1. What do you love most about your country?

Oh man, so much. Freedom is a big one and that’s also a huge word to unpack. Having gone to other countries (a few anyway) I know just how much we have here. I love that I can feel confident that stores will have food and we’ll have gas and A/C and I have the opportunities to succeed as much or as little as I want. Now, while not every American feels this way, I believe it is fundamentally true.

2. Your favorite patriotic song?

This one came up in the monthly musings post and I’m sticking to Proud to be an American.

3. Red, white, or blue? Stars or stripes? Something you own besides a US flag with some combination of those colors or decorations as part of its design?

I wear a lot of blue but do have some flag-themed clothes. On my mantle, I have an America sign and one with the entire pledge of allegiance on it. Right now out front I have an American flag star on the door, a sign shaped like a popsicle that say “Tastes like Freedom”, and a couple yard things: red, white, and blue pinwheel, and a small in-ground flag.

4. What’s one thing you want more of this summer: fun, rest, adventure, connection, quiet, or confidence? Elaborate.

Rest and quiet, as well as motivation. Since we already took our big family vacation, then Ash and I went to Atlanta with friends, I want to sit here at home, get projects done, enjoy the quiet, and stop spending money!

5. What was your ultimate, go-to summer activity when you were a kid? Do you still do any version of that today? If you answered yes, does participating in this activity as an adult make you feel like a kid?

Hmm, it was probably riding my bike to friends’ houses and either being in their pool or doing the slip ‘n slide at my house. Yes to being in the pool. Prior to our vacation, Isaac and I had gotten into a good rhythm. After I took my daughter to camp then did my online work, he and I would go out to the pool around 11 and hang out for a while. And yeah, swimming does sometimes make me feel like a kid, though I am less interested in getting my head wet these days, oddly enough. When my husband gets in, he definitely is a kid. He’ll blast the kids into the air and he loves to float around and be under the water.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

In my last Friday post that I never finished, I was musing on how tight I was with our money during vacation. And I mean, we still spent. We had to eat and do Ubers and stuff, but I told the kids we were not eating out every meal. In fact, many days we picked up some groceries and those followed us town to town, which is the advantage of flying somewhere then driving back. So now, I can rest a little easier once that credit card bill comes around next month. Inflation is killer and I wanted to be careful. I am still always hyper-aware of spending but I think I did a good job. But on that note, I looked into how to get money out of my Robinhood investments. It’s actually easy and I did a quick transfer as a test. Seems to work!

This week, the AC guy comes today because our vent is super noisy so they’re going to try to fix that. Then we have a guy from the HOA coming to talk to us about options on making an official parking area out front. You cannot technically park if it isn’t one that is set to BE a parking area. It’s dumb but in some ways, so are HOAs. But we don’t pay a lot so I shouldn’t complain. The fee we do pay keeps out the trash. We have a meeting on Thursday then I can tell you that Friday, I ain’t doing nothing. Ok, well, I’m probably going to cook all weekend. After eating out for weeks, I’m looking at cheap, leftover-ready meals to be made. And also, Ash likes a Thanksgiving meal on his birthday so on Sunday, I’ll be slaving away making mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, cornbread, Southern green beans, and of course, the turkey, which I picked up today.

I am excited for July 4th; I always feel patriotic but it is amplified. I think I said it in another post but we’ve kind of made it a habit to watch Independence Day so we will probably do that. But I also like to watch Sandlot. We shall see. I feel like we saw the kids so much on the trip but then turned right back around and left them so I’d like to hang out with them again this weekend! What kind of fourth plans do you all have?