If you want me to leave then tell me to leave and baby I'll go

We are wrapping up our school year here, and I am thrilled. My kids are at such a great age where they’re old enough for big adventures but young enough to still think everything I suggest sounds fun. We’ve got our neighborhood pool passes, VBS on the calendar, a campsite reserved, and a few vacations already booked (with room to add more). I’ll probably be complaining soon enough about the heat, the bugs, and the never-ending mess and noise, but for now, I’m diving headfirst into this golden season.

• “Slack”: The key to resilience. I preach all. the. time. about the need for space, flexibility, and capacity. And this shows we function better with that extra slack! 🧘 

• How to Use Dr. Google. I am so guilty of talking to Google over a visit to the doctor, and appreciate some advice on how to do it well instead of just telling me not to. Because I can’t stop won’t stop. 🩺 

• High Schoolers with Trade Jobs. The minute I selected a psychology major I should have come up with a more practical back up plan (although the EA career is really working out for me). Ours kids are currently obsessed with our local plumber/HVAC company and I’m not sad about it. 🔨 

• Best States for Working from Home. “…things like energy costs, internet speed, home sizes and how many people live together can greatly impact people’s savings and productivity.” All valid points. 🏘️ 

• 1440. I’m a long time subscriber of this daily news brief (I just got a thank you email for being one of their most faithful readers!) and highly recommend this mostly unbiased source. It takes me about 5 minutes to skim through each morning, and they recently added more deep dive topics that I’ve also found fascinating. 📰 

• PulseOx. This is so helpful to pair with those at home thermometers we all have. It eases my mind to see the blood ox levels when the kids sound like they’re hacking up a lung. 🫁 

• Kids Fitness Watch. My oldest decided to use some birthday money to see how many steps he’s getting a day, and we went with this budget option. I warned him we might need return it but we’ve been really pleased! It does the basics and (so far) he spends much of his day running around the house to reach his steps goal. ⌚️ 

• Self-Paced Art Therapy. I loooooved the art therapy class I took in college, and I’m intrigued by this self-paced option. It’s amazing how the act of creating helps you reflect and process in unique ways.