May 2026 Recap

May was the least “Mayhem” May I think we’ve had in years. I guess we are officially past some of that. Or, it’s a lull until the next two years when I’ll have seniors and I think there’s more of a flurry again as senior year wraps up.

Never fear, there was still plenty of action in our May. It just didn’t really present in the form of “band concerts” and “endless school events” like it used to.

My main vibe for May was just fully getting back on track with all the things- I felt a bit slow to recover from the Virgin Islands trip (got home April 5th), re: my workouts/ healthy(-ish) eating. But I’m back, and was all month!

I also made a very long May goals list. I think I did that in an attempt to get a little ahead of the game in anticipation of a rather crazy pants summer (my sister + family will be home for ~4 weeks AND we have 2 trips in the summer and now things will be even CRAZIER because my parents will be MOVING HERE (closing July 6th) and I suspect I will be quite looped into all of that action (and happily so)).

Besides ‘habit resumption’, the other themes of the month were tennis, end of school stuff (AP exams, finals for Ethan), Asher’s golf season wrapping up, and pre-summer/yard prep.

Accomplish List:

• I called and got our internet price reduced significantly!
• bought my mom a Mother’s Day gift
• booked Ethan’s senior pictures
• pizza + wine out with Ivan on a Wednesday night
• booked our flights to Vegas (we leave in ~2 weeks!), rental car and did a bunch of other trip planning
• checked off a couple other South Dakota blog posts
• got my van washed
• decluttered: a big kitchen cabinet, a kitchen closet, under the sink in boys’ bathroom
• Asher had ortho + dentist appts, I had a dr. appt
• helped my mom finalize and order her Storyworth books. Finally. (I bought this for her a LONG time ago and it was almost done but just needed some edits before ordering. SO GLAD this is finally done.)
• toured new house with my parents multiple times, helped them with this big decision!
• lots of weeding the flower beds. Why do they grow back so fast?! 😩
• did a big seasonal closet change around (my closet)
• planted my summer flowers
• Ivan/ boys got all the patio furniture out, other summer yard prep, etc.
• took Charlie to a deep cleaning of teeth under general anesthesia… for $645.
• cleaned the house 2x, did a big file basket clean out
• tracked my time all month and categorized it
• stayed up to date on my Monarch/ finance tracking
• kinda sorta did a daily blogging challenge 😆
• I stayed completely OFF SODA 100%! 6 weeks and counting.

Happy/Gratitude List:

• bought tickets to see Garth Brooks!
• some truly spectacular early summer weather
• Ethan and his doubles partner have had a very successful season. I got to watch him play several times this month!
• I love my glass pitcher for homemade iced tea
• a solo night out to Qdoba with just Ethan
• feeling really excited about upcoming Zion/Vegas trip!
• met a nice woman at church 🙂
• a lunch out with my nurse team for Nurse’s Week
• my mom’s weeklong visit!
• walking to coffee shop with her on a beautiful day
• a walk with my dad
• some excellent workouts. I hit every single planned strength workout this month (3x/week full body). 💪
• I bought birthday gifts for my nieces (June + July b-days); happy to have those ready to go for when they arrive this summer.
• a fun “downtown Madison” day with my parents after tennis- State St Brats, Memorial Union, etc.
• I discovered those Skinny PB cups and am borderline obsessed.
• Asher went to prom with friends and looked handsome
• everything looks so pretty this time of year- green, leaves, flowers, nothing is dried up or overgrown yet…. this is the best time here.
• a nice message from a friend
• my parents got their offer accepted and are moving to town!!! EEK!!
• also, my parents already accepted a CASH OFFER on their current home, without even listing it (by word of mouth/ acquaintance) and for significantly more than they were asking. amazing.
• long weekend for Memorial Day + a fun outing with Ivan’s cousin’s family. Love 3 day weekends…
• cleaning on Fridays
• walked to a new coffee shop + bookstore with Ivan + Charlie
• walked in nearby marsh with Ivan + Charlie on a beautiful day
• doing crossword puzzles! I’ve been doing the weekly puzzle from the newspaper and it’s my new obsession. Asher likes to work on it with me which I love.
• I got a kick out of the Chat GPT responses to my “quitting soda” inquiries. Hey, it was actually helpful…
• volleyball league started back up and now it’s sand/ outdoor league instead on Thursday nights- last week it was WARM and SUNNY and felt like we were on the beach, toes in the sand!
• our town holds “midget races” on Sunday nights in the summer (they’re these small race cars) on a nearby speedway track; they’re super loud, almost like a buzzing sound, and it always makes me smile to hear them start back up. I can hear them from my house. It’s the sound of summer here!
• spent a great solo day at my parents’ house last weekend and lunch out w/ them. Lots of move talk!
• I re-visited Aldi for the first time in a long time and was so pleasantly surprised with some great buys. Will def be back.

Bummers:

• we ate out way too much in May. Definitely feeling some spending creep lately, need to rein that in some.
• a poor reading month. I just have so many different things I enjoy doing in my free time that this keeps slipping down the list for my leisure time, even though I DO like to read…
• some unbloggables/ kid-related stuff
• still some intermittent sad feelings about soda (although, this current week I’m suddenly feeling noticeably lighter about this! Did I turn a corner at 6 weeks?!?! I got a haircut on Monday and my hair girl had a large McDonald’s diet coke sitting on the counter and maybe it’s because she didn’t have ice in it, but it just looked like a big jar of dark, gross, syrup. It honestly did not entice me at all!!)
• a little bit of stress/ overwhelm during the days my parents were actively deciding on the move… lots of moving parts, mixed feelings, emotions, some tension when there was another offer and they were waiting to hear if they got it, etc.
• a couple days that I felt oddly tired for no reason
• a couple other minor unbloggables
• a few work stressors
• a few social/relationship stressors (nothing major!)
• on the 1st week of sand volleyball we had a cold snap and our game was at 9:20 p.m. and it was dark and 52 degrees out!!! My feet were literally numb and it was SO unpleasant. 😆 At least it was humorous to hear ALL of us (literally, all 12 of us middle-aged players, from both teams) griping about it. “It’s freezing! I can’t feel my feet! It’s past my bedtime!! 😅😅 Ah, misery loves company.)

Media:

Watched:

• several episodes of El Rey (a Netflix series about Mexican artist Vicente Fernandez, with Ivan)
• Bohemian Rhapsody (movie, with Asher, a re-watch for me). I love Queen and love this movie. Definitely watch if you never have.
• re-watched part of The Pitt with Asher (series)
• Michael in the theater with Ivan (movie). I love going to movies in the summer!! I think we’ll be doing this a lot (Tuesday night discount night + free popcorn for the win)
• 2 episodes of Tina Fey’s Four Seasons (series)
• The Devil Wears Prada (re-watched the movie, the original, in anticipation of #2 last night)

Listened to:

• podcasts. All my usuals: Deep Questions, BLP, BOBW, Before Breakfast, The Reframe, Lazy Genius, Girl Next Door, EmPowered Radio, Macro Hour, UnF your Fitness, etc.
• also: Listened to Laura on the Mel Robbins podcast! And on Deep Questions. Loved both.
• also: got on a Money for Couples kick for a while. (Still on that kick, TBH.)
• also: found new-to-me Her Style podcast and enjoyed that

Read:

• I finished The Correspondent.
• That’s about it. 😬
• But, I did re-start Nicole’s book now (only reason I set aside is because I own it and needed to finish my library book!) and I have a feeling it will not take me long. So good so far!)

Some meals we ate:

• our fav of ground beef/ pinto beans/ potatoes simmered in salsa verde. Fun fact: Asher HATES this meal and calls it “bean slop” 😅😅(This is because he refuses to eat the salsa verde (“too spicy” 🙄) so I separate some out first without the salsa, which, I’ll admit, does kind of look like boring “bean slop”. lol. The delicious salsa simmer is what makes this guisado so yummy. Too bad for him, it’s my and Ivan’s fav meal so bean slop comes up a lot in the rotation. 😉
• cream of zucchini soup, steak milanesas, homemade french fries
• a bunch of salads…
• breaded perch, broccoli, rice
• chicken tinga tostadas
• steak quesadillas
• huevos con chorizo

(There had to be some more, lol, but this is apparently all I recorded. Not counting of course random meals, leftovers, and restaurant meals.)

Upcoming in June!

• Asher finishes school next week (Ethan already done)
• tennis season for E is still wrapping up though! Team State is next weekend.
• several high school grad parties for friends/acquaintances
• grooming appt for Charlie
• I got a haircut (in June, done already :))
• Garth Brooks concert! 6/16
• sand volleyball league Thursdays
• Ivan plays lots of soccer in the summer.. every Saturday and many Sundays
• tennis banquet
• need to drain and refill the hot tub
• boys settling into their summer activities.
  • Ethan- working at Panera, tennis, captain’s practices for soccer, lifting most days (at school, for soccer), some volunteering, FRIENDS, hopefully some college prep stuff?! Start working on essays?? Maybe another college tour? Senior pics in July! Alternating cutting the grass between Asher/Ivan and him.
  • Asher- working (lifeguarding + also currently working at Mexican restaurant Fri/ Sat nights), LOTS OF GOLFING omg he’s obsessed (just got a golf membership…), fishing, hopefully some volunteering, FRIENDS, rotating grass cutting, gym.
• family vacation to Zion National Park + Las Vegas! 🤩
• Father’s Day (while we’re on vacay)

How was your May? I’m still in a state of disbelief over how different my life is now that both kids can drive.

Also, I am feeling so happy with how little I’m getting pulled to my phone lately. Using the Opal app, I keep Facebook totally blocked from 8-5 every day, along with What’s App and the mail app on my phone. I allow myself 5 Facebook checks per day (which I know still sounds like a lot, but I have a limit set for 5 minutes each time and it has to be outside of the 8-5 hours.) I can’t tell you how many times 8 am strikes and I realize I never even checked it in the morning; same in the evening. Many days I only use 1 or 2 of my available “checks”. I mean, yes, I still use it, but it is just no longer a compulsive thing I’m constantly checking and refreshing. I often close out of it well before my 5 minutes runs out, too (and at 5 minutes the app literally shuts down).

I’m so glad! I just feel a lot more, I don’t know, connected with the world in a more analog way lately. Like I notice things more deeply again. I know analog is a “trending” word and I’m here for it. Walks with no technology, doing crossword puzzles, playing the piano, reading a paper book, etc. I definitely still use my laptop a lot for things and all and clearly watch digital media! But I’ve backed off a lot on the ‘obsessive’ use of my phone- especially Facebook- and it feels good.

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for yet another movie theater movie last night. (We saw Devil Wears Prada 2. Liked it!) I’m happy to see movie theaters thriving again. I just love popcorn + a movie.