Life with Bethany

I’m watching Sesame Street with Beatrix right now so that I can write this week’s email. She hasn’t been napping great this week; otherwise, I’d do it during a nap! Anyway, how was your week?

Last weekend, my mama and dad came to watch the kids so that Cam and I could go out to eat for my birthday. It was a really nice day. Annabelle and Alexander each did a little something for me, and I got a few lovely gifts.

Bea has been sick off and on since Sunday. It started as pink eye but transformed into some type of chest cold. She’s been wanting to be held and not much else! Yesterday (Friday) was the first good day this week, so that’s promising!

I’ve been working out a lot this week. I’m trying something new but won’t share it yet because I don’t want to jinx anything. Yesterday I did this HIIT workout, and it was really hard but a lot of fun. For the past 2 months I’ve been using something called Minimalift, which I really enjoy. And finally, Cam and I just ordered some new weightlifting shoes - the brand No Bull was having a big sale (2 for $99), and we both wanted/needed some shoes. Once I get those in and try them out a while, I’ll let you know how we like them.

Lately it seems like all our “things” are breaking. Our stove/oven had been acting up for the past couple months, and we finally had someone come out to check it out. Long story short, it needed a new igniter, and now it’s as good as new. The dishwasher just started making a weird noise (it’s cleaning fine though, thank goodness!). The fancy espresso machine has started acting funny; I THINK I know what to do to fix it, but we’ll see later today. And finally, our second A/C stopped cooling (yea, the one that is part of the add-on). An A/C guy came out and hopefully fixed it for good. When it rains it pours, ya know?

We’re rewatching The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix - we’ve got one more episode to go. If you never got around to watching it, you totally should. It’s horror/drama and very good! Another show we’re rewatching is Stranger Things since the final season drops in November. I want to be refreshed on all the story lines.

I really look forward to my mornings these days. I don’t get up early unless I HAVE to. But I do love my breakfast sandwich, brown sugar iced latte, and then doing the Spelling Bee with Cameron. It’s been this predictable rhythm for the past 6 weeks or so, and I look forward to it so much. What does your morning look like? Is it a lot different if school’s back in session?

I’m in a Facebook group for folks who bake sourdough bread. One thing I’ve been noticing a lot lately (in other groups too) is these posts where someone just reshares the text/photos that someone else already shared. I noticed it yesterday in the sourdough group: it’s these sourdough pop-tart pizzas. The reason I noticed is because I had taken a screenshot of this exact same post in the beginning of August. And here, someone else was sharing the exact same thing but pretending that it was their idea and photos. When I went and searched in the group, I saw a third post that was identical but posted by someone else. What does the person gain by doing this? I don’t understand it. Anyway, here is the post if you want to see it too - I definitely want to try this! (And here’s the link to the recipe that people shared in the comments: click here)

I’m in a reading rut. Any suggestions on getting back into it?

My Bible study class at church is currently going through The Well-Watered Woman. It’s got me thinking about a lot of things, and I really like it. It makes me think of that old saying about how we all have two wolves inside of us - one good, one evil - and the one that grows is the one you feed. In this Bible study book, it’s using plants as an analogy. If you aren’t watering the soil or giving it enough light, your plant won’t grow. As a Christian, if I’m not getting enough “water” and “light” I won’t thrive as a Christian. It’s been a good study so far.

Charlie has started drawing. He’s always been a puzzle and make-believe fella. And in the past week he’s starting drawing pictures, and I’m just delighted. Tonight he drew a T-rex wearing glasses. 🙂 

Bea has started doing sign language back to me. She’s always copied me, but now she is doing it on her own. She knows the ASL signs for more, nurse, and sleep, which are really helpful. When she’s fussy, now she’ll sign “nurse” and then “sleep”. It’s so neat!

Alexander’s doing a game coding course (in person) where he’s creating a video game from scratch. The website they use is arcade.makecode.com but I’m not sure how it works AT ALL. Once it’s all the way done (in December), if he gives me permission, I’ll share the link here so you can play his game if you’d like.

Annabelle is slowly turning into a big kid. She’s 9 now, and while she still looks like a little girl to me, the way she carries herself and reacts to things feels bigger now. She isn’t as amused by “little kid” things anymore. It’s interesting to watch it happen, now that I’m noticing it. She’s my little helper, in the kitchen or with the little ones. I don’t usually ask, she just jumps in if she notices I need an extra pair of hands. ❤️ 

Thank you big time to Anna and Natasha who bought me a coffee last week 🙂 

I hope your weekend is smooth sailing. It’s just about September, so I’ll start shifting into Autumn Mode any day now. Much love, thank you for being here,

Bethany