Stress and the Lawn mower . . .

I am still trying to combat my stress levels. Yesterday afternoon, after picking up Vickie (I've decided to use our names, so let me know if you still want to remain anonymous) and Marc after school, I went home to fix dinner. I let Vickie drive home from the gas station in our neighborhood, which is about 8 blocks from our house. Stress relief, not exactly, but she's really wanting to get behind the wheel of the car and at 16 1/2 it is time. We will be enrolling her in Driver's Ed this summer, for sure! That will alleviate some of the stress.
Michael had a meeting after work, so before I fixed dinner, I decided to mow the lawn. Mind you, I haven't mowed in probably more than 25 years - not since we moved off the acreage and had our own plot to mow or the summer Dad volunteered his kids to mow the city park. After I had the neighbors on both sides consult me on starting the mower, I finally got it going and cut the grass in the front lawn. Strangely enough, even though I ache from the vibration of the mower and my back is killing me, the process of cutting the grass and digging the dandelions was somewhat of a stress relief. I proceeded to make dinner consisting of braised pork loin, brown rice and green beans. It was yummy and nutritious! I also made some gluten free meatballs and sauce for Michael to serve for dinner tonight, as I will be working late. I did two loads of laundry and uploaded a couple of batches of pictures to Snapfish. The ones on this post are part of the group, our family's recent attendance at the sold-out Husker Spring game.

I find cooking and baking to be really relaxing, in fact a day of standing in my kitchen, making breakfast, lunch and dinner, is a day that makes me happy. Working full-time and managing a house that consists of 4-8 people, depending on the day, creates stress, that I can relieve if I just get to feed everyone. It could explain my tendency to gain and hold onto extra weight, because my love of cooking translates into my love of eating.

On Mother's Day I fixed breakfast at my sister and brother-in-law's new lake house. I know many mother's who might prefer to be waited on for Mother's Day, but it gives me great satisfaction to prepare meals for a group, so I usually appoint myself as cook. My sister's would say it is because I don't like to do dishes, and that's partly true, doing dishes adds stress, cooking and making the mess in the kitchen relieves it. Hmm . . .

It is evident that this will become a place to seek rest and relaxation as the summer approaches. When our family is visiting from the East, we hope to take them to the lake house for a visit and some swimming, boating and fishing. This is a view from our dock, across the lake, toward the hotel, where my sister-in-law has already reserved rooms for the family to stay.

This morning, I let Vickie drive to school. She was elated. I found out in a hurry that we have a little more instruction time needed to get her ready to be completely road ready. We took one turn kind of fast, she got honked at for crossing the lanes a couple of times (imagine that, with me instructing her!), but the look on her face when I suggested she drive was priceless, and worth the little bit of stress that it added to my morning.

We've started a practice a dinner time where we go around the table and mention our highs and lows. Marc is always anxious to start it, and almost always has at least one high and for about a week straight, his days haven't included a low. My high today was letting Vickie work toward her independence as a young woman, by turning over the driver's seat. My low was staying late to work on backlog of paperwork, and missing a night with the family around the dinner table.

Tell us your highs and your lows - please.