Tripping Over Typeset

(With this new month upon us, it’s a great time to recap what’s new.  So today, we are linking up with Emily Freeman over at Chatting at the Sky with a great wrap-up post on what we learned this month.)

May has become the new December.

With Mother’s Day, graduations, weddings, school wrap-up’s and barbecue’s the days fly by in a swirl of craziness.

And in the busyness of everything happening this month, I forgot to share with you all that our daughter, Samantha, is back home for the summer!

We survived our first year of her being on the other side of the continent!!

I love Skype, Face Time and texting. They have a beautiful way of keeping us connected and bridging the distance between us.

She arrived right before Mother’s Day so it was a beautiful gift to have her here and the family all together again.

The family asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day and this right here was the answer:

Fuzzy phone selfie

We spent the evening watching movies and snacking on a few of our favorite things… crackers with smoked gouda, fruit, sushi, Oreo’s and ice cream. Yum!

Having them all together at home wasn’t really the ONLY thing I wanted for Mother’s Day! I am still a woman with accessory desires. I did, however, make it easy for the family by letting Dave know I had an idea on what he could get me. It was online and I could place the order for him if he’d like. His response: “Perfect! Do It!”  These rings were my gift to myself from Dave.  They are from the Lisa Leonard line and she has some amazing things here at her website.

One thing I learned about stacking rings in this whole process is the closer you stack to your knuckle, the larger you need the ring size. I sent them back for a half size up resizing and Lisa’s company was great about it!  I should be getting them back this week and I’m very excited about it.  In this pic, they are on my left hand, but with the ring-size up, I will be wearing them on my right hand.  (FYI and something else I learned… most people’s ring size is larger on their dominant hand.) So in case any of you love this idea of personalized stacking rings, that’s just an inside tip for you.

With May’s warmer weather I’m outside as much as I can be. We had a really long winter this year. We had snow on Easter! And we seemed to skip spring and jump right to summer which I love! Everything is beautiful, green, and lush. Which means pollen is popping everywhere.  This awakens my hubby’s and boys’ allergies in a super way.

Little Matthew is so bad this year his little eyes swell up and leak tears like faucets. I asked him if his eyes itch and he responded sadly, “No, they just rub!” Aahhh.. what a sweetheart.

I don’t like giving him Benadryl because it just makes him dopey and tired so I was looking for something without those side effects. My friend, who is an allergy sufferer as well suggested essential oils. She uses them and they work great for her. I gave them a try with Matt and Jon and they seem to work. I will keep you updated. I have been using a 2:2:1 ratio of lemon, lavender and peppermint oil. I just rub a little dab behind their ears and along the back of their neck.  Within 20 minutes, Matt’s eyes are pretty much back to normal and he can breathe again. I count it a good thing I’ve learned!

Another sign it’s almost summer is all the lawn furniture in my yard. My patio set was getting pretty worn but I didn’t want to invest in a new set so I splurged instead on 6 cans of black spray paint and came out with this!

BEFORE

AFTER

I absolutely love it!  A few days of washing and spraying and whala… the look of a new table and chairs!  This little area draws me out with a cup coffee and some good reading to get my day started.

Speaking of good reading. Just for fun this month I read “Dear Mr. Knightley” by Katherine Reay. What a sweet, relaxing summer read for all you Jane Austin fans. I was originally drawn to it because of the title…I mean, who doesn’t love Mr. Knightley?  And two added bonuses were the main character’s name is Samantha and the author lives in Seattle.  So what can I say, I had to pick it up and read it! I loved it!

I’m also reading “The Best Yes” for our upcoming Ladies Bible Study at the end of June.

And what I’m really excited about right now is this….

The book, Lazarus Awakening by Joanna Weaver is available now and the DVD study series is coming out in July. This is Joanna’s fourth book and I am loving it! Yesterday I was reading the 3^rd chapter “Our Friend, Lazarus” and I had to stop and read a whole section to Dave and the kids because, “Wow… it was powerful with some great insights!” I love Joanna’s writing style and the depth she digs in with the scriptures. She also wrote “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” and “Having a Mary Spirit”. I have read both and love them. If you’re looking for some good summer reads, there’s some suggestions for you!

With May winding down so is our school year. These next few weeks are full of year-end testing, SAT’s and ACT’s. For all you college-prepping mom’s you know how much fun this is going to be.

Our area college students have all gone home for the summer as well. Our little town has slowed and the traffic is lighter. For the next 3 months, we will find good parking spots at the mall and Wegman’s. It’s an added bonus for the summer.

As you can see, it’s been a fairly busy month. Now what about you?

Join the conversation:

• What have you learned?
• What’s keeping you busy?
• What are you planning for the summer?