A Recap of June 2022

It has been a busy month filled with celebrations, trials and an abundance of learning.  I received a new cell phone for my 50th birthday. The kids, my mom and husband all joined their money together and got me a much newer cell phone off of eBay. I love it. It has three cameras and I have so much to learn. Check out what it can do in the picture below. I look forward to improving my photo taking with it. 

My husband and I also celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary by having our rings resized (my rings were crazy tight)and cleaned, in addition to getting some minor repairs to my engagement ring. To say I was spoiled this year is an understatement. 

Rebekah is deep into her summer of Ballet Summer Intensives. She started with two weeks at The International Ballet Academy in our state. She really learned a ton from the experience...some positive and some negative. It wasn't the greatest fit for her, and some of the teachers were very harsh to all the students.  She did enjoy living in an apartment with roommates and a house mom. However, the dance experience was exhausting and painful. Some of the girls who have been to many more intensives said this one was very different from most. She was glad to move on. 

Day One at IBA.

Rebekah came home for a few days in between intensives. They are actually very close to each other, but the cost of staying in a hotel for a few nights was still more expensive than bringing her home. She enjoyed the very brief break to see her family and cat. She is currently almost a week into her second summer intensive. She loves this one much more. She texted me that she is 10 million times happier in this one. The teachers are super sweet; the boarding is working out great; and she feels like she can make lots of progress in the level in which she was placed. She was placed in the highest level for both intensives so far, but this one had placement tests on the first day and she feels more evenly matched with the teacher's expectations. 

While she was in the first intensive, she discovered Boba Tea. Has anyone else had this? We picked up two for the road when I picked her up. They really are good. I am so glad she is having this amazing experience. She is learning so much about herself and what she wants to do with her life. It is well worth the 1300 miles I drove this month carting her back and forth. 

Elijah also had an exciting month. He has been saving a portion of his pay check for months now. He set a goal to have a certain amount in savings before making a big purchase from his pay (he didn't touch the savings). That day came and it was time to buy a seven string electric guitar. He searched and searched until he finally found an affordable one, but it was back ordered. He ordered it and then the waiting began. After two months (!) of more delays, he found the exact one he wanted and in used but excellent condition) for several hundred dollars less. He snapped it up and has been playing ever since. Now he has a new higher savings goal before buying another big purchase.

I spent one week in June painting Rebekah's furniture. This crazy cat loves to climb and be as high as she can be. She climbed to the top of the box spring that was leaning against the wall. 

I can't believe it is already time for July. Life just flies along. Rebekah is gone for another week and then home for a few weeks. Another busy month on the horizon.

Blessings, Dawn

A Murder Mystery Dinner Party

 We decided to have my 50th birthday party a few weeks early since Rebekah will be out of town on my actual birthday. She really wanted me to have a party and wanted to be able to help plan and attend it. We decided to have a murder mystery dinner party. We used Masters of Mystery which is an online site that has lots of game options. We purchased the 1940's post war party set in a London Mansion. It came with all of the character booklets, the game, invitations, costume ideas and the host instructions. Each character received their own booklet that was about 11 pages long and led them through all of the rounds with scripted answers to questions that other players would ask them. We were very pleased with the Masters of Mystery game. It was very detailed and easy to follow. 

We decided to have the party outside since Covid is climbing in our area and my mother is having surgery and Rebekah is leaving for a dance intensive this week. It would be a devastating time to get Covid. Fortunately, we have a carport which has proven to be especially useful in recent years. We decided to add an extra layer of protection by having everyone sit in family or neighborhood groups. This allowed us to use our multiple sets of dishes which are in small sets which was an extra bonus of using multiple tables. 

As each person arrived they gave their secret letter to Dear Husband who was the host/investigator.  He placed their letter in a jar for later and gave them their booklet and character name tag.  After round one he took one random letter from the jar and announced the murderer by letter. They then played off the guilty side of their booklet (with out the rest of us knowing). After a little bit of socializing, we did round one and got our plates of food. 

 

We served rotisserie chicken, roasted vegetables, dinner rolls and strawberries. We also made mock Champagne (ginger ale and white grape juice) and spa water (lemons and strawberries). 

We bought the cake at Harris Teeters. It was lemon filled white cake. We picked it because it looked the most retro, but it was also tasty. 

It was all around a lovely birthday party. We had a blast and it was so nice to have some social time with some of my friends. Dear husband did a superb job of leading us through the game. We some how missed getting any pictures of my husband or Rebekah and only got the above picture of me. The boys opted out of my party and will do something special with me on my actual birthday. 

Blessings, Dawn