Friday thoughts 9/28/2018

Brrrrr, the mornings are getting deliciously chilly here! It was 61 in the house when we woke up yesterday morning; it may be time to start closing the windows at night!

I hope you've been having a good week. Wednesday wasn't the greatest for me, but I'll get to that on Monday's recap. Let's discuss some interesting things I found this week!


*What Should I Read Next?*

It's been a while since I didn't know exactly what I'd be reading after I finished my current book, but maybe you aren't obsessively reading through your Goodreads Want to Read list and personal bookshelves. If you're looking for some book suggestions, What Should I Read Next? is pretty cool. Simply type in the name of a book or author that you enjoyed, and the site comes back with a list of suggestions. It also categorizes each book so that you can click on the category (for example, Biographies & Memoirs) and get suggestions specific to that category. How cool is that?

Now don't blame me when your Want to Read list explodes! (Or do, I'm okay with that.)


*Later School Start Times Will Help Students Get Needed Sleep. But They Aren't Enough.*

This hits close to home.

The science is pretty clear. Teenage brains are not adult brains (any parent could tell you this!), and they shouldn't be forced to act like adult brains. They need more sleep in order to mature and function at an optimal level. Unfortunately, for our own convenience, we're forcing kids into patterns that aren't healthy for them, and then we wonder why kids are so stressed out.

In order to fit in all the classes he needs, in January, my sixteen year old son will have to start waking up every morning at 5:45 am for a gym class that will start at 6:30 am (and I'll be driving him to school, because the bus doesn't come that early). He's very involved in the Fine Arts department, with choir, scenery for the theater, and ushering for all the shows, and there are days (like yesterday) where he goes to school and doesn't get home until after 9 pm. TYesterday, he had what was basically a fourteen-hour workday. I had similar experiences in high school, although mine were for different reasons. I'd wake up at 6 am, go to school, then head to work. I'd get home around 9:30 pm, shower, then eat dinner while doing two or three hours of homework. None of that is healthy for developing brains (it wasn't healthy for me back then, and I don't think it's healthy for my son now).

Trying to Be Perfect Is Killing Our Teens and We're to Blame is another great article along these lines. We're asking- demanding, in some cases- for more than they're ready for, and the outcomes are quite literally driving kids to suicide. As a parent with a kid in this age range, I see the effect on these kids, and something needs to give, because right now it's the kids' mental health, and that's not fair.

I'm glad to see some schools pushing back against the early start times. It's a start, but the hours of homework and demands of perfection need to be the subject of focus as well.


*Products Marked As "Lazy" or "Useless" Are Often Important Tools for People With Disabilities*

 This. Is. Important.

We've all seen those infomercial ads for products that help you squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube, featuring a seemingly normal person who picks up the tube of toothpaste, squeezes it with ridiculous force, and is super confused when the toothpaste squirts out everywhere but his toothbrush, or the person who is so incompetent, they can't do simple tasks like drinking a bottle of soda or dumping out their pasta into a strainer. They're fun to laugh at, because who's that incompetent?

The thing is, many of those products were initially invented for some subset of people with disabilities. That gadget that helps squeeze the toothpaste tube was probably initially meant for someone with crippling arthritis, who can't squeeze the tube themselves. Food choppers are easier to work than knives for people who struggle with fine motor issues (including people missing a hand or the fingers needed to grip a knife). Those Roomba-style vacuums make housekeeping a lot easier for those with mobility problems.

This topic comes up frequently in a Facebook group I'm in, one dedicated to frugality. Someone will post a link to a product and then mock it, usually stating something like, "No one needs this crap! It's not hard to (fill in the blank with the end goal of the process, like crack an egg or peel a banana)." And usually someone chimes in with, "Actually, I have one of these because I have (insert physical problem that makes the task impossible, difficult, or painful), and it's really helpful." About half the time, the original poster returns, saying, "Huh, I never thought of it that way, thanks for helping me to understand." Unfortunately, the other half of the time, the person who needs that product is completely dismissed, and the original poster and sometimes others go on mocking the product and anyone who needs it.

Don't be that person, okay?

In related news, I saw this at Aldi this week:

If you have back problems, you understand immediately the usefulness of this product. My back doesn't go out badly often, but when it's all the way out, shoes and socks are pretty much The Impossible Dream. Bending down for that is slow and intensely painful. There have been times in the past when it was literally impossible for me to put on shoes with laces (I have several pairs of Crocs. Yes, they're ugly. No, I don't care about that one bit. They're footwear I can put on myself when I'm having trouble walking- and you can't necessarily tell how much pain I'm in, even when it's at its worst, so when you see someone wearing Crocs? Don't judge). I didn't purchase this item, but I admit that I was tempted, because it's really not fun to have to ask your husband or kid to help you put your socks on.

So next time you see one of those products on TV or in a store that seems to have no purpose, try to think about whom that product would best serve. Oftentimes, it's someone with a disability.


*Walgreens Making EpiPen Equivalent Available At No Cost To Many*

This has nothing to do with me; we're fortunate that no one in this family has life-threatening allergies (yet; I am aware that a serious allergy can crop up at any time). But I saw this the other day and figured I would pass it along, because this is so, so important. I know that so many people have struggled to afford the EpiPens that would save their or their child's life in the past few years. If you don't benefit from this article, share it anyway, because it could quite literally save someone's life. It's that important.


*Tom Hanks Rocks a Red Sweater in First Photo From Mister Rogers Movie*

I.

Am.

Here.

For.

This.

I adore Mister Rogers. I always have. I love his gentle spirit, his uplifting words, his reminder that we're all likable just the way we are, that we're all deserving of love, even as we grow and change to become our best selves. It seems like there's a Mister Rogers revival lately, and I can't possibly love this more. The world desperately needs more of his brand of lovingkindness, and I truly hope this movie helps to spread that.

I don't know if I'll make it to the theaters to see this- I haven't been to the theater to see a movie since...um...well, it was before I was pregnant with my daughter, and she's 4.5 now, soooooo it's been a while. But I WILL be seeing this at some point. Bring on ALL the Mister Rogers!


And there we have it, folks! I hope you're able to enjoy the weekend; mine is already packed full of plans, including a church rummage sale, a college visit with my son, and a parade with my kids and mother. It's going to be another weekend of zero rest for me, but it seems like that's just how it rolls around here.

What have you seen online this week that piqued your interest?

Weekly recap 9/24/2018

Whew! After the weekend I had, I need another weekend to relax from my weekend.

I don't think that's going to happen, though. And I've got a ridiculously busy week ahead of me. Maybe I'll just start going to bed after I put my daughter to bed hahahahahahahahaha, that won't happen either! Way too much to do.

Let's recap the week, shall we?


MONDAY

Early in the morning, I unloaded the dishwasher and started a loaf of French bread (this is my favorite recipe so far; it consistently turns out a great loaf of bread for me). I cleaned the living room, then my daughter and I settled down for her Reading and Geography lessons (a virtual trip to Dominica). I did a brief bit of piano practice, then threw together a lunch of English muffin pizzas, made with leftover spaghetti sauce from our garden tomatoes from dinner the night before.

During naptime, I started dinner, which was a pot of Potato Cauliflower soup (the next time I make this, I'll try to get a recipe up; it's one of my favorite soups ever, so simple and yet so lovely).

Soup to the left, bread to the right. 

After I finished dinner prep, I scrubbed out the bathtub, which made my back hurt. Not a surprise, but it didn't make me happy, either. I tossed the bread in the oven, then scooped up the rest of the cherry tomatoes I had dehydrated over the weekend and tossed them in an old salsa jar.

These things are RIDICULOUSLY good.

I finished work on my husband's Christmas gift, a knitted anatomically correct heart, then began work on a knitted Christmas gift for my daughter. I tidied the kitchen, picked my husband up, dropped my son off, ate dinner, then picked my son up again. After putting my daughter to bed, I did my PT exercises, then did a bit more work on my daughter's Christmas gift (but had to pull a lot; the yarn I'm working with isn't much fun).

Phew!

TUESDAY

After doing morning kitchen clean up, I loaded the dishwasher, ran it, then later on unloaded it and ran it again. Some days are like that! I started laundry that included my daughter's bedding, then dropped my daughter off for her first day of preschool (year two! She'll go to full-day kindergarten next year). She was excited about going, but was a little apprehensive when we got there. She did okay, though. :)

At home, I switched the laundry, and as I carried a load of my husband's clean laundry into the bedroom, I walked two steps into the room, stopped, sniffed, and said, "Okay, where is it?"

Cat puke, and the answer was under the bed. Ah, the joys of having a great sense of smell! Fortunately, my cat was polite enough to vomit on a sock that had made its way under the bed, so the mess was easily cleaned up and the sock went into the wash after being shaken off over the trash.

Barfy cat, you're lucky you're so cute. <3

My husband was home for my daughter's first day of preschool, so I left for physical therapy and he left to go pick her up. At PT, they made all my exercises harder, adding weights to my ankles to build up muscle strength. (I didn't do my PT exercises at home on this day, since I was REALLY tired from this and kind of sore.)

After PT, I ate lunch at home, and we took my daughter out for ice cream like we had promised her. She was full of stories about school and we had a really nice time. I napped during her nap time (told you PT wore me out!), then picked my son up, and we went out to dinner together as a family at a local Chinese restaurant (my daughter's choice). I read a book from my Goodreads Want to Read list that evening.

WEDNESDAY

These are busy days for me now that my daughter is back in school. After getting ready, we did her Reading and Geography lesson (travelling virtually to the Dominican Republic). I threw some beans into the Instant Pot, then dropped my daughter off at preschool.

I got gas for the car, then ran to Aldi to do my grocery shopping there. They had two surprises for me this week- canning jars for $5.99 (!!!! I almost fell over when I read my receipt) and a cast iron skillet for $12.99. I got rid of three disgusting pans this year and have been trying to figure out what to do about a new one. When I saw this on sale, I figured it was a sign. I still have to learn how to season and clean it, since I've never owned cast iron anything before, but I'm pretty excited! I came home to put away the groceries and started up the dryer (with the bedding from the day before, whoops!), then drove back to school to pick my daughter up.

From there, we headed for our two other grocery stops. We picked up four packages of cheese ends for various prices, butternut squash (3lbs for $1; I have five squash on my kitchen table, waiting for me to have time for them), four pounds of lentils for $6.09 (NOT a great price, but lentil prices have been up around here since they had a bad crop last year, and my stash was running low), pink beans (which I've never had before, but at 80 cents a pound, I'm happy to try), and garam masala.

I was really excited to find this!

In the past, a single small bottle of garam masala would have cost this, but I opened the bag and dumped it into another empty salsa jar and I *still* have half a bag left, so I won't need to buy this again for a long, long time. :)

Our ground squirrel friend was there to greet us when we returned home!

After putting the groceries away at home, my daughter and I had lunch, then I put her down for a nap. While she slept, I made black bean burgers (I had a package of mushrooms that I cooked and added to the mushed up beans; it gives the burgers a more savory flavor), made some guacamole, cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, and did my basement chores (which involve refilling our Air Washer with water and scooping the litterbox. I don't usually mention these, but they're part of what I do every two days, so feel free to mentally add that in there every other day!). 

I picked my son up from school (he's on scenery for the fall musical), picked my husband up, cleaned the kitchen, did my PT exercises, and, to finish off the day, I finished a book from my Goodreads Want to Read list.

PHEW! Seriously, days like these earn me some sort of vacation points, right?

THURSDAY

All we had time for this morning was a Reading lesson, no Geography. I dropped my daughter off at school, then ran to the bank to take out money, switch that money to different bills, and cash a check. I then drove back home (all the way across town) to change my clothes and give my car keys to my mom, who left at the same time I did to pick my daughter up from school while I went to physical therapy (which is located about two or three minutes from the bank, but that's how these things work some days). 

My daughter put a wig on the cat while I was gone. Because of course she did.

OOF.

It was one of THOSE days. The exercises I did felt fine, but I'd been having weird not-quite-full-spasms-but-almost-spasms in this muscle in the middle of my right side. I worked with the other female therapist, who got my on the table and was immediately able to pinpoint exactly where it hurt because that spot was all red- apparently, I'd been rubbing it all morning, which I didn't realize until she pointed it out. She started massaging the muscle out, and it turned out that it hurt from my pelvis all the way up to the top of my shoulder (and it REALLY REALLY REALLY hurt up there). I have a really high pain tolerance, and this was...intense. After I got home, my mom left and I put my daughter down for a nap, and then I crawled into bed. I passed out immediately, slept like the dead, and woke up two hours later.

Yikes. Told you it was an intense PT session. :(

I picked my husband up, then went to a meeting for the music department at my son's school. At home, I cleaned the kitchen, then spent the rest of the night reading a book from my Goodreads Want to Read list. No PT exercises tonight, as I was in far too much pain from that stupid painful spasmy muscle (which I'm going to blame on the weather change we were experiencing at this point. Massive changes in temperature and pressure wreak absolute havoc on my pain levels, and we had about a twenty degree drop between Thursday and Friday). I took a Celebrex before I went to bed.

FRIDAY

I ran the dishwasher, then my daughter and I ran to Walmart for cat food and litter, then ran to Walgreens, where I used a $2 off coupon to purchase a pretty shade of lipstick for 58 cents (the cashier laughed when he rang it up, since it was the only thing I bought). We then made a trip to our local library, since my daughter had been begging to go play there.

We love our library!

I finished a Goodreads book while we were there. At home, I prepared Vegan Cabbage Roll Soup (subbing rice for quinoa as usual; my daughter LOVES this soup), cleaned the kitchen, and then we picked my son up. We tried to do my daughter's Reading lesson but it didn't happen; she was in a mood and her behavior was less than stellar, so I gave up and read a library book while she played. That evening, I did my PT exercises and my husband and I watched Get Smart on Netflix.

SATURDAY

Saturday mornings mean kid gymnastics, so we did that. I was happy to see that my daughter's friend from last year's preschool class is in another gymnastics class at the same time, so I was able to chat with her mom for a bit (we're going to try to set up another park playdate before the weather gets too cold; my daughter and hers play really well together and have similar behavioral issues at home, so her mom and I can commiserate!) before settling down with a Goodreads book (the classes are observable, but you have to stand if you want to see them and seating is limited. Standing is still something that's not totally easy for me, as I found out on Sunday- although that's getting better!- so I grab a seat as soon as I can when we get there).

During my daughter's nap,  I picked up three Goodreads books from my library's interlibrary loan (ones I'm really excited about reading, too!), then ran to a thrift store in the next town over, where a completely random guy told me all about his vintage Playboy collection. Some of them even have double-sided centerfolds!

Which is totally a thing I didn't need to know, so thanks for that, random dude who also let me know that he lived right by the store.

Ugh.

After THAT fun encounter (I bought my daughter some easy reader books and a few books for Christmas), I dropped a book off at that town's library and came home to complete my 1000th day of Duolingo. We met up with my sister-in-law and her son at a park and let the kids play for a bit, then had dinner together at her house. I would have had pictures of some of the lovely landscaping at the park, but my phone decided to stop working when we got in the car. I was puzzled. It had worked totally fine all day, and I was a bit concerned about getting a new phone and thus access to my pictures (which are backed up) for Monday's post, but fortunately, after the park, I yanked the battery out and put it back in and the phone came back to life.

Technology, amirite???

At home, I did my PT exercises before picking up my son and going to sleep.

SUNDAY

A somewhat impromptu trip to an apple orchard! 

This was something we did last year as well. My daughter was obsessed with the idea of apple picking, so my husband had found a local place and we went picking. The apples we got last year were wonderful, but unfortunately, we witnessed some pretty overt racism from the people in charge there toward the family in front of us while we waited to pay, and when my husband was looking at that orchard's Facebook page this year, he saw a review from another customer of a different ethnic background, reporting similar treatment to what we'd witnessed the year before, and that was all we needed to hear to ensure we didn't want to give them any more of our money. My husband asked around at work and learned of a new place to go, and we arrived there about a half hour after they opened.

I now have I-don't-know-how-many-pounds of apples in my kitchen! It's a lot. We'll eat them for a few weeks, and then I'll figure out what I want to do with them. Last year, I made a bunch of jars of apple pie jam and apple butter. I haven't checked yet, but I think I still have quite a few jars of apple pie jam left (plus I have quite a few jars of strawberry freezer preserves and four jars of dandelion jelly that I canned this summer), so I'm thinking I might can some apple pie filling this year. If anyone has any recommendations, either of apple pie filling recipes for canning or other things you like to make with large amounts of apples, I'd love to hear it!

There was a petting zoo, a train ride for kids, food trucks and stands, it was a pretty busy place with people from all walks of life (and we didn't witness any racism this year, which was a plus). It was farther away than the last place, though, but it was definitely a nice day out, and I got to read my library book in the car.

When we got home, my husband took my daughter a local park she'd been wanting to visit, and I mowed the lawn (I made it through about...eh, not quite half the lawn before it started hurting, so that's definitely an improvement!), then came inside and made Cinnamon Apple Waffles for my son's breakfasts. I had some leftover apples from that, so I used those in making a batch of apple muffins with the universal muffin recipe from The Complete Tightwad Gazette. (Somewhere in there I managed to eat dinner and give my daughter a bath!). After putting my daughter to bed, I did my PT exercises and read my library book.   

So that was my week! This week is another busy one. Two PT appointments, a parade in my mom's town on Sunday, and my son has a choir show on Thursday (my mom is coming up for that, but not until almost show time, and since I have PT early in the morning on Friday, she's staying the night on Thursday, so I'll need to wash the blankets on the couch). No rest for the wicked, eh?

What have you been up to this week?

Goodreads Want to Read list: 149 books

Day 1000! Give it up for Day 1000!

Today is a day a thousand days in the making.

I've talked before here about my love of language learning. I took all four years of Spanish in high school, and because of a schedule change at my school, I was able to cram in all four years of French and a year of German (all they offered, or I would've taken more) as well. I got straight A's in all of them, if anyone's thinking, "Didn't you get them confused?" My Spanish is rusty these days; I understand it much better than I can speak itbut I keep up with my French, which is easy because we're a French/English family (husband is from Belgium and speaks French with our daughter). And then, when my daughter was very young and not sleeping and I was going out of my mind (literally) with exhaustion and sleep deprivation, I began to learn Norwegian.

As one does.

My grandmother's grandparents came from Norway, from a farm north of Bergen on the western side of Norway. I'd grown up hearing family members wax poetic about our Norwegian heritage, telling stories of the ancestors who came over here- including the ones who ended up wishing they had stayed- and the things they did when they got here. Holidays were filled with kringla, lefse, talks of lutefisk (apparently my grandfather was indeed a fan), and herring in cream sauce, and I grew up admiring Norwegian rosemåling. You know, the normal stuff for a kid of Norwegian descent.

With my love of languages, I'd always wanted to learn Norwegian, but when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's, the resources weren't there. Like, at all. Never once did I see any kind of book that taught Norwegian in the foreign language section of any bookstore or library (and I always, always checked that section out in every bookstore I ever went to!). I would have snapped that book up SO fast. I did stumble upon a Norwegian Bible in a thrift store when I was about 25 years old (for a quarter. A QUARTER. Do you have any idea how expensive books are in Norway? WAY MORE THAN A QUARTER. Had anyone tried to take that Bible away from me, I might have actually bitten them), and that was my first book, but I had no way to read it.

Until I learned about Duolingo.

When I learned about Duolingo, they had only recently released their Norwegian course. I was in the throes of extreme sleep deprivation with my daughter, and it had hit all parts of me really, really hard. I was crying all the time and losing patience extremely quickly, I was eating large amounts (apparently this is a thing; when your brain isn't getting the sleep it needs, it tries to make up for it by taking in extra food. I only learned that later, but it made me feel better about my dietary habits back then), my body ached all over at all times, and I couldn't focus on anything, especially not books. That last one really upset me, because reading is my lifeline, and to not be able to do it made me feel even less like myself than I already did. So when I learned that Duolingo offered a Norwegian course, I sat on the info for a bit, wondering if I could even manage it with my worn-out brain. After a bit, I decided to go for it. "Why not?" I thought. "I always said if I got the chance..."

And I took that chance and ran with it.

If you can't read the writing in the circle, it says '1000 day streak.' That's 1000 days of reading, writing, listening, learning. 1000 days of studying the language of my ancestors, of listening to the radio and watching TV. Oh yes, you can watch TV programs in Norwegian in the US. Obviously everything that's available in Norway isn't available here, but there are definitely things to watch. SKAM was phenomenal (so much so that they've made an American version as a webseries; I saw the first episode and...it wasn't actually terrible. If I get time, I'll watch the rest). Karl Johan is brilliant and hillariously funny. It's a comedy show, and I even made my family watch a few scenes (I translated for them) and they enjoyed it as well. Both shows are available with subtitles; I keep them on when I watch but focus on hearing what is being said, and I notice a HUGE uptick in my understanding of the radio when I do that. It's a technique I recommended to my English language learner when I was tutoring English as a second language, because it helps THAT much. 

The amount of pride I feel in being able to understand the language that my great-great grandparents spoke isn't something I can put into words. It's something I never thought I'd get the chance to do, something I wasn't even sure I could do when I started, but I did it, I kept at it and followed through and I plan to keep at it in the future as well. Norwegian is an absolutely beautiful language- when I first started learning, I actually didn't know what it would sound like. I'd seen it (that twenty-five cent Bible, remember), but I'd never actually heard it spoken, and when I finally heard it, I stared at my iPad (which was playing a Norwegian language radio station) in absolute wonder, because it sounded so beautiful to me. It still does after a thousand days.

 1000 again, right up top. :D

The screenshots come from the app on my phone, but if you're starting out with Duolingo, use the computer. It's harder that way, more comprehensive, and they make you write out full sentences and not just choose words from a word box. The app is easier, but you have to consider what you want more: for things to be easy, or to really and truly learn? I've completed the Norwegian course, but I still keep up with using it, and I'm going to get through those books in that first picture (I've already gone through about half of one of them, and I can read all the stuff in the back of the book- go me!- so Duolingo gives a great start on the language, although I wouldn't recommend that it be your sole resource for it). I have a decent grasp on how the language works, but I'm definitely interested in expanding my knowledge and my vocabulary, and improving my grammar.

And in case you're wondering (because of course you are!), yes, I do listen to Norwegian music! (You were definitely wondering that, weren't you?) I've had Bare Min by Morgan Sulele as my ringtone for ages now; the song is just so happy-sounding (a lot of his songs have that super upbeat vibe to it, which always puts me in a good mood). Innertier, Katastrofe, and Robin og Bugge are other Norwegian artists that I've discovered during my language-learning journey.

So there we go! Happy 1000 Days of Learning to me. I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment. :)

Friday thoughts 9/21/2018

*yawn* It's Friday! *yawn*

*yawn*

Busy week around here. I haven't had a ton of time to spend online, either, so this is one of those light weeks. As I write this, it's 6:14 am, it's still dark out, and I'm sitting in the living room with my coffee, desperately wishing I could go back to sleep. But my daughter will be up soon and there's no sleep involved when she's awake, so let's get this started!


*Food Storage and Disaster Preparedness in Alaska (An Import's Perspective)*

I'll admit to a fascination with Alaska. It seems so different than living in the lower 48 and has a history all its own (if you enjoy really long historical fiction, James Michener's Alaska is phenomenal, as is Hawaii. Don't let the brick-like sizes of these books put you off, because they're amazing. I've loved everything I've ever read from him, and I have two or three more of his books waiting for me on my own shelves). I'm a sucker for reading things that show me a different perspective on life, for things that open up new worlds and new ways of going about things, and that's why Erika's post over at The Make Do Homemaker fascinated me so much.

This is a great blog in general, one that really inspired me to start blogging. She meets her challenges with grace and optimism, and she's always got a ton of projects going. This particular post is about the difficulties of putting together a well-stocked pantry while living in Alaska. High prices, poor quality produce, the animals that want to eat and/or trample your garden, shipping challenges... There's a LOT that Erika has to consider, and I found this glimpse into her life really interesting. And if you don't already follow her, you should; she's inspiring and I adore her blog. :)


*The Power of Custard*

This is a really lovely blog post from Emma over at A Simple Living Journey about a seemingly inconsequential recipe for custard that changed her whole life.

Which seems kind of funny, when you think about it, but we all have those moments. A random stroll through the library or bookstore where a book that changes everything catches our eye. A conversation with a stranger that starts us thinking, and years later we've made major changes to our lives based on that. An offhand remark by a friend or family member that turns us into a completely different person. I've had many of those moments; one was a thoughtful email from a friend which included the line, "You deserve better," that made me think that yes, maybe I did; another was a doctor's appointment five years ago, when the nurse practitioner frowned at my bloodwork and informed me that my cholesterol was dangerously high (which felt like a failure to me. How had I let that happen? I started cooking much, much healthier, and exercising, and it dropped 80 points in three months, but because I was cooking all the things, like Emma, I started wondering what else I could make for myself as well, and suddenly I was making all my own cleaning supplies, I had a cleaning schedule, I started sewing clothing and aprons, etc).

This post really resonated with me, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



*Instant Pot Is Launching A Vitamix Blender Competitor*

This caught my eye immediately the other day.

I've mentioned using my Instant Pot many times around here (and I'll be using it tonight as well!). It's worth it alone for how much it saves on cooking dry beans (versus using canned). It's so nice to be able to throw food in there and walk away, to not have to watch or stir or keep track of when I have to do something else to it. Just dump, set the controls, put the lid on, and run away to work on some other project. My only regret is that I didn't know about the Instant Pot sooner; this would have saved me so much grief and stress when my daughter was little and basically spent all of my cooking time destroying the kitchen and hunting for ways to destroy herself (like when I turned around and she was standing on top of the kitchen table!).

And I've long coveted a Vitamix. Husband and I came across a demonstration of the product at Whole Foods years ago, where the seller served us the creamiest of smoothies and hot soup prepared right in the blender. I was fascinated. And after following so many food bloggers who raved about the usefulness and versatility of the Vitamix (and eating so much homemade hummus that could definitely have stood to be creamier, but my food processor just isn't up to the task), the Vitamix went on my usually vacant 'Stuff I Want to Own' list.

But that price.

Oof.

So the fact that Instant Pot is making a high powered blender intrigued me. The price- $99- is much lower than the several hundred dollar price tag the Vitamix usually sports. I've always wanted to try making my own nut/oat milks, and this Instant Pot blender can do that. It heats- with a heating element, though, and not with friction like the Vitamix- so you can make soup and purees things with the apparent power of the Vitamix. I'm intrigued. Very much so.

I'm looking forward to reading some blogger reviews on this gagdet. The reviews on Walmart.com (it'll be available exclusively at Walmart, apparently) are unanimously positive, so I'm going to be keeping an eye out on this. If you have one and love it, I'd LOVE to hear your experiences with it, so I know exactly how much to want one. ;)



And that's all I have this week! Like I said, not much time to sit around and browse the internet. Yesterday was kind of a bad day pain-wise, and I'm pretty sore so far this morning. I don't know if it's just my back being a jerk, or if it's because of the weather. Yesterday was 90 degrees here; today, the high is 73, and I've had overwhelming confirmation in the past that massive changes in both temperature and pressure are bad, bad, bad for my back. I'd like to be able to take it easy, but I've got SO much that needs to get done, so I'll just be thankful that the Celebrex I took last night seems to be helping at least a little.

What's been on your mind this week?






*post contains affiliate links

Completed: Heart (a knitting project)

Husbands are so difficult to buy for, aren't they?

Okay, maybe yours isn't, but mine kind of is. He always says he doesn't need anything (which, truth be told, he usually doesn't), and he feels uncomfortable with people giving him things. He likes tools to fix stuff around the house, but I have zero clue how to buy those (and since he doesn't exactly have a system to store things, I'm not entirely sure of what he does and doesn't have). It's rare that I find things at yard sales that I know 100% he can use, and while he likes funny t-shirts, his dresser drawers are stuffed FULL of them.

So that makes buying him stuff for Christmas (and his birthday, which is RIGHT after Christmas) a little challenging. He's a scientist, though, so all things science-related are always acceptable as a gift, which is why I knitted him strep throat. He'll get a kick out of that.

But I wanted to make him something else, too. Something that said 'I love you' but also 'I honor your inner (and outer) nerdy scientist.' Something that he could look at and know that I think he's fantastic and also my favorite geek in the whole world.

What better fits all of that than...

An anatomical heart!

No, really, an anatomical heart!

How cool is THAT??? 

I wish you could all feel it. It's got a bit of heft to it for being just yarn and fiberfill. It's about the size of my entire hand, probably fairly close to what a human heart would be (which makes it a bit weird to hold! Not that I've ever held a human heart before. A human brain, yes, thanks to a science event we went to back in Tennessee, but never a human heart). It's pretty solid, not at all squishy, and I'm ridiculously proud of it. 

Look at the valves!!! So, so cool.

Part of what my husband studies involves heart disease, so this is definitely an appropriate gift.

I used the Heart pattern from Knitty, and I knit it up in some scrap yarn I'd ordered from Knitpicks years ago to make some winter headbands for family members for Christmas. There was just enough to finish this; I probably have five or six yards left, so that was lucky.

The pattern is really well-written and easy to follow. I had to backtrack and rip a bunch of things out, but that's on me, not the pattern. As I mentioned in previous posts, I'm just kind of getting back into knitting after a years-long hiatus after having my daughter. I was never a very fancy knitter; I didn't do a ton of complicated things in the past and tended to shy away from patterns that looked too hard. That said, I had pinned this pattern years and years ago, thinking it looked pretty awesome, and then, like so many other pins, never did anything about it. And since I'm trying to change that aspect of my personality, this went on the needles after I finished with strep throat. I've got another project in the queue that will require me to learn some new knitting skills, so...eep. I'm a little nervous about that.

Knitting the heart was a little fussier than I expected, though. It's knit up on ridiculously tiny needles, and due to the shape of the heart (anyone else hearing Jackson Browne in their heads right now? Just me?), you kind of have to twist and push and move the needles around to get to the next stitch in certain spots. It made that knitting slow going and a bit painful to my fingertips. Binding off was an exercise in not screaming, at the yarn for having so little give, at the stitches for being so tiny, and at the needles for constantly stabbing into my fingers. 

So all in all, despite the challenges of sharp, finger-poking needles and tiny stitches that I felt like I needed to contort myself to get to from time to time, I'm absolutely thrilled with how this turned out. My husband is going to LOVE this. He has a collection of toys on display at his desk at work, and I'm assuming that that's where this will end up as well (since, again, they study heart-related things there). And if it does, I'll be pretty proud to have it on display- but if not, I'm happy with whatever he decides to do with it. My heart is his, after all. ;)

Are you working on anything fun?

Weekly Recap 9/17/2018

Why why WHYYYYYYYYYY is it this hot again??? Where did my nice cool temperatures go? We've got the air conditioning on again, so that means the house is all closed up. Boo.

I shouldn't complain. So many more people are suffering the effects of Hurricane Florence. The reports and pictures are just devastating. My heart goes out to everyone in its path; may your recovery be swift and your spirits be strong.

As I mentioned in my last post, technology failed me this week. My computer decided to eat the document where I keep track of my daily activities, so I'm just going to do a broad recap of what went on, using nothing but my memory (EEP!), so bear with me! It may happen that I have to send my computer in to be fixed, so if I disappear for a bit, that's where I'll be. ;)


COOKING

It's been a good week on the food front here. I made Cajun pasta with white beans and kale, Samosa wraps, beans and rice, and I cooked an entire chicken in the crockpot for my husband and kids (I don't eat meat, so that was all for them). I was pretty proud of that; I had it in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots by 7 am. It cooked all day and everyone enjoyed it (especially my husband! I had leftover pasta that night. The Cajun pasta is actually better as a leftover, since it gives it time for the flavors to blend together). I also baked a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for my son's lunches and for us to have around. They were pretty good. Not the best cookie ever, but decent.

Sunday was a kitchen day. I got our remaining cherry tomatoes in the dehydrator. I made a pan of cinnamon roll baked oatmeal for my son's breakfasts before school (next year it'll be for both kids, but my daughter doesn't go to preschool until later, so I'm more awake to actually make her something!),  I used the leftover beans and rice and Samosa filling to make wraps for my son's lunches (18 wraps are now in the freezer!), I scooped out two huge containers of kiwis I bought on huge markdown and ran them through the food processor to freeze for smoothies, I made a batch of bananadoodles for lunches and snacks, and I threw together a mushroom and tomato pizza for dinner. PHEW!


CLEANING

Nothing major on the cleaning front, no major projects going on there, but I *have* managed to keep the kitchen looking 100% clean for an entire week now. I've been following Flylady's 'shine your sink every night' rule. I clean the sink out, then toss the rag into the wash, and the sink has been empty at night- and clean!- all week. I'm pretty happy about that.


DRESSING NICER

As I discussed in my last post, I've been trying to dress a little nicer this week. It's helped me feel not so schlumpy. My husband has complimented my clothing several times, which I've appreciated. It's been kind of fun, and I think it's something I'll keep up. Maybe not every single day, but more often.

I did it again yesterday.

Thrift store skirt, again. :)

My daughter loved the skirt. The shirt is something I wore for the first time at a dinner back in college, which my husband (who was at the time and would remain for years just a friend) attended as well. He remembered the shirt from all the way back then. I have to say, it's held up well and is in great condition for being twenty years old! Frugality at its finest right there. ;) 

PHYSICAL THERAPY

It's going well. My strength is improving, which is a good thing (and it SHOULD; I do 40 minutes of exercises every night!!!). I'm definitely in less pain overall, though the area to the right of my tailbone is still kind of awful, and the muscles around my right hip still hurt all the time. It's definitely a lot better than it was, and honestly, it's still pretty weird to be able to do things like walk up stairs without having to use the railing to shove myself up. There have been times when I don't even have to use the railing at all, so I can absolutely see improvement!

KNITTING

I'm still working on the second gift I'm making for my husband for Christmas; that should be finished sometime this week, and I'll make a post about it when I'm done.

I do have something complimentary to say about a yarn company. Earlier this summer, I knitted a pair of mittens for my mother for Christmas using Malabrigo Rios yarn in English Rose. 

Remember these?

The yarn kept...trailing off. Stopping. Ending. Probably about ten times throughout the first mitten. It was kind of a pain, especially at the end when I had all those extra little ends flapping around. It was the first time I'd ever worked with Malabrigo yarn, and it wasn't cheap, so I emailed the company and asked if that was the norm for their yarns. Apparently it's not, and not only were they extremely apologetic, but they asked for my address to send some replacement yarn. It arrived yesterday, and I was shocked, because...

Twice as much as I was expecting!

Not only did they send a replacement for the Rios in English Rose, they included a skein of Mecha in Volcan as well. Isn't that gorgeous??? I gasped when I opened the package. What a lovely surprise!

So if you ever use Malabrigo or are considering it, not only are their yarns gorgeous, their customer service is 10/10 and exceeded my expectations. Now my only problem is trying to figure out what I'm going to make with all this gorgeousness! :)

BURNING THINGS

No, no, I'm actually serious.

Fire!!!

We're slowly getting to the end of burning what was our apple tree (*sniff*. If you're just joining me, we had to cut the tree down this summer, as it had been taken down by insects and the trunk was hollowed out in several places and wasn't healthy at all. We got zero good apples the past two years, so it was past time). So we've been slowly toasting the tree down in our fire pit. It burned for four straight days this week. I'll be glad when this is done!

INSECTS

It's been a week for pests around here. There was the mouse we caught in our basement (no picture; you're welcome), the disgusting bugs that crawled out of the logs from the apple tree and then sizzled on the fire, and the following:

Backyard grasshopper; aren't those markings on its back leg neat?

Hard to tell, but this was a HUGE spider at the library! Nice carpet, too.

Ladybugs love my daughter! This is the second one that landed on her this week.

READING

This hasn't been a great week for reading; I've just been too busy doing other things. But I did finish one book from my own shelves and one from my Goodreads Want To Read list, bringing my total of books on that list down to 151. Still far too high, but I have a stack of books waiting for me to finally sit down and get busy, so now I just have to quit doing all the other things. ;)

WRITING

I did manage to blast out a bit of writing this week, putting the total word count of my latest...thing...over 10,000 words. I'll write more about that sometime this week.

PIANO

I managed to sneak in a little practice time here and there this week. I think I'm moving on from Angel Eyes, finally; I think I've gone as far as I can go with that piece, and next up is another Jim Brickman song, this time in conjunction with Michael W. Smith, Love of My Life. This song was played at my wedding, so it's special to me. I'm able to get through the first page with zero problems as long as I'm playing slowly, so we'll see how it goes from there.

So that's about it! This week is shaping up to be similar, with two PT appointments, a party for my son's school music department on Thursday, and my daughter's first day of her second year of preschool on Tuesday. My husband is taking the day off for that; we'll drop her off together, and then I'll have to run to PT, which starts soon after. He'll pick her up while I'm still getting my back pounded into shape and then we'll all have lunch together to celebrate her going back to school. She's SO excited; she loved being there last year and is really looking forward to going back. :)

How was your week???

Friday thoughts 9//14/2018

I am extremely ready for the weekend. How ready?

Yesterday, I put the potatoes in the Instant Pot. I sat down on the chair when they had 13 minutes left to cook, 13 minutes before the Instant Pot would beep.

Then I fell asleep.

That's how ready I am.

So happy Friday, everyone! Hopefully you have a weekend full of rest, relaxation, fun, or whatever it is you need. Here's a few of the things I found interesting this week.

*Declutter Kitchen Table: Hall of Fame*

I will readily admit that my kitchen table regularly looks like one of the Before photos here. Heaped with papers, piled with books, covered in half-finished art projects, it looks terrible and is impossible to eat at, which makes me sad. It feels like the kitchen table should be the heart of the home, but mine is what FlyLady refers to as a 'hotspot.' It's not my hotspot, but the other people in the family absolutely dump their stuff there, and I've been making a concerted effort to keep at least the table top clean and free of the stuff, partially thanks to this article. It's not perfect (the right side still has all my husband's mail on it; I've run out of solutions for places to put that. Mail racks didn't work because he just ignores it; putting it on his desk just ensures that it'll pile up and look terrible there. If anyone has any advice on this, I'm all ears!), but it's a lot better than it used to be.

The pumpkins came from our garden. :)

Do you struggle with keeping your kitchen table clear? How have you learned to deal with this?

*This Is What Self-Care Really Means, Because It's Not All Salt Baths And Chocolate Cake*

I hadn't ever really thought of self-care as a thing before it became a thing on the internet. I don't regularly take bubble baths (I'm not a fan of baths in general. Showers forever!), I don't do things like salon appointments or manicures (not my thing, but if it's yours, that's cool), I don't get lattes (I prefer the taste of coffee made at home) or bakery treats (I can bake them myself). I have friends who will post the things they bought while shopping as evidence of self-care, but that hasn't ever really been my thing. Self-care isn't something I've ever been great at; I've always had a hard time advocating for my own needs, and that's absolutely something I need to work on. That said, reading is a form of self-care for me, as is knitting. I didn't realize how much knitting is until lately, when I've gotten back into it. It relaxes me (despite having to rip things out when I make mistakes), and that's good for my mental health.

But it rings true to me that self-care is often about the difficult things. There's a time and place for chocolate cake or ice cream and bubble baths and that new pair of shoes, but I think there's more often a time for improving those parts of yourself that need improvement. 

I used to be messy. Really messy. It didn't bother me at all to have coats and clothing and books and papers scattered willy-nilly. It embarrassed me, but I had no idea how to go about changing into the kind of person who had a clean, less cluttered house. Until one day I decided I absolutely wanted to be that kind of person, and I set about looking for ways to become her. It's a work in progress and probably always will be, because this doesn't come naturally to me, but I've found that it benefits me in myriad ways (including being helpful for my anxiety when my home is clear of clutter and mess. That helps a LOT). This whole past summer, I've been re-organizing the house in ways that have made it much easier to keep tidy, and while it hasn't always been easy, it was absolutely an act of self-care. That was what I needed to keep my anxiety quiet(er), so I spent several months overhauling the house. 

Self-care. Caring for yourself. Sometimes it's chocolate cake and fuzzy slippers, and other times it's cleaning your laundry room and basement so that the very thought of them doesn't cause you terror anymore. :)

*Why Frumpy Makes You Grumpy*

Oof. 

This spoke to me this week.

First things first: there's some religious content in the article, but if you're not religious, it can still work for you, so don't let that throw you off. 

Now.

How I dress varies, and lately, it's been a bit...schlumpy. There are reasons for that. A large part of it has been because of my back pain. It's hard to make a ton of effort to look cute when you're finding it painful to walk (although I will admit that oftentimes, long skirts are more comfortable for me when I'm in pain, for multiple reasons, not limited to the fact that the waistband of low-rise pants is where a lot of my pain is, so...yeah. Not comfy). And this week, for whatever reason, I became aware of how it was making me feel. Messy. Unattractive. Sloppy. That's not to say that I looked awful- I try not to leave the house looking a mess!- but I felt kind of gross. So when I came across this article, I went, "Huh. You know..."

With physical therapy making a huge improvement in my pain levels, I felt up to the challenge, and so, instead of throwing on my capris or khaki shorts (which, honestly, have probably seen better days and aren't all that flattering on me), I got a little fancier.

Thrift store skirt!

This was my outfit for grocery shopping. I kind of floated around all day and felt super cute and light and airy, and my husband complimented my choice of clothing, which felt pretty nice. It really did make a difference in my mood, at least that day. 10/10, would do it again.

So I did.

Thrift store skirt, yard sale shirt! I think the sandals were thrifted as well. :)

I wore this out to lunch with my mom today. And I'll pick out something else nice for tomorrow as well. Because the weather is nice, I'm feeling less pain, and it's nice to wear something that makes me feel good.

Does what you wear make a difference in how you feel? 

*Homemaking Is For Everyone*

I liked this, for a number of reasons. Homemakers don't fit into a single box. We're old and young, child-free and leading around a gaggle of children. We love to cook and hate it (but probably still do it!), we're crafty and not, we're religious and atheist or agnostic. Homemakers come in all shapes and sizes and forms.

For some of us, it comes naturally. Some of us were raised with the skills we'd need; others of us (*waves furiously*) had to scrape together the skills from books, internet sources, videos, and studying the home lives of our friends and family. Some of us are quick learners; others of us (*raises hand again*) took...uh...some time to get there. 

I appreciate the author pointing out that so much of what we do is invisible labor, that no one notices what we do until we stop doing it. If I don't do the stuff I do all day every day, the dishes pile up, the table ends up covered in mail and art projects, my daughter's toys procreate like rabbits in every room of the house, the laundry threatens to spill out onto the road, and dinner turns into nachos every night (which isn't to say that that wouldn't be delicious, but it definitely wouldn't be healthy). This is one of the more frustrating aspects of being a homemaker, the fact that your work, the work you exhaust yourself over and cause yourself pain to do (*rubs aching back*) just doesn't look like work if you keep doing it all day, every day. Is it valuable? Yes. Does society as a whole value it? Nope, unless, again, you stop doing it and the house needs to be condemned because it's overrun with rats or the crew from Hoarders shows up. I admit that I struggle with this.

So to all the bloggers and writers, to the people who have created content that helped me understand how to better run my home, how to be a better cook, how to better organize everything so that it runs more smoothly, to all of you who have helped me to become a better homemaker, THANK YOU!!! I'm always looking to improve the way I manage things around here, so I very much appreciate it. All of you have helped me to understand that homemaking is indeed for everyone. Homemaking is for me, too. :)

So...Little bit of a computer snafu this week. Monday's weekly recap is going to look a little bit different than normal, because my computer ate the log I keep of my daily activities! I'll still have an overview of the week, with updates on a few things, and I'm going to try to get another post or two up this week, because I have a few things I'd like to talk about. 

Maybe your weekend be everything you need it to be! 

Weekly recap: 9/10/2018

Ahhhhhhh! The cooler weather is here and I'm enjoying every second of it. It'll warm up again later on this week, but only for a few days. Goodbye, summer; see you next year!

It's been a busy week around here. I'm still in physical therapy and will be for a bit, so that throws my days off some, but I'm doing my best to work around that. My daughter starts school next week, so that'll throw things off even more! She's looking forward to going back, and I'm happy that she enjoys it so much.

Let's recap the week, shall we?


MONDAY

Labor Day! After I got ready in the morning, I cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, then got started on a stupidly large pile of mending that I'd been meaning to get to for ages but hadn't (mostly because the basement was a mess and that's where my sewing box was, and I dreaded going down there before I cleaned it up).

All fixed!

The greenish shirt at the bottom was mine; it's a ruffled, layered shirt from a thrift store that ended up having more rips in it than sewn seams! I fixed it, checking it over several times to make sure no more seams were ripped (I wore it once, then discovered the hole and hadn't worn it since. Fixed now!). I'm kind of excited to be able to wear it now!

I also repaired these. Greatest. Slippers. EVER.

We went to my mother-in-law's for lunch and a visit, and after we came home, I took a nap, since I hadn't slept well the night before. I threw together a batch of Red Lentil Sloppy Joes for dinner, and then made eight breakfast sandwiches and a batch of chocolate chip cookies for my son's breakfasts and lunches. I finished the pile of mending that night, did my PT exercises (I've decided I'm documenting those now, as a way of keeping myself accountable), and worked on my knitted Christmas gift.

TUESDAY

I cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, then threw the ingredients for Butternut Squash and Tomato Soup into the crockpot (the squash was roasted and frozen last year), and the ingredients for bread into the bread machine. I cleaned up the living room, baked the bread in the oven, and, after my mother arrived, I went to physical therapy. PT brought a LOT of relief from the pain I'd been feeling all weekend, and I was extremely grateful for that. I finished a library book, cleaned the kitchen, did my PT exercises, and worked on the knitted Christmas gift later on that night.

WEDNESDAY

Grocery day! We hit up three different stores. Store #1 expanded their clearance section, MUCH to my delight. I came home with six boxes of whole wheat lasagna noodles and four packs of organic fruit cups, all for fifty cents a package (I don't usually buy fruit cups, so those will go in my son's lunches when we're out of fresh fruit). I was extremely pleased with these deals and will be scrutinizing this section every week from now on. I was in quite a bit of pain when we got home, unfortunately, and my daughter was in a bit of a mood and not listening to a word I said, which made our reading lesson not happen. 

During naptime, I rested and read a book from my Goodreads To Read list. I picked my son up from his late choir stuff, then went with my daughter to the library. After dinner, I did my PT exercises and worked on my knitted Christmas gift.

Reba likes to help with my exercises. Headbutt! 

THURSDAY

Before 7 am, I had a batch of white beans in the Instant Pot. I ran the dishwasher, then cut up what amounted to four freezer bags crammed full of both red and green peppers. 

Throughout the day, I washed three loads of laundry. One load was hung to dry on racks in the basement, as it was raining out; two other loads of bedding went into the dryer (I try to use the dryer as little as possible, but bedding has to go in there- it's too heavy for the racks, and I don't have a clothesline). 

I peeled and chopped almost an entire bag of potatoes that were starting to get wrinkly, and into the Instant Pot they went. While they cooked, I sauteed two onions and a bunch of garlic. We did my daughter's Reading and Geography lessons (Cuba! She was very interested in it, as she is all the islands). She went down for a nap, aaaaaaaaand...

From 12:15 until 3:30, I made white bean gravy and pierogies. 

This is one of FIVE trays like this. Four went into the freezer.

By 3:30, my back was screaming. I neeeeeeeeeeeded to sit down, and I rushed through cleaning the kitchen so I could collapse in my chair. If you've never made homemade pierogies before, they're wonderful, but they're also a LOT of work. They're a fantastic way to use up potatoes, however, so instead of letting that bag liquefy and stink up your kitchen, give it a try sometime. ;)

I emptied and ran the dishwasher again, then took my daughter to the library, picked up my husband, dropped him off at home, picked up my son and took him to the dentist (where I read a book from my Goodreads list). At home, I cleaned the kitchen, shoved the last load of laundry into the dryer, ran the dishwasher for the third and final time for the day, and finished that book from my To Read list.

PHEW. THAT was a long day!!!

FRIDAY

By 6:15 am, I had the bread machine going! I emptied the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen. I brought in the trays of now-frozen pierogies and tossed those in freezer bags.

Yum!!! Potato and onion pierogies :)

After returning the bagged pierogies to the freezer, I folded the laundry I hung to dry the day before, then put that and two other loads of previously folded laundry back where they belonged. My mom arrived, I baked the bread in the oven, and I was off to PT. My regular physical therapist wasn't there, so I worked with one of the other therapists, who is also super nice. I got a new exercise- I have to go down on one knee, in a proposal-style kneeling, then bring my front foot in line with my knee and balance like that for two minutes.

Once again, I wobble around like I'm drunk. Ay yi yi.

My mother and daughter and I went out for lunch, and after she left, my daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (Cyprus. Fascinating country; I never knew it was as divided as it is). We visited the library again, where my daughter played and I read a book from my Goodreads To Read list.

Future architect? 

Dinner was grilled cheese and garden tomato sandwiches on homemade bread, with plums on the side. I drove my son to the school football game, came home, put my daughter to bed, showered, did my PT exercises (which take about 40 minutes to complete in their entirety, so doing them takes a good chunk out of my evening), and then had to go right back and pick my son up! Such is parent life. :) 

SATURDAY

I cleaned the kitchen, and then it was off to my daughter's gymnastics class, where I read a book from my Goodreads list. Afterwards, we took my daughter out for ice cream like we'd been promising, and we visited a nearby bookstore. At home, I tried to nap but it didn't go so well. I did realize, however, that I had almost zero pain all day long, which was...surprisingly weird. I hadn't felt this pain-free since before I got pregnant with my daughter, so I kept noticing the absence of pain and feeling really, really strange. Not a bad strange, just in a "I don't know what to do with myself!" kind of way. I finished that Goodreads book, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, and started another Goodreads book. Before going to bed, I had an extremely painful muscle spasm in the middle of my upper back, which is odd for me, so I'm going to have to mention that to my physical therapist on Monday. Oy.

Did you know that pumpkin skins/rinds/whatever you call the orange outside of a pumpkin are edible? I had no idea, but I learned this from the book I'm currently reading. Apparently you can dry that pumpkin skin in a dehydrator, then grind it up and add it to baked goods with the flour. We now have three pumpkins from our garden, so after I cook them and scrape out the flesh, the outer parts will be going straight into my dehydrator. I'm pretty excited about being able to use so much more of the pumpkin!

SUNDAY

I cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher, then my daughter helped me make a batch of floor cleaner. I wiped down the piano, including the dusty, grungy-feeling keys.

So much better!

I unloaded, then reloaded the dishwasher, wiped down my gross stove top, made pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and guacamole, then cut up a ton of garden tomatoes to roast for tomato sauce (why why WHY do I only seem to make tomato sauce after I clean my stovetop? EVERY TIME *lolsob*). And then we all saw this little guy outside our window:

Can you even STAND how cute this little guy is???

He or she was just a baby and had zero fear of the entire family (and one of the cats) staring through the window at him/her. He/she even had the soft, fuzzy baby fur. I was a squealing mess, it was just so cute!!!

After the tomatoes went into the oven, I went out to mow the lawn, where, happily, I did NOT mow over our garden toad friend that I found while mowing near the remains of our old apple tree. He was adorable! I caught him and let him go in our tomato patch. I tried to get a picture, but he was too busy hopping away. I finished the lawn (which did NOT make my back happy at all, but fortunately Monday is a physical therapy day), then came in to ice my back.

It's nice to have company when you're hurting. <3

My sister-in-law and her son came over to visit for a bit, and after they left, I hosed my daughter down (we'd had a bonfire and we all smelled a little smoky!). I showered myself, put her to bed, then went through my PT exercises, and folded a load of laundry. 

So that was my week! I think I only managed as well as I did on Thursday because I took a Celebrex (well, the generic form that I take) the night before. I do that occasionally on days when I know I'll have a lot of physical stuff to get done and I need to be able to stay on my feet. It's rare for me to do that, but there's no way I could have made the pierogies without it. Those things take a lot of work! Have you ever made them before? I don't do it often, that's for sure!

How was your week? Any big projects going? Any good news to share?

Goodreads To Read List: 153 books (I added the new Mr. Rogers biography to my list sometime within the past few weeks. I'm only adding books that I'm desperately interested in reading, and that's one of them.)