.
She saw it coming…..
And it worked just like I anticipated!
I do have 20 more pics in this sequence of shots, but thought I wouldn’t bore you with an entire page of her getting tickled. 🙂
Best of cousins….but more like sisters.
No problem getting this one to pose…anytime…anywhere.
She’s there for you!

And this is by far one of the most precious Proverbs 31 teens that you have ever met. Sheer delight oozes from every pore in her being, and I am privileged to be her aunt.
What would an afternoon in an apple orchard be with out a few cartwheels among cousins?

rsz_2cartwheel

Or better yet…a delightful roll down their ginormous hill.

rsz_rolling_down_hill
Note that I am using my zoom, so you can imagine how large the area was.
This entire time my sil and I definitely felt our age.
As our blessings yelled for us to watch, we smiled, cringed, then felt itchy, nauseous, and dizzy all at the same time.

Yep – it ended with a big old dog pile on that precious Proverbs 31 girl.

Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let the bedlam moment get by on this one.
It was a relief to realize that our age wasn’t the only significant factor….“It’s ok, honey, you’re going to be alright. Just a little motion sickness.”

“But I really think that I am going to throw up.”

And that was the continuous theme on the way home from this delightfully, spontaneous hour that soothed our soul, nurtured the family bond, and allowed everyone the vicarious experience of morning sickness… all the way home.
The end.

Let your creative juices explode…I can’t wait to hear about the spontaneous celebration that you allowed and then chose to impact your home this week.
Yep – it’s a choice….remember, it can be as easy as eating dinner under the table. 🙂
JUST DO IT!