July is almost over...

It's been an amazing summer so far! It's always hard to see summer melt away. And I'm one of the lucky ones in that I have days off to enjoy and sit in my hammock and read.

I met a friend at the farmers market this morning and I bought beets. She had a great time exploring-it was her first time at our downtown market-and she bought sweet corn, a huge tomato, and a berry pie. I'm sure they've finished at least half the pie by now. It looked delicious.

I met another friend at the library and we talked books for about an hour and a half. She's also a librarian and she makes it to Book Expo so she is always far and ahead of me on what is new and great.

Book I finished yesterday:

Ms. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson (2016): An excellent read about three boys who try to make their cancer-stricken teacher have a great last day before she leaves for treatments. Perfect for elementary and middle school.

In my bag now:

The Impossible knife of memory by Laurie Halse Anderson (2014): Recommended by a friend and I love Anderson's work.

Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn (2017): Read about this one in an article about post-apocalyptic novels and after reading American War I decided this one sounded interesting as well. (RT update-I read almost the entire book in the car yesterday)

The Island of Dr. Libris (2015): Need to read for school, highly recommended.

The Witch's Boy by Kelly Barnhill (2014): I loved Iron Hearted Violet and more recently The Girl who drank from the moon!

Recommended by my friend:

This is how it always is by Laurie Frankel
The stranger in the woods by Michael Fink
We were the lucky ones by Georgia Hunter
Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak
Small great things by Jodi Picoult

I'm excited to check some of these out from the library. After waiting and waiting for a copy of Alex and Eliza to come in at the library I finally downloaded it only to get a notice the VERY next day...#lessonlearned

More summer reading...

I finished the second book in the 5th Wave series by Rick Yancy. My school kids always ask, when I recommend a series, if I've read the whole series and the answer is almost always no. Time is the only reason. I read the first one in this series awhile ago so as I read this second it took me some mental processing to pull the story back into my brain. I'm drawn to dystopian stories and yet find them to be rather gruesome, this one was no exception.

I was at the library the other day, looking for Alex and Eliza, which was checked out already. I managed to find a whole stack of other choices, mostly from the YA section. While I was shelf shopping another librarian handed me a book and said, "oh Michelle, you should read this" and she had that book glow on her face. You know the look so...well, of course, I had to check it out. And then I read it in 2 days. Boom. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf was the book she handed me. I was unfamiliar with this author and am now interested in all things written about Holt, CO. I thought the story was sweet and enduring yet thought-provoking.  How we treat people as they age (ageism) and the variety of relationships one might have all through your life made for an interesting read. Life can begin again at any age. I'm going to have to thank that librarian friend next time I see her!

I cooked this chicken recipe a few days ago and Anton and Japhy loved it. She was dubious about the spinach part and then she tried it. She prefers her spinach raw. Anton loved his because it tasted like good cooked greens. I buy my chicken at Steege's Market downtown and they have lovely breasts, meaning they are small and not all plumped up like you would get at a regular grocery store (even when they say "all natural")I thought the spinach part was so good I made it a second time to go with something else I made. Cumin, coriander, and cinnamon spiced the cooked spinach up perfectly.

Lazy summer days with yoga...

I'm in the middle of the only free days I'll have for summer. I've done a little nannying, helped at a friend's bakery, and in August we go on a little vacation.

{Society6}

So on these free days I'm simultaneously trying to deep clean my house as I can't ever seem to get ahead of the clutter; while I also do some deep relaxing.  I have a stack of books for school to read, I'm spending time with Groovy Teen, and I'm working on my yoga. I love yoga but I fall behind during the school year. My husband created a wonderful workout space in our basement and this summer I've used it almost ever day.

Anyone can do yoga from home because there is a huge amount of free sequences on youtube. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to yoga and the other day before I did my regular go-to video I clicked on an article I'd saved awhile back. Pinterest is, of course, only as good as it should be if you actually use it. I think of mine as a large filing cabinet most of the time but then there are folders I reach into constantly. 8 free yoga channels caught my eye this time and by clicking on the article I found some very good new teachers to try. If you do yoga at home try each of these unique channels for something new. My goal is to try several by each teacher to see which one fits. I've gone through three and loved how it changed up my regular routine. I tried a sequence with Boho Beautiful and I was (good) sore for days.

Be inspired - try something new this summer. Looking out into my backyard as I type this; it may be an outdoor yoga kind of day...

Namaste~

July is starting off with a bang....

Literally. Fireworks are now legal in IA and it's a horrible idea. It's loud, sounds like gunfire continuously, just popping with no pretty after glow. At all hours of the day.  I could be out back enjoying my hammock life, reading, dreaming, napping about mid-afternoon and pop, pop, pop; my peaceful moment is robbed. Tomorrow should be even more crazy. I have typed the word "chill" into my calendar for tomorrow so that's while I'll be doing no matter the sound affects around me.

Sweet Isabella

We did a tough thing today. We put our sweet Izzie to sleep. Toughest decision every. Many think we should have done it awhile ago but I think there is no right time. She wasn't deathly ill, she was in pain and had trouble motoring around. The last few months she'd started this odd and consistent woofing that we thought was dog for "I'm not feeling like myself-can you fix it?" And we tried all her favorite treats and a round of pills but nothing seem to alleviate her pain.  So we helped her along. Taking a page from the Dog Whisperer I treated her like a queen this past week. May she be romping pain-free tonight on some grassy knoll.

Between the fireworks popping everywhere and our sweet dog it's been a rough beginning to the middle month of summer. I do have a delicious menu planned for tomorrow as we CHILL. Wild Caught Salmon, arugula salad, a raw corn salad, baked beans (Anton's must have for any BBQ) and I'm making a strawberry rhubarb pie tomorrow.  Groovy Teen and her quest to be dairy-free really misses ice cream so I've made her an almond milk version that I hope will turn out. It's in the freezer as we speak.

Speaking of rough times-my Groovy Girl has requested in strong terms that I stop referring to her on this blog with that every so cute blog nickname. I call my other kids by their names but hers is unique and I like to hide her identity and she's still under age. So I've been blandly calling her Groovy Teen in the last few posts. It just doesn't have the same ring to it. Any suggestions...