Rewind 08.2026

 

Welcome, sweet potatoes!!  Thank you for being here today for my 08.2026 Rewind post.  Not my favorite month so far.  But I am hopeful that the remainder of the year will be terrific.

Continuing to use a month-in-review formula similar to what my friend Deb at Deb's World uses for her Taking Stock posts.  Instead of writing an entry for each day of the month, Deb responds to 26 prompts - one for each letter of the alphabet - to summarize her life lately.  I spent some time coming up with my own ABC of prompts and have continued to use this format for my month in review posts since April.

With that, here we go...

Rewind 08.2026

Amusing - something funny:  Camila is in first grade and reads like a 4th grader.  Truly, a very, very good reader.  Francisco, her dad, sent this picture of a worksheet Cami did.  She was asked to draw a hot dog...I think a 'warm puppy.'  In true Cami fashion, she did her own thing and drew a hot dog and bun.  Girlfriend loves to eat!! We laughed and laughed.

Balancing:  for a couple of months I have said 'balancing' appointments but it still holds true.  I am doing physical therapy twice a week, we have had multiple appointments for PC's surgery, he had an annual check up, I had a dental cleaning, I am going back to the neurosurgeon for my neck this week.  The kitties need vaccinations.  Blah, blah, blah.  Will be glad to get beyond this season of appointments.  BORING and not FUN.

Crafting:  I finished my collage ballerina.  And I finished scrapbooking our May 2025 trip to Creede, Colorado.  

She looks carefree.  I like that.

Our last meal in Creede was at The Miner's Inn.

Dating my PC:  we haven't been on what I would call official dates much lately.  There have been a number of breakfasts at iHop before or after appointments or early morning fishing visits to the lake.  Have you tried their $6 breakfasts?  We love them.  

Our last day in Florida, we had lunch at The 5 Blues Sisters restaurant before flying home.  I had a scrumptious plate of shrimp and crawfish étouffée.  We ate on their patio and it was at least 900* out there with incredible humidity.  Not sure what happened, but by the time we got to the Pensacola airport, I was sick as a proverbial dog.  And sick for several hours.  Thankfully, it subsided by the time our flight departed for home.

Eating: too much ice cream.  But I ask you, is there really such a thing as eating too much ice cream?  

I fixed spaghetti sauce with zoodles one night recently.  PC ate 2 big plates full.  I mixed the zoodles (zucchini and squash) with angel hair pasta and ladled the sauce on top.  It was yum.

Also made this chicken and queso recipe.  It was very good.  If I had shred the chicken we could have scooped it up on tortilla chips or wrap it in a flour tortilla.  Will make it again.

We had the kids over for a belated birthday BBQ and swim in Francisco's honor.  Fixed hot dogs, brats and hamburgers.  Always good.  Mixed up this Mexican corn salad and served it with Fritos for dipping.  It is good hot and cold.  Recommend!!

Flowing - this is my word of the year so will share a way I went with the flow during the month:  I am really proud of myself this year.  Things have been going 'south' in the last month or two with health struggles for both of us, issues with things around the house, worries over the economy, worries over the family.  But I have not had a meltdown yet.  

I realized mid-work on my cross stitch project (originally started about a decade ago) that I have both DMC and Anchor brands embroidery floss.  And the colors are just slightly different between the brands.  For example, I had been using a DMC orange but then grabbed the Anchor orange floss with the same color code and it is not as bright.  That would normally have me ripping out stitches and redoing things or throwing the whole thing in the trash.  But I am FLOWING!! So, while this project is going to be a bit of a mess, I am determined to finish it without going nuts in the process. 

Glimmerings - little miracles:  there have been a number of these lately, I am happy to report.  PC was scheduled for hip replacement surgery with one orthopedic surgeon but our son-in-law asked around and discovered the surgeon's reputation was not the best.  Our SIL recommended someone at his hospital and PC is now scheduled for surgery with that doctor.

A little black bird has brought me some joy recently when he bathes and frolics about in the waterfall that spills from the hot tub into the pool.  Makes me smile.  He looks especially pitiful in the photo below but I think part of that is because his feathers are wet and slicked down.  He is not normally this scrawny looking but goodness, it has been a hot, dry summer for all of us.

Home sweet home:  finishing up some projects that were summer goals.  Painting the exterior light fixtures, helping PC put a sun shield type film on our southwest facing windows.  Getting measurements for flooring or replacement carpet in our bedrooms.

Interesting - something that piqued my interest:  I am one of those who followed the Lindsay Clancy trial.  Of course, I couldn't watch every minute but I tried to keep up with important moments I missed on YouTube videos.  Cannot imagine being on the jury to decide this case.  So much pain and loss.  

Joyfulness: as always, being a grandmother brings me JOY.  Brennyn and family live 600 miles across the state in east Texas.  She is soooo good about Facetiming with me so I can be a part of Declan's life.  

And during the summer, at least 2 weekends out of the month, the El Paso kids come over for a swim and dinner.  It gives me JOY to see my grands playing with Barbies.  I loved playing with them so much when I was young.  We have waterproofed the Barbie condos with Mod Podge so they are poolside friendly.

Cadence and I have an ongoing text message thread.  She was recently in Indiana for her paternal grandmother's funeral.  She sent me photos with her cousins.  I appreciate being a part of her life at 16 years-old when chatting with your grandma/Mimi might not be considered cool.

Cadence is holding the camera.

Kudos:  to my daughter Lauren for doing all of the Halloween-y things around her house.  She made this bubbling cauldron, which I am making, too, for my front porch.  And she and Francisco created this stormy sky complete with magical floating candles in the their entryway.  Brennyn and Mustafa put up the candles first in their entryway last year.  We loved it so much that Lauren and I had to copy.  But then I realized our entryway ceiling is about 20' tall.  So might have to use mine outdoors but not this year as PC won't be up to climbing on ladders to help me.

Loving:  life, this season of life even with doctor appointments and surgeries.

Making: a witch's cauldron for the front porch.  I have all the ingredients to put this together tomorrow.  It is on the docket. This is Lauren's.  Hope mine turns out half a well.

Needing: to get this house cleaned up before PC's surgery.  I am moving things around slightly to accommodate his walker.  Also pulling up throw rugs, and organizing the downstairs guest room which will be his headquarters for a week or so.  He has been using that room to store some of his fishing gear.  I got all of that put up and cleared the way around the bed so he can navigate easier.

Organizing:  my fall decorations.  I have most of them out now but need to get the rest set about and the plastic storage bin I keep them in put back in the garage until time to take them down.  Paul will be sleeping downstairs for a week after his surgery and I need to make that bedroom easy to move around in for him.

Planning:  my fall bucket list.  Did real well on my summer bucket list and goals, I think.  Have about one more week to try to finish things up before I release my final update.  You can find my last summer bucket list progress report, here.  

Quoting:  does a quote for carpet installation work here?  

Reading:  seem to be struggling to finish up a few books I have been reading for awhile.  Nonfiction.  Those titles are:

Be Still and Know: 365 Daily Devotions by Broadstreet Publishing Group LLC (I don't expect to finish this one until the end of the year as it is a daily devotional)

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love)

Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should by David Gaughran

Now That She's Gone: A Daughter's Reflections on Loss, Love, and a Mother's Legacy – A Grief and Healing Book for Women by Chelsea Ohlemiller (been reading on this all year)

Must get 3 of these finished in September; enough is enough!!

For August, my online book club selected Whistler by Ann Patchettt.  The book started out a little slowly, so I was worried that the club members would be disappointed. I stuck with it, though, as I never quit on a book club choice.  And the story picked up.  Would give it 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Also read Westerly by Susan Donovan Bernhard.  Another slow starter.  It kind of dragged the whole way through but in the last chapters, the story came together and I might have wiped a tear or two out of my eyes. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Finished Drowning in Paper Flowers by E.L. Westbury.  It grabbed my attention from the start but I didn't care much for any of the characters.  And the ending felt a little forced. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am a big Joyce Maynard (and Ann Patchett) fan.  Enjoyed reading her most recent title, In Wonderland, a coming of age story with lots of sub plots to keep things interesting. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The book club members selected In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn for our September read.  I have just begun listening to this book but it has me wanting to clean house so I have an excuse to listen more. 

I am also reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke because it seems everyone else has already read it and loved it.  At the halfway point, I can't figure out where this story is going to go. 

  

Untangling: all the fairy lights for my fall decorations.  I have them everywhere!!  But can you ever really have too many fairy lights??  Or ice cream??  I mean, really???  I have them lighting a bowl of pinecones and cotton bolls.  They are on my dia de los muertos altar.  Draped over the autumn display on our sofa table that isn't a sofa table.  Those little wire strands of lights are so delicate and like to get bent and twisted somehow all by themselves.  So it is always a chore untangling them.

Viewing:  we signed up for BritBox for a month and so enjoyed several of the series it offered.  But now we must let BritBox go or subscribe for a year and we are struggling to pay $150 for another subscription.  Sure as we subscribe to a streaming service, they stop having anything we like!!  

We made it into the third season of "The Hardacres."  PC and I both thought the acting was a little weak in the first couple of shows but the storyline and the acting have become much better.  I will miss watching The Hardacres.  We also really liked "The Other Bennet Sister."  Both on BritBox.  Boohoo!!

 

Writing:  received children's author Dianne Ochiltree's final consultation on my book, Crinkles and Dots.  Need to go through one by one, consider each and make changes, corrections, revisions where necessary.

Have begun my second DailyOm writing course, "A Year of Writing to Reveal Who You Really Are."  I've completed 11% and have a tab open to write on it now.  Today's assignment asks me to consider my sense of purpose the impact of my day-to-day activities on my fulfillment.

Here's a blurb from today's message.

Could a simplified life also lead to a sense of purpose and fulfillment? Deliberately choosing the things in our lives that are genuinely significant could help shed the layers of distractions and complications. 

But how do we do this? 

Start by deciding what is most meaningful in your life right now, as well as what you want to be meaningful in the future. Think about whether all those tasks that keep you running around align with these priorities. 

• Disorganization and clutter
• Busywork or overcommitment
• Outside opinions or expectations
• Comparison
• Lack of boundaries
• Digital habits 
• Lack of self-care
• Procrastination

Xercising:  continuing to enjoy my swimming, biking, rebounding and Supernatural virtual reality workouts.  We bought a needle to inflate our basketball so we can begin taking pre-bedtime walks, tossing the ball between us, once PC is on the mend.  

Yardening:  been covering up one of our bushes with a sheet because the heat has scorched its leaves so badly.  Hope this baby survives.  It has been one terribly hot summer.

Zhooshing:  I guess decorating could fall into this category, maybe.  Dressing things up??  My fall decorating doesn't really involve much bling but there are those fairy lights and lots and lots of pumpkins.

And that's a wrap of my August.  Can't believe we are half-way through September.  Guess I better get started working on my rewind for this month.

Here's my video recap of the month thanks to the 1 Sec Each Day app.

Your Turn

How was your August go?  I would give our month a 7 on a scale of 1-10.  We have about burned to a crisp.  Come on, fall!!  And all of the appointments, the on again, off again, on again of PC's surgery kept this from being a terrific month.

We welcome and appreciate all good thoughts for Paul's hip replacement day after tomorrow.  I will try to put together a quick post to let everyone know how the surgery went.  We have heard a lot of encouraging things about this procedure so we are hopeful, prayerful that his recovery will be quick and comfortable and complete.

Thank you for popping in today.  Hope you have a peaceful week ahead.  Make time for YOU!!

Hugs and kisses,