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.)