Weekly recap: 8/20/2018

Happy Monday, and welcome to another (hopefully) productive week! It's been so disgustingly hot and humid here lately; I'm seriously looking forward to cooler fall weather, but so far, the weather forecast is just laughing in my face. Let's recap this past week, shall we?


MONDAY

My daughter and I ran to the post office, and then we were off to hang out at a library in a nearby town. We have borrowing privileges there, but I didn't need anything; she just wanted to play in their amazing children's department, so while she did that, I read a book from my Goodreads To Read list. After lunchtime, I put some white beans in the Instant Pot and then went down to the basement to organize the crafting area (which consists of my shelves of fabric and patterns/sewing supplies, my knitting supplies, my crafting books, etc). I only organized; I didn't stop to look through what I had, although I really, really wanted to! I worked quickly and then went back upstairs to do dinner prep for Cajun pasta with white beans and kale (this is a huge favorite around here; my daughter has loved it since she was a baby. She used to pick all the kale out and eat only the kale!). Instead of using canned tomatoes, I chopped up a bunch of tomatoes from our garden, which felt pretty cool. :)

So, while I was organizing my craft area, I came across these.

Knitted things!

Knitted rectangles. Two black, two colorful. What are they?

Wristwarmers.

Wristwarmers that I knit up years ago.

And then never sewed the sides up.

*insert screaming here*

This is the exact reason I began this blog. This is a prime example of all the stupid things I've been starting and not finishing, that I've been letting sit around undone, just waiting for someone else to come along and go, "Huh, wonder why she never finished this while she was still alive." I don't want that; I don't want to be that kind of person anymore. I want to finish the things I start, to complete the projects I set out to do (in a timely manner, of course!). Honestly, when I dug these out of one of my knitting bags, I was kind of angry with the past me who let them sit there all this time.

Immediately after I finished with dinner, I sewed the first pair up.

Much better! This will go to my mom for Christmas, as they were originally supposed to be for her.

After my daughter woke up, we did Reading and Geography lessons (we went to Chad), and then I practiced the piano for a bit. After dinner, my 16 year old son came up to me and said, "Wanna go for a walk?"

When your 16 year old son asks you to hang out with him, you go. We walked 4.16 miles in about an hour and 15 minutes, and honestly, it was wonderful. It was nice spending time with him and talking, just the two of us. We're going to try to do this on a regular basis. :)

That night, I watched an episode of Orange Is the New Black with my husband, and...

So colorful! So FINISHED!!! These are mine. :)

TUESDAY

I started the laundry, then my son and I loaded the car again for the thrift store. We had a bit of time before the store opened, so I practiced the piano. Angel Eyes by Jim Brickman is really starting to sound good! I'm mostly at the point where I can play the whole way through; I just need to fine-tune a few areas, and then I'll be ready to move on to something new. I'm kind of looking forward to that!

We dropped our donation pile off at the thrift store and went in to look around, but they didn't have the book I was looking for, so we left without buying anything. Afterwards, we went and walked around a local mall, and, since it was my son's last day of summer vacation, I took the kids out to lunch, as is our tradition. We had a nice time together, even if my daughter was a little wild!

At home, I put some black beans in the Instant Pot and threw the laundry in the dryer. Normally, I hang it out to dry, but there wasn't going to be enough time to collect it that evening, as we had other plans. And finally, FINALLY, during my daughter's nap, I got some time to write (at a time when I wasn't exhausted and braindead, as I often am by the time my daughter goes to bed at night) and I blasted out 831 words, which felt BEYOND amazing!!! I threw together a quick dinner of beans and rice, and when my daughter woke up, we did Reading and Geography lessons (Chile today). I practiced the piano for a little bit, and after picking my husband up, my son and I went to a local school to hear a speaker. This man was a parent, one who lives in a neighboring town, and he lost his sixteen year old son twelve years ago to teenage drinking. My son is a pretty good kid; I've never had to worry about him getting into trouble or making stupid decisions about alcohol, but it never hurts to repeat the message. The man's story was utterly heartbreaking.

After we returned home, I gathered my son's school supplies, then I whipped up a batch of Universal Muffins from The Complete Tightwad Gazette (seriously one of the best recipes ever. I use it several times a month) for the kids' breakfast the next morning. I then sat down at wrote a little more, bringing my total for the day to 1047. YES!!!!!!!!!!!

WEDNESDAY

First day of school for my son!!! He's a junior this year. I was feeling bittersweet about the start of this year, because it's my daughter's last year before starting full-time school. Next year will be my son's last first day and her first first day. I spent the day singing Rod Stewart's Forever Young and randomly bursting into tears. I know, I know!!!

My daughter and I hit the road for groceries after breakfast. We stopped by three local grocery stores and also went into Walmart to buy new pillows. My neck and shoulders have really been bothering me lately (I thought, and my doctor did too, that my shoulder pain was related to rotator cuff issues. But apparently some of the pain I'm having resembles the symptoms of degenerative disc disease in the upper spine. I have it in the lower spine, so it's not out of the question that my upper discs are degenerating too, sigh), and since my pillows were in sad shape anyway, I was hoping new ones would help. At home, I put the groceries away, cut up fruit for fruit salad, and cut up some peppers for snacks. I put the chickpeas in the Instant Pot and wrote 525 words, then did dinner prep for BBQ Cheddar Chickpea Burgers, a green salad, and a tomato mozzarella salad (the tomatoes came from our garden, of course!). When my daughter woke up, we did her Reading and Geography lessons (China), and I practiced the piano. That evening, I cleaned the kitchen and watched the last episode of Orange Is the New Black with my husband.

THURSDAY

My daughter woke up early, so we drove my husband to the train. After breakfast, I cleaned the kitchen (again! Someone really needs to get on that whole self-cleaning kitchen thing) and swept the basement. My mom arrived just before 9, which made my daughter very happy. Grandma came to watch her so that I could go have my MRI done (insurance did approve it, so yay for that! Unyay for whatever my copay will be...). After that was done, my mom took us out for lunch and we stopped by the Dollar Store (I bought a plug for my kitchen sink). We walked around a local park in the late afternoon, where we found this beauty:

I know nothing about butterflies, but this is so pretty!

Everyone ate leftovers for dinner; I was still too full from lunch. My husband and I hung out with my daughter in the yard, and that's when we met another friend:

TOAD!!!

Do other people get this excited when they find a toad in their yard? I was super jazzed about it! We picked him up from near the compost and put him (her?) in by the tomatoes, where it was cool and damp. What a cute little garden buddy! We also picked our pumpkin, since the vine had detached, but here's a before picture:

Is it too early to decorate for Halloween?

 I was pretty worn out that evening, so I did some research for my writing and went to bed early. 

FRIDAY

Ugh.

I was *really* worn out this morning. I had breakfast with my daughter and then started feeling extremely tired, so I curled up with her on the couch and dozed a little while she watched The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That for an hour. We attempted to do her Reading lesson, but she was NOT having it. After deciding that it would be better to call it quits rather than argue with a four year old, I sent her off to play in her room while I rested on the couch, but my shoulder was so painful, even while I was icing it, and I was feeling so poorly that even trying to hold my book open was too much. I gave up, and after I put her down for her afternoon nap, I went to bed as well and slept for two and a half hours!!! I'm not a napper, so this is how you know I don't feel well. I don't know if I was fighting something off, or if this was just my body's way of telling me to slow down, but yikes. I picked my son up from a friend's house and ended up dozing on the couch again after dinner. My husband and I watched The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on Netflix, and then he very kindly rubbed my shoulder- part of it hurt so badly that his rubbing it made me cry. :(

SATURDAY

Still wasn't feeling great when I woke up, but it was off to my daughter's gymnastics class, where I read a book from my Goodreads To Read list. When we got home, I rested for a bit, then mowed the lawn, stopping in the middle to take a break. After I showered, we went to a local bookstore and then the Dollar Store next door (my husband needed something for a project he's working on; I bought a set of bobby pins), and then for dinner at the local pizza place several doors down. I'm not a huge fan of the place; if I'm going out to eat, I'd rather it be for something I can't make at home (such as Indian food. I make some curries here and there, but making Indian food is something I'd like to improve on). I finished a (fairly heavy) Goodreads book that night and went to bed early.

SUNDAY

My husband and I put our daughter in the stroller and walked 1.8 miles to Dunkin Donuts. She'd been asking if we could do that, and today was the day. It was warm out and I was pretty worn out by the time we got back. I ate my maple-frosted donut (I can't even remember the last time I had a donut, to be honest!) and then fell asleep on my chair for about an hour. Fortunately, when I woke up, I was finally feeling a little more back to normal, so hurray!

I cleaned the kitchen and living room, then shifted a few things around in the basement, which is FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll have another post up this week about it- you'll be amazed at the difference. I keep going down there and grinning. It's just SO. MUCH. BETTER. The space is usable now, which isn't something that could be said for the past 3.5 years we've lived here. The joy and relief I feel over this is indescribable, so keep your eyes peeled for that post.

My daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (Colombia!) and then we all went to visit family, where I worked on my knitted stripey blanket (have I posted about those here? I'm going to have to look...). We picked some more tomatoes at home...

So yeah, it's sauce day tomorrow...

And then I made more muffins for the kids' breakfasts. 

My husband stole one already!!!

I'm going to put together a list of quick breakfasts. I'm planning on making some waffles and pancakes for the freezer, along with some breakfast sandwiches and breakfast burritos (those last two especially after the New Year, when my son has what's known as zero-hour gym class, which starts at 6:40 am and I'll have to drive him to school then, yikes! He'll need breakfast on the go). I'm trying to be better at being prepared with wholesome, filling homemade breakfasts and not have to buy cold cereal. I figure this is at least a good start. :)

So that was my week! I'm so thankful the basement is done; I'll have that post up in a few days, so be sure to check back. Now that I've tackled that project, I'm going to move on to reorganizing my closet, but I don't think that'll take *nearly* as long as the basement did, and I'm hoping that means I'll be able to devote a little more time to writing. *fingers crossed*

How was your week???

Goodreads To Read list: 157 books

Words written: 1572

Knitted projects finished: 2

Friday Thoughts 8/17/2018

The end of another week. It's rainy here today, which isn't a bad thing, since I think we need it. My son went back to school this week to start his junior year, so we're all adjusting to the new schedule, both waking up early and hustling to get ready, and having him gone all day. My daughter will start preschool in a few weeks, and that'll be yet another adjustment! There's always something going on around here. :)


*10 Simple Things That Will Make You Happier At Home*

This is a lovely little article, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of the things I already do on a regular basis. I've been trying to focus on gratitude more lately; I try to find something to enjoy or appreciate about every task (including scooping the litterbox! No one LOVES that task, but it has to be done, so I usually play a song I enjoy on my phone while I scoop. It makes the experience...if not enjoyable, then easier to work through); I have a display of things from the travels I've gone on with my mother; I somewhat follow the 'have an intent for each day' rule.

When I'm not running errands like getting groceries or running the kids around, I spend most of my time at home, and it's important to me that the area around me is calm, free of clutter, and a pleasant place to be. I've had to work very hard, both on my house and on myself, to make this possible, and it helps immensely with my anxiety. It's a constant struggle, though; I'm one person, cleaning up after four people (three of whom do NOT clean up after themselves whatsoever) and two cats, so it's truly neverending.

Does it matter what the space around you looks like? Are you one of those lucky people that can feel calm, relaxed, and productive wherever you go, or do you find it easier to be the best version of yourself when your space is organized?


*5 Exercises for Rotator Cuff Pain*

Ow.

So when I went to the doctor a few weeks ago, my doc confirmed that my right shoulder pain is most likely rotator cuff pain, which is what I had suspected. Apparently, physical therapists don't like to do both lower back and shoulder work at the same time, so we're going to focus on getting my lower back in good working order first, and then we'll move on, but for the moment, this shoulder stuff is kind of ruining my life. :( It may be genetic; my dad has shoulder issues and told me this past weekend that he's on his third bout of frozen shoulder, so lucky me!

Hopefully YOU won't need this link. If you do, I'm sorry, and I feel your pain...literally. If you have any other suggestions about alleviating rotator cuff pain, I'd absolutely love to hear it!


*What Do You Want Your Tombstone to Say?*

I am in perpetual indecision.

I've basically been a homemaker most of my adult life. I've had a few part-time jobs, the kind where you wear a nametag and, for the low, low salary of minimum wage, you get to hear what a piece of garbage you are from far too many of the customers (and as a result, I'm so, so nice to retail workers. They work so hard and get treated so terribly). I've taken college classes on and off. But I've never felt like I've had a purpose and that bothers me. There are things that I'd *like* to happen- if time and money were no object, I'd go back to school to become a librarian. Unfortunately, the logistics of that make it an impossible dream: it would be far too expensive, there'd be no one to care for my young daughter when I'm gone, Too Expensive, I'd have to travel too far in order to go to a school with that program, $$$$$, we've already got my son's college to pay for in two years, there's the money issue, there's no guarantee that my back won't die completely the second after I graduate, did I mention it would be prohibitively expensive?

Anyway...I'm going to do the exercises on this page and see what I come up with. There are things I'm working on, like with my writing (which I've been able to get back to a bit this week, now that the majority of the basement is cleaned up!), but...there's more to me too. And I think defining it on paper, to see in front of me in an organized way, will help to clarify a few things for me. :)



That's about it this week. I've been so busy that I haven't had much time online, so those are the only links I had bookmarked! Not necessarily a bad thing, I think. What about you? What have you been thinking about?

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Weekly Recap: 8/13/2018

Welcome to another beautiful week! It's been a crazy one around here, so crazy that I don't have as many pictures to show off as I would like- I've just been too darn busy. But that's not necessarily a  bad thing, right? :) Let's recap.


MONDAY

After getting ready for the day, I cleaned the kitchen, and then my daughter and I got started on her Reading and Geography lessons. We virtually traveled to Cambodia, where, I learned, they eat fried snake. I am all for people feasting upon whatever makes them happy and healthy, but I'm not a fan of snakes (alive or cooked), so that set off my phobia a little! If I'm ever lucky enough to travel there, I'll stick to all the other delicious food Cambodia has to offer. :)

I swept the living room and kitchen, and during naptime, I cooked some taco-flavored lentils for Chipotle-style bowls for dinner. And then (cue ominous music) I cleaned out the worst part of the laundry room. *shudders* It was gross. When I finished with that, I settled down in my reading chair to read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. This has been on my mental want-to-read list (but not my Goodreads To Read list) ever since we read parts of it in a class I took let's-not-discuss-how-many-years-ago. My hand is finally being forced by the fact that Tim O'Brien is coming to speak to my community at the end of the month, and I am NOT missing that, so I want to be prepared! I only got a few minutes to read, though, because my daughter woke up, and then I had to give my son a ride.

When we got back home, I cleaned up my daughter's room and then practiced the piano for a bit- still working on perfecting Angel Eyes by Jim Brickman. That night, I completed the laundry room and felt pretty darn good about myself! I folded and put away some laundry, and then watched an episode of Orange is the New Black with my husband before bed.


TUESDAY

In the morning, I took my kids to Menards and bought a small shelf for the laundry room, then stopped by Walmart to pick up some heavy plastic containers in order to begin work on organizing the Basement of DOOM. At home, my daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (we went to Cameroon). During her naptime, I threw dinner in the Instant Pot- Vegan Cabbage Roll Soup (I used rice instead of quinoa, since that's what I had on hand). I'm not normally a huge cabbage fan, but this soup is delicious. After that got going, I set up the shelves we'd purchased in the laundry room, and then I started moving things around in the basement.

The box marked 'Pretzel Crisps' actually holds tea. Don't ask.

To the left, my daughter's easel.

My daughter's nap was short today, but by the time she woke up, I'd moved enough stuff around that there was a place for her to play while I dove into the mess of my husband's boxes (some of which hadn't been touched for 8+ years!!!).

Like this. It was just an empty box, but we would have moved it AT LEAST THREE TIMES!!1!!1!!!11!1!!!!

She helped me sort things into piles, which was pretty adorable. We hit the library after we were done cleaning, and after dinner, I headed back downstairs for more basement cleaning. Before bed, I read a little bit more of The Things They Carried.


WEDNESDAY

I started laundry, and then my daughter and I headed out for a grocery trip to two different stores. At the second store, I somehow managed to miss seeing this on the way in:

It's not actually real.

How did I miss that? Egads. Anyway, back at home, we cleaned more of the basement, hung the laundry outside, and then dropped my son off at school so that he could get pictures taken and pick up his student ID. Back home again, I- say it with me- CLEANED MORE OF THE BASEMENT. Earlier in the day, I offered the empty boxes up on Freecycle and someone had responded almost immediately, so I carried those outside for her and they were gone quickly. After dinner, I- you guessed it- CLEANED EVEN MORE OF THE BASEMENT. And then I slipped and fell.

Ow.

I'm very fortunately that it wasn't a bad fall. My foot hit a piece of plastic and slid on the tiled floor and I went down hard on my left knee. It could've been pretty bad, and I was a little worried that I was going to be hurting the next morning, but fortunately I had nothing more than some strained muscles in my left leg and some aches on my right side. PHEW. Despite the fall, I still packed the car full in preparation for donating approximately fifteen thousand pounds of unnecessary stuff to the thrift store, cleaned the kitchen, picked my son up, and finished The Things They Carried. 

Exhausting day!

THURSDAY

My daughter and I dropped our stuff off at the thrift store, then stopped by the Dollar Tree next door, because I needed a mop. Of course, they were all out of mops! I did pick up a bucket and two bottles of floor cleaner. I usually make my own, but I wanted something more heavily scented for the first wash or two- that floor down there needed it! Fortunately, we were planning on stopping by another grocery store, and right next door to that was a Family Dollar. We grabbed a mop there, and then grabbed some loss leaders from the grocery store. Back at home, we did Reading and Geography (Cape Verde today), and I started the dough for focaccia in the bread machine. And when my daughter went down for a nap, I did something that I've been dreaming of doing for ages:

DREAM BIG, KIDS!!!

After scrubbing, I threw together a salad for dinner and baked the focaccia with tomatoes from our garden. Ice cream was on sale this week, so we had some of that after we ate. I figured I had done enough work for the day and settled down with a book from my Goodreads To Read list after my daughter went to bed.

FRIDAY

My daughter was up super early today, so we gave my husband a ride to the train. Yard sales were fruitful this week. I picked up a jar of orange-scented hand soap, a bottle of Bath & Body Works lotion and a container full of beads (which I'll give to my mother for Christmas), a drinking cup with a hockey team logo (which I'll give to my hockey-obsessed son for Christmas), a sewing pattern for a child's apron (I'm hoping to make this for my daughter for Christmas), and a skein of yarn (since it was only ten cents, I grabbed it and will toss it into my stash for future use). At home, my daughter helped me prepare the tofu meatballs for dinner, and then we did Reading and Geography lessons (the Cayman Islands!). We dropped off my son at a friend's house and then my daughter and I made a Costco run. We're new to Costco this year and I had remembered to grab the coupons and gift card we'd gotten for joining, and so we came home with a three-pack of cleaning wipes, a pack of 72 AA batteries, and a pack of toilet paper, all at no cost out of pocket. 

From there, we went to the library, where my daughter and I snuggled together and read Dr. Seuss's HOP ON POP and an adorable Mo Willems book called I Will Take a Nap. That night, I read a little of a book from my Goodreads To Read list, picked up my son, and watched an episode of Orange is the New Black with my husband.

SATURDAY

My daughter had gymnastics, so I read more of that Goodreads book. At home, I cleaned the kitchen and living room, then re-mopped part of the basement that still looked a little dusty and gross. I spent the rest of naptime organizing the bookshelves in the basement, which had become a disorganized mess and a place to shove things and run. When my daughter woke up, we went to my sister-in-law's house with the intention of taking the kids on a picnic, but thunder and lightning cancelled those plans, so we just let the kids play in the house. That night, I read more of my Goodreads book and watched two episodes of Orange is the New Black with my husband.

SUNDAY

Renaissance Faire day!

My husband and I have been visiting the Ren Faire together since we were first dating. It's a little bit of a different experience now that we have our daughter, much slower and not quite as long of a day, but it's still fun. 

Despite the crowd, it really didn't feel crowded. How did it feel? HOT.

It's just not the Ren Faire without stopping to watch the joust.

And of course we had to stop and pet this, uh, Renaissance-y goat!

And since the Ren Faire is about a fifty minute drive from us, you know I didn't just sit there in the car.

Ta-da!

Finally finished! In case you're curious, the pattern I use is The Mitts from Bev's Country Cottage. I've made so many of these two-needle mittens. It's a super simple pattern, easy to follow and understand. I'm not a fancy knitter, so this one is perfect for me. These mittens will go into my Christmas gift stash. I have a list of knitting projects I want to make, so I'll pull that out in the next few days and figure out what I want to work on next. :) 

Before dinner, my husband had to do some work in the yard, so my daughter and I settled down for a Reading and Geography lesson today (a quick virtual trip to the Central African Republic). After she went to bed, I read my book for a bit and then watched Orange Is the New Black with my husband.

And that was it! I'm *this* close to finishing the basement, something I honestly never thought I'd be able to say. I still need to organize my craft area, which shouldn't take too long, and I think I'm going to put my husband's containers in the crawlspace. After that, I'll write up a post about the basement so you can see the before and after...if you dare. The two befores I have are pretty bad!

Goodreads To Read list: 160 books

Mittens completed: 2

Laundry rooms fully cleaned and organized: 1

How was your week? 

*post contains affiliate links

Friday Thoughts 8/10/18

Friday again! It's been an exhausting week here so far, and it doesn't look like it'll slow down when the weekend gets here. But that's okay. Life's more interesting when the to do list is jam packed, right? Here are a few of the things that caught my attention this week.


*Here's How America Uses Its Land*

I love stuff like this. I love knowing exactly what is used where, exactly how much is used, the exact outcomes of things. I also love maps, so this is right up my alley. (If you know of anything like this for other countries, let me know in the comments. I find this stuff fascinating- my daughter's daily Geography lesson is super fun for me as well- and would love to see it.)


*A Rallying Cry to End The Overwhelm of Toys*

Another 'kids have too many toys and it harms them article,' something I'm still pondering. I know my daughter has too many. Is she overwhelmed by them? She definitely is when it comes time to picking them up, and it's understandable there. She does play with them all, though, or at least most of them. I even caught her playing with her jungle animal set-up the other day, which is something she hadn't touched in a while, so that surprised me. We're definitely going through her toybox soon, though, because that thing absolutely turns into a dumping ground. I'm already kind of dreading Christmas, though, because we literally have ZERO space for anything else. NONE. I know that the grandparents are going to be asking what to buy, and I'm wondering if I can convince them of some non-toy gifts. A zoo membership or something like that, because even if my daughter doesn't seem overwhelmed with the amount of toys, I definitely am.


*What Happened When I Tried Talking To Twitter Abusers*

Oy.

The substance of this article honestly kind of makes me lose faith in humanity. (There's been a lot of that happening lately. The number of people I saw yesterday justifying and defending policemen using tasers on children- CHILDREN!!!- for shoplifting make me sick to my stomach. Yes, shoplifting is wrong, but using a taser on a child? What are we becoming???) Online abuse is a very real and very scary thing. I've had people come after me online and say horrific things to me. It's unsettling and scary and I had the same experience as the author, in that there was nothing that I said or did that made any difference in the treatment I received. It got to be so bad that I ended up leaving a well-known website because the abuse there was too disgusting. It would be really nice, especially for women, if these online communities had stricter policies against harassment and abuse; otherwise, the regular people like me get fed up and leave and the community is overrun with harassers. It's sad that this is a case that has to be made and that other people will shout it down (very possibly while harassing someone else in another browser tab, because that's about the only reason I can think of to not be in favor of online communities allowing things like rape threats).


*Government Surplus Auctions*

Have you ever bought something from a government auction? I've known about them for years, but I haven't ever checked them out. My husband and I were discussing a purchase last weekend, and I told him that I'd check out our local government surplus auction site, because they might sell that item on occasion. Wouldn't you know, the exact item we'd been discussing had been sold the week before! Just our luck, but I'll keep checking. They have some interesting stuff up in my area; maybe they'll have something you need! :)


*Verify Your Voter Registration Status*

If you're in the US, are you registered to vote? It's your duty as a citizen, so sign up, get registered, and make sure you're on the rolls! It's so important to be able to have a say in our government, both national and local, so register, ask your friends if they're registered, learn about the candidates on the ballot, offer rides to the polls, and vote every chance you get! To give you an idea of how seriously I take voting, I once waited in line so long to vote that I passed out (huge thanks to the poll workers who assisted me and then shuttled me to the head of the line, possibly to get me out of there faster and to make sure I was no longer their responsibility if something worse happened, haha!), and on another occasion, I hauled my exhausted postpartum carcass to the polls with my 10-day old baby after a night of almost zero sleep. Get your vote on, my friends!


*This Woman Cooks Everything In A Coffee Maker*

I find this fascinating.

I've had some lean times in my life, along with some times when my housing situation was...unstable, to say the least. The idea of being able to prepare food using so little deeply appeals to my 'must plan for the worst' nature. (Seriously. My kind-of-joking-but-not-entirely first plan for if I ever win the lottery is to buy an RV of some sort so that I'll always have a place to stay even if I'm homeless. That's the kind of thinking that the terrible combination of a prolonged period of poverty plus an anxiety disorder gets you.) Ages ago, I always wanted to read Cooking Without a Kitchen by Peter Mazonson, but at the time, none of the libraries in my library network had a copy. Now I see that cooking with very little in terms of kitchen space or supplies is very much a thing all over the internet! MY PEOPLE!!! I'm going to have to look more deeply into this in order to appease my survivalist instinct.

Check out Katja Wulff's website, Coffee Machine Cuisine!


And that's what I found interesting this week! What about you? Anything on your mind?



*post contains affiliate links

Completed: Laundry Room Cleanup

Do you have one of those areas in the house that, over time, turned into a dumping ground? One of those areas that the job is SO big, you weren't even sure where to start and so you've been avoiding it?

That's our downstairs.

So.

Story time.

When my daughter was born, she didn't sleep.

Ever.

You go into parenthood expecting some level of sleep deprivation. You expect to yawn, to be bleary-eyed, to maybe hit up whatever caffeinated beverage gets you through the day a little harder than normal. This was what life was like with my son. I was at the level of tiredness where everything was funny when he was young. Not a huge deal.

But my daughter never slept. And when she slept, she woke up constantly, and since my body was her food source, I was awake constantly, too. It wasn't abnormal for her to wake up six times between 11 pm and 6 am, and that was my life for 18 months. 18 months of getting, at most, 3-4 broken-up hours of sleep per day. (And forget naps; she rarely napped decently either, and I was too keyed up to fall asleep, not that it would have mattered, because her naps were 45 minutes tops until she got much older.)

So instead of yawning with bleary eyes, I sobbed uncontrollably, would think something and then have ZERO clue what I had just thought (there were times when I would think, 'Oh, I should get that out of the kitchen,' stand up, and then have NO clue why I was standing up), had joint pain and random aches for no reason, forgot where I was going when I was driving. I wish I were exaggerating; with that last one, my son, who was then 13 years old, had to remind me that I was taking him to school.

Oops.

There's a reason sleep deprivation is used for torture; it does terribly things to your physical and mental health. My daughter is four years old now and sleeps pretty well, but I still feel like my brain is recovering from all that time it spent without restorative sleep.

Anyway.

I struggled pretty badly through that time. I did my best to take care of what needed to be taken care of, but I failed pretty badly at a lot of things, no surprise there. Our basement was where the majority of the boxes were stored from our move (we moved back to our home state when my daughter was 8 months. NOT. EASY), and my husband's boxes, which are full of junk from college and also contain things like Comcast bills (paid, of course) from 2008, are still there. It's a dumping ground, one that I'm planning on tackling next, but the dumping ground had started to bleed over into the laundry room and I hadn't yet found the energy or the fortitude to tackle it. So it got worse and worse and worse, until suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore.

Are you ready?

Seriously. Steady yourselves.

Here's the laundry room.

*infinite screaming*

That's AFTER I started the cleanup process, as evidenced by the pile of stuff on top of the washer. But the stuff scattered on the floor, that was just...there. The bin of what looks like rolled-up wrapping paper was actually a small trash can full of roller shades (none of which fit any windows in the house) that was there when we moved in (as were the old disgusting mop and the other things leaning by the wall. Yuck). That's the thing about not sleeping- you don't even THINK of easy solutions, like, "Hey, I could throw that out." Never even occurred to me during that time, not even once. It's almost embarrassing to admit that.

But part of starting this blog was to hold myself accountable for all the things I both want and need to do, and this was definitely on my list of absolutely need to do, so I began slowly tackling the room. I started on a set of shelves left here by the previous owner (an older lady who had passed away). I weeded out a bunch of things she had left behind, then reorganized my own belongings and called it a day. The next time I organized, I worked on that large set of shelves you see on the right hand side of the picture, then moved to the space between that and the washer. And so on and so forth. Yesterday, I tackled the dryer, which is across from the washer, and the area to the right of it. And last night, I decided that the job needed to be over and done with, and I tackled the final box down there and swept the entire room. 

Are you ready?

It's so much better.

Here we go. 

Isn't it lovely? Isn't it woooooooooooonderful???

The amount of relief that picture gives me is enormous. Clutter triggers my anxiety in a bad, bad way, and I keep going downstairs to examine the gorgeous fruits of my labor. Let's look at some more organizational and cleaning fantasticness, shall we?

The area to the right of the washer had been FULL of boxes, clothes, and junk. FIRE HAZARD.

A view from the other direction.

So clean. So clutter free.

This took a LOT of work and a LOT of effort. My back is pretty toasted today; my hips hurt, my pelvis aches, and I was having trouble walking up the stairs last night after finishing all of this. It's going to be like that when I do the tough jobs; that's unfortunately just how my body works these days, and while it does indeed stink, I'm used to it and know to expect it. But the payoff here is really great; I get the satisfaction of both a clean, clutter-free laundry room, I get space to set up my drying racks for the winter so I don't have to use up so much electricity running the dryer, and I get the immense satisfaction of knowing that I completed a project that desperately needed completing.

I bought a small shelf from Menards today; that will go around where the bottles of water are in that last picture. It'll hold my daughter's paints, which are currently languishing where my husband left them, on the super cluttered bar in the basement. I'm sure I'll find other things to be stored on there as well, because up next...

The basement!

Wish me luck, because that place is seriously Nightmare on Elm Street-levels horrifying.

Do you have any major projects that you're tackling?

Weekly recap: 8/6/2018

Happy Monday! Phew, I'm tired this morning. Hopefully, the coffee will kick in soon, because I've got plenty to do today, and I'm sure you do too. Let's recap the week, shall we?


MONDAY

I started off the day by washing the kitchen floor. Hands and knees, bucket and rag, hard scrubbing-style washing. Not that you could tell when I was done; the floor is seriously old, and the pattern, along with the pits in the vinyl, all point to the fact that it was designed by someone who never, ever had to scrub dirt off a floor. It's kind of terrible, and I'm highly looking forward to the day we replace it with something that doesn't collect filth and then hang onto it with the Jaws of Life.

This floor. Grrrrr.

Do you see the black bits in the lower part of that tile? If I sit there and scrub so hard that my elbow is screaming for about five minutes (not an exaggeration), it kind of comes off. But we've got a ton of those ugly peel-and-stick tiles in our kitchen, and there's no way I could do that to all of them. And I'm not a fan of the design at all- the first thing I said when we walked through our house for the first time with our Realtor was, "Ugh. That floor is...interesting." One day, that flooring will be replaced and I will rejoice!

After I tackled the Ugly Floor of Ugliness, my daughter and I did Reading and Geography Lessons (we went to Brunei that day). I started a load of laundry, then cleaned the living room floor, which is hard wood and, despite the dings in it, is much nicer than the kitchen floor. I read a book from my Goodreads To Read list, then made a pizza for dinner, with tomatoes and basil from our garden. I practiced the piano for a bit and mowed the back half of the lawn after dinner. That evening, I finished the Goodreads book.

TUESDAY

My daughter and I attended a children's music program at our library. She had a great time, and I read a library book and chatted with a very nice mom who was born in Serbia. (I absolutely love meeting people who come from all over. We live in a fantastic town for that, and it makes life here so interesting!) During naptime, I prepared dinner, black bean burgers and potatoes with cheese. The tomatoes and green onions I used in the meal came from our garden- I just love being able to say that!

 YUM.

During the rest of naptime, I started cleaning the laundry room. Over the past year, it's become a dumping ground for a lot of stuff, and it's gotten embarrassingly awful. I have a picture, but I'll show it to you when the entire thing is clean- it's that bad. I'm doing one small section a day, throwing out a a bunch of stuff (the lady who lived here before us passed away, and the house sat empty for a long time. When we moved in, there were still a lot of things in here that she had left behind, some of it usable, some of it not, like old, rolled up plastic tubing, pull-down blinds that don't fit any window in the house, etc. The blinds are old and kind of rotted, so into the trash they go). After I finished my daily section of the laundry room, I cleaned the kitchen and registered my son for school ($$$$$), then comforted myself by relaxing with my library book. When my daughter woke up, we did Reading and Geography lessons (Bulgaria!), and when it was time to pick up my husband, we combined the trip by picking him up in the library parking lot, which is located right behind the train station, because the library had informed me that I had a book in. That evening, I helped my son with his French homework and read some more of my library book. 

WEDNESDAY

Oof. Have you ever had a dream that shook you so terribly that it bled over into your day? That was Wednesday. I had an awful dream that woke me up at 4:45 am. It involved my daughter, and it scared me badly. When she woke up, I scooped her up and didn't want to ever put her down again. The dream, combined with the early wake up, left me exhausted and not feeling like getting much done. We headed out to go grocery shopping (three different stores), then picked up my son from his friend's house, and we all went to my doctor's appointment. I love my doctor; she's a great listener and incredibly friendly. We discussed the new symptoms I'm experiencing with my back, and she agreed that it was time for another MRI to see what's going on in there, so that's on the schedule for this week. I'll also be starting physical therapy at a new place, seeing a spinal specialist, and probably scheduling an appointment with a pain doctor (I hate taking meds. HATE IT. I'm not sure what I'll be doing with the pain doc, other than establishing a relationship, since I can't take anything too hard- there's no way I can care for my very active daughter and drive my son all over and pick up my husband from the train on meds that make me woozy. Ay yi yi). Eesh. Crossing my fingers that something helps here!

After my appointment, we made a quick stop at the Dollar Tree, and I cleaned the kitchen and finished my library book during naptime. I used up some old rice to make vegetable fried rice (this is SUPER tasty and a great way to not waste leftover rice), and we all ate leftovers for dinner (husband was the one who ate the rice and loved it). After dinner, we went for a short walk. I helped my son with his French homework and read a library book in the evening.

UPDATE: No MRI for me this week. Someone who is NOT a doctor and NOT a medical professional isn't really sure if I need this or not, so they're going to think about it. YAY, AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANIES!!! I'm sure my doctor, who spent years of her life in college and medical school and residency and who has many years of experience treating patients doesn't know what those patients need at all, but you, insurance company person, DEFINITELY do. Awesome. I'll just be over here with nerve pain and buzzing in my knee, and pins and needles and cold patches on my foot, safe in the knowledge that someone who has zero medical knowledge whatsoever and who has not examined me, knows better than the medical professionals who have. AWESOME.

Why do we accept this?

THURSDAY

Breakfast!

Breakfast on Thursday was an English muffin, spread with a Norwegian cheese called Snøfrisk. It's delicious and if you ever get a chance to try it, you neeeeeeeeeeeeed to! The tomatoes came from- say it with me- our garden! 

Today was a special day. My husband had taken the day off of work because we were going to spend the day with two exchange students from France. They were staying with my son's friends, but both parents had to work that day, and the parents had asked if we would be willing to chaperone for the day, since we both speak French. We leaped at the chance and picked them up at 9 am. We took them to a local wildlife rehabilitation center/forest preserve (where I was magically able to remember the French word for 'flying squirrel', but I had to look up the word for 'crane'). They seemed to enjoy it, and afterwards, we went to Aldi to grab some food. We had pizza for lunch and then went to a (very) small local zoo.

These things freak me out.

So do these things.

These things are okay, though.

After the zoo, we came home to relax a little (I finished sewing up my first mitten, and then started knitting the second), then I took all the teenagers to the mall. I was *really* nervous; my French is far from perfect, and I wasn't entirely sure of the level of their English, they'd been quiet all day. But it ended up working really well. I threw away my inhibitions and spoke French with them and we had no problems. They were really nice kids, and this was a fun trip!

When we returned home, my husband grilled things, and my sister-in-law, her son, and my mother-in-law came over, and we had a barbecue. My son's friends' parents came over later on and joined the party, and we had a bonfire and made s'mores- the exchange students had a great time, and I continued speaking French with them until they left. It was a really fun- and seriously exhausting!- day. :)

FRIDAY

Friday is yard sale day, so my daughter and I headed out. We haven't had any luck the past few weeks, but today, we hit the jackpot. 

WOOHOO!!!

All of the above, plus a pair of Skechers sandals, cost me a whopping $4.50!!! The most important pic is the middle one; I needed a winter jacket for my daughter and hadn't found one yet this year. I was starting to get nervous, as yard sales are going to be winding down soon, but not only did I find this year's jacket (a North Face! One that the previous owner just GAVE me!!!), I found next year's- for a quarter!!! I absolutely could NOT get over that, and it made my day. I'm still jazzed about it!

While out yard saling, we came across this house, with its gorgeously painted door: 

I think I actually swooned when I first saw this.

You'll have to click on the pic to make it bigger, but this picture absolutely does not do justice to how cheerful and gorgeous this front door is. There are flowers painted along the top and sides, the accessories match, it's just so inviting! Made me wonder how I could spruce up my door...

During naptime, I organized more of the laundry room and tossed a bunch of things (along with adding a few things to the thrift store pile, thankfully). I cleaned the kitchen, and when my daughter woke up, we did Reading and Geography lessons (Burkina Faso today). We headed to the library and turned in our completed summer reading sheets, hurray! At home, we harvested tomatoes, and I helped my son with his French homework.

Check out this summer gorgeousness!

And meet our baby pumpkin!!! Isn't it sweet???

This is a *small* portion of our tomato plants. All from Dollar Store seeds!!!

SATURDAY

After my daughter's gymnastics class, I took my son to a library in a different town to hunt down his book for summer reading. While we were there, I picked up three books from my Goodreads To Read list, and then I dropped him off at a friend's house. I cleaned another part of the laundry room (at this point, I'm about halfway done), and when my daughter woke up, we did Reading and Geography lessons (we traveled virtually to Burundi). We visited Culver's to redeem the coupon for ice cream that she earned from the library's summer reading program, and I picked my son up right before her bedtime. That evening, I finished a book from my To Read list and watched an episode of Orange Is the New Black with my husband.

SUNDAY

Happy birthday to me! 

Thanks, Mom!

My husband surprised me by having my mom come up to hang out with the kids so that we could go out together. This is rare, so it was a VERY nice surprise! We went to a local Indian restaurant, which is one of my favorite restaurants EVER, I love Indian food.

I could eat this for every meal for the rest of my life. NOM NOM NOM

We hit up a local used book sale, and I picked up a French novel (which aren't hugely easy to come by, so I collect them as I come across them) and a few books for the kids. My husband, who is still eyeball-deep in fixing our bathroom and who has a list of projects a million miles long, grabbed a ton of How To Fix Your Home Yourself books. Super cheap and absolutely worth it.

Afterwards, even though it was in the 90's, we headed to a local forest preserve and did another of my favorite things: kayaking!

I'm on a boat.

There's just something so relaxing about being on the water like this. I could absolutely do this every day of my life. I did end up with a little bit of middle-area back pain (which is an odd place for me), but fortunately it seems to be okay today. Worth it, anyway. :)

That evening, I took a walk with my kids to the two Little Free Libraries near us. They're a bit of a haul away, so my daughter sat in the stroller while my son pushed her. It was a really sweet time, just walking and talking with my children. :)

The lake near our house (not where we kayaked!).

My son, pushing my daughter. <3

In the evening, I watched two episodes of Orange Is the New Black with my husband, and then passed out into a deep, exhausted sleep. What a lovely birthday this was!

Phew! What a week. I didn't get quite as much done as I would've liked, but I'm still grateful I was able to accomplish everything I did. Here's to another trip around the sun, and another great week to come! How did you do this week?

Friday Thoughts 8/3/2018

Happy Friday! This week has gone by so quickly. Maybe it's because summer is speeding to a close and all the Back-to-School mayhem is in full swing. We've got less than two weeks before my son heads back, but I have friends whose kids have already returned. That was the norm when we lived in Tennessee, but I always thought that was crazy early. Anyway, let's get down to...Friday Thoughts!


*Don't Be Afraid of Robert Munsch's Love You Forever*

Everyone knows Love You Forever, right? The sweet children's book that starts out with the mom rocking her new baby and singing, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be." I first read this when I was twelve and my librarian/teacher grandmother owned a copy. I sat on the floor in front of her bookshelf, turning the pages, and by the end, I had tears streaming down my face. When my son was born, I couldn't even read it to him, the book hit me so hard. My husband, who prides himself on not getting emotional over anything, got halfway through the book and refused to finish, and my teenage son was like, "Why did you make me read that???" after I'd pushed it on him. 

This book punches people in the gut. It's the perfect illustration of not only the deep and abiding love a parent feels for a child, but also how deeply young children need their parents. I've seen far too many people write the book off as 'creepy.' 'Why is that mom climbing into her adult son's window and rocking him?' they cry. 'That's just messed up!' But those people are looking at it the wrong way. If you look at it from the perspective of a five year old snuggled up next to their parent, reading this book, they don't see a creepy mom who can't let go. What they hear is the message that even when they're big and grown up (and the idea of being big and grown up is kind of scary!), Mom (or Dad or whoever is raising them) will still love them just as much as she does right now. It's comforting. It's reassuring. It's a promise of security and stability, of support and lifelong unconditional love. It's what every child deserves to hear, and Robert Munsch has framed in perfectly and beautifully. 

I'm never going to be able to read this book without crying- heck, I'm tearing up right now. I won't ever flip the page like the author of this article has, and I'm okay with that. :)



*How Decluttering Saves Me Money, Time, and Stress* 

This blog post is exactly where I'm at right now. A lot of my time lately has been going to my summer project of organizing, deep cleaning, and weeding out clutter that I don't need. "The more I own, the more I have to clean, the more I have to store, and the more I’m responsible for," Elizabeth Thames writes, and I've come to understand that. The things we own, own us. If we bring an item into the house, we're responsible for maintaining it, for caring for it, for figuring out where it goes and how/when we'll use it, how/when we'll clean it. I've begun to consider deeply before bringing anything permanent into my house (things that will be used up, like food or toiletries, fall in a different category for me). Do I want to be responsible for that item? Do I want to try to find a place to cram it into, in my already-hurting-for-storage home? (Spoiler alert: I usually don't.) For the most part, I have everything I need. There are a few things I would like, things that I've thought about for a while and decided that it would be worth it, but they're not going to make or break me. I really am content with what I have. 

If you've read the blog post, you've seen the picture of what the Frugalwoods' basement looked like, pre-decluttering and organizing. That's a close approximation of what my basement looks like, no joke. Mine might be worse. My husband has 4382947329843 boxes from when we moved in, and that's where they were all abandoned and forgotten. Sadly, my laundry room, which is also located in the basement, isn't much better. That room is my next project; I'll be tackling it slowly because it's kind of overwhelming, and then I'm going to move on to the basement. That room might involve buying things like Rubbermaid containers for storage; our crawlspace gets a little moisture in it sometimes and it's safer to store things NOT in cardboard boxes (ask me how I know). So we'll see. It feels SO much better to be decluttered and organized, and I'm smack in the middle of it right now, to the point where other projects are kind of getting pushed to the side. I'm okay with that- who knows when this organization bug will bite again? Might as well run with it. :)

Have you read Meet the Frugalwoods by Elizabeth Willard Thames? I adore her blog. I just finished her book this week and it's great. Full of frugal inspiration and long-term planning and the big payoffs that come with each, and I enjoyed every page of it. Highly recommended!


*Trying to Keep Up With the Kardashians? Here's How to Stop Money Envy*

I don't know that I've ever suffered from money envy, per se. I do see pictures of well-organized homes where everything is coordinated and things are perfectly placed and everything seems so calm and orderly, and I envy that (and am trying to emulate at least the sense of calm and organization in my own home), and when I was younger and money was tight, I distinctly remember lamenting to friends that I didn't want anything super fancy but I just wished we could go into the grocery store and buy a few frivolous things, like cookies and orange juice. Those were luxuries that were unaffordable to us, things we usually had around the house when I was younger, and at the time, it felt like deprivation to not have them.

It took a while, a lot of growth and learning, self-examination and studying of others, but I don't feel deprived of anything these days. While we can afford orange juice, it's not something I normally buy because I don't feel like we need the extra sugar. And cookies? Meh. I can make my own, and they're far superior in taste and ingredients than what I could buy at the store. I've learned to appreciate the process of baking, the way it makes my house smell sweet and feel warm and cozy, and the feeling that I've accomplished something when I pull a tray of something homemade out of the oven. It's a little luxury, one I'm grateful for, and I'm now trying to cultivate that mindset of gratitude in my daughter. She definitely has toy envy; it's hard passing by toys at stores or yard sales because she's immediately thrown into a deep abyss of "That dollhouse is a different color than mine and thus it's SO MUCH BETTER and I WANT IT!" We had a long talk the other night, and I'm very focused on helping her learn to appreciate the things she has and not focusing on what she doesn't. It's a lesson much better learned earlier in life, so I'm hoping I'll get there with her. :)


*Bringing Afternoon Tea*

How gorgeous is this post??? Such lovely baking, and the message is something I need to get better at. I usually have all the ingredients to whip up quite a few things at any given moment, but often I'm too busy or exhausted, especially during the school year when I'm running in twenty different directions after my two very different kids! It's something I'm working on. :)


*Tsundoku: The Practice of Buying More Books Than You Can Read*

Eek! This is something that every reader I know struggles with, and I'm no different, but now that I'm aware of it, I'm actively working to prevent this. While I'm focused on emptying out my Goodreads To Read list right now, I'm reading my own books while I wait for my interlibrary loans, and when my To Read list is down to books I'll have to buy (some of them just aren't available through my library system), I'm going to focus on reading what I own (and then weeding those books out). All these books on my shelves aren't doing me any good if I'm not reading them, and they're taking up space that could be used for other storage or just clear, calm empty space. 

'I will allow myself to engage in some tsundoku – besides, it's not actually a waste because of course, I'm going to get to that teetering stack of books someday, really!' the author says. I don't necessarily like that. No more somedays for me: I'm a woman with a plan. If it's not something I'm going to actively use, I no longer want to bring it into my life. I ADORE books, but I want to be the kind of person who reads- and benefits from- the books she owns, not the kind of person who lives among the stacks but never touches them.


So that was what was on my mind this week (which has been a little bit of an odd week around here, but I'll get to that on Monday). What have you been contemplating?



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