Things I Love: Summer Edition!

It's been a while since I've done one of these! Since I'm working to embrace all things summer, I figured summer was a good topic!

Snowballs. In North Louisiana we call them snow cones. Here they are snowballs. Whatever you call them, they are the epitome of summer treats, and perfect for the hot days. (And also super cheap.) This year I've been making myself try new flavors and it's been so fun! Also, snowballs ALWAYS need condensed milk on them.

Porch time. Yeah, Louisiana is HOT in the summer. But I have a pretty high tolerance for heat and prefer heat to cold. So I've been enjoying the weather by spending time on the porch every morning. I will often make myself a cup of hot tea (along side my insulated bottle filled with ice water) and enjoy some time with Jesus.

Long days. I love the long days and try to take advantage of them with an evening walk. I also love that I have sunlight on the way to church on Wednesday nights so I can work on hand sewing or knitting while Casey drives.

Flowy dresses. I've been using this tutorial by Rosery Apparel (with a few changes) to make flowy summer dresses. I've made four so far (and thrifted a similar one) and I want to make a few more. These are the best--on hot days I don't want my clothing to touch my skin (because I will sweat and then it sticks to me and I just feel gross). They're super cute and all I have to do is add a pair of sandals and throw my hair up and I'm good to go for the day. No fuss AND I feel and look cute and cool.

Mia sandals. I'm a boot girl through and through. But my friend told me about Mia sandals so I bought a pair and OHEMGEE-- where have you been my whole life?? I've since bought two more pair and my grandma gave me a pair she didn't wear anymore. These things are SO COMFY. You can find them at places like TJ Maxx and Shoe Carnival for half the price that they sell them online. I've literally lived in my Mia sandals since May. (I prefer the sandals that do not have a piece on the back, like the Kiera and Leanna styles.)

Everything You Wanted to Know About Being Kitten Foster Parents

I've mentioned a few times in passing that Casey and I are kitten foster parents, so I decided to make a post about it!

We started fostering for a local animal rescue about a year ago--it's the same rescue we adopted Sushi from. Over the past year we've fostered around 50 kittens. 

How did you get into fostering?
We accidentally fostered a kitten that Casey's brother found. I posted about her on instagram and she was adopted by a friend. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to reach out to the rescue we adopted Sushi from, since we knew they were foster based. Within a few weeks of reaching out, they messaged me that they had two kittens looking for a foster home. We've been fostering ever since!

How do you not keep all the kittens?
This is for sure the question we get the most. While kittens are adorable and we totally fall in love with them, we know we are able to help more cats in the long run by fostering than adopting. There's no way we could have adopted 50 cats in the last year, but we've helped 50 cats find loving homes. That's 50 cats that likely would have been put down in our local pound (which has an 80% kill rate). 

What do you have to do as a foster?
Take care of them, love them, get them to adoption events and vet appointments.

Do you have to pay for their food or vet care?
Nope! The rescue handles all vet care and gives us food and litter. We just have to get them to the vet and pick up supplies when we run low.

Are you responsible for finding them homes?
Nope, but we help! The rescue posts all animals on PetFinder and the Facebook and Instagram pages. They also host adoption events every few weekends. (We are responsible for bringing the kittens, and we stick around to help out when we can.) I make sure to take good quality photos and share a description of each cat so people searching online know a little about the cat's personality. I also share a lot of photos on Instagram and Facebook and we've had multiple cats adopted because their humans found them on my Insta.

Do you foster adult cats? Or just kittens?
We've fostered a few adult cats over the year, but our cats struggle more to adapt with adult cats than the kittens. Because of that, we personally choose to only foster kittens.

How do your cats get along with the foster kittens?
It took some adjusting, but now our three cats (Tigger, Sushi, and Cocoa Puff) understand how things go. We bring in new kittens every few weeks. Almost every time, it takes a few days for our cats to adjust to the kittens (and vice versa) but it's not long before we walk into the living room and see cats and kittens cuddling. 

How many kittens do you foster at a time?
We foster 3-6 kittens at a time. We started off with two and slowly started bringing in more. When you've got litter and food, it's not a big deal to bring in another kitten. 

What's the most kittens you've fostered at once?
10. It was terrible, but the rescue was overrun with kittens so we were trying to help out. One of them had special needs and struggled with the litter box, and one of them was a very cute brat who just liked to pee wherever he wanted. I was so tired of cleaning up poop and pee. We now limit fosters to 6, and will probably foster less kittens in the future if we are fostering another kitten with special needs. 

How often do you clean the litter box? What kind of litter do you use?
We clean the litter box every day and sometimes twice a day. We only use two litter boxes. At one point we used four boxes and it was a pain to clean ALL of them. I'd rather clean two twice a day. We use a clay litter. I don't like paper litter because of the smell, and our cats don't like the pine litter.

What food do you use?
The rescue provides Science Diet kitten food for the fosters and we do Meow Mix for ours. We don't separate the cats to eat so big cats often eat kitten food and kittens eat Meow Mix. Our cats are particular about their food and if we buy a different brand, they absolutely refuse to eat it. They are spoiled.

Is it hard to let go of the fosters?
Honestly, no. We are happy for them when they get adopted and go to their forever family! Plus, it just means we get new foster kittens!

Can I adopt one of your foster kittens?
Yes! Reach out and I can hook you up.

Can you pretty please share kitty pictures?
You know I've got you.

How We Use Amazon's Alexa

We got an Echo Dot for Christmas last year and at first I was like, "We do NOT need that thing." Casey hooked it up in the living room as soon as we got home and had her telling jokes and puns in no time.

I didn't see what this thing could do for us. I, however, have changed my tune.

1. Play music. In 2020, we decided to start listening to worship music at home more, and Alexa makes it so easy! I have it set to play worship music at 7:30 every morning and we keep it going throughout the day. When I read, I turn on a classical music playlist. Having music playing sets a peaceful atmosphere.

2. Set a timer. One of the ways I keep myself focused on tasks is to tell myself that I only have to work on it for ___ minutes. I constantly ask Alexa to set me a timer as I work, clean, whatever! 

3. Morning alarm. We currently have two Echo Dots--one in the living room and one in the office--but one week we decided to put it in our room to use as an alarm (Casey normally just wakes up at the same time every day, but had to get up earlier this week) and we LOVED having it in there! We don't keep phones in our room, so having it as an alarm worked perfectly. I plan to get another Echo Dot to keep in our room when they go on sale for Black Friday.

4. Turn on the light. I saw an ad on Facebook one day for a smart plug that was just $1. After some Googling to make sure it was legit, I purchased it and we hooked it up to our living room lamp. "Alexa, turn on the light." And our living room is lit! I want to get another one for the other lamp in the living room.

5. Ask Alexa. What time is it? What's the weather? I know I can look these things up on my phone... but it's easier to just ask Alexa. (Besides, I can't locate my phone a lot of the time... I think it grows legs and walks away sometimes.)

6. Connect to bluetooth. Such a cool feature. We can play music playlists from YouTube or I can listen to my audiobook as I do tasks around the house.

I never thought I'd have a "smart house" but I really love using our Echo Dots. They're part of the family now!

Mugs and Musings: Slowing Down and *Actually* Enjoying Summer

Last year I made a post about how I was already ready for fall... in July. And I was about to give in to making fall pillowcases. (Spoiler: didn't happen. I still don't have fall pillowcases.)

There won't be a post like that this year, because this year, I'm learning to embrace summer. Every part of it. The hot humid weather, the afternoon rain, and the ice cream. Oh, I'm eating ALL the ice cream. 

Lately God has been pricking my heart to slow down and learn to live in and enjoy the moment instead of yearning for something I don't have right now. I don't want to live my whole life wishing away time, but rather I want to fully enjoy every season, be it fall or winter or a specific season of life.

I'm trying to take each day slower and enjoy the little moments -- a cup of tea on the porch, cuddling with Casey on the couch, lunch with a friend, washing my face in the evening by candlelight. 

And, crazily enough, it's working. I've truly been enjoying summer. Now, that doesn't mean I don't have moments when I think, "I'm ready for cooler weather," or autumnal clothes, or fall decor, but when I find my thoughts drifting that way, I try to remind myself about all the awesome summer things. And then I realize that summer is quickly passing and it actually makes me a little bit sad! 

Yesterday Casey and I were working on stuff outside and it was sooooo hot. So I reminded myself that sweat is good for the body. And then I walked barefoot in the grass. (For someone who HATES being barefoot, I truly enjoyed it.) And then I walked my bare feet into a puddle and splashed around for a bit. And then I put on shoes and we walked to the post office and back--a 45 minute walk--and enjoyed the weather and talking about the beautiful houses in our neighborhood. 

There are beautiful parts and sucky parts to every season. I have the opportunity to choose what I focus on. 

I can either be annoyed by sweating through my dress or thankful that my body is doing a good job sweating and that I'm blessed enough to have a washing machine. I can recognize that a snowball is soooo much better on a hot day than a cold one. I can enjoy all my flowy dresses and my comfy new sandals. 

Slowing down, focusing on my blessings, taking advantage of those beautiful parts of summer... that's how life is going right now. And I'm truly loving it.