What's Been Going On: Thursday, 30 June - Sunday, 3 July, 2022

Back to Monday! It’s a holiday in the US, so if you’re here, it might not feel too much like a regular Monday. I’m still trying to get laundry done, so that’s on the docket for today, along with some cooking and cleaning and volunteer work (that often gets pushed to starting on Tuesday when we have long weekends, but I’m going to try to get the first half of it knocked off today). Potential for some thunderstorms today as well, so who knows what our plans for tonight will look like, but we’ll see.

Here's what I was up to the second half of last week!

 

Thursday, 30 June, 2022

I filled and ran the dishwasher, then I had coffee and breakfast. I wrote and posted Thursday’s post, got dressed, and did some work on my monthly book blog update post. My daughter and I tackled a math lesson, and then it was off to Walmart. Holy cow, when did five-subject notebooks get so expensive??? Walmart’s selection of them was almost non-existent (not a pandemic thing; the Walmarts around here have always been poorly stocked. The number of times I’ve gone there to pick something up and came home empty-handed is…a lot).

At home, I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, then we had lunch. I wrote out a ton of book reviews, prepared a batch of Easy Indian Lentil Curry in the Instant Pot and got the rice in the rice cooker, took out the recycling, and then my daughter and I read out on the porch most of the rest of the afternoon.

I microwaved the store-bought naan we’d gotten on sale, and then we had dinner. I did my Duolingo, but was really tired, so I decided to skip walking this night. I read on the porch and then upstairs, finishing Worn Out by Alyssa Hardy, read all of White Bird by R.J. Palacio, then started The Way I Say It by Nancy Tandon. My husband and I watched one episode of Stranger Things before bed.

 

Friday, 1 July, 2022

I filled and ran the dishwasher, had coffee, then wrote and posted Friday’s post. I got dressed and ready, then edited and posted the monthly recap on my book blog. My daughter and I did a level of math, and we followed that up with an early lunch, because we had a noon appointment with her counselor. She’s making good progress and gaining some good tools to help her handle her frustration a little better. I’m really glad I made the decision to take her to this.

At home, we started her vocabulary notebook (with the word ‘obstinate’!), then I read and finished The Way I Say It. I hung out on the computer for a few minutes, lay down for a bit, then read out on the porch, starting Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases by Paul Holes. We had an early dinner and I did my Duolingo, then I showered and knit while watching YouTube. I logged into virtual Shabbat services when it was time (lay-led; the rabbis usually have July off from leading services), then continued reading afterwards. My husband and I watched one episode of Stranger Things before bed.

 

Saturday, 2 July, 2022

I’d just settled down on the couch with my coffee and book, when BAM: huge splotch right in the middle of my vision. MIGRAINE. Ugh. Extra bad since we were supposed to be meeting my mom this day. I immediately ran upstairs and downed a dose of migraine medication, then texted my mom to let her know and that I’d keep her updated. I finished my coffee to get that caffeine in me, then went back to bed until the meds kicked in, because it’s *really* hard to see with a large smeary splotch in the middle of your line of sight.

If I get to the migraine that fast, it usually keeps it at least somewhat controlled (at least the head pain), so after about an hour and forty-five minutes, the splotch was gone and the roaring head pain had never started. I took a second dose of a different kind of migraine rescue med (on the advice of my neurologist), and I was able to head off to Walmart to get the sunscreen and bug spray that we needed. I also grabbed sandwiches for my husband and son, then drove to Trader Joe’s for meatless lunches for my daughter and me. My stomach still wasn’t feeling great, but it wasn’t the full-blown nausea I get with worse migraines, so that was at least tolerable. I was so, so grateful that the migraine had started when I was awake and could get to it so quickly. (The ones that start in my sleep are the WORST.)

I returned home, and then we had like a half-hour before we had to leave, so I kind of just relaxed and took it easy. We met my mom for a picnic at a local forest preserve (my husband really wasn’t feeling an indoor get-together, since my mom’s husband isn’t vaccinated, and with my husband’s mom recently getting over COVID a second time, he’s on edge. Entirely understandable). After we ate, we rented kayaks and paddled around the lake for an hour, which is always a good time, except my daughter was a little dehydrated and got overheated (it was HOT out there, plus we had life jackets on), and she ended up throwing up afterwards. Poor kiddo.

At home, I showered her off, then settled her down on the bed with a bunch of water (she’d already drank a bottle of Gatorade in the car), and she played on her kindle while I read and dozed a little (even well-controlled, migraines are still pretty exhausting). I finished Unmasked, then started Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American by Wajahat Ali. Somewhere in there, I *think* I ate dinner, but to be honest, I’m not entirely sure. My stomach has been all sorts of wonky since Saturday.

I did do my Duolingo, however, and I showered. I put my daughter to bed and continued reading, and my husband and I watched one episode of Stranger Things before bed.

 

Sunday, 3 July, 2022

I had coffee and wrote and posted my monthly update post, then I emptied and refilled the dishwasher. I got dressed and ready, tidied the living room, and browsed NetGalley while my son got ready. My husband and daughter had gone to meet friends at the park, so my son and I went out geocaching. We took a Sears home tour of a nearby town, then hit up a few caches on the way back to our town. We stopped in at Five Below and the Dollar Tree, and at home, I relaxed on the computer for a little bit. I couldn’t bring myself to eat lunch, my stomach still feeling off, but I drank plenty of water as I read out on the porch most of the rest of the afternoon.

I got the fries in the oven, and my husband cooked up a batch of veggie burgers for dinner. We ate, I did my Duolingo, and my son and I went on a four-mile walk. By my daughter’s old school, a squirrel ran in front of us, frightened by a nearby firework going off. It ran into a tree with a low branch, then flattened itself down and we could actually hear it crying. It was one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard. I hate fireworks. : (

At home, I showered and put my daughter to bed, then read my book. My husband and I watched an episode of Stranger Things, then I finished reading Go Back to Where You Came From before going to bed.

 

And that’s it! We’re supposed to go have a picnic with my sister-in-law, nephew, and mother-in-law tonight and then see the fireworks (sigh) afterwards. We’ve got chances of thunderstorms, though, so we’ll see how this all pans out. I don’t have anything on the calendar for this week, but I do need to keep up with my homeschool planning, so that’s going to be a big focus this week. I just checked; the first day of actual school is August 24^th this year, which is about ten days later than I was expecting, so I have a little more freedom than I thought. Who knows, though; we may get started on our normal schedule earlier than that. All depends on how ready my daughter feels. I have no problem waiting until the 24^th, either; I just want to feel ready and have everything squared away before then.

Stay safe out there, friends! Let’s all go into Tuesday with all our various appendages still attached to our bodies…