Stressed.

I am just super stressed. ONE WEEK until my oldest goes back to school after three years of homeschooling / unschooling. Today is the dentist appointment, still need to buy him more khakis (school has a strict dress code), finish the rest of the paperwork (once it arrives in the mail), write up the exemption letter…

I’m not exactly known for my calm and relaxed personality. I am scared that the school won’t be a good fit, that the IDEA of school won’t match up with my son’s REALITY of school. That I’ll be an awful “school mom”.

So basically that’s all I can think about lately which is why I’ve been anti-social.

Life Update

And so August begins.

As always I wonder where did most of the year go, I notice how the sunset happens, just a bit earlier. I’m already looking forward to Autumn. I’ve always felt that it was “my” season.

I seem to have gotten my youngest son, Tristan, back on a diurnal sleep pattern thankfully. It’s completely changed my mood. Even though naturally I’m nocturnal, I seem to DO better when diurnal. I feel more productive, generally have more energy, and don’t feel like the day is wasted so much. It also just makes LIFE easier. I’ve also started getting to the habit of making dinner between 6-7pm, even though my husband generally comes home much later from work. Even though I hate it, I do it because once Daniel is back in school later this month, I can’t be making dinner at 10pm and expect him to get enough sleep or thrive in his new school environment.

This month is going to be a bit hectic with my oldest son Daniel going back to public school after homeschooling / unschooling for the past few years. What that means is we need to buy the rest of his school clothes (they have a strict dress code) and the pants we originally bought were a size too big. Also, we need to pay the registration fee, take him to the dentist and the doctor (we RARELY go if… ever, but when we do it’s to Homefirst), and see if there are any school supplies we somehow forgot from the list.

The end of July was a bit rough because my best friend moved to Florida. Thankfully we got a whole day together which included a new tattoo for me (right under my right inner elbow) and her FIRST tattoo! It was awesome.

Getting the new ink has shown me how my wrist tattoos were BADLY DONE. The healing sucked, they itched like crazy, had HUGE missing patches, etc. Since the place I got them done at was Skin Candy in Racine, Wisconsin, was a bit far from where I live, I never found the time to make the three hour round trip to get them touched up.

Mary (my best friend) and I went to Tatu Tattoo in the city, which is where I got my first tattoo done a few years ago and seriously, it really proves to me that you can’t compromise on quality of your ink. Not only did my artist touch up my right wrist FOR FREE, but the new ink he did is flawless as well. No missing spots, it hasn’t itched, it has healed in less than two weeks, and I couldn’t be happier.

Mary’s tattoo came out wonderfully as well and it was SUPER affordable for both. Love love love.

I’ve really been feeling a draw BACK to my Pagan spirituality. I’ve been struggling for awhile (no really, I questioned myself a ton) and over the past few months have started to feel more connected again. However, I feel like I want to start fresh. Clean slate, go back to being a newbie almost.

I’d love your favorite Pagany blogs, books, resources, everything. Pretend I’m totally new and that the past 17 years are erased!

Lastly, I’ve been on a freaking quest for a low-calorie lemon bar recipe. I tried one last night and it was basically eggs over an oat crust. NOT tasty. I keep thinking perhaps a low-calorie lemon curd would be a great start? Thoughts? I’m craving lemony EVERYTHING lately!

SUCCESS! I just whipped up a batch of lemon bars, 134 calories per bar, 6 HUGE bars in an 8x8 pan. I’ll bake it again later this week to post the recipe! I love them, nice, tart, and lemony, not too sweet. I rock!

So let me know what’s been going on in your life!

OSN Posts You May Have Missed This Month

How was the month of July for you?

We had a ton of rain and flooding in the area (not our house though, thankfully!) and my uber best friend for life is moving to Florida tomorrow. I’m happy we got to spend a touch of time, got pedicures, got some new tattoo’s together… final Illinois memories together!

The Posts of Awesomeness

Bright and AWESOME
We celebrated the 4^th of July at home with sparklers and fireworks! My oldest son and I had a blast doing crazy shapes and letters with the sparklers using a long exposure and my fabulous tripod.

Tree:1 — Backyard: 0
During one of the storms, our neighbor’s tree broke off (not the first time but indeed, the largest part of the tree) into our yard. To date they’ve ignored it. My husband contacted the village who said we have to take care of it since they won’t. So my husband is going to break it down Sunday most likely.

Working on Getting Healthier
I’ve talked about my weight here at OSN on and off over the years. I’ve done and redone Weight Watchers more than I care to admit and I have FINALLY figured out what works for me.

My Fitness Pal is basically a calorie counting site but just overall, calories is a HECK of a lot easier than figuring out Weight Watchers Points. By clicking that link it’ll take you to my profile and you can see what I eat on a day to day basis.

Above Us Only Sky
A post for Wordless Wednesday. I think over the years MOST of my photos tend to be sky focused. Something about it just remains mystical for me.

Already Freaking Out About School
I live each day in “what if” panic. When is the school going to send us the rest of the paperwork? When will they contact us about a meeting to discuss his transition / catching up? We still have to pay the $80 registration fee. When is the best time to buy all the school clothes (due to their strict dress code policy)? How are we going to afford all this? How the heck am I going to manage all this as a one car household without making everyone late?

Disappear Socially (Online Anyway)
I’m feeling a bit lonely (online) and feel like every FB status, tweet, and so on are just going out to the void. Or that if someone does respond, I end up feeling stupid. That I’m not coming across the way I intended. That the person is shaking their head, sighing, and thinking I’m an idiot. Or a bitch. Or both. I always struggle if I should “keep going” with social media and blogging, more so lately.

I Don’t Comment Because I’m Scared
For me, I feel like I’m going to say the wrong thing, babble, or have the comment be ignored. That my comment will be taken the wrong way or sometimes, I feel as though the blogger will not care if I comment or not. So how do I try to combat this? I comment MORE OFTEN!

So Pink
Another Wordless Wednesday post! This time featuring some pink roses.

WordPress and Design Tidbits
I’ve had a few comments lately asking how to make a WordPress blog mobile and how I do my fancy comments form, so I’m sharing my tips and tricks!

Tasty
Last Wordless Wednesday post of the month. Featuring what I typically get at one of our local farmer’s markets!

Recipe: Banana Strawberry Popsicles
This is SO easy, delicious, and healthy! Everyone loved them (especially my husband)! This recipe makes four servings of a pretty good sized Popsicle!

What have YOU blogged this month?