What Happened When the Wi-Fi Went Down (And Other Summer Adventures)

Inside: It all happened in July: Finding the best watermelons, launching Remembering Our Parents, learning Canva, and enjoying a few days without the internet. ~

A couple of weeks ago, the internet went down at the Flowers house. It wasn’t due to a local outage or anything—it was just us.

Apparently, Wi-Fi plays such a huge role in our lives that when it went down, I was almost surprised to find that the refrigerator and lights still worked. As if the internet also controlled our electricity. (It doesn’t, at least not yet.)

Over the next few days, Randy worked with the company to figure out what was wrong and get our service back up and running. I’m thankful for his efforts, but I have to say, when it came back on, I was a little sad.

Unexpected Blessing

I may be the only one at my house who feels this way, but being without Wi-Fi was kinda refreshing. I had to reschedule some Zoom calls, and when I wanted to check my email, I used the hotspot on my iPhone.

Other than that, I didn’t miss the convenience of checking Google whenever I had a question about something or thought I needed some bit of information. I enjoyed the evenings of reading books and playing cards with Randy and the girls.

I was also very, very grateful that it was the internet that went down and not our electricity. Especially over the next few weeks, when the temps soared into the upper 90s and our AC ran nonstop.

We had an unexpected thunderstorm last night and the heat has subsided a bit today. Which has refreshed my brain just enough to squeeze out a tardy Share Four Somethings for July, starting with …

Something Loved

I love a good watermelon. Juicy, sweet, firm, bright red—you get the idea.

Sadly, though, I’m usually disappointed when I plunge my king-size knife into a melon only to discover the fruit inside is pale and squishy. I’ve threatened to take Wal-Mart up on its Fresh Guarantee, which promises 100 percent money back on anything perishable, but I’ve yet to follow through.

Instead, I’ve decided to take my watermelon shopping elsewhere. And so far, so good.

I bought this watermelon several weeks ago at a grocery store chain in our city. Last week, I got another one there. Both times, I cracked the melons open to juicy red goodness. (Thanks, Hy-Vee.)

Something New

A few weeks ago, I introduced Remembering Our Parents, an Instagram community for all of us who have moms and/or dads who are gone but definitely not forgotten.

Here’s how the account bio explains it:

Our parents. We loved them. We miss them. We want others to know how much they meant to us.

That’s what this space is all about—remembering our parents.

By doing so, we honor their lives. We share their wisdom. And we encourage each other as we continue on without them.

I host Remembering Our Parents, so I create posts, answer questions and curate the conversation. But one way this new space is different from other Instagram accounts is that it is mostly built around follower stories.

If you have a parent you remember fondly, you can learn more about Remembering Our Parents here. If you’re on Instagram, I’d love for you to follow the account. And please consider sharing a short story and photo of your own.

I’m so thankful for friends who have already joined the community, contributed memories and shared about it on their own creative platforms (see here and here). I’m working on ways to nurture growth, but as we move forward, I’m holding it all loosely.

However it happens, it will grow in accordance with God’s plan, in His timing. And I’m OK with that.

Something Learned

One of my biggest hurdles in starting Remembering Our Parents was learning how to use Instagram differently than I do on my personal account. I received some very helpful coaching from Ruthie Gray over at Authentic Online Marketing, and I also invested in the professional version of Canva.

The learning curve associated with this online graphic design tool was a little steeper than I expected. But once I dusted off the part of my brain that used to enjoy this sort of work and figured out a few ins and outs of the program, it’s been fun to produce content to post between follower stories.

Here are a few examples:

Something Eaten

Now that I’ve made them myself, I see why Lu Aussem’s Devil Cakes won the Silos Baking Competition that aired earlier this summer on the Magnolia Network.

Joanna Gaines and the other judges loved the nostalgic story behind the recipe, and they were intrigued by the filling, which starts with a cooked mixture of flour and milk.

I found the recipe in an article on People.com. It’s time-consuming, but also straight-forward and totally worth the effort.

In other foodie news, I’m still making pizza every Thursday night. I bought a pizza stone and a pizza peel. I’ve settled upon sauce and crust recipes that I love. Now I’m trying to be more creative with toppings.

I usually make two small pizzas each week—a pepperoni pie for my girls who like what they like, and another for me and Randy, who tend to be more adventurous in our pizza eating. I need all the help I can get, so hit me up with your favorite combinations, if you please.

• • •

Now it’s your turn. Has your electricity or Wi-Fi gone down this summer? Do you have any tried-and-true tips for choosing a good watermelon? Most importantly, do you know what a pizza peel is? (I didn’t, until I discovered I needed one.) Send me your thoughts, along with your own list of Something Loved, New, Learned, Eaten or any other category that comes to mind.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with Share Four Somethings, Inspire Me Monday, #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.