Friday Check-in

Currently Indulging in All the Foods

It took a solid six weeks, but I am thrilled to report that I have finally, fully healed from the gum graft surgery that, to put it mildly, significantly impacted my world. This particular procedure involved harvesting tissue from the roof of my mouth to graft onto my front lower teeth. Understandably, this process extended the healing period considerably. For the initial four weeks, I was cautiously limited to soft foods, and I even encountered a few minor issues with parts of the graft shifting, which meant even stricter dietary mandates.

However, by the six-week mark, everything had thankfully healed beautifully. Since then, I’ve been on a delightful mission to make up for all that lost eating time. My current primary culinary pursuit? Mostly, chips. Glorious, crunchy chips.

I sincerely hope and pray that I never have to endure that surgery again. My deepest compassion and immense respect go out to those of you who have experienced it multiple times; it was an incredibly challenging experience for me. As if that weren’t enough, I’m now preparing for a crown replacement, a classic domino effect in the intricate world of dental work. The journey to a healthy smile can certainly be a long and winding one!

Currently Immersed in Audiobooks

My ears have been busy! I’m currently halfway through “The Bear and the Nightingale” by Katherine Arden, and the storytelling is utterly captivating, drawing me into its rich, folkloric world. Before that, I recently finished “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson, a powerful and thought-provoking book that sparked many meaningful conversations with Brian and our children, who also read it. We’re actually planning to watch the movie adaptation this weekend, eager to compare notes and further process its important themes. Next on my listening list is “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown, a historical account I’ve heard wonderful things about.

Audiobooks have become an invaluable companion, particularly during tasks that don’t require full mental focus, like driving, cleaning, or even just relaxing. They offer an incredible way to consume stories and expand knowledge, transforming mundane moments into enriching experiences. The ability to “read” while doing other things makes them perfect for my busy lifestyle. I’m always on the lookout for new literary adventures.

Any Favorite Audiobooks to Share?

I would absolutely love to hear your top audiobook recommendations! Please share them in the comments below; I’m always keen to discover new authors and compelling narratives.

Currently Spending Quality Time with Our Kunekune Pigs

A significant portion of my time these days is dedicated to our new-ish, quarantine-acquired Kunekune pigs. I share more frequent updates and charming details about their antics on my dedicated @melsfauxfarm Instagram account. These delightful creatures have truly been a fantastic, albeit unexpected, addition to what I affectionately call our random hybrid lifestyle – a unique blend of country living and suburbia that we’ve cultivated.

Honestly, I’ve never scratched so many piggy bellies in my entire life! If you ever find yourself wondering about my whereabouts, there’s a 100% chance I’m out in the pig pasture. It has quickly become my absolute favorite, most peaceful place in the world (with the caveat that this tranquility vanishes if the pigs are hungry – then, watch out!). It’s also become my go-to method for detoxing from the day’s stresses and, frankly, from the general chaos that seems to permeate the world lately. I cannot recommend Kunekune pigs highly enough; they bring so much joy and a surprising sense of calm.

As a little sidenote for those curious about our porcine family: we have four purebred, registered Kunekunes. Our two lovely girls, or gilts, are named Olivia and EmmyLou. Our two charming boys, or boars, are Benny and Eddie. Three of my children have even invested a portion of their savings in these pigs, with the intention of developing breeding pairs. So, sometime next year, we anticipate being surrounded by an abundance of adorable piglets for sale! Kunekunes are traditionally raised both for breeding and for meat. They are wonderfully friendly, inherently gentle, and, importantly, *mostly* non-rooting and non-wallowing pigs. They happily graze on our pasture grass and consistently bring immense happiness to our family. Their docile nature and charming personalities make them truly unique farm companions.

Currently Hoarding Huckleberries & Enjoying Shorter Hair

We recently embarked on our annual pilgrimage to pick our year’s supply of huckleberries. For the past few years, our favorite picking grounds have been near McCall, Idaho. However, please don’t ask me for specific coordinates; if you’re a regular huckleberry picker, you’ll know that revealing your secret spot is an unpardonable sin among enthusiasts! We gather these precious berries primarily for one exquisite purpose: to make huckleberry milkshakes all year long. There’s truly nothing quite like the taste of a fresh, homemade huckleberry milkshake on a hot summer day, or even a frosty winter evening, bringing a little taste of summer back.

Huckleberries are, in my humble opinion, the absolute best, and I truly missed them every single day of every single year we resided in the Midwest. It’s a taste of home and a treasured annual tradition that grounds us. In other news, I recently had a significant change in my personal aesthetic: I got a good eight inches cut off my hair! I feel like a brand new woman, especially now that it’s grown out a few weeks and is *just* long enough to comfortably fit into a ponytail again. The lightness and freshness are incredibly liberating, a simple change that has brought a surprising boost to my morale.

Currently Sourcing Books for School Libraries

In a heartfelt effort to involve my children in promoting racial equality and justice within our own community, we embarked on a meaningful project. We decided to research, gather, and ultimately donate a collection of 40-50 books to both our local middle school and elementary school libraries. The aim of this initiative is to stock their shelves with books that actively promote, champion, and highlight diversity, celebrate Black lives, and address crucial racial issues and equality.

We’ve been diligently working in close collaboration with both school librarians to ascertain which books they already possess, ensuring our donations complement and expand their existing collections. Thanks to a surprisingly well-stocked middle school library, we were able to broaden our scope for that list, including additional books that champion diversity within other marginalized groups as well. This collaborative approach ensures our efforts are truly impactful and fill specific needs within the schools.

Photo credit: Jane Mount

For those interested in exploring the full list of books we’ve compiled, you can access it here. A small disclaimer: I haven’t personally read every single book on this extensive list; I encourage you to use your own discretion when considering these titles for yourself or your children. Our goal is to source and purchase the majority of these books from independent and/or Black-owned booksellers across the country. We are hopeful that we’ll be able to deliver them to the school libraries as soon as possible. This has proven to be a truly fun, enlightening, and immensely rewarding project for our family to work on together, fostering a deeper understanding and commitment to social justice.

My secondary, longer-term goal is to ensure these books don’t merely sit on shelves. I hope to facilitate their circulation among individual classrooms and, if possible, volunteer at the elementary school to highlight and read these books in both the library and classrooms. This proactive approach aims to ensure these vital stories and perspectives are actively engaged with and not forgotten. Of course, all these plans are dependent on how the school year will unfold due to the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, but we are committed to taking it one step at a time, adapting as necessary to make a positive impact.

Currently Navigating Elevated Anxiety Levels

The past six months have been an emotional rollercoaster: weird, hard, rough, yet also enlightening, chaotic, frustrating, and incredibly stressful. The pervasive uncertainty surrounding nearly every aspect of life has left me feeling stretched incredibly thin. I’ve had to dig deep, unearthing coping skills that I haven’t consciously needed to employ in quite some time. Oh, how I wish I had all the answers, all the solutions, and most of all, a meticulously Detailed Future Plan that I could firmly transcribe into a spreadsheet and dutifully follow day by day.

Alas, I possess none of that, and it’s truly frustrating. But what I really want to convey is this: if you, like me, are feeling as though some days you are utterly drowning in the relentless noise, chaos, uncertainty, hypocrisy (from every conceivable side), fear, stress, and judgment, please know that you are absolutely not alone in this struggle. This collective experience, while isolating at times, is deeply shared.

As someone who has, more than once in recent months, found myself Googling “am I having a panic attack?”, I can personally attest that amidst all this turmoil, there is also an abundance of peace and happiness still out there. It hasn’t vanished; it’s simply been overshadowed and pushed aside by the louder, more dominating, and often noisy voices that demand our attention. Learning to filter and prioritize has become a crucial skill.

I’m continually discovering that for me, one of the most vital keys to reclaiming my inner peace and resilience is to deliberately **disconnect**. This means stepping away from social media, the internet, and technology in general. In fact, sometimes it even means creating healthy distance from real-life individuals who tend to bring down my energy. It’s an almost instantaneous, shoulder-relaxing effect when I log off everything. And a powerful realization I’ve come to is this: I truly don’t miss that much when I’m not compulsively checking Instagram daily. The world continues, and my well-being improves.

Once I’ve successfully disconnected, my next step is to simultaneously **connect** with those intrinsic elements that I already know bring a longer-lasting, more profound sense of peace. For me, these pillars are God, my family (and I mean really connecting with them one-on-one, truly being present), the beauty of the outdoors, and sometimes, simply being alone if I can manage to carve out that precious time.

As a verified introvert, the period since March has presented significant challenges to my need for solitude. Let me be clear: I adore my kids and my husband; they are wonderful, and I genuinely want to live with them forever. And I would wholeheartedly choose family time over almost anything else (family night out trumps girls’ night out any day of the week, for instance). But, all disclaimers aside, I find myself mentally rejuvenated and re-energized when I have a certain degree of quiet alone time. That crucial element has been noticeably absent lately, especially since I’m firmly in the parenting phase of early-rising children (who are now too old for naps!) and late-bedtime teenagers. Admittedly, the aforementioned quiet pig pasture has provided a significant boost to this introvert initiative, even if a kid or two occasionally tags along and shares in the tranquility.

This whole process of disconnecting and reconnecting is exactly that: a process and a cycle, definitely not a one-time fix. Ideally, I’d master the art of balancing it all on a daily basis, but I confess, I don’t manage that very well. So, when I feel myself reaching my peak stress or overstimulation, I simply initiate the disconnection, allow myself to restabilize, and then move forward. This approach means I’ve been a little hit-and-miss here on the blog and on social media this year, but I firmly believe in quality over quantity, especially when it comes to personal well-being. Prioritizing my mental health allows me to bring my best self when I am present.

What Coping Skills Are Working for You Right Now?

I’m genuinely curious to hear what strategies and coping skills are currently working wonders for you. Please share your insights in the comments!

Edited to ask: For those of you with children at home, what are your school plans for the upcoming fall? Our local school year was originally slated to commence this coming Monday, but it has now been delayed until September 8th. At this point, my intention is to send my kids back to school, although I’m quite doubtful they’ll actually be *at* school very often, if at all. This is based on our current local COVID-19 numbers and the district’s plan to keep students learning remotely if our area is designated in the yellow or red zone. The uncertainty is a challenge for all parents.

Currently Traveling Across Northern Idaho and Montana in Thor

Our latest grand adventure involves traversing the magnificent wilds of Northern Idaho and Montana in “Thor,” a behemoth RV we rented through rvshare.com (and no, this is not a sponsored post, just a genuine recommendation!).

The idea itself was born from a sudden whim. With so many of our other carefully laid plans for spring and summer canceled or put on hold, Brian and I — a pair not typically known for impulsiveness — looked at each other a couple of weeks ago and, on the spot, decided to rent an RV. Our goal was simple: to drive around with the family, completely self-contained and fancy-free, embracing the freedom of the open road.

It has been nothing short of dreamy so far. Of course, there have been moments when the concentrated family time has proven a *bit* too much, and I’ve also made the invaluable discovery of which of my children possess a serious stinky feet problem. But these minor inconveniences are easily outweighed by the joys. For much of our journey, we’ve been blissfully without cell service, nestled in places where the natural beauty is breathtaking and hygiene standards are wonderfully, acceptably low. We’ve experienced a delightful mix of dry camping (without any hook-ups, truly embracing rustic living) and RV park glamping (with full hook-ups, allowing for the luxurious treat of a lukewarm shower – oh, how I’ve missed you!).

We embarked on this journey with only a general idea of our destinations and activities, armed with the incredible flexibility of changing those plans at a moment’s notice, all thanks to driving a creaky house on wheels. So far, our adventures have taken us to the stunning Redfish Lake near Stanley, Idaho, which has now officially earned a spot as one of our absolute favorite places in the entire state. We also visited Coeur d’Alene, a place I consider one of the most gorgeous on earth. Yesterday, we tackled the exhilarating Hiawatha Trail on our bikes – a true bucket list item that we’ve now proudly checked off and eagerly hope to repeat many times in the future. The experience was nothing short of AMAZING, pedaling through tunnels and over trestles amidst incredible scenery.

Eventually, we’ll have to return to real life, with its routines and demands. But I wholeheartedly recommend the spontaneous RV adventure experience. It’s an unparalleled way to regenerate positive family vibes, force a much-needed break from technology and the incessant chaos of the world, and even prove to your kids – especially those tricky teenagers – that you are still the grand master of all the card games and corn hole. It’s an investment in memories, connection, and a healthy dose of unplugged fun.

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Okay, this has indeed been a lengthy update! I honestly have so much more to share, but I’ll let you get back to your own lives now. Ha! Please remind me in the future to tell you all about our dusty living room and kitchen remodel project, my new favorite pair of pants (and the incredibly comfortable shoes I’ve practically lived in all summer), a new cookbook idea and a question I have for you about it, and several other tidbits that have been on my mind!

Love your guts, truly. Thank you for being here, for reading, and for being such a wonderful part of this community. And please, don’t leave me all alone in the comments section! I am genuinely eager to hear about YOU and how you are doing, what’s currently filling your days, and what’s on your mind. Let’s keep this conversation going!