Hey! Even with a pandemic, it seems like life just doesn’t slow down, does it? We’re busy here, preparing for school, trying to tie up some loose ends before we get bogged down with harvest and some evening activities starting up again (fingers crossed!!). These things have been keeping me (ok, distracting me!) from touching base around here. I’m sure sorry! But there are new episodes of HBDH coming up around the corner (September 7!!) plus recipes! Anyway, I haven’t been around, but can you relate to my top five excuses reasons?

5. I’ve been swept away by all things political. It’s a sickness. Scott has threatened to take Facebook away from me, which is probably 99% of my problem. Weren’t we all so much happier before Facebook anyway?

4. I look old, and so I’m really reluctant to post any pictures of myself lately or do any kind of social media lately. Here’s a pic of me anyway!

I’m slightly plumper, or at least I think I am? Relaxed, paper-bag waist pants have been my BFF this summer. And I don’t regret any of the 35 pairs I recently purchased. Paper-bag pants are blissfully forgiving of my cracker-and-wine-at-night sins. Plus I’m so not an athleisure person. I feel like I’m the only one this trend soooo does not work for.

3. Children! School JUST started and so that’s taken up a lot of energy in recent weeks. We have our basement converted into a little school, and so we get together with a few other families, and each mom takes on a subject to teach. It’s worked out really well for our families, and I love the moms in our group! It’s definitely a lot more work, but I think its worth it 🙂

2. Work/hobbies! I just filmed two episodes the other day. It’s so funny, I was trying to be extra prepared, so I basically cooked both shows two times in two days! Hello, leftovers! We filmed such fun episodes, “Highbrow Halloween” and “Working Machinery.” Funny story: My darling son was helping decorate cupcakes in one segment and dropped some highly inappropriate 5-year-old comments about one of his close friends. As in: “I don’t like my friend Wesley anymore. He’s so naughty and I’m never going to play with him because he’s mean….” None of which is true! This came out of nowhere, and on it went! His mom and I are close friends, so I was a little mortified, but it was pretty funny. I told Wesley’s mom and she just laughed, so it’s all good 🙂 I kind of hope it makes the final cut, haha!

1. Podcasts and audio books have been a welcome distraction from all the turmoil, and have made my evening walks so fulfilling. My favorites have been “Educated” by Tara Westover, “Pippi Longstocking” (my kiddos have been listening to that on repeat), “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” has totally changed how I think about cooking. My pastor has set up a podcast too, which has made devotion time incredibly easy. My guilty pleasure is Dateline with Keith Morrison, he’s the BEST narrator!

What’s been distracting you from all the chaos? I’d love to hear how you cope with it all!