Happy Birthday Grandma and Goal Update!

 Yesterday was Grandma Rosie's birthday! We put off her birthday dinner to today so we got to celebrate for two days. Tonight the boys and I took mom to dinner and gave her a present. The barely even fought so it was a nice evening! 

I am so lucky to have mom with me for a part of the year and I treasure it. She helps me more than she knows! I have also enjoyed her being my travel buddy, she is the calm to my panic and the extra set of eyes when we travel with the boys. She can ALMOST back a car into a parking space too, LOL. Love you mom! 

It is also the last day of the month, so let's see how it went. 

Read 21 Books: 11 /21

Got through two books this month and halfway through another.  

The first book I read was a romance novel Cliff's Edge by Meg Tilly. It was predictable but entertaining. It was good to read while I was traveling for work. Sometimes a romance novel with a smidge of smut is ok. LOL 

The second book I read this month I got from the library and it was non fiction that I loved. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb. Lori is a therapist and she talks about her journey going through therapy herself. She also talks about the journey some of her clients take with her. It is real, relatable and one of those books I wish I would have read years ago. Filled with so many gems I took some pictures of some of the better ones! Would recommend. 

Run 720 Miles: 400/720

I ran 66 miles this month. That included some nice long runs and I had at least one week of cooler weather. It was glorious! I'm still training for a half in August. I need to be careful to go slow, my hip is starting to resist again. Ugh. 

Money Goals: Made a healthy principle only payment on the mortg. this month. I want to pay down 5K in principle for the year and so far I've paid down 2,750. So I'm right on track! 

Add 2K to Savings, Done Feb 2022 

Pay Mortg. principle down 5K

New Living Room Furniture (Home), Done Feb 2022

Replace Some Windows (Home) 

Replace Window Blinds (Home) 

Create Backyard Oasis (Home) 

Trips: 2/3

Plans are starting to be made for trip number 3....very exciting!!! 

Days I hit all of my Daily Habits: 19,

Finished the month strong after a slow start. In July I hope to make 20 days! 

4-H Exchange 2022

 This was Daryl's first year in the 4-H Exchange group and last week they hosted. We had a group of 4-H'ers from the Corpus Christi area of Texas and they were fantastic! Daryl specifically hosted Lathan and he was such a good friend to not only Daryl but Alex too! We are going to miss having him around, he was up for anything and kept a good attitude even when I knew they were soooo tired. 

We had them for 6 days and they did so much; Axe Throwing, Zip Lining, Toured Arrowhead stadium, went to a Monarchs game, Toured the Hutch Salt Mines, Escape room, Capitol Dome tour, etc! 

I'm pretty sure they had a good time, I know they were all wore out loading up for the airport in the wee hours of the morning. 

Alex and I got to tag along with the group on Saturday for the Hutchison and Lindsborg tours. It was so much fun to be with the big group. They talked about how 4-H was different in their states, how school was different and how much was still the same. I wasn't sure if Daryl would be mature enough to be with this group all week, but he did good. 13 is the youngest you can be and you can stay in until 19 if you are completing a two year commitment. I think Daryl would head to Texas next week if we let him, but it will be next summer before he gets to see Lathan in his county. I'm sure they will have just as much fun. 

The kids found this balance board outside the
Cosmosphere. They figured out they could launch
Daryl off one end if they all jumped at the same time. 
He got some pretty good air before the chaperones shut it down. LOL

One more boy for the week! 

The whole group liked seeing where 
the Texas Tech alum is the quarterback. ;-) 

Daryl had many high moments. 
Chasing after a foul ball at the Monarchs game
was one of them! 

Zip Line in the flint hills

Playing with my Christmas Present

 Christmas 2021 Santa brought me a new sewing machine. My old sewing machine was given to me when I was in High School, over TWENTY years ago. Time for a new one. But that means learning how to use new machine, so it has been sitting in its box. 

Alex has his Diamond Painting set up in the basement by where I sew. I figured out he will work on his project if I am down there sewing. So, to learn how to use this machinge I have been making Purl scarves from fabric scraps. I have pretty much figured out the machine, except for winding a bobbin. It came with a wound bobbin so once that is out, I'll pull out the book for that last thing. Purl's first set of scarves were too small, so tonight I made them bigger for her. 

I have a couple of half done sewing projects around. So it's time to get back at it while I visit with Alex as he works. Sounds like a plan! 

I like it mom, but make it bigger....please.

Yes! Better!

Splash into Summer

 The boys and I had Monday off in observance of Juneteenth. We decided to work on our "pool" goal, we want to get to the pool 10 times this summer! This makes #2 because I'm counting the wave pool we visited on vacation. 

After the pool and after dinner I coaxed Alex into working on his diamond painting he had planned for a fair project. Fair is a month away and he just got started. Oops! Hopefully I can get him to work on it a little every day. It's going to be really cool when it's done and it's for his bedroom. Wish us luck as we start 4-H project season, there is a lot of whining (kids) and wine (mom) during this delicate time! 

Board Games and Beer, A pretty good week!

 The family finally had a week at home! Well kind of, I was in Kansas City for four days, but mom and the boys were home. LOL! 

When neither of the boys opted to play baseball this summer I didn't really know what that would look like. So I was pleasantly surprised to come home on Thursday and find a Monopoly game that had been going since Tuesday! It had got quite competitive and Alex wasn't doing well. So, Friday through Saturday he had been playing card games with me that he had a chance at winning. I think the Monopoly game is still going....I don't know when I'll get to join because this game has to end first. 

Yesterday, I went to the Tap that Topeka beer festival. I have wanted to attend this festival for years but there was always something on the weekend. This year I blocked the day. I'm glad I did because it was a lot of fun. My favorite beer was a grapefruit wheat that was there and my favorite food truck was Stumpy's Smoked Cheese and the BBQ mac and cheese was excellent! 

I was so happy Morgan and Jordan came with us and I ran into many Topeka friends. It was the highlight of the weekend. This week the boys are not at my house so I need to finally set up my sewing machine Santa got me for Christmas. That is the goal of the week! I will let you all know if I finally get to be in a monopoly game....  

He did win this round of 5 crowns..barely

Second beer festival of the year! 

A great group to spend a Saturday with! 

The yummiest Mac and Cheese ever! 

May Goal Update!

May was a blur, I knew it would be and it was! But there is one thing I am so happy about, my mom is back. She usually gets her own blog post on her return but we hit the ground running. I think the first day she was in Topeka I needed her to go get a kids while I got the other. Repeat that over and over and you can see why she is the only way I get through the summer. 

And don't tell my sister, but I think she is just going to stay with me now...I'm nicer! ;-) 

Read 21 Books: 9/21

I was able to read another two books in May. Adding the daily goal of reading for fifteen minutes has really helped me. If the books is in a good place I usually always go over my time. I need to do a better job of making sure the boys complete their reading time every day I have them. They both only got half way through their book. 

The first book I read might be my favorite so far this year. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo has everything I look for in a fiction book. Multiple peoples' stories, twists and turns with a dash of romance. It was a page turner for sure. I'm going to look for other books by Taylor Reid because this one was too good. 

The second book I read I checked out from the library and I thought, there is no way I'm going to finish this before it needs to be returned. I was wrong. Empire of Pain by Patick Keefe is a nonfiction book about the Sackler family and how they played the leading role in the opioid crisis in America. And at this point probably all over the world. It too was excellently written and I devoured it, opting to spend many evenings on the porch with my book over inside watching TV. It was better than the crime drama on TV, this really happened and the effects are still all around us. 

Run 720 Miles: 334/720

I am pretty proud of myself that even with a week of vacation I ran 62 miles in May. Finally had some good outside running weather and I took advantage of it! And when the weather wasn't great I enlisted a friend to still get me out on my long run. My next race isn't until August but I don't want to start from scratch so I was doing six mile long runs in May. In June I will work my way up to 8 mile long runs. Fingers crossed for no injuries! 

Money Goals: The only money goal I managed this month was staying on budget for vacation. And I did it! I did make a small principle payment, but if life goes to plan I should have a bigger one this month. 

Add 2K to Savings, Done Feb 2022 

Pay Mortg. principle down 5K

New Living Room Furniture (Home), Done Feb 2022

Replace Some Windows (Home) 

Replace Window Blinds (Home) 

Create Backyard Oasis (Home) 

Trips: 2/3

As I described in my last two posts we had a family vacation in May. The boys, mom and I went to Washington, DC and Pennsylvania for a week. It was great and you can get details in the May Blog Post. 

Days I hit all of my Daily Habits: 17,

This is the second month in a row I had 17 days of hitting all my daily habits. I started the month strong because I knew I would not be drinking a ton of water during vacation. That makes for too many bathroom breaks! So I want to get 18 days in June. Slow progress is all I'm after!