Four Things From June

I enjoyed joining in with the share 4 somethings over at Overflowing With Thankfulness so much last month. Such a fun way to look back and recap the month a bit.

Here’s my 4 things I learned, loved, read, and ate in June.

LEARNED

That I need to write it down! I remember thinking: Oh this would be a good thing to include in what I learned in June. Do I remember what it was? Nope. Will I start writing things down now? Honestly, I doubt it. Some lessons take a little longer to sink in with me.

Also, that I still need to work on exercising my “no” muscle. This is mostly regarding my work. As a substitute, it’s very hard to say no. Part of it is the balance, say no too often, don’t get any calls. However, I sometimes struggle to remember the reason I sub is so I can have and plan days for myself.

Even this week, I planned to have Tuesday through today completely off. Starting today I am working for the next 5 weeks straight (same classroom, one teacher the whole month of July, the other the first week of August, maybe the 2nd week as well). This is typical for summer for me. However, I caved and went into work yesterday. SIGH. I’ve learned I’m good at saying no via text but if asked in person/over a phone call, I still struggle.

Very recent lessons: That it’s okay to go slow. Kind of nice actually.

Always something to learn/work on isn’t there?

LOVED

The summer skies! So much blue.

Traveling twice in one month! First on a girlfriend’s getaway to Lampe, Missouri. On the way there, we visited Harry S Truman’s birthplace:

In Lampe, we visited Dogwood Canyon Nature Park. Well worth it!

And on the way home, The George Washington Carver National Monument

While I loved traveling a second time with family, the vacation to Table Rock wasn’t the best. Still the scenery was beautiful.

READ

The books that I read that really stood out to me were:

The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson: I didn’t even remember putting this book on hold but it came up for me at the library. It was a bit different than my typical reads but very engaging. It followed the journey of two black women in the late 50’s as one faced an unwanted pregnancy while the other dealt with infertility. Definitely worth a read.

The Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch: We’d watched the series on Hulu. Oh my, the television series toned things way down. An enjoyable science fiction/dystopian (maybe?) kind of read. Basic subplot of most things in that genre: The humans are always scarier than the monsters.

Soulful Simplicity: How Living With Less Can Lead to So Much More by Courtney Carver: Full disclosure, I’m still reading this one. However, I’m finding it very down to Earth and motivating.

Ate

Can I just say too much and stop here? Ha.

Too much saltwater taffy. Still have my favorite flavor (huckleberry) in the freezer:

Plus all the other road trip fare: red twizzlers, trail mix, etc.

Really good chicken kabobs that one of my girlfriends made on our weekend trip.

And really BAD chicken kabobs that didn’t work out when I tried to duplicate the recipe on our family vacation:

However, I redeemed myself with making some amazingly good chicken legs on our grill at home last night:

Other food items/places we ate not pictured: Wendy’s, Chick-Fil-A, McDonald’s (I tried a Grimace shake & liked it), Taco Bell (a mistake and my stomach let me know!), Steak and Shake. Finally, the best one: A Godfather’s Pizza Buffet in Branson, MO. Godfather’s pizza is my favorite and they aren’t really around here anymore though J and I did discover one is near us about 45 minutes away. I see a day trip in our future.

In between all the junk, I tried to stay on a healthy track though I’m pretty sure I’m still working on the derailment from a stressful family vacation over here.

Working the whole month of July should help with staying a bit more on the healthy side of things as long as it doesn’t get too stressful. Usually isn’t too bad during the summer.

Looking forward to July! Maybe I’ll even write down any lessons I learn along the way.

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