Some quick takes? Soccer is in high gear again. 

I have been using my practice hours – and any other hour not spoken for – to get lost in Anna Karenina.  It is a book I didn't want to read and now cannot put down.  I say it every time I finish a work of "classic" literature.  "Everyone should read this so they don't… (insert any number of disastrous decisions that can make)" Seriously. How different my own and so many other's choices would have been had we grown up reading something more substantial which would have spoken to all those pressing issues that occupied our hearts and minds.  

Only downside to the soccer practice reading is that it has been so suffocatingly hot.  Here.  I have proof.  Hot:

It's been so hot I have been using the Instant Pot and/or the grill nearly every night.  I can't bear to turn on the oven and heat up the main floor.  The day it rained and was cooler we tried these zucchini tots.  The kids ate them zucchini and all.  Cheese is a usually a powerful negotiating tool.  

The garden.  I hesitate to call it a real garden.  Some flowering plants have gotten established though.  Does my heart good to see the water droplets bead up on the blossoms after the sprinkler has run.  

Silly signs on the walking trail.  I am all about clear unambiguous directions, after all. Life should really come with a disclaimer like this.  "You are now entering pure BS zone."   I like to know these things. 

Abbie Rose saved up and bought herself an 18in doll.  It is not one of 'the' famous 18in dolls.  Her older sisters had some and we managed to wreck them just as easily as the $30 variety.  Of course a girl is also less likely to wreck something she saved and planned for.  Here is hoping.  We are looking for some 18in patterns to attempt some pj's and skirts for this one.  

Long-nosed creatures overhead.  I didn't catch just how long the beaks, bills or whatnot were until I uploaded the images. 

Otherwise, we have nearly finished the family room remodel.  Again.  You might recall a similar announcement in December, followed by news of our freak cold spell and water damage. Well, here we are again.  I will show you the progress in another post.  At any rate we have doubled down on the remodeling and finally come around the patio table for evening prayers where we hope to catch a bit of breeze.  

It is hard and often tedious work and progresses much more slowly than we would like.  I suppose all progress is like that.  Still, I am grateful for it.  Grateful for a home we own.  Grateful for the means to update it bit by bit.  Grateful for good health to do the work.  It will come together in time.  

What are you working on right now and what is it teaching you?