What's Been Going On: Thursday, 31 March - Sunday, 3 April, 2022

 Back to the old grind! It’s Monday, and our spring break is over. Boy, did we need that. It was a really fun week of not doing all that much, and it was awesome. I enjoy homeschooling, but it definitely has been a bit of a culture shock to be dropped back into it so quickly. I’ve come to the realization that I can relax a little, though; we have no plans to send her back to school anytime soon, and at this point, she doesn’t want to go back. She does miss her friends, but she’s enjoying the more relaxed pace, the one-on-one attention, and the Mama snuggles. She told me at bedtime the other night that she doesn’t want to go back (which is so sweet, but also kind of sad). She’s eventually going to need some sort of activities with other kids, so we’ll see what things look like as the weather warms up. I have a few ideas of some safe-ish things we may be able to plan. : )

Here's what the second half of our so-very-relaxing spring break looked like!

 

Thursday, 31 March, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I wrote and posted my Thursday post, then edited and posted my review for Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash by Edward Humes over on my book blog.

I pulled out my guitar and messed around with it for a bit. I’m not very good, but I can play enough to sing along, so I did that until it was lunchtime. My daughter was amusing herself with various toys, so I curled up with my book and finished reading Unmask Alice by Rick Emerson. I ran to the library to pick up a book from Interlibrary Loan and a functioning DVD copy of Matilda (the last one didn’t work, so we had to wait to watch it until this one came in). I began reading Self-Reg: How to Help Your Child (and You) Break the Stress Cycle and Successfully Engage with Life by Stuart Shanker. My online secular homeschool group sang the praises of this book and it sounded like exactly what my daughter needs, so I’m crossing my fingers that this helps me help her. So far, I’m *really* liking it!

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, then did a 20-minute low-imact HASFit workout, showered, and did about 15 more minutes of volunteer work to kill time before putting my daughter to bed. She and I are reading What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge. It’s a little old-fashioned and I don’t know how well it’s held up, but if there are parts that haven’t, that’ll just provide things for us to discuss. I continued reading my book after she went to bed, and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Friday, 1 April, 2022

Slept ‘til noon, ordered take-out for every meal, and hired a housecleaner.

APRIL FOOL! After having coffee, I posted my monthly roundup post over at my book blog, wrote and posted my Friday post, got dressed and ready, and headed off the tantrum my daughter was brewing up (she has a *really* hard time coping when things don’t go her way. This morning, it was because her doll’s hair didn’t curl the way she thought it ought to, and she was to the point where she was starting to throw things and saying she never wanted to play with dolls EVER AGAIN. See why I thought that Self-Reg book might help??? It already helped me talk her down out of this one).

We headed to the library to pick up another Interlibrary Loan book that had come in, and then headed out of town to a second library, who had in stock the book the nonprofit I volunteer with is featuring for their first book club selection; the meeting is in ten days. SO, if you’re counting, I’m currently reading a chapter per day of Self-Reg; as much as I can fit in of The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer; Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians Are Reclaiming Evangelicalism by Deborah Jian Lee for the nonprofit (this is actually really fascinating!); I have a copy of Wild Edibles: A Practical Guide to Foraging, with Easy Identification of 60 Edible Plants and 67 Recipes by Sergei Boutenko waiting for me. And, since we start back with school today, I’ll be reading Everything You Need to Know About Asian-American History again every day for 30 minutes. Plus there’s What Katy Did on those nights it’s my turn to do bedtime!

I need about thirty extra hours in the day.

At home, I filled and ran the dishwasher, took out the recycling and compost, and tidied the living room. We had lunch and I dozed for a little bit, then read until we went out for a three-mile walk. I made a one-pot pasta for dinner (this is when we watched Matilda), then showered, and put dinner away. I knit while watching YouTube, until it was time to virtually attend Shabbat services. When that was finished, I read, and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Saturday, 2 April, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I wrote a book review, cleaned the kitchen, took out the compost, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, took a few things out to the garage that had been waiting for someone to take them out, and chopped and froze a bunch of bananas. I tossed the peels in the compost and put a batch of chickpeas on to cook in the Instant Pot. I sautéed up a batch of onions, garlic, ginger, and spinach to go into dinner later, then got dressed and started a load of laundry.

I wrote two more book reviews, and it was time for lunch. I switched the laundry, then folded and put away two loads of laundry from, uh, last week sometime? Maybe? We all get behind; it happens. I loaded and ran the dishwasher, then made a coconut milk, chickpea & spinach curry with the mixture from earlier. I got the rice going in the rice cooker, and then settled down to knit while watching YouTube.

I switched the laundry, folded and put away another load, emptied and refilled the dishwasher, and knit some more. After dinner, I did my Duolingo, biked 30 minutes while reading Rescuing Jesus, showered, put my daughter to bed, and read my other books. My husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Sunday, 3 April, 2022

Busy day! After coffee, I wrote and posted my monthly goal update here, then got dressed. I stripped the bedding and threw that in the wash, got the dishes in the dishwasher, and took out the recycling. My daughter and I went over to Five Below so I could pick up some 4lb weights for the workouts I’ve been doing (heavy hardcover books and jars of salsa- no, I’m not kidding!- work okay, but they’re not optimal, and I was living in fear of breaking a jar of salsa!). We stopped by Michael’s, which is nearby, but they didn’t have what I needed, so we drove a little down the road to JoAnn’s for the sock yarn needles I needed.

At home, I switched the laundry, and it was time for lunch. I filled and ran the dishwasher, pressed a block of tofu, chopped potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and took the compost out. I worked on my knitting while watching YouTube, then got the potatoes in the Instant Pot as soon as the dishwasher stopped running. 

I knit for about an hour, then I unloaded the dishes and put the sheets back on the bed, and it was time to prepare the rest of dinner. I mashed the potatoes, heated the corn, roasted the Brussels sprouts, air-fried the tofu, and made a batch of vegan gravy, all for Vegan Mashed Potato Bowls. This was SUPER good. It definitely won’t be a weeknight meal, that’s for sure; there were just too many moving parts and things to get ready for this to be a regular thing, but this definitely won’t be the last time I make this! YUM!!!

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, put dinner away, filled and ran the dishwasher, switched the laundry, and did a 22-minute HASFit workout focused on…the butt. There’s just no nice way to say that, haha! Since so much of my chronic pain is in my hips and glute muscles, anything that focuses on this area is good for me, and who can’t use a good butt workout now and then? I was SO sweaty and gross when this was done, but it felt good (and painful, but let’s face it, I’m going to be in pain no matter what I do, so I might as well also be in shape!).

I showered, showered my daughter, switched the laundry and put the comforter back on the bed. I worked on this post, then went upstairs to read in bed. My husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

And that’s it! We’re about to get our day started (if I can convince my daughter get dressed, that is!). Plenty of things to do today, but we’re going to start off slow. I want to make sure she has coins and their values down pat before we move on to anything else.

Wishing you all a wonderful start to this new week! : )