Print, Prep, and Power Through

I woke up around 4:30 this morning, as usual, though today I felt unusually groggy—like I was moving through fog. Still, I got dressed and went about my routine, starting with my daily tarot pull. I couldn’t seem to find my Memento Mori deck, so I reached for my Queen of the Moon deck instead. Today’s card was Purity—a quiet nudge to keep my words and intentions clear, and to move through the day with honesty and purpose.

Look for the simplest and cleanest solution. Understand your motives for doing what you are doing. Be as clear as possible in your communication.

Next up was prepping school work. We barely made it through half of yesterday’s packet, so the rest got bumped to the front of today’s stack. The girls got hung up on the cardinal packet—it was packed with STEM projects and took a lot more time and focus than expected. I made a note to add another pocket folder to the Walmart cart for Aria; her current one is overflowing with completed work and can barely stay closed anymore. With school prepped, I turned my attention to the sourdough and got that taken care of for the day. It’s shaping up to be one of those extra slow, quiet days—and honestly, I’m not complaining.

After getting the turtle fed, I moved on to the dogs. I managed to get the first two taken care of, but I started having pretty bad chest pain, so I sent Dameion a quick message to let him know I might not be able to get through them all this morning. Still, I kept pushing forward. By 9 a.m., I had just finished up with Ali, and the girls were finally waking up. I threw on Blippi to buy myself a few minutes to finish up with Jezebel, then got breakfast started. I timed it so their food was ready just as I finished bottle-feeding Jezebel—everyone was fed and happy. As I started to get the girls dressed and ready to go feed the rest of the animals, Dameion was up and jumped in to help. Not long after, Charlie woke up too, and just like that, the house was in full swing.

Clay eggs set out to dry with the first letter of everyones first name.

The morning flowed into a busy, creative stretch of schoolwork and activities. The girls completed their Adjectives in Nature worksheet and worked through their cardinal flashcards with surprising focus. Their clay eggs were sculpted and set out to dry, and they even made adorable pom-pom birds. They started coloring their early readers, and I made sure to print out a copy for Lily so she wouldn’t miss out on any of the fun. For snack, they had homemade graham crackers with peanut butter, which held them over while Dameion took care of the outside animals, opened the stand, and walked Little Harley. The dogs got their lunch walk, and then the girls had their own lunch—corn dogs—before heading down for a much-needed nap.

pom pom birds

Before nap, Aria picked out her next unit to replace the cardinal one—she chose India—so I got started printing and sorting the first set of packets for that theme. With the dogs fed and settled, Charlie started on a fresh loaf of bread, filling the house with that comforting scent. Dameion turned his focus to the plumbing; our septic has been giving us some trouble lately, so he wanted to get ahead of it before it got worse. I finally turned my attention to the dehydrator and got it running for the day. The first tray I pulled out was lemongrass, which I immediately started prepping to turn into a fresh batch of salve. By the end of nap, the India packet was nearly finished, and the house was humming with quiet productivity.

lemon grass in oil

After nap, the house jumped right back into motion. The bread was in the oven, Charlie had started on a batch of homemade goldfish, and the girls were finishing up their early reader books. They powered through their summer packet flashcards, picnic packet flashcards, and even completed their summer count-to-10 puzzle. All four water buckets had been cleaned and prepped for the next water run, and they wrapped things up with a round of shape flashcards. Dinner was baked spaghetti, served warm and hearty, and once their plates were cleared, the girls wandered off to their room to wind down with a movie before bed.

goldfish ingredients

The second shelf of the dehydrator held another rack of lemongrass, which I vacuum sealed and set aside for a future tincture. The third tray was basil—also vacuum sealed and stored away until I have more to work with. That’s when I noticed the vacuum sealer was starting to act up, adding one more thing to the ever-growing list. Meanwhile, the living room had been cleaned for the third time today, this round complete with a good vacuuming. The sink still held a pile of dishes waiting for attention, but at that point, I was done—ready to call it a night and finally crawl into bed.