I don’t even know how to begin this post. The events of this week have been horrifying—just as any school or mass shooting is. For our family, what happened struck painfully close to home as active Catholics with children in Catholic school. I’ve spent the week grieving and praying for the Annunciation Church community, and also praying that this tragedy will be a wake-up call for the Diocese of Phoenix—and for every church and school community not yet taking real measures to protect our kids. While debates about gun laws continue, many of our children remain unprotected.
If you are Catholic and believe that armed guards should be present at Catholic schools in Phoenix, I urge you to make your voice heard. Please take a moment to fill out this link and submit the request to the school board. We we're allowed and had armed guards at school in Texas, they are allowed in other diocese but not in the Diocese of Phoenix. I’ve never asked my audience to do anything remotely political or religious before. I hate politics. I also hate even talking about religion because I believe all believes should be respected from religious to non religious, so I do not make this request lightly. Thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart for your support.
I’m not really sure how to transition from something so heavy back into everyday life—but here we go. We’re still working on getting settled into a more permanent living situation. On the school front, I ended up moving one of my kids from their previous school to a new one because of mold and asbestos concerns. Crazy, right? The upside is that I’m no longer juggling three different schools, which is definitely a win. That said, I’m still spending about an hour and a half in the car each day. At least now it’s broken into three trips, and I’ve got one kiddo home with me every afternoon. Not sure what the long-term plan will be, but for now—this is our setup.
PS If you are looking for school lunch tips, I linked some at the end of this post!
I forgot how intense these dust storms are even though I'm now used to so much worse now (read: tornado warnings.)
If you live in Arizona, drive a Honda, and aren’t using Honman as your mechanic…we can’t be friends. He’s nowhere near us, but I still make the drive because he’s that good. Honest, reliable, and even has a waiting room stocked with kid stuff (which, let’s be real, is the only reason I survive bringing my little sidekick along every afternoon). Tell your friends with Hondas, they will thank you. We've been going there for almost 10 years!
Recent Eats
I put on a few pounds during the move (stress + chaos = totally normal). To get back on track, I started tracking my meals, cut back on snacking, and made a point to drink more water. By the end of the month, the weight was off. I didn’t work out much during this time—aside from some sauna sessions—so exercise wasn’t a big factor. Honestly, it was more about returning to my usual eating habits and being a little more mindful. As my stress levels came down, so did the weight. I’m sharing this because so many influencers act like their weight never fluctuates, or like fluctuations aren’t normal. But they absolutely are—especially during stressful seasons of life. Here are a few of the meals I enjoyed this month while losing those 4–5 pounds.
Had a breakfast burrito from lifetime on my camera roll, I think I ate it for lunch and it was amazing. 
Random night of burger, fries, and veggies.
Protein yogurt = chobani 20g plus one scoop of whey protein powder and 1 tablespoon peanut butter powder, topped with a a banana.
Made my slow cooker sesame chicken recipe.
Cilantro lime chicken (Kevin's) from Costco made into quesadillas with Siete tortillas.
I don't know what this was, but I had two of them when we went out for Ramen and they were delicious!
I focused on eating balanced meals, keeping an eye on my overall calories, and just going back to the basics—and thankfully, it worked I'm feeliing a bit more like me now.
Amazon Favorites This Week
Vow of Deception
This is the third dark romance series I’ve read. Insatiable is easily in my top 3 book series ever. Butcher and the Blackbird I only made it through the first book and didn’t continue the rest. And then there’s this one…
I just finished the whole series and, honestly, by the end I decided I hated both main characters—and that they kind of deserved each other. 😅 To be fair, the books were definitely engaging (I flew through all three in under a week), but I can’t say I was happy with the outcome or the characters. That’s a first for me.
Have you read it? I usually love dark romance, but this one gave me major Stockholm Syndrome vibes. I don’t know…what did you think? Remember you can find what I'm currently reading and my lists etc on goodreads!
Non Toxic Dryer Sheets
I've been using these dryer sheets for a few years and love them. You can find my whole list of non toxic household cleaning products I actually like here.
Shaving Cream
Speaking of non toxic, I also reordered this shaving cream which I've been using about a year now and absolutely love. (And I have a list of non toxic personal care products I use here, I don't use everything non toxic just some things that I've found I've liked - deodorant is still a struggle ha ha.)
Cat Liter Genie
We had one of these cat liter genie at Mr. Hungry's parents and it honestly made us question why we never had one before? It's so convenient and since our cat is picky about her litter box now that she's old, it helps us keep it clean daily per her requirements.
A few things we had to replace when moved:
automatic soap dispensers (we use these in the kids bathroom and guest bathroom where the kids wash their hands the most)
Fitness
I got a couple workouts in, but I pulled a muscle in my mid back trying to stop baby girl from falling down the stairs so was dealing with that for a couple of weeks. But I was able to get a few workouts in and some sauna time. I'm looking forward to getting some strength workouts in soon!
Friday Flashbacks
Kindergarten and Preschool Lunch Tips and supplies
Sarah says
I submitted a request to allow for armed guards at the schools. Violence is never the answer to violence, but seriously, in the "wild west" of Arizona, we're not allowing armed guards to protect our kids? I agree that we need to step up protective measures!
And that storm was crazy, seriously the worst I remember in all my years of living in Arizona!
I hope that things start looking up for you and that you are able to find some spots of joy along the way!