Family

I am up early today. I decided to drive my grandmother up to Chattanooga to visit her sisters and their families. It is a day trip. It will exhaust me. But it is worth it.

My grandmother is having a total knee replacement on Wednesday. The whole family chips in time at the hospital and aftercare facility. Her recovery will probably be long. This is her second knee to be replaced. They say it is a harder recovery.

So, we are making this trip knowing that it will be awhile before she can get back up there. He brother in law is quite sick. I haven't seen him in a while. This could be our last time to visit with him. The heaviness of this fact weighs on me as I prepare for today. He is a man that I respect a lot. More like an uncle than a great uncle. One of my great aunts passed unexpectedly earlier this year. She was one of the youngest and oh, how her boys mourned. I will never forget their mourning cries and how they loved their Mama. That was the last time I was up there.

I just thought of a visit that I had with her quite a few years back. We were looking through old photo albums. There were four sisters in their family. She had some pictures of them sunbathing. I had never seem them! Let me tell you, my grandma and her sisters turned some heads in their day. They certainly were lookers!!!

Think of us today as we drive through the green hills. As I do my best to listen to my grandma tell the same stories over and over. As we visit with loved ones. As we mourn a little bit. And as we celebrate life a little bit.

Going to Get Back in the Saddle

I have to get back to blogging! I miss my blog friends and keeping a record of what is going on. First an update:

As my grandmother would say, I have been feeing lazy lately. Just starting to feel rested. Not interested in the go, go, go. I want to take it a little easy. I am learning to say no to things that will wear me out or aren't necessary. I am learning to manage my energy.


My Postpartum Doula website is up and running. I am sure that there will be some changes to come, but you will get the idea. You can find me at www.karasutton.com I am so excited about this new venture. A new baby was born today! I can't wait to meet her and to support her family as they welcome her a whole month early. She just had to come! I am looking forward to meeting families and their new little ones. I was born to do this!

The baby chicks are growing. They are still a bit on the small side. I promise to work on some photos of them soon. They are almost out of their ugly stage. I am so glad! They are starting to show a bit of personality and what their colors are going to look like. I can't wait until fall. I am hoping for lots of eggs to sell. I mean share. Of course, share.

I got to spend some amazing time with some of my best friends in the whole wide world this month. They feed my soul. We will all be together again in September for a wedding and I can hardly wait! In the meantime though, a few of us might go see Dolly Parton on tour. Eeeeeeekkkkk! I think it will be a blast and we'll make more memories together. Yes, I am jumping up and down in my mind.

Ok, I am just rambling now. Here are some thoughts for posts to come.

my morning smoothie recipe
raising chickens
what's in my pantry
my search for water
the Marietta Farmer's Market
how to make applesauce
gluten free brownie recipes and mixes
natural household cleaners
why I switched to stainless steel pots and pans
throwing out the plastic
budgeting
homemade coconut milk ice cream
how to make an amazing salad

What do you want to read about?

Summertime!!!

Boy, the time has just flown by! I can hardly believe that it is summer already. The 90 degree temps have convinced me though. Summer is here, baby!

Let's do a little catch up:
School is out! Woohoo. And drum roll please...... It was my last year there. I am moving on to my doula career. Website for that coming soon, I promise! I will miss the kids and some of my co- workers, but overall I am really happy to move on.

We have thirteen, yes I said thirteen, baby chickens! Lord helpl us!!! Atta Girl hatched two, we added to hers from some that a friend hatched in an incubator. She seemed to take them well....until the next day. My chicken is racist. All of the white chickens she loved and cared for. All of the black chickens she scared silly and injured. So, either she is really smart or really mean. She accepted the new baby chickens that looked like her original two and shunned the rest. So, we have had six babies in the house!!! Today we are moving them outside to learn the sights and sounds of the rest of the flock. Hopefully it will go well. Oh, and I can't find the camera, so no pictures for now.

Instead of a garden this year we are working on growing a lawn. In the past we have grown weeds where a lawn would be, so we decided it was high time for some grass. A month or more of work on Dave's part prepping and planting seed, a palet of sod and lots of water later we are growing a grass lawn!!! It will take it a while to get established, but I really am looking forward to walking around barefoot out there next summer.

I have been doing a cleanse the past month and really found it refreshing. I went vegan for eleven days, then slowly added back lean protein, watched my rice and lentil intake, and made a point of eating twice as many vegetables as fruit and most of that raw. I have had more energy and felt generally better. I can start to add back nuts and seeds this weekend. I am just a little bit excited. Ok, I want some beef too! But I learned that I can have lots more veggies in my diet and be really happy. I love my smoothies even more than I used to. I plan to write more about all of this. And with summer upon us, I should have some time.

We are off to Charlotte for a week of fun with family. It will be fun to spend some time with the little niece and nephew, and everyone that we don't see very often. I see lots of time at the pool in my near future and I can't wait!

Ok, I need to go spend some time with the chickens and turn off one of the many sprinklers helping our lawn become lush and green. Happy summer ya'll!

P.s. Excuse my typos as I was lazy and wrote this on the iPad instead of the laptop.