After a year and a half of virtual schooling, not having more than an hour to myself at any one time, and not having any time to do anything, I suddenly find myself completely alone. Harlow went back to in-person learning (a very difficult decision that I felt pushed into, and am very uncomfortable with because of the complete lack of health and safety protocols on her school’s behalf), and I’m, strangely, really overwhelmed. Partly because of my ever-present anxiety. Things I’ve wanted to do have been building up around me for over a year, and now I have no idea where to start. So here I am. Procrastination at its best.

To start, because I am first and foremost a mom, I’ll share the obligatory “first day of school” photo and lament about “how on earth is my baby in third grade already” while sobbing into my coffee. But there you have it… somehow my baby is in third grade.

We tried to cram as much summer stuff into the last week before school as possible, which didn’t end up being all that much, but it was enough. Harlow was very excited to return to school. We did enjoy the almost-90 degree week with TWO beach trips, so that was fun. Lani and her family, and Elsa and her family got in some last-minute beach time, too.

I also made Elsa a cute beach hat because Harlow insisted she needed one.

Finally, how Abbey and Lily are doing. Short answer… okay. Longer answer… Lily has deemed herself “basement cat” and Abbey hasn’t ventured down the stairs in a couple of weeks. I’m trying to figure out how to get Lily more comfortable upstairs because it is becoming really tedious to have to have myself or my husband spend our evenings downstairs in the living room (the other stays upstairs with Abbey) so Lily doesn’t feel lonely. She’ll sit and meow when she gets lonely. Otherwise, things are great. Lily is a really great cat. Playful, cuddly, all the things you hope for when getting a new pet. We just need that final push to get her and Abbey to stop being afraid of each other. It’s still early days, though, really… All we can do is keep trying.

Well, friends, that’s about it for now. As always, I have some Barbie projects done and in the works that I’ll share with you soon. I also have been wanting to do a photo challenge forEVER, and have several saved, printed, and pinned, and now that I find myself with some free time, it might be the time to dust my camera off and get out of my comfort zone. This is the one I’m eying for this month. We’ll see.

These often start with “selfies” and I’m very uncomfortable having my photo taken. I force myself to do it with Harlow (and family photos) because I have very, very few photos with my mom. Anyway. As I said, we’ll see.

Have a great rest of your week, friends.