Finding My Summer Groove

Finding My Summer Groove

June 26, 2017 Off By Lisa

Summer is here.

We’re only five days in by the calendar, but around here it’s been summer for nearly three weeks since Zilla’s school year finished in the first week of June. It’s nice to be finished with packing school bags and lunches, scrambling for clean uniform parts, dealing with homework assignments and projects and all the rest. Now it’s time to relax and take life a bit less seriously. Time to stay up late, chase fireflies, watch fireworks, drink lemonade, and do all the summer things. It’s time to take it easy…

But summer is hard. As a mom who works from home, I find it incredibly hard to maintain my usual routine. In fact, it’s impossible. There is no way I can tuck into my head and work for six uninterrupted hours with my daughter at home. So for the past few weeks, we’ve be trying – struggling, if I’m being honest – to find our way. What is the best balance of work and play? What is the right routine for these unstructured days?

Routine? Yeah, routine. We need that here. Because when you live in The House That ADHD Built, routine is crucial. For this family of ADDers, when we do not have a good routine in place, all hell tends to break loose. We all thrive on having a plan to follow, and if that means planning our unplanned hours, so be it.

So…we’re working on that. And I have a vague recollection somewhere that my One Word for the year is balance, so it just fits right in with that theme.

Rather than get too mired down in what’s not going so well lately, let’s talk about what is good.

Our CSA season has started, which means fresh organic vegetables straight from the farm each week. It also means that meal planning gets so much easier. I just look at the produce we have for the week and go from there. Yes, I suppose I can do that all winter just based on what’s in season and grab that at the market. But this works so well and involves zero thinking on my part. And when the days are too hot or no other brilliant ideas come to mind, there is nothing like a nice big salad for dinner. With salad comes soup, of course. While I haven’t done Soup of the Week posts here in a really long time, we do still have soup almost every week. Our current favorite is a creamy arugula soup I found online. This week we’re trying a chickpea, turnip, and lemon soup. (Are you following me on Pinterest? If you are, you can find the recipes for both soups pinned to my Soups and Stews board. Go down to the bottom of the page and follow me over there.)

Zilla and I bought cherries and raspberries at the supermarket today. Sure signs of summertime and some of our all-time favorites. The weather today is practically perfect – low humidity, comfortable temps, abundant sunshine, and a delightful breeze. It’s nice to be enjoying the light and freshness of summer again. If summer would stay exactly like this, I could love it all the time. But when the humidity and bugs and high temps kick in? Forget it.

Super big news here recently is that the Hub passed a major test for one of the courses in his degree program. Passing that test gains him a new IT cert, renews a couple of existing ones, and earns him a passing grade for the course. He’s doing great things and Zilla and I are very proud of him. We are so thankful for how hard he works at his job, at his school program, and at everything he does to take care of us. He’s a great guy – one of the best out there and we’re so thankful to have him in our lives. Now that the test is over, maybe I can get him to fix the dripping kitchen sink…

I’ve also been taking some online classes. Not degree-related, but awesome material that is helping me move forward in my professional (and personal) goals. I’m about to take final exams for the two classes that just ended. I’m thankful that I found this online opportunity and for the public library that made it possible. Sadly, this particular program is no longer being supported by the library, so I have to find an alternative to continue the learning path I have planned out.

As a result of an assignment I shared in one of the classes, a classmate asked if they could add part of something I wrote to their clippings file. Um…wow. How cool was that? I’m pretty excited that someone loved my words enough to want to save them and I’m grateful that they asked.

Speaking of writing, while precious little is making it here to the pages of the blog, I’ve been doing quite a bit of it. Zilla and I are making slow but steady progress on our Rotten Cat book series. I was so hoping to release the first by the end of this month, buuuuut…that’s not happening. So at the moment we’re stepping back to re-assess and come up with a better plan. They are coming soon, though, and I’m actively assembling a team of beta readers and a team of read-and-reviewers. Interested? Send me an email or a Facebook message.

I have also made significant progress on the early stages of my first novel. Yeah, novel. How about that? That’s kind of in the background for the moment while I work on the kids’ book release process, but it’s moving steadily. I may actually have a first draft before the end of the year. We’ll see. I also took a huge leap and huge risk by talking specifics about the book out loud to someone recently. In fact, I did it more than once. So I’m mighty excited about that.

I’ve pulled in a few new paid writing jobs recently. Most are small and that feels well, small…but it’s progress. And I’m thankful for all of it because it means I’m moving that much further along the path of the goals and dreams I have laid out for myself. Slow but steady wins the race, right?

I am thankful that my Hub and Zilla let me be a little high-maintenance and blow my cool every now and then. They get me.

I am incredibly thankful for an uninterrupted shower. Fifteen indulgent minutes during which no man, child, or cat entered the room to interrupt with any need or inquiry. I love them all. I do. I appreciate how much they all depend on me. But please give me these few minutes alone every now and then. Thank you.

That does it for me. Not bad for a day that otherwise felt like a big fat dud. And for that, I’m very thankful, too. Because even when the days seem to go all wrong, there is still much good to be found.

[bctt tweet=”Because even when the days seem to go all wrong, there is still much good to be found.” username=”@LisaMeaningofMe”]

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I’m joining the gang at the Ten Things of Thankful hop this week. Celebrate the blessings in your life – no matter how many or few! The hop link-up is open each weekend from Thursday through Tuesday evening. Click on the link in the image below to find this week’s posts and link your own.


Ten Things of Thankful