Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Hi! Welcome to September’s Currently – a fun link up where we share some things on our minds this month.

Adjusting (to):

My biggest thing right now is Mason being very far away in Santa Fe! Honestly, I didn’t see him very often when he was living in Louisville – especially when he was on a tight deadline with his audio book contract. I did see him a lot in the days leading up to when he left, though. It was nice to know he was close and I enjoyed visiting him at work – I hope not too much! I am doing better than I thought I would be adjusting to this, and he is being quite communicative. He texts me pretty often or is open to me texting him – but not too much. The 2-hour time difference isn’t too bad to navigate. If I know he’s happy, I will be happy and put on my big girl pants, you know?

Baking/Cooking:

This week I made protein balls and homemade Thin Mints. I got a wild hair – what can I say? I saw where you can melt Andes mints and then dip a Ritz in the melty goodness and then freeze it. I needed more Andes so they would be coated more thickly. I will definitely do this again!

I have been cooking chicken, rice, and broccoli, and a bacon spinach salad so far this week. I have plans to make spaghetti and salmon.

Decorating:

I pulled out my old stuff to inventory first…

I plan to “layer”. In September I will do non-Halloween fall decor. I have a great deal of pumpkins. I have a ton of little white pumpkins that I can do something with. October 1, I will add Halloween, and November 1, I will take away Halloween and add Thanksgiving.

I need mums and a doormat, but I already added my fall bow from TJ Maxx.

I also plan to focus on apple flavors in September and pumpkin in October and November. I say this but I always jump the gun on pumpkin because I love it. But, apple is so good, too!

Balancing

I am not balancing much right now. I am trying to balance my time at home versus my time out of the house and be smart about that, maybe? That is mainly for my boy, Eddie Otis.

Learning

I’m learning how to parent adult children. I understand my own parents more and more now – lol. They would tell me their opinions on my adult decisions way too freely. They said certain things were “stupid” and not how they did things. My sisters also felt this from them, and we have talked about it at great length. I tell them we need to remind each other what not to do with our adult children.

Link up here!

And, now for Hodgepodge with Joyce…

1. What’s something you wanted to do this summer that you never got around to doing? 

I didn’t boat to my hometown, but it could still happen. We had a rough river summer to be honest. There was a lot of rain and a lot of debris in the river. The last time we boated, the water was so choppy, and I was like no way I can do this for an hour. We honestly enjoy the river more after Labor Day when many people put their boats away and there is less boat traffic. It’s cooler and more pleasant and feels really special to be out on the water.

2. Were you the student who sat in the front row or hid in the back of the class? If you could go back and take one high school class again just for fun, which would it be? 

Front row or towards the front – usually. There were some classes when I chose the back. I think I would have been more involved in theatre and would take the class. I was in one musical my senior year, but I would have enjoyed doing more. My favorite class was journalism. I got the bug in 7th grade, and this was a class I took every year until graduation. My high school journalism teacher was amazing. She now works for the funeral home that did my parents’ services, and I got to see her and talk with her when I was doing stuff for my mom’s service. This is small town for you, no? I would definitely take this class again. I loved interviewing and writing up my articles. I loved coming up with ideas for stories, too.

3. What characteristics do you think are essential in a good teacher (this can be applied to anyone who teaches, not just classroom teachers)? 

Well, let me clear my throat! Ahem! I could talk about this all day as you know by now but I will say one thing only as hard as it may be for me.

Students are not dumb. They see through fake. If you genuinely care about your subject and about them, that shows. Adversely, they can tell if you don’t really have a passion for your subject or enjoy them.

So, I would say it is essential to be passionate about your subject and to genuinely care for the students you teach. They will respond better to their teacher and what they are there to learn.

4.  September 2nd is National Grits Day. Have you ever eaten grits? Are you a fan? If so how do you like yours? Would people describe you as ‘having grit’? 

I have grits in my pantry as we speak! I like them but don’t usually order them. Tom orders them when he can but is picky about them. I don’t think he likes a lot of modern add-ins and is a classic grits guy. I think people would describe me as having grit from being able to teach high school.

5. What’s something you’re never too old or too young to enjoy? 

Ice cream was the first thing I thought of! Music! Water!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

October’s Currently will be on Wednesday, October 7 and the prompts are: Falling for, Scaring (me), Working on, Loving, and Entertaining (me)

I hope these will be fun and thanks for reading today!

Amy