Let's recap this week, shall we?
MONDAY
I tossed some white beans in the Instant Pot for dinner, and then spent plenty of time wrestling some of those garden tomatoes into the crockpot to make some tomato sauce.
They're off and ready to be cooked!
They simmered all day and smelled great. :)
My daughter and I settled down for Reading and Geography lessons (we learned about Comoros and Mayotte, neither of which I'd ever heard of before, so hurray for lifelong learning!), then got back up and ran to the Dollar Store for some containers for freezing the tomato sauce later on in the day. I practiced the piano while my daughter played with Play Doh on the floor behind me, and at naptime, I threw together some vegetable soup in the Instant Pot, then went down to the basement (I'm still so pleased with the basement!) and organized my boxes of yarn. I have two of them and they very much needed organization.
Like this tangle of yarn. GAH!!!
I separated full skeins of yarn (and almost-full skeins) from what was basically scrap yarn, untangled the tangly bits without wasting a single inch of yarn (which took some patience, let me tell you!), and dug through some other stuff that had inadvertently ended up in the box.
Like this.
I vaguely remember stitching this thing years ago. It's cute, isn't it? I'm going to have to hunt down a frame for it and then I'll iron it up and hang it in my kitchen. It's perfect, considering our overabundance of tomatoes this year. :)
After blending the tomatoes in the crockpot, my daughter and I went off to the library. We enjoyed our vegetable soup for dinner, and I accompanied my son as he practiced his driving. I froze the tomato sauce, dropped it off in our garage freezer, and then finished the evening by reading a book from my Goodreads To-Read list.
TUESDAY
I *finally* organized my closet and cleaned out my bedroom- my parts of it, at least (not touching my husband's stuff!). This was a bit of a tedious task, but I persevered, and my closet looks fantastic. Not only that, but I have another garbage bag full of clothes for the thrift store. I'm absolutely killing the decluttering game this summer! After I finished, my daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (we learned about the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and I cleaned the kitchen and the living room, and ran the dishwasher. During naptime, I made Pressure Cooker Penne Rigate Pasta (this stuff is RIDICULOUSLY good) and then made a huge batch of zucchini pancakes for my son's breakfasts (half went in the fridge, half in the freezer. He reports that these are really good). I swept and cleaned the living room floor, then tried to practice the piano, but my daughter decided to run back and forth through the living room repeatedly, and since she sounded like a herd of elephants and made it hard to keep time, I surrendered. ;) I cleaned the kitchen after dinner, practiced driving with my son, and went for a quick walk around the block with my husband and daughter. I collapsed, exhausted, with a book from my Goodreads To-Read list that night. :)
WEDNESDAY
I washed a load of laundry, then hung it to dry, and after that, my daughter and I went for groceries. We only had to go to two stores, but there was such a lot of traffic that it took WAY longer than normal. I rested during naptime, reading my Goodreads book, and then made a list of things I could make for my son's lunches (a friend is allergic to peanuts, so I'm doing everything I can to pack lunches that are both healthy for my son and safe for his friend to be around).
After dropping my husband off (I pick him up every night), my son and I went to go hear author Tim O'Brien speak. Tim O'Brien is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Things They Carried, about his experiences before, during, and after the Vietnam war. I'd finally read this the whole way through a few weeks ago, after reading parts of it in a college literature class ages ago and being intrigued by it. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to hear him speak, to listen to his insights about the book, about war, about writing. What an amazing opportunity this was. After we returned home, I finished a book from my Goodreads list.
THURSDAY
We started off the day visiting a local library that was having a book sale. I didn't see anything I needed there (wanted, maybe; needed, nope), so my daughter played in the children's department while I read a book from my Goodreads To-Read list.
For dinner, I made a stir-fry with a ton of veggies and Verisoy Beef Substitute. I'm vegetarian and love these things, but my husband, who eats everything that isn't nailed down, thinks these are AWESOME. Their texture is quite like the beef you get from a Chinese restaurant beef-and-peppers entree, and they take on the taste of whatever you cook them with. I usually cook them with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, salt, and pepper, and they're amazing. We're lucky enough to be able to find them locally at an Asian grocery, but if you're vegetarian or trying to eat less meat, these things are SUPER good and worth an order on Amazon if you can't get them near you.
I continued reading my Goodreads book, and when my daughter woke up, we did her Reading and Geography lessons (we virtually traveled to the Republic of the Congo- not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of the Congo; they're two separate countries). I practiced the piano, read more of my book, and after a delicious dinner, I picked my son up from his choir thing at school and dropped off two of his friends (they live fairly close to each other, and I never have problems giving kids rides. Other parents give my son rides all the time and I love being able to return the favor). Back home, I helped my son with his French homework, cleaned the kitchen, and relaxed with my book.
FRIDAY
The weather was gray, rainy, and gloriously cool this day! It felt like a hint of fall, even though I knew it wouldn't last. I cleaned the kitchen a little more, then settled in with some knitting.
So relaxing!
I know I've alluded to my stripey blankets before, but I'll try to get a post up about them soon. They're great stress-relievers, and a great way to use scrap yarn. I didn't have a whole lot of time to knit, because my mom arrived and we went out to a local place for brunch- my way of saying thanks for coming up, because afterwards, she stayed with my daughter while I went off to meet my new physical therapist.
I. Love. Her.
She's awesome. She absolutely knows her stuff. She's amazing with lower back problems, she's SUPER enthusiastic about what she does, she had some great insights into my pain, she found exactly what was hurting on me (my sacroiliac joint, which has given me trouble before, is one of those sore spots. And then she found my piriformis muscle and HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOY OWWWWWWWWW. I think I hate that thing more than any other body part. I had a few spots on my lower back, right side, that were sore, and she thinks my tailbone is causing some of the problems too. Not a surprise, since I think I broke that sucker when I was twelve), and she has a great, outgoing personality. I *really* felt comfortable with her (which is good, because if you clicked on those above links, you'll see that a lot of my pain stems from, well, my butt, so I really need to be comfortable with the person who's helping me to feel better!), and I'm looking forward to my pain levels improving in the next few weeks. Crossing my fingers!
At home, after my mom left, I spent the afternoon snuggling with my daughter. She missed her nap and was tired and cranky and needed some extra mama snuggles, so despite her crankiness, I relished the opportunity to snuggle. After she went to bed that evening (early, since she was exhausted), I started knitting a Christmas gift for my husband, which I found on Pinterest and pinned ages ago. I finished two of the five parts of it, so I was pretty happy about that.
SATURDAY
No gymnastics today, so we went to a local science surplus store. My husband picked up a few things he needed for a project (which ended up saving him a bunch of money, so yay for that!). By the time we got home, I wasn't feeling great (not sick, just exhausted. Maybe hormones? Who knows), so I lay down for quite a long time. We visited my sister in law for a bit, and I continued to work on my husband's Christmas present after my daughter went to bed (I'll post a picture of it when it's done, of course!).
SUNDAY
My niece had her birthday party; she turned three. They live about 2.5 hours away from us, so with traffic and stops and having to take a different route back because we also stopped to visit my cousin in the hospital, we spent over six hours in the car, where I finished a Goodreads book and started a library book NOT from my list. All the time in the car was NOT great for my back, but fortunately the discomfort was confined to the car ride, because once we were at home, I had stuff to do!
I sauteed zucchini and peppers in order to make the quiche from The Complete Tightwad Gazette, so my son can have a friend-safe lunch this week. I also made a batch of guacamole from on-sale avocados and tomatoes from our garden, and a batch of Bananadoodle cookies from bananas that were on their last legs.
Not pictured: the cookie already packed in my son's lunch.
These are a super yummy way to use up those mushy brown bananas when you're tired of banana bread. You can cut the sugar in the cookie recipe by half and it makes no difference in the flavor. Highly recommend these! After the kitchen was cleaned up, I ran the dishwasher and settled in for the night with my Goodreads book, too exhausted to think about knitting at all.
And that was my week! I'm pretty happy about getting my closet taken care of and continuing to keep up sending mostly homemade stuff (and stuff that's safe!) in my son's lunch. I have several lists of ideas, so hopefully they'll keep me motivated. I'm also feeling good about getting back into knitting again. I did the dishcloths this summer, but I'm moving into new patterns, ones I've never used before, so that makes it feel fresh and exciting.
And that was my week! I'm pretty happy about getting my closet taken care of and continuing to keep up sending mostly homemade stuff (and stuff that's safe!) in my son's lunch. I have several lists of ideas, so hopefully they'll keep me motivated. I'm also feeling good about getting back into knitting again. I did the dishcloths this summer, but I'm moving into new patterns, ones I've never used before, so that makes it feel fresh and exciting.
This upcoming week, I have three physical therapy visits, and my son's school has Back to School night for the parents on Thursday, so my schedule is already filling up! Nothing wrong with that. :)
How was your week?
How was your week?
Goodreads To Read list: 155 books
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Thanks for the link to the bananadoodle cookies. Once it cools down, I'll give them a try.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! They don't taste too banana-y. I'm not a huge fan of bananas, but these are just a little pleasant, soft pillow of deliciousness, and they stay soft, too, which I love. :)
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