The Saturday 7

What does it say about me that I haven't blogged in two weeks, and I still have nothing to say? Haha. Don't worry. I'll dredge something up this week.

1. We've been doing a good job of sticking to our new screen time limits - nothing during the week, lots over the weekend. There have been a few times that the kids did their required activities to earn an hour of screen time during the week, but usually they decide it isn't worth it. The nice weather helps a ton. Levi is out playing with the neighbor kids any chance he gets, and Lena's upping her gymnastics game on the trampoline. Levi's other new obsession is writing stories. He's been working on his book every time he has a minute of free time at school and illustrating every page. He brought it home this week because he wanted me to type it into the computer. But his spelling and [non-existent] punctuation are so incredibly bad that I couldn't decipher it at all. He finally read it out loud to me so I could transcribe. I was impressed with some of the funny quips he used! Now if only I could transfer his love of writing to a love of reading . . . maybe it'd help with the spelling woes.

2. The big news in our family this week is the arrival of another baby! My great-nephew Brodie was born Sunday morning to Tristan and Brandy.

With Big Sister Nova!

Don't you just want to squish his cheeks? I love babies so much. Unfortunately, Lucy and Lena still have nasty coughs, so we didn't get to see him right away. I went yesterday by myself to drop off a meal and sneak some baby snuggles, but the kids haven't met him yet. Regardless, we're all excited to welcome another bambino to the cousin crew. (Well, Levi's not super excited. When I was showing the girls pictures, he said, "Don't even show me. I don't like babies." Lol. He'll enjoy him when he's older.)

3. Speaking of meals, I made dinner four times this week! That's a big deal for me because I really despise cooking, and I try to avoid it whenever possible. It's not like my kids eat anything I make, so I'm really just cooking for Justin and me. And he's a big boy who knows how to make sandwiches and hot pockets, so it's not like he'll starve if I don't make dinner. 😂 But just as I started patting myself on the back for being such a good wife I realized I have to do it all over again next week. Dangit! If we had lots of money, I'd seriously get restaurant food for every meal . . . and probably be featured on "My 600 Lb. Life." Alas.

4. I've been in a terrible book slump lately. The last five books I've read have been 3-star reads. This is how my rating system generally works:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ It was amazing. It left me thinking about the book for days or feeling strong, positive emotions.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ It was good, and there's not anything very specific I didn't like, but it didn't wow me.

⭐⭐⭐ Meh. It was fine, but not anything I'd readily recommend or read again. I could definitely point out some flaws.

⭐⭐ It was horrible, but I finished it.

⭐ It was so bad I couldn't even finish it.

Lucy really wants to read contemporary romance novels, but I don't want her reading secular smut, so I've been trying to find some Christian fiction that isn't too cheesy for her. I ended up reading a couple by Bethany Turner as a result. I've read her stuff before and haven't enjoyed it, so I don't know why I thought it would be different this time. I also picked up an Emma St. Clair book to vet for Lucy. St. Clair does not market herself as a Christian author, but I've heard from a variety of sources that her romances are clean. They are in the sense that there are no explicit sex scenes, but they're still a little racy for a 13 year old, in my opinion. And I didn't love the storyline. Then I read a secular book I got from NetGalley because I thought it sounded fun and funny - it was touted as Crazy Rich Asians meets Oceans 11, but was much heavier on the Crazy Rich Asians part than the fun heist-y stuff. Nothing against CRA, I just wanted something more light-hearted. Yesterday, I finished one that is theoretically everything I love in a good book, but I just didn't love it. Not sure if that's the book's fault or the slump's fault, but I really need to snap out of it!

5. This has been boring so far. Should we talk about politics? That'll liven things up. I saw a meme the other day that said, "You know what year I'd never be eager to repeat? 2020." And yet, here we go again:

How?! How are these our options? Whenever someone expresses dissatisfaction with our government, they're told to vote for change. Dude. I'm trying. And this is what we keep getting. I think it's some grand conspiracy to disillusion voters so much that we give up and just let the chips fall where they may. It's not like I have real faith in any president to affect much change anyway. The polarity of our two parties in congress and the senate don't allow for any meaningful move forward. I keep wondering if things are really that bad or if it's just all I've ever known of politics as an adult. But I've heard more than one older person say that this wasn't how it was in "the old days." The division and downright hatred for the opposing party is stronger than it's ever been. How do we survive something like that? Because at this point, I'm torn between voting for the lesser of two evils, voting third party and taking a vote away from the lesser of two evils, or not voting at all.

6. I watched the last half hour of the State of the Union while scrolling through Twitter just because I wanted to see what people outside of my social circle think. And I realized that people will defend their party no matter who is at the helm. On Twitter the night of the SOTU, the democrats were cheering and saying, "This is the Spicy Brandon we know and love!" or "You can't tell me this is a doddering old man!" or "Republicans should be ashamed of their attack on this strong, powerful man!" Meanwhile, the republicans were crying, "What kind of drugs is Biden on?" or "What a fool" or "Democrats should be ashamed of propagating elder abuse!" And here's the thing. No one is ashamed.

Lucky for you, I have the solution. And it's straight from the Bible. Ready?

Sure looks to me like we should lean right in our voting. Hahahaha. Totally kidding, people!! I have no solutions, only complaints. (Title of my memoir.)

7. And now for some pics and memes!