Hello and welcome to the first Friday of August! I can’t believe summer is going by so fast.

You may have noticed I didn’t post one of these updates last week. That’s Partly because the first of the month being a Saturday screwed up my scheduling of my monthly recap post. But it’s also partly because I had a minor surgery last Friday.

I had a small tumor removed from the base of my right ring finger and I’m recovering well. However I spent the first few days post-op feeling sorry for myself because I couldn’t hold a pen or type, and I didn’t now what to do with myself!

So I rested and read, and thank goodness I had NHL games to watch. I’m trending better each day.

Even though I was sad and painful for the majority of this week, here’s a review of some things that made me happy.

Something that made me happy this week.

Since I couldn’t use my right hand, my husband learned how to do my ponytails for me.

Something I read this week.

I finished The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe, which immediately became my favorite novel of the year so far. It’s a work of literary fiction about the long friendship between two young people who are neighbors in the California suburbs. It’s heavy at times, covering themes of family, domestic violence, and homophobia. Though it’s ultimately about having a chosen family when the biological one isn’t there for you. I highly recommend it!

Something I did offline this week.

We are growing kohlrabi in our garden for the first time. I harvested some and experimented with a recipe that called for slicing and sautéing them in butter with sugar and nutmeg. Kohlrabi taste to me lie a cross between an apple and a turnip, which sounds weird but I’ve found surprisingly good!

Some things I’m grateful for this week.

• Having access to healthcare when I need it.
• Making new friends online in writing and reading communities.
• The positive feedback I’ve gotten on my essay that was a finalist in a contest recently.
• Sharing veggies from our garden with friends.
• All the flowers I grew from seed that are blooming now.

Some things I’m looking forward to.

• Getting my stitches out next week.
• A special themed week of play in PokemonGo starting this afternoon.
• Submitting my first book review to The Riveting Review

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Now tell me something that made you happy this week!

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