What's Been Going On: Monday, 25 April - Wednesday, 27 April, 2022

Phew! The last few days have been an exhausting whirlwind and I feel like I haven’t had a moments’ rest. I haven’t been to visit all of you lately, and I’m sorry for that. There just hasn’t been any chunk of time where I could sit down and use the computer (I still have a video that was released two weeks ago on YouTube that I haven’t managed to sit down and watch yet. Maybe this weekend…). And as busy as I’ve been, I still haven’t gotten done even a fraction of the things that need to be accomplished. At this point, I either need about 48 extra hours in the day, or an entire horde of sister wives…

Hopefully things have been a little more relaxed for you! Here’s what I’ve been up to so far this week.

 

Monday, 25 April, 2022

Happy birthday to my daughter! She turned eight this day.

After coffee and breakfast, I finished writing and posted my Monday post, then edited and posted my book review for This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith on my book blog.

I got dressed and emptied the dishwasher, and when I was refilling it, my mom arrived! She was early, but it’s hard to predict what traffic will look like between our two houses, and she’s not the kind to care what state my house is in (thank goodness!). I cleaned the kitchen and tidied the living room, and then my daughter opened her birthday presents, which was just delightful chaos. : )

She got a set of unicorn bedsheets, a watch, a whole lot of books and a princess sticker set, and Grandma gave her a whole lot of clothes and toys. My son showed up after a bit to spend the day with us. And after that was the birthday surprise: we were off for the day to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. My daughter was absolutely delighted!

I hadn’t been to the museum since I was young, but it’s still just as awesome. We toured the coal mine first (boy, I did not realize how much I knew about coal mining, labor practice, and workers’ strikes before this…The guide kept looking surprised when I answered all her questions, haha!), which was super cool. We had to show my daughter the fairy castle, which she loved, and there were just a ton of amazing exhibits, including this model of Chicago. I think this is my favorite museum around here. If you ever get the chance to go, DO IT. Such a fun place.

 

We stayed until after 2pm, and we were all tired and hungry (and my back and hips were screaming at me. SO much walking). We had cake at home, and then my mom and I dropped my son off and picked up three HUGE garbage bags full of girls’ clothing from Freecycle. I’ve been watching Freecycle for ages for bigger-sized girls’ clothing, since there still aren’t any church yard sales (which is where I get most of my daughter’s clothing!). I’ve gone through all the clothing I had stored in larger sizes from before the pandemic, and I was starting to get a little worried about what to do when she outgrew what she has now. My mom and I looked through the bags after we ate dinner at home, and there’s SO much gorgeous clothing in those bags, in nearly perfect condition. There’s even a North Face jacket! I haven’t separated it all yet, from what she can where now from what I can put away for later – no time – but I’ll get to that soon. SO grateful to this wonderful lady from Freecycle!

I cleaned up the living room and tidied my daughter’s room, took out the garbage and recycling and replaced the bags. My mom and I hauled the cans to the curb, and she headed back home. I put dinner away and showered. I did my Duolingo and read, and my husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before going to bed.

 

Tuesday, 26 April, 2022

After coffee, I edited and posted my book review for Golem Girl: A Memoir by Riva Lehrer on my book blog. I emptied and reloaded the dishwasher and ran it, took the laundry downstairs and started a load, then carried my husband’s clean laundry up to the bedroom.

We started our school day with On This Day in History and geography (Mexico). We did math, I switched the laundry and started a new load, and we did spelling and Language Arts. We read a chapter from our book on food history, and I switched the laundry and started a new load.

After lunch, I emptied the dishwasher, scooped the litterbox, and folded a load of laundry and put it away. I brought up toilet paper from the basement to the bathroom.

We watched an episode of Horrible Histories, then I switched the laundry and started a new load (are you sensing a theme to my day here???). We read about genetics and evolution, and tackled two chapters of our history book. We read about fashion history, did our 30 minutes of Read Harder/silent reading, and did 15 minutes of journal writing.

I got my daughter the piece of cake from the garage freezer she requested, took out the compost, brought the cans in from the curb, took out the recycling, and put the soaking dishes in the dishwasher. I switched the laundry and started a new load. I did an hour of volunteer work, then carried four loads of clean laundry upstairs and folded and put them all away.

After dinner (leftovers), I did a 26-minute HASFit workout (it was a 38-minute one, but I decided to listen to my back and quit while it was still only mildly complaining) and showered. I put my daughter to bed, read my book, and my husband and I watched half of a documentary on child marriage (which I’d actually see before) before going to bed.

 

Wednesday, 27 April, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, it was time to make out my grocery list! Nothing super amazing, but there was some decent produce on sale, which made me happy.

We started our school day with On This Day in History and geography (Micronesia), did math, spelling, and Language Arts. We read a chapter of food history, and continued reading the book on genetics.

After lunch, we watched an episode of Horrible Histories, then finished the book on genetics. We read more about evolution, and then dove into some fashion history. I left my daughter doing her silent reading (she’s reading a book of fairy tales, so she was completely happy with this…not so happy about the math I also left her to complete), and I left for groceries.

I went to two stores, and the best deal I got were another four full-sized bottles of Suave conditioner for 99 cents from the marked-down shelves! Super happy about that. I’ve got one more store to stop by today. At home, I put all the groceries away, then sat down for another hour of volunteer work (working on compiling lists of addiction treatment places in Tennessee). I also baked the pizza while I was doing this.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, then went upstairs and did a 23-minute Yoga with Adriene video, then I showered and came downstairs to begin working on this post. I tidied a few things in my bedroom, then settled down to read (I’m reading One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues That Divide Them by Ammiel Hirsch and Yaakov Yosef Reinman. 300 pages of rabbis arguing in letter format!). My husband and I finished up the documentary we had started the night before and then went to bed.

 

And that’s it! Pretty much every moment of my days has been spoken for. I’d love a few hours of the day to sit and knit and relax (or at least sit and not have another 3482374932 tasks that are waiting for me to complete them). I desperately need to clean the living room and kitchen floors (different methods; one is wood and the other is vinyl), I need to wash the blankets on the couch, I need to sort my daughter’s new clothes, the kitchen is in terrific need of a whole-room scrubdown…there’s just not time. I quite literally do not have enough hours in the day in order to get all of this done, and there’s a new mess to take care of (or five!) every time I complete a task. Anyone know where I can get a sister wife or ten?

Hope you’re having a great week!!!

What's Been Going On: Monday, 14 February - Wednesday, 16 February, 2022

 Good Thursday morning, friends!

Are you digging out from snow? We’re supposed to get hit later on today with a bunch of it, or maybe just a little, so I guess we’ll see what that looks like. 

It’s been a quiet, homeschool-filled week this week. I have to say, despite the extra challenges thrown in our path by having to make this immediate switch to homeschool, I’m not hating having my kiddo home full-time. It’s lovely to wake up a little later than normal (sometimes with my daughter having crawled in bed with us at some point in the night!) and then spend a good portion of the day snuggled with my little girl, reading, helping her write and do math, and helping her learn. I love watching her mind work to come up with the answers to the many, many questions I pose to her all day long. Homeschooling her wasn’t ever on my menu (mostly because A., I know she learns *best* from people who aren’t me, and B. she is one stubborn little kid! We may still be in a honeymoon period, but…fingers crossed!) but so far, it’s not as tough as I feared .

Here's what I’ve been up to so far this week!

 

Monday, 14 February, 2022

Valentine’s Day! My husband left chocolates by my computer. :)

After breakfast and coffee, I edited and posted my Monday post. I got dressed, tidied the living room, and then it was time to get started on math. My daughter was really distracted this morning. She’s awesome at math when she focuses, but was really struggling on this day, adding when she should have been subtracting, forgetting to count things, etc. Some days are like that; fortunately, most days are better, and I’m hoping she’ll grow out of or better learn to manage this at some point.

We took a break so I could unload and refill the dishwasher, then did an English lesson (indefinite pronouns). We read about plants, part of a book about fire (both history AND science), and then did some work on map-reading skills.

After lunch, she worked on writing (this is one area where I’m hoping to help her improve; she needs a lot of direction still when writing, both in terms of spelling and content). We read and discussed two chapters in A History of US: Making Thirteen Colonies, then we did our thirty minutes of Read Harder/silent reading, and I finished American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood. WOOHOO!!!! I didn’t really love this, so I’m happy to move on to something else. We finished the book on fire, and started reading another book about garbage (my daughter is really enjoying these books about garbage- they’re science, history, human behavior, problem solving, and creativity. We’ve come up with so many ideas for projects reading these books. It’s one of my favorite subjects as well, so that doesn’t hurt!).

I snapped the bag of marked-down green beans I’d bought a while back, took out the garbage, recycling, and compost, then hauled the cans to the curb, and then I cooked the green beans (I added some sesame oil as well). Probably the best batch of green beans I’ve ever cooked.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, biked for 30 minutes, then showered. I went through my grandmother’s cross-stitch materials, which have been in my closet for a good long while, and found that, unfortunately, some of the items she had started, don’t have any patterns. Not sure what I’m going to do with those, but there are other usable items in there, so I have plenty to work on in the future!

I read my book (STILL reading Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott), and my husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed. I didn’t sleep well at all.

 

Tuesday, 15 February, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I got dressed and filled and ran the dishwasher. We tidied the laundry room, and then we sat down for math, where my daughter did some work that set the foundation for multiplication and division, along with a page and a half of math problems. We read a book about the orchestra, one about the Statue of Liberty, and more of our book on garbage.

After lunch, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. I had my daughter work on some writing; we read two chapters from her history book; and we worked for 30 minutes on my Read Harder project/her silent reading. This was the day I started reading A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (it’s part of a three-books-in-one set, so after I finish this, I’ll move on to the next book in it!). We read a Magic Schoolbus book about light to finish our day, and then I ran to Aldi to pick up a few groceries- we had plans for a field trip on Wednesday (which is my usual grocery shopping day), and we’re supposed to get snow on Thursday, so I didn’t want to be out and about, nor did I want to be without milk, which we were out of. (Okay, we wouldn’t be out; I have some powdered milk and some shelf-stable milk. But still.)

At home, I put the groceries away, then chopped an onion and sauteed it with some peppers, garlic and zucchini. I put the rice in the rice cooker, made a batch of guacamole, took out the compost, brought in the cans from the curb, and took out the recycling. And then I sat down to do an hour of volunteer work on the computer.

After dinner- homemade Chipotle-style bowls- I did my Duolingo, biked for 30 minutes, showered, and put dinner away. I put my daughter to bed, then read my book. My husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women, and I slept much better this night!

 

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022

Field trip day! After breakfast and coffee, I got dressed, and then we- husband included- were in the car and off to Chicago to spend a few hours at the Field Museum!

So many cool exhibits there. Lots of preserved animals, with placards giving fascinating information about their habitat, behavior, and important features. Tons of exhibits that feature history, with examples of objects hand-constructed by people throughout time and examples of their housing. Dinosaurs galore! So much of what we saw went right along with many of the things my daughter has been learning about the past few weeks, so it was really amazing to be able to point those out to her and ask her questions about them and hear her answer correctly!

 

There were, unfortunately, a few people who had removed their masks (you had to be both masked and show proof of vaccination upon entry into the museum), but only like three of them, though there were a bunch more people with their noses hanging out (IT HAS BEEN TWO YEARS. How have they NOT figured out by now that their nose leads STRAIGHT DOWN TO THEIR LUNGS?!?!!?!?!?!????). We didn’t bother getting tickets for any of the special exhibits, since there was already so much to see, and this ended up working out just fine, since we walked through almost everything there and our feet hurt and we were tired (and my daughter was getting antsy and losing focus) by the time we decided we needed to eat, so then it was time to head home. What a fun trip!!! It was the first big thing we’ve done since the pandemic started, and it was nice- and exhausting!- to get out of the house for that long. (And I took a whooooooole lot more pictures, but this phone, which I got in October, seemed to have eaten them? I still haven’t quite figured this out. Even restarting didn’t help. Weird.)

At home, we ate, and then I snuggled up in my chair and fell asleep (told you it was exhausting!). I worked on this post, then baked the pizza I grabbed from Aldi the day before. We had dinner, I did my Duolingo, and I skipped biking because my feet hurt from all the walking! I showered and put my daughter to bed, then I read my book. My husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women, and I slept terribly again, causing me to massively oversleep this morning. Ugh.

 

The local schools are closed today due to expected snowstorms later on, but we’re still getting some work done, despite our late start! I may or may not hit some grocery stores later on today, depending on what the weather looks like (right now, there’s nothing, and you bet local people will be complaining and laughing that the schools called off. Sigh).

What have you been up to so far this week? Any fun adventures?