This week has felt a day short.  Monday – path of totality day – appeared like a holiday, therefore the week soared along.  We had a bit of sickness too that shifted our gears and a field trip and a backseat car disaster involving said sickness.

In other random and irrelevant news, I started reading Steinbeck’s East of Eden.  The big kids are in a play next week.  I still haven’t seen The Glass Castle in theaters but I’m really looking forward to that.  Otto still hasn’t really acquired a taste for third grade.  The only subject he does without complaint is math.  (I’m not sure his genetics are right.)  We’ve been diffusing lime in the house lately because it smells nice but my friend told me it’s an appetite stimulant.    I’m starting to think she’s right.  I need to research what scents are appetite suppressants and maybe that’ll help curb this family’s grocery bill.

 

 

funny

 

A couple of days ago I was sitting on the porch writing.  It was a quiet afternoon and all things were pleasantly still.

The sun was shining.

I heard a noise on the roof above my head and I looked up to see a short burst of water come cascading over the edge of the porch and drip down on to the bushes below.

Silence followed the water and I was mid-story, mid-deadline so I finished up what I was working on, fully intending to figure out the cause of the surprise water soon.

And then a few days passed.

(Whatever.  It’s true.)

Out of the blue, I remembered the water.

“Hey boys,” I began, explaining what had occurred and asking for their intel in the situation.

 

 

Two nonchalant-faced boys sat before me.

“Right, yeah – that was us,” they declared.  “We were just pouring the dead crawfish out the window upstairs on to the roof.  We figured we’d be able to watch a bird come grab him.”

 

fashionable

 

I found this photo on my phone.

Of my daughter pretending she had bangs.

 

 

Thank goodness 90’s style bangs are not in fashion again – are they?

 

 

flavorful

 

There are many reasons that my family has not ventured too far down the rabbit hole of organized sports.  I will not launch into those reasons currently.

But as London has just begun playing soccer for the first time with a local rec team, I am reminded of one reason.  The fact that whoever schedules these practices has apparently no concept of when families eat dinner together.

 

 

Our practices are from 6:30 to 7:30 two nights a week.  This makes dinner tricky.  I’d like to take over this week’s “flavorful” category with a  request – some suggestions of easy meals to have ready when we return home post-practice.  I’ll take crock pot ideas and any other good old stand-by meals that you can think of.

I’ll even take offers of you being at my house having dinner ready for us when we return home.

Or recipe ideas.

Whichever.

 

faithful

 

I’ve loved her entire album – Ellie Holcomb’s As Sure as the Sun.

But I especially like the lyrics of “Only Hope I’ve Got”.

I take all the gifts that You have given and I stake my claim like they’re my own,
Will You help me when I forget to remember, the good I’ve got is yours alone

Oh ’cause I don’t wanna tell some arrogant story
Or let myself believe I’m you!
I don’t wanna be a thief who’s stealing Your glory…
Will You help remind me of what is true? The ONLY hope I’ve got, it’s You,You.
It’s You, You

Or do I think I have anything to offer, when You have overcome the world?
Couldn’t take Your place, ’cause You’re the Author of the greatest love this world has known

Well it’s only by Your grace…
That I heard You whisper my name,
I don’t have the power to save – to change a heart,
Could You come and change my heart

 

 

feels

 

I started making applesauce sort of late one evening.  I wanted to let it cook slowly in the crockpot all night while we slept and have it warm for breakfast.  I know it’s really better in the fall but the apples at Sky Top are already in and some of them on the counter were getting soft and I just decided I didn’t care if it was still August, I wanted warm applesauce for breakfast.

The house was quiet so I thought it was a good time to try out a podcast.  (I still don’t listen to many and I’d still love your suggestions of good ones.)

I somehow searched randomly and landed on this Oprah podcast.  I had never heard of it and had never listened to any of her podcasts. I didn’t even know she had a podcast.  I scrolled through and noticed one with Brene Brown.  That’s another name I have vaguely heard of but know nothing about and have read nothing about.

So don’t tell me if these names are controversial or if you have bad vibes about Oprah.  I don’t even care right now.

I just sat in my kitchen at nearly midnight, peeling and slicing apples, listening to what felt like some profound and beautiful and worthwhile thoughts and ideas and encouraging conversations.  It was fantastic.  So good, in fact, that when the first one finished and Oprah said there was a part two, I saw that I was already finished slicing and peeling and I had no more apples remaining, I just sat on a stool in my kitchen doing nothing and listened to the second podcast too.

I thought they were both incredible.

This is the first podcast.

And this is the second.

 

 

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