Hello friends! I hope you all had an excellent week. Thank you again for the space you’re affording me as I work on this new project. If you indicated interest, you should have received a survey this week. We’ll be accepting those until Sunday evening, and then we’ll start assembling the group! Email me if you have any questions at hello@erinhmoon.com.
I got a Peloton this week after searching Facebook marketplace for months. I had to order cycling shoes and am impatiently waiting for them to arrive. I had surgery on my foot in November and am just now starting to exercise after my injury last June. So excited.
Hey guys! Sorry I've been MIA. The newsletter hasn't been coming to my inbox! I just resubscribed. Hope that solves the problem. My big news is that my sister had her baby! Things are ok now, but it was a horrible couple weeks. She got a 4th degree tear because they had to use forceps (the worst tear you can get) and the pain and hormones made her cry all the time and have trouble breastfeeding. He finally started latching and she is finally able to take a breath! I'm getting Lasik next week as we finish up Ramadan. Ramadan has been rough this time around. Idk why. I just have no patience for the fasting. I just want my comfort foods and my tea. As it is now, I'm eating dinner and passing out immediately. My to-do list is miles long as my brain starts to wake up. Gardens things, vacation planning, etc...not sure if it will get done (it rarely does) but it's stressing me out. I did finish a couple books - one book being the harpy. It was pretty good. Loved the idea. Basically the woman's husband cheats and to even the score he gives her three opportunities to hurt him back - whenever and whatever way she chooses. Very interesting idea I thought! When I thought of being in her place, I thought I'd do nothing and just file for divorce. She doesn't choose that though haha.
Well, sorry I haven’t been in here much lately. It’s just all been too much and I thought the depression wouldn’t get deeper & then it did.
But, I turned 40 this week! No big party like I’ve been dreaming of the past few years. But I had zoom hang outs with far away friends. And I’m having a couple people over to my yard tomorrow. Even though I’m fully vaxxed (hallelujah!!!), there will still be so much distancing (more than necessary) and so many OCD hoops to jump through. But it’ll still be good.
And there’s light at the end of the remote school year tunnel of doom! Three weeks left! We found out Wednesday that I was going to be shortened by a week but my teacher friend told me today that there was so much push back from the in-person parents and teachers who were staying on the original schedule that now we don’t get it. Which is so stupid because these fully remote kids have sacrificed so much this year.
Still isolated until my kid is vaccinated. Still worried about him. His bday is in 2 weeks and he’ll be 9. And he hasn’t played with another kid in 14 months and I don’t know when he will. But we can do this. At least my mom & sister get to come over some now and it lights him up.
Ok, wish I had an internet treasure but even that stuff is low these days. But y’all are always wonderful!
What a week, folks. In chronological order: I was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected bonus at work. I got 60 days notice that my landlord is opting not to renew my lease so they can move into my house. I finally, officially put in my notice at my job. I spent yesterday morning dealing with the kind of client that served as a strong reminder of why I decided to quit my job. I talked to my landlord about swapping my house for the trailer they've been living in, which he agreed to. It's not ideal, but it means I don't have to find a short-term lease with a 60-lb. dog in tow (lol at that ever happening in this market).
Best internet find this week is a Star Trek random episode generator. Because no one wants to think that hard about comfort tv.
Super late to the party this week. It's been a week of lots of feelings and tears from me, which I was able to process with my husband, which was good; however, I always feel like I've been hit by a truck emotionally after I process my feelings. Add to that the beginning of the third trimester insomnia, and I'm wiped out.
Some treasures:
1. The Great Sex Rescue by Sheila Gregorie. What a book. It's opened my eyes to a lot of lies I've been believing, and my husband and I had the best conversation about sex we have ever had. Some girlfriends and I will be getting together later this month to talk about the book, and I cannot wait to hear their perspectives and share my own.
2. The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. Good grief, I love this show. I don't even watch it with my kids! It's bringing back so many fond Minnesota memories. Fun fact: I knew hockey players who played extras in the original movie.
📚 The Jane Austen funko pop I bought myself “for Mother’s Day” is making me SO happy this week.
😁 My 11yo who has been INCREDIBLY angry about our upcoming move, found out she got into a really competitive engineering/technology magnet program at a middle school in our new city, and it’s been like night and day. She’s so much less ragey, and I’m so happy to have my regular kid back! ❤️
It is finals week at the University I work at, and warming up rapidly here in SoCal, so I can feel summer coming! ☀️ That is definitely a treasure for me. But I do have a couple turds to share from this week:
💩 My husband finished a 2+ month long interview process for a job he really wanted (and would be so good at!) that would have moved us from SoCal to Oregon (where where we are hoping to move to)... only to hear back on Wednesday that he didn't get the job. After all the prayers, and the dreaming, and the keeping our hopes in check, and then letting our hopes raise (once they started checking references), this was quite the blow (we are thinking he was probably #2). He's been out of work since early December, so I there is an added layer of disappointment and job-search fatigue too. We have been dreaming/trying/planning to move to the PNW since January of 2020, so I would dearly appreciate some prayers - that God would be with us and our tender, disappointed hearts - and that one of us can find a job that would enable us to move.
💸 This might sound weird, but budgeting has been a treasure for me lately! God has been faithful, and so even though we are on one (meager) income and living in LA county, we have been able to pay all of our bills every month since Matt left his job! Granted, we are dipping into what we have saved up for a down payment on a house (which is a bummer), but I'm reminding myself that this still counts as God's provision. The thing that has made me SUPER nerdy about budgeting is a tool literally called You Need A Budget (YNAB). Friends, I am OBSESSED. We've been using it since January, and I never know I could love a budget so deeply. 😂
👖 I've gained some significant weight over the last year, and I noticed a few weeks ago that when it started really affecting my self-esteem was when I got a couple comments about it and then realized I couldn't fit into my pre-COVID Madewell jeans. SO this week I drove 30 minutes to the closest Madewell store and tried on like 15 pairs of jeans, and bought myself a v cute pair! I am feeling so good about this purchase and the self-love that I am acting out by buying jeans that fit me. A good friend reminded me that "Clothes are made to fit us, we are not made to fit clothes." and I have been repeating that to myself daily. 🥰
📽 We watched the Mitchell's vs The Machines on Netflix over the weekend, and y'all, it was a DELIGHT. It has been a while since a movie made me laugh that hard. If you need a heartwarming giggle I super extra recommend it!!
💖 Lastly, May is my birthday month! 🥳 Because my birthday is at the end of the month (the 27th) the anticipation and celebration that happens all month makes my Enneagram 7 heart so happy. I'm trying to figure out what we can/should do, so if you have any fun things you've enjoyed doing on your birthday (or a friend's birthday!) please drop it below!
Okay, that was a bit long, so if you made it to the bottom, thank you!! I don't always comment, but reading through all the comments is the best joy of my Friday. 💕
Oh gosh, Harry singing with his dad got me good today -- and brought me back to a real treasure of a memory!! Way back in the day, just after he released his "Songs I Heard" album, I went to a Harry show in New Orleans. His surprise guest was HIS DAD! They sang 2 hours worth of music together, backed by a full orchestra. That pushed me over the edge from a casual "listen to Harry while riding in the car with my parents" listener to a lifelong fan. #MoreHarry&JoePlease
First time commenter, long time lurker and wanting to commment. Whole new to the trying to make friends/community on the internet but given a big resent flair up of autoimmune symptoms, it's the easiest place for me to feel less lonely so I'm dipping my toe back in. Turb is said autoimmune flair up. My dr retired during the pandemic and i have spent the last 3 of 4 days sleeping too much for a grown adult and still being tired/in pain. I thank Jesus for the miracle of the vaccine and also hate it for this flare up.
Comedy Specials (John Malaney) are getting me through as laughter is the best medicine. That and reading fantasy because I need escape from big news and life!
This week has been a blur after getting my second Moderna dose. It knocked me FLAT. But yay for soon-to-come immunity!
Erin, I loved your Jane Austen Faith Adjacent episode. I’m so glad you’ve joined us Janeites. It was a nice surprise to hear Dr. Prior. She was my early British Lit prof a million years ago (okay, not a million, but 18 years feels like a lot). She is one of those profs I didn’t know how to feel about at the time because she gave random oral quizzes and that was rough on my anxious self, but she affected the way I think. My favorite memory of her is of her walking into class early, during a discussion about Evanescence and the fact that they said they were not a specifically Christian group, so some students said they couldn’t enjoy their songs that seemed to be about God anymore. She questioned that so expertly by asking why something had to be explicitly evangelical in order to bring glory to God, and how the very act of creating something is part of how we as humans reflect God’s image. “When Steven Curtis Chapman sings about his love for his wife, is that dishonorable to God? Or is it okay, but only because he’s Steven Curtis Chapman?” Then she weaved that into our discussion about Milton and Paradise Lost. It was masterful. And not only because she convinced the Biblical Studies bros. The way you handle Faith Adjacent reminds me of that class discussion.
Also, a couple years later I went to a showing of the then-new feature Pride and Prejudice and she gave a talk about how it was more historically accurate as far as the balls and how the Bennets lived than the Colin Firth version. Nobody @ me, lol.
That Harry Connick Jr. and Sr. video! Did y'all listen to HCJ's interview on Annie F. Downs' podcast?! He talked about his dad throughout and it was a delight.
I haven't commented in a few weeks because I have been in the throes of thesis writing/completing, but I am hopping on here to announce far and wide: I HAVE SUBMITTED MY THESIS/RESEARCH PROJECT. The FINAL version has been turned in!!! My Master's degree is all over but the shoutin', and I could not be more excited. The project is pass/fail, and I think my work is decent enough to pass. I will not be walking in graduation, but instead have opted to take a vacation with my family to our favorite beachside little village, where I will do nothing but read novels and walk on the beach and relax. Thank you all, Treasures, for your endless support and cheering me on. It has been a delight to walk this road with you all. May each of your weekends be filled with glimpses of joy and light and God's kindness.
This week someone on social suggested celebrating the silly national holidays this summer as a way to keep the long, hot summer fun. We have our granddaughter three days a week. The first one I found on a day we have her is May 14, National Dance Like a Chicken Day. I am obviously ALL OVER IT.
You guys! This week has been full, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down any.
Celebrating my second child finally deciding to go back to school in person!! So after 13 long months, both of my kiddos are finally back in school. 👏🏼 Which means this is the first time in 13 months that I’ve had to get up before 7:00am, and being a night owl it’s a struggle ha! But I’m so happy for them and know that they’re glad to be around their peers.
And because I apparently need more to keep up with, we’re adding three new members to our family within the next 9 days! Two kittens arrive this afternoon, mostly for the purpose of keeping birds, moles and chipmunks out of my raised veggie gardens. But it will be quite a while before they’re pulling their weight as they are about 6 weeks old.
Next Friday we’re driving to Anderson, SC to pick up a 2+ year old female golden retriever who is being re-homed from her breeder’s care.
Please send all the good animal feels and advice my way!
Hope you all are looking forward to this weekend, whatever it holds for you and that you can find some joy and some peace even in the very tiniest of moments!
I got a Peloton this week after searching Facebook marketplace for months. I had to order cycling shoes and am impatiently waiting for them to arrive. I had surgery on my foot in November and am just now starting to exercise after my injury last June. So excited.
Hey guys! Sorry I've been MIA. The newsletter hasn't been coming to my inbox! I just resubscribed. Hope that solves the problem. My big news is that my sister had her baby! Things are ok now, but it was a horrible couple weeks. She got a 4th degree tear because they had to use forceps (the worst tear you can get) and the pain and hormones made her cry all the time and have trouble breastfeeding. He finally started latching and she is finally able to take a breath! I'm getting Lasik next week as we finish up Ramadan. Ramadan has been rough this time around. Idk why. I just have no patience for the fasting. I just want my comfort foods and my tea. As it is now, I'm eating dinner and passing out immediately. My to-do list is miles long as my brain starts to wake up. Gardens things, vacation planning, etc...not sure if it will get done (it rarely does) but it's stressing me out. I did finish a couple books - one book being the harpy. It was pretty good. Loved the idea. Basically the woman's husband cheats and to even the score he gives her three opportunities to hurt him back - whenever and whatever way she chooses. Very interesting idea I thought! When I thought of being in her place, I thought I'd do nothing and just file for divorce. She doesn't choose that though haha.
I hope everyone has been well. I miss sharing!
Well, sorry I haven’t been in here much lately. It’s just all been too much and I thought the depression wouldn’t get deeper & then it did.
But, I turned 40 this week! No big party like I’ve been dreaming of the past few years. But I had zoom hang outs with far away friends. And I’m having a couple people over to my yard tomorrow. Even though I’m fully vaxxed (hallelujah!!!), there will still be so much distancing (more than necessary) and so many OCD hoops to jump through. But it’ll still be good.
And there’s light at the end of the remote school year tunnel of doom! Three weeks left! We found out Wednesday that I was going to be shortened by a week but my teacher friend told me today that there was so much push back from the in-person parents and teachers who were staying on the original schedule that now we don’t get it. Which is so stupid because these fully remote kids have sacrificed so much this year.
Still isolated until my kid is vaccinated. Still worried about him. His bday is in 2 weeks and he’ll be 9. And he hasn’t played with another kid in 14 months and I don’t know when he will. But we can do this. At least my mom & sister get to come over some now and it lights him up.
Ok, wish I had an internet treasure but even that stuff is low these days. But y’all are always wonderful!
What a week, folks. In chronological order: I was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected bonus at work. I got 60 days notice that my landlord is opting not to renew my lease so they can move into my house. I finally, officially put in my notice at my job. I spent yesterday morning dealing with the kind of client that served as a strong reminder of why I decided to quit my job. I talked to my landlord about swapping my house for the trailer they've been living in, which he agreed to. It's not ideal, but it means I don't have to find a short-term lease with a 60-lb. dog in tow (lol at that ever happening in this market).
Best internet find this week is a Star Trek random episode generator. Because no one wants to think that hard about comfort tv.
Super late to the party this week. It's been a week of lots of feelings and tears from me, which I was able to process with my husband, which was good; however, I always feel like I've been hit by a truck emotionally after I process my feelings. Add to that the beginning of the third trimester insomnia, and I'm wiped out.
Some treasures:
1. The Great Sex Rescue by Sheila Gregorie. What a book. It's opened my eyes to a lot of lies I've been believing, and my husband and I had the best conversation about sex we have ever had. Some girlfriends and I will be getting together later this month to talk about the book, and I cannot wait to hear their perspectives and share my own.
2. The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. Good grief, I love this show. I don't even watch it with my kids! It's bringing back so many fond Minnesota memories. Fun fact: I knew hockey players who played extras in the original movie.
3. I ordered myself a fun Mother's Day gift after listening to Erin talk about Fake Mother's Day and am super excited for these to arrive: https://somecallmecrunchy.com/products/shower-steams-eucalyptus-peppermint?_pos=10&_sid=f518c7d3c&_ss=r
That's all from here. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
I didn’t really make it into the comments last week, but I’m back!
This week has both flown by and crawled by. I’m really glad it’s Friday.
I got some good medical news today so yay!
This series of millennial vs boss Lorraine is cracking me up https://www.instagram.com/reel/COlSCfIF1Kg/?igshid=1t2ojibwaa1wv
I’ve started reading The Ladies of the Secret Circus by Constance Sayers, and I’m really enjoying it so far!
That’s about all I’ve got today. Have a great weekend, everyone!
Hi all!
Treasures this week:
📚 The Jane Austen funko pop I bought myself “for Mother’s Day” is making me SO happy this week.
😁 My 11yo who has been INCREDIBLY angry about our upcoming move, found out she got into a really competitive engineering/technology magnet program at a middle school in our new city, and it’s been like night and day. She’s so much less ragey, and I’m so happy to have my regular kid back! ❤️
Hi friends!
It is finals week at the University I work at, and warming up rapidly here in SoCal, so I can feel summer coming! ☀️ That is definitely a treasure for me. But I do have a couple turds to share from this week:
💩 My husband finished a 2+ month long interview process for a job he really wanted (and would be so good at!) that would have moved us from SoCal to Oregon (where where we are hoping to move to)... only to hear back on Wednesday that he didn't get the job. After all the prayers, and the dreaming, and the keeping our hopes in check, and then letting our hopes raise (once they started checking references), this was quite the blow (we are thinking he was probably #2). He's been out of work since early December, so I there is an added layer of disappointment and job-search fatigue too. We have been dreaming/trying/planning to move to the PNW since January of 2020, so I would dearly appreciate some prayers - that God would be with us and our tender, disappointed hearts - and that one of us can find a job that would enable us to move.
💸 This might sound weird, but budgeting has been a treasure for me lately! God has been faithful, and so even though we are on one (meager) income and living in LA county, we have been able to pay all of our bills every month since Matt left his job! Granted, we are dipping into what we have saved up for a down payment on a house (which is a bummer), but I'm reminding myself that this still counts as God's provision. The thing that has made me SUPER nerdy about budgeting is a tool literally called You Need A Budget (YNAB). Friends, I am OBSESSED. We've been using it since January, and I never know I could love a budget so deeply. 😂
👖 I've gained some significant weight over the last year, and I noticed a few weeks ago that when it started really affecting my self-esteem was when I got a couple comments about it and then realized I couldn't fit into my pre-COVID Madewell jeans. SO this week I drove 30 minutes to the closest Madewell store and tried on like 15 pairs of jeans, and bought myself a v cute pair! I am feeling so good about this purchase and the self-love that I am acting out by buying jeans that fit me. A good friend reminded me that "Clothes are made to fit us, we are not made to fit clothes." and I have been repeating that to myself daily. 🥰
📽 We watched the Mitchell's vs The Machines on Netflix over the weekend, and y'all, it was a DELIGHT. It has been a while since a movie made me laugh that hard. If you need a heartwarming giggle I super extra recommend it!!
💖 Lastly, May is my birthday month! 🥳 Because my birthday is at the end of the month (the 27th) the anticipation and celebration that happens all month makes my Enneagram 7 heart so happy. I'm trying to figure out what we can/should do, so if you have any fun things you've enjoyed doing on your birthday (or a friend's birthday!) please drop it below!
Okay, that was a bit long, so if you made it to the bottom, thank you!! I don't always comment, but reading through all the comments is the best joy of my Friday. 💕
Oh gosh, Harry singing with his dad got me good today -- and brought me back to a real treasure of a memory!! Way back in the day, just after he released his "Songs I Heard" album, I went to a Harry show in New Orleans. His surprise guest was HIS DAD! They sang 2 hours worth of music together, backed by a full orchestra. That pushed me over the edge from a casual "listen to Harry while riding in the car with my parents" listener to a lifelong fan. #MoreHarry&JoePlease
First time commenter, long time lurker and wanting to commment. Whole new to the trying to make friends/community on the internet but given a big resent flair up of autoimmune symptoms, it's the easiest place for me to feel less lonely so I'm dipping my toe back in. Turb is said autoimmune flair up. My dr retired during the pandemic and i have spent the last 3 of 4 days sleeping too much for a grown adult and still being tired/in pain. I thank Jesus for the miracle of the vaccine and also hate it for this flare up.
Comedy Specials (John Malaney) are getting me through as laughter is the best medicine. That and reading fantasy because I need escape from big news and life!
This week has been a blur after getting my second Moderna dose. It knocked me FLAT. But yay for soon-to-come immunity!
Erin, I loved your Jane Austen Faith Adjacent episode. I’m so glad you’ve joined us Janeites. It was a nice surprise to hear Dr. Prior. She was my early British Lit prof a million years ago (okay, not a million, but 18 years feels like a lot). She is one of those profs I didn’t know how to feel about at the time because she gave random oral quizzes and that was rough on my anxious self, but she affected the way I think. My favorite memory of her is of her walking into class early, during a discussion about Evanescence and the fact that they said they were not a specifically Christian group, so some students said they couldn’t enjoy their songs that seemed to be about God anymore. She questioned that so expertly by asking why something had to be explicitly evangelical in order to bring glory to God, and how the very act of creating something is part of how we as humans reflect God’s image. “When Steven Curtis Chapman sings about his love for his wife, is that dishonorable to God? Or is it okay, but only because he’s Steven Curtis Chapman?” Then she weaved that into our discussion about Milton and Paradise Lost. It was masterful. And not only because she convinced the Biblical Studies bros. The way you handle Faith Adjacent reminds me of that class discussion.
Also, a couple years later I went to a showing of the then-new feature Pride and Prejudice and she gave a talk about how it was more historically accurate as far as the balls and how the Bennets lived than the Colin Firth version. Nobody @ me, lol.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend!
That Harry Connick Jr. and Sr. video! Did y'all listen to HCJ's interview on Annie F. Downs' podcast?! He talked about his dad throughout and it was a delight.
I'm not sure if this has already been shared here but LOL how on brand for Lil Swipes and our Stupid Walks
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-a-short-afternoon-walk-and-youre-putting-way-too-much-pressure-on-me
I haven't commented in a few weeks because I have been in the throes of thesis writing/completing, but I am hopping on here to announce far and wide: I HAVE SUBMITTED MY THESIS/RESEARCH PROJECT. The FINAL version has been turned in!!! My Master's degree is all over but the shoutin', and I could not be more excited. The project is pass/fail, and I think my work is decent enough to pass. I will not be walking in graduation, but instead have opted to take a vacation with my family to our favorite beachside little village, where I will do nothing but read novels and walk on the beach and relax. Thank you all, Treasures, for your endless support and cheering me on. It has been a delight to walk this road with you all. May each of your weekends be filled with glimpses of joy and light and God's kindness.
This week someone on social suggested celebrating the silly national holidays this summer as a way to keep the long, hot summer fun. We have our granddaughter three days a week. The first one I found on a day we have her is May 14, National Dance Like a Chicken Day. I am obviously ALL OVER IT.
You guys! This week has been full, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down any.
Celebrating my second child finally deciding to go back to school in person!! So after 13 long months, both of my kiddos are finally back in school. 👏🏼 Which means this is the first time in 13 months that I’ve had to get up before 7:00am, and being a night owl it’s a struggle ha! But I’m so happy for them and know that they’re glad to be around their peers.
And because I apparently need more to keep up with, we’re adding three new members to our family within the next 9 days! Two kittens arrive this afternoon, mostly for the purpose of keeping birds, moles and chipmunks out of my raised veggie gardens. But it will be quite a while before they’re pulling their weight as they are about 6 weeks old.
Next Friday we’re driving to Anderson, SC to pick up a 2+ year old female golden retriever who is being re-homed from her breeder’s care.
Please send all the good animal feels and advice my way!
Hope you all are looking forward to this weekend, whatever it holds for you and that you can find some joy and some peace even in the very tiniest of moments!