Hey there friends!

Well, first things first. Today I’m celebrating another blessed year of life. 🎉 Last year proved to be so eventful with me first adopting Bobby the pup and then my son and his family moving to town. I can’t wait to see what this year brings. 🩷

In many places, including right here in my town, the new school year has begun (even though it’s still hot as Hades outside). I don’t know about you, but the first day of school always brought me equal parts of excitement, joy and anxiety.

There’s a crazy story that I need to write for my family about this day. When I was younger, I had a history of sometimes sleepwalking. During the lead up to one of the first days of school during my high school years, I would often wake up dressed in my favorite cut-off jeans and a t-shirt instead of the pajamas I had worn to bed.

I found this to be funny until I woke up one night having walked in my sleep and opened the front door! The change in temperature from the air-conditioned inside to the warm, muggy outside woke me up - thank God. No telling where I was headed, but I can confirm that I lived close enough to my high school that it was just a 10 minute walk away.

What about you? Do you have some back-to-school stories of your own to tell? Don’t let them slip away in your memories. Catch them and record them now while you still have them.

I’ve included some story triggers below to get your memories flowing. Why not celebrate this season by writing a story or two to share with your family?

Happy almost weekend!

BEHIND THE SCENES THIS WEEK​
​Back to school memories as a kid and a parent

I'm in the photo above. Can you find me? That's me in the pale yellow dress and headband on the second row just behind the boy in the white shirt and tie. The school year was 1963-64.

Back to School Story Triggers​
​(Some of these are taken from p. 43 of “A Simple Guide to Writing Family Stories.”)

• Write a story about how you felt when you went back to school as a child. Or maybe you’d rather write about high school? There are probably enough memories there that a novel could be written about those experiences!
• Did you love the smell of a new box of crayons and getting that tiny bottle of Elmer’s white glue?
• Write a dual story that includes your own back to school experiences as contrasted to one or all of your children. It would be fun to ask them what memories they have, too.
• Make a new lifelong friend on the first day of school? (I did in 7th grade!)
• Rediscover a lasting memory of something super embarrassing or cringe that happened at the beginning of the school year.
• Write about your favorite new backpack or some other “first” that came with the first day of school.

INTENTIONAL HOME - Decluttering & Curating Memories

FREE - CURATING YOUR READING

I finally got around to creating a Reading Log spreadsheet to keep track of what I’ve already read. I have a page in my Apple Notes where I started listing books years ago, but I haven’t kept up with it.

I added the current audio book I’m listening to in my own copy so that you can get an idea of how it works.

I’m giving away the Books I've Read - Reading Log until I get it set up in my shop, so please use this link to download a document that has instructions and links to both the Excel desktop version and the Google Sheets online version.

Note: The document will say "purchase" because I'll be using it in the shop. But for you - this is totally FREE! Happy first day of Spring. 🌸

​​​Reading Log Access Document.pdf​

SHOP

Legacy Library Insert Cards Printable Floral Collection No. 1 Visit Shop

Legacy Library Insert Cards Printable Books Collection Visit Shop

RESOURCES FOR ART & HEALING

Renée Fleming - “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness” - Amazon​

Susan Magsamen - “Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us” - Amazon​

RESOURCES & SUPPORT

​My choice for a NOK box​

​Affordable thumb drives​

​theNOKbox.com​

​Help for using phone notes apps​

FREE DOWNLOADS

• ​Download Free Scanned Photo Log Spreadsheet (available in both Google Sheet and Excel)
• ​Download Free Ebook - “The Big 5: Family Stories You Need To Preserve For Future Generations”
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I'd love to have you follow my social feeds. I promise to not be boring but will most likely be cheesy now and again. 😉