What I want most for all of us is a pain free fourth of July weekend. I just wanted to pass on some of my ABC's of how to party the ra way.
No one must have a barbecue for the fourth although this tends to be the biggest barbecue day of the year. You can always do a pick up of food, use paper plates and have a wonderful fourth of July this way. Or you can take your fourth celebration on the road and eat at a park, the beach, or even out if you can find a restaurant open. We must be flexible with ra and part of that flexibility is being willing to change how we did things in the past.
But if you are hosting the barbecue this year...
Paper It! Buy all your serving things at the store for this holiday. Please don't try to fancy it up with regular china. Everyone will enjoy themselves eating off of paper products. And if you are a greenie like me...use the ones that are more environmentally friendly.
Buy Store Sides! Yes, I know how wonderful Gramma's coleslaw recipe tastes, how Aunt Betty's potato salad is your favorite and she won't be here this year....give in...buy out. Save your energy for your guests. And let someone else do the shopping for the groceries if you can. That is why we have grocery lists.
Or better yet, have every guest bring a dish with them. Your family can do the meat only and the rest of the guests can bring all the other sides and desserts. You can even ask them to bring those heavy drinks. You will just need to provide an ice chest with ice. Maybe someone can even bring the ice. I avoid all things heavy if I can.
Keep It Simple! You know me...I love KISSing things up, so of course I am going to KISS up the fourth. I am even wearing nice red lipstick for this KISS occasion. If you are hosting the party this year (Best if you are a guest in my book), keep it simple. I find that if I just add music, the party is on!
Divvy up the prep among as many people as possible. If you have other family members in your home, assign them jobs to do. And remember that this is suppose to be fun. Don't worry about cleaning all the nooks and crannies in your home....hopefully the party will be outside. One of my favorite tricks is to close all the doors to rooms that will not be used. That cuts down cleaning to a minimum. And assign the few rooms left to other family members to spruce up.
The most important thing to remember this fourth is that this is a celebration of independance. Declare your independance this fourth from your old way of doing things and try something more ra friendly! Even if that means staying in, eating bought food and watching the fireworks on tv.
Have a wonderful fourth of July. And for my US readers, I would love your comments on how you plan on making this fourth more ra friendly. For my readers that aren't in the US...I challenge you to try one new ra friendly thing this weekend and let us know how you celebrated your new found independance.
5 comments:
Thanks, Deb. I am coming to appreciate you so much. Happy 4th!
I think I might have overdone it already. But, I am close as one gets to remission and I am going to DO things! That doesn't mean I won't use premades and paper. ;)
I got to work in my garden and even though it pushed my body, it felt good to be able to work.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Jan...as much as I appreciate you :-) ?
Joan...I can sooo relate. Stupid me decided to clean my bathroom today. Well start to clean it. This process takes me 3 days. Stupid me is all I can say. I really need to become independent from that chore and figure out a way to hire some help even if just for every other week for one day. Stupid me. Hope we aren't in bed for the fourth. Well...maybe that won't be so bad after all. Macy's has their fireworks going on again and that is always televised. And I love Greek food. Just may have that for the 4th. OK I am weird. I can blame all of this on my ra...can't I? Have a wonderful fourth the TWO of you...Joan and Jan. And I will expect to hear about what you all did on your blogs :-)
what wonderful suggestions! I am having overnight guests for two nights and I went to the Farmers Market and bought fresh produce and then onto the grocery store for some easy meal fixins!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend and I hope the weather gives you some relief for your joints! I envy your proximity to the beach! Can I come visit? Nan
Nan...me casa es su casa :-) That means my home is your home. You surely can come visit. We even have a frog for you :-) Finished room over garage that is :-) This area actually is a lovely area but best in the spring and fall in my humble opinion. We do get alot of summer tourists though for the beaches nearby. Enjoy your guests :-) Have you ever made the red, white and blue flag cake. We always made this one for this holiday. A rectangular white cake (flat one), cover with whipped cream (can be fresh made or cool whip type), cut strawberries in strips. Use blueblerries to make the stars and the sliced strawberries to make the stripes. Yummy, yum, yum. Since you went to the farmers market made me think of this Fourth Cake.
Post a Comment