Oh summer, where did you go?! For a season that has the longest days, it sure does go by fast! We were busy from the minute school got out until now. I took on a little project of redecorating our staff lounge at my school and signed my husband up to help. We started our summer with this project. You can read about it here. Then we celebrated a ton of birthdays: mine, both of my kids 
(pics from Mackenzie’s sweet 16 luau are here), my niece and nephew, my brother in law and three close friends. It is literally Christmas in June around here! I took a quick girls trip to Mesquite with some friends and played Bingo, got a massage and a sunburn! 
We celebrated 4th of July with my parents. Our son went out of town with friends and our daughter went to a party. It was so weird without them. The dud firework that exploded and scared the crap out of all the little kids at my parents kept it interesting though. http://www.mrsdandymandy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_5169.trim_.movAny free time I had was spent at my friends pool. My daughter got her drivers license and has been sharing my son’s car and driving to meet up with her friends at the five places she knows how to get to. 
She is still driven everywhere else (for now). I think she will be more comfortable once school starts and she is driving more regularly. Jingle Bells went to the vet for her check up and blood work. Her heart condition is worsening (as expected) and we are just giving her the medication, lots of love and as many treats as her little body can hold! She is still as naughty as can be especially when it is time to go the the vet or groomer, but everyone gives her a free pass because she is so stinkin’ cute! 
I went back to my endocrinologist and he adjusted my medication. Again. As well as added two more medications. He sent me to an allergist to see if I had any food allergies that could possibly explain some of my symptoms. I went to the allergist and had testing. I had no reaction to the food testing. The allergist suggested an intolerance/sensitivity test or an elimination diet (similar to AIP). I called my endocrinologist and relayed the message. He didn’t seem to be a fan of the autoimmune protocol last summer, but suggested I do it again (but for longer) to see if anything changes this time. I have been back on the protocol for about three weeks and the inflammation seems to be going down. It will take a couple months to figure out what (if any) food is causing which symptom. I got desperate and bought a food intolerance/sensitivity test online. All I had to do was send in a hair sample for them to test. I should get the results in a couple weeks. I might do another one in my moms name just to see if the results are the same. Is that crazy? Maybe. We took a vacation and went to Brian Head, Utah for a few days. We went shopping, did a little hiking and some sight seeing. The lady who worked in the gift shop at the resort we stayed in told us about a short trail that led to a small pond behind the resort. We walked the trail and found tons and tons of dandelions. 
We took a few pictures for my Facebook page and some other pictures before we realized that we were covered in bugs! We ran across the street to a small store and bought bug repellent but were too late. We came home covered in bug bites. The resort also had a huge indoor pool and game room. We spent quite a bit of time in the game room. I was dying to use the pool, but not dying to be in a bathing suit in front of anybody (who is, right?). On our last night, I went to the pool to see how many people were there and it was empty. Not a single person! I was so excited. We ran back to our room, changed into our suits and went to the pool. In the ten minutes we were gone, TWELVE (yes, I counted) people had gotten in the pool. Where in the hell did these people come from? I was so annoyed. The kids and Mike were annoyed with me. It was not pretty. In instances like this, my family loves to point out the obvious and make things worse: “It’s not the Mandy Resort”, “you can’t put a sign out that says No Kids Allowed!”, “This is a family hotel, what did you expect?”. A family got out of one of the hot tubs and I saw it as a sign from God and went and got in. Not even five minutes later, a man and woman got in with their kids. So now there are eight of us in hot tub with squealing kids. It was awful. I looked at Mike and wondered if he even noticed the kids jumping and playing all around us. I don’t think he did. I’ve spent the last couple weeks back at my school decorating it for the new school year. Over the summer, I created some Hollywood themed items for Teachers pay Teachers and hung them up around my school. My husband painted the conference room and gave it a fresh new look. 
My assistant principal contacted me and hired me to decorate her office. I made some paper flowers for over her doorway and bulletin board and a tassel garland with a vinyl saying for her wall. 
A couple teachers asked me to decorate their bulletin boards as well. 
I think I might print pictures of what I’ve done and create a small portfolio to maybe drum up some business? If you know of any schools in the Henderson, Las Vegas area that need some freshening up…