Summer Summary

In many ways, this summer was different from previous summers, but in other ways, it was a typical summer. The kids were home from school (normal). It was really hot (normal). We started off strong with lots of nurturing activities (normal) then got lazy and spent the rest of the summer watching TV and laying around all day (normal). 

Here's a little rundown of our summer highlights:

We went on weekly hikes... until it got too hot for this mom

We did chalk art almost every day... until it got too hot for this mom

We made a slip 'n slide in Grandma's backyard

We took a day trip to Logan (twice) and ate COVID-style in parking lots

We bought new dutch ovens and made some great meals

We went fishing (I went on this trip, but Scotty took the kids on a few trips without me so I could have a break)

We had a water main break up the street from us, and the road buckled

We had at least four sets of birds hatch in our backyard

We hunted for treasures 

The girls had dance classes later into the summer than normal to make up for lost Corona time

We bought a bidet

We went camping over Memorial Day, Father's Day, and the 4th of July. 

We did a dance costume photo shoot and had an outdoor dance concert

We did puzzles and played lots of board games

Everyone except Scotty had at least one dentist appointment

We went "park hopping" (this is where we hit several parks in one day and spend 5-15 minutes at each. We went to 16 parks in three park hopping sessions).

We 75% finished our basement (we still need to finish the closets)

We did lame, cheap fireworks

We grew sunflowers

We picked out carpet

We watched Hamilton. Lots of times. 

Nicky completed his Eagle project

We spent a weekend in Wyoming

We grew a tomato (our garden struggled a little bit, so yep. ONE tomato. From 15 tomato plants)

We went to a few lakes

I'd say we had a pretty darn good summer. 

Back to School 2020-21

Today, after five long months, three of my kids went back to school (Eva starts kindergarten later in the week). 

Daisy and Zoe

Nicky wasn't thrilled about

going back 

I spent Saturday updating the kids' checklists they use to get ready for school. I also updated our chore charts since we now have a basement that needs to be kept tidy. 

Yesterday we had some good discussions about returning to school. Scotty gave all the kids a blessing, and then we had a back to school dinner. The kids made their lunches (Zoe's consisted of two pieces of lunch meat and a large box of Junior Mints) and got all of their stuff ready to go. 

This morning, Zoe was up at 5:30. All the other kids rolled out of bed early as well, but none quite as early as Zoe. She was so excited!

I dropped Nicky off at school at 7:35, then took the girls to school at 8:25. Eva went to spend the day with her cousin, leaving me kind of alone. I say "kind of" because there's this new situation I haven't dealt with on a school day: Scotty works from home. It was just a few days ago that it dawned on me... my kids were going back to school, but Scotty wasn't going anywhere. I don't mind him being at home, but it's definitely different. He is in online meetings for a lot of the day, so I can't do things like listen to Hamilton full blast on the Alexa while I do dishes or vacuum the living room. 

I spent the day feeling completely disoriented. I wanted to be super productive, but as usual, I didn't have any energy. I also felt restrained - like I shouldn't do anything but sit and wait for my kids to get done with school. 

There was a little excitement in the house today, however, that made me really glad Scotty was home. Before she went to see her cousin, Eva went into the downstairs bathroom and found a mouse in the bathtub. It scared her to death. I was upstairs, and she came up in a panic and told me about the mouse. Sometimes Eva is a story teller, so I wasn't sure what to think, but she was definitely portraying real fear. I went downstairs, and she was right - there was a mouse in the tub and enough poop to indicate it had been there for a little while. 

As I approached the tub, I scared the mouse and it went scampering down the drain! 

DOWN THE DRAIN!!!

(What if it had died in there, and we didn't ever know it was there? Yowza! It made me think of the time my cat got stuck in the heater vent. But I digress). 

I waited to see if the mouse would come back out. I tried turning the lights off, leaving the room, and giving the mouse some time to get comfortable again. I wasn't sure if it even could get back out! It never came out on my watch. Scotty was in a meeting, so I texted him and said, "Let me know when you have a free minute. I have a problem for you to solve."

When he finished his meeting, he went downstairs, and the mouse was still down in the drain. He turned on the faucet, and the mouse came skittering out (sooooo glad he wasn't stuck). Scotty trapped him under a cup/shampoo bottle combo and eventually moved him outside where he met his fate.

That made for an eventful half hour! But for the rest of the day, I felt a little lost. I'm hesitant to start any routines while my kids are at school because I feel like I have to be ready for them to transition back to distance learning any minute. 

When the time came to pick up kids, I started with Nicky and then went and picked up Daisy and Zoe. The whole process took over an hour, and I remembered how much time I spend in the car during the school year.  

It sounds like things went okay for all the kids. They each had some positive and negative things to say. Lunch was complicated at both schools and will need some tweaking. Nicky was really ornery when he got home, but that's not unusual. Zoe has gone ahead and determined her best friend for the year, so I already have parents to meet (it's my life's version of dating, and I dread this kind of stuff, plus I have to add all the corona factors into it now).

Other than feeling like I can't accomplish anything during the day, I actually feel very good about sending my kids back to school. I have been so impressed with the staff from both schools my children attend. Over the past month, as things have been so ugly with the various school districts and the differing opinions about how school should be handled, I have found peace in dealing directly with our schools. I have to shut out all of the outside voices and just go with what I see right in front of me. 

That is not a statement about what anyone else should be doing. I know many people are better served by distance learning or other means of education right now, but I'm glad that we had options to choose from. 

One day down. 

We'll just continue taking one at a time. 

September Writing Challenge

I usually do some sort of writing challenge in the month of September. Last year I came up with my own, and I really enjoyed it, so I'm going to do it again this year. In 2019, rather than having a particular prompt for each day of the month, I made a list of 35 prompts to choose from, and I posted (almost) every day according to the prompt that I felt inspired by. This gave me some flexibility about when to use each prompt, and it also gave me leeway to ditch a few prompts. 

I have to admit, I feel a little uneasy making a month-long commitment this year. Twenty-twenty has definitely changed the way I look to and plan for the future. It's weird to anticipate what I might be blogging about thirty days from now when I'm just trying to tackle this day. But dabbling in the "normal" has it's perks, so I'm going for it!

Here's the list I came up with for this year:

1. Age
2. Quiet
3. Boredom Busting
4. Goodness
5. Mood
6. Answer
7. Learn
8. Play
9. Organize
10. Change
11. Weakness
12. Yesterday
13. Simplicity
14. Inspired
15. Date Night
16. Animal
17. Throwback
18. Tradition
19. Perspective
20. Outdoors
21. Balance
22. Success
23. Around the House
24. Frill
25. Eat
26. Create
27. Pause
28. List
29. Read
30. Friendship
31. Awe
32. Place
33. Oops!
34. On the Go
35. Thrifty

Feel free to join me, if you wish, by using my list or creating your own! If you don't have a blog, you can easily participate via social media. You could even make it a photo challenge (two of my friends did this last year on instagram). I love seeing different people's takes on each prompt. 

A Countdown of Random Things

 Ten things I should be doing instead of blogging

10. Folding laundry

9. Feeding my children breakfast

8. Exercising

7. Cleaning the kitchen

6. Reading with my kids

5. Studying my scriptures

4. Brushing my teeth

3. Pulling weeds in the garden

2. Wearing a bra

1. Organizing our coat rack

Nine things I want to buy

9. New flip-flops to replace my Donny & Marie ones (that was my only pair - I haven't thrown them away yet, but I need to. They are destroyed).

8. A convection oven

7. A new blender (ours died earlier this week)

6. A new freezer for the garage (we have a chest freezer, and we have to keep a paint can on it to keep it closed)

5. Mariposas (a new board game by Elizabeth Hargrave)

4. A new toilet (our upstairs toilet is on the fritz)

3. A dryer that matches our washer (normally I wouldn't care, but now that our washer and dryer are visible in our family room, I kind of want them to match. Our washer is white, and our dryer is gray)

2. A new dishwasher with a disposal in it (can you tell our appliances are all hanging by a thread?)

1. A pair of Chacos (but unfortunately, Chacos don't fit me. My feet are too wide)

Eight non-productive things I'd like to do today

8. Sleep 

7. Binge watch a show

6. Rearrange my home decor

5. Go on an online spending spree

4. Go out to lunch

3. Marco Polo Shannon

2. Lay on the floor under the swamp cooler in my underwear

1. Do soduku 

Seven things that make me feel old

7. My gray hair

6. My inability to be on trend 

5. My aversion to everything the youngins are interested in

4. My loss of coordination

3. My failure to successfully order food from an app (twice I've ordered from an app and shown up to pick up my food, and they don't have my order)

2. Watching TV shows where the characters are all younger than me (Friends, for example. I used to be younger than them. Now I'm older than them!)

1. Watching movies I used to love and seeing how outdated they look now (the original X-Men is now 20 years old! Hugh Jackman was in his early thirties when it was filmed!)

Six things I love doing

6. People watching

5. Flossing

4. Eavesdropping

3. Feeding people

2. Playing board games

1. Cleaning my fingernails

Five things I need to do better with my children

5. Follow through with discipline

4. Read with them

3. Listen without correcting

2. Spend one-on-one time with them

1. Share my testimony with them

Four things I need to work on

4. Sticking to our budget

3. Getting back in the habit of scripture study and prayer

2. Not eating out so much

1. Seeing the good in other people

Three things on my mind

3. The possibility of getting a part-time job (this just crossed my mind yesterday)

2. COVID things

1. Back to school

Two skills I wish I had

2. Playing the piano (or any instrument - I wish I could read music)

1. Speaking another language (this would really enhance my eavesdropping abilities)

One thing I wish I could change about today

1. The temperature (I'd opt for 65)

It's HOOOOOOOOT Outside* (and ten other random facts)

Fact #1: Last night I had a dream that I was going to Disneyland. My subconscious is very aware of COVID, so in my dream, as I prepared for my trip to Disneyland, I knew my mask needed to be two-layers (as per the Disney World requirements). As I entered Disneyland with my COVID savvy face covering, I began sobbing hysterically. I cried and cried and cried. And then I took a teary selfie in front of the castle before my subconscious registered that Disneyland is still closed, and I woke up disappointed. 

Fact #2: Our street was resurfaced today, so our road is closed. We parked on a different street so we'd still be able to come and go throughout the day. After the slurry was poured, I had to walk to my van, and I decided to take a chance in my Donny & Marie flip-flops and cross on the asphalt. 

The flip-flops in their prime

I now have asphalt splatters up and down both legs, and while I was at the grocery store, my shoes kept sticking to the floor. 

Lesson learned. Don't walk on the fresh asphalt. Especially in flip-flops. 

(In other words, read the paper they bring to your house that says not to walk on the fresh slurry and then obey). 

Watching the resurfacing process

Fact #3: The other day, I was in the bathroom when I heard the distinct sound of fabric ripping. Then both my boobs sort of fell to the sides. The center of my bra had surrendered. It just... gave up. It said, "I can't hold it together anymore!" and it released all its tension and stretched out about two inches. 

Thanks for that, bra.

Fact #4: I have been extremely tired lately, which means I have also been dysfunctional. I don't have any energy. I need to sleep for a month. Can't I just sleep for a month? That would be marvelous because then I could wake up and put out my fall decorations! Assuming I'll have the energy.

Fact #5: After fact #4, I had to take a nap. I've had to nap pretty much every day for the past month, and I hate it. I just can't function. I think it's a combo of the heat and my depression. My depression has always been well-managed on medication. This is the first time I've had issues with symptoms when I'm already on antidepressants. It's a bit discouraging. 

Fact #6: Daisy has really thick, long, beautiful hair, and she doesn't appreciate it. She cries like crazy any time I brush it, but she can't manage to brush it herself. It's always matted, and it takes me a half hour to brush it on a good day. She doesn't let me style it, either. She just wants it in a ponytail every day. 

In order to keep the length but make it easier to brush, I bought some thinning shears a few months ago and thinned her hair (consider it her honorary "covid cut"). Then last week, after yet another half hour battle brushing her hair, I thinned her hair again. I cut and cut and cut. And now her hair is thin, and she can actually brush it herself!

Fact #7: As I am typing this, I am in the middle of a baking disaster. I'm not sure what advice I should follow:

"If at first you don't succeed, try try again."

OR

"Know when to hold em. Know when to fold em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run."

Fact #8: Daisy and I decided to use up some of our zucchini today, so we made three dozen zucchini muffins and a double batch of zucchini brownies. The first batch of brownie batter seemed funky, and I suspected Daisy didn't double the oil. I ended up throwing it out and started again. Then I put them in the oven, and when the timer went off, they were completely raw. Turns out, Daisy turned the oven off, and she claims I told her to. Why would I tell her to turn off the oven when I knew we were making brownies? But whatever. I turned the oven back on, and the brownies eventually baked. We've yet to try them. I've kind of lost faith in the brownies at this point. 

Fact #9: I always maintained that my kids aren't allowed to watch Harry Potter until they read the books. This week I caved. I have tried and tried to get Nicky and/or Daisy to read Harry Potter. They won't. In fact, they won't read anything. I always thought that my kids would be natural readers because I am a reader. Surely kids who are raised watching their mother read will become readers, right? I guess not. 

MY KIDS WON'T READ. 

And it's a tragedy. 

But anyway, I let go of my dreams of them reading Harry Potter, and we are watching the movies together now. Even that is being done against their wills, and I have to fight them. 

Who are these people I'm raising?

Fact #10: Speaking of things my kids refuse to do... I will now bid you adieu so I can go make fajitas for dinner and listen to my kids tell me how gross they are. 

*But not as hot as Death Valley

COVID in My Corner

Over the past few weeks, I've ventured out of Salt Lake County. Previously, the only time I'd really left the county since the whole COVID thing started had been to go to Scotty's parents' campground where they are serving a mission. Doing so didn't really require us to make any stops along the way, so until three weeks ago, I didn't realize how different things are outside of SL County. In the last three weeks I have experienced my first business transactions and public appearances in other counties - which has made me realize that leaving SL County is a lot like traveling to a different land. 

Masks are mandated in Salt Lake County, so everywhere we go here, people are masked, and there are signs on all the businesses that say you need to wear a mask to enter. While in Cache, Davis, and Utah counties, we have been the weirdos wearing masks. As we were leaving a Utah County restaurant (where the majority of customers, the people taking our orders, and some of the people preparing the food were not wearing masks), I heard a customer say to one of the employees, "I don't have to wear a mask here, do I?" This was after we walked past her in our masks, which must have made her uneasy. 

I say this not to make a statement about being pro-mask or anti-mask, but just to acknowledge that I have a bit of culture shock over how different my COVID experience is because of where I live. Which leads to my topic for today - I decided to document how things are operating under our current COVID restrictions in my community. That way I have something to look back on to see how things change over time. As of today, August 14, 2020, here is how things are going in my little corner of the world:

The Library

After a very long closure, library books can now be put on hold and picked up by appointment. For a while they were just offering curbside pick-up. The employees have the items checked out for you already when you arrive. They are bagged and placed on a chair. You have to get out of your car and retrieve your bag from the chair. Just a few weeks ago they started letting us in the library by appointment. We have ten minutes to go inside, pick up our holds, browse a small selection of books, and check out. I did one appointment like this, but I prefer the ease of curbside. An employee met me at the door and walked me in. There was a table with masks and hand sanitizer in the entry. 

After books are returned, they are quarantined for 72 hours. The library is not issuing fines during COVID, which is good because I have two books I checked out in February that I can't find anywhere. I'll have to pay for them eventually, but it's nice that I don't have to worry about it right now. 

Masks

As I mentioned, masks are mandated in Salt Lake County. I'm actually glad about this because it eliminates some of the discomfort I felt prior to the mandate, and there is far less tension when everyone has a mask on. There are still people sneaking around without masks, and I feel bad that the burden has been placed on businesses to enforce the mandate, but most people are abiding. 

Church

Church is one thing that varies a lot even just within a small geographical region. Our ward started up in June. We had four sessions to begin with, and now it has narrowed down to two. Last I heard, ours is the only ward in our stake that is meeting. My family has not yet attended church. The other day I realized we're less active now. We go everywhere else. Just not to church. 

Gas Stations

As a person who enjoys the occasional caffeinated beverage with pebble ice in a styrofoam cup, I have to discuss the nature of obtaining a beverage at a gas station. We must use fresh cups (we aren't supposed to refill or bring our own), and then the lids and straws are kept at the counter and distributed by the cashiers. This is one thing that surprised me a little bit when I went to Maverik in Davis County. They have the lids and straws just sitting out like normal, and refills are allowed. 

Restaurants

While I'm on the topic of beverages, let's go ahead and transition to restaurants. Some of our food places allow you to fill your own drink, but you have to get a new cup if you want a refill (Cafe Rio). Others have the employees fill your drink for you (In-N-Out).

Every restaurant is handling things a bit differently, so it's interesting to see how things are done at each place. I'll share some with you if you promise to not judge me about how much I eat out:

• Chick-Fil-A puts everything on a tray at the drive-thru and has you take your items from the tray so there is no contact.
• McDonald's (and many other fast food places) just hand you stuff. 
• The server at Olive Garden told me she is not allowed to clear any dishes from the table. Only a manager can. Nicky and I had unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks. They placed a serving tray next to our table so we could put our dishes on it. 
• At Moochie's they have a section by the counter roped off so you have to stand at least a foot from the counter to order (this makes it hard to run your card in the machine) but they still have bottles of fry sauce sitting on the counter that you can take to your table, and they allow you to fill and refill your drink. Aside: I regret to say that I no longer care for Moochie's. I still love their fries and fry sauce, but I don't like their sandwiches anymore. I'm really sad about this. Their sandwiches used to move me to tears, they were so delicious to me. Something changed. I don't like their sandwiched at all now. 
• Tucano's had us fill out sheets of paper indicating which meats we wanted and what we wanted from the salad bar. Then everything was plated in the kitchen and brought to us. This may have changed since our visit because the governor recently allowed buffets to reopen. We ate at Tucano's at the beginning of July to use Scotty's free birthday meal (Scotty's birthday meals are what pushed us to start “dining in” again because FREE FOOD).  

Many restaurants have modified their menus to make things simpler for their employees right now. McDonald's has stopped serving some of our go-to's like ice cream cones and parfaits. Some establishments are using disposable menus, and others (like Red Robin) have you scan a QR code and look at the menu on your phone. 

School

Our district starts on August 24. This could all change but currently, elementary school is set to resume a five-day schedule with the option of distance learning. Secondary is doing Monday-Thursday (with distance learning option) and then all students do distance learning on Fridays. Students won’t have lockers. Masks are required. Each school has their own COVID plan which takes into consideration their floor plan, their enrollment, etc. Those plans have been made available to parents. We’ve been asked to commit to either in-person or distance learning for first quarter. Then we can change for the next quarter (extenuating circumstances allow immediate changes, but they don’t want people changing back and forth constantly). If at any time the schools need to close, everything is in place for all students to transition to distance learning.

Grocery Shopping

I do most of my grocery shopping online, so I don’t go in grocery stores very often. Some stores are starting to extend their hours again, which is nice. It’s been hard for me to not be able to make early morning grocery store runs. I found myself at Smith’s this week during senior hours (6:00-8:00 MWF) and even though it probably would have been fine for me to go in, I didn’t want to be “that” person, so I went home and came back later. I’ve had to wait outside for Walmart to open at 7:00 many times. 

It seems like most food/household items are back in stock. Now it's trampolines, camping gear, and Nintendo Switches that no one can find. 

Other Stores

While I haven't done a lot of in-person grocery shopping, I have done some "other" shopping. As you know, I took my kids back-to-school shopping. I also ventured to IKEA (I still think I deserve a trophy for that one). I go to Sam's Club pretty regularly. 

I used to feel weird going to stores, but now I'm pretty comfortable. 

Except at IKEA. IKEA is wiggety wack. 

Most stores have their dressing rooms closed right now, which is a bummer for back-to-school shopping.

The Dentist

We have a pediatric dentist, a regular dentist, and an orthodontist. At both dentist offices we've had to stay in our car and call from the parking lot, then they let us know when to come in. They take our temperatures upon arrival. There is no one in the waiting room. At the "regular" dentist, we had to fill out a form online asking things like, "Do you have a cough? Have you had a fever in the past two weeks? Have you been in contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID?" etc. We also had to sign a consent form to receive treatment during COVID. We had to wash our hands when we came in, and use mouthwash. The dentist and hygienist had double PPE on their faces. We were escorted everywhere we went, and they always made sure to not enter the hallways or the waiting room until all was clear.  

We haven't been to the orthodontist since May, but back then it felt like a frat party in comparison to the dentist’s office. The waiting room was full of people, and no one wore masks - not even the staff, save for when they were working directly in a mouth (that was before masks were mandated - I'm sure it's different now).

Piano Lessons

Obviously this ranges from teacher to teacher, but our piano teacher (who is actually my aunt) has been doing lessons via FaceTime. We have a phone holder hooked to our bookshelf in the living room that allows us to position the phone so the teacher can see our kids and the piano keys. It's nice that our kids have been able to continue piano lessons throughout the pandemic, and I kind of like not having to drive them to and from lessons for the time being.

Deseret Industries

The DI is where I normally donate the stuff I'm getting rid of. Currently, in order to donate, you have to schedule an appointment. You are supposed to sort your items, and when you get there, you unload them and put them in the proper bins yourself. I went last week, and the employee told me he's not allowed to touch my donations, but then he followed me around and touched everything after I put it in the bins anyway. 

So that's how things have been as of late. It's kind of wild to think about the route this year has taken. I often think of what it would have been like to foresee all of this in January. If I'd looked into a crystal ball and seen August 2020, what on earth would I have thought? Luckily I didn't get the whole picture at once. I've just been given one day at a time. 

Pandemics, amiright? 

15 Years of Blogging

The other day I was going through some of my blogging archives, reading some posts from 2007, when I realized I have been blogging for fifteen years. 

FIFTEEN!

My first blog was named "Weekday Wisdom." I started it in fall of 2005. I was 21 years old. I had just graduated from LDS Business College, and I was working at a special ed vocational training school. Scotty and I had lived in our house for about a year, and we didn't have any kids yet. My cousin had a blog, and he encouraged me to start one, so I did. I wrote on Weekday Wisdom for about two years, and then I decided to start fresh with Fluent Brittish, and I moved from Blogger to Wordpress. I shut down Weekday Wisdom and saved all of my blog posts in a word file on my computer. Those old posts died with the computer and are lost to the world. This is good and bad - good because those early posts were so embarrassing but bad because those posts documented my pregnancy with Nicky and early days of motherhood. 

My reaction when I read my old blog posts

Nicky was just under a year old when I changed to Fluent Brittish. That's when he became "Nicky." Prior to that, I used all of our real names (including our last name) on my blog. One of the reasons I switched to Fluent Brittish was to start fresh with more anonymity. I used Wordpress for about five years, and then in 2012, I moved back to Blogger and have remained here since. 

So, what does one do when one reaches a milestone of 15 years besides wonder where the time has gone? One makes a list of 15 blogging FAQs (but let's be realistic, these are not "frequently asked" questions, they are "mostly never asked" questions, or MNAQs). 

1. Where does the name Fluent Brittish come from?

My name is Britt, so I thought "Brittish" would be a funny way to describe my writings. I occasionally have people point out that "British" only has one 'T,' and I find myself overexplaining why I use two 'T's, and it just makes me tired. In all honesty, I don't love the name, but I've stuck with it. 

2. How did you come up with the pseudonyms for your family members?

Scotty is named after fishing equipment. Nicky is short for Nicklaus (though I haven't referred to him as Nicklaus on my blog for many years) after the golfer Jack Nicklaus. Daisy and Zoe are just names I picked. Eva is a shortening of Eva's real middle name, which is Evalene. It's supposed to be pronounced with the short 'e' sound (like 'ever'). You probably pronounce it "eevah," and that's fine. I'm not going to be mad at anyone for mispronouncing my kids' fake names!

3. Have you ever wanted to monetize your blog?

Nope. 

4. Have you ever had to deal with trolls?

Not really. I've had very few nasty comments in the 15 years I have been blogging. I am happy to occupy this small corner of the internet where I am protected from the eyes of online trolls. This is one reason I never want to monetize my blog or cross over into lifestyle or influencer blogging. That's not what I'm here for (though 21 year old me would have loved it). 

5. Have you ever thought about making your blog private?

Thought about it? Yes. Actually wanted to do it? No. But I did maintain a private blog for a few years just for family stuff. Instagram now fulfills that purpose in my life.

6. Have you ever thought about quitting blogging?

Nope. 

7. How has your blogging experience changed over the past 15 years?

Most of my fellow bloggers have moved on in life and no longer blog, so I lost a bit of my community. Now blogging has become so sponsored and centered around telling people how to dress, how to live, and what to buy. That's not the blogging community I fell in love with. I keep blogging the way I always have because that's what I enjoy. 

Also, commenting used to be a big part of blogging, and that's not a common practice anymore. 

8. Are you happy with Blogger?

It's fine, but I haven't branched out to other platforms to compare. Blogger is pretty easy to use, and it's free. It does have some annoying little glitches, but again... free. 

9. Have you ever thought about vlogging?

Yes, but I don't want to do the work. 

10. How do you incorporate social media in your blogging?

I have a Facebook page for Fluent Brittish so I can share links to my posts. That's all. 

11. What blogs do you read?

Just a few blogs of friends and family that are like mine. I enjoy reading people's funny stories and accounts of their experiences. 

12. Who have you met through blogging?

When I started blogging, the only people who read blogs were bloggers, so in order to have readers, you had to make online friends by going to blogs and commenting. I have met several blog friends in person over the years, but I haven't kept in touch with all of them. The ones I can think of are Isabel, Apryl, Amy, Becky, Jeanette, Heidi, Durga (see fact #6), and Erika. Durga lives in Australia, so it's pretty awesome that I got to meet her.  

13. Do you have any blogging regrets?

Sure. I've written some posts that I've gone back and deleted or returned to my draft folder. 

14. Do you hope your children read your blog someday?

They are welcome to read it, but I don't really care whether they do or not. I just hope that if they do read my blog that they aren't upset by anything I wrote about them. I have vented some of my frustrations with motherhood over the years, and some of that could possibly be hurtful to them depending on the lens they look at it through. The same can be said for my personal journals. 

15. Is there anyone you wouldn't want to read your blog?

As far as people I know personally, there is just one person I can think of that I would not like to read my blog. If you're wondering whether it's you, probably not. Are you an older male with a paranoia disorder? No? Okay, it's not you. 

Beyond that, I just prefer that no creepers read my blog. So if you're a creeper, kindly excuse yourself.

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Now I'm thinking I should treat myself to a celebratory lunch at Cafe Rio. And maybe buy myself some celebratory sweat pants and a book. And top it off with a celebratory nap. 

How They Shopped

We don't have a back-to-school shopping routine in our family. Sometimes I wonder if we should develop one. Am I supposed to have rules, guidelines, and traditions for back-to-school shopping? Cause I just kind of wing it every year. 

I've done back-to-school shopping a lot of different ways. I've done the "one outfit" thing because there have been times when my kids haven't needed anything, so I've just allowed them something for the first day of school. A few times, my mom has taken them shopping. One year I purchased all second-hand clothes (my kids were none the wiser). I've done lots of online shopping wherein my kids don't even participate. I just go, "Hey, there's a package on the porch. It's your school clothes." No one has ever complained. 

This year I decided to use back-to-school shopping as a way to spend one-on-one time with my kids. I took each of them shopping alone. I let them pick the store. I let them pick their clothes (with a small amount of intervention when needed). And I let them pick a treat. 

I also made a huge sacrifice and let them each pick out a package of socks. I'm a bit of a control freak regarding socks. I want everyone to have plain, boring, white socks (with an exception for Scotty and Nicky who are allowed to have a few pairs of church socks). I don't like mating socks, so I want them all to be the same. The pay off? I never have lost socks. Ever. If one of my children's 22 white socks gets lost, I never have to know because A) I never count to make sure 22 socks come out of the laundry, and B) they all match each other. Scotty and Nicky share socks. I just give half of the men's socks to each of them when I do laundry. I have my white socks, Daisy has her white socks, and Zoe and Eva share socks. 

This is how we sock. 

But all that went kaput when I allowed my kids to pick their own socks. Now we have LOL doll socks, Frozen socks, and colorful socks, and I am taking a lot of deep breaths. And I have three very happy girls (Nicky just went with the usual white socks I buy for him and Scotty. Bless the dear child!)

But anyway...

The first shopper was Eva. She picked Walmart. She wanted everything. I had to remember not to buy her everything. She sweet talked me into a few extra things - the little dickens! She came home with a bucket of Utz cheese balls. 

The next shopper was Zoe. She also picked Walmart. I was curious to see if she would pick any of the same clothes Eva did (she didn't) (I didn't let anyone show their clothes to anyone else until everyone had been shopping. I also didn't let them tell each other where they picked to go shopping). 

Zoe picked a lot of very colorful things. Zoe is a quick shopper. She marches in, grabs what she wants, and she's out of there! She likes to have layers, so her trademark outfit for the season consists of a short-sleeved shirt, a jacket, a skirt, a pair of pants, a belt, and some star shoes and a sequin bow (which she'll never keep in her hair because Zoe doesn't do well with hair accessories or hair styles of any kind). She kept telling me she needed this and that to "complete the outfit." I don't know where she got that from.

Daisy was next, and she was the most challenging. Daisy is too big for children's clothing, and it's hard because she is still very much a child. I wanted to go somewhere that I knew would have dressing rooms open. I heard that JC Penney allows access to the dressing rooms, so we tried there first, but holy moly, are they expensive! We spent about five minutes in JC Penney before we bailed and went to Old Navy... where we also bailed. 

We ended up at Ross, where there are no dressing rooms open currently, and took our chances. The juniors section is 99% crop tops, so we shopped mostly from the women's section, trying our darndest to find clothes that wouldn't make Daisy look like, well... me. She picked a few shirts I wasn't sure about. And I talked her out of some really ugly stuff (think neon yellow shirt and mustard yellow leggings). 

Daisy needed shoes, so we tried a few pairs on at Ross. The poor girl has really wide feet that are also thick from top to bottom (she can thank me for that), so finding shoes for her is a nightmare. I ended up taking her to Walmart (that's three trips to Walmart in one day, for anyone who's counting) to see if we could find her a pair of shoes like a pair she already has. We found some in a new color! Woohoo! She also picked out a few more shirts and the ugliest leggings I've ever seen (okay, not really. I have seen worse, but these are pretty ugly, and she fell in love with them, so what was I supposed to do?) Daisy tried on all her clothes when we got home, and we're so lucky that they all fit, and we don't have to return any of them!

Then it was Nicky's turn. His school has a strict dress code, so his school wardrobe consists of polos and khakis. He's just wearing all last year's stuff again this year, so I took him to Hobby Lobby and bought him a foam airplane. 

All of my kids told me how much fun it was to go shopping, and they even mentioned it in their bedtime prayers. And Nicky is very proud of his back-to-school airplane. 

What I Love About...

...Ebooks

They are easy to take along. A book on my phone means I have a book with me everywhere I go.

They don’t create clutter.

I can check them out (and return them) without going to the library. Not that I don’t want to go to the library! Of course I want to go to the library! Except for when I don’t. I like having books magically transport to and from my phone. And, as a person who never returns library books on time, it saves me a few fines to have my books automatically sucked back into the library vortex.

I can read them at night or early in the morning without having a light on. I do a lot of reading while I’m the only one awake in my house. I also like reading in the tent while we’re camping, and an ebook sure beats a hardback book by flashlight in a tent full of sleeping children.

...Audiobooks

Again, they can easily be delivered to my phone without a trip to the library.

I can speed them up or slow them down as needed.

They allow me to multitask. I listen to them while I’m folding laundry, working in the garden, or driving. 

Listening to books aloud makes you a better reader (remember how we’re supposed to read to our kids to help them become better readers? Does that change when we grow up? Methinks not).

It’s fun to recognize readers’ voices between different works. “Oh! This is the guy that narrated The Book Thief! “ (Allan Corduner). Or “Where do I know this voice from? (Googles it) Oh hey, it’s Holling Hoodhood from The Wednesday Wars!” It’s also cool when an author does her own reading because then you get to hear the book the way she intended it to be read.

...Traditional Books

They look fantastic on a shelf.

I really like being able to see my progress as I move through a physical copy of a book.

I can read them and then pass them on to other people (in most cases I prefer to give books away when I’m done with them rather than keep them - save for a few treasures).

I can write in them. 

They get worn out. I’m not one to keep books pristine. I want them dog-eared and chocolate stained. 

But I do love a fresh, new book. I just don’t want it to stay that way.

Happenings

Here's a little of what we've been up to lately.

Zoe is all about building furniture and houses for her LOL dolls out of cardboard. 

One Sunday morning, we went and explored the Salt Lake City Cemetery. I could wander there for hours (my kids... not so much).

We've reached a beautiful milestone: we can go on a family bike ride with no training wheels or bike trailers!

Scotty refuses to get rid of these shoes. He wears them every day. I can't wait til his feet fall out of them! 

I continue to rock at domestic bliss. 

Nailed it!

This has been our backyard swimming pool for the season. It's a pond form we bought when we were first married - thinking we would build a pond in our yard. For the past few years we've used it to hold soil while we empty our garden boxes to replace the weed barrier. Scotty drilled holes in it so the water would drain out. Now those holes are covered in Gorilla tape.

Daisy has been learning how to sew scrunchies (thanks to my mom - heaven knows I don't have the patience to teach Daisy how to sew. Plus I don't really know how to sew anyway).

We had a Disney-themed party at Grandma K's house. Normally Grandma K has a cousin sleepover ever summer. This year was modified to be COVID-friendly. Daisy dressed up as Minnie Mouse and scared the babies.

We've spent a few days at the lake with our kayaks. 

I've been working on reorganizing our storage room and other areas of the house. It doesn't feel like it's helping. 

Behold! The new carpet!

 

Last weekend we went camping and did Nicky's Eagle project. His project was to refinish this amphitheater. It was a beast, but we had lots of people come help!

(I don't have an after picture because the sun was so harsh the photos didn't turn out).

Other happenings:

• We had a fire in the neighborhood a few weeks ago
• The kids have enjoyed doing diamond art and making play dough (which costs more for the ingredients than it would to buy Play Doh)
• We've checked out some great parks (we try to go early in the morning to beat the heat)
• We are auditioning lots of new zucchini recipes
• Our garden isn't doing so great (lots of plants, very few veggies on them. This week I started pulling out plants that aren't growing anything)
• After months of silence, the Magna fault line shook again last week (just a 2.6)
• Our school district is resuming a full five-day schedule with the option of distance learning. After praying about it and doing our research, we have decided to send all the kids to school. I actually feel really good about it, but I'm going to be a mess that first week or so as I send my kids off to learn a new way of life in the public school system
• Yesterday I braved IKEA. I deserve a medal for this because A) I hate IKEA, B) I had to take all four kids (since Scotty works from home), and C) I had to wait in a line of nearly 400 people (yeah, I counted) to get in. I bought dressers for Eva and Zoe, then Scotty and I built them last night. Did you know that IKEA is absolutely insane right now? I didn't. I tried to go last week, saw the line, and left immediately. I had to prepare emotionally to be able to go back this week.
• I had the productive Monday I was hoping for this week 

And that's a summary of life lately. When I list it here on the internet, it looks like we're busy and having fun all the time. In truth, we are bored, stuck at home, too hot, watching way too much TV, fighting, and suffering. In fact, I bought an unlimited car wash pass just so we could have somewhere to go. Good times!