What's Been Going On: Thursday, 19 May - Sunday, 22 May, 2022

 Hello, hello! The start of our last week of the school year, and I could not be happier! I’m looking forward to our bit of planned time off to get some house projects going (one of which I started this weekend; more on that in a bit!), and to plan our curriculum for the fall. I have a stack of books I’m going to sit down with and figure out what we’re going to do, in a relaxed, no-stress, no rush kind of manner. Who knows what fun things I’ll discover for my daughter to learn???

Boy, did it cool down here! It’s been nice for walking, that’s for sure, but now my feet are cold again! No reading on my swing this weekend, but that’s okay, we’ve got the whole summer ahead of us. :)

Here’s what I’ve been up to lately!

 

Thursday, 19 May, 2022

After coffee, I finished writing and posted Thursday’s post. I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, chopped and sauteed some onion, garlic, peppers, and mushrooms for dinner, then I got dressed. We tidied a few things in the living room, and then it was time to start school.

We began with On This Day in History and geography (Nigeria), and then did a unit of math. We finished Why Is Art Full of Naked People and our book on fair trade. I got my daughter settled down with lunch just a few minutes early, then took a phone call upstairs with her counselor. He had a few questions and wanted to talk about a few things NOT in front of her, so we tackled those things, and I took a page full of notes from his suggestions.

After lunch, I cooked a combination of red lentils and rice, then we took school outside. We finished the book of Mister Rogers’ poetry (my daughter really loved this!), read more of Wild Girl, and read a story from Not One Damsel in Distress. We did our 30 minutes of Read Harder/silent reading (I’m still reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music History and my daughter is reading a stack of Judy Moody books), and then I read outside on the swing while the red lentil casserole baked in the oven.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, then got my shoes on and did a five-mile walk to the library (it was 87 degrees. I was VERY hot and sweaty). And of course, just as I sat down outside the library to put my mask on (it’s an N95), the side strap kind of shredded. Fortunately, it held and still had a good seal, but OF COURSE THAT HAPPENED THEN, when I had walked and didn’t have a backup! *sigh* Speaking of hot, this is what my shirt looked like when I got home:

 

I put dinner away and changed into a different shirt immediately so I could put my daughter to bed, then I showered (and yes, my feet were pretty darn sore! The walk TO the library was actually harder than the walk home, because I could definitely feel the seven-ish pounds of books I had to return in my backpack, in my hips. Ouch!). I read my book, and my husband and I watched one episode of Unusual Suspects before bed.

 

Friday, 20 May, 2022

After coffee, I wrote and posted Friday’s post, then scooped the litterbox and got dressed.

We started school with On This Day in History and geography (Norway!), then buckled down to do math. Instead of our usual schedule, I got my daughter through three units of math on this day in order to finish up on Wednesday, like the rest of the schools in the area are doing (to be honest, I don’t know that her class is finishing ALL of the units of math, but I want her to). I ended up having to change my clothes and start a load of laundry when my daughter accidentally spilled some red paint water on my favorite skirt (no worries, it came out), but then we read a book of random facts (a lot of which my daughter remembered from reading other things this year, and she had no problem chatting on and on about them! Made me pretty happy).

We had an early lunch, I got the dishes into the dishwasher, and then it was off to her counselor! The schools were let out early this day, so I didn’t feel like I necessarily needed to make her keep working when we got home, so I tidied the living room and swept. I chopped an onion for my son (who reacts terribly to them!), then hung out with him while he cooked a pan of baked ziti.

After he went back upstairs, I dozed for a bit, wrote a book review, played on the computer, and got the ziti into the oven. After dinner, I did my Duolingo and showered, then knitted and finished watching The Boy Band Con, which I’d started a few weeks ago (SUPER interesting!). I joined virtual Shabbat services when they started, and afterwards, I watched a TEDx talk called Change Your Closet, Change Your Life. My husband and I watched an episode of Unusual Suspects before bed (and were up late because of a super noisy thunderstorm!).

 

Saturday, 21 May, 2022

After coffee, I relaxed and played around on the computer for a bit, then I emptied and refilled the dishwasher. I got a batch of Indian dal soup with mixed vegetables into the crockpot, read for a bit, dozed, then read a little more.

After lunch, I knit and watched The Minimalists on Netflix. This got me thinking, and when the documentary ended, I put my knitting down and headed upstairs to my closet. I proceeded to pull out a huge box and two garbage bags’ worth of clothes I hadn’t worn in years. AHHHHHHHH, that felt so good! Pants that I hadn’t worn since before I had my daughter (that my expanded pelvis won’t even let me *think* about squeezing into), sweaters that no longer matched my style, t-shirts that my son had given me from his closet years ago that I was never going to wear (a grown woman going around in a 2015 middle school band t-shirt? Yeah, no), they all went into the donation pile, and it felt *really* freeing. I also switched all my hangers around so I can see what else I’m not wearing and give those away as well.

I went back downstairs and continued to knit while watching random TEDx talks about food waste, then I brought in some frozen vegetables from the garage and added them to the soup. I took out the compost and swept the kitchen floor, and emptied and refilled the dishwasher. I continued knitting while watching a Rob Greenfield talk, then folded and put away a load of clothing (and I stuffed a few extra sweatshirts into the giveaway bag). I picked a bunch of tiny burrs off a pair of my daughter’s pants with tweezers (#momlife), then continued knitting.

After dinner (which was okay; I think everyone else in the house liked it more than I did), my son and I went on a probably-slightly-longer-than-3-ish-mile walk (we avoided the pond that day, since the path would likely have been wet and squishy from all the rain we’ve been getting). At home, I showered and then put my daughter to bed and read my book. My husband and I watched an episode of Under the Banner of Heaven before bed.

 

Sunday, 22 May, 2022

I had coffee and got dressed, then copied down some recipes from a cookbook from the library. With both of my kids, I dropped off the donation boxes at Goodwill, and then we ran next door to Walmart for some random things, including milk, bleach, cat food, and a 9-volt battery.

At home, I made frozen ravioli for lunch, then ran the dishwasher, and headed outside to plant some watermelon starters that had been waiting all week long for me to have both the time and clear-enough weather (I gave the garden a brief watering when I was out there, since the top part seemed weirdly dry for all the rain we’ve had lately). I rested for a bit (since that really hurt my back!), then prepared some tomatoes for roasting and got them into the oven.

I sat down and worked on this post, then headed to the kitchen to make a pizza crust à la The Complete Tightwad Gazette. I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, then blended the roasted tomatoes into sauce. The sauce went onto the pizza, along with some mushrooms and chopped tomatoes, and into the oven it went!

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, and then took my daughter on a walk around the block so she could ride this little car that my mother gave her when she was eight months old. (Don’t ask.)

 

After that, I went for a 3-ish mile walk on my own (my son was busy). The crane was out!

 

At home, I showered, then read my book. My husband and I watched another episode of Under the Banner of Heaven before bed.

 

And that’s it! My daughter wants to try to finish up all of math today (we have three units left; we’ve tackled that much before), so school may look a little different today so we can get that done. That way, we can just do fun stuff these last few days. I’m absolutely down with that!

Wishing you all a lovely start to the week! : )