Monthly Archives: June 2026

June In Review

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June was a month, probably one of the busiest months this year if not ever.  June included 2 weekend trips to Disney, one just Matt and I.  We have had 3 cars for repair work.  Three full swim meets and lots of swim practices. Lily is working an internship at Egger with Matt, Kendall and Zach both are working at the pool and coaching swim team.  I have been trying to catch up with my life and to get things organized. Things are busy but we are going to enjoy as much summer as possible!

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $1095.93 for the month of June.  I will “justify” this with I purchased multiple items on sale from Amazon to be used for several months.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $479.30 for gas  this month. This included to trips back and forth to Disney World this month. I am actually amazed it stayed so low.  As i mentioned above cars have been a major issue this month. Fortunately, our car repairs have been covered under warrantees or recalls.

Blogging-The goal will be 15 posts per month.  This is post 11 for me. But with all of our happenings and trips this is a win!

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest. The first large payment has been made!   I also have made a debt snowball list that I want to start tackling after the Home Depot payment is made in September. We also are spending significant time on trips this summer as well as we need to install a new electric line to run the camper on.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. Not even going to suggest that I have a clue about this. I will try very hard to keep up with this! Did not happen at all this month. I did however do an entire trip on cash so that is a plus

Health/Exercise-I am no hanging out between 171 and 175.  This is unchanged but we will see at the end of the summer. I do have an appointment for getting a shot in my knee.

Foster Care- Matt and I completed everything needed for our application on March 31, the actual application was not submitted until May 5 or 6th as of last Wednesday May 27th, we have been approved as licensed foster parents in the state of North Carolina. Unfortunately we did not receive our June stipend nor have we received a  portion of the May stipend.  Foster care is honestly the hardest thing I have ever done.  I knew what E would need but I had not a clue about the other half of my life that involves paperwork and phone calls and the constant questions are we doing the best things and why does this have to be so hard.

I am going to include my weekly update of Summer Goals here as well. It just makes sense.

1. Make and order 8 photo books. I have placed the order for 2 of the books today. I am going to plan to work again on these this week. It is a long and delicate process. 

2.  Read a total of 8 books. I have finished one book!  slow but progress is progress
3. Make and freeze 12 baked ziti’s
4. Make and freeze 6 million dollar spaghetti pies
5. Make and freeze 6 pans of chicken enchiladas. Goal met 6/19/2026.
6. Either walk or exercise 3 times a week for at least 8 weeks. Walking at Disney is always considered exercise! 
7. Make and freeze 6 taco pastas.   goal met 6/19/2026
8. Make and freeze 6 chicken, broccoli rice casseroles. 6/19/2026
9. Make at least 50 meatballs and freeze.  I have not made any progress this week with making food ahead. I did pull out Canadian bacon to make and freeze some egg cups this week. 

MONDAY Menu Post

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Week three of summer break starts today. It promises to be much busier than last week with several appointments this week. We are also heading on a short but exciting trip at the end of the week.  I don’t plan on getting alot of extra food prep done this week but need to focus on cleaning.

Breakfast- Saturday- I made a breakfast casserole and actually froze a second one Sunday-Breakfast bar..  Monday- Tuesday, Wednesday,  Thursday   and Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs). We also have some French toast in the freezer, left-over Dutch boy pancakes as well as grilled cheese sandwiches.

Lunch- Saturday-Sandwiches.  Sunday-Gregg’s   Monday-  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- I want to keep on top of the left-overs but sandwiches are always a choice as well. Easton has started enjoying a pack of crackers and a pack of gushers.

Dinner- Saturday- Olive Garden    Sunday- Matt and Lily made sushi  Monday-Pork Chops and mac n cheese Tuesday- Pasta Salad Wednesday- Chicken Enchaladias   Thursday- Fish Sticks with French Fries Friday- Eat on the road.

Summer Goal Update

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In order to stay accountable, I need to make a weekly update on what I have been able to do!

This week is likely one of the slowest of the summer, keeping this in mind, I have been focused on making specific progress toward the goals.

One big thing that we accomplished this week that was not on the list was cleaning out the master closet. Matt and I reduced our closet by HALF!

This week I was able to pick about half a gallon of blueberries from the garden. Matt make blueberry muffins last night and the rest were frozen for future use.

1. Make and order 8 photo books. I have made one complete book on Shutterfly from our cruise. I am waiting for a good sale before ordering.  
2.  Read a total of 8 books. No progress this week. 
3. Make and freeze 12 baked ziti’s
4. Make and freeze 6 million dollar spaghetti pies
5. Make and freeze 6 pans of chicken enchiladas. I actually purchased 4 chickens at Costco to make this easier and the cheapest as well!  We now have 6 in the freezer and one for dinner next week!  Goal met 6/19/2026.
6. Either walk or exercise 3 times a week for at least 8 weeks. No progress on this week. I have not been outside much at all this week with lots of kitchen progress. 
7. Make and freeze 6 taco pastas.  I was able to make 6 taco pasta and we ended up freezing 5 of these. I am going to count this as goal met 6/19/2026
8. Make and freeze 6 chicken, broccoli rice casseroles. I was able to make 6 chicken broccoli casseroles. and we ended up freezing 5 of these. I am going to count this as goal met 6/19/2026
9. Make at least 50 meatballs and freeze.  This one is a little tricky but I wanted a place to record this. I made and froze 6 meals of Salisbury steaks this week. When I made the list I did not realize we were out of Salisbury steaks so that is the reason it was not included. 

Monday Menu Post

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Today officially starts week 2 of my Summer break!  I have one appointment this week and Easton has two. So this is likely one of the slower weeks this summer. My goal for this week is to start making a dent in my summer goals. I also need to probably establish a day to do a weekly report on these goals in order to keep me accountable. I did spend some time this weekend, going through the freezers and pantries in an attempt to figure out what we have and what we need to purchase. I am surprised at the amount of meat we have. It has been two full years since we purchased a cow so we are starting to see the end of some of that meat. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that we have alot of what I wanted to meal prep for next school year as well. I have already gotten 10 meals in the freezer for the school year. I am not 100% positive I will always post a menu plan every week this summer but this week, I wanted to focus on getting some major meal prep done as it appears to be a slower week!

Breakfast- Saturday- We made Dutch boy pancakes and bacon Sunday-I had grits.  Monday- Tuesday, Wednesday,  Thursday   and Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs). We also have some French toast in the freezer, left-over Dutch boy pancakes as well as grilled cheese sandwhiches.

Lunch- Saturday- I made a pepperoni pizza to use up items in the fridge.  Sunday-East Coast Wings  Monday-  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- I want to keep on top of the left-overs but sandwiches are always a choice as well

Dinner- Saturday- Chicken sausage pasta on Blackstone   Sunday- Hamburger sliders  Monday-Chicken Broccoli Casserole Tuesday- Pasta Salad Wednesday- Salisbury steak, rice and broccoli corn bread.  Thursday- Pork Chops and Mac and cheese Friday- Hot Dogs and French fries

Garden Update

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We have worked really hard this year to try and an irrigation to the raised beds.  We are also struggling with water due to the drought conditions that we are experiencing. But I am so impressed with how good things are looking that I just wanted to share pictures!

First up the front Green  Stalk and other flowers are pretty!

The tomato beds are growing! They require us to fill the drum about once a week or closer to every 10 days.

We actually have some volunteer tomatoes as you saw in the Green Stalk, we have one in front of the actual tomato bed as well as a couple of beds in the back.  Matt was so excited to find this in the back garden!

We have some zucchini plants but I am not sure why they are significantly smaller than the squash!

We even have a baby squash on the plant!  As well as huge healthy looking plants.

Our one lettuce plant is still going strong. I am thinking that I am going to let it bolt and go to seed to see if we can get some lettuce this fall.  Cucumbers and green beans are growing as well

The peppers appear to be thriving as well on the back deck. I am hoping for a large harvest from these as well

Next up  the spice and pepper and flower Green Stalk!

Finally the watermelon bed!

5 Things Friday

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Status of first week of Summer break

1- dentist appointment and one tooth pulled and lost!
1- counseling appointment
1- doctor appointment
2 – cars in the shop for repair! Luckily mine is under warranty.
3- days spent at the pool. One was our first swim meet!
4- loads of towel washed, dried and folded
5- freezer meals made and put in the freezer!
5- people offended that I yelled at the boys across the pool!  no obscenities involved

Foster Care

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I have not been posting alot about foster care the main reason is FEAR!   Is it a specific FEAR well sort of. I don’t want to provide too many details and end of hurting a child. But what I am beginning to realize is that I can and should be talking about my feelings and my challenges and my need for grace and support.   His story will be for him to share someday but for now, my story is hard and I want to have it for the future.   We have had the privilege of providing care for five months.  This was a huge and unexpected change but it was what God had put in place.  I knew up front that behaviors and traumas were going to be difficult to manage. What I did not realize is that I feel like I have become an unpaid employee of DSS.   And I am also the ONLY person who will do what I feel is right and appropriate no matter how inconvenient it is.  I am totally overwhelmed and emotional right now so for this post, I am going to make a list of things and activities that have occupied my time for the past week or so.  Lily has started her intership so she is  no longer available to pick up Easton from school.  In addition both Kendall and Zach have been finished with school for at least two weeks. I am constantly trying to figure out who is picking him up on the day that I get a meeting on my schedule. I  am really juggling a full time position as the scheduler.

On Thursday, he had a doctor’s appointment, my thought was cool, I have managed to eliminate at least one phone call as I can get all three of his prescriptions refilled.  Sound reasonable and easy… NOPE!  I asked at the appointment and was told she would put in the orders and the best news, no appointments until September.  We drive home and stop at the pharmacy, no prescriptions. I called and got “oh sorry, we are putting those in now.”   Matt made the second trip on Thursday to pick up prescriptions. (please see below for the rest of Thursday night)  But one of the prescriptions was not refilled, I made four phone calls on Friday as we were traveling. Kendall was gracious enough to make two additional trips to the pharmacy, both after which I understood that they were submitting the final prescription.  Wrong again!  I realized that it was after 5pm so we were out of luck for the weekend. On Monday, I started bright and early trying to get this prescription filled.  Kendall made another trip that was unsuccessful!   Finally at 4:30pm I again spoke with the pediatrician office which informed me that this whole thing was my problem because their policy is that they have three business day to complete a prescription request!

Thursday night, I was woken up at 1am and between 1am and 6:30pm I may have been able to sleep approximately 15 minutes at a time. Yeap I was tired!

This weekend, Matt and I took our anniversary trip.   But while we were gone lots of problems occurred. Lily wrecked her car, Kendall had sun poison and of course behaviors were off the chain.

On Monday, I called and got a dental appointment I have been asking for for 2 months, scheduled for Tuesday as well.  Monday night I was informed that a new CPS case would be opened against me based on statements made at his family visit.

Tuesday around 1pm, I received a call that a CPS visit had to occur today!  This visit based on a swim meet and the worker going to the wrong address occurred between 9:15 and 10pm tonight.

We were informed that this case would stay open at least 30 days.  This includes at least 2 more visits. That need to be schedule.

I am tired and overwhelmed!