Happppppyyyy Friday! It’s May 10th, how are you doing? I’m hanging in there. I’ve been knocking the specific demands of each day and crashing hard into bed at night, with not much bandwidth leftover for anything other than the necessities. Mindset and energy is good though; I’m feeling a little stretched, but joyful. Let’s chat!

10 Random Things: MAY 2024

15 years of marriage

David and I celebrated 15 years of wedded bliss on May 2 with a family dinner at the local Mexican spot. While I pined a bit for a romantic getaway just the two of us, for this year there really was not a better option than guacamole, laughing with our kids, and cheersing with a spicy margarita to this life we are building together. I’m so grateful for our relationship and don’t take the trust, partnership, laughter, and love for granted. Blurry picture compliments of Hailey and a good reminder to get the good camera out every now and then.

Dermatologist update

About three months ago I noticed a small, dark mole on my right arm. I’m very spotted and get checked annually because of my family history of melanoma, and this one just caught my eye as either new or darker than it had been. I booked an appointment with my dermatologist and she agreed- it looked funny and we should biopsy it. She did and a week later I got a call from a tech calling my “sweetheart” and telling me it wasn’t the suspected basal cell and it wasn’t squamous cell, but they were doing more testing because they couldn’t rule out melanoma yet. WHAT. My heart was in a slight panic all day long.

The next day I got the full path report back, including the secondary testing, and the conclusion was that it was atypical but completely benign with cleared borders. EXHALE. I wish she hadn’t had called me until she had all the info, but I’m incredibly grateful for the results and it only helped me dive deeper into gratitude for regular, daily life. Gentle reminder here to be your own health advocate and speak up if anything looks or feels different.

The kitchen reno

It’s DONE! Mostly. David just installed blinds and we have to switch out one pendent light that is a little angled, but it’s DONE! I can’t wait to take pictures and show you the before and after results. I thought it would take two weeks (lol) and it ended up taking three and a half months, but wow, what a transformation of the entire space.

I got my Spark aligners off

12 months ago I started a Spark aligner (like Invisalign) journey to correct saw jaw pain/clicking I was having and even out my top teeth. Honestly, it was more of an annoyance than I anticipated. I was very much over having plastic in my mouth and bumps on my teeth and not being able to sip tea at will throughout the day. So when I got a phone call about a cancellation and they could fit me in for removal a few weeks earlier than anticipated, I rejoiced! I’m so happy to have them off and for my jaw pain to be gone. Grateful.

Bone broth for morning sipping

Like any one, I go through phases with foods, and I feel off my bone broth routine for a while. Recently though, I’ve been back on a kick for drinking bone broth in the mornings. I’ve been using Kettle & Fire’s beef bone broth because of the Costco deal, but my favorites are turmeric ginger and lemongrass (find them here and use code AHS for 20% off your order). The secret is to add the juice of half a lemon to brighten the flavor (I also add a sprinkling of turmeric). It feels so soothing in the morning and gives me 20g of protein alongside the gut healing properties and micronutrients.

Repeat purchases

I always find in fun to see what people purchase repeatedly. A few I received this week include: LMNT for proper hydration, these retainer cleaning tablets for H and me, and this mouth tape. Yup, I still tape my mouth at night and don’t think I’ll ever stop. It’s helped me become more of a nose breather, helped me with my goals of proper tongue placement, and results in a deeper night’s sleep. It’s not necessary for everyone, but as a former mouth breather, it is a game changer.

End of year testing is done and we’re off until June

Elizabeth proctored our end of year Woodcock Johnson exams earlier this week and with that, we are DONE with all kinds of lessons until June. Then we’ll add back math and reading as a summer schedule while I plan our next year.

Charlotte Mason planning

Speaking of planning our next year, I’ve fallen deep into the rabbit hole of the Charlotte Mason homeschooling philosophy. I’ve always been familiar with it and incorporated some aspects of it, but I’ve fallen more in love with it lately and want to include more living books, narration, and nature study in our next school year. I’ve also been playing around with writing curriculum ideas. IEW has served us really well for learning structured writing, but we’ve been ready to do something new and less structured in the traditional sense for Hailey (12). Some friends turned me onto the progymnasmata philosophy and now I’m intrigued and learning what I can about it and like what I hear thus far.

Purity coffee

I ran out of our 1/3 caffeine Purity Coffee blend and while I was waiting for my reorder to arrive, I grabbed a bag of organic full strength coffee from the store. Oh my gosh, David and I have both been buzzing like crazy off of it. I love Purity Coffee for its taste but also because it’s practices and processes, including using the Swiss Water method instead of chemicals to remove caffeine from their beans. You can use code AHS for 20% off your first order if you want to try it, too!

Harry Potter and Hammock Beach next week

We are SO excited to head to Hammock Beach and Universal next week. We’ve been working on so many projects around here and I might cry when I see the ocean and get to take a beach walk. It just sounds SO incredibly soothing right now. And celebrating Kaitlyn turning DOUBLE DIGITS at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has us all feeling like kids. She and Hailey are so into Harry Potter right now and I’m just feeling really grateful we were able to make this happen and have a fun experience line up for our kids at the time they’re so into the theme. We’ve all been officially sorted into our houses (H and David are Gryffindor and K and I are Ravenclaw… who would have guessed?!). I can’t wait to share the experiences with you! I’ll be doing stories live on IG and a full recap here on the ol blog 🙂

Share with me! What’s something happening in your life right now? What book are you loving? Do you have any summer travel on the books? Have a product that is life changing?