I’ve been craving fresh lemonade lately. It’s starting to warm up, Spring flowers blooming everywhere, and soft cool breezes just got me thinking of ice cold lemonade.

The other day my husband and I were driving around our property, and we look a mess after rebuilding and tearing down walls and cleaning up construction…covered in dust and old 1930’s dirt. I wear gloves, masks and work clothes, and well…you get the picture….that’s what I looked like…a dirty mess. I bet my hair had something in it, webs or something. Just trying to paint a picture here, because I am about to get to the point.

Anyway, there we were driving away from our property after a really long day of work, heading back to our home to clean up and make dinner, laundry, pet stuff…the day was not through yet for us…driving away I noticed someone parked right on our property, on the other side of it. Parked right up on the grass.

The house was abandoned, and had been for awhile so some of the locals used it to throw trash on, and park at. We are close to other businesses, a great location, and sometimes people take advantage of parking on the property.

So there I was all covered in dirt next to my husband who was also covered in dirt driving away and I saw a woman holding all kinds of coffee cups to deliver to the business across our property. I waved to her, smiled, as I am trying to just be friendly in this new environment I find myself in.

She looked at me and sneered, no smile and continued on walking to her place of delivery. I smelled the coffee and it smelled so good and that’s what got me thinking of lemonade. I don’t drink coffee but I do buy those fruit drinks and smoothies from those coffee houses.

“Hey…what the heck was that about, did you see that…she sneered at me, here I was waving and smiling at her, and all I get is a sneer…well I must look a mess” I said to my husband

He laughed…” There’s some of that southern charm” he said back

Now…let me tell you about some of this Southern charm that I have discovered…when it is honest to God, deep down in someone’s heart and soul…you know, the actual real deal, then you can feel it pouring out of them. It’s is the kindest, most humble feeling you can get from someone. But there are some bad seeds around here too…what I call Southern princess charm…those “Bless your hearts” are dripping with sarcasm. Best to stay away from them.

If you walk into a room with one, oh boy watch out…talk about manipulation…they are pretty good at it too, but I have been around some of the best manipulators and they all came from my home state of Arizona…I can tell one right away when I walk into a room.

I love the real Southern charmers, like I wrote above, just great human beings. Worth more than all the gold in the world when you come across someone that is genuine like that…they are worth more than gold…stay loyal because they will stay loyal back.

So anyway, there she was, Miss Southern princess there on my property sneering at me. I was giving kindness to her by waving and smiling…and she was the one judging me off of how I looked.

“Ewww…the poors”. I imagined her thinking.

I turned to my husband…

” Hey…where we’re at, were we moved to, this area…are we in the Scottsdale and Beverly hills of this state?”

“Yep” my husband answered back.

“Great…they’re definitely not going to like me” I said back.

Even when not renovating, I am covered in paint stained shirts because I am creating art or something, working in the garden, hanging out with the birds and bees. My grown kids call me their crunchy hippy mom….who believes in Jesus. Lets not forget that. I always believed in Jesus, never shared that with some of my family that I am now estranged from…but now that I am away from them…I feel more free to share what ever I want. So…I’m sharing that…with no judgement of course towards anyone who is not there, as that is not my place. But come after my children in any cruel way, try to hurt my family…then yeah…there will be some judgement from me when defending the people I love.

Anyway, I smelled that coffee from that well dressed and clean sneering woman and thought of my Nana’s fresh lemonade. I was so tired. Renovating an old home is such a huge project. And in that moment when I smelled that fresh coffee, I daydreamed about how nice it would be to just pick up some lemonade from the grocery store. But lately after reading all these labels on our food products…all I wanted was some home made fresh lemonade from the past. It sounded so good.

So I bought a big bag of lemons and made my own lemonade at home…and that’s how it’s done…thank you very much.

It was just what I needed.

Something else happened at the property we bought, months before when we first bought it….a man showed up and wanted to speak to the owner of the place, he was suppose to pick up something that they were going to do a deal on, he kept walking around me, and basically kind of ignoring us…we are the help. we were the hired ones, maybe thinking that in his head. My husband who was having a terrible time with the gate that day, trying to fix it. All of a sudden, here this stranger walks up and calls out to speak to the owner.

If you are covered in dirt, you will get looked up and down and treated with snobbery, is that a word? I looked at the man and said…

“Can I help you with something?” I asked politely

He gives me one of those up and down looks…and that’s when I know I must look a mess.

After Covid it became hard to find help, sadly we lost a lot of people. I try not to think about that part too long, it hurts the heart. Alot of ugly went on when that happened, and there is still some of that ugly floating around continuing.

Also, after the tornadoes in other cities and states…it’s hard to find help because everyone leaves to help rebuild those areas. We had some extreme floods in North Carolina too…we are on that side of my country. It’s difficult finding building supplies as well, lots of shortages going on when storms roll in.

The handyman we had hired turned out to be a drinker/addict as soon as he got a little cash in his pocket, so we had to fire him and that’s when I stepped in to help my husband out some. Usually I am left with painting, some tile, and my favorite which is designing and decorating…those last steps that turn a property into a home, but now I am helping with some of the really dirty work. I’m not normally around during the demolition part of things, but that’s what families do when an extra hand is needed. My daughter and son help too.

Being as we are newcomers or what they like to refer to as transplants, we aren’t always helped out so much from some of the locals…there is that too. That is happening in every state though, any new person that comes into a state now is frowned upon “Don’t you go California my state” and that way of thinking comes with all kinds of stink eyes. But not everyone is like that here in this town…some are great, real southern charm….and I write that with love.

” Yeah…where’s is Elly the owner?” the man finally answered me while walking away from me like Elly was going to come out any second.

” She sold us this place, we are the new owners” I answered back

And WOW, did I get a look. So there you go…we have been dealing with some things, not all bad, but every once in awhile I think to myself how people should be very careful with judging books by their covers. Just like that lady walking away with an arm full of coffee, no smile or head nod just a sneer back to someone smiling at her and waving.

When life gets rough, and it always does…don’t worry about those trouble makers and sneering types…give it to God, give all your worries and problems to God to watch your backs. Keep smiling, keep trying to make things better…keep meeting good people and praying for anyone who treats you unkind, pray they look for the good in others too. How many times have you heard this….

” When life gives you a big ol bag of lemons…you go make you some lemonade with it”

And that’s exactly what I did and will continue to do. Go make me some of my Nana’s home made lemonade.

1 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup sugar

6 cups of water

Don’t toss those lemons you just squeezed, jam and pack as many as you can into a glass jar, fill with white vinegar and let it sit for a few weeks in a dark place, then drain into a strainer and pour into a glass spray bottle for a safe and natural cleaner. Makes the whole house smell fresh.

Stay safe out there you guys, and God bless and protect you all.