Around Here Week 34: 08/18-24

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute.

photo cred: Miss Hannah

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 562+ hours
Up 33 hours this week thanks to day camping, Friday night high school football game, and some last summer days (swimming, outdoor playing, and visits) helped boost our hours this week. I can already feel though the crunch down on time with the school year around the corner- there's a little pressure on time for getting all the things done and I know I'm going to have to be intentional with my outdoor time to keep my numbers up as we head into the next season!

Reading I'll Think It You Say It by Curtis Sittenfield and really enjoying it. I read a few chapters in the hammock this week and it felt like such a full circle for the summer when I was reading so much outside in early June fresh out of school. gah, time - why do you move so swiftly?

Singing happy HALF birthday to our Gemmi Ro who turned seven and a half this week! We had muffins for breakfast and she got to spend most of the day with Miss Hannah - so it was a pretty good half birthday for that little chickie.

Listening to Violet retell all about her amazing adventures on her special day with Gigi&Pap. They drove out to Gettysburg on Wednesday to visit The Land of Little Horses Farm Park  She had such a great time and enjoyed so much to have one on one time with her Gigi and Pappy. (thank you!!)

No bummer summering with the Fiores at Delgrosso's amusement park on Wednesday! Kate and I took Rusty and Charlie around the smaller rides while our three big kids spent their afternoon riding the big rides - they even got enough courage to ride the big drop! We had pizza and snacks in our pavilion and then the kids were anxious to head back to the Fiore house to swim. Always the best day when it's the Fioder crew.

Day camping at the Que with Abba & Chum who rented our favorite two Que camping spots for the weekend. The kids were thrilled to spend most of Saturday at the dam; kayaking, swimming, playing in the hammock, and eating campfire food. Our friends, the Huffmans came out to visit, my parents' friends Pam & Al came to camp out too, and the kids were overjoyed to have Aunt Kitty all to themselves for playing and rock skipping on the water. It was a perfectly lovely last summer camp day before the new school year begins!

Teacher-prepping with a visit to my classroom that turned into mostly catching up with my fav coworker (hi Renee!) and a student who was working on her schedule that day (hi, Alysha!) Thank you to Miss Hannah for staying with the kids for my classroom visit AND then so that B and I could grab our annual back-to-school coworker lunch date. The school year officially started on Friday with our first teacher In-service day. We had some meetings and then had an opportunity to get in our classrooms to get ready for the kiddos coming next week!

Fall Sporting with two cheer practices (including finishing our run through sign painting!) and a Path of the Pride cheer spirit event at the varsity football home game opener. The boys had three football practices, they served the Varsity players a meal one night with Common Grounds outreach (thank you Loni for the great idea!), and had a scrimmage vs. CV. Grey is so excited to be back in a helmet and pads and seeing those boys work together always has me smiling.

Frugal Living was on the light side this week. I packed a cooler with snacks, juice, and homemade cookies to take with us to the amusement park and I made double batches of banana bread with all six bananas that went brown at our house (all 6?! come on!)

Making turkey taco crunchwraps (!), pizza tostadas, bowtie spaghetti, three ingredient chocolate breakfast muffins, chocolate chip cake batter cookies, and banana bread.

Keto'ing and bumping up to 12% carbs from strict 5% carb keto. I was really running low on juice (fall activities/back to school prep) and after some research figured out that I should probably up my carbs a little bit. Now instead of under 20 net carbs, I'm getting under 55 net carbs - which is still officially 'low carb' but not as strict as keto. I'm still getting used to it, because it feels like cheating a little bit makes me want to cheat a lot (LOL). I made keto bagels and had my favorite breakfast: keto bagel, avocado, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds. We had salmon and green beans (and then leftover salmon over salad), keto 'bread' sticks, and church picnic chicken with cheesy brussel sprouts.

Birthday reflection exercise

It's nearly my birthday, 36!, and every year I find a way to make it weird on all the people that love me and want to celebrate me (hah, sorry). I just really feel that birthdays, at least for me, are meant to be for internal reflection. The only person who deserves to be celebrated on my birthday is my mumma who did all the work that day 36 years ago - Thank you Mum! Love you more. 

So, every year around my birthday, my husband and family has to endure as I go through a few days that have me all weepy with gratitude and quiet with contemplation while I keep telling them to stop making a big deal out of it. (poor Brandon, I love you for putting up with me, babe).

Mostly for me, my birthday is a yearly reminder to be grateful for this life that I get to live. 

There are days that are so long and challenging that I find myself grateful to sink down into bed at night with relief that it is just over. But most days, I cannot believe I get to live this life filled with so much beauty. 

All the tiny regular moments through the year, 

sips of coffee

catching Brandon's eyes across the dinner table

hots showers

a warm day with a cool breeze

the sound of turning a page in a book 

the weight of my babies in my arms

they all collectively add up to this incredible life that I get to live each day. 

The people who show up for me and the people who need me to show up.

The places that I usually find myself and the places I got to explore. 

The laughing and crying and hurting and rejoicing. 

I feel so undeserving but deeply grateful to get to be the one who walks this single, unique, ordinarily extraordinary life. 

My life isn't perfect, but I remain focused on the ways that it is wonderful and all the ways that I can choose to make it better or be grateful for what I do have. 

It comes down to perspective and how you frame your experiences and memories. 

These are some things that I find myself reflecting on each year around my birthday. We get this one year in this one precious life. I want to make them all count. 

1. What lessons did you learn this year? 
Sometimes you learn the hard way, sometimes you learn to be more efficient - both count. 

2. Are you living your daily life in a way that is reflective of the kind of person you want to be remembered as some day?
I often imagine my children and my future grandchildren remembering me or telling stories about me when I am very old or gone. I want to work towards living a life right now that their stories will be the kind of a person I want to be remembered as. That I made time for them and others. That I laughed and smiled. That I made food that felt like a hug. That I found time to be silly and have fun and snuggle. That I behaved as though mess and the loudness and the chaos didn't matter as much as the togetherness. That I was patient and looked at them and listened to them and read a lot of books.....for these stories to be true - I need to live this way right now. 

3. If you had to describe the You you were this year, what words would you use to describe him/her?
She was one part overwhelmed, distracted, and worried and another part ambitious, determined, and patient. It was a strange year of life last year. A challenging year at school, a scary year for health of a loved one but then that half of the year drove the other half towards being intentional on doing better; being more aware, taken advantage of health and youth and the beautiful expanse of summer free days of possibility. 

4. Who did you admire this year? Who do you want to be more like? Why? How?
Reflect on who you were surprised by or who impressed you this year. Who made you think, I want to be more like that. Maybe it was a small, kind gesture from someone you know personally or maybe it was something big on a large scale that inspired you from someone you simply read about. Think about what it was that inspired admiration; is it something that you already have inside you that just needs to burn a little brighter - or is it something you want to change or add to yourself? 

5. How were people supportive to you this year? How can you be supportive to others in the same way you felt supported this year? 
Think back to the people who were in your corner this year - how did you know they were there for you? Did they show up? Did they reach out? Did they lend a helping hand? Do you show support to people you love in the same ways that gave you support? How can you do better? Who needs you in their corner? 

6. Reflect on the titles you held this year. 
Spouse, parent, child, sibling, aunt/uncle, grandparent, friend, job title, coach, etc. Which of these were easy and fulfilling? Which were challenging? Do you need to re-prioritize this year? Do you need to change any? Do you need to add any? 

7. Reflect on the things you accomplished this year. 
What did you volunteer to do? What were you forced or pressured into doing? How many times did you say Yes? Why? Was it worth it? How many times did you say No? Why? Was it worth it? Where in your life should you try to say No more? Where in your life should you try to say Yes more?

8. In what small moments did you fill most like your true self? 
When you are your true self, who is with you? Are you alone? What were you doing? How can you make more moments for you to be your true self throughout the year, months, weeks, days. Are there daily routines that bring peace of mind that you can continue? Are there moments where a routine or tradition can help bring you peace of mind this year? 

9. You will never be this young again in your life, what can you do this year to take advantage of this youthfulness that you still have? 
What are things your mind, body, and health allow you to do right now that you can't guarantee as you get the privilege of growing older? Will you take better care of your body this year; healthy whole foods? exercise? moisturizer and sunscreen? meditation? get a check up? Will you learn a new skill; knitting? a musical instrument? calligraphy? a recipe from an elderly family member? Will you expand your horizons; travel? learn a new language? take up a hobby? participate in a local sports league? volunteer your time for others? 

10. Plot this year on a big imaginary scale with all other years, where does this one fall? 
Maybe looking back it will be one of your favorite years and you know already you'll look back and think, 'oh to be that age again!" Or maybe it belongs in the worst/scariest/most challenging years category. If it was a hard one, that's okay - sometimes life is like that, but look at you - you persevered and for that you can be grateful; even if just because that year is over.  If it falls in the rating of Meh, how can we make that different next year. You get one year this age and that's it! We should be living in a way that no years turn out to be just 'meh' years! 

Around Here Week 33: 08/12-08/17

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 529+ hours
Up 16 hours this week. The kids and I took the dogs to the Que for a quick swim on a gloomy day much to Bullet's extreme happiness. Trixie could care less about swimming, but Bullet would swim until he drown (which I was worried a few times when he swam really far from shore). We swam at Pappy&Gigi's house on Friday afternoon and scored some more hours at fall sports practices. At 529 hours and 55 minutes to date, I have officially surpassed all previous years' outdoor hours! Last year, I called my full year count at 529 hours and 23 minutes! So yay me...and thanks camping!

Reading  and finishing Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick your Ass by Meg Medina, I really enjoyed it! I also read and finished a new language learning novel that I will use this year in Spanish 2; El Silbón de Venezuela by Craig Klein Dexemple about the Venezuelan/Colombian spooky legend of the Whistling Man.

Half Marathon Training this week: 5 miles
Ugh, I did pretty poorly at my half training schedule this week, but I think my body did need a little bit of a break. I took rest days Monday-Wednesday and then ran 3 miles from our house to cheerleading practice! It was so efficient to run there and then drive home after practices with the fam, so that helped beat my running boredom which has become a real thing for me. I did some modified training (hah) on Friday night with a 2mile dog walk.

Swinging by the library with the kids to return and pick up one last book haul before the end of the summer. Grey read and finished The Man Who Wore All his Clothes by Allan Ahlberg in preparation for AR tests this school year (haha/yay!)

Videochatting with my college this week to make sure I am all set to go for the upcoming school year. I have a teaching practicum in the fall (multiple observations by my principal and mentor teacher) and another semester of the teaching practicum and a 15 page research paper due in the spring, then I'll be all done with my PA certification by May 2020!

Singing happy birthday to our Uncle Kevmoo for his 30th with a late evening cheesecake after football and cheer practice. We love you Kevin Duck!

Letting out a deep sigh of relief when Gigi received the news of another clear scan this time 3 months post-chemo! Thank you for all the continued support, prayers, and good thoughts.

Back to school prepping with a shopping trip with the girls on Saturday. We picked up some clothes for all four kids, bought updated hygiene supplies, and grabbed some pencils and folders. The babies got new lunchboxes and the backpacks have been cleaned out and washed (we reuse our LL Bean backpacks each year - they're lifetime warranty!) B and Greyson got their hair cuts on Friday and Grey had his dentist appointment. The big kids just need new shoes and then we will be all ready to go!

Ordering delivery Aldi through Instacart. So instacart is kind of like Uber or Grubhub but for groceries. A person gets your grocery list and then goes and picks up your food and delivers it to your home. We had ours delivered to Gigi & Pappy's house while we were swimming because our zipcode isn't included yet. It was a good experience but we get such a huge order that it makes more sense for me to just do it myself I think in the future. We are all set for the school year though, so that's a relief!

Resolving our rooster problem. We had four roosters (!!) and they were really getting mean and bossy. One of them tried to flog Rusty, it was constant trauma to our hens all day long, they were fighting each other, their crowing was constant - and we figured that all that noise was probably calling in the predator that's been picking our hens off one by one all summer. So I had enough and told Brandon, it just needs done. We did keep their breasts to cook and some hackle for Grey's fly fishing supplies. It certainly wasn't fun, but it needed done - especially before the winter - and our coop is peaceful and happy again. Rest in Rooster Heaven Peace.

Being an outdoorsman's wife. The whole year is outdoorsman season, but we are really creeping into the most intense season and the boys are itching to get out in the woods. Brandon and Grey spent Friday morning setting up tree stands and checking trail cams with our Gilmore cousins. On Saturday morning they went out with cousin Jesse and his bird dog Gunner for a pheasant/chukar shoot. Grey harvested three chukars! And even Rustman got in on the action while B helped him shoot his BB gun at the target in our yard while the girls and I were shopping.

Teacher-prepping by finalizing all first week lesson plans and syllabi for all levels. I hauled all four kids to school with me on Thursday so that I could decorate some more, hang my word wall, and organize a bit. I got to have a chat with my teacher bestie, Renee too and the kids watched The Book of Life on the projector. I received the best surprises from our classroom fairy godmother (Ashley) this week too! I asked her to help build our reader's theater prop collection and she found and sent the most hilarious and perfect props, including - top hats, nerd glasses, animal masks, and a super hero cape! The kids are going to be so much more theatrical as we read our novels this year with so many costume options! Thank you Ashley!!

Fall Sporting with two cheer practices and one picture night. We painted three of our six run-through banners on Thursday nights and they are awfully colorful and creative (lol). Grey and Brandon had three football practices and their picture night too. Grey was nursing a stoved thumb back to better this week after jamming it in a basketball game with his cousins last Sunday. We were worried for about 5 minutes that maybe it was broken, but with repeated thumb-ice baths and tylenol, it was almost back to normal by the weekend.

Frugal Living digging all through the football/cheer shed to find last year's run through paper so that I didn't have to buy another roll. Harvesting our first (teeny) tomato from the garden! Saving the breasts from our four roosters and the three chukars Grey harvested during the bird dog hunt. We saved some neck hackle from the roosters for Grey's fly fishing collection too. The girls and I used a Starbucks giftcard for our back-to-school shopping snack that covered our whole order and I did at at-home dye for my fall hair using Nutrisse's light brown instead of going to the salon.

Making ground turkey with green beans over rice, chicken, veggies & stuffing casserole, sloppy joes and mac&cheese, buffalo chicken dip, and keto chili which the kids woofed down and loved.

Keto'ing right along. I am continuing with Keto, still tracking my macros while B has taken a more lax approach since he doesn't want to lose any more weight. We had really delicious chicken, broccoli, alfredo casserole this week and I made another batch of chocolate cream cheese fat bombs. Grey made me a delicious Keto friendly breakfast (eggs, cheese, & strawberries) and B whipped up some chicken fajitas (sans tortillas) with pepperjack cheese on the grill.