Weekly Wrap-Up: The one in which I’m still reeling from the shock that it’s July already

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday, y’all! I hope you’ve had an amazing week. Someone please tell me I’m not the only one who can’t believe that it’s July already. The summer is going by so fast!

It occurred to me earlier this week that if we’re going to maintain the school schedule that we’ve had for the last 2 or 3 years, we’d have to start school next week. Next week. That is so not happening. None of us are ready to start school. Josh had already asked me if we could take a longer school break this year.

We’ll probably start the last week of the month. Josh has a driver’s ed course that week that I’d planned to give him school credit for, so I’ll probably go ahead and have Megan start then, too.

cats

This never happens. Luna (the cat in front) hates Gus. I mean, seriously, she despises him. It was over so quickly that I only got two shots with my good camera. Before I could get a photo on my phone for Instagram, she’d already turned and given him the death stare. He quickly vacated the dog bed before he got smacked. He is very much the lover-not-a-fighter sort.

So, the first big highlight of my week is the fact that we sold our van on Monday! After I got my new (to me) Ford Edge two years ago, Brianna drove the van for about a year. Then, Brian’s parents passed down their newer used Honda with a lot less miles, so she started driving that. We saved the van, thinking Josh would drive it, but he’s either been driving Brian’s car or the Honda.

We decided we were tired of paying insurance on the van for it to just sit there, so we spent last Saturday cleaning it up, taking photos, and getting it ready to sell. It sold on Monday!

IMG_7927

We probably should have asked more for it, but we listed it at a little under the Blue Book value because it burns oil and the air doesn’t work. We were willing to take a bit less than that. Someone offered what we were expecting to get for it, so we took it.

We talked about it afterward and both agreed that, based on how quickly it sold, we probably could have gotten more for it, but we both felt that it went to someone who really needed it and that it would be a good, dependable car for its new owner. We agreed that we both felt good about it. That’s all that matters.

The second highlight was Wednesday when my Fair Trade Friday box came a day or two earlier than expected. **Spoiler Alert:** If you’re a part of Fair Trade Friday and like to be surprised about what’s in the box, quit reading because I’m about to post pictures.

Fair Trade Friday Club Collage

top image courtesy of Fair Trade Friday

Every month I think that I can’t possibly love this month’s box as much as I loved last month’s…and each month I’m proven wrong! I absolutely loved this month’s box. It contained:

  • A gorgeous, hand-carved wooden photo frame from Village Artisan in India
  • A stunning paper bead necklace from Caring for Korah in Ethiopia (I really think they’re trying to make me quit saying that I’m not really a jewelry person, because I have just loved all the jewelry pieces lately.)
  • A fabric headband that I’ll actually wear (I’m usually not crazy about headbands) from Timbali in Swaziland (You really need to go read their story.)
  • A reusable drawstring bag (Love the drawstring bags!) from Friends of Mercy in Kenya (not pictured)

Gorgeous, gorgeous goodies! Megan tried to make fun of me for being so excited, but she had to admit that this month’s goodies were really incredible.

I think that’s it for me this week. We’ll get back to school-related wrap-ups in a few weeks. Right now, we’re just determined to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. If you need something more homeschool-themed to get you through the week, check out my article at About.com, 4 Life Skills to Teach Kids this Summer to Make the School Year Easier.

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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13 Comments

  1. We have sold things fast like that before. I usually come to the same conclusion you came too. Have a happy 4th of July.
    Blessings, Dawn

  2. Isn’t it wonderful how quickly your van sold, and especially to someone who can really use it! That’s definitely a win-win.

    I can’t believe it’s July, either. I was prepping some school stuff for August, which seemed comfortably far away, when I realized it’s now less than a month. Maybe we’ll continue our lighter load until September because I am just not ready to get back into things full-tilt again yet!

  3. That “look” is so classic! We also have a cat who has the most wicked look ever. The strange thing though is that she’s really a marshmallow – she’s so sweet! (We have had a few though who definitely lived up to the “wicked cat” reputation…)

    It’s fun to be here and visit fun posts and meet some new people – thanks for hosting!

    1. Yes, it’s probably a pretty typical cat look. She has the attitude to go with it when it comes to the other creatures in the house. She’s a big chicken with all the people except me. I’m her person.

  4. I love the picture of your cats! We have a tortie just like that- Violet- and we USED to have an orange tabby cat just like yours too. His name was Jace, and I absolutely adored him, but he started having too many “accidents” in the house, and after getting him neutered didn’t help, we had to give him away. I miss him. Incidentally, they enjoyed each other TOO MUCH and had kittens together. We kept 2 of them, and one of them is named Luna, like yours.

    1. Yes, I have a cat I had to kick out because of those accidents. She was spayed, we had her checked for physical causes, and we even tried meds. Nothing worked. She has made a better outside kitty than we expected she would.

      All of our kitties are fixed, but we’ve often said that they’d make beautiful babies – Gus, the orange tabby, with either Luna, the tortie, or Lily, the calico. What color babies did you wind up with?

      1. There were five kittens, and none of them looked alike. One was a black and tan tortie like Violet (she’s the other one we kept, her name is Bella), Luna is a gray and tan tortie (she’s my favorite-ssh…don’t tell the other cats), there was an orange tabby like Jace (we called him Castiel- Cass for short), a cream tabby (that was Sammy…he passed away when he was 2 weeks old), and an all black one (Dean…but I called him Deanie Beanie. I’m a dork, I know.) They were all so cute. I wish we could’ve kept them all.

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