Last night I was trying to fall asleep. I had finally posted the boys’ first day of school photos to Instagram with a little bit about each one. I kept thinking about how much more I want to say about the start of 7th grade and was struggling to decide how best to post so many thoughts on such a small space.

Then I thought of my blog. My poor, sad, neglected blog. People don’t blog much anymore. Or maybe they do. Maybe I just don’t read them anymore. So much has been lost to time in the last years. I used to blog everything, write almost daily. And then I didn’t. I would try here and there, much like now. It is always weird to see what I posted last.

My last post was from August 5, 2020. Mid-pandemic. It was before our life was turned upside down because of the pandemic. A couple of weeks after my last post Nathan’s dad was admitted to the hospital with COVID. A couple of weeks later he had died from it. The end of August and much of September feels like a blur of emotions. Then more sickness in the late fall. That was followed by my battle with COVID, the hospital, making it home in time for Christmas, and the weeks of continued recovery.

Now it is August again. We just finished our first week of 7th grade. Nathan just finished is first week at his new job. Our business is beyond busy for the first time in about 3 years. We are still living in a pandemic and it feels like most of my community thinks it is over.

All four of us, and much of our immediate family, are fully vaccinated. Only now we hear that the new variant can still make us sick. But the vaccines should keep us out of the hospital.

I am searching. Searching for something that might not exist anymore. Searching for the path forward in this crazy world. Maybe I can find it here.

Yesterday I told Emory we needed to put up the hummingbird feeder. It’s about this time every year when we have one or two hummingbirds stop by for a few weeks. It’s only for these first weeks of September each year.

Last year they came about mid-August. I was curious if this meant and early fall/winter. It didn’t.

This year they are right on schedule. Emory saw two yesterday. He thinks we have a male female pair this year.

Today felt long. Holidays rarely feel long.

I slept in. When I got up I worked on a project which I will share at the end of this post.

When Nathan arrived home from football practice we spent about an hour deciding if we were going out for lunch and making something at home.

We went out.

Then we hit of Lowes for some things to fix the sprinkler system, a new hummingbird feeder, and some pre-emergent weed killer.

After that began the long, hot afternoon of yard work. I mowed the front while Nathan worked on bed cleanup. I blew off the back drive. Nathan finished mowing the back and then went to work on the sprinkler system. I came in to work on the coming school week.

Then we promised the boys ice cream so we headed out again.

None of those things would normally make today long. And yet, it was. Not a bad long. Maybe more of a lingering long. One long last day of summer long. Quiet, unhurried, hot.

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Today’s joy…or noticing…or whatever this month ends up being, is about the time I took this morning to create. I love creating and often it is one of the first things that goes when my life is busy (and it has been busy for 11 years now!).

I started this project earlier this weekend. I carry a Traveler’s journal with different inserts and I am finding it fits my life and my needs better than anything else. Two weeks I was skipping around YouTube and found different tutorials on making your own inserts. That started me to thinking about making my own. Which then led to thinking that maybe I would start with making the boys assignment books for school, because what we are using now just isn’t working for us.

Right before the boys’ birthday party I ordered a book binding kit with plans to do this project last weekend. I should know better than to make any kinds of plans on birthday party weekend. Needless to say it didn’t happen.

Saturday morning I pulled out some watercolor paper and my paints. I did a three color wash in each of the boys’ favorite colors. I don’t have pictures of this.

As those dried I sat down and made some simple lined paper and printed it out double sided. Also no pictures.

I had plans to work on binding the books together yesterday, but the grocery store won out. This morning I was determined to bind and finish these books so I could write out their lessons for this school week.

I watched a bunch of different tutorials so I don’t have one specific one to reference here. If you want to make a Traveler’s Journal insert just search that out on YouTube. Specifically I wanted to sew my inserts.

The book binding kit I purchased on Amazon was about $10 I think and it worked great. Once again, I didn’t plan on making a tutorial so I didn’t take photos of my process. I clamped my cover and the inside pages together with some binding clips. I poked some holes along the spine with a really sharp poking tool. And then I sewed it all together. At the end I used my rotary cutter to trim up the sides to make lovely little books. I do have final products pictures. I am so excited and pleased with how they turned out. I am already dreaming up my next inserts and journals.

I took down my post from last night. This morning in the light of day it felt too raw.

I woke at 2:45 am in horrific pain and in full on panic mode. Needless to say it was a long night and I felt off all day.

I set 16 goals for today and accomplished 8. Half. I saw that wins for a Saturday.

Now I am going to bed and hoping for a better night.

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