Amazing (Vegan) Egg Substitute

 I ran out of eggs while making a recipe the other day and looked on Pinterest (my absolute go-to for all things recipe) and found the most amazing substitute for an egg ever. This recipe 100% works and I thought I'd share it with you since I had such success with it. (This recipe is for one egg only. If you need to add two eggs to a recipe double the items below, triple it for three eggs, and so on and so forth...)

Egg Substitute:

2 tbsp water

1 tsp canola (or vegetable) oil

2 tsp baking powder

Happy Baking!

The Dog Days of Summer

 I absolutely love fall, winter, and spring (what little we have of it) in North Carolina. The temps are usually amazing, and although it does get cold in the winter, it doesn't get too cold. The mountains and beaches are empty of visitors from far away. The sun is usually shining, and it isn't oppressive. The snakes are hibernating for most of those seasons. The windows are kept open for most of fall and spring. 

 The summer? The summer here is the bane of my existence. I loathe the humidity that makes it feel so much hotter than it actually is. The stickiness, biting bugs, and heat that you cannot even get a respite from in the late evening/early morning hours is a version of hell for me that I do not enjoy. 

Summer is my winter. I do not like to go anywhere but from my air-conditioned house to my air-conditioned car to the pool or the lake, and then back home again. I am thankful that I have access to ways to keep me cool. I know that not everyone does, and I appreciate my good fortune at being able to have these tools at my disposal. But a person can be thankful for something and still despise it. 

We ended up turning the air-conditioning on at the end of April because we have been "blessed" with a preview of the summer to come with higher-than-normal temps this past week. I know I must sound like a curmudgeon, but I just needed to get this off my chest now so that I can pull up my big girl shorts and buckle up for the next 4-5 months of scorching days and uncool nights. 

Maybe I just need to split my time between the Pacific Northwest in the summer (the only time it is sunny), the Southwest in the winter, and the Southeast in the fall and spring? (Or perhaps I should just spend all of my time in the Southwest in a little place called Las Cruces?) Now that sounds like a plan. 

Exactly As It Was Meant To Be

 The time is getting closer day by day when my four children will each set out to lead lives completely on their own. This thought used to crush me as I didn't know what I would do with myself after having dedicated the majority of my life to being their mother. 

What I have discovered though is that they have been good to me in the fact that they have not all left the nest at 18 as some children are ought to do. Andy is turning 24 in a few days, and is still at home, but is making plans to spread his own wings, possibly in another state, here soon. Joshua has one year of college left, and he has already notified us of his plans to move to the southwest. His pull, like mine, is to be somewhere where the sun shines almost constantly. Sarah and Elizabeth have plans of their own, although it is still too early to tell if they will actually come to fruition, or if time and life will take them in other directions. 

I am so grateful that they have stayed with me and near me for so long. I needed that. Especially because I have known deep inside that they most likely would all spread their wings and live in their own special places all across this country (and even world). I guess what I am really trying to say is that when they are ready to go, I will be ready to let them leave. This doesn't mean that it won't hurt, or that I won't miss them, but rather that my desire to see them happy living their own lives will override any feelings of despair that I may temporarily feel. And I know that I will be okay without them. That I have my own goals and aspirations outside of being their mother. 

I am excited about the lives that Bobby and I will get to lead together. We have so many ideas of all of the things we want to do. I am so thankful that we chose to be young parents. (Even though at the time it was occasionally very hard.) I feel like I get a second life to live now that my children are (almost) all grown. It's exciting. (Although I wonder if this is what people who have children later in life also experience, except they've had their freedom in the beginning of their lives instead of the second half.)

It's funny - I worried a lot about a lot of silly things as I was raising kiddos, and none of those things came to fruition. In fact, everything worked out exactly as it was meant to be.