June Gloom is OVER...

Actually there wasn't as much June Gloom as there used to be. The joke used to be that summer in Portland didn't start until July 5th, but that hasn't held the past few years, the reason is a mystery, don't try to figure it out...

This June we've had everything from a few stretches of 90 degree days in a row to a final week of clouds and temps in the 60s. All things being equal I prefer the 60s, but some 70 degree days for summer highs would be fine. I imagine July will see us back up into the 90s again.

But June is over today so time for the recap.

Nationally things are still shit, we had the final Scream Court decisions come out this week and they've been just as shitty as you'd expect. Today, for instance, brought us a 5-4 ruling on a case that should never have been heard and when it was picked up should have been an easy peasy 9-0 slam dunk for the Constitution. We had a ruling that said, you know what? Unlimited money in campaigns is just better than pretending that there is a limit and having to go through all of the scheming and lying. And a ruling that said to protect girls in sports we will now be inspecting the genitals of all girls in sports. You know, for their protection.

This week bring us to our 250th Anniversary as a country. And, man, does it feel like a turd in a punchbowl kind of party. Hard to be happy when you aren't sure that there is going to be anything left after this administration. Assuming we get rid of this administration at all.

SO anyway... how about those personal goals?

Speaking of goals, I said I was going to watch World Cup games guilt free and I have been. Because they are being held in North America the times have mostly been great for me to watch. A few of the 8 or 9 PM kicks are getting a little late for me to watch the whole match, yes I go to bed early, but other than that I've seen a majority of the games. The new format was interesting to see, more teams, the final positions not being decided until you saw who the top #3 in each group were.

The knockout rounds (just starting day 3) have been crazy games. We lost one of our teams we normally root for last night in PKs. And we lost our #3 earlier in the day. We pick who to root for by ancestry. So USMNT is first, but in the past that's been over quickly, this year Why not US? but...then we would go Dutch then German. Yes, this is Brent's ancestry, not mine. Because I'm mostly Irish and Scottish and well...yeah. Though the Scots really showed up this time. Not on the pitch as much as in the bars, but still very memorable. So now there is a lot of extra pressure on the USMNT in our household or we will be stuck cheering on England. Can you imagine?

The other goals, writing, reading, workouts, language. Let's hit a quick recap!

Writing: more days than not, yep. Barely. But it still counts. Today's post will bring the blog total to 17 with five of those being fiction. I told you all I might have a love story up my sleeve! AND...AND...AND... I FINALLY finished that long story I've been writing to Dana for a year and a half. I'm not sure if anyone else will ever see it, that would mean rereading and editing and I'm not sure it's worth it. But it's done. Which then Brent was like, okay, now you have to figure out what to write next and Dana was like, okay, now I'm ready for book two. side eye

Reading: Read 6 books in June. Two were nonfiction, one I owned. Didn't chip away at the number I'm behind (4) but didn't fall any further behind either so that's good. I was reminded, yet again, that I need to pay more attention to the full book description for the nonfiction books. I keep ending up with books that aren't quite what I was thinking they were. This month is was Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great I thought it was just going to be stories about companies, and there was some of that, but it was mostly about how to incorporate your own company and set up your own bylaws to make sure you held control. Interesting but not exactly what I was after.

The other nonfiction was a collection of environmental essays that would have been great if most of them hadn't been originally published at least 10 years ago and I know what has happened since. Spoiler alert, it's all shit now.

The book I owned was one I got for free when I was an Amazon Prime member. You got one book a month from Prime Reading. And some of them were really good. And some of them were free for a reason. This was the later. So terrible. If I hadn't wanted it for my "owned" check mark it would have been a DNF but oh my gosh it was so bad. And then when I went to look at other reviews for it I found out that this woman has like 20 published books. Which just made me madder. I really need Dana to get published to balance the scales.

Workout: Weight stayed the same, shocker I know, but I lost a little muscle. Not much, but a little. I had already decided that the weight training part of PVOLVE wasn't enough and was going to switch it up a little more in July so that just reinforced it. Trying to get the right balance between lifting, cardio, balance, core, and flexibility is tough. Also, as I already wrote I have to do some changes to my diet. I'll do those then retest later to see if they've done any good.

Language I'm still plugging along. Masterclass I picked up RuPaul's class. It is Pride after all.

So July what's on tap?

Well there will be World Cup matches through July 19, but fewer and fewer each day. I'm planning on watching those guilt free.

The rest of the month? Well... we are at the halfway point for the year so it's time for some re-evaluation. I am going to start stepping back from the numbers a bit. I know I set them at the beginning of the year, but we've decided to make some changes coming up and I don't know what my schedule is going to look like next year so I want to start to phase out this part of my life now.

What changes? Brent is going to retire at the end of the year. Yay! It's a little earlier than we had originally planned so we are working out the money challenges now, but you cannot put a price on how happy I am to see him able to walk away from all of that stress. And honestly, I never got used to not being poor, not really, so, I don't think being a little less comfortable than we are, while still being pretty darn comfortable will be an issue. And if it is? Well Costco was a story of a good company in that book I read so maybe they will hire me and I can be the little old lady who greets you at the door or signs you up for a membership.

So yeah, starting next year Brent will be home and we will have a different looking life and I'm not sure how that settles out. My busy work lists and goals and such won't really be needed is my working theory. But I also know that I want to ease out of them so I'm not wandering around at the beginning of next year feeling out of sorts because I don't have a number I'm working toward. I'm not sure how it will all look but I'm excited to find out.

The rest of the year these recaps will be similar, but if I miss the numbers oh well, or maybe even yay! Basically time to move into a new chapter of our lives and I can't wait.

Now, I'm off to do a couple of things before the France/Sweden game starts. Mmmbop...ba du bop...ya, you betcha....