MONDAY
After getting ready for the day, I cleaned the kitchen, and then my daughter and I got started on her Reading and Geography lessons. We virtually traveled to Cambodia, where, I learned, they eat fried snake. I am all for people feasting upon whatever makes them happy and healthy, but I'm not a fan of snakes (alive or cooked), so that set off my phobia a little! If I'm ever lucky enough to travel there, I'll stick to all the other delicious food Cambodia has to offer. :)
I swept the living room and kitchen, and during naptime, I cooked some taco-flavored lentils for Chipotle-style bowls for dinner. And then (cue ominous music) I cleaned out the worst part of the laundry room. *shudders* It was gross. When I finished with that, I settled down in my reading chair to read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. This has been on my mental want-to-read list (but not my Goodreads To Read list) ever since we read parts of it in a class I took let's-not-discuss-how-many-years-ago. My hand is finally being forced by the fact that Tim O'Brien is coming to speak to my community at the end of the month, and I am NOT missing that, so I want to be prepared! I only got a few minutes to read, though, because my daughter woke up, and then I had to give my son a ride.
When we got back home, I cleaned up my daughter's room and then practiced the piano for a bit- still working on perfecting Angel Eyes by Jim Brickman. That night, I completed the laundry room and felt pretty darn good about myself! I folded and put away some laundry, and then watched an episode of Orange is the New Black with my husband before bed.
TUESDAY
In the morning, I took my kids to Menards and bought a small shelf for the laundry room, then stopped by Walmart to pick up some heavy plastic containers in order to begin work on organizing the Basement of DOOM. At home, my daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (we went to Cameroon). During her naptime, I threw dinner in the Instant Pot- Vegan Cabbage Roll Soup (I used rice instead of quinoa, since that's what I had on hand). I'm not normally a huge cabbage fan, but this soup is delicious. After that got going, I set up the shelves we'd purchased in the laundry room, and then I started moving things around in the basement.
The box marked 'Pretzel Crisps' actually holds tea. Don't ask.
To the left, my daughter's easel.
My daughter's nap was short today, but by the time she woke up, I'd moved enough stuff around that there was a place for her to play while I dove into the mess of my husband's boxes (some of which hadn't been touched for 8+ years!!!).
Like this. It was just an empty box, but we would have moved it AT LEAST THREE TIMES!!1!!1!!!11!1!!!!
She helped me sort things into piles, which was pretty adorable. We hit the library after we were done cleaning, and after dinner, I headed back downstairs for more basement cleaning. Before bed, I read a little bit more of The Things They Carried.
WEDNESDAY
I started laundry, and then my daughter and I headed out for a grocery trip to two different stores. At the second store, I somehow managed to miss seeing this on the way in:
It's not actually real.
How did I miss that? Egads. Anyway, back at home, we cleaned more of the basement, hung the laundry outside, and then dropped my son off at school so that he could get pictures taken and pick up his student ID. Back home again, I- say it with me- CLEANED MORE OF THE BASEMENT. Earlier in the day, I offered the empty boxes up on Freecycle and someone had responded almost immediately, so I carried those outside for her and they were gone quickly. After dinner, I- you guessed it- CLEANED EVEN MORE OF THE BASEMENT. And then I slipped and fell.
Ow.
I'm very fortunately that it wasn't a bad fall. My foot hit a piece of plastic and slid on the tiled floor and I went down hard on my left knee. It could've been pretty bad, and I was a little worried that I was going to be hurting the next morning, but fortunately I had nothing more than some strained muscles in my left leg and some aches on my right side. PHEW. Despite the fall, I still packed the car full in preparation for donating approximately fifteen thousand pounds of unnecessary stuff to the thrift store, cleaned the kitchen, picked my son up, and finished The Things They Carried.
Exhausting day!
THURSDAY
My daughter and I dropped our stuff off at the thrift store, then stopped by the Dollar Tree next door, because I needed a mop. Of course, they were all out of mops! I did pick up a bucket and two bottles of floor cleaner. I usually make my own, but I wanted something more heavily scented for the first wash or two- that floor down there needed it! Fortunately, we were planning on stopping by another grocery store, and right next door to that was a Family Dollar. We grabbed a mop there, and then grabbed some loss leaders from the grocery store. Back at home, we did Reading and Geography (Cape Verde today), and I started the dough for focaccia in the bread machine. And when my daughter went down for a nap, I did something that I've been dreaming of doing for ages:
DREAM BIG, KIDS!!!
After scrubbing, I threw together a salad for dinner and baked the focaccia with tomatoes from our garden. Ice cream was on sale this week, so we had some of that after we ate. I figured I had done enough work for the day and settled down with a book from my Goodreads To Read list after my daughter went to bed.
FRIDAY
My daughter was up super early today, so we gave my husband a ride to the train. Yard sales were fruitful this week. I picked up a jar of orange-scented hand soap, a bottle of Bath & Body Works lotion and a container full of beads (which I'll give to my mother for Christmas), a drinking cup with a hockey team logo (which I'll give to my hockey-obsessed son for Christmas), a sewing pattern for a child's apron (I'm hoping to make this for my daughter for Christmas), and a skein of yarn (since it was only ten cents, I grabbed it and will toss it into my stash for future use). At home, my daughter helped me prepare the tofu meatballs for dinner, and then we did Reading and Geography lessons (the Cayman Islands!). We dropped off my son at a friend's house and then my daughter and I made a Costco run. We're new to Costco this year and I had remembered to grab the coupons and gift card we'd gotten for joining, and so we came home with a three-pack of cleaning wipes, a pack of 72 AA batteries, and a pack of toilet paper, all at no cost out of pocket.
From there, we went to the library, where my daughter and I snuggled together and read Dr. Seuss's HOP ON POP and an adorable Mo Willems book called I Will Take a Nap. That night, I read a little of a book from my Goodreads To Read list, picked up my son, and watched an episode of Orange is the New Black with my husband.
SATURDAY
My daughter had gymnastics, so I read more of that Goodreads book. At home, I cleaned the kitchen and living room, then re-mopped part of the basement that still looked a little dusty and gross. I spent the rest of naptime organizing the bookshelves in the basement, which had become a disorganized mess and a place to shove things and run. When my daughter woke up, we went to my sister-in-law's house with the intention of taking the kids on a picnic, but thunder and lightning cancelled those plans, so we just let the kids play in the house. That night, I read more of my Goodreads book and watched two episodes of Orange is the New Black with my husband.
SUNDAY
Renaissance Faire day!
My husband and I have been visiting the Ren Faire together since we were first dating. It's a little bit of a different experience now that we have our daughter, much slower and not quite as long of a day, but it's still fun.
Despite the crowd, it really didn't feel crowded. How did it feel? HOT.
It's just not the Ren Faire without stopping to watch the joust.
And of course we had to stop and pet this, uh, Renaissance-y goat!
And since the Ren Faire is about a fifty minute drive from us, you know I didn't just sit there in the car.
Ta-da!
Finally finished! In case you're curious, the pattern I use is The Mitts from Bev's Country Cottage. I've made so many of these two-needle mittens. It's a super simple pattern, easy to follow and understand. I'm not a fancy knitter, so this one is perfect for me. These mittens will go into my Christmas gift stash. I have a list of knitting projects I want to make, so I'll pull that out in the next few days and figure out what I want to work on next. :)
Before dinner, my husband had to do some work in the yard, so my daughter and I settled down for a Reading and Geography lesson today (a quick virtual trip to the Central African Republic). After she went to bed, I read my book for a bit and then watched Orange Is the New Black with my husband.
And that was it! I'm *this* close to finishing the basement, something I honestly never thought I'd be able to say. I still need to organize my craft area, which shouldn't take too long, and I think I'm going to put my husband's containers in the crawlspace. After that, I'll write up a post about the basement so you can see the before and after...if you dare. The two befores I have are pretty bad!
Goodreads To Read list: 160 books
Mittens completed: 2
Laundry rooms fully cleaned and organized: 1
How was your week?
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