Rainy August

We got a nice rainstorm today. It was basically raining when I got up and was pretty steady until around 3. I loved it. 

I had to be at the church this morning at 8:30 to help clean. I got there in time to grab a vacuum. I don’t mind helping out when I get the vacuum. I was sweating when I was done. Then on the way home, I noticed my tire pressure light was on. I drove home and checked and none were flat-flat. I was really hoping it was just the temperature change. So I showered and got ready and drove over to the shop. The tires were a few pounds flat and they did say it was the temperature. Even though it’s not cold, it’s still almost 30 cooler today than it has been.

Then I did my grocery shopping and ate lunch. I had been planning to go to the library book sale, but they had to move it indoors and I just was not in the mood to be with a bunch of people in that space. So I skipped it and took a nap instead. After my nap, I was still not in the mood to be home. I wanted to get cozy, but not until later when I knew I was in for the day. I had told myself I could look for a few more wax melts for fall so I ran down to the mall. I found 2 apple based scents I’ve never had so that was good. 

I’m finally in for the night and it feels right this time. The sun is shining, sometimes. I think we may get a little more rain this evening. I made a soup called “Busy Day Soup” that I basically dumped frozen veggies and some leftover unseasoned ground beef in a pot with a can of tomatoes and some homemade onion soup mix. Then you add a noodle so I added bowties since that’s what I have. It actually tastes pretty good for a very quick soup. No chopping and very simple pantry ingredients. If it freezes well, I can put it into my soup rotation. 

Time to get cozy and enjoy the rest of the evening. I do hope we get a little more rain. The 10 day forecast has the temperatures in the 80s and as we head into September, I really hope we’ve seen the last of the high 90s. Two more days and I’m hitting fall hard!

Life Without

Ok, not gonna lie, sometimes I miss Prime. I preordered a book from Bookshop and that’s fine but I’m dying to read it and I figured it would be here by Thursday and the shipping confirmation says next Monday. I’ve been planning my week around reading that book. LOL That’s what bookish people do!  But I’ve also recently noticed that none of my Kindle purchases show up instantly anymore. My KU books do, but not my purchases. So yeah, Amazon really treats you as a second class citizen when you don’t do their program. 

It’s all fine. I am going to the theater tonight anyway and won’t be reading. And this is just a note to myself that I don’t need to be purchasing a ton of Kindle books anyway. I already probably have way more than I will read in my lifetime. I’ve kept my KU subscription and there are actually a bunch of books in there that I’d like to try. So for the price and my usage, I’m ok with keeping it, for now.

I’ve done pretty well on buying more locally and not on Amazon. In 2024, I had 83 orders placed, not counting digital. In 2025, it was 37. And so far this year, I’ve made 6 orders. I don’t think I will need to buy anything else on Amazon this year. I’m not traveling, and have pretty much stocked up on all the things I like to buy there (and can’t find equivalent locally). I buy Christmas presents locally now. 

My digital orders have also fallen, but not by much. They still hover around the 50/year range. That’s books, movie purchases and rentals, etc. I’ll try to knock that down. It’s the impulses that kill me. There are a few authors I only buy on Kindle and those I will probably keep up with, but that’s maybe a quarter of my purchases. 

So I miss the instant gratification, but I’m doing fine without it. I will survive if I don’t get to read my new book as planned. And it’s money saved, aaaaassssssss long as I don’t spend it somewhere else. :)

Weekend

It was slumber party weekend. My niece had asked if they could have one before school started. I didn’t quite make that since most of them started this past week, but it was close. I had 5 of them spend the night. I feel like we did pretty good. The chaos was manageable and I didn’t yell. Seriously, I’m not sure why they like coming here. When I was younger, I made more of an effort. LOL

We started at the pool. Since some of us have a pass, I just paid for the other kids. My sisters came too and we had fun. We got out right before it closed and then went to Chic-Fil_A for dinner. We met up with my older nieces as well. Once dinner was over and we got back to my house, I let the kids play and they got out my tinker toys. I’ve had those things since Spencer was a tiny and they’ve been a good investment. About 8:30, I had them get in the pajamas and we made popcorn and settled down for a movie and treats. I rented some Pokémon movie and was bored stiff, but that’s ok. Eventually, I got them settled in bed and went up to bed myself. I told the older kids I didn’t care if they stayed awake or kept the tv on as long as they didn’t wake the twins. Evidently, they did stay up late and they did wake at least one of the twins. LOL I didn’t really hear them, but I did not sleep well. I just get weird anxiety when I’m not the only one in my house. So I ended up getting up early and took a shower and got ready for the day. I went downstairs a little before 8 to start breakfast and Rosie woke up first. Once one of them is up, there’s no way to stay quiet. 

We had breakfast and watched cartoons. I put on a few different 80’s cartoons because Katya loves watching 80s stuff. Then we got out the ancient game cube for an hour or so until Amy came to get the twins. They don’t all fit in my car for me to take home. I took the older kids home by way of Walmart for some birthday shopping and then In N Out for lunch. 

It was almost 2 when I got home to start cleaning. I got everything put away and got the floors vacuumed and swept and mopped. I started laundry and made my grocery list. I got home from shopping around 5 and just enjoyed the clean, quiet, calm of my home. I’ve been trying to make it cozy and I like how it feels. 

Then a little before 10 we had a thunderstorm. It was glorious. The rain just pelted down for a few minutes and I had puddles in my backyard on the lawn. It calmed down for a bit and then it started back up when I went to bed. I opened my window and enjoyed the cooler air and the sounds of rain and thunder. I do love a good storm. 

Today I’m finishing a bit of laundry, but otherwise taking it easy. After church, I plan on making the sweet corn chowder. I may throw in a small batch of biscuits as well. The sun is shining but the wind is blowing and it will still get hot. It’s been a good weekend though. 

Reminder

Yesterday, I went to Target and stocked up on a few things and bought some new hangers because I was out. Then this morning, I got the urge to clean out my closet and then I had all the hangers I needed. I will use everything I bought yesterday (tissue, qtips, toothpaste etc.) but now I have a lot of extra hangers. LOL this always happens to me. So this is my reminder to be more careful about what I’m buying and how I’m spending my money. To check my pantry for ingredients before I buy more, that sort of thing. I just got to the point where my checking account has a little extra in it and I want to keep it that way. 

I don’t need more stuff! If I come across things I think I want, I can put them on my Christmas list. I don’t need to impulse buy anything! I have lots of things already at home that I can do: blankets to make, crafts to finish, embroidery, puzzles, books to read, playing the piano, etc. Then there’s cleaning and exercise. My house is already filled with plenty of things to keep me occupied for many months. 

Waiting, Waiting

Yesterday's rain storm has me craving fall. I yearn for the cool days and fallings leaves. It was cool this morning so I got to open some windows for much needed fresh air. I know fall will come and I'm so looking forward to it. So I guess this is my annual post about what I want to do when it comes. 

First, I will say that I'm going to the famer's market one more time and I am trying to enjoy the end of summer. I haven't had fresh corn on the cob yet so that's a must do. I think I'm going to make corn salsa this weekend. My flip flop wreath gets to hang on the door for another 2 weeks. There's also the library book sale coming up, so I'm not quite done with August. 

But I'm already getting down with fall vibes. I mean, if people have started decorating for Halloween, I can surely get out my candles. I'm switching out my bedding for a change as well. It's not for warmth, because I still don't need that, but its a nice change anyway. I'll wait for September before I get the fall decor out. It's like 3 things. LOL

Besides the candles, I have started putting on the fall vibes when I put on ambient sounds in the background. I've made a list of books that would be fun to read in the coming months. I'm thinking about soup. There's a summer corn chowder recipe I want to make for the first soup of the season and then I've got a list of my favorites. I love soup and all the different flavors you can make. It's both tasty and comforting and can be very healthy. Since I'm not eating butter right now, I don't know that I'm going to be making much bread, but maybe I can find a substitute that I like. 

It will come and I'll be ready when it does.

Back to Life

It’s been a busy week. My first major item was an expensive one. Earlier this year when I tried to have my tankless water heater flushed, they discovered some major issues with corrosion or something because of the hard water. The guy helped me call the company, but to make a long story short, the lack of water softener made the warranty null. Which the first company never told me. They only said I needed to have it flushed every year. Anyway, it’s fixed. I have a new tank and a new water softener on my hot water only. So I don’t have to drink it and I won’t water my plants with it. Maybe it will make my tub easier to clean? What I do know is that my hot water is getting hot much faster than it did before so I’ll take it. I don’t feel like I’m wasting so much water any more as I wait for it to get hot. 

I also had my first colonoscopy today. Blah. I know what people say: it’s the prep that sucks and then its a nice nap. But that didn’t calm my anxiety. The liquid diet was probably the worst. I did eat jello too but I had a headache all day long. The laxative tasted bad, but not as bad as I was expecting. I drank it through a straw and while my stomach was rolling a bit, I didn’t get the urge to throw up. Truly, from everything I had heard, I had built it up in my head and that’s probably where most of the anxiety came from. But it truly was a great nap! LOL My sister picked me up and got me an Einstein's bagel on the way home. And the extra wonderful thing is that it’s finally raining and I get to lay on the couch and just listen to it. I have other comfort food ready to go, including a Dr. Pepper. I’ll continue to have today as a self care day and get back to work/life tomorrow. Now, after the 2+ weeks of travel, I’m happy to be at home for a while and back in my routines. 

Home! Home! Home!

Man, it's been a busy few weeks. I knew it would be when I planned my vacation, but now I'm back and I'm so happy to be home for a while. I slept in my own bed last night again and finally slept through the night. 

I've been in North Carolina for work. I had a weekend home to do laundry and repack between my vacation and work trip. 

It was nice to see my team in person. We were celebrating the retirement for one of my team and that was bittersweet. I will miss her but am also excited for her. Part of the celebration included a pottery class. It was so fun! I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again.

We only made them on the wheel and they will be dried and glazed for us and then I will pick mine up when I go back to Charlotte later this year. It was definitely harder than it looks, but I'd love the chance to do it again when I'm not so focused on making something. Just to learn more of the techniques. It takes way more muscle than I thought to force the clay to move up. 

Next week will also be a bit busy, but I'm looking forward to being back in my routine for a while. 

Canada 2026

I had a really great time on my vacation to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and P.E.I. The people were great and the views were amazing. I'm not really in the mood to put down anything in depth so this will suffice for now. 

Back home and it's hot! We are almost to the "BER" months and I'm hanging in there. I am so looking forward to shorter days and cool temps. 

Anne of Green Gables musical

As the sign says, the house LMM was born in.

Confederation Bridge, PEI

Field of flowers

Somewhere on the Bay of Fundy

Caves on the Bay of Fundy

Ferry in the fog

Lunenburg

Peggy's Cove