August 2020

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The biggest news of the week is that Sophia’s bathroom remodel is underway. We hired out for the demo and tiling (a friend of Mark’s is a contractor) and I’m so glad we did. What would have taken us forever, they knocked out in just a few days. We will still have to paint and do a few more cosmetic-type things, but I’m so, so excited to have that room functional again.

I went on a quick date with Mark to Home Depot to pick up grout and came home with $20 worth of houseplants. The way to my heart isn’t through fancy jewelry or handbags, but definitely plants, ha! I picked out a big dieffenbachia, which turned out to be poisonous for dogs so now lives in my bedroom (where Lucy’s not allowed). I also got a pothos for the bathroom.

I started pulling out some of the summer garden and the spent wildflowers in the front beds – bittersweet, but also deeply satisfying. I have learned SO much this year and am already planning what I’m going to do differently next year.

+ In order to keep the kids away from the construction, I brought out one of my secret weapons: a bag of balloons. Good for everything from a science demonstration to PE class! I blew up a handful and the little ones were happy in the basement for over half an hour, creating all kinds of games. We had our share of popped balloons along the way, but definitely still worth the $2. + I’m really liking our new elementary science curriculum so far: Elemental Science’s “Earth Science & Astronomy for the Grammar Stage” curriculum. This week, we finished a paper mache Earth model (after learning about the continents) and did an experiment about currents.
+ After a few years away, we’re back with Story of the World for elementary level history. The kids made a model of the Nile, following the directions from the Activity Book. Can’t wait to see the grass grow in the next few weeks!

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“Mother Culture,” an idea from Charlotte Mason and coined by Karen Andreola, simply encourages mothers to keep learning and growing, even while raising children. Andreola describes it this way:

Mother Culture® is a way-of-life, the skillful art of how a mother looks after the ways of her household. With a thinking-love she creates a culture in the home all her own. A mother does a lot of taking care, so she needs to take care of herself, too. Much depends on how she manages her life.

I resonate with this encouragement because it feels like I have someone in my corner, someone looking out for me as I do the hard work of motherhood. Taking the time to gain new knowledge/skills really fills my cup and I think my children notice. So with that in mind, I’m committing to my own set of monthly assignments this school year! Here’s what I did in August:

✔ ASSIGNMENT #1: Crack open a classic novel.
Back in 2019, I started reading The Well-Educated Mind and was so pumped to start the “The Story of People: Reading through History with the Novel” reading list. I ordered a beautiful hardcover copy of the first book, Don Quixote, aaaand…read the first few chapters and put it away, ha! In August, I decided to tackle it again. This book is a brick (over 800 pages!), so I gave myself the goal of reading just 50 pages for the whole month. Sounded easy enough! As of this writing, I’m on page 87, so about 10% finished. I definitely don’t find it a page turner, but it is a good one for reading a chapter or two a day. I actually think the writing is somewhat humorous! Who knew?

✔ ASSIGNMENT #2: Discover and listen to a new type of music.
I popped around the Internet for some inspiration on this one and ran into Mildred Bailey, a Native American jazz singer during the 1930s. A few fun facts about Mildred:

She grew up in Washington, but often visited relatives on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation in Idaho, where her mother was an enrolled member. (Her mother was also a devout Catholic.)
She was known as “The Queen of Swing” and “The Rockin’ Chair Lady.”
This little tidbit made my smile: “Whatever the reasons may have been, superstardom eluded Bailey. The singer blamed her plumpness for her lack of commercial success, while others suggested that it was really Bailey’s temper and sharp tongue that were her undoing. There’s plenty of evidence that Bailey felt especially bitter towards better-looking female vocalists, many of whom she felt lacked her talent. Throughout her life, Bailey blamed her obesity on a glandular condition, although many of her friends attributed it instead to her great love of food.”
She suffered from diabetes and died of a heart attack at only 44 years old.
She had many popular songs, including “Rocking Chair” and “Thanks for the Memory”, but I loved (and could relate to!) another of hers called “It’s So Peaceful in the Country”. All three songs are below!

✔ ASSIGNMENT #3: Read and reflect on one poem.

For this one, I pulled out a beautiful old book from 1957 called Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected for Boys and Girls by Helen Ferris. This is the poem I chose for August: What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare? No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty’s glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. Fun fact: W.H. Davies was a Welsh poet who spent a significant part of his life as a hobo.

✔ ASSIGNMENT #4: Learn something interesting about nature.

I went back to The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs and was excited to discover that I was on the chapter about stars. Reading the sky is interesting to me but I have very little experience. One fun fact that I learned:

It is commonly believed that the North Star is the brightest in the night sky, however it’s actually neither very bright not very dull… if you see a very bright white object shining more brilliantly than anything else in the night sky, it is very likely to be the planets, Venus or Jupiter, or the brightest star, Sirius, but it will definitely not be the North Star. (p.152)

✔ ASSIGNMENT #5: Memorize something: a prayer, a poem, or the lyrics to a song.
We’ve been attending the Latin Mass and the chanters have been singing the Salve Regina after Holy Communion. I knew parts of the song, but never the whole thing, so in August, I practiced! This video was helpful.

Salve Regina

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ, Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte; Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. This post contains affiliate links. P.S. I highly recommend Book Outlet! Use my link to receive $10 off your first order of $25 or more. P.P.S. Have you heard of Bookshop? They are an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. You can check out all of my favorites on this page and I’ll be linking to Bookshop and Book Outlet as much as I can from here on out. I hope you’ll support them too!

#60. EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES AND EUCHARISTIC PHENOMENA IN THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS by Joan Carroll Cruz || ★★★★☆

Simply written and packed with facts, I really enjoyed this book about Eucharistic miracles throughout the ages. I often found myself Googling the miracle after reading it, so I could see the pictures up close. (The next best thing to going to visit on pilgrimage, I guess!) The faith of the people throughout history was greatly inspiring to me and I know I experience the Mass in a deeper way because of their example. (This was also my 1991 pick for the 20th Century Reading Challenge.) This is the kind of book I wish I had read back when I lived in suburbia and was dreaming about acreage. Very much an encouraging, “start where you are” story that is a mix of memoir and helpful beginner’s tips. 3.5 stars, rounded up. #62. FOLLOW THE RIVER by James Alexander Thom || ★★★☆☆ I’m not sure what I was expecting going into this book – maybe a cozy little historical based in the mid-18th century? Oh no no. This book was intense! The story was compelling, but the gruesome and violent parts were hard to read.

#63. THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn || ★★★☆☆

This thriller/suspense novel about a woman struggling with agoraphobia was definitely a page turner. I predicted most of the twists but there were a few surprises there too. _________________________

MY READING IN NUMBERS FOR 2020

Books Read: 63
Pages Read: 17,760 Fiction: 35 // Non-Fiction: 28 Kindle Books: 25 // Paper Books: 38 20th Century in Books Challenge: 29/100 Original 2020 books “to-read” total on Goodreads: 414 // Current “to-read” total: 398 (I’m in the 300s!!)

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The first week of school is done and it actually went better than expected! In seven years of homeschooling, I’ve learned that the best thing you can do right off the bat is to find that routine, that steady flow of the day. When the kids know what to expect and what is expected of them, when I can get even a tiny grasp on chores and other responsibilities…the days then become smooth and productive. There will always be hiccups and small changes (life!) but the general routine is what keeps homeschooling from feeling like total chaos.

Recording what is working so far, for posterity’s sake:

I rise around 6-6:30, drink my coffee, read my Bible, start a load of laundry and get the dough going in the bread machine. Then I hop in the shower, dress and eat breakfast. During this time, the kids trickle downstairs, eat breakfast, get dressed, and sometimes watch a cartoon.
At 8:30, we all meet together in the kitchen to divvy up the day’s chores from The Confident Mom’s Household Planner.
At around 8:50, I have a mini meeting with my two middle school boys, go over the assignments/reading of the day and then send them off! They pick different quiet places throughout the house and will typically sprawl out while reading and head to a table for written work.
At 9:00, we do kindergarten! We start with TJ because he will otherwise relentlessly bug me for his turn. This is the time we work on his math, letters and read aloud.
I take a quick break to switch laundry and put bread dough in pans for their second rise.
At around 9:15, my elementary students (K, 2nd & 4th) all meet at the school table for our group subjects like science, history, art and geography. We do these altogether and just toggle the amount of work depending on grade.
I take another quick break to switch laundry again, put bread in the oven to bake for lunch and check in on big boys.
At around 10:15, we split up. My 2nd and 4th graders do their math on the computer with Teaching Textbooks, so while one is on math, I work on the individual subjects of the other, like language arts. With Mark home full time right now, he’s taking on their catechism and they love that special one-on-one time with him.
This takes us to about lunchtime and we break from 12-1. This used to be our household quiet time but now that my kids are older, we just kind of hang out and relax. It’s like a midday siesta minus the nap. (Although I sometimes could go for one, ha!)
After 1:00, we finish up any work we haven’t completed yet. If they work diligently and we don’t have any big projects, we easily can be done by early afternoon. Sometimes we get in the kitchen and bake something at this time, or they play, draw, play guitar, get outside, etc. On Fridays, we take a nature study hike through our back woods.

100 Little Things Update: I checked off the first two tasks on my new list!
+ Get Lucy a new dog bed. (#57) – This technically breaks goal #100, but I found a reasonably priced dog bed and it was a Lightning Deal too! Lucy cuddled right in, so I’m calling it a success.
+ Buy myself a pair of snow pants. (#79) – This one is random for late August, but my thinking is that I would pay less if I bought now versus later in the fall. I ended up finding a secondhand pair, like new, for only $9!

On the Nightstand: I just finished The Woman at the Window by A.J. Finn. Still working through Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, Gaining Ground by Forrest Pritchard and Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert.

Recipe of the week, A is for Applesauce Muffins:

Applesauce Muffins
adapted from Mom to Mom Nutrition

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Add the wet to the dry and stir until combined. Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

This post contains affiliate links. What a week! It started with a flat tire. Simple enough to deal with, right? Oh man, it turned into a fiasco. We tried to remove the tire so we could put on the spare and drive to the mechanic, but it would.not.budge. For two days, we tried everything, bought a few supplies to lift the SUV better, watched all the tips and tricks on Youtube, but to no avail. We ended up calling a tow truck (to the tune of $100) and having to replace the one tire since it was too big of a hole to patch. Since we were at the mechanic anyway, we decided to get Mark’s car inspected and were told that he needed all new brake pads to pass. Later in the week, I checked our propane levels on a whim, only to discover that it was muuuuch lower than we thought and had to quickly make an appointment to fill the tank. Money’s just flying out the window at this point. Other than that, it was a flurry of final school planning and project finishing as we prepare for our school year to begin on August 17. The kids won’t admit it, but I think we’re all ready for a little more structure in our days. I’m especially praying for a smooth transition as we begin – I’ve got five students, from 8th all the way down to K this year!

I’m always on a mission to prolong the lifespan of our clothing, so I’ve been doing a little mothproofing research. (This article from Martha Stewart was helpful.) I’m still on the lookout for hanging red cedar boards, but I did manage to find an etsy shop that sells lavender sachets to add to my closet. Reasonably priced, cute fabrics and a wonderful seller. Highly recommend.

For this week’s baking day, I made a new batch of granola and two loaves of banana bread. Tried and true, this is our favorite recipe: 1 cup sugar ½ cup oil (sometimes I use coconut oil, sometimes unsweetened applesauce) 2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas

2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla extract

(you could also add in a cup of chopped nuts too)

Preheat the oven to 375°. Butter the inside of a loaf pan and set aside. Add all of the ingredients one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. I typically bake mine for 45 minutes and then tent with foil for the last 5-10.

This week’s gratitude comes from part of a newsletter I received from Naomi Bulger. While this is her take on home comforts, I was really inspired by her choices and hope to intentionally notice and create more of this in my own home. I think it will be especially important going into the fall and winter. Here are her words: “Home comforts” is a funny term these days, isn’t it. On the one hand, it feels like a warm hug. When you mention “home comforts” to me, I think of the kettle singing on the stovetop. Of the small stack of books on my bedside table with the corners turned down half way through. Or sitting under a colourful woolen rug, stroking our pet rabbit’s ears and watching Netflix while editing photographs on my ‘phone. There is a corner of our old sofa that is my corner of our old sofa, with a sag in the cushion that is just the right shape for my bottom. Home comforts are the things we return to after long journeys: everything is where it should be in the kitchen (no hunting around a million cupboards looking for a cereal bowl), the right brand of cheese is in the ‘fridge, and the herbs on the window sill are the ones you chose, because they are the ones you like best to eat. It’s your favourite pillow and freshly laundered sheets on the bed, or spending an entire day cooking up a feast, for no reason other than that you want to. Home comforts are safe, familiar and, well, they deliver on the promise of the tin. Home comforts are comfortable. P.S. Naomi’s newsletter is one of my favorites and is always full of inspiring and helpful content.

Month #11 for my 1,000 Item Declutter Challenge! Here are the ground rules:

Only spend 10 minutes at one time and only in one specific area.
Monday through Wednesday, seek out items that we no longer need and make a pile. Then Thursday through Saturday, make a plan for how to deal with them. (This has worked so well and avoided that dreaded box of “what should I do with these?” items.)
Possible places to find new homes for items: Ebay/Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, Trash Nothing website or the local Buy Nothing Facebook group and as a last resort, Goodwill

I feel a responsibility for the things I have and want to be intentional with how I dispose of them. Questions I asked myself: If it’s here, what purpose does it serve? Can I use it up? Can I enjoy it vs. keeping it tucked away in drawers and boxes? And if not, can I let it go to someone who may need it more?

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The one year mark for this project is quickly approaching! Since this was my last month before school resumes, I tried to knock out as much as I could, digging around in closets and cabinets and the basement. I’m starting to see the fruits of this whole adventure, though, because it feels like I’m finding less and less, ha! What a good feeling.

WHAT I DECLUTTERED THIS MONTH

15 books. I have had a big pile of books in my closet for months now in the hope that I could start a Little Free Library. And then the world turned upside down! I decided to try my luck on ebay instead to get books into the hands of people who want to read them.
Two new Ikea duvet sets. I purchased these right before we moved to the farmhouse for the little boys’ room, but eventually went in a different direction. I never opened them and three years later, it appears Ikea doesn’t sell this variety anymore. Sold both on ebay within hours of listing!
One book on Greek myths. I somehow had a duplicate, so sold the extra on ebay.
2 throw blankets.
A baby bouncy seat.
One pack of confetti balloons. From the BWF days.
16 pieces of Mark’s clothing. I convinced him to go through his closet and he ended up with a big pile.
26 pieces of kids’ clothing.
3 dress-up skirts.
One baby winter coat. This was a little hard to let go because all five of my boys wore it at around a year old. But what good is a coat stored away indefinitely when it could be used by someone right now?
One pullover fleece. Sold on ebay.
2 coloring books. Into the recycling bin.
8 empty egg cartons. I collected these back in February with the intention of posting them on Trash Nothing for a preschool/kindergarten teacher to use in the classroom. (I was imagining a caterpillar craft or maybe even used for seedlings.) But then…COVID. Thankfully, my son works at a farm that could use them and now they’re finally out of my house!
One bath mat.
2 bags of shredded paper. Junk mail and other personal paperwork that needs to be shredded counts as clutter too! I’m counting each full container (which is the equivalent of a plastic grocery store bag) as one item. Added most of it to my compost pile.
7 pieces of miscellaneous clothing. Off to Goodwill. These are pieces in good condition, but don’t have much resale value and weren’t substantial enough to warrant a post on Trash Nothing.

Items decluttered this month: 88
Money made this month: $82.85 Total items decluttered so far: 661 Total money made so far: $824.69

P.S. To “count,” the item had to physically leave my house. So while I have listed a handful of things online, those aren’t counted until they have sold.

This post contains affiliate links. Don’t ask me how or why, but I finally got my groove back last week! It felt so refreshing to be buzzing around the house, cooking and tidying and working in the garden, and jotting down huge lists of to-dos. Not everyone’s idea of fun, but it is so very much me. In the garden, we have our first little watermelons growing and still have cherry tomatoes coming out of our ears! My new zucchini seedling has already emerged, but is looking a little sad after all of the rain storms. Hopefully it pulls through! I also created a loose plan for fall crops: broccoli, carrots, brussels and lettuce are on the docket. We’ll see what happens! It’s all just one big experiment. As part of our debt freedom celebration, Mark and I budgeted a little “fun money” for each of us to spend however we choose. Since the thrift stores in my area have weird hours right now (and the idea of social distancing in these tiny stores seems stressful), I scoured the Internet for vintage pieces instead. I had an idea of what I wanted and kept searching until I found the right item at the right price. (Some pieces are insanely expensive!) I obviously paid more than I would have at the thrift store, but I’m supporting small business and helping the economy, right? Ha! Here’s what I found:

a tall wicker picnic basket to hold my fabrics and in process quilt (this one, this one and this one are all similar ideas, but different shapes)
a small floral still-life painting to eventually be hung in a gallery wall
a Farm Journal cookbook from the 1970s that I bought for decor purposes, but actually want to cook almost everything inside! (here’s the same one!)

Sophia’s bathroom renovation is finally moving forward! We pulled out her toilet last November (!!) with the intention of ripping up and re-tiling the floor and shower, but ran into a few problems…and then COVID. I ordered the tile this week and we’ll hopefully be able to get this project going by the end of the month. I made homemade burger buns for the first time and they were delicious and so easy. J and I also whipped up a Strawberry Crumble Cake together and while I could only eat a tiny piece due to my dairy sensitivity, it was really good. I think it would be even better paired with a cup of hot coffee! Here’s the recipe: 1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces 4 cups fresh strawberries, chopped Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a 9×13″ pan. In a medium bowl, toss the strawberries with the 1/2 cup sugar and corn starch. In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, baking powder, salt and flour. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until the pieces are about pea-sized. Stir in the egg to form a crumbly dough. Pat half of the dough in an even layer in the pan. Spread the strawberry mixture on top of that. Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the strawberry layer. Bake 45 minutes or until lightly browned. zinnias exploding with all different colors hearing my farmer neighbors hard at work when I go to my garden in the morning the peacefulness of a child asleep picking seeds for fall planting finally getting the Goodwill boxes out of the house! a new spot in my bedroom to read the kids’ excitement when they were able to hug their grandparents after five months(!!) that our power returned after three hours and we didn’t lose all the groceries we had just purchased that day homesteading videos on Youtube creating a delicious meal from leftover ingredients tile purchased for Sophie’s bathroom the privilege to homeschool my children

This is my seventh year with the practice of 100 Little Things. I can honestly say that this practice has changed my life for the better. That sounds a little ridiculous and extreme, but I believe it to be true. This list allows me time every summer to sit with my to-do list and my dreams and create a wonderful mixture of both. It keeps me focused on the memories that I’d like to create with my husband and children. It keeps me from throwing money away at the Target Dollar Spot because there is a list of things I’d really like to purchase. It keeps my own health and self-care on track so I can pour from a full cup. It is just a little list, but it is so, so good.

Thoughts on Round Six: The final goal was 52 tasks accomplished, which I think is a personal best! I really feel like I hit my groove with this one and it seemed to be a nice balance of fun things and necessary things. Last year, I had written: “I tried to focus on the goal of noticing (my one little word for 2019), especially taking care of the things we already own, taking care of myself physically and spiritually, and taking care of the people in our community.” Even without completing all 100, I think I accomplished that.

Thoughts going into Round Seven: I was really inspired with the idea of increasing my skills as a creator versus a consumer, so homesteading skills, gardening and even some handicrafts have a strong presence on the list. There are a handful of tasks that need to be tackled and half-finished ones to be completed. And because after three really hardcore years of debt reduction, I allowed myself to dream a little about home projects and purchases too. So fun.

Here’s my list for August 2020 – July 2021:

1. Complete Baby Step #3: save six months of expenses 2. Refinance the mortgage 3. Pay one extra payment on the mortgage 4. Make homemade Greek yogurt 5. Learn how to make pickles 6. Make cinnamon rolls from scratch 7. Make a cookie cake 8. Make a new flavor of homemade ice cream 9. Make homemade vanilla extract 10. Bake a two-layer cake 11. Make and can tomato sauce 12. Invest in half a cow 13. Learn how to make a homemade caramel macchiato 14. Sew cloth napkins 15. Sew a piece of clothing 16. Learn how to darn a sock 17. Set up a clothesline 18. Make my own laundry detergent 19. Expand the garden 20. Grow herbs 21. Plant flowers along the outside perimeter of the garden 22. Finish painting the garden fence 23. Build a wood shed 24. Build a chicken coop

25. Get chickens

26. Build a pig shelter 27. Raise pigs for meat 28. Add more apple trees to our orchard 29. Add a nut tree

30. Buy a citrus tree to keep inside

31. Learn how to crochet 32. Learn block printing 33. Finish the scrap quilt 34. Finish the princess cross-stitch pillow 35. Finish the flower garden quilt 36. Finally finish my “winter” cross-stitch 37. Complete a new embroidery project 38. Make citronella candles 39. Finish the 1000 Item Declutter Challenge 40. Buy a new couch 41. Decide what to do with the first floor textured walls 42. Paint Sophia’s room 43. Replace the tile in Sophie’s bathroom 44. Hang the dining room chandelier 45. Grow paperwhites indoors 46. Purchase new electric candles to put in the windows for Advent and Christmas 47. Choose a new piece of art for our 15th anniversary present to each other 48. Make sure every bedroom has its own crucifix 49. Buy outdoor lanterns 50. Make a firepit 51. Finish painting the second floor shutters 52. Fix the basement drywall 53. Buy a snake plant for the master bedroom 54. Plant lavender under my bedroom windows 55. Install more shelving in the laundry room 56. Buy a master bedroom headboard 57. Get Lucy a new dog bed 58. Whitewash the fireplace 59. Sew a slipcover for the living room chair 60. Add another bookcase to the school room 61. Finally finish the Bible reading plan 62. Get to 50% on my 20th Century Reading Challenge

63. Read Don Quixote

64. Read The Pilgrim’s Progress 65. Read another book from Agatha Christie 66. Read another book from Wendell Berry 67. Get Goodreads TBR to under 375 68. Say five different novenas 69. Celebrate the kids’ feast days with special dinners 70. Pray a 54-day novena

71. Read the Catechism of Saint Pius X

72. Learn about a new Marian apparition 73. Print pictures of all of the kids and make photo books 74. Hang a few family photos on the walls 75. Make another Extraordinary Ordinary video 76. Make a “1 Second Everyday” video to share on the blog 77. Find a new dentist 78. Invest in a new pair of winter pajamas 79. Buy myself a pair of snow pants 80. Invest in a new pair of spring/summer pajamas 81. Buy new slippers 82. Go to the eye doctor 83. Order new glasses 84. Find simple stud earrings 85. Invest in a high-quality linen dress

86. Read Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family

87. Send someone flowers, just because 88. Send Christmas cards 89. Donate to our local volunteer fire department 90. Donate to the food bank 91. Donate to a semi-local veteran retreat center 92. Sell the remaining inventory from my little Poshmark business and officially close

93. Participate in Project Feeder Watch

94. Thank the mailman 95. Thank the workers at the dump 96. Finish my self-defense DVD course 97. Get a haircut 98. Help place Christmas wreaths on veterans’ graves at the cemetery 99. Take the kids to the beach

100. Use Amazon as little as possible

August brings in the new school year here at the farmhouse and for me, it’s also going to bring in a chance to start again. I’m tired of the funk I’ve fallen into and I want to counter all of the fear and negativity in the world with things that are beautiful and good. So I’ve created a little monthly challenge for myself that I’m calling “Mother Culture” with five simple assignments. I will probably vary the topics every month, but we’ll see. One day at a time! Here’s what I’ve chosen for August:

Mother Culture Assignments for August 2020

⬜ ASSIGNMENT #1: Crack open a classic novel. ⬜ ASSIGNMENT #2: Discover and listen to a new musician. ⬜ ASSIGNMENT #3: Read and reflect on one poem. ⬜ ASSIGNMENT #4: Learn something interesting about nature. ⬜ ASSIGNMENT #5: Memorize something: a prayer, a poem, or the lyrics to a song.

I’ll be back with a post about what I’ve learned on the last Thursday of the month. Feel free to join in with any or all of the assignments or even create your own! Let’s all seek the beautiful and good together.