Hello Reader,

Yikes! August is already upon us. Has the summer flown by for you, too? Or is it just me?

We have only a few weeks left before school starts, but that's enough time to still pack in a lot of family fun, don't you think? Toward that end, I'm sharing a few quirky holidays in this week's link list you may want to celebrate this month.

My favorites? Book Lover's Day and National Garage Sale Day. They're back-to-back, so you might celebrate both at once by shopping garage sales for some great prices on new-to-you classics!

Free resources for you this week:

• Aug. 1: Respect for Parents Day - try our Children Obey Your Parents coloring page​
• Aug. 5: Work Like a Dog Day – these discussion prompts are all about hard work
• Aug. 9 - Book Lover’s Day – fellow bibliophiles will love this list of free rewards & resources​
• Aug. 10: National Garage Sale Day - review these tips before you shop or sell
• Aug. 14: Financial Awareness Day – use our bill payment checklist to track monthly bills
• Aug. 23: National Cheap Flight Day - our best tips on how to fly to Europe for FREE​
• Aug. 28: Dream Day Quest & Jubilee - anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech
• Aug. 30: Forgive Your Foe Friday - and while you're at it, pray for your enemies, too

What I'm reading this week:
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My sister successfully battled breast cancer two years ago, so I've been reading Dr. Kristi Funk's bestseller, Breasts: The Owner's Manual, in order to assess (and hopefully minimize) my own risk of receiving such a diagnosis. At 480 pages, the book cites all the latest research and offers insight into the best ways to prevent, treat, and beat the disease. The author does a great job of explaining difficult terms and intricate procedures in a way that can be easily understood by women without a medical background. Also, isn't that just a cute and clever cover?

On the podcast this week:

Loving Life at Home: Episode 55 ​Smoothing Your Child's Passage to Adulthood ​ The end goal of parenting is not to raise children, but adults. From the moment we bring Baby home from the hospital, we should begin working ourself out of a job. We teach him to do things himself, encourage him as he passes each new milestone, cheer him on each step of the way until, before we know it, he's on the edge of the nest, preparing to FLY. Listen Now

Progress on last week's goals:

I only completed half the tasks on my to-do list last week: namely I ✅ laid up 10 more freezer meals, ✅ hosted a family olympics, ✅ finished editing final chapters for my friend's M is for Mama Book 3 (it's gonna be great!), ✅ repaired my broken fence picket, and ✅ installed a flip lock on my pantry.

However, I have not ❌ labeled, ❌ drilled, ❌ planted, or ❌ finalized anything, nor have I ❌ made any wreaths nor ❌ finished any leather projects. And since our family will be heading to Florida soon, I'm not even going to pretend I'll be able to get to those tasks anytime soon!

Personal goals for this week:

• make several important phone calls
• record next week's podcast early
• send a boxful of castoffs to Goodwill
• pack the bags
• enjoy our trip
• send syllabi to my co-op algebra students
• add a brand new print pack to our shop​