Around Here {June}

Greek food, cool weather, and baby birds waking me up at 4 AM

On The Page {Anything I’ve Read}

This particular morning, I spent a good amount of time reading blogs and Substacks, and I forgot how much I enjoy getting a peek into different people’s lives and thoughts. I have found so much encouragement and refreshment in small blogs that most people have never heard of. This reflection on a passage from The Great Divorce was especially lovely today.

I am plugging away at a sci-fi time travel book at the moment, and I won’t mention it yet because the jury is still out on whether I’m going to recommend it. Aside from that book, I find myself listening to books more than reading this week. On rotation are: Where The Water Goes (about water management in the western U.S., which sounds boring but isn’t), Midnight In Chernobyl (still working on this one), and Old-Fashioned On Purpose (which I just finished).

In My Armchair {Projects I’m Working On}

In the last month I have returned from a lovely trip visiting our friends in Kentucky, then spent two weeks being a little lazy and recovering, then I jumped right into attending our local homeschool conference and VBS at our church. So I haven’t had the space or energy to tackle any major new projects yet this summer…aside from looking at curriculum and trying to think through how I will teach the history class at our co-op this fall. Important things, but not particularly fun to share.

Note: This is a good post about why you should attend a homeschool conference.

Why You Should Attend A Homeschool Conference

In The Kitchen {Things We’ve Made}

I’ve been experimenting with new recipes here and there, inspired by a high-protein cookbook I rented from Amazon. I made lemon shrimp and pesto noodles; a sweet potato, beef, and pepper braise; and a greek chicken quinoa bowl.

The last one was the biggest hit, and the first time I’ve attempted making quinoa anything. I don’t have a recipe - basically I cooked up the chicken and made the cream sauce using a spice mix from Walmart, cooked the quinoa, and threw it all into a bowl with greek olives, sun dried tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese. It was delicious.

On My Person {Things I’ve Worn}

It has been a cooler start to the summer, so I haven’t fully embraced my summer wardrobe yet - I also have been not the best at taking outfit photos over the last month, so these few will have to do.

In The Accounts {Money We’ve Saved}

Alas, I have done a terrible job of saving money this month. June is always one of our worst months of the year for spending. We have multiple birthdays and events, and we spend more in gas than usual. But…

-I did a decent job of packing us lunches or scrounging for snacks instead of eating out.

-I received free food items through app promotions.

-I started using Upside again to get cash back on gas purchases, and I’m well on my way to earning enough for a museum membership.

-My eyesight has apparently devolved to the point that my contacts are now considered “medically necessary”, and hence are covered by insurance! So instead of paying $400 for a six-month supply, I now pay $15.

-I got a drawing book I have been eyeing for my birthday, so now I won’t be tempted to buy it myself.

Out My Window {Beauty I’ve Noticed}

Our lilac bush bloomed for the first time in several years, and it’s completely loaded with blossoms! Unfortunately, pine tree pollen season has also arrived in the mountains, and everything is coated with pollen now, giving the blossoms a greenish yellow hue. I am looking forward to a couple rainy days next week to hopefully clean off my beautiful lilacs. Do people cute lilac blossoms for vases, and if so, do they last indoors? I am contemplating researching this, because I would love to bring them inside.

The wildflowers are also in rare form this year.

Out And About {Places We Went}

Homeschool Conference - We attended our state homeschool conference, and I was not very excited about the speaker list this year. However, I sat down in my first workshop session, and the speaker was just chatting and giving little freebies before really getting into her talk, and one of the things she said spoke straight to me heart. It was exactly what I needed to hear, and I felt tears spring to my eyes. Several speakers after that providentially addressed things I had already been contemplating, and I was reminded that the Lord knows what I need better than I do. I was so thankful for all of these faithful homeschool speakers that most people have never heard of.

Vacation Bible School - This post is brought to you by my church’s VBS. Last year I volunteered, but it was exhausting right on the heels of attending a 3.5 day homeschool conference, and I was such a mess I implored my husband to forbid me from volunteering for VBS the next year. He kept his end of the bargain, so I find myself with a couple hours to myself every day this week, and I don’t feel sorry about it. Sometimes we homeschool moms are with our kids so often (and that’s on purpose), we forget it’s okay to sometimes intentionally not be with them, just for a little bit to refresh. It’s been helpful for me to have some alone time this week to reflect on the conference and my hopes for the coming year.

Swim Park - This activity is on the calendar. Don’t tell my kids, it’s a surprise.

On My Mind {Thoughts To Share}

About halfway through the year now, I can confidently say that the thing the Lord is prompting in me is becoming more faithful in prayer. I will write more about this soon, but prayer has been a struggle for me for years now, unless I am having some sort of crisis, and I know that this should not be the case. Last week, speaker after speaker spoke about the importance of prayer, and one of them said that as our kids’ parents, we should make sure no one is praying for our own kids more than we are. That’s saying something when you have faithful praying grandparents in the mix! But it was a good challenge for me to be more intentional in praying for my kids, and our homeschool, and my husband, and our church.

In My Heart {Things I’m Treasuring}

-Warm weather and sunshine

-The occasional rainy day to hold off wildfires

-A house I love, even when it needs cleaning

-Kids who would rather play outside or make things than stare at a screen

-Friends who care enough to check in or smuggle your birthday present into the homeschool conference

-a free drink for downloading the Dutch Bros app

-Happy music

-Hearing baby birds hatch from their eggs outside our bedroom window (it was at 4AM, which was not appreciated, but it was still sweet to hear the chirps).