July 2024 in review

Well this has been a month of weirndess, so let’s go.

(there are affiliate links in here)

Week 1

Well, the first week of July was fun. With it being the last week of Batman’s leave we made sure to do as much as possible together. We played some games. I got a shot of our new book quest for Lorehaven, Vincent in Wonderland.

We had fun shooting off fireworks for Independence Day, Batman and I narrated quite a ridiculous battle between the chickens and the tanks. There was a random mother and son who happened to come by and watch us and I think we entertained them as we narrated our crazy shenanigans. I am quite sure the chickens won the war between the tanks and the chickens, and it was the creative use of the dive-bombers that we found that won the day for us.

My Mom paid for family pictures for all of us together. She wanted to come up with some kind of theme for the thing, and so on Monday I asked her to get some kind of final answer, which after way too many texts, we settled on my family would have blue formal shirts and black pants. I got shirts for the boys by going to Academy and buying them polo shirts. I then spent easily two hours at the outlet mall searching for a shirt for The Artist, and not finding ANY. Apparently, solid colored shirts are not popular right now. And if it was solid-colored it was too bright or too big, or just non-existent. So after over two hours of searching we found a crop top, that was boxy and not her favorite, but she was willing to wear it. Then I got home and discovered the shirt I had from earlier was gone. I no longer had a solid-colored blue shirt. And after all of the nightmare of the rest of the family I sure better have one. So I ran out, went to Salvation Army, none there. Old Navy, none there. Finally at Marshalls I found six shirts, and finally of those six one two fit. One was from the men’s department.

But, in the end we got some pictures of the family. There was much grumbling from my family, “why do I have to wear this?” “this is stupid” and so many other complaints.

But in the end, Batman went back to the army, and life has settled back into normal.

Books read:

• Perils of Lady Catherine deBourgh– I really enjoyed this third book in the series, I’m really hoping we get another book in this series because where they left the relationships in the series leaves it rather unsettled

Games played

• Smash Up

Week 2

We’ve been dog-sitting another dog, and he’s all the energy, while by contrast Leezard got a new medicine and is not all the energy. She’s been so lacking energy it’s been a little worrying, though the doctor did warn us that was going to happen. It’s just been weird to see.

But, we took both of them down to the park and let them walk in the creek, which both dogs absolutely loved. Apparently, Leezard just doesn’t really love showers. She loves getting in the river, just not the bath. Go figure.

Then Superman, Jeff, and I played Clank for fun. I really love that game, I actually won both games, which was fun. Superman and I were talking about how we wanted to get the Legacy version and try that out to see what it was like.

Our Sunday School lesson last week was building the temple, so we made a model of the temple, and it was a lot of fun to see how the kids were enjoying using the glitter glue all over their temples.

Then I spent a whole bunch of time this week updating my blog to a new theme, which I like a lot of what I did, but there are some things I’m having to get used to them being different.

But I do like the new search results page and the 404 results page.

Books Read:

• Anne of Green Gables– a classic, and it was fun to reread after finishing watching the Netflix series
• Bakers and Magic– I liked the friendships and the baking competition, but didn’t really feel the love story was particularly well done in this story, there’s another book in this series, and I didn’t feel a need to get the next one, which I guess says what you need to know. But it’s also because the next book is a love story between a dwarf and a gargoyle, which is just something I don’t want to read

Games played:

• Cthulhu Death May Die
• Shadows of Brimstone
• other stuff

Week 3

Okay, it’s July 31 and I’m just now writing this, I’m feeling very behind and out of sorts because that’s how July has been.

Oh, I never made my collage. Excuse me, I need to go make that, one moment.

All right, I’ve now created the collage.

Most of my pictures are from college orientation which I was fighting off a summer cold. You know the type of thing where you can’t quite tell if you’ve got a cold or if it’s allergies. Allergies have been absolutely terrible this summer. Which is funny because I usually count on summer as my escape from allergies, instead I’m constantly getting pollen warnings or heat warnings. It’s a little bit of everything right now.

But, the kids got all signed up for their classes, and we dropped them off for their orientation, and they got back and told us all about the silly stuff they did with it but how they thought it was worth going.

Books read:

• Herbwitch Apprentice– I reread this cozy fantasy while not feeling well
• Herbwitch Princess– then I read the sequel, I was hopeful she would get the third book in the series out, but she doesn’t seem to be doing that anytime soon
• City of Serpents– the fourth book in a 5 book series, it’s like a serialized Gothic dragon book series
• Vincent in Wonderland– we finished off the book quest early, because I wanted to finish the book, and it was fun to read

Games played

• I don’t remember

Week 4

All of the pictures are from my birthday, so I guess that’s all that really counted.

Superman and I took Leezard down to the park and had a blast letting Leezard play in the water. she thought that was awesome. Then we went down to Zilker to see the musical, but we got rained out. That picture in the middle is Mom, my niece, and I under a blanket as its raining and we’re waiting for them to decide if they are going to cal it. I love this picture as we’re just sitting there talking about the rain and how we really hope it stops raining soon. Spoiler, it did not stop raining until after they cancelled the show.

Then I bough a copy of Clank Legacy, and Superman and I are having fun playing through it together. On the other side you can see a picture of him when we went out to eat at a new ramen place after we finished reading Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. It discussed the last section of the book, and it was an interesting discussion, and we had a lot of fun talking about the little details in the book and ranking the different secret novels we’ve read.

And that final picture up top is of our Sunday School class. We learned about the kings of Israel and the kids had a lot of fun learning about the different kings and how they did. They were big fans of coloring in the hearts, but they were even bigger fans of coloring in how the kings died. The girl in charge of the gray marker thought it was hilarious to draw the swords for the kings who were murdered. It was a big hit.

Books read:

• Maggie and the Mountain of Light– a fun middle grade book
• Her Fake Superhero Boyfriend- I betaread this
• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter– this was slowly read all month long
• Regency Rumors– so I started this thinking, I just want something quick and easy to read before starting a longer book, I didn’t realize I was going to get hooked on a series, so I bought
• Eugenia– this is the novella retelling the first book from a side character’s viewpoint, highly amusing
• The Debutante– the second in the series
• Grace– the novella from the minor character’s viewpoint, again this concept is highly amusing, because the minor characters do not know the main character’s true role in all of this
• Clarendon Estate– I’m currently reading this, but I’m guessing by the time this post is live I’ll have it done, and I’m guessing the overarching mystery will be solved in this final book. Highly recommend this cozy Regency mystery series

Games played:

• Clank Legacy