I love this Country!

Isn't this a wonderful time of the year? I love the flag waving, fireworks, picnic food - I love it all. Today at Church I commented that when we lived in Germany we were treated very well. Our neighbors were wonderful and we felt we had the same freedoms that we did in the USA. But when we returned to the US after three years abroad, the plane flew over the Statue of Liberty and I just sobbed to see this wonderful symbol of our freedom. I know our country is flawed, but that just means we need to study out issues and vote responsibly. We must preserve our freedoms so that we can continue to worship in the way our conscience directs and take care of our families in the way we know is right.
My daughter introduced me to a book series called The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I've really been enjoying the books which are very readable and entertaining. There is a quote toward the end of the third book "Morality for Beautiful Girls," which I just loved: "She was a traditionally built lady, after all, and she did not have to worry about dress size, unlike those poor, neurotic people who were always looking in mirrors and thinking that they were too big. What was too big, anyway? Who was to tell another person what size they should be? It was a form of dictatorship, by the thin, and she was not having any of it. If these thin people became any more insistent, then the more generously sized people would just have to sit on them. Yes, that would teach them! Hah!"
Oh, ok, I know good health dictates we need to put the brakes on gorging ourselves, but who are we to fight the gene pool about our size? I think about my grandmothers. Neither of them were obese, but they sure weren't thin by today's standards. My mother wasn't a small woman and only a few years prior to her death, did she get down to what most doctors would say was the right weight. She used to tell me that you need a few extra pounds to lose in case you get sick. Her reasoning was that when you get sick you always lose weight! :) I love these excuses so I can still have my evening ice cream and eat my Oreo Fudgees for snacks!
This time of year I try to deep clean through the house. Wash the inside windows, take down curtains, wash them, and put them back up. Also wiping down the wall paneling with those Pledge wipe things, clean the ceiling light fixtures, etc. So far I have 2 1/2 rooms done out of 8 rooms. I have four weeks until my trip to NJ, then when I return from NJ, it's time for Seminary and not much discretionary time left. Oh, well. I'll do my best and I suppose that will have to be good enough!
I hope all of you have great goals for this summer time.