I don’t have to tell you life has been super weird these past couple of months. Who knew I’d turn out to be such a trendsetter when I bought this shirt last year?

I’ve decided I miss my corner of blogland so I’m promising myself to write here at least once a month. I started blogging way back in 2006 when I started homeschooling, and I found it encouraging to me to have an informal account of what we were doing. Then other folks started to read and I met a whole new world of friends on the interweb. I hope y’all will be part of the conversation here as I pick things back up in a very low-key, no-stress way.

family life

I’m not really a Vegas kind of girl but I went in February for a fitness certification. Getting there was a nightmare because a big tornado-spawning storm went through the southeast right about the time I was trying to leave. I got there just in time to take a two-hour nap before starting my first eight-hour day of a challenging 3-day kettlebell certification. I’m not sure I’ve ever been that tired. But it was awesome and I learned so much.

I don’t travel much and had never been out west so I gave myself a full day to sightsee with a local friend before heading home. We toured the Vegas Strip one very chilly evening, and drove to the Hoover Dam the next morning. I got to check two more states off my visited-list. So cool. The scenery from the plane on the way home was amazing, too.

While strolling through the Venetian on the Las Vegas strip, I heard someone say “Jamie?” I figured it couldn’t be this Jamie but I turned around anyway and there was my longtime blog pal and fellow adoptive mama Sharla! This was SUCH a crazy coincidence because I live in North Carolina and she lives in Canada, and if you’ve been to Vegas you know it’s crowded and busy just about the most unlikely place to just bump into someone! Sing it with me: “It’s a small world after all…“

This was much less fun: On April 1st, we got a water bill that nearly made me faint. Sadly, it wasn’t an April Fool’s prank; turns out we had a MASSIVE leak in the copper pipes under our concrete slab home but since it wasn’t inside the house, and since our sandy soil soaks up water so quickly, we had no idea. We spent the next two weeks with our water turned off except a couple of times a day to flush toilets, etc.

We finally got it fixed by re-plumbing the entire house, going up through the walls this time rather than under the slab. Since they had to cut into the wall where all the interior plumbing runs (between the kitchen and bathrooms), we went ahead and pulled out the kitchen cabinets and decided we’d take on a DIY project right in the middle of quarantine. If we hadn’t gone that route, they’d have had to jackhammer up the tile and concrete beneath and just hope we found the right spot on the first try.

So that’s been fun. We’re still in the middle of the DIY but the plumbing is done we’ve all vowed never to take the ability to shower or do laundry or flush toilets for granted again! I’ll share photos when it’s all done but for now you can appreciate the DIY we did in the kitchen of our old house.

homeschool happenings

I haven’t shared as much in the way of homeschooling as I once did because it’s been weird writing about our homeschool life while having one in public school. When all the schools closed due to COVID-19, we were, of course, forced to make some changes. Whittling down my long thought process whittled down to one sentence: I’ve decided to homeschool Scout — as well as continuing to homeschool Jem — next school year. Later on, I’ll elaborate about this decision.

what we’ve been reading: our faves

A good book with lunch I didn’t have to make. I call that winning at life.

When our library closed, I started using my kindle more often. With Amazon Prime, I get some free; sometimes they have some pretty great choices. I keep an eye on special sales and I’ve gotten some on my wish-list for just $1 or $2. But even without those, my to-be-read pile ensures there’s no danger of me running out of books anytime soon.

My recent picks:

• Stay – by Catherine Ryan Hyde
• Where the Forest Meets the Stars – Glendy Vanderah
• This Tender Land – William Kent Krueger

The kids’ picks (age 11 and 12):

My kids love audiobooks, and we’ve been taking full advantage of free Audible Stories lately. They tend to say every one is their favorite while they’re listening to it, but these probably top the list:

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
• The Green Ember – S.D. Smith
• The Winged Watchman – Hilda Van Stockum

on the blog (in case you missed ’em)

• May Movement Challenge ~ on my fitness site
• one year ago: How do you read so much?
• two years ago: Paddleboarding adventures: overcoming fear
• three years ago: Interest-led nature study on the coast

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »