Well, we’ve finally reached it. The point of the summer where I just feel…antsy. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’Well, we’ve finally reached it. The point of the summer where I just feel…antsy. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the absence of a solid schedule, maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the combo of both…and I think it’s a bit worse this time around because I, well, I really want to get into my classroom and get it set up for the new school year. I keep telling myself the time will pass quickly enough and that my future-self will think my past-self was crazy for wanting to be back at it all, but until then, I have to find ways to fight the antsy-ness. I took the kids to a couple different places, I tried to lose myself in the beauty of summer as I watered the plants, and I bought a new book. It’s been helping a bit.
I love using “found” things in unexpected ways. I bought some “fancy” milk (it was in a glass container). When I went to drop it into the recycling, I stopped and said, “Hey, this would make a really cute flower vase.” So I turned it into a flower vase. I also took some of the flowers from the bouquet, trimmed their stems really short, and put them into another found vase: an old spice container. It’s fun!Friends invited us to go bowling with them. We had the bumpers up, which was a good thing, since neither of the kids have ever been.Abigail would stagger up to the line while holding the ball in both hands and then just kind of…lob it down the lane. She actually managed to get a strike once. 🙂I zoomed in a ton to get a close-up of this anole that was hanging out on the water hose in the back yard. 🙂This was a fun discovery (that Joseph pointed out). My purse apparently glows in the dark!Teeny baby pumpkin!I love all the curly vines and the flowers…not sure if the tomato plant likes them very well, haha.As you can see, the pumpkin has decided to move right on in.I love this back yard. Paul has worked so hard to keep it looking this nice.I also love this tree (and the shade it provides). It’s crazy to think that 11 years ago, it was just a sapling.I was surprised by this flower spike. I mean, I know that all plants flower, but I had no idea what the flowers for these leafy plants would look like. Now I know! They’re teeny purple flowers.Abigail was excited to get a cat as a toy from McDonald’s, but she was confused about its face. I explained to her that it was actually a flerken (from Captain Marvel) and that it used its tentacles (which are usually hiding inside its mouth) to get the bad guys. She thought that was hilarious.I went to Target for bins and a mirror for my classroom and ended up also getting some comfy floor cushions that I think will also be a good addition. I also got a fun accent pillow (which will be good to give me a bit of extra back support) for my classroom chair.Can you spot the three baby pumpkins? One’s towards the bottom center of the picture, one is almost in the center, and the third is almost at the very top.She wanted to help water, but didn’t want to get her pant legs (or her sleeves) wet. I love this little girl!What’s this, you say? It’s what I have been using as “temporary” storage for extra pantry items. You know, just until I found something that worked better…it’s been years, y’all.Then I found this! I was scrolling through Facebook and there was an ad for Amazon with this on it. The drawers slide out and it’s metal, so it’s sturdy enough to put some things on top.By adding that little set of shelves, I was able to even tidy the rest of my pantry better (because there was enough room for one or two other things that were on the bigger shelves). During that tidying process, I discovered freshly hatched weevils in my grits (yuck), but luckily, since the grits were in a glass jar (I’m guessing the contamination was localized, since I had just gotten a fresh container and had dumped it right into the jar I keep them in), they didn’t spread to anything else. And we hadn’t eaten any of the grits yet, either. It did make me look at what was still in cardboard containers though, and the next day I went out and purchased a few more containers (and fresh grits, haha). Blech. I hate bugs.I was uploading pictures and heard rumblings…then I heard…RAIN!It’s been a while since it’s rained. We’ve needed this so, so bad. My grass and plants are going to be so happy!
I don’t really have another good title for this week’s post. It’s been so hot that I haven’t felt like going anywhere or doing anything. We did still accomplish some things, but there was a LOT of down-time in between. I kind of feel like I’m in this limbo of enjoying not having anything to do and…missing the routine and schedule of the school year. Is that crazy? I feel like the kids would say it was, haha.
This sweet thing spent a good portion of one of our “down” days watching Christmas movies. I think she’s over the heat, too.She had a bunch of “friends” over for a sleep over (since I told her she was a bit young for an actual sleep over).Ah, yes. The big thing that I did get done. Abigail and I went through ALL her toys and cleared out a bunch that she no longer plays with. I also reorganized her dress-up area.It’s way less cluttered now in the loft.I also no longer feel like hyperventilating when walking into her room.I spent a good portion of this last week trying to keep the plants alive (we’re on Day “I-lost-count” of triple digits). The pumpkin plant is really starting to spread out……much to the consternation of the tomato plant.This is the face of a girl who kept getting buzzed at by wasps while trying to water. Luckily, they were more interested in the water than they were in me.These plants lost all of their lower leaves (some sort of fungus attacked them), but the tops are still healthy (hence the droopiness, because they’re all a bit top-heavy). I can also see new growth popping up. There’s a big, black bumblebee that likes to come along here and get the pollen.Paul’s solar drip line system. The panel powers the system which makes it so the drip lines can pull water from the buckets…and all eight of our tomato plants (so we have a total of ten plants, because there are two in a different part of the yard) get consistent watering. There’s one pot out there (just to the right of the buckets) that had carrots, but the heat got to those. We did get a nice little harvest which we used for a stew one day. I don’t know if we have anything currently in that pot.Mint!It’s a good thing I took a picture of these, or else I would have no proof of harvest. I set them down, walked away to do something, and came back to find an empty bowl. I DID tell Abigail she could eat them…I just underestimated how fast she was, haha.This chair is eventually going to make its way to my classroom, but until then, it’s been chillin’ in our living room. This morning, I was sitting in it reading. I got up to get a drink of water and came back to find my spot had been taken over. 🙂
Monday was the Fourth of July, which meant a lazy day followed by some fireworks fun. We skipped the sparklers this year and opted for poppers (both kids like to see them spark) and some fun fountains. Paul also got these ones where little tissue paper parachutes floated down after the fireworks went off. While Abigail was a smidge disappointed they didn’t have teeny plastic paratroopers attached, she did like running down the street to collect them. We’ve been soaking in the summer vibes, but will probably slowly start cycling a routine back in so that it isn’t a seriously rude awakening in August. July is definitely our down month. Once August hits, the kids have swim lessons, Joseph has band camp, I have some trainings I need to get done (I’ll probably try to get the online ones done this month, to be honest), and then before we know it, August 28th will be here. Then we all know what happens once school starts…the holidays come screeching in and it gets craaaaazy.
A friend of mine joked that as soon as Fourth of July was over, we could start counting down to Halloween…I showed her this picture, saying that I’d been counting down since Christmas, ha. This countdown does both Halloween and Christmas (the word “Halloween” flips over and says “Christmas” on the back), so it’s out pretty much all year.Fourth of July flag photo!Mother Nature’s fireworks. 🙂Getting ready to watch Paul set off some fireworks. She does NOT like loud noises, so she made sure to have her headphones on.Just as ready!Sparkly fountains.I kept saying her name, but she couldn’t hear me. I tapped her on her shoulder and she turned around. She saw my phone and gave me this “cheese” face.We thought this one was pretty cool……especially since it got super-bright.Okay…fun day over…time to crack down on some summer reading. I want to start the year off on a good note!One summer perk: I have time to bake! Abigail had been asking for banana bread for a while, but I was just. too. tired. I finally made good on my promise (it just took a month, ha).She asked for “crazy hair” (which equates to a bunch of ponytails) and then went upstairs to put on her fancy dress (complete with pajamas underneath) and boots. Then she asked me to take her picture. I wish I could tell you what was going on in her mind, but…I can’t. I’m just coming along for the ride. 😉We were at Lowe’s last night, getting some plants for the front yard. Abigail wanted a plant she could see all the time and water, so after weighing our options (it’s hard in our house because we tend to keep the blinds shut, especially in the summer), we ended up with this bromeliad. It says it’s okay in low-light, so we’ll see how it does.
