Thriving in June

Mirabilis/Four O'Clocks

 

I am continuing with my quest to thrive each month and here's my review of June, which has turned out to be a bit of a mid-year review, as well:

Spiritual:

In June, I kept my spiritual side thriving with daily prayers, meditation, and doing my best to live my life according to the teachings of my religion.  Overall, I am happy with the spiritual side of my life and there is very little I want to change.  

Daughter:

My daughter visited twice in June, spending five days down here on each visit.  The first visit was for the baptism of her goddaughter and the second visit was for the 1st birthday of the little girl.  As always, Dancer and I enjoyed having her home again.  Her injured foot continues to improve and she has received new physical therapy exercises to help with the recovery.  When she is away, we continue to keep in touch through daily phone calls, texts, and video chats.  I am happy to say that our relationship is thriving.  

Health & Well Being:

June continued to see a lot happening where my health and well being were concerned. I had an ultrasound done in the first week of June and a visit with the specialist in the second week of June.  I have two additional scans/tests to be done in July and a blood test.  From a mid-year perspective, some of the medical issues could/should have been addressed earlier in the year, when the first requests for referral authorizations were submitted, but, the people submitting the requests sent them to the wrong people because they apparently didn't read the information on my insurance cards properly.  However, it has now been corrected, hopefully, and future appointments should go more smoothly.  

Family, Friends, & Community:

I had quite a few social interactions in June, too.  There were phone calls, emails, and texts, as usual.

In addition, I attended my daughter's goddaughter's baptism, visited cousin V twice, had a visit from my long-time friend E whom I hadn't seen in about 20 years, and attended my daughter's goddaughter's 1st birthday celebration.

Neighbor S brought over some cake from her birthday celebration and I took over some homegrown peaches for neighbor E, who arranged for my living room and dining area to be painted, and his family.

I'm pleased with the amount of interaction with my family, friends, and community, in June, and I feel that this area of my life is thriving.  I feel that there has been quite a few social interactions during the first half of this year, and I am looking forward to possibly more in the second half of this year, too.

Finances:

I was able to keep my finances maintained in June.  Once again, I increased my grocery budget by $50 for the month to $150 because my daughter was coming down twice for a total of 10 days, and I was planning to send some food up with her.  I went over budget by almost $40 and tapped into my July grocery budget.  I am thankful that I was able to both increase my grocery budget and borrow from the July budget.  Overall, I think I am thriving on my retirement income and have lived beneath my means for the first half of this year.  Going forwards, expenses will increase, partly because my daughter will come home to live with me.  But, I anticipate being able to live within my means.

Time Management:

I feel that I am getting better with my time management.  I think I made some improvement in the first six months of this year. There is room for improvement, however, and I shall focus on that in the second half of this year.

Leisure/Hobbies/Crafting:

June's leisure/hobbies/crafting activities included sewing (a sari blouse and a baby quilt), blogging, reading, gardening, watching videos online, and participating in June's monthly photo challenge.  I feel that I thrived in this area of my life. I believe I made time for leisure activities, hobbies, and crafting during the first half of this year and plan to continue to do so during the second half of the year, too.

House:

In June, I was able to accomplish another long awaited project with my neighbor E's help and have my living room and dining area painted.  Yet another project that had been on my Mile Long To Do List for years.  I took the opportunity to wash and rehang the drapes, wash the windows and the front door, and do a bit of decluttering.  It felt really good to have that crossed off the list.  I feel that I have been able to thrive in this area of my life during the first half of this year.  I still have more home maintenance projects to accomplish during the second half of the year and more decluttering, too; I think I'm making good progress in this area of my life.

Garden:

The garden continued to thrive in June, too.  I picked peaches, tomatoes, plums, lemons, wax beans, chilies, etc.  We planted corn and squash.  M and I have been watering the garden on a regular schedule since the weather has turned warm.  That is the downside to growing a garden in our semiarid environment.  There is no rain in the summer so everything must be watered.  However, I look forward to having a thriving garden in July, too.       

Over all, June has been a good month and conducive to thriving.  I am happy with how the first six months of the year turned out.  I am hoping that the rest of the year will go well, too.  Everything is not quite how I would like it to be, but, I am staying focused on the positives, making the best of things, and thriving to the extent that I can.

How was your June?   Were you able to attain some of the goals you had made for the month?  

The Mirabilis are Thriving, Too