MONDAY
My daughter and I ran to the post office, and then we were off to hang out at a library in a nearby town. We have borrowing privileges there, but I didn't need anything; she just wanted to play in their amazing children's department, so while she did that, I read a book from my Goodreads To Read list. After lunchtime, I put some white beans in the Instant Pot and then went down to the basement to organize the crafting area (which consists of my shelves of fabric and patterns/sewing supplies, my knitting supplies, my crafting books, etc). I only organized; I didn't stop to look through what I had, although I really, really wanted to! I worked quickly and then went back upstairs to do dinner prep for Cajun pasta with white beans and kale (this is a huge favorite around here; my daughter has loved it since she was a baby. She used to pick all the kale out and eat only the kale!). Instead of using canned tomatoes, I chopped up a bunch of tomatoes from our garden, which felt pretty cool. :)
So, while I was organizing my craft area, I came across these.
Knitted things!
Knitted rectangles. Two black, two colorful. What are they?
Wristwarmers.
Wristwarmers that I knit up years ago.
And then never sewed the sides up.
*insert screaming here*
This is the exact reason I began this blog. This is a prime example of all the stupid things I've been starting and not finishing, that I've been letting sit around undone, just waiting for someone else to come along and go, "Huh, wonder why she never finished this while she was still alive." I don't want that; I don't want to be that kind of person anymore. I want to finish the things I start, to complete the projects I set out to do (in a timely manner, of course!). Honestly, when I dug these out of one of my knitting bags, I was kind of angry with the past me who let them sit there all this time.
Immediately after I finished with dinner, I sewed the first pair up.
Much better! This will go to my mom for Christmas, as they were originally supposed to be for her.
After my daughter woke up, we did Reading and Geography lessons (we went to Chad), and then I practiced the piano for a bit. After dinner, my 16 year old son came up to me and said, "Wanna go for a walk?"
When your 16 year old son asks you to hang out with him, you go. We walked 4.16 miles in about an hour and 15 minutes, and honestly, it was wonderful. It was nice spending time with him and talking, just the two of us. We're going to try to do this on a regular basis. :)
That night, I watched an episode of Orange Is the New Black with my husband, and...
So colorful! So FINISHED!!! These are mine. :)
TUESDAY
I started the laundry, then my son and I loaded the car again for the thrift store. We had a bit of time before the store opened, so I practiced the piano. Angel Eyes by Jim Brickman is really starting to sound good! I'm mostly at the point where I can play the whole way through; I just need to fine-tune a few areas, and then I'll be ready to move on to something new. I'm kind of looking forward to that!
We dropped our donation pile off at the thrift store and went in to look around, but they didn't have the book I was looking for, so we left without buying anything. Afterwards, we went and walked around a local mall, and, since it was my son's last day of summer vacation, I took the kids out to lunch, as is our tradition. We had a nice time together, even if my daughter was a little wild!
At home, I put some black beans in the Instant Pot and threw the laundry in the dryer. Normally, I hang it out to dry, but there wasn't going to be enough time to collect it that evening, as we had other plans. And finally, FINALLY, during my daughter's nap, I got some time to write (at a time when I wasn't exhausted and braindead, as I often am by the time my daughter goes to bed at night) and I blasted out 831 words, which felt BEYOND amazing!!! I threw together a quick dinner of beans and rice, and when my daughter woke up, we did Reading and Geography lessons (Chile today). I practiced the piano for a little bit, and after picking my husband up, my son and I went to a local school to hear a speaker. This man was a parent, one who lives in a neighboring town, and he lost his sixteen year old son twelve years ago to teenage drinking. My son is a pretty good kid; I've never had to worry about him getting into trouble or making stupid decisions about alcohol, but it never hurts to repeat the message. The man's story was utterly heartbreaking.
After we returned home, I gathered my son's school supplies, then I whipped up a batch of Universal Muffins from The Complete Tightwad Gazette (seriously one of the best recipes ever. I use it several times a month) for the kids' breakfast the next morning. I then sat down at wrote a little more, bringing my total for the day to 1047. YES!!!!!!!!!!!
WEDNESDAY
First day of school for my son!!! He's a junior this year. I was feeling bittersweet about the start of this year, because it's my daughter's last year before starting full-time school. Next year will be my son's last first day and her first first day. I spent the day singing Rod Stewart's Forever Young and randomly bursting into tears. I know, I know!!!
My daughter and I hit the road for groceries after breakfast. We stopped by three local grocery stores and also went into Walmart to buy new pillows. My neck and shoulders have really been bothering me lately (I thought, and my doctor did too, that my shoulder pain was related to rotator cuff issues. But apparently some of the pain I'm having resembles the symptoms of degenerative disc disease in the upper spine. I have it in the lower spine, so it's not out of the question that my upper discs are degenerating too, sigh), and since my pillows were in sad shape anyway, I was hoping new ones would help. At home, I put the groceries away, cut up fruit for fruit salad, and cut up some peppers for snacks. I put the chickpeas in the Instant Pot and wrote 525 words, then did dinner prep for BBQ Cheddar Chickpea Burgers, a green salad, and a tomato mozzarella salad (the tomatoes came from our garden, of course!). When my daughter woke up, we did her Reading and Geography lessons (China), and I practiced the piano. That evening, I cleaned the kitchen and watched the last episode of Orange Is the New Black with my husband.
THURSDAY
My daughter woke up early, so we drove my husband to the train. After breakfast, I cleaned the kitchen (again! Someone really needs to get on that whole self-cleaning kitchen thing) and swept the basement. My mom arrived just before 9, which made my daughter very happy. Grandma came to watch her so that I could go have my MRI done (insurance did approve it, so yay for that! Unyay for whatever my copay will be...). After that was done, my mom took us out for lunch and we stopped by the Dollar Store (I bought a plug for my kitchen sink). We walked around a local park in the late afternoon, where we found this beauty:
I know nothing about butterflies, but this is so pretty!
Everyone ate leftovers for dinner; I was still too full from lunch. My husband and I hung out with my daughter in the yard, and that's when we met another friend:
TOAD!!!
Do other people get this excited when they find a toad in their yard? I was super jazzed about it! We picked him up from near the compost and put him (her?) in by the tomatoes, where it was cool and damp. What a cute little garden buddy! We also picked our pumpkin, since the vine had detached, but here's a before picture:
Is it too early to decorate for Halloween?
I was pretty worn out that evening, so I did some research for my writing and went to bed early.
FRIDAY
Ugh.
I was *really* worn out this morning. I had breakfast with my daughter and then started feeling extremely tired, so I curled up with her on the couch and dozed a little while she watched The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That for an hour. We attempted to do her Reading lesson, but she was NOT having it. After deciding that it would be better to call it quits rather than argue with a four year old, I sent her off to play in her room while I rested on the couch, but my shoulder was so painful, even while I was icing it, and I was feeling so poorly that even trying to hold my book open was too much. I gave up, and after I put her down for her afternoon nap, I went to bed as well and slept for two and a half hours!!! I'm not a napper, so this is how you know I don't feel well. I don't know if I was fighting something off, or if this was just my body's way of telling me to slow down, but yikes. I picked my son up from a friend's house and ended up dozing on the couch again after dinner. My husband and I watched The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on Netflix, and then he very kindly rubbed my shoulder- part of it hurt so badly that his rubbing it made me cry. :(
SATURDAY
Still wasn't feeling great when I woke up, but it was off to my daughter's gymnastics class, where I read a book from my Goodreads To Read list. When we got home, I rested for a bit, then mowed the lawn, stopping in the middle to take a break. After I showered, we went to a local bookstore and then the Dollar Store next door (my husband needed something for a project he's working on; I bought a set of bobby pins), and then for dinner at the local pizza place several doors down. I'm not a huge fan of the place; if I'm going out to eat, I'd rather it be for something I can't make at home (such as Indian food. I make some curries here and there, but making Indian food is something I'd like to improve on). I finished a (fairly heavy) Goodreads book that night and went to bed early.
SUNDAY
My husband and I put our daughter in the stroller and walked 1.8 miles to Dunkin Donuts. She'd been asking if we could do that, and today was the day. It was warm out and I was pretty worn out by the time we got back. I ate my maple-frosted donut (I can't even remember the last time I had a donut, to be honest!) and then fell asleep on my chair for about an hour. Fortunately, when I woke up, I was finally feeling a little more back to normal, so hurray!
I cleaned the kitchen and living room, then shifted a few things around in the basement, which is FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll have another post up this week about it- you'll be amazed at the difference. I keep going down there and grinning. It's just SO. MUCH. BETTER. The space is usable now, which isn't something that could be said for the past 3.5 years we've lived here. The joy and relief I feel over this is indescribable, so keep your eyes peeled for that post.
My daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (Colombia!) and then we all went to visit family, where I worked on my knitted stripey blanket (have I posted about those here? I'm going to have to look...). We picked some more tomatoes at home...
So yeah, it's sauce day tomorrow...
And then I made more muffins for the kids' breakfasts.
My husband stole one already!!!
I'm going to put together a list of quick breakfasts. I'm planning on making some waffles and pancakes for the freezer, along with some breakfast sandwiches and breakfast burritos (those last two especially after the New Year, when my son has what's known as zero-hour gym class, which starts at 6:40 am and I'll have to drive him to school then, yikes! He'll need breakfast on the go). I'm trying to be better at being prepared with wholesome, filling homemade breakfasts and not have to buy cold cereal. I figure this is at least a good start. :)
So that was my week! I'm so thankful the basement is done; I'll have that post up in a few days, so be sure to check back. Now that I've tackled that project, I'm going to move on to reorganizing my closet, but I don't think that'll take *nearly* as long as the basement did, and I'm hoping that means I'll be able to devote a little more time to writing. *fingers crossed*
How was your week???
Goodreads To Read list: 157 books
Words written: 1572
Knitted projects finished: 2
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