Too busy to blog

When life gets really really busy, the first thing to go is checking my e-mail. I glance at it daily and take care of what needs to be taken care of, but my inbox is back up to 500+ again, after I'd gotten it back to a manageable size a couple weeks ago. It doesn't take long.

And when life gets really really really busy, I don't have time to blog, either. I didn't even take a photos a couple days this week. So NaBloPoMo for July is already a bust.

But I'm back on the horse, at least this week. I leave Friday for my high-school class reunion in Ohio (where have the last 45 years gone!), but will probably have time to post from the hotel. I'll have lots of down time, which will be most welcome.

That's me on the left, my husband is partially
hidden behind me and a member of our county
Democratic Executive committee is sitting
on my left. If your group needs a custom-printed
banner, I can highly recommend the quality,
price and turnaround time from Shindigz.

Down time has been in short supply lately, because our Democratic women's group had a booth at the John Henry Days festival yesterday. All the planning and preparation really paid off, as we had a great time and our parade entry won second place in the political category! Decorating our truck reminded me of homecoming floats during high school – throwback Saturday, maybe?

Now that the event is over, life can get back to a more normal pace. The weather for the next few days is forecast to be lovely – thank you, polar vortex! I'll take temperatures in the low 80s in July any every year! We haven't had much rain, but that's scheduled to change, as well. Hopefully a little moisture will get the blackberries to ripen and encourage more zucchini production. (I know, most people have too much, but mine is just getting started and I. Want. More.)

Lately I've been wanting to eat something other than bacon and eggs for breakfast, so I noodled around the internets and found an oddly satisfying paleo-friendly "pudding." It's filling and satisfying. And also kind of magical.

Click here for the recipe. I've adapted it more to my taste, replacing the citrus zest with cinnamon (which I add before serving) and using whatever fruit I have on hand – lately it's been bananas or strawberries.

The recipe made enough for me to enjoy it for four straight days, so it's economical, as well. The magic comes from the way the chia seeds thicken the almond milk. I was skeptical, but it really does work. And I was able to skip lunch a couple of days – not by choice, but simply because I didn't have time – and not feel hungry at all.

Chia seed pudding for the win!