Happy Wednesday! I am joining three blog link-ups today so this post is going to be all over the place. You’ll get a glimpse of what actually happens over here. Let’s get to it!

On Monday, Jen, Joanne, Sarah, Dara, and Adrienne hosted Share Our Lives. They asked us to share our least favorite activities. I try to keep things positive on Sunshine & Books, but there are some things I just don’t love to do.

Day to Day Activities:
Put away laundry. I will leave my laundry in the basket as long as I possibly can. It is silly because it takes no time at all, but I do not love doing it.
Grocery shopping. I started using grocery pickup in 2018 and I have not looked back. I do run in to the actual store to pick out my own produce, but I really do not love doing an actual full grocery trip.
Washing dishes. I will load or unload the dishwaser without complaining, but after we were without a dishwaser for more than 4 months a few years ago, I do not love washing dishes.
Planning meals for every single day. I don’t mind cooking and I like to try new recipes, but I do not love picking what we are going to eat for every meal. I would be fine eating the same thing for each meal for weeks on end and then changing when I get tired of it. My family would not be fine with that, though.
Packing lunches. This takes no time at all, but I get so tired of packing lunches. Jeff always makes lunches on my birthday as part of my celebration. The kids do some of it but I do not love the parts that I do.

Other Activities:
Tent camping. Nope, absolutely not. I did it once and I do not want to do it ever again.
Cycle classes. I don’t love riding an exercise bike. True story – I fell off one in a class once. It was tricky, but I managed to do it. And they really make my quads hurt but I haven’t figured out how to make my other muscles work equally hard.
Hanging pictures/art. I don’t like committing to one spot by putting holes in the wall. I like everything to be perfectly straight and in the perfect spot. I avoid it at any cost. We still haven’t hung a picture in our addition that was completed in April 2021. I even have the art and pictures to hang.

Today Joyce is hosting the Wednesday Hodgepodge. The questions are:

1.What was the best (or one of the best) summers of your life? Tell us why. 
I’ve had a lot of great summers. The years that my friends and I lifeguarded at our pool growing up were so much fun! I would teach swimming lessons from 8-9, coach swim team from 9-12, and sometimes guard from 12-9, and then hang out with friends after that some nights. They were long days but we had so much fun!

One summer, we had Monday field trips. Every Monday, my mom and her friend would take us to Washington, D.C. and we saw everything there was to see then. We went to the White House, the Capitol, the FBI building, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, the Smithsonian museums, Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, and more. Even though I may have complained about wearing nice clothes and learning, looking back it was such a great time! Thanks Mom! ❤️

Jeff and I were both teachers when we got married so we had a lot of fun in the summer. We’d go to the beach as much as possible, around our lifeguarding schedules. We worked at a concert pavillion for a few summers and that was a blast!

The summers when the boys were little were pretty great, too. Of course we spent a lot of time at the pool, but we also did a lot. We would go to the zoo, see the tall ships in Baltimore, go to a farm, go to the aquarium, go to a museum, visit new parks, anything that caught my attention. Another great part of those summers were our Thursday morning play dates. Jamie didn’t work on Thursdays and our house cleaners came on Thursday mornings so we always went to Jamie’s to play. It was great for us and the kids! We didn’t have swim team or other activities, so we flew by the seat of our pants.

The summer of 22 was a pretty great summer, too. We went to Atlanta, NYC, Orange Beach, the Outer Banks, Williamsburg/Jamestown and were home for all the swim meets. That was a lot of fun!

I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad summer. I love summer and always make the best of each one! Summer is a part of my heart!

2. When you have a trip coming up do you make a list and check it twice to ensure you don’t forget anything? Or are you a ‘throw whatever you can think of into the suitcase at the last minute’ kind of packer? When returning from a trip do you unpack immediately or leave the suitcase right where it lands? 
If we are going on a trip, I make list after list after list. I make lists for the kids to pack, lists for my clothes, lists by room (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom), and lists of extras (beach stuff, etc.). When I get home, I unpack the dirty laundry immediately. I use packing cubes and am pretty good about keeping the clean clothes separate in my suitcase. Those clean clothes will probably sit in my suitcase for a few days before I get around to unpacking.

3. What’s your favorite food or beverage made with lemons? Is that a flavor you enjoy? 
I love all things lemon! I like lemonade, lemon in my water, lemon lime snowballs, lemon cookies, lemon squares, lemon cake, lemon icing, lemon everything. In Baltimore, we have lemons with a soft peppermint stick in them and they are yummy, too!

4. When was the last time you had to make lemonade out of lemons, figuratively speaking I mean? 
I’d say on our beach trip last month. Our last day had terrible weather and treacherous beach conditions. I was pretty bummed to lose a day on the beach, but decided to make the best of it. We were able to take our time packing up and loading the car and we were home in time to do some laundry and go to the swim team pep rally that night at the pool.

5. Did you like school growing up? Why or why not? 
I did like school. I love reading and math and seeing my friends so it was the perfect place for me. I also like planners and agendas so that’s an added bonus. I still like learning as an adult, but I don’t love the timeline of classes. I think that is because I have other things going on at the same time now. When school was my only job, the time demands didn’t bother me. Now that I have a job, an active family, and attempt to have a social life, the time demands of school aren’t my favorite.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 
Summer Sarah is starting to panic. I go back to work officially on August 26th. As a media specialist, I work two extra days before teachers officially go back. I try to split it up into morning sessions so I don’t work when the pool is open. I’ve worked a half day so far and I am not sure how I am going to fit the rest in while the pool is closed. I always make it work, but I’m a little panicky right now.

I am linking up with Erika and Shay for a look at my pantry. I’d love to say that my pantry is stocked, but the truth is that it is not right now. I have a grocery pickup scheduled for tomorrow. Also, it is summer so I don’t worry too much about keeping it stocked with anything we could possibly need because our schedule is so loosy goosey and I can generally make things work. In three weeks, my pantry will be in tip top shape because we’ll be back in school and there will be lunches and snacks to pack every day.

Our pantry staples are:

• Z bars – chocolate chip and protein
• Built puff bars
• Peanut butter crackers
• pretzels
• peanut butter (Jif and Skippy)
• some kind of chips
• gluten free baking mixes – Krusteaz are the best and Trader Joe’s are second best
• Ghiradelli brownie mix
• Banza pasta
• chocolate chips – mini and regular size
• cereal – Cheerios, Cap’n Crunch, and others
• taco shells and taco seasoning

As I was writing this I remembered that I’ve participated in a show your pantry linkup. I am so glad that my current pantry doesn’t look like it did then!

Do you feel like you know me a little bit better? I had fun thinking about all of these prompts. I’ll be back on Friday with my favorites. Have a great day full of sunshine and books!