I’m feeling pretty good about work right now. The class is doing well, the groundwork I’m building is coming together. Sort of like how Christina’s project is working out. We’ve never done these things before, but they’re coming out pretty well.
Category: July 2026
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July 15
I finished sorting through photos and putting together the Flickr album from our Yellowstone trip. Next is putting together the scrapbook, which is a bigger project. Also today… my class at work is going so much better this time around. I am so relieved because the pressure was on to turn it around. I’m quite proud of what I’ve accomplished this year and how well it is working out. Very satisfying.
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July 14
Slowly making my way through all the Yellowstone photos. All the editing is done, now it’s just captioning, and then printing and putting together a scrapbook. This may very well take me the rest of the year to complete. It’s ok. I can think of worse ways to spend my time.
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July 13
Robin started horse camp today. She wasn’t allowed to have her phone, so I had to wait all day to find out if she loved it or hated it. Turns out she loved it. Who knew horses would be her thing? Of course it is the most expensive hobby on earth. We’ll see what we can work out after camp is over.
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July 12
Robin got her nose pierced today. The guy who did it was awesome. Made me want to get another piercing. She did really well and I think it looks beautiful. She looks so happy with it. That makes me happy too.
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July 11
Christina showed me an Instagram reel she saw for an art project and wanted to do it. It’s like a paper mache mobile, but instead of paper, it uses string. I have never done anything like this, but I am always up for a challenge, so we did some research online, went to Michael’s, and she went to work. The prototype is drying – we’ll see how it worked in a day or two before we go ahead and do the rest. I’m impressed and proud of her for giving this a shot, even though we have no idea what we’re doing. These are the best projects, especially when they work out, even more especially when they don’t the first four or five times you try, because each of those times you learn something and then when you finally get it, you’re even more proud of it. We’ll see if Christina shares that attitude with me. I may end up taking it over if she gives up because… I’m me and I can’t stand giving up. Looking forward to seeing how this one goes.
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July 10
I had such a good day. People stayed in a good mood all day, the lines weren’t too long for rides, the shows were fantastic, and we even got to see some new ones. It was really, really hot, though. Robin got a little heat sick and started sitting out rides toward the end. I’m so glad we did it.
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July 9
We made it to Orlando. Robin is having a great time with her friends. They are twins, but I’ve been able to tell them apart. Kinda proud of myself for that, but they do look a little different, so they made it a little easier on me. The drive was really easy, which is always nice. So far so good.
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July 8
Pretty typical day. We had therapy, Christina had dance, I made cheeseburgers and Robin and I ate them on the couch while Billy was at the gym. Continuing to get a lot done at work. Really getting obsessed with my book – I need to finish it and know how it ends.
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July 7
Spent the evening working on vacation photos. I’m learning a lot about Photoshop, but I know I still have a lot to learn. I hope the photos look as good printed as they look on my computer screen. I hate the look of an obviously retouched photo. Getting close to being done – just 13 left to go.
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July 6
I love this picture with Jackson parked behind me, not knowing whether we’re going to bed or going back to the living room. He’s just checking things out. Otherwise, the girls started volleyball camp this week and seemed to like it. I’m glad they have something to do, and also that they got out of the house. Bonus points that they enjoy it too.
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July 5
I was so defeated today. I woke up at 6am to start an epic day that I thought would end with me ready to start putting down pavers next week. Instead I used all but 2 of our bags of gravel only to find that I need to lay down another lift. That means I have to purchase, move, lay, level, and compact another four tons of gravel. I think if I had known just how much this project was going to cost in time, effort, and money, I might not have done it. The thought of moving another four tons of gravel feels depressing. But… hopefully that is the true end of it and then I’ll be really ready to start seeing the fruits of my labor. I really can’t wait to see this thing done.
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July 4
Today was the big day. I finally rented the compactor for the patio. It is definitely heavy. I was moderately successful with it. I got much less done today than I wanted. Time just wasn’t on my side. I plan to go full throttle tomorrow and get all the rest of the compacting done. It will be a feat because I will most likely need to buy more gravel, and I will likely need to do it in several trips so it doesn’t destroy my car. That all takes time. I am going to give it everything I have. I don’t want to rent the compactor again. And I don’t want Billy to come home from work and ask me why I stopped working like he did today. That ruined my whole day.
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July 3
I spent hours getting my string lines up to level the patio and was almost done getting it leveled out when someone let Jackson out. He got tangled up in the lines and pulled everything down in about two seconds of drama. It was so fast and yet it felt like slow motion. I seriously cried. But everything is level. We went out to eat at Picasso’s for dinner and then went to this place in the same plaza called Frozen Fusion. It looked cute, but it was terrible. They had three flavors (the usual chocolate, vanilla, strawberry) of soft serve ice cream and you add toppings and pay by the ounce. Disappointing, but the kids had ice cream and let’s face it, it’s hard to have bad ice cream. Would not go back. Which seemed like the choice most of their customers have made, since there weren’t any.
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July 2
I spent the day working on my site design at work. Every time I do something, I think of a better way to do it and then I have to do it all over again. I think now I’ve got a good system, though, so I just need to build it. Luckily I’ve also developed the content already, so all I really have to do is transfer it to a different format. More work now, but much easier to update later. I’m really proud of the work I’ve been doing. I can’t wait to see it all come together. We had some good conversation at dinner, talking about Greek mythology and its Roman counterparts and why the compass always points north even when we don’t. And then I worked on more photo editing. I am now up to Wednesday. I’m getting a little tired of photo editing, but I can’t stop now, midway through. I must persist!
Year in Photos 