Happy Friday, friends!

I really should make these emails more consistent. Perhaps I should just include X number of sections, then beyond that, add them to the draft of the next email, and then when I hit X sections in that one, go ahead and schedule it for the next Friday. But that would be a weekly newsletter, and mine is “weekly-ish” so maybe I just won’t change a thing.😅

Have you had a pretty good week? What was the best part? If you did not have a good week, tell me about it. I’m a good listener, I think!

If the weather is nice enough today, I plan on taking the kids on an adventure. Cameron has a video shoot locally, ALL DAY. I know, a lot of people leave in the morning and get home in the evening for work every day. But that’s unusual for us! So to make things exciting, we may stay gone all day too. 🥰 I’ll post about it on IG stories if it happens.

Cooking Stuff

I had an idea to do a full-on cooking, kitchen, food-related email one week. If that sounds like it would be helpful, please reply to this email and let me know what you’d like to see!! It can be literally anything related to the kitchen and cooking.

For this week, though, here are a few random things that came to mind (consider it a preview of the big cooking email I MIGHT send soon!):

1. 1 tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons. And an ounce is 2 tbsp. I do a lot of conversions because I often cut recipes down by ½ or 1/3, so this is handy for me!

2. When you’re cooking meat, especially poultry, be sure to use a meat thermometer! I don’t worry anymore that my chicken might be undercooked. They are not super expensive and could save you from getting sick (or eating overcooked meat!).

3. When you’re baking, use grams and a kitchen scale!! It’s a lot more accurate than measuring cups. If a recipe includes grams, that’s what I use.

4. Glucose Goddess on IG is a really interesting account to follow. She talks a lot about how different foods affect our blood sugar levels and how the order of what we eat makes a difference.

I’ve got a few other ideas as well (fav kitchen tools, fav websites for different types of recipes, how to reimagine leftovers, etc) - if you’ve got any ideas for the special email, hit me up!! ❤️

Triathlon update

ICYMI I’m doing a SPRINT triathlon in about 2 months. If you live near the Shreveport Bossier area, you should come say hi at the finish line…if I make it 😆 It’s a ½ mile (880 meter) swim, 18 mile bike, and 3 mile run. I’d like to finish in under 3 hours, and my goal is closer to 2.5 hours.

Here are some random things I’ve learned:

• Swimming freestyle is the fastest, but it takes really focused and methodical breathing. That’s my biggest challenge right now, the breathing!

• Breaststroke is the second best choice for me - it’s a little easier on the body, but it’s slower. I’ll switch to that when I need a little break.

• Backstroke is the easiest, and I’ll do that when I need to catch my breath!

• The bike seat should have a sort of divot in the middle and not be fully smooth. That’s more comfortable anyway, according to the bike shop guy.

• Street bike tires are VERY thin! I’m actually getting a street bike on Sunday from a guy at church. He’s got one he doesn’t want anymore.

• The transitions are something you also have to practice! Going from the water and jumping straight onto the bike can take longer than you think. You have to dry off enough to get your shoes on and helmet and all that. And then you have to find your bike in the big rows of racks!

• A 5k run isn’t that hard on its own, but after all the swimming and biking, your legs will be like jello. So it will be mind over matter at that point.

• I can not take a hand off of the handlebars while biking. Yesterday, I was able to move one hand just long enough to look at my watch. Progress!

I got myself a good helmet, biking gloves, a swim cap, and goggles. I still need to buy a wetsuit - this is the one I’m thinking of getting! You wear it the whole time.

Alexander’s birthday

Welp, my first born is 10 years old. Neato! He had a great birthday. We did 10 days of gifts, so he got a present each day leading up to his birthday.

• the new Zelda game

• maze book

• another activity book (it says it’s for perfectionists so it’s very relaxing for him)

• paint by stickers, but a grownup version

• red comforter for his bed

• new swimsuit

• some stuff for the swimming pool

• IQ Love

I can’t remember the rest right now. And on his actual birthday, we all went to Splash Kingdom water park here in town. It was a lot of fun, actually. Charlie is our little water baby. He loves being in the water, so he had as much fun as the big kids.

And of course, THE CAKE. Alexander had a few requests this year: Red and Pink cake (those are his and Annabelle’s favorite colors), one vanilla cake layer, one Oreo ice cream layer, crushed Oreos in between, vanilla frosting. And then on top, there should be 5 fondant* figures (one for each member of the family), and each person would be holding a letter in the word HAPPY. Then I’d write “birthday” underneath that.

*I’m not a fan of fondant personally. This brand (Wilton) tastes good actually. I just think it’s a weird texture. But my kids love it soooo that’s what I use!

A few other notes: I used THIS recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction for the cake; because it makes 3 9-inch cakes, I did 1/3 of the recipe. For the ice cream layer, I put wax paper in a baking dish then smushed the soft ice cream to fit the dish. This was a bad idea because the paper stuck to the ice cream once it was firm. Plastic wrap is what most people do, but we don’t ever have any! I used the same baking dish to make the cake so they’d be the same size.

It was delicious. I’m a big fan of cold buttercream on ice cream, so I loved it. And of course, Oreos are like, one of my top 5 favorite foods.😅 Alexander said “It’s pretty good!” That’s about as good as I’ll get out of him, so I consider it a win. 😊

TikTok Roundup!

A month ago, I said on Instagram I’d do a TikTok roundup every Tuesday, and I literally did it one time and never did it again. 🙈 Anyway, here are some that we’ve liked recently!

1. This guy just tapping his screen to the music made me so happy, I don’t know why.

2. If you have never seen an Anatoly video, here’s a good one. He’s dressed as a cleaning guy at a gym, but really he’s incredibly strong. And he “easily” picks up these super heavy weights, and the people working out are always completely flabbergasted.

3. I don’t know if I’ve shared one of his before, but this guy acts like his kids and they always crack us up.

4. Cheeseburger sugar cookies! So cute!

5. Look at this MASSIVE driftwood. Wow.

Father’s Day

I asked the kids what to get Cam for Father’s Day. Annabelle suggested some new gym shorts because he accidentally burned a couple holes in his favorite pair!! So that’s one thing we got. Additionally, I got him some scissors to trim his beard and some more athletic socks since his are pretty worn out! The kids will each make a card for him, I’m sure. 🥰

DAD IF YOU’RE READING, SKIP AHEAD 😁 For my own dad, I got him Storyworth. I’d heard about it a bunch of times on different podcasts. Essentially, for a year, he’ll get a weekly email from Storyworth that asks him a question about himself. He replies to the email with his answer. At the end of the year, they compile all of his answers into a bound book.

He can add photos and pick new questions if he doesn’t like one of them. He can change the title of the book, the color, all of that. I actually went through the questions already and picked ones I think he’d like to talk about. I’m hoping he enjoys it!

Shoutouts!

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Nicole and Anna and someone for buying me coffee last week! And thank you to Kate for all the rabbit info! I read all the replies and really appreciate every tip and insight and suggestion you guys give me.

Thank you for being here, for being you, and I hope you have a wonderful (Father’s Day) weekend! ❤️
~Bethany

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