Erin Akin Carroll

So last night while I was lying in bed listening to the news, I heard our male news anchor (who will remain nameless) say that in the summer time, it’s recommended that you set your thermostat at 78 degrees.

What?!

Where does he think we live? The Pacific Northwest? It’s South Carolina and it’s 100 degrees. I need relief from the heat in my home. I’m not a fan of sweating when I’m sitting still. We live in an old house without much insulation and the heat can really beat down on the house during the day.

I mean, I understand why. Sure, you’ll save a lot of money if you leave the thermostat at 78 degrees because it would never run.

We leave our thermostat between 69-72 degrees during the day (depending on the time of day and the temperature outside) and at night, the first floor is set to 70 degrees and our bedroom upstairs is set to 67 degrees. It’s lovely.

We’re also home all day. I’m doing laundry and chasing a toddler and my body temperature rises. It’s genetic. My mom and dad are both hot-natured people, too.

My dad always says, “You can put on more clothes than you can take off.” Which is why in the winter time, our thermostat is set to 68 degrees. I can put on sweatshirts and blankets. But in the summer I’m not about to strip down to my skivvies just so I don’t sweat to death. God gave us air conditioning. Let’s use it!

So if you’re wondering if we have a high energy bill, it’s high in the summer time. But it’s much lower in the winter time. It’s all about compromise!

How do you like to set your thermostat? Do you follow those suggestions and leave it at 78 degrees?

I love reality television. I love the competitions, I love the drama, I love that you get to see everything… or what you think is everything. I also know that reality TV isn’t reality and most of it is scripted in some way to create certain story lines and situations that make for good TV.

But after last night’s Jake and Vienna debacle at the end of The Bachelorette, I was just laughing at how they met in a fantasy world, not reality. They went on expensive, dream dates and life was a bowl of cherries. And then she thinks she’s engaged to a pilot, but he decides he wants a career in show business. He thinks she’s a funny, challenging woman and realizes she’s an immature mouthy girl with bad hair extensions and an awful hair color. (Okay, maybe he realized that when they were still filming.)

So I got to thinking about if cameras were in our home 24 hours a day, what would they see? Nothing exciting, I can tell you that.

Real Housewives of Columbia? Yeah, I’m wearing a t-shirt and some old jeans today. My hair is in a ponytail and I haven’t put on any makeup or left the house today. I’m up to my eyeballs in laundry. And I love the smell of that whole laundry process! There aren’t any cat fights and there’s not any back-stabbing.

There’s not a live-in nanny in this reality. I actually spent a lot of the day on the phone taking care of the preschool process and learning more about drop-in nurseries so I can go to a doctor’s appointment, hair appointment, or just run to lunch with a friend. I’m confident that the viewing audience of our reality TV show would be asleep before the end of the first 30 minute episode.

Tomorrow we’ll actually get out of the house and I’ll be spending the day making patterns for the puppets class I’m teaching for our church’s music camp. Again, not so exciting, unless you like watching someone trace paper and cut out shapes for hours.

TC and I have our share of fights and I thank God that cameras aren’t there to capture them. Certainly no table-flipping fights, but maybe if a camera did capture them we wouldn’t fight anymore. But that’s not an invitation.

Some nights we eat sandwiches, some nights we eat cereal, and some nights I actually cook! I love to cook, but somedays I don’t feel like it.

Now, if my reality could be exactly how I want it to be, I’d probably ask for it to be a perfect dream world somedays. This would mean access to some gorgeous clothes without the high credit card bill that comes with it. Or the ability to scarf down endless bowls of pasta and eat 100 French fries without the promise of popping a button off my jeans.

But what fun would that be?

Okay, you’re right. It would be lots of fun. But I have to think that a time would come when I wouldn’t appreciate the clothes or the food. I might actually miss exercising.

Okay, again. You’re right. It might not ever get old and I’d always appreciate the clothes and the food.

There are actually some blogs that I read that fascinate me and I often think I’d trade realities with them. But then I know that they’re probably only showing a piece of their reality on their blog– and that’s how it should be. But there are some incredible stories, jobs, and lives out there and I love being able to escape from my every day chores and fun to see what other gals are up to. Who wouldn’t want to trade places with The Pioneer Woman for a day? Or with Mrs. Limestone— just for a chance to be in that gorgeous house?

Our reality is a quiet one and I like it that way. And maybe that’s why I go to Bravo and ABC to bring me a little drama.

What would your reality television show look like? What would your dream reality be like?

Sometimes when life gets really complicated, I like to really try to find pleasure in the little things. It shouldn’t be a hard thing to do, but there are just times when life wants to distract you. Right now, I’m finding pleasure in these little things:

1. We switched our laundry detergent to Cheer. This is what my parents have been using and when I visit them I absolutely love the way the laundry room smells and the way the sheets smell. So now I’ve switched and I love it, too. I line-dry most of my clothes and all of Hudson’s clothes, so they really hold that clean Cheer scent! I recommend y’all give it a whiff!

2. TC took today off. One of the perks or non-perks of being self-employed is that you basically set your own schedule. Sometimes he takes off on holidays and sometimes he doesn’t. Because he took off today, Hudson got to have both of his parents at Little Gym. Which meant we have lots more pictures of Little Gym since one parent got to play while the other took pictures! It was TC’s first trip to Little Gym and I think he enjoyed it. I promised him he doesn’t have to keep going.

3. We had such a fun i-Chat with my parents this weekend. It’s always sad that we can’t spend the shorter holidays like Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Independence Day together. But thanks to the power of the internets, we can at least see each other and Hudson can show them all of his new “tricks.”

4. One of my favorite meals in the world is fried catfish, fried okra, and hush puppies. See a trend? You think I like fried things? You’re right. We ate at Hudson’s Smokehouse (no relation) tonight and I got to indulge in all of these things! And I had to log every single one of those calories on My Daily Plate.

5. I have seriously enjoyed turning off the TV every night except for Mondays (The Bachelorette and the RHONJ) and Fridays (Dateline) and just burying my head in books. So far, I’ve finished three books in the past two weeks.

6. As a family we’re finding the joy in the small things and we’ve decided not to do a big family vacation. My parents are going to come spend some time here and I’m sure we’ll be back in Dallas soon. I will be attending a wedding in another state and then going to NYC for BlogHer and those are definitely big trips. But it’s just nice to travel with your family. We’re finding ways to have fun and stay busy here and try to make the most of the summer time without letting the heat get to us.

7. Songs like “Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison and “I Don’t Wanna Know”, “Second Hand News”, and “Silver Springs” by Fleetwood Mac really make me happy! In college, one of my best friends and I used to love watching concert DVDs and “The Dance” by Fleetwood Mac was a favorite. But that’s mostly because the love story between these two always intrigues me.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham

8. And this is not a little thing… at all… but you should read this post and rejoice with me! Keep on praying, friends!

I hope that little things like yummy-smelling laundry detergent and a long weekend with your family are making you smile today. I’m thankful because it seems my funk has taken a turn for the better!

What are your simple pleasures right now?

Toodles, poodles!

I hope you all had a great Independence Day filled with faith, fun, fireworks, great food, and people you love!

Our day was full of exciting things starting with church this morning where we all matched and didn’t really mean to. Todd wears blue every day of the week, but Hudson and I were both wearing blue stripes this morning.

Our choir sang all of the armed forces songs, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the Star Spangled Banner, and a couple of other patriotic songs. But the lyrics to America, The Beautiful always make me cry. And when I’m up there singing and trying not to cry I pretty much just stop singing so I can try to regain my composure. But these are the lyrics that make me stop and thank God for the heroes of yesterday and today who have done so much for this country. Where would we be without them?

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

After church, we just decided to pick up Bojangles for lunch and bring it home to eat. If y’all don’t live in a part of the country that has Bojangles you need to visit one of those areas soon and get yourself a biscuit and some chicken!

Hudson always needs a nap after church!

Hudson got a long nap and we did, too. When we all woke up we headed over to a friend’s house to hang out in her parents’ pool for a few hours. Hudson loved it and filled up on blueberries! He loves blueberries. (We discovered later, while I was wearing white pants, that too many blueberries aren’t a good thing.)

I took this cake over for the pool gathering. This particular flag cake is Paula Deen’s recipe. Lots of cream cheese and heavy cream in the icing. Pretty sure I’ll be sending the leftovers to work with Todd on Tuesday.

Columbia’s minor league baseball team, the Columbia Blowfish, always play a game on the 4th of July and the game ends with some great fireworks. Todd and I used to go every year before Hudson, so we decided we’d take him tonight. We ended up sitting next to some friends of ours. Hudson loved the baseball game!

We packed a grilled cheese sandwich for the game. Hudson’s favorite meal is grilled cheese!

Hooray for the Blowfish!

How did you spend the holiday?