July has been a strange month. My spouse was going to go back to work on-site, but Delta variant caused the call-back date to be pushed back a few months. Delta has also necessitated a reevaluation of our perception of our family’s safety vis-à-vis this virus. We’re still moving forward with increasing numbers of in-person activities, but what we deem a “safe” gathering has shifted a bit. Not a lot because my risk tolerance is almost comically low, but enough to leave me a touch grouchy. I’ve not been one to rush through reopening, and I’ve been pretty patient with the pandemic, actually enjoying some the positive changes that the pandemic has brought to my family, but…I was kind of expecting things to be more settled by now. And while I understand and accept that they’re not, that doesn’t stop me from pouting about it a little.
Overall, though, things are still good. The most recent batch of masks I made for my elder child to wear at camp turned out to be the most professional-looking I’ve made so far. While I didn’t anticipate developing “mask-making” as a skill this decade or really ever, it’s gratifying to see that improvement in my abilities.

Even with pouty-ness and mask-sewing, I managed to read a few books this month.

Finished in July (12):
Homeschool (Build Your Library Curriculum):
Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights by Deborah Kops
Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman
Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Wheels of Change by Sue Macy
This Land Is Our Land by Linda Barrett Osborne
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
For Challenges/Book Clubs:
Murder At the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
Just Because:
Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel
To-Read for August:
August is shaping up to be a busy month. It’s kicking off of #LitsySummerCamp, my elder kid is going to real-life summer camp, my younger kid is having a birthday that’s newly a milestone in these pandemic times, and shortly after, everyone starts online classes. Then later in the month I have a new project starting that I’ll probably write about when I get my head around it. It’s not clear how much time I’ll have for reading, but that’s not stopping me from making a #bookspin list!

You can see my Litsy profile for status updates throughout the month and my Instagram (@ImperfectHappiness) for mostly not-book-related photos.