I'm not sure.

I've been absent here for almost a year and 99% of that was due to getting back into the workforce -- in full force -- and managing a Kindergartner with homework. I always knew that's what would happen, but good gracious, I've been busy.

I sit on my couch right now with my sweatshirt on as the air conditioning blasts so I can cool the house before the 3pm shutoff (because 3-8pm is peak cost and we have figured out the mystery to avoiding $500 air conditioning bills when it's 110 outside, which is, obviously, not to use the air conditioning during peak hours). Alexa tells me it's only at 99 right now, but climbing. Of course, that leaves me freezing right now. Irony.

The kids are at summer camp and I'm all caught up on posting for Faces of Loss, which doesn't get nearly as many submissions anymore. Is it on the decline because people who lose children aren't blogging anymore? Have they switched over to Instagram, Instagram+Stories or that thing all the cool kids are doing, SnapChat? They have to be connecting somewhere with their tribes.

I dropped my kids off at this megachurch for VBS last week and because it was so far north in the cactus boondocks, I decided to just park it at a Starbucks and crank out the Arizona Constitution class I was required to take to fully clear my credential here. I'm becoming quite adept at these state constitution courses. When I finished the course, I ordered the transcript (yes, those still exist in paper form) and began my goal of reading four books this summer. I set the goal low because I'm also running about 263 committees and such this coming school year and I wanted to actually achieve.

I just finished The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and was captivated. It's a memoir of a young girl who was a refugee in Africa for seven years after her parents sent her away to escape the war in her home country of Rwanda. She eventually attends Yale and establishes herself in the US. Considering the connection to our current turmoil in America about the refugee crisis of families and their children being separated, I was really invested. I highly recommend this one. (And by the way, this family separation issue is morally inhumane and awful. I just received word about the president signing an executive order to end this, but I'm not fully convinced-- I'm not sure any of us can really trust that the wrongs can fully be made right, but here's to hoping for the families and those children).

I'm also totally invested in the Amazon Prime series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and obviously I'm not the only one, because my husband binge-watched and stayed up until 3am one night watching all of the episodes. The Golden Globe to the main character, Rachel Brosnahan, for best actress and the other Golden Globe for best TV series was also an indicator of just how awesome it is. I love these feminist timepiece shows (which is saying a lot, because I rarely watch television and we might be the only household in America to own only one).

I have about one hour to make today count while the kids are in camps (though I consider this post and my 40 minutes of spin this morning to be pretty productive), so off I go. I'll try to make this a regular thing, at least for the summer.

Random side note: We're packing for our Peru trip next month. If you have any recommendations on a good backpacking item, send my way!