Come Sit on my Porch!

My coffee in the morning tastes even better on my porch.  Hubby bought me new porch furniture!  I love that man!  So we put most of it together, and here's what it looks like as of right now:

Lovely so far, isn't it?  Thanks.  I still have to put the other side together.  Not to mention the fact that we still have to build the rail and seal the floor and finish the painting.  But who cares!  I can sit out there and be cozy.  I love it!  Now I need to have a porch party.

I was thinking about that yesterday, and how much fun it would be to invite a bunch of ladies over for drinks and treats and let the kiddos run around for a few hours.  It's almost that time of year, where we can fire up the grill and a pitcher of mojitos, and the ladies will end up sitting on the porch while the dudes all end up by the fire pit.  Warms my belly just thinking about it.

I've even been tossing around an idea in my head that I need something regular in my schedule for just me.  Like taking a class or joining a club or something.  I can't think of anything, so let me know if you have a suggestion.  I've always wanted to do pottery, but I don't want to end up needing my own pottery wheel or shop or kiln or anything.  Maybe a regular card game?  Bowling?  I don't know.  But the idea seems appealing to me.  I think I need that regular social connection.

I think I'm meeting up with a SIL or two for a movie this week while the kiddos are at school.  It's nice to have a buddy to go see the chick flicks with, where we can admire Zac Efron or Channing Tatum and imagine we're 22.  It would be nice if we could make this a more regular occurrence, but it's sad how life gets in the way.  No matter how much we talk about getting together more often, a month goes by in an instant.

It also makes me start to ponder the whole Country Mouse, City Mouse thing.  I wrote about it once, here.  When I look at my porch, and actually my whole place this time of year, I think I must be crazy to even think about it, but I can't help it.  Life would be so much easier in some ways if we lived in a neighborhood.  It wouldn't have to be as much of an effort to socialize with people.  Not just the kids.  J was invited to a buddy's house to play this past Friday afternoon.  Just for an hour and a half or two hours.  If we lived in town, this would be a non-issue.  But we don't.  So we have to haul him in to town and drop him off, figure out something to do for an hour or so (because it might not be worth it to just drive home and back so soon), and then pick him up.  There's no way we wouldn't do it, of course, invitations like these are rare and precious, but that's partly why.  My kids don't know anything about the culture of being able to ride your bike down the street and knock on your buddy's door.  I can't imagine how lovely it would be to have a hankering for a margarita on my porch, and be able to call my friend across the street to come over for one.  And she can just wear her jammie pants and slippers if she wants.  It really is something I miss.  And my kids don't know.

I even feel self conscious sometimes about living way out here.  I tend to not have little gatherings over here, because I feel bad asking people to drive all this way.  It's not like we live hours away from civilization, but it's 15-20 minutes to town, and 30-45 minutes to the city.  So I feel like if I want people over, I have to make it worth their while, and make it be a big shindig.  Even though I think my friends wouldn't mind coming out here even if it was to just sit at the table in their sweatpants.  I don't know why I feel like that.

Anyway, I have to mow the grass today, so I should go.  That's another thing:  Mowing is a whole different event here.  City folk just go out, pull the starter on the mower, and cut their grass for a half hour.  I have to put on my mowing uniform (giant overalls, gloves, iPod, hat, sunglasses and giant ear protectors), wander out to the building where the mower lives, climb on and drive it out.  I mow for a good 2 1/2 to 3 hours, all the while singing loudly along with my iPod--don't worry, nobody can hear me over the mower--plus nobody lives close enough to hear me.  It's actually rather enjoyable, but it's something I have to plan for.  Have a great day, folks!