Skipped June Completely!

 Yeah, June came and went!  There was a summer cold in there that dragged on forever.  There was VBS at Burke Community Church.  There was a lot of putzy little things getting done. That was June in a nut shell.

July is promising to be more jam packed.

Have decided, that while I look for a full time, paid job, I am deep diving into big jobs around the house and smaller, quicker fun jobs.  Last week brought 5 days of purging and reorganizing our file cabinets.  By Friday, the file cabinets were a little leaner and better organized.  Smaller, fun jobs have been sewing, making jam, making pickles, reading, and I am sure I have missed something. These are usually posted on instagram (@jennifermbrock).

In weekend news, I have been working at a local Farmers Market for just over three months.  The perks of this are: the vendor I work for is Chase Your Tail Bakery, so Charlotte has been getting her favorite treats for free, being able to hug a few friends since COVID restrictions have lifted, and reduced prices at some other vendors (our fridge and freezer are getting stock with good produce and dairy).

Peaches are coming into season and now I want to try this sorbet recipe:

https://www.aheadofthyme.com/3-ingredient-peach-sorbet/

There are a few other links to fruit deserts I want to try as well in the above link.  One has watermelon and another has strawberries.  

For now, that's the most current "joy".  Catch ya on another day.

Strawberries from a few weeks ago.  Made jam, tons of jam, and froze a lot too!

The Monday After

 It is a rainy Monday morning, after our last child graduating high school this past Saturday (5/22/2021).  Last night was the first night, in a long while I felt like I slept through and woke up feeling well rested.  Didn't know it would take graduating all my children before I'd sleep well.  That is something to be thankful for.

Today brings changes.  The last of cleaning up from Saturday (I vegged pretty much all Sunday), writing out to do lists that are totally different than any other in many years, packaging up the last of our homeschool journey, preparing for the next era in life.  Had thought I would be more nostalgic over all of what has happened, but I am more thankful for the journey and that it happened than sad that it has ended.  I look forward to how my relationship with each man cub is changing and developing more of a mentor/friend relationship with them.

Here are a few photos from Saturday.  We need to recreate some family photos.  I'll either drop those in this post later or write again soon.

Keon & Ian

Ditched the cap, gown, and nice shirt quickly!

Reading "Oh The Places You'll Go" that various folks wrote in!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Not so much

 A Quilted Lamp Shade

 In contrast to the Stain Glass Shade

on the other side of the desk.

 Outdoor reading, after all it's 70 degrees.

Where there was one yesterday,

two are there today.

• unseasonably warm weather
• time to absorb the sunshine
• contrasting lampshades
• no driving today

A Blustery Day!

A blustery and rainy day.  Windy enough to move the outside furniture or knock them over.  We survived.  Looked forward to around dinner time when we start closing up the curtains for the day; wanted an end to the cold, rain, and dark.

• wind moving the storm away
• socks
• music
• falling asleep to Screwtape Letters
• new recipe for dinner
• working on sky scarf

Maybe tomorrow I'll have a progress photo of the scarf!  I can dare to dream.

As a total side note, the slowness of the day and lack of weekly meal planning meant last minute thawing of meat.  Have found that once the meat is a little thawed, it can be cut down into smaller chunks, which cooks and breaks up easily.  Cooking save & kitchen hack!