Weekly recap: 7/30/2018

It's the start of another beautiful summer week here at my happy little suburban homestead. We're expecting some rain later on today, which is excellent for the garden, but for now, it's sunny and gorgeous out. Let's get started on the Weekly Recap!


MONDAY

Errands! This was one of those catch-up days where we had to run all over town. Walmart for cat supplies, Walgreens for a prescription, the bank, and then Costco for peanut butter (and hummus, because COSTCO HUMMUS!!!). By the time we were done, it was lunch time and then nap time for my daughter. During her nap, I prepped for dinner- Cauliflower Potato soup and cut-up cantaloupe. After dinner, I took my son for a haircut (there are so many people who do great haircuts at home on their family members, but I'm not at all confident in my ability to do that without making my husband and son look like improperly shorn sheep). I helped my son with his summer French homework, and then watched some television with my husband.


TUESDAY

My son wanted to take his girlfriend on a picnic, so I volunteered to do some baking for him. As soon as I got up, I got the bread started, then I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned! When the kitchen sparkled, my daughter and I threw together some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bars. She loves helping me in the kitchen, and I love spending that time with her.

Done! Two loaves of bread, one dish of bar cookies. NOM.

After we finished with our baking, my daughter and I did our Reading and Geography lessons (Bosnia and Herzegovina). I then rearranged my pantry, which ended up not needing too much rearranging, so I cleaned out the dish cabinet, weeding out some old sippy cups and plastic cups we didn't need. Totally streamlined the entire cabinet, so that made me happy. I organized the little storage area next to the fridge as well, then straightened my daughter's room (TOYS. SO MANY TOYS *sob*). We made a trip to the library, where my daughter played and I read a not-on-my-list book. In the evening, I helped my son with his French homework.

WEDNESDAY

This was the day I tackled a much-needed project: I cleaned out my kitchen island. Holy cow, that thing was in desperate shape. Freezer bags all over, plastic storage containers and a collection of lids scattered everywhere, it was dreadful. I took everything out, tossed two disgusting frying pans that no one should have been cooking on, collected all the freezer bags in one giant bag, stacked the plastic containers in a way that I could easily access what I needed, along with the corresponding lid. The whole thing looks SO much better, and I heaved a huge sigh of relief once that was done. I had thrown the laundry in beforehand, and I hung it out to dry afterwards. I took the kids out to lunch at a local burrito joint, and during my daughter's nap, I helped an online friend with some vegetarian recipes and organized my over-the-stove cabinet.

Fancy? No. Organized? YES.

When my daughter woke up, I read to her for a bit from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility while she played, and then I practiced the piano. I've got three pages of my current piece (still Angel Eyes by Jim Brickman; I haven't had much of a chance to practice lately) down pretty well, so I'm focusing on working on the final two. After dinner, I mowed half the lawn and read my library book.

THURSDAY

One of those days where nothing much gets done. I spent the entire morning giving my son and his friends a ride to a not-so-local amusement park, then finished my library book during my daughter's nap time. And then...

New pet!

Just kidding. We went to the county fair with my sister-in-law and her son. My daughter looks forward to this event all year long, chattering about riding the carnival rides and asking when we're going again when it's 20 degrees and snowing, so this was huge for her. We got to check out the farm animals, my daughter and her cousin rode those super-scary, I'm-always-worried-they're-going-to-collapse carnival rides, and some of us ate disgusting fair food. It's not a cheap night, so I'm glad it's only once a year!

FRIDAY

Yard sales were a bust again. I don't necessarily think it's because the quality of sales are going down, just that my needs have changed. A local church has an enormous sale twice a year, and that's where I get most of my daughter's clothing. I'm good in regards to clothes, as are my husband and son; I don't buy knickknacks for the house; we don't need furniture; my daughter is full up on toys... There are a few things I have on my list that I'm still looking for (a digital kitchen scale, a pasta maker, canning jars), but really, I don't need much, and honestly, I'm kind of enjoying that.

Post-fruitless yard sales, my daughter and I did Reading and Geography lessons (Brazil; she was fascinated by the Carnival costumes). During naptime, I did dinner prep, making a tofu and veggie curry with a curry sauce from Aldi; this is a great meal to make when you have a lot of produce you need to use up! After that, I watched a TV show for free online, and when my daughter woke, we went to the library, where we picked out new books and my daughter practiced her reading. We came home and ate dinner quickly, then returned to the library, where we enjoyed a children's show where the performer juggled and spun plates (which kind of felt like a metaphor for my life some days!). I finished a book from my Goodreads To Read list that night.

SATURDAY

After kid gymnastics, we hung out in the backyard for a bit, dealing with the garden.

Soon, my pretties. Soon...

We were able to get our first harvest of any size...

Green onions, basil, and cherry tomatoes. YUM!

We have so many tomatoes out there, it's not even funny. I'm going to be drowning in tomatoes in a few weeks!

During naptime, I finished a book from my Goodreads To Read list, then finished weaving in the ends of my dishcloths.

FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!

Friends of ours had generously invited us to a barbecue at their house, so we went there for dinner and enjoyed a lovely evening with friends. At home, I helped my son with his French homework, then began watching the new season of Orange is the New Black with my husband on Netflix (NO SPOILERS!!!!).

SUNDAY

I cleaned the kitchen in the morning (how does the kitchen get so disgusting on weekends?), then started knitting a Christmas gift mitten, which I worked on throughout the day.

Just needs to be sewn up!

The yarn I'm using is Malabrigo, and I'm not impressed. Several times, the yarn was frayed and/or broken entirely. I don't know that I'll purchase this kind again. I'm hoping to sew this up sometime today and then get a start on its buddy.

We had lunch with family (I brought my knitting), and at home, I helped my son with his French homework, then read a book from my Goodreads To Read list during naptime. Post-nap, my sister-in-law and her son came over, so we enjoyed a visit with them (I knitted while we chatted), and then had dinner together at a local Chinese restaurant. I read a little in the evening, and my husband and I watched another episode of Orange is the New Black on Netflix.

One other small update:

So, while I was in Door County, my husband cut down our apple tree. This was planned. When we moved in here, I was SO excited to have an apple tree; I've always wanted to live on a property with fruit trees. Unfortunately, this tree was absolutely not healthy. The first year, we got a few apples, but after that, they were all mostly rotten, the leaves were spotted, and the trunk was half-hollowed out (that first year, a rotten branch did a slow crash onto one of our cars! No damage, but that was when we realized how unhealthy that poor tree was). Ants had taken over part of the trunk and really did some damage, as you can see in this pic:

Isn't that terrible? Poor tree. :(

Just awful. I was really sad about having to cut it down, but it had to happen. Last year, I read Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, which utterly convinced me of the importance of trees, of taking care of them and planting them, and so I insisted that we needed to replant. My husband listened, and so I'd like to introduce you to our new baby:

Isn't it sweet????

It's a hybrid plum tree, one that grows well in our climate. I'm so happy! Fingers crossed that it thrives and provides us with years of fruit, shade, and happiness. Soon, it'll be joined by a new buddy, but I'll save that for another post. :)

It was a pleasant week here. Looking at these pictures and re-reading what I've accomplished and the things I've done throughout the week really makes me appreciate my life. I've got a wonderful husband, great kids, a house that keeps me warm and dry (it needs updates and some work, but it's HOME, you know? Even with all its warts, it's the place I cook nourishing meals for my family, the place where I'm teaching my daughter to read, the place where my son comes down the stairs in his fancy choir clothes and looks so handsome and grown up, I can't believe 16 years have already flown by. This is home). I'm grateful for every part of this life. :)

How was your week?

Goodreads To Read list: 161 books
Dishcloths: 18

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Friday Thoughts 7/27/2018

Happy Friday, friends! Our compostomatoes are coming along nicely. I had to put up a tomato cage this week because the plant is so laden with tomatoes that it was starting to bend. The second plant has a few baby green tomatoes on it as well, so that's exciting!

So let's get started on Friday thoughts, shall we?


*Motherhood brings about the most dramatic brain changes of a woman's life.

I mean, it makes sense when you think about it. You have an entirely new, defenseless human who will be doing things like screaming at you for hours because you wouldn't let her shove her fingers into the electrical outlet while your son is starting at a new school in a new town and you're worried about him and you've just moved into a new house and have to unpack everything in it (not that I have any experience with this at all *hysterical, exhausted laughter*). It makes sense that your brain changes in order to best care for the human beings you created/are charged with herding into adulthood. Is there *any* way to properly prepare expectant parents for the way that your brain no longer feels like your own for a while? A good start would be at least warning them about it, I think, and it seems like most doctors don't. I think we have a long way to go in the US before pre- and postnatal care is at the standard it should be, though (and that's not a slam on the profession or the hardworking people who staff it, more a criticism of some of the practices, the healthcare system as a whole, and the US's high maternal mortality rate. Definitely room for improvement there).


* Real-Time World Air Quality Index

What's the air quality like where you live? Plug in your address and see what you're rated. As I'm checking right now, we're at about 31, but we were 70 the other night. Fascinating stuff!



*A Winter Treat -- Home Baking

It's winter in Australia, and Rhonda Jean over at Down to Earth has some gorgeous baking to share! Seriously, is that not just the prettiest post? It's been in the 80's here. Not exactly prime baking weather, but I did do a little of it this week. My baking doesn't look nearly as professional or delicious as Rhonda Jean's does, but I'm working on it. :)


And finally, two posts for the price of one:

Mamas of strong-willed children, your parenting will pay off

Musings on Hot Mess Motherhood

Hooooooooooooooooooooo boy. This parenting thing is HARD. HARD, HARD, HARD. It's exhausting- mentally, emotionally, physically. It's a never ending parade of repetitive, unfulfilling tasks that start over again as soon as you finish- laundry clean, folded, and put away? Please, you're still wearing jeans that you haven't washed in two weeks and a shirt your kid smeared her breakfast-covered face on. Dishes washed? HAHAHAHA, there's a collection of furry sippy cups under the couch, and don't act like you didn't see them. Older kids need to be dropped off and picked up while the baby screams, and when baby finally goes down for a nap, dinner needs to be prepared, and have you SEEN the state of the living room?

During my daughter's early years, I so often felt like nothing. Everything I did, every task around the house, could have been outsourced. I felt like an unpaid servant, and since I was running on about three or four hours of broken up sleep every day, I felt incredibly unfulfilled by all of it (I'm not sure why we expect mothers to derive all their emotional and intellectual fulfillment from wiping poopy bottoms, begging their children to eat more than two Cheerios for a meal, and scrubbing tomato soup stains out of toddler clothes). Being a parent, especially the stay at home parent, with young children is challenging, and while I wouldn't trade my lot in life for anything, I think it's past time that we all started admitting that it's not all soft pastel snuggles and fuzzy warm cuddles. It's breaking down in tears in the kitchen because you were up six times last night, you're exhausted, and your kid just dumped food all over the floor while you were still mopping (been there, done that). It's yelling about something trivial and then feeling terrible about it. It's cuddling your adorable toddler, only to have them barf in your lap and all over the cat. It's friends speculating on how wonderful your life must be, and you smiling and not telling them that you spent the last week crying because the only intellectual stimulation you get is from someone who isn't well-versed in human language, along various forms of screeching cartoons.

This parenting gig? It's tough, even when we love our kids to pieces. As I type this, I'm sitting next to my adorable four year old. In a few minutes, I need to go hose her down, because she's covered in breakfast spaghetti (hey, she's eating. It's food. I'm happy). Life is a lot easier these days; I'm sleeping normally through the night and my daughter is past the phase where every move she made (or wanted to make) would possibly kill her and I had to be constantly on Toddler Death Watch. It's not as tough right now; it's more about the joy of watching her learn and grow, and for that, I'm eternally grateful. And maybe still a little traumatized, but fortunately, that joy outweighs it now.


What's been on your mind this week?

Weekly recap: 7/23/2018

It's been a really productive week here at my happy little suburban homestead! Not all weeks are this busy, so I really enjoy the ones that are. There's something wonderful about days when I go to bed with a feeling of accomplishment, and I had a lot of them this week. Let's recap, shall we?


MONDAY

I woke up early- before my daughter, even! I really wanted to stay in bed, but I had a lot to get done, so I hauled my carcass out and threw the beginnings of dinner in the crockpot- Tomato Butternut Squash Soup, using squash that I had roasted and frozen back in the late fall. Lemme tell you, this is *the* tomato soup recipe, the only one I use. It's fabulous. I blend it completely, using an immersion blender, so that it's creamy and wonderful and delicious. I threw some laundry into the washer, updated the blog, made an important phone call, and took my daughter grocery shopping (our usual grocery shopping day is Wednesday, but vacation last week threw everything off and we were out of the basics, along with having no produce in the house). We came home with lots of veggies and fruit, and after I put all of it away, I hung the laundry out to dry on my drying racks.

I checked on the rolls I'd planned to serve with dinner but was dismayed to find that they had gone moldy (BOO!), so I got some bread started using my bread machine. Thank goodness for having the ingredients on hand to be able to do that! After lunch, I ran my son to a lesson, and my daughter and I browsed the nearby Dollar Tree while we waited. When we got home, I had to move the clothes racks to the garage, as it had started to sprinkle, then I put my daughter down for her nap and baked the bread. After her nap, we made a trip to the library, where she played and I read a book from my Goodreads To Read list. We finished off our day with soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.


TUESDAY

My daughter and I started off our day with Reading and Geography lessons.

For reading, I'm using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I used it successfully with my son (by the time he was 5.5, he was reading at a fourth grade level, as per independent testing, so it worked well!), so I was happy to turn to it again this time around. My daughter looks forward to her lessons and is delighted by the stories. I will say that this week, I noticed a LOT of progress; lessons that were taking twenty minutes before vacation, she was now blowing through them in just ten minutes. We're both pretty excited about this!

For geography, we're reading through Lonely Planet's The Travel Book (I also have a map of the world where we place a marker of our country of the day). It's a squat, heavy book; each country is covered in four short pages. It has gorgeous photos. Some of the info, I need to explain to my daughter, as it's a little above her head at this age, but it's a nice, brief glimpse of another part of our world. After we read our pages here (on this day, we covered Benin), we usually look up the corresponding video of Geography Now on Youtube. This is a super fun series that is crammed full of info on the geography, customs, demographics, etc of a country. My daughter absolutely LOVES these videos, and when there isn't one for the country we've covered, she gets upset ("Mama! How will we dissect the flag?" she cried, mimicking the host of Geography Now. I appeased her by googling. If only every problem were so easily solved). We usually end our lesson by viewing more pictures of our country of the day and sometimes listening to what the official languages sound like.

After our lessons, I cleaned the kitchen and then we were off to the orthodontist with my son. Back at home, I cooked some beans in the Instant Pot and organized my kitchen shelves before leaving *again* to drop my son off at a friend's house. During nap time, I did dinner prep and cleanup and finished a book from my To Read list, then started another one that night.


WEDNESDAY

After our Reading and Geography lessons (we covered Bermuda- my daughter adores islands and always says in a dreamy voice, "We should go there one day!" Keep dreaming, kid!), my daughter went off to play in her room, so I cleaned the kitchen, and, inspired by Mimi's beautiful refrigerator over at A Tray of Bliss, I decided to tackle my own refrigerator, which *badly* needed a deep cleaning. Imagine if a refrigerator and a horror movie had a baby, and that's what mine looked like. No before pictures; your stomach and ability to sleep soundly will thank me! 'Just one shelf,' I said to myself as I began scrubbing. 'I'll just do one shelf today and tackle another shelf tomorrow. You know, break it up a little.'

The best laid plans...you know how those go, right?

I sat down to update the blog, but that picture of Mimi's lovely refrigerator kept popping into my mind, and before I knew it, I was hauling out more shelves and scrubbing down everything. (WHY DID THE SECOND SHELF SMELL LIKE FISH??? WE ALMOST NEVER EVEN EAT FISH; WHAT WAS THAT???? Told you it was terrible in there.) I stopped to run my son to a lesson, but continued after we returned home. I threw pinto beans in the Instant Pot, tossed together some guacamole, and carried on scrubbing (it really did take this long!), and once the inside was finally done (with only one incident of bleeding- no, really; apparently dried-on curry- at least that's what I think it was- can become quite sharp and stabby and turn into a sliver that will lodge itself deep in your right index finger if you're not careful!), I even wiped down the outside. The whole thing looks gorgeous now, and I kept returning to open the door and stare at its gloriousness.

So clean! So not disgusting! 

For dinner, we had Chipotle-style rice bowls with pinto beans and guacamole and sauteed veggies, and it was super delicious. I relaxed the rest of the evening, a well-deserved rest, because LOOK AT THAT FRIDGE! *swoon*

THURSDAY

After Reading and Geography lessons (we travelled virtually to Bhutan), my daughter and I had a lovely park playdate with friends. She helped me to clean out the downstairs coat closet, which is something I do every summer. It's still pretty full, but I added quite a bit to our donation pile, and the best part is the doors actually close easily now, which is something they haven't done the 3.5 years we've lived here. Success! We gave my son a ride to a friend's house (teenagers! Always needing rides!), and I worked on a dishcloth during the afternoon. For dinner, in the interest of not wanting to junk up my beautiful clean refrigerator, we all ate leftovers (I had some quiche from the freezer), then worked some more on the dishcloth. And then it started to rain, and right outside our living room window was this...

Apparently the end is at our local Aldi.

So we all went outside for a short walk to enjoy this bit of loveliness. Afterwards, I ended the day by finishing a book from my To Read list.

FRIDAY

The weather was not about to cooperate with yard sales, so my daughter and I ran our usual grocery errands. Summer is in full swing and the produce sales are fantastic around here, so we picked up $35 of groceries, the vast majority of which was fruit and veggies. For lunch, we both enjoyed some of what we'd just bought, and I ate mine as a yogurt bowl, with honey and chia seeds. 

Strawberries, cherries, blueberries, and raspberries under there. YUM!

We gave my son a ride after lunch, and during naptime, I did dinner prep for chana aloo masala. Post-nap, we visited the library, where my daughter played and I read a book from my To Read list. After dinner, I picked my son up and then watched a documentary on Netflix with my husband.

SATURDAY

It's the least wonderful time of the year, when I have to take the car in for emissions testing and registration. Not a stressful task (although it has been in the past, thanks to my anxiety); we're fortunate enough to have decently new cars that have run well so far, but it's one of those, "UGH, AGAIN?" things. So I ran and did that, then came home, got my daughter ready, and we were off to gymnastics. She gymmed, I read my book. After lunch, she went down for a nap and I ran to the library to pick up a book from interlibrary loan. I also grabbed a new movie from my library's Lucky Day shelves to watch with my husband that night. At home, I finished a book from my To Read list (which was, sadly, kind of terrible. I wondered if it was just me or if really was as bad as I thought it was, but no, the reviews for it- Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, etc- also thought it was not great). My husband and daughter went out after she got up, and I stayed home to prepare dinner so that we wouldn't have to go out. I threw together a quiche with three kinds of peppers and zucchini (using the Universal Quiche recipe from The Complete Tightwad Gazette, of course; eggs were also on sale this week, so we have a lot of them), and a salad.

Let them eat quiche!

My husband and I watched that movie from the library, and I finished another book from my To Read list before bed.

SUNDAY

We visited with family today. I knitted dishcloths while we chatted and while I was in the car; I've got just a small portion of a corner to finish, and then I'll have used up all my cotton yarn! And that will bring my total number of dishcloths knit in the past two weeks or so to eighteen. That's not too shabby, and they'll go into my stash for future gifts, Christmas or otherwise. I still need to finish up the ends, but I'll get that done and then move on to the next project. During my daughter's nap, I started reading a book I'd picked up off my library's new shelves, and then we headed back to a neighborhood picnic with my husband's family. My daughter enjoyed playing with her cousin and jumping in the free bounce houses that were available, and I enjoyed the time talking with family.

So, all in all a nice week! My back has been mostly okay this week, but Saturday night it started bothering me again. I'm having nerve issues and may end up needing to call the doctor again. (UGH.) I'll play it by ear and see how it goes, but I need another appointment anyway to renew some prescriptions, so I might as well bite the bullet and schedule something while I'm having problems, right? 

Here's to hoping the next week is as busy and productive as this one! How was your week last week?

Goodreads To Read List: 161 books

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Friday thoughts 7/20/2018

I thought I'd start something new here this week, a weekly roundup of articles and links that caught my eye for one reason or another. Maybe they'll be helpful or interesting to you as well!

First off:

*Why Kids Benefit From Fewer Toys*

This is something I've long suspected, and it's something I've been pondering over again since I read this. My daughter is currently drowning in toys. Her room, when I don't go in and put every last piece away in its proper spot, is a sea of toys that makes it impossible to walk anywhere. It's messy, it looks terrible, and I'm pretty sure it's overwhelming to her, but I have no idea how to stem the flow of toys into our house. I almost never buy her things, but Papa does, and then there are the gift avalanches that come twice a year at Christmas and birthday time. If (and that's a big IF) I can get the rest of the house in the order that I want, I can possibly start in on our mostly-furnished-but-in-terrible-shape-as-it's-mostly-a-dumping-area basement, I can start switching her toys out every once in a while, storing the extras downstairs and changing them when she gets bored. But there needs to be a lot of work done for that to happen. It's good to have goals, though, right?!???


*10 reasons I have my food storage, from Making Cents of It All*

I love this post! I don't necessarily consider what I have a food storage, but it fits the bill. I have a very small pantry (about half the size of a tiny coat closet), two tall shelves, and a small set of Ikea Algot shelves (which used to hold our cable box and my son's video games in the living room) where I keep my food, along with a deep freezer in the garage. Before we moved back to be closer to our families, I didn't shop the way I do now, which is outlined in The Complete Tightwad Gazette (buy what's on sale and stock up enough so that you don't have to buy until the next sale; buy ingredients, not food; keep a price book so you know when and where an item hits the lowest price, etc). I live in a great place with some fantastic grocery stores that offer deals good enough for me to shop like this (before, I really didn't; I found the stores to be expensive, with the exception of Aldi and Walmart). Having a well-stocked pantry is convenient, it's a time and money saver, it's absolutely a sanity saver- no running out at the last minute to pick up that missing ingredient, because if I don't have everything I need for a recipe, I have all the ingredients for another! I'm never, ever running to the store right before a major storm, because I already have what I need on hand. Keeping a well-stocked pantry has really changed the way I cook and think about food, for the better.

And from the same source, Making Cents of It All's Things That Are Making Me HAPPY! provided a bright spot for me this week. I know that I don't stop and acknowledge the little things often enough, and this was a lovely reminder to do so. :)


*How (and Why) I Keep My Goodreads To-Read Shelf At 100 Books*

Well THAT'S right up my alley, isn't it???

"What good is a TBR list if it just stresses me out?" the author asks, and I agree. That's exactly the point I was at at the end of December 2016/January 2017. The list was far too long and I began questioning why I was adding to it but never actually reading any of those books. And thus began my TBR adventure. Having started with the list at 332 books, I'm currently at 164 books, which means I've tackled 168 books from that list in the past year and a half. Not too shabby! I'll never, ever let it get that high again, and keeping it at a manageable number is definitely a goal of mine.


Lastly, Readercoin just came to my attention right before I sat down to write this post. It seems to be an app that will pay you in their currency for reading books from their site, and you can redeem that currency for giftcards and whatnot. It looks as though it'll be for both public domain fiction and self-published (via their site, is what I'm seeing, in my quick jog through). It's something I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on and I'm really curious as to what the buzz will be around the book world. Is this going to hurt profits for writers? Will it be frowned upon by the publishing industry? I did a quick search for it around Twitter but didn't see any industry officials commenting on it, but I'll be watching.


What about you? Anything interesting in your cyber neck-of-the-woods this week?



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Combining two recipes to make one tasty dinner!

I'm not a hugely creative cook.

I'm getting better these days, though. When I first started out, I was terrified to make any substitutions. If I didn't follow exactly what the recipe said, my dish was doomed to fail, I was sure, and I would be left dinnerless and sobbing on the kitchen floor, a ruined mess of a defeated cook, never to attempt even the most basic recipe ever again.

Well, something close to that, anyway. I really don't like screwing up.

But over the years, I've learned when I can deviate from a recipe, what goes well together and what I can switch out for something else, fortunately without a lot of epic fails. Books like Kathleen Flinn's The Kitchen Counter Cooking School helped me realize that cooking is an art, and it helped me find my confidence as more of a wing-it home cook. (Truly, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It's a delightful read, mixing both cooking information with the wonder of students discovering true cooking for the first time. I absolutely loved every page and was sad when the book ended. Five shiny gold stars for this inspirational book!) I'm still not great at creating recipes entirely from scratch, although I've definitely improved on that front.

So this week, I was throwing together a list of what I could make out of what I had on hand and what I'd be picking up at the grocery store, and one recipe that came to mind was The Prudent Homemaker's Chicken Fried Steak (which isn't steak at all, and we referred to as 'fake'. It's perfect for us, as I'm vegetarian). I'd never made this before, but it's been on my Pinterest for ages, so hey, why not tackle it and see how it turns out? I read through the recipe and paused when I got to the part about cream of mushroom soup.

Now, I'm not a picky eater whatsoever. I love trying new things, provided they fit in my dietary guidelines, but cream of mushroom soup, for me, is a hard no. Hmph. So I pondered over this, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit it took me a few days to come up with a decent substitute. I thought about making a white sauce and adding some sautéed mushrooms and garlic but was worried it wouldn't be thick or hearty enough, and then I thought about the recipe again and realized it probably needed a little more protein to make us feel full. And in the car, on the way from picking my son up from a friend's house, I got it.

White Bean Gravy! YES!!!!!!!

White Bean Gravy has been a family favorite for ages. I usually season it with rosemary, sage, thyme (no parsley, though; my apologies to Simon and Garfunkel), fennel, and pepper, and if I have mushrooms on hand, I'll sautée them and toss them in too. I usually serve it all over chunks of homemade bread, and it's wonderful and carby and comforting and delicious. White Bean Gravy would go perfectly in this, and I even had mushrooms.

I got the White Bean Gravy going first; it's super easy and comes together quickly, and then I got working on the chicken-fried 'fakes.' The mixture was a little wet and I needed to add a few extra handfuls of oatmeal, but they smelled and tasted wonderful once they came out of the frying pan (I had to try a few pieces, right?).

Since salad was on sale at Aldi this week, we had two bags of salad in the fridge, so I chopped up some veggies to toss in, and whipped up a lovely Italian dressing (The Kitchen Counter Cooking School absolutely convinced me that homemade salad dressing is the way to go. I've since stopped buying all bottled dressings. It saves money and as an added bonus, there are no preservatives or food colorings). After I picked my husband up, I threw everything together, and...

Pretty? Absolutely not! I'm about the worst food photographer (and regular photographer) ever to wield a cell phone camera, but it was delicious, it was made with ingredients I had on hand (no last minute trips to the store!), I figured out a solution to make the recipe work for me, and I've added a new recipe to my repertoire. I call that an all-around win!

Are you a genius in the kitchen? Or are you more timid like I used to be, and still am to an extent?

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Weekly recap 7/16/2018: Spending time in Door County, Wisconsin

I'm back! What. A. Week!!!! Are you ready for a LOT of vacation pictures???

As I mentioned last time, this week was a little different. Almost every summer, my mother takes my children and me on a trip. In the past, we've visited Indiana Beach in Monticello, Indiana; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Traverse City, Michigan. This year, she called me up and said, "Hey, what do you have going on next week? Wanna go to Door County in Wisconsin?" Of course we did! So we packed up, and Monday morning we hit the road.

Of course I made good use of my time in the car:

On the ride up, at around lunch time, we were reminiscing about last year's trip to Traverse City, and how we stopped at a restaurant called Pizza Ranch on the way there. We'd never heard of Pizza Ranch before and assumed it was just kind of a local thing. When my daughter announced she was hungry right outside of Sheboygan, we began scrutinizing the signs for a place to stop. (I'm vegetarian, so some places are better than others for me to eat at.) We passed by one sign and the choices didn't impress me, so we drove on. The next sign, I began reading off the options. "Subway, McDonald's...OMG PIZZA RANCH!!!!" My son, who absolutely loved Pizza Ranch, was like, "WHAT?????????"

We had no idea it was a chain!

It was indeed Pizza Ranch, and a tasty lunch was had by all. After that, back on the road again!

We arrived in Door County in the afternoon and checked into our hotel, then drove around Sturgeon Bay and picked up a few things Target and Walmart (who knew swim floaties could be so hard to find?). We had a fantastic dinner at a local Mexican restaurant: 

My daughter and I shared, and we still had leftovers. This was sooooooo good.

And then my son and daughter went swimming in our hotel's outdoor pool. BRRRRRRR!!!! My mother and I stayed along the edges. WAY too cold for us.

The next day, we visited a cute store with great food (lots of delicious samples to try) and Door County gifts. The giant apple outside was adorable!

The store also had a Little Free Library! These things are all over Door County; quite a few of the hotels had their own. How awesome is that? Made my reader heart very happy. :)

After that, we headed into Fish Creek. They have an adorable downtown with a lot of kitschy little shops, all local. We visited quite a few of them, and then took in some local history by visiting the Alexander Noble house. 

The elderly gentleman docent was incredibly knowledgeable about the home, the history, and the area. Their current exhibit here is "A House in Mourning," and it's set up to show the mourning customs of the Victorian area. Very, very interesting, and the family who originally lived there produced some really innovative women for the times- one was a pharmacist, another was a doctor and pilot. Go Nobles! And I had to take a picture of the kitchen. Check out this stove: 

I can't even imagine cooking on this thing.

Afterwards, we went mini golfing. 

An unconventional putting stance, but it worked for her!

Have you ever seen a mini golf course without tadpoles? Me neither.

Hey there, little buddy!

We found some interesting lawn sculptures:

And then we headed into Death's Door Maritime Museum.

I had no idea of the history of this area- I'd never even heard of Death's Door before- and it's truly fascinating. So many shipwrecks, lives lost and fortunes destroyed. I'm definitely going to look into reading more about Door County's history, because I found it unbelievably interesting (if anyone has any suggestions for further reading and learning, I'm all ears! I thought a lot about Loreen Niewenhuis's A 1000 Mile Walk on the Beach during our time here). A few pics of some of the interesting info from the museum:

That evening was our last night in Sturgeon Bay, so we took a walk down by the water near our hotel. Lovely view!

There was also a mama duck with a flock of babies. One quack from her and the baby that was charging off on its own would hurry back. I need to take lessons from her!

Wednesday was our beach day! My daughter was thrilled, she loves the beach. My son hates sand, but went along anyway. On the recommendation of a hotel employee, we headed to Peninsula State Park, and it was wonderful.

Ahhhhhhh. So relaxing! Let's not talk about my sunburn.

Last year in Traverse City, we watched people paddleboarding. I'd never seen it before and was intrigued. I didn't try it at the time; I was worried it would be too hard on my back, but this year, after my mom and son went hydrobiking, I leaped at the chance to try paddleboarding with my son.

It was a little weird at first. My first thoughts were along the lines of, "WHO INVENTED THIS AND WHY??? AND HOW DOES EVERYONE ELSE LOOK SO STEADY???" A yacht drove by us and the water got wavy enough that I sat down and paddled like that for a while (and my son stayed down the rest of the time). After the water calmed, though, I thought, "You know, I may not ever be able to do this again, so I might as well go for the full experience." Up I stood, and I stood the rest of the time! It felt a lot more steady, and I found it soooooooo relaxing. If I lived in a place where I could paddleboard regularly, I'd be out there every night.

C'est moi! :)

I'm so, so glad I got to have this experience! If you get the chance, try it, it's really a lot of fun and seriously relaxing.

On the way back, we drove by Al Johnson's Swedish restaurant, more commonly known as the restaurant with the goats on the roof. No goats out when we were there, but it was still neat to see.

It was pretty hot when we were here, so hopefully the goats were cool inside.

The next day was rainy. We were hoping to take a boat tour of Death's Door's shipwrecks, and fortunately, the rain paused long enough that we could indeed go out. This. Was. Crazy. So, one of the reasons that the water there is so very dangerous is that the area is part of the Niagara Escarpment, which goes all the way from Wisconsin to New York (isn't this fascinating???). And those cliffs that are at the edge of the water are also UNDER Lake Michigan!!! I had no idea. So as we were bobbing along out in the lake, I was watching the depth changes on the screen that measured it. At one point, it went from 143 feet deep to 24 feet deep!!!! I gasped out loud, and the tour guide was like, "Yup, it changes in an instant out here." The captain pointed out a buoy that marked a dangerous spot: on one side of the buoy was a depth of 20 feet; on the other, 4 feet. A lot of ships wrecked at that point. The last commercial shipwreck happened in the late 80's, but the currents are so wild out there (again, because of those sudden depth changes!) that the guide said they lose unsuspecting kayakers out there every year.

We were fortunate enough to be able to tour Plum Island, one of the small uninhabited islands off the tip of the peninsula. 

The boat house.

There's an old building on the island where victims of shipwrecks used to be taken and held until the water had calmed enough to get them back to the mainland. It's being restored now, and when we were there, the roof was being fixed. 

And a few pictures of the water and waves. The weather was gray and ugly, but the island and lake were still gorgeous.

The boat ride there and back was extremely bumpy. I would've liked to have taken pictures of that, but I was hanging onto my daughter with one arm and clutching the side of the boat with the other so we didn't fling out! My daughter, ever adventurous, loved every second of it...until she fell asleep on the way back. Too much vacation! :)

We had a quiet night in the hotel that night, and the next morning, we had breakfast at Fika. Their cardamom rolls are fantastic, if you're ever there. YUM.

'A watched kettle never boils,' it says in Swedish. So cute!

 And that was it! We headed home after that, to the land of three loads of vacation laundry and unpacking the bathroom bag (all of which was accomplished immediately; I hate vacation stuff sitting around). 

Saturday was a rough day. The car trip home was a lot longer than going, and I don't know if I was sitting in a different position or what, but my back was absolutely terrible. I was having a hard time walking, and at one point, I wasn't actually sure I could get my left leg into bed. Fun times! I spent most of the day icing and heating my back. Sunday, I still woke up in pain, but it got better as the day went on.

And hey, remember when I said I made good use of my time in the car on our vacation to Door County?

I wasn't joking!

Twelve! Twelve dishcloths! Ah ah ah! /Count von Count voice. My mom was the driver for the trip, so every time the car was in motion, so were my needles. I've got one more solid colored dishcloth on my needles, and then I'll use the scraps to make one or more multicolored cloths. Any remaining scraps will go into other scrap projects. Not a bad start on some gifts, although I obviously still need to finish ends. I also knocked a book off of my Goodreads To Read list, so yay for that!

And there we go! That was my exciting week in Door County, Wisconsin. Have you been there? I'd love to hear your experiences. I adored it and wouldn't mind visiting again someday. :)

Weekly update: 7/9/2018

When a holiday falls smack in the middle of the week, it makes for an odd week, doesn't it? I had a strange mixture of extremely productive...and, well, not as productive. Let's take a look back at my week, shall we?

MONDAY

This was a pretty good day! It started out with a drop-off trip to the thrift store, where I unloaded a whole trunk full of outgrown clothing and toys. SO nice to get all that junk out of my house and hopefully into the hands of someone else who can use it. My daughter and I followed that up with a quick trip to Costco, where we bought such exciting things as toilet paper and bulk garlic (I'm nothing if not relentlessly practical!). When we returned home, I cleaned, did a little bit of writing (226 words), and read a book from my Goodreads To Read list before getting a text from a friend, wondering if we wanted to have an impromptu park playdate. We sure did, so I threw dinner together (a homemade pizza, using some of that spaghetti sauce from last week, and the food processor dough recipe from The Complete Tightwad Gazette) and then we were off. My daughter played with a friend, and I hung out with the friend's mom. It was a super fun way to spend an afternoon. After dinner, I read and did some editing.

TUESDAY

OOF. 

The stupidest thing about chronic pain conditions is that one day can be great, and the next day you can feel like you were run over by a semi. There's just no rhyme or reason to any of it, and this was one of those days. My daughter and I ran a bank errand, and by the time we got home, I. Was. Hurting. I spent the day icing and heating my back, reading a book from my To Read list while my daughter played around me. The icing and heating (and Celebrex) helped, fortunately, and I was able to go to the day-early Independence Day parade and fireworks with my husband and daughter.

 You'd never know we're a suburb of a major city.

"No, really, guys, we farm here! Totally!"

I'll spare you pictures of the horse poop that lay right in front of us. Hurray, not-really-small-town-farm-life!

Wednesday

Time for a family get-together! We had a lovely meal with relatives, and while our children played together and the adults visited, I worked on my stripey blanket. I save up all the scraps from other knitting projects and turn them into a massive knitted blanket. For this particular blanket (my third), I'm doubling up scrap yarn with some very thin peach yarn I bought at a thrift store. I have a TON of it and it's not great for much else, so into the blanket it goes. 

So stripey!

Once the blanket is longer than I am tall, I'll bind off. It's great mindless knitting, perfect for taking places where I'm chatting with others but don't need to concentrate much on what I'm doing. During my daughter's naptime, I finished one GoodReads book and started another, and then started a list of potential Christmas gifts for family members. It's early, but I like to make gifts, so it's never too early to start that!

THURSDAY

Despite starting off on the wrong foot (ANT INVASION IN THE KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO. MANY. ANTS), this turned out to be a great day. I took my son to the doctor, ran errands, did Reading and Geography lessons with my daughter, and then I practiced the piano. During her nap, I prepared Slow Cooker Red Lentil Stew with Chickpeas and Orzo, but since it was already 2 pm, I tossed it all in the Instant Pot and cooked it on Manual for about 16 minutes. Do you have an Instant Pot? This thing has saved my butt so many times when it comes to dinner. Instead of picking up a five dollar pizza from Aldi or grabbing something frozen (or worse, going out to eat!), I just chop stuff up, toss it in, poke a few buttons, and dinner is ready to go without much fuss. We got ours on Black Friday two years ago or so, and it's absolutely been worth every single penny. The stew was fabulous, and I added some spinach that needed to be used up. 10/10, my daughter loved it, and I'll definitely make it again.

After I finished throwing dinner together, I did some writing (1000 words, woohoo!), and then we had a MASSIVE storm that both scared the crap out of me and knocked our internet out, so I read a book from my To Read list (which I later finished, hurray!). After dinner, I ran to the library to pick up a book from interlibrary loan, read a little bit of another To Read book, and started knitting a Christmas gift dishcloth.

Whooooaaaaa, we're halfway there...

FRIDAY

Yard sales this week were a dud- they usually are on holiday weeks- so my daughter and I came home and did Reading and Geography lessons, and I practiced piano. During her naptime, I whipped up dinner (lentil loaf and roasted cauliflower. I used the rest of that homemade spaghetti sauce and it worked perfectly in this recipe! This is a fantastic recipe, by the way, and it's awesome on sandwiches the next day, with ketchup). After dinner, I mowed the lawn, where I discovered our newest little veggie friends, and then watched TV with my husband after my daughter went to bed. 

SATURDAY

Ahoy matey! Husband and daughter and I went canoeing at a local forest preserve. I was the back-of-the-canoe steering paddler, which was...interesting...at first. I got the hang of it quickly, though, and we had a great time. My daughter wasn't so thrilled with it, but hopefully she'll enjoy it more as she gets bigger. My best friend had her wedding reception that evening, so my mother came to babysit, and my husband and I got to get dressed up and have conversations that weren't interrupted every three seconds with demands to play Thomas the Tank Engine, so that was fantastic.

Plus we got to walk by this famous sign in person!

SUNDAY

A day of cleaning, laundry, ferrying my son places, and packing. This upcoming week, I'll be traveling with my mother and children, so getting things done will look a little different, but hopefully I'll have some pretty pictures to show you when I get back.

Goodreads To Read List: 167 books

Writing: ~1226 words, give or take a bit

I hope your week is fantastic! How have you gotten it done this week?

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