What's Been Going On: Monday, 13 June - Wednesday, 15 June, 2022

Good morning, friends! It’s a toasty one out there: A high of 92, which is five or six degrees cooler than the past few days, but still pretty gross. We had some storms roll through last night, so at least the garden got a drink and the water barrel got refilled.

Busy day today as usual. We’ve got an early counselor appointment this morning, and I’m eyeball deep in homeschool prep and buried in library and review books (with another coming to me in the mail). I’ve got laundry to do as well, but I’ve been hoping to do it on a day that isn’t quite so toasty, though I think I’m out of luck there.

(Bear with me today; my mouse seems to have died and I’m using one of my son’s. It’s weird and doesn’t feel like my regular mouse, so everything feels off!)

Here’s what I’ve been up to so far this week!

 

Monday, 13 June, 2022

After coffee, I finished writing, edited, and posted Monday’s post. And then I weighed myself.

I had been on an antidepressant for a bit earlier in the year, and we all know what those can do to a person’s metabolism. I hadn’t liked the number on the scale at my check-up in March (still an okay weight for my height, but at the top of the range), so I had decided I needed to do something about it. And the verdict was in: I’ve lost almost ten pounds! I’ve got about five left to go to get back to where I was before the meds, so I’m pretty happy about this. : )

I got dressed and cleaned off the stovetop, then emptied and refilled the dishwasher. I tossed a batch of pinto beans into the Instant Pot, then settled down for 30 minutes of volunteer work (I’m finding I really enjoy breaking it up into 30-minute chunks). I showered my daughter, swept the upstairs and downstairs, and then my daughter and I snuggled together and looked through a cookbook.

After lunch, we all ran to the bank for my son, to Five Below for hand weights and swim floaties (for a beach day later in the week), and a local grocery store, where milk was on sale, two gallons for $5. Back home, my son and I did a 25-minute HASFit workout.

I relaxed for a bit, then got dinner ready, a bean-and-rice casserole someone had posted in one of my Facebook groups earlier this week. Recipe is as follows:

Beans & Rice Casserole

1C of rice any kind but not instant

1 can of beans any kind

3C chicken stock or any kind (I used vegetable)

1C tomato sauce (I used salsa)

1 pkg taco seasoning

Mix together in a casserole dish, cover with foil & bake at 350 for 90 minutes

I even forgot to foil it, and this turned out SO GOOD. Everyone liked it, so it’ll be going into the regular rotation. I did throw some cheese on the top at the end, but it’s not necessary. I also made some cauliflower in the air fryer from a recipe that was in the book my daughter and I were looking at earlier in the day, but no one was impressed by it, and I won’t make use that recipe again.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, and just as I was about to put dinner away, we got a tornado warning, so down into the basement we went! This was part of the storm system that eventually caused a few derechos and massive damage over in Ohio. We didn’t get much of anything at all, fortunately, and eventually, when the warning expired, I went back upstairs to put dinner away and take out the garbage. I hauled the recycling and garbage cans to the road, then showered, and my daughter and I started reading a book of Greek mythology when I put her to bed. I read for a bit, and my husband and I watched one episode of Keep Sweet on Netflix.

 

Tuesday, 14 June, 2022

After coffee, I did thirty minutes of volunteer work, then got dressed and scooped the litterbox. I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, then got started on dinner prep, making Creole Black-Eyed Peas in the Instant Pot so as to not heat up the house. (This is SO good!) I helped an online friend out with some meal ideas for her picky kids, then had breakfast with my son.

I did some homeschool prep, followed by thirty more minutes of volunteer work, and caught up on a few things on the computer (including agreeing to review a book for someone. Perks of also being a book blogger!). My son and I did a 28-minute Yoga with Adriene video (he was pretty squished by the end, this was rough for him!), then I gathered our library books, put some rice in the rice cooker, and my daughter and I were off on a trip to the library.

At home, we both read for a bit, and then it was time for dinner. I did my Duolingo, then headed outside to read…and my swing seat ripped AGAIN. My husband is going to try to weld on a few extra metal parts in order to create a sturdy seat (and then we'll buy some cushions), as the seat right now is just cheap canvas (which explains the weathering and ripping!). The seat is just too weathered to keep patching it; it’s not going to hold for long. If he’s unable to fix it, we’ll either replace the swing part with a wooden one or replace the entire swing altogether. We’ll see!

I showered, read my book, and finished A Knock at Midnight by Brittany K. Barnett (INCREDIBLE book), then started The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein (phew, this is going to challenge my brain! I’m thinking I’m going to have to read it in small chunks at a time). My husband and I watched one episode of Keep Sweet before bed.

 

Wednesday, 15 June, 2022

After coffee, I made out my grocery list (almost nothing good on sale, sigh. No surprise there). I did some homeschool prep, then finished reading Parenting with Love and Logic, as recommended by my daughter’s counselor. I tidied the living room, including shaking the couch blankets outside (SO dusty!), and then it was time for lunch.

I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, took out the compost, wiped down the countertops, and refilled my sugar container. I went through some library cookbooks, then headed upstairs to sit with my daughter while she got upset about cleaning her room. My husband came home and took over, and my son and I headed out for gas (OUCH) and groceries.

We hit up two stores (we’ll stop by a third if we end up in that area, but I only really needed one small thing from there, so it wasn’t necessary to go all that way). We did get two bags of marked-down mushrooms, three scorpion pepper plants for a dollar, and eggs were on sale two for $4. At home, we put the stuff away, and I was delighted to find that my daughter’s room was entirely clean! (My husband had helped her, though she had gotten an excellent start on her own, though we had to put some toys in time out, because she couldn’t decide if she wanted to clean them or if she wanted Mom to clean them – and you know that nothing good happens when Mom cleans them! She was just getting overwhelmed at the time and needed to calm down. She’ll get the toys back soon!)

I read for a little bit, then farted around on the computer while the pizza cooked. We had dinner and I did my Duolingo, then I showered and read outside on the front porch in my folding camp chair (not quite as fun as my swing, but it’ll do in a pinch to get me outside). My daughter and I read more Greek mythology when I put her to bed, then I finished reading my daily section of The Color of Law and read all of The Book of Elsie by Joanne Levy, from NetGalley. My husband and I finished watching Keep Sweet on Netflix before bed.

 

And that’s it! Tomorrow will be a little different; we’re packing up and going to the beach! It’s supposed to be in the upper 80’s and sunny, so it should be a fun day. Hopefully it won’t be TOO crowded; I’d like to stay away from people if we can. Seems like everyone and their brother has COVID right now, and while outdoors is safer, it’s still not 100% and we’d obviously like to keep our exposure to people we don’t know and trust down. We’ll do our best!

I hope you’re all staying cool and hydrated! :)