Completed Project: My Grandmother's Cross-Stitch

 It’s done.

Completed.

Several years of work, and a meaningful group project.

 But this is how it started.

 

First things first. You can read the story of how I started this project – and this blog! – in this post here. Click the link; I’ll wait.

Got it? Good.

This was obviously a few years ago, and much longer than I thought it would take for me to finish this particular project. Pandemics and the chaos they cause tend to throw a few spanners in the works, don’t they? We’ve all had more time for certain things – panic, stress, emergency homeschooling, baking, cooking, sitting at home -  and less time for other things, like sitting around chatting with friends, going places, being out of the house. And that’s where this project slowed down for me: it was my on-the-go project, something I could work on to keep my hands busy while still chatting with friends or family.

And there’s been so little going and chatting with anyone the past two years.

Finally, a few months ago, I said enough of this project sitting around not getting worked on, and I picked it up again.

It wasn’t always easy. Sometimes I didn’t really feel like working on it, but that’s what commitment is, isn’t it? Forging on ahead even when you’re not all that enthusiastic, because there’s a job you vowed to finish, and it won’t get finished unless you put in the work.

But mostly, it was good work. Calming. The rhythm of the needle, the colors spreading across the fabric, I found it soothing. This wasn’t the project I would have chosen – I prefer counted cross-stitch to stamped – but it was nice finishing the work of the woman from whom I inherited my love of crafting.

Sometimes it made me sad. My grandmother and I were close when I was young, but our relationship fractured when she and my grandfather accused me of, to make a long story short, being the problem in my mother and stepfather’s marriage. I was not; his abuse just started with me. My grandparents called me horrible names, at a time when I had already moved out of the house due to the abuse (I was eighteen). Several months later, I moved out of state; my mother’s husband’s terrible behavior continued for years, this time aimed at my mother. Occasionally it was bad enough for the police to get involved. (Yes, she’s still married to him. I have no idea why.)

My grandparents eventually understood that he was the problem, and they, too, questioned why my mother remained married to him, but no one ever apologized to me for the accusations and insults they hurled at me. And that hurt. Our relationship was never the same after that.

Her death was strange for me, and I was more worried about my mother, the youngest sibling, than anything else. And inheriting my grandmother’s cross-stitch material has been both healing and thought-provoking. With this and things like Swedish death cleaning making the news in past years, it’s got me thinking about at what point we stop accumulating new things and instead focus on what we have. It’s something that’s been in the back of my mind all this time, and while I’ve definitely added books to my stash…that’s really been about it. I have enough to work on.

And now I have one fewer project.

I present to you: my grandmother’s cross-stitch, completed.

 

It’s been a long journey, completing this thing, but I’m glad to have it checked off my list. There are a few more unfinished items in the box I inherited from my grandmother, some of which I’m not entirely sure what to do with, as there’s no pattern to go with those items. For now, though, I’m going to focus on completing a few of the other goals on my list for the year. Because what this project taught me, friends, is to complete your projects. Finish what you start, because you don’t want to leave too much unfinished when you cross that finish line.

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 3 March - Sunday, 7 March, 2022

Whew! Another busy weekend. Constant motion, my perpetual state these days. The good part about that is that I’ve been sleeping pretty well, because I fall into bed exhausted most days! There’s just so much to do, but it’s good work, for the most part – or at least, I try to see it as good work. Naps are good, too.

We had our first super-gorgeous day of the year! Saturday was absolutely beautiful, and we were able to have the windows open Friday and Saturday afternoon. I hate having the house all closed up; it always raises my spirits to have fresh air flowing through open windows, so this was a lovely early March treat. It’ll be weeks, possibly months before this is a regular occurrence (and then it’ll get hot enough to turn the air conditioning on!), so I definitely appreciated every moment of it now.

Here's what I was up to the second half of last week!

 

Thursday, 3 March, 2022

I got our muffins in the oven (from the batter I’d made the night before and put in the fridge), and edited and posted Thursday’s post. After breakfast and coffee, I got a batch of refried beans in the Instant Pot. My beans are kind of old, so they took multiple long rounds in the IP, but they made it, which thrilled me. Less waste!

My daughter and I did her math lesson, and while she started in on the problem set, I threw a load of laundry in the wash. We paused to look for the glasses she had taken off and set down in a mystery place (on top of her circuit board set, of course…), and then we finished her book on volcanoes and earthquakes. We read more about fashion history, read the first section of a book about museum artifacts, and then it was time for lunch.

I switched/hung the laundry (I do a combo), and then we tackled spelling and language arts. We read three chapters of history (the history book contained a photograph of an item from the museum artifacts book!), and did our thirty minutes of Read Harder/silent reading (I’m reading  Everything You Need to Know About Asian-American History; my daughter is reading Matilda by Roald Dahl), then read more on the history of voting in the US. My daughter did some more math and spelling work, and I blended the beans up

I loaded the dishwasher and took out the compost, then worked a little on a crocheted blanket I’d started this summer. I made a batch of tortas, read two chapters of Le Petit Prince, put the tortas in the oven to warm, and then it was time for dinner.

I did my Duolingo, put dinner away, and showered. I read my book, and my husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Friday, 4 March, 2022

I had breakfast and coffee, wrote out my Friday post, and got dressed. We started our day with On This Day in History and geography (Kazakhstan), did a math lesson, and my daughter did her worksheet while I emptied and refilled the dishwasher and cleaned off the stovetop. Her elementary school didn’t have school today, so I let her take an easy day, and we watched the documentary Dive!, about dumpster diving and food waste. Definitely a lot of food for thought there!

We had lunch, I took out the recycling and compost, and sliced and prepared a batch of Brussels sprouts. I took out another batch of compost and cooked a batch of soyrizo, then herded my daughter through spelling. We did our 30 minutes of Read Harder/silent reading, and school was done for the day.

I ran to Walgreens to pick up a prescription, then got a batch of Spanish rice in the rice cooker. I read two chapters of Le Petit Prince, read my book, and threw the Brussels sprouts in the oven. I swept the living room and the kitchen, then finished reading The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman. I warmed the leftover tortas in the oven, stirred the soyrizo into the cooked Spanish rice, ran the dishwasher, and it was time for dinner, a mishmash of leftovers and Spanish rice and Brussels sprouts. : )

I did my Duolingo and showered, put dinner away, then sat down with my cross-stitching. I logged on to my synagogue’s virtual services, and afterwards, I began reading How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith (already loving this book, it’s incredible!). My husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed.

Saturday, 5 March, 2022

Breakfast and coffee, and then I blasted out three book reviews that I needed to get written! I got dressed and unloaded and refilled the dishwasher, and then I sliced the five pounds of strawberries I’d bought this week (we’ll eat these over the course of the week; if they start getting too soft, they’ll go into the freezer for smoothies). I then got the tops into a bowl to turn into a batch of strawberry syrup. Waste not, want not!

I filled and ran the dishwasher, took out the cycling, folded the load of laundry I’d washed yesterday, and put away my half of it. I spent a little bit of time on the computer, we had lunch, and then I did a Freecycle pickup just a mile or two from my house (socks and headbands for my daughter). We went on a three-mile walk, since the weather was so nice, and then I settled down to cross-stitch away the afternoon while watching YouTube documentaries – one about young nuns, and a few about the Amish.

After dinner (more leftovers!), I did my Duolingo and showered. I stitched some more, put my daughter to bed, read my book, and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Sunday, 6 March, 2022

Breakfast and coffee! I put dishes in the dishwasher, got dressed, and cleaned my daughter’s room. And then I was finally able to put away her laundry!

I made a crockpot full of what we call orange soup – butternut squash, sweet potato, carrots, sautéed onion and garlic, rosemary, sage, and thyme, and vegetable broth, with a can of coconut milk stirred in at the end, after you puree everything. Total comfort food. I scooped the litterbox, took out the recycling and compost, then cleaned up and swept the kitchen.

I made out a menu for the week and worked on more cross-stitching. I had some time to write out part of a future blog post, and then it was time to pick up my son! He and I drove to pick up some pizza, and then drove back home to have lunch together. He’s still thinking about moving back in; I still hope he decides to. : )

I drove him back after lunch and cleaned up the kitchen. I filled and ran the dishwasher, and made my batch of strawberry syrup (dumping the leftover bits in the compost. Enjoy, birds and squirrels!).

 

I did some ironing, swept the living room, and sat down to work on this post. I dozed for a bit, then finished crocheting the blanket I’d started this summer in order to use up yarn (that didn’t seem to be good for anything else!). This will get wrapped up and given to my mom as a gift.

 

I blended the soup and added the can of coconut milk, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, and continued working on this post. And then I picked up a triangle scarf I’d started knitting at the beginning of the winter and began to work on that.

We had dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, and showered my daughter, and then it was back to work on my scarf (which I wear as a hat – I made one of these last year and they’re great. They allow me to keep my head warm even when I have my hair up, and they don’t mess up my hair!). And I finished it! The pattern can be found here.

 

I read my book, and my husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Phew! It was a good weekend. I feel like I got a lot done, so hopefully this week will run smoothly. I have two doctor appointments (just checkups!), scheduled in the days before my daughter was homeschooled, so my husband is coming home early today, and I’ll take my daughter with me on Friday. Not a big deal, we’ll take school on the road. That’s the beauty of homeschool!

And we woke up today to snow. Because of course! ; )

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 24 February - Sunday, 27 February, 2022

 

Happy Monday, friends! Back at it for another week!

Tiny bits of spring in the air around here. We hit 40 degrees this weekend, the snow is mostly melted, and some of the trees even have buds on them. Of course, there’s every chance the weather could turn and all those buds could die and fall off and need to sprout all over again, but it’s nice having that hopeful feeling in the air, especially with everything going on in the world right now. Even one good thing is reason to celebrate, right?

Not a hugely restful weekend this past weekend. Nowhere near as busy as last weekend, but I think things are just going to be constantly busy around here for a while, and I’m just going to have to mentally- and physically- adjust (as I type this, my left knee is bothering me. No idea what I did). Give me a few weeks and I might be at that point where I’m used to it, although right now it feels a bit like I’m on a hamster wheel with no exit…

Here's what I was up to the second half of last week. : )

 

Thursday, 24 February, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I put a batch of white beans in the Instant Pot, got dressed, and used our world map in order to give my daughter a brief explanation of what’s happening in Ukraine. I didn’t want her to overhear something or peek at something over my shoulder on the computer and not understand it and be scared, so I let her know what was going on. We started our school day with On This Day in History and geography (Ireland!), then got settled with math, followed by a ten-minute wiggle break for my wiggly kiddo. We read more Native American myths (she really likes these!), finished our book about astronauts, and read more of the book that discusses the economics of how products are made.

We had lunch, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and made an Instant Pot full of vegetable soup, took out the recycling and compost, then cleaned up the kitchen. I herded my daughter through Language Arts, we read part of a book that answers kids’ science questions, she did her writing, then we did our combined 30 minutes of Read Harder/silent reading (I’m currently reading A Room with a View by E.M. Forster). Afterwards, my daughter asked that we keep reading the science questions book, so we did and went past the normal school ending time. ; )

I dozed for a few minutes, then read a little, and then it was time for dinner. I did my Duolingo and showered, put dinner away, then played on the computer for just a little bit. I went upstairs to read and finished reading The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves by J.B. MacKinnon. I started reading Period. End of Sentence.: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice by Anita Diamant, and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Friday, 25 February, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I wrote my Friday post, started a loaf of challah, and got dressed. I kneaded the challah, scooped the litterbox, then we started with On This Day in History and geography (fittingly, this day’s country was Israel!). We did a really long math lesson, finished the book of Native American myths, read a book on squirrels (did you know that their nests are called dreys?), and read more of the book about the economics of how products are made.

I loaded and ran the dishwasher and we had lunch. I braided the challah, and then we did spelling and Language Arts. We read three chapters of history, half a book on huge math numbers (my daughter says she hates math, but she really liked this book. She’s actually good at math when she focuses), and part of another book on slow things. We did our 30 minutes of Read Harder/silent reading, and I baked the challah (why are there no candles that smell like freshly baked challah???).

I did my favorite (HA) ten-minute ab workout and would have done it again, but my husband was cold and had cranked the heat up, so it was a bit toasty in the house! I hung out on the computer before dinner, then did my Duolingo and repeated that ab workout before showering. I cross-stitched, then I logged on to my synagogue’s virtual Shabbat services. My husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed

 

 

Saturday, 26 February, 2022

Breakfast and coffee, and then I worked on my monthly recap post for my book blog. I got dressed and read, and I drove to the post office to mail out the knitted squares for my friend’s memory blanket. I stopped by the library to return a load of books, then ran into the Dollar Store to grab a few things since I was out. At home, I had lunch and dozed briefly, then unloaded and refilled the dishwasher and ran it.

I finished my book blog recap, then worked on my monthly goals update for this blog. I did a little bit of Hebrew study, did that 10-minute ab workout again, and returned to studying Hebrew (Hebrew makes my brain feel like soup. The grammar is intense).

 

I boiled some frozen pierogies for dinner, did my Duolingo, and showered. I showered my daughter and put her to bed, read my book, and watched one episode of Deadly Women before going to bed.

 

Sunday, 27 February, 2022

Breakfast and coffee, and then I weeded out the jeans I hardly ever wear (due to my chronic pain issues, they’re not hugely comfortable. I decided I’d try a pair on this day, and for a few hours, it wasn’t too bad. It felt weird wearing them again, though; they don’t really feel like me anymore!). After getting dressed and ready, I cleaned my daughter’s room. Again.

 

 

I ran to GFS for some bulk peanut butter, then it was home for lunch, and since it was almost 40 degrees and sunny, we went for a walk. Back home, I sauteed an onion, worked on this post, then dove into a few more pages of Hebrew. I prepared a batch of baked spaghetti and threw it in the oven, then finished my Hebrew chapter (PHEW. Possessive endings for singular nouns. My brain is going to take some serious time to process and remember these…).

I visited some of my favorite blogs, then it was time for dinner! I did my Duolingo, made up a batch of muffin batter for Monday’s breakfast (I used to do this when my daughter was in preschool; I’d prepare a batch of muffin batter the night before, throw it in the oven to bake when I showered in the morning, and then we’d have a nice breakfast of hot, fresh muffins! She liked the idea when I reminded her of it the other day, so I promised I’d start this up again), cleaned up after myself, then baked the shortbread cookies we’d prepared earlier in the week. The dough was really crumbly, and I kind of had to form a bunch of my own cookies instead of just slicing and baking, but they tasted really good!

When the cookies were done, I headed upstairs to read, where I finished my Anita Diamant book. My husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before going to bed.

 

And that’s it! So far, this morning is going swimmingly with our new routine (dishwasher is going, we’re enjoying warm muffins, and I’ve already scooped the litterbox!). We’re off to start our school day in a bit. May your weeks be peaceful and productive!

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 17 February - Sunday, 21 February, 2022

 Busy, busy, busy!

It was a weekend full of getting done all the things I don’t have time for during the days these days. I think we’re in kind of a transition period right now, where it’s going to take a little bit of time for me to figure out what works when and what’s the best way for me to accomplish the things I need and want to, so bear with me during these weird times!

So with that quick introduction, here’s what I was up to the second part of last week!

 

Thursday, 17 February, 2022

The good thing about homeschooling is that there’s no alarm clock. The bad thing about homeschooling is that you can oversleep easily. I like to get started earlier rather than later, so oversleeping is *not* my friend, but it was because I was awake for a good three hours throughout the night. I threw on some clothes, had breakfast and coffee, filled and ran the dishwasher, posted Thursday’s post, and we got started on writing. We did math, finished our book on garbage, and did a grammar lesson (reflexive/demonstrative pronouns), and read a book on jobs.

After lunch, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. We read two chapters from A History of US: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim, did our 30 minutes of Read Harder/silent reading (I’m reading A Room with a View by E.M. Forster), and then I dozed a bit. I sauteed some onions, garlic, peppers, and zucchini, and made a batch of cinnamon vanilla waffles, then put in an hour of work for my volunteer job. I chatted on the phone with my son, then scrambled some eggs, and we had breakfast for dinner.

I did my Duolingo, cleaned up, and then it was time to virtually attend a webinar on combatting book banning- super interesting info, and I got some cross-stitching done while listening. These are the napkins I found in my grandmother's cross-stitch stash that go with her table runner, so I'm working to complete these now.

I showered and began reading The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves by J.B. McKinnon. My husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed, and I slept MUCH better this night.

 

Friday, 18 February, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I wrote and posted my Friday post, then got dressed. I scooped the litterbox and filled and ran the dishwasher, then my daughter and I got started on math. We read part of a book on camping (her choice; she loves camping), did more math (in addition to her regular curriculum, we’re also working through a book on time and money, both of which are weak spots for her), and then I talked on the phone with my kiddo’s school principal.

It was a very pleasant conversation, but my daughter is now formally withdrawn from the school district, which makes me really, really sad. I love her school and the people there, and I’m heartbroken that it’s come to this. I don’t mind homeschooling her at all, but I shouldn’t *have* to to keep her safe, you know? I have some paperwork I need to send into the state board of education, but that’s it. We’re officially homeschoolers now.

After lunch, I picked up a bag of leggings from a woman on Freecycle who lives just about two miles away from me, from whom I’ve picked up a bunch of stuff in the past. Three of the leggings were LulaRoe, which I would never pay retail price for, but which are super soft and I snag whenever I find at places like church yard sales and Freecycle. At home, we read two chapters of history, my daughter worked on her writing, and we did our 30 minutes of 30 minutes of Read Harder/silent reading.

I hit up three grocery stores after school. Nothing good in the sales flyers, but I did come home with three packages of cheese ends, a bag of marked-down mixed fruit, a bag of marked-down zucchini and one of mushrooms, and a storage ottoman Aldi *finally* had in! I had a smaller one from Freecycle, but I’d wanted a larger one, and the one Aldi had advertised a few times had been held up by shipping, but it was FINALLY there! Twenty bucks and this thing is perfect. It’s a great height for my hips, and my daughter and I can BOTH put our feet up, which is good, because this is where we sit when we do school in the living room. I’m thrilled with this!

I put the groceries away (and set my ottoman up), tidied the living room, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, then put the spaghetti on to boil and baked the garlic rolls I’d bought. After dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, and put away dinner and cleaned up. I sat down to cross-stitch, and then it was time to virtually attend my synagogue’s Shabbat services.

 

I read for a little bit, and my husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Saturday, 19 February, 2022

Breakfast and coffee, then it was time to get dressed and head to the library with my daughter! We went a little nuts with the books…

 

We went over to Michael’s; I don’t like spending money on Saturdays, but I also don’t like to make special trips, and this was the only time I was planning to be out for a while, so I made the exception because I found myself almost out of DMC 907. I ran the dishwasher when we got home, and after lunch, I did some organizing around the house. I unloaded the dishwasher and refilled it, chopped and dehydrated the mushrooms I’d bought the day before, made a batch of tofu meatballs (using the rest of the sauce from the night before!). I cleaned the kitchen and dealt with the bag of mixed fruit I’d bought, then wiped off my gross stovetop. I put the tofu meatballs in the oven, then I sat down to make out a menu for the week. I’d realized that with homeschooling, I didn’t have enough time to figure out meals in the morning, and that left me scrambling, so this will help.

While the tofu meatballs cooked, I caught up on some computer things, then threw the tater tots in the oven, and moved some frozen veggies out to the garage freezer. I filled and ran the dishwasher again. After dinner, I did my Duolingo and showered, then started a load of laundry and did more things on the computer. I put dinner away, put my daughter to bed, switched the laundry, read my book, and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Sunday, 20 February, 2020

After breakfast and coffee, it was time to hit the ground running! I got dressed, emptied and refilled the dishwasher, took the recycling out, folded a load of laundry and put half of it away. I stripped the bed and put the sheets in the wash, and took the now-dehydrated mushrooms out of the dehydrator and added them to the bag. I threw dinner in the Instant Pot- Creole Black-Eyed Peas.

My daughter and I cleaned her room. It wasn’t as bad as it can get, but it was still pretty scary! Afterwards, I showered her, and then it was time to cut her hair. She’d been asking me to cut it for a week now, and I finally had time (and the lighting was good!). I ended up cutting off a good five or six inches this time. I don’t often post pictures of her online, but is she not the cutest?!?!??? I can hardly stand how cute she looks with shorter hair!!!!

 

I took the compost and recycling, switched the laundry and started a new load, and then it was time for lunch. I put away the other half of the clean laundry (in my daughter’s room; I could actually get to her closet now!). My daughter and I had made an agreement to do a chapter of math today, so we got to work on that (she did great!). While she worked on her problem set, I put the sheets back on the bed, and after she finished, I took a much-needed nap!

After dinner, I did my Duolingo. I showered, put dinner away, then grabbed the blanket and pillow cases from the dryer and put them back on the bed. I put dinner away, and then it was time to snuggle in bed under the blanket with my book. I read for a while, and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed. At some point in the night, I woke up to find my daughter snuggled next to me, and the cat snuggled under the blanket with me. : )

 

That’s a wrap for last week! Nothing on the calendar for this week, just our regular agenda of school and home things. At least I don’t have to worry about laundry and a majority of the housework, right???

Have a great week, friends!

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 10 February - Sunday, 13 February, 2022

 Monday, Monday! How are you, friends?

I had a really productive weekend and am feeling, in general, a little more optimistic about things. I managed to get all the things done that I needed to, in order for the upcoming week to run smoothly- AND I even got a nap in there!

I struggle a bit when major life changes come around; it takes a little time for me to adapt, and that’s how it’s been with being thrown into homeschooling. My daughter is doing really, really well with academics; she’s able to focus well and pay attention and stay on task (and I make sure to notice when she’s getting antsy and take a five or ten minute break so she can get the wigglies out). She’s feeling pretty betrayed that the schools were forced by the lawsuit to drop COVID protections; she’s hurt and confused as to why the adults in charge aren’t willing to keep the kids safe, and I completely understand, because I feel the same way. I think this is why she’s been such an eager participant in our homeschool activities. She doesn’t want to go back, which is sad.

But we’re doing okay, and things have been going well around here! Here’s what I did during the second half of last week.


Thursday, 10 February, 2022

I got dressed, had breakfast and coffee, then scooped the litterbox, and then we were off to the doctor! It was an appointment with my physiatrist, whom I see about my back. Just a follow-up after my last set of injections, which really helped. She did prescribe me a new medication for the neuropathy I get in my feet (I think I also have Raynaud’s in my feet, which doesn’t help; my feet are a mess…). While we waited, my daughter and I read a book about chemistry. (The doctor agreed with me that it was nuts for the schools to remove COVID mitigations right now.)

At home, I threw a cup of black beans into the Instant Pot, and then we started on math. We took a break for lunch, did more math (in order to catch up with where my daughter’s class is right now), and then we did our 30 minutes of Read Harder (for me, reading American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood)/silent reading (for my daughter; she’s reading a Geronimo Stilton novel). And then I dozed, because I was really, really tired. School was shorter today because of my doctor’s appointment, which I had scheduled pre-homeschooling. I have a few other appointments coming up like that; we’ll just take school with us, like we did. :)

I filled and ran the dishwasher, then prepared a batch of beans and rice, and visited my favorite homemaking blogs. I tidied and swept the living room before dinner, then did my Duolingo afterwards. I biked for thirty minutes, showered, threw a batch of white beans in the Instant Pot for the next day’s dinner, wrote my Friday post, put my daughter to bed, and read. My husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women.

 

Friday, 11 February, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I edited and posted my Friday post and got dressed. I emptied the dishwasher, then it was time to sit down and start on math with my daughter. She. Did. AWESOME.

Her school uses the Eureka curriculum and I love it so much. It makes math so much more intuitive than the way I learned it at her age; she’s already able to add two sets of three-digit numbers in her head, and she doesn’t sit and cry over math like I did. (That’s not to say that math always goes smoothly, but she very much knows what she’s doing and understands the processes in a way that I never did in school.) I actually enjoy doing these lessons with her. We took a short break afterwards so I could load and run the dishwasher.

We worked on grammar next, a lesson on possessive pronouns, and then we read more about plants, and finished our book about garbage (which gave us some really good ideas for projects. Stay tuned!). After lunch, I made a batch of Cauliflower Potato Soup with the white beans I’d cooked the night before. I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, cleaned up the kitchen, and took out the compost and recycling (my daughter was still eating her lunch during all of this). I tidied and swept the living room and swept the kitchen, then we headed upstairs to tidy up my daughter’s room, and I put away a load of laundry.

We settled down for our 30 minutes of Read Harder/silent reading. I threw a load of laundry in the wash, folded a set of clean sheets from the laundry room, and then we snuggled up for art class. My daughter LOVES art, and I’d given her the choice of activities earlier in the week. She had really enjoyed a fiber art project earlier in the year, so she chose to start learning how to cross-stitch with one of the kits she got as a holiday gift this year. She’s only seven, so it’s going to be a while before she’s ready to do this independently, but I’m happy to help her learn. Lots of good memories to be made together here. Here’s what she accomplished today:

 

We did two chapters of Making Thirteen Colonies (The Story of US) by Joy Hakim, and then we were off for a very cold, windy, sloppy two mile walk (shorter because the path around the pond would’ve been a wet melty mess!). At home, I switched the laundry and folded one load.

I did my second hour of volunteer work for the week, blended the soup, and folded another load of laundry. After dinner, I did my Duolingo, put away a load of laundry. and switched the wet load into the dryer. I showered, put dinner away, and put the dishes in the dishwasher. I worked on my knitting, and virtually attended my synagogue’s Shabbat services.

My husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Saturday, 12 February, 2022

Uh, so, the night before, I’d forgotten to take my new medication, and my feet bothered me all night long. TERRIBLE sleep. HMPH.

I had breakfast and coffee, and then, despite being exhausted and having massive bags under my eyes, it was time to dive into the day’s projects so that the upcoming week could go smoothly. I took my dried mushrooms out of the dehydrator, then chopped and put the remaining mushrooms in. I put away a load of laundry, then folded and put away two more loads. I showered my daughter, and then we did another math lesson.

This one didn’t go quite as smoothly as the day before, but I think that’s because she was hungry and getting easily frustrated, so we took a break in the middle for lunch. We finished up afterwards, when she had a full tummy and a better attitude, and then I lay down for a nap.

When I got up, I felt sluggish and gross, so I did a 20 minute yoga video (no walking outside, since I think the high was something stupid like 15 degrees F), and then I caught up on some things on the computer. Dinner was leftover soup. I did my Duolingo and biked for thirty minutes, then showered and put my daughter to bed (we finished reading Anne Frank: Behind the Diary by Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven. I didn’t read the last few pages to her, though I read them myself. She knows Anne didn’t survive, but she’s too young to know any of the more grisly details at this point. I read those pages myself when she went to bed so that I could complete the book). I read my book- still slowly reading Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott- and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women. I remembered to take my new medication and slept well this night!

 

Sunday, February 13, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I did a few things on the computer, and then it was time to get to work! I emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, then collected yesterday’s dehydrated mushrooms into the bag- I have about 2/3 of a gallon bag full of dried mushrooms now, ready to add to soups and be rehydrated for other dishes. 

I then hauled the sewing machine upstairs in preparation to sew my torn bedsheet.

 

Yeah. It was a bad one.

I could NOT get the sewing machine to cooperate with me. I don’t know if it was something I was doing wrong (this is probably the most likely answer) or if there’s something wrong with the machine, but nothing I tried made my stitches turn out right. Not straight stitches, not zigzag stitches, the tension was messed up on everything. I’m going to have to play with this a little bit with some scrap fabric and figure out what the deal is. I ended up stitching the entire rip by hand, down and back again. It’s not perfect, but it should hold, and really, that’s all I care about!

 

By the time I finished sewing, it was lunch time. Afterwards, I got to work finishing the second knit square for my friend’s memorial blankets. I watched some YouTube videos while I knit. It’s been ages since I knit anything where I had to pay close attention and count while I knit, but this was a good project to get back into that. I think they turned out well. (If you haven’t seen my last post, my friend, who passed away last month, LOVED spiders. These squares are going into two blankets, knit and crocheted by our friend group, for her two kids, who are almost the exact same ages as my kids.)

 

With my knitting finished, I headed to the kitchen and prepared a breakfast casserole for dinner, with onion, garlic, peppers, and zucchini thrown in, then sat down to work on this post. After dinner, I did my Duolingo, then biked for thirty minutes and showered. I put the no-longer-ripped sheet back on the bed, then I put dinner away and filled and ran the dishwasher. I put my daughter to bed- we started reading Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb- and I read my book. My husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed (and I kept waking up through the night. Hmph).

 

That’s it! Really, not a bad weekend. I had been worried, since I had so much to do, but I got everything on my list done and still had a bit of time to do other things. Being that productive feels good.

We’ve got an exciting week coming up, with something special coming up on Wednesday, so I’m looking forward to that! Happy Valentine’s day, friends!

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 3 February - Sunday, 6 February, 2022

 Monday, Monday. Here we are again! It’s been…a weekend. Some potential changes coming around here, but nothing is certain yet, and I’ll get to that in a minute. This is a bit of a longer post today, because of some of those issues, so bear with me! Here's a cat picture to make up for it.

Here’s what I’ve been up to during the second part of last week.

Thursday, 3 February 2022

After coffee and breakfast, I worked on my Thursday post, got dressed, and scooped the litterbox. I filled and ran the dishwasher, put a batch of chickpeas in the Instant Pot, then finished and posted my Thursday post. I edited and posted my review for Playing with Matches by Suri Rosen over on my book blog, and then it was time for a very snowy and cold school drop-off!

I ran to a local grocery store for some green peppers and tomatoes and ended up coming home with some packages of marked-down cheese ends (they don’t always have these, so it’s a nice surprise when they do!) and a marked-down pizza/focaccia thing that would go well with the leftover soup for dinner. Back at home, I did an hour of volunteer work, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and hung out on the computer for the little bit of time I had left before taking lunch to my daughter. (If you’re new here, I take her lunch every day and she eats in the car. It’s a way to help calm both of our anxieties about being unmasked in the lunch room.)

I stopped by the library to pick up my book from interlibrary loan, then came home to have lunch myself, and I did my 30 minutes of my own personal Read Harder project, reading American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood. And then I dozed for a bit!

I put the cooked chickpeas in the fridge, put dinner on to warm when it was time, and after we ate, I did my Duolingo. I biked for 25 minutes, showered, put my daughter to bed, and read Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford. My husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Friday, 4 February, 2022

I had breakfast and coffee, wrote my Friday post, got dressed, edited and posted Friday’s post, filled and ran the dishwasher, and then it was time for a very cold, walk-right-in school drop-off!

I ran to another local grocery store for a few items (zucchini, coffee creamer, and frozen noodles), and they had their discount produce rack out again. Lo and behold, they had THREE bags of mixed mushrooms!!! They used to have these all the time, and I was SO disappointed when the rack disappeared. Needless to say, I took all three bags ($1 each; all kinds of mushrooms in there!), along with a large bag full of perfectly good green beans. JACKPOT!!!

At home, I did an hour of volunteer work, then cooked a batch of taco-flavored lentils in the Instant Pot. I unloaded the dishwasher, took out the compost and recycling, then spent a few minutes on the computer before taking lunch to my daughter.

After my own lunch, I did my 30 minutes of my personal Read Harder project, then took the cooked chickpeas from the day before and made a batch of taco-flavored hummus. And then I prepared the taco dip I’d been craving: the bottom layer of taco hummus, a layer of taco-flavored lentils, a sprinkling of cheese, a layer of yogurt mixed with salsa, and a top layer of cheese, tomatoes, and some torn up spinach. Yum! Into the fridge it went.

I spent some time on the computer and got an idea I may try to turn into a piece of writing, depending on whether I can find the time and an outlet that wants to publish it, then I finished reading Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford. After dinner, I showered, did my Duolingo, and worked on some cross-stitching and knitting. At 7:30, it was time to sign in to virtual services at my synagogue. I so appreciate the virtual services (and they’ll come in handy in the future for me when my back is out- sometimes I can’t sit upright without pain so bad it makes me sweat, which is just SUPER fun), but man, I’m looking forward to when things have calmed down and I’m able to attend in person.

After services concluded, I began reading After Long Silence by Helen Fremont, and my husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Saturday, 5 February, 2022

After coffee and breakfast, I wrote two book reviews (which always takes me a bit) and got dressed. I loaded and ran the dishwasher and took out the recycling. I tidied the living room, and by this time, it was time for lunch!

My son came over, which was wonderful, since I hadn’t really seen him since December. He’s likely going to move back in next month, so we’re all looking forward to that! I gave him a ride back to where he’s currently living, then took his and my own books back to the library.

Back at home, I re-tidied the living room, then settled down to work on chapter 5 of Prayerbook Hebrew the Easy Way. Oof, this one, which was on adjectives, turned my brain to soup a little bit (mostly the rule about using an adjective with a definite noun in a phrase and attaching an untranslated ה to the adjective. What counts as a noun phrase versus a complete sentence is what threw me off a bit, due to some of the examples they gave, because some of them with that extra ה were complete sentences!). I wish I had an instructor for this. I know my synagogue offers basic how-to-read-Hebrew classes (I can read it just fine, so I have no need of that), but I’m not sure about beyond that.

My Hebrew book has jokes, you guys.

 

#12 says, “Holy Moses!” I laughed.

I folded a load of laundry, then emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. After dinner, I did my Duolingo, biked for 30 minutes, showered, did a late-night 30 minutes of my own personal Read Harder project…and then I got the email from school.

Our school’s mask mandate has been going through the court, and a judge decided that, despite 191 people dying of COVID-19 in our state Friday, schools can’t require masks anymore. They can only recommend. My husband, who is a molecular biologist who works in a lab at a major research university, is FURIOUS about this, as am I. He was having an indoor campout with our daughter, though, so we decided to talk about it in the morning, and I did my best to focus on reading my book before going to bed.

 

Sunday, 6 February, 2022

Discussing school was the first item on our agenda in the morning. We came to the agreement that we’d send my daughter (who is double vaccinated) to school on Monday to kind of scout things out. If there are a bunch of maskless kids in her class, or even enough to make her feel uncomfortable (and she would), then we’ll bring her home and I’ll homeschool her. I homeschooled my older son until he was in fourth grade, so I have no problem doing this again, especially if it means protecting her from a novel virus whose long-term effects are unknown. I cannot believe the long-term health of our children has become a political pawn, and the depths of my disgust for the people who have made it this way knows no bounds. How. Dare. They.

After coffee and breakfast, I got dressed, unloaded the dishwasher, and set to work in the kitchen. I had about twenty peppers that needed to be chopped and put in the freezer (especially if homeschooling becomes part of our future, I need to get to work on the weekends so our weeks run smoothly!). I started with the red and ended up with two bags, then started in on the green, which gave me four bags. Phew! That was a lot of chopping; it took pretty much all of the morning!

 

After lunch, I chopped a bag and a half of the discount mushrooms I’d bought and got them set up in the dehydrator.

 

I took the chopped peppers out to the freezer, took the compost out, and wiped down the stove and countertops. I visited my bookmarked homemaking blogs, and then it was time for a trip to the library in order to pick up some books. I stopped for gas on the way home, which is what made me realize I did *not* want to go for a walk- it was 31 degrees out and sunny, but there was enough wind to hurt my ears. That’s no fun to walk through!

At home, I finished visiting all of you, then got to work on this post. I helped my daughter with her math, finished reading After Long Silence by Helen Fremont, and then, armed with some new information, my husband and I made the decision to not send our daughter to school on Monday. The fury we were feeling was pretty big, and while I trust the school to do everything they can to keep her safe, their hands are tied on this and they’re not allowed to do what needs to be done to protect their students. Thus, my daughter isn’t going. That’s that. The governor has applied for a stay, which would put the mitigations back in place; if that goes through, we’ll send her back, and if not, it’s homeschool time. I’m okay with either.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo and showered, and then my brain decided that all that stress was just too much, and I got another migraine, so off to bed with me at 7 pm. I woke up around midnight and took some more migraine meds and went back to bed, where I had weird dreams all night about working as a nanny/housekeeper for a large family whose mother had died.

 

And that’s that for now! Not the Monday I was expecting to have, but like I told my daughter in the beginning of the year, we’re being flexible this year and understanding that everything can change at any moment. This is just one of those moments, so today, we’re off to the library to pick up some books for our hopefully-temporary homeschooling! (Migraine-wise, I'm feeling okay so far, just tired and a little woozy. Definitely better than yesterday, when my vision was so smeared, I could barely see at all.) Hopefully your weeks are all going a little more predictably. :)