🗓️ July 2025 in Review
July brought high highs and a few frustrating lows — a long-awaited writing breakthrough, endless blog tinkering, a handful of migraines, and more Diet Cokes than I care to count. The boys delivered their usual one-liners, the blog saw progress (and chaos), and there were crookies... so many crookies.
📚 Books I Read
My reading took a bit of a nosedive this month, as most of my time, attention, and focus went to rebuilding the blog. In all, I finished up three books.
- The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
- The Amendment by Kiersten Modglin
🏅 Favorite Book of the Month:
The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin
The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin
📚 Books Read: 3
📈 Yearly Progress: 39/100
🎬 What I Watched
🎥 Movie:
- I Know What You Did Last Summer: Katie, Taylor, and I went and saw this reboot at the theater. It was pretty ridiculous and the plot had a lot of holes, but all in all, it was entertaining and fun.
📺 TV:
- Amy Bradley is Missing (Netflix documentary series): I've been fascinated by the disappearance of Amy Bradley ever since it was featured years ago on Disappeared, one of my favorite shows. So when Netflix announced a documentary series, I had the date marked on my calendar. I wasn't disappointed -- and I'm glad the case is finally getting more attention. (Yes, I joined the Facebook groups.)
- A Deadly American Marriage (Netflix documentary): This true crime documenatry covers the case of a woman and her father who murdered her husband -- claiming it was self-defense. I hadn't heard of the case before, but it pulled me in right away. There are so many twists, and the deeper you get, the more questions it raises. Even by the end, you're still not totally sure what to believe.
📌 Happenings & Tidbits
- A long Fourth of July holiday weekend and a lowkey celebration at home. The kids set off little fireworks in the yard with Papa!
- A long-awaited doctor's appointment for Holden, and a huge improvement with a small medical issue since then.
- The boys and I went to a birthday party for my son's best friend. It rained, but they had a blast playing in the yard.
- I went to the movies with my besties.
- I decided to re-launch my blog and spent the bulk of the month working on that! I bought a new domain, changed my name, and transferred hundreds of posts over from the good ol' Internet Archives.
💖 What I Loved
- Had some major writing breakthroughs once I started working on the blog again. First time in years!
- Free Kindle Unlimited trial.
- Grabbed four free books in the break room at work. Score!
- 🎶"Weren't For the Wind" by Ella Langley and "House Again" by Hudson Westbrook
🙃 What I Hated (a.k.a. Things That Sucked)
- Too many small migraines and not enough working medication.
👦 Boy Mom Moments
- Holden wrapped up his summer season of soccer. Several games and practices were canceled due to extreme heat, but all in all, he enjoyed this season.
- The boys went to the cottage overnight a couple of times with Mimi and Papa and really enjoyed it. They swam in the lake.
🍔 What I Ate (Besides My Feelings)
- Holden and I made crookies on several occasions. They are DANGEROUS!
- Some coworkers and I went to a new-to-me Indian buffet for lunch one day. It was really good.
- I got my favorite meal (carbonara romana) from my favorite restaurant (Papa Joe's) for takeout when the kids went out to the cottage for the night.
- The McDonald's snack wrap returned, so I had to get one. Disappointing! They're not what they used to be.
🔄 This Month in Loops & Spirals
- Spiraled over blog formatting dozens of times.
📝 This Month on the Blog
⏭️ Coming Up in August
- Launching the blog!
- Hopefully a couple of farm visits to prepare for fall (we already had one last weekend)!
- Another movie date to see Freakier Friday with friends.
💡 What I Learned
Sometimes the biggest progress comes on a quiet weekday night, with a laptop, a Diet Coke, and no one home but you.
So that’s it for me! See you next month!
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