Back to Reading again!

Happy last day of June everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful month!  

Personally, I used this month to try to get back into ways to relax. One of the ways that I have gotten back into relaxing is by reading again. I have been spending time reading out on our porch and in the evenings before bed. It is a low impact way for me to relax and after I started reading again, I realized how much I missed it. I used to do book reviews and got burnt out on those as I really love reading for pleasure and not to analyze everything about the book. Previously on this blog, I started doing posts about books I read for fun. I haven't done on of the these types of posts in over a year or more. I have decided to bring them back, as I like to keep track of what books I have been reading and maybe give others a new title to read or not.  

(Click the book pictures below to be taken to Amazon if any of the books look interesting. I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you click through these pictures, you could be helping me out although as of today I have never made any money through Amazon since I don't use the affiliation a lot.)

So what did I read in May and June?   

Read anything fun lately? 

Catching up....

Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone is having a good day and staying cool! Here the heat index got up to 100 today with very high humidity. It was a sauna outside when I left to go to cardiac rehab at 7AM this morning. 

Life has been busy, between cardiac rehab and just day to day stuff. I have also been spending more time reading books when I have been trying to rest and not much time on the computer. Let's see... what else has been going on? 

Father's Day was a nice low-key day. We hung around the house in the morning and early afternoon, then went out to my parents' house for a cookout. Bill said he had a nice day.

My week days have been spent trying to keep the kids busy. Lacie, my niece, started working a job through our county. As she is on the spectrum and is considered special needs, she has a job coach that comes and picks her up and she works 3 hour shifts at Pizza Hut. It is a great learning experience for her and will be a 5 week job. She said this past week, she did things like count out chicken wings for orders and learning how to fold pizza boxes. 

We have gotten the kids out a couple of times to walk in nature. We went several times to throw rocks in the lakes and river. We went to the path with the train, so the kids could climb on the train. 

I have spent some time decluttering. I donated a huge box of books to our local book warehouse. I also have given our nephew Ethan a bunch of books that the boys have outgrown or won't read. This weekend Rebecca and I tackled the "closet of doom." Rebecca helped me a ton by bring all the stuff out of the non-air-conditioned room and into my bedroom for me to go through. We got rid of 4 trash bags full of trash and 8 boxes of stuff to donate. 

This morning, I had cardio rehab, then came home so that Bill could take Jacob to the doctor and to the thrift store to drop off all the stuff from the closet of doom. It was so hot out that I decided it was appropriate to head to a local ice cream shop for an afternoon snack. Kids really appreciated it and I think Bill did too. LOL

Not sure what the rest of the week holds. Everything depends on energy levels and how I wake up feeling. What about you guys? Any fun plans? 

Cucumber and Peach Salad

 Happy Friday everyone! We made it to the weekend! Yahoo! Remember the other day when I said the weather was gorgeous... well, I spoke too soon. Today we are dealing with storms and we are supposed to have severe weather later tonight with high winds and flooding rains. Oh well. It is what it is. 

Today, I wanted to share a new recipe that I made last night. During the week, I take my kids and my niece and nephew daily to pick up lunches that our local school district offers for the Summer Food Program. Last week, there was a magazine in the bag that had kid friendly recipes. 

As I was flipping through it, I came across a recipe for cucumber and peach salad that sounded great and that fits into my diet plan.  

I made it last night to go along with our dinner of BLTs and coleslaw. The only thing I didn't do was add salt. I also used lime juice. The kids LOVED it! Who knew that cucumber and peaches go good together?!

Give it a try and let me know what you think. 

I am off to sweep the stairs and maybe clean off the mantel. I have a busy weekend coming up, so if I am not back on here before next week, have a good weekend!  

The weather has been GORGEOUS!

 Happy Thursday everyone! How's your day going? Mine is getting an early start as my boys are awake and playing and being loud, so I am up. One of the joys of having loud, rambunctious boys! LOL Oh, well, it gives me some time to blog before I have to shower and give my nephew his insulin, etc. 

The last couple of days have been busy but good. I think I am finally getting into a groove with summer and figuring out times to do things. I still am pretty tired by the afternoon, but am trying to get by without a nap as then I sleep better at night. Instead I have been taking the opportunity to read out on the front porch and just relax a bit. The weather these last 2 days has been absolutely perfect for it. We have had temperatures in the low 70s, almost no humidity, slight breezes, the sun has been out...it has been perfect. (Today is supposed to be a little warmer....in the 80's...and tomorrow we are supposed to have severe storms...)

Tuesday and Wednesday I HAD to get the kids out to take advantage of the weather. Both days we headed out to the Brown Family Environmental Center to walk the trail by the river. The kids had a blast and didn't complain about walking (probably because we only walked about 1.25 miles each day). We found a spot where the river was really low and the kids were able to go down and throw rocks and have a blast. 

On Tuesday, Rebecca went to pick up what she thought was a stick and it ended up being some kid of jaw bone from an animal with some teeth attached. We are thinking it is maybe a coyote jaw. I told her it was probably uncovered as the Kokosing River is the lowest that I remember it being in a long time. 

Wednesday, after I had cardio rehab, we went back to the river to throw rocks AND we stopped by the gardens area to look at the flowers and see if we could find any frogs in the ponds. We saw several frogs and a tiny turtle.  

Last night I was pretty exhausted. I am not sure doing cardio rehab AND going walking was the best idea physically, but it did help me mentally. I have had the revelation that exercise at cardio and the walking is for physical health and being in nature is for my mental health. 

Today I am not sure what fun we will get into. I don't have cardio rehab today. I might try to take the kids on a walk, or we might just stay home today and get laundry and some household chores done. I do need to go get gas in the van. I also need to pick up a couple of things at Walmart but I don't know if I want to take all the kids. hmmmm...decisions, decisions....

What are you up to today? How's the weather were you are? Have you ever found anything while out on a walk?