Rainy Day

Today is a rainy day, and the high temperature was at least 20 degrees lower than what it had been for the last week. The downside was it meant we didn't attempt to go swimming today, but the upside was it meant that from 12:20 onward I stayed at home. I toyed with taking the kids to pick strawberries today, but I have done a lot of driving this week due to Nadia having Bible Bowl practice from 9-12 every day (M-F). It also meant we didn't need to water our flowers today, and I took the opportunity to spread a little more grass seed. This was our sixth week of summer break, and we have eleven weeks left. I feel like it's flying by, and I haven't made enough progress through my to do list. I have enjoyed spending more time reading and also have listened to some audio books. The latest book I finished was Surviving Savannah. I started Lovely War, but I've decided it's not my cup of tea. I've decided my next read will be A Woman of Words by Angela Hunt as I really enjoyed the first two books in that series. That series reminds me of The Chosen show. I've also spent a fair amount of time on Duolingo. There are nine units, and I completed the highest level ("legendary" which comes after level 5) of each topic in the first unit. I have only made a little bit of progress over the last six weeks on lesson plans for the next school year and also for our vacation in September. I haven't spent any time on the videography course. I need to start on that ASAP as Nadia's birthday is in 13 days. When summer break first begins I envision myself having SO much free time since I'm not devoting hours to homeschooling, but the truth of the matter is that I still spend a decent amount of time interacting with my kids each day in various ways such as listening to Nadia say verses from Matthew in preparation for her trip to Oklahoma next week, helping Ian on the piano, helping the boys complete a junior ranger badge, and chauffeuring the kids here and there (orthodontist, Bible Bowl practices, swimming at the pool, etc.), and I still am grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, mowing the lawn, etc. So in the coming eleven weeks I need to give more time to lesson plans, vacation plans, the videography course, and also I'd like to walk on a more regular basis. I walked a lot the two weeks the kids had tennis lessons, but other than that haven't been making exercise a regular habit as I had hoped I would this summer.

One thing that caught my attention when we were in China in 2006 was how often umbrellas were used as protection from the sun rather than the rain. I'm not sure if the motivation is along the lines of prevention of skin cancer or if it's because a fairer complexion is preferred as it was in the earlier days in our country. Preferences change over the years and vary by culture. There are many in the US who pay to have darker skin (tanning salons, etc.). I've never been tempted to use those services, and I've also never used an umbrella to shield myself from the sun, but we saw quite a few people doing that on Sunday at the WWII show, and I wished I had done the same. When I take the kids to the swimming pool, I generally sit in the shade. I prefer finding shade to slathering myself with sunscreen. On Sunday I did use sunscreen on my arms, but I forgot to do the area around my neck. Because it was hot and I hadn't had a hair cut in almost 8 months, I pulled my hair up in a pony tail (which I almost never do) and so the skin that is usually protected by my hair was exposed. I definitely got sunburned there. Ouch! I had poison ivy on my arm, sunburn on my neck, and then was wiped out by the COVID vaccine all at the same time. My poison ivy has completely cleared up, I've fully recovered from the vaccine side effects, and my sunburn is getting better. It's such a blessing to have energy again! Hopefully the next time we plan to be outdoors on a very hot, sunny day I will remember to bring an umbrella.