Today, I baked a Granny Smith Apple Pie for a friend. She ordered it for her daughter’s birthday, and she needed the pie to have some very interesting crust accents–buttons! Apparently, the birthday party has a sort of buttony theme with cool sock puppets, etc. I love creative people. So my challenge was to create some buttons for the top of the pie. I think it turned out sufficiently buttony. I had to resist snatching one of those crust buttons off the top and tasting it once the pie was baked. 

It was nice to make ONE pie today.

Over the last month or so, I’ve baked quite a few pies to sell at the market with some special request pies baked in there. It’s been fun, and I’ve made a little bit of money, but one thing’s for sure–I have been BUSY. Especially considering this is supposed to be summer break. My kids have been delightfully busy with Drama Camp, sleepovers, and other fun summer stuff. I feel thankful for both the fun and the laziness they’re having. Summer break’s short here–barely 8 weeks, so it really flies by. They’ll start school in only NINE days.

As much as I hate to say goodbye to summer (which we don’t really get to do until October in Georgia), I’m looking forward to a schedule. I’m no the sort of gal who functions well in such an “unbuttoned” environment. Without deadlines, I don’t get a lot of stuff finished. Oh, I have great ideas, but my follow-through really suffers without schedules and time limits.

For example, between pie-making, I’ve been painting my daughter’s room. It’s not a big room, and she actually chose a simple color–white. I’ve been working on it for over a week now. Still not done. I keep seeing something else that I need/want to do. Like cleaning out a closet. Or watching “Clue” with my husband (really funny movie if you get a chance). Or NOTHING. So there’s a lot of stuff that needs to be buttoned up, if you will.

I love a to-do list, especially when I get to check stuff off. But it can be daunting if it just keeps getting longer and nothing gets checked off. A person might just get overwhelmed enough to take a nap. I’ve considered just adding “Take nap” to my list so that I can check something off.

Instead, I’m reminding myself of some wise advice I heard from my husband’s sweet great-grandmother. She lived to be 101 years old. Once, when I asked her how she lived so long, she said that she pretty much just did “one good thing every day–then I rested.”

Do one good thing every day. Then rest.

Makes sense. If you (and by you, I mean me–or I…whatever) spend your days running from one busting button (POP!) to another, nothing will ever get properly buttoned up. It seems wiser to do one thing well and then move on to another. Sorry multi-taskers. Sorry me. Slow down and focus!

It really is something to consider in today’s fast-paced world. One thing every day. Rest.

Rest.

Maybe I’ll rest first…Nah, better get back to painting. Or maybe the dishes. Or the laundry. Hmmmm….POP!