I've got a brand new month to write about. October will be busy with birthdays, and kids coming home, and outdoor get togethers, and soaking up the fall colors. We've got a lot of day trips on the horizon, and possibly overnight stays. Minimally, a few days at the cabin will be a nice change. I should have been travelling for work this month-twice, but both are now virtual meetings. This month is the new deadline for getting our personal office space packed up if we are not returning to the office at least three days. Well, no one is returning to this office really, so all will be packed up for a yet to be disclosed new location. I'll recap other things in m week in W's.
What's top of mind: I'm annoyed because my week got a bit crazy and is pouring into Friday-and it's supposed to be my day off. (Just like two weeks ago.) A new issue popped up with our payments and again it's nothing my team did to create the issue, nothing we have the tools to fix, but all emails keep pointing at us.
Where I've been: I loved meeting up with my friends for a walk by the river and a drink after. We went at 6:30, so by 7:00 or so, the lights along the walking and bike path were slowly lighting up. It was as if they lit as we approached each one. We took credit for that. These ladies were going to be my empty nest lifeline. We never imagined we'd be each others Covid life line-always one of us available t meet up with another when we just needed that link to another person. Other than that and my Saturday wanderings, I've been home all week. I did have to pick up my winnings at the art association form a silent auction.
Where I'm going: My older daughter and I are going to do a Trader Joe run, plus swing b the Indian grocery, and maybe look at Goodwill. I'm looking for something suitable to use as a slim book shelf for my office. I need large covered boxes, the office style or bankers boxes, but man are the expensive. I'll run midday for the Sloppy Joe ingredients-sorry Kim, I'm talking about them but that is the last reference I promise. tomorrow is the party for my brother and then Sunday we will be on the road to see and hear our daughter sing at college.
What I'm reading: I just got my copy of Where the Crawdad's Sing for book club. I've been reading a lot of education journal articles on equity issues in education exasperated by Covid preventative measures. The school year has gotten off to a rough start in a lot of communities.
What I'm listening to: After reminiscing about my friend who made me a Dar Williams mix, I've been streaming some good music from powerhouse females of days gone by. Billie Eilish has nothing on these ladies; I found this shorter clip from the concert I streamed one day. Ignore that the video and sound doesn't match up and just listen. I'll be getting my inner Joni Mitchell on as we move full on to fall. I'm not a country music fan, but give me a good written folk music or indie female performer and I'll listen all day.
What I've been watching: I finally watched the whole episode of the Great British Baking Show. I too do not have a favorite yet as a few of you commented. The young contestant, Freya, I believe, has a voice that reminds me of someone. If you watch and hear her talk, let me know who you think I might be thinking of. I hope she stays a while, as she has already made a couple vegan bakes and I think, just like Peter in season 8 who had a focus on gluten free baking, they bring options forward for folks who have different dietary preferences and needs.
What I'm eating: I cooked this week! Pork chops and baked potatoes, crock pot mock lasagna and Turkey burgers. DH didn't like how meaty a premade Bolognese was because it didn't have enough sauce for him. I used 1/2 for the mock lasagna, and the other half was used last night in jar spaghetti sauce DH made and it was a hit. I get the Bolognese at Kwik Trip of all places.
Who I'm paying attention to: Pup was sick yesterday-all over my office floor. Fortunately, most went on a rug. He's been funny about his eating for a couple days, so I'll be keeping an eye on him. Maybe he knows we will be in and out all weekend and gone Sunday. He'll have his other girls though.
Who needs to be (figuratively) slapped: Petty marital squabbles are not what this blog is about-and I don't care how great a marriage is, there are petty marital squabbles. The other day DH annoyed me by going over all the details as to what got done on my car on Tuesday. I was reading something on line when he started talking, but I paused and listened. When he got done, apparently I hadn't made the right appreciative sounds because his response was, "Am I boring you?" That irritated me to no end. We have a fairly equal distribution of things that need taken care of, cars fall in his lane. I don't give him a play by play list of everything I accomplish on our mutual behalf, and then wait for praise. All he did was drive the car to his workshop, pay the bill, and drive it home anyway. It wasn't like he actually made the repairs himself. Yeah, I think he deserved a slap for expecting me to ooh and ahh over getting the car shaped up.
What I'm eating: I cooked this week! Pork chops and baked potatoes, crock pot mock lasagna and Turkey burgers. DH didn't like how meaty a premade Bolognese was because it didn't have enough sauce for him. I used 1/2 for the mock lasagna, and the other half was used last night in jar spaghetti sauce DH made and it was a hit. I get the Bolognese at Kwik Trip of all places.
Who I'm paying attention to: Pup was sick yesterday-all over my office floor. Fortunately, most went on a rug. He's been funny about his eating for a couple days, so I'll be keeping an eye on him. Maybe he knows we will be in and out all weekend and gone Sunday. He'll have his other girls though.
Who needs to be (figuratively) slapped: Petty marital squabbles are not what this blog is about-and I don't care how great a marriage is, there are petty marital squabbles. The other day DH annoyed me by going over all the details as to what got done on my car on Tuesday. I was reading something on line when he started talking, but I paused and listened. When he got done, apparently I hadn't made the right appreciative sounds because his response was, "Am I boring you?" That irritated me to no end. We have a fairly equal distribution of things that need taken care of, cars fall in his lane. I don't give him a play by play list of everything I accomplish on our mutual behalf, and then wait for praise. All he did was drive the car to his workshop, pay the bill, and drive it home anyway. It wasn't like he actually made the repairs himself. Yeah, I think he deserved a slap for expecting me to ooh and ahh over getting the car shaped up.
It made me think about all the "that's so sweet" comments when I shared that he made Philly Cheese steaks for dinner. A sister said the same thing. No one is praising me for the other 6 nights I'm making dinner. To preserve his vulnerable man ego, I made sure to thank him for mowing the lawn yesterday morning, and to tell him last night (he was the spaghetti maker/sauce heater upper) that the spaghetti was good. I told him this as I was putting away towels and laundry that I had washed, dried, and folded. Rant done.
What's Making Me Smile: My friend G brought her daughters sneak peak of senior pictures to show us on her phone, taken by another friend. This friend also took my youngest's photos. She does such a great job and I am very happy for her launching a full time business.
What's Making Me Smile: My friend G brought her daughters sneak peak of senior pictures to show us on her phone, taken by another friend. This friend also took my youngest's photos. She does such a great job and I am very happy for her launching a full time business.
Another thing that made me smile was a something my youngest said about how she is feeling so old. I forget where she was-Dairy Queen perhaps, and there were a bunch of highschool girls there. One had a jacket or shirt, or something that said 2025, for their graduation year. Well, I said, that would be the year freshmen would graduate." I know mom, but I'm 2023-college 2023!" She got a taste of how fast the years fly.
Friday and a busy weekend ahead. We're all pretty sure our brother is none the wiser on the birthday festivities' planned for tomorrow. Several of the sibs and their spouses are meeting for a fish dinner, but since I made my plans with my daughter, we will pass. Maybe I'll send DH and I won't have to think about his dinner! There's leftovers for him too, or stuff for soup and grilled cheese, so either way, I am not thinking supper prep. What's the W's in your life this week?
Friday and a busy weekend ahead. We're all pretty sure our brother is none the wiser on the birthday festivities' planned for tomorrow. Several of the sibs and their spouses are meeting for a fish dinner, but since I made my plans with my daughter, we will pass. Maybe I'll send DH and I won't have to think about his dinner! There's leftovers for him too, or stuff for soup and grilled cheese, so either way, I am not thinking supper prep. What's the W's in your life this week?
I feel like figuratively slapping my family members when they ask, especially first thing in the morning, before I've had coffee, a STUPID question like, "Where will I find a new toothbrush?" WHERE THEY ALWAYS ARE!!! (And the worst offender is, of course, DH.) I also am figuratively slapping the entire state of Texas, by boycotting as much as I can which is based there...so, even though I was invited to drive down later next week with a friend, no Trader Joe's for me. That also keeps me out of Michael's, and I've already steered clear of Hobby Lobby--I'm a papercrafter, so I feel a bit of pain at this--when I do shop for myself, I tend to buy craft supplies. But, I am sticking to my guns.
ReplyDeleteI am planning a no spend October, with me feeling this will be a deep no-spend, but I confess to thinking I might fail since Christmas is so close. It will be an eat-down-the-pantry month at the very least, so meals should be easy. (I typically try to make all 31-day months no spends, and toss in February because it's so short.) The house build expenses will not figure in to this. Framing is almost finished, but, sadly, they didn't manage to do so before the rain came. (Framer went elk hunting for two weeks--how could I say "no?" when there are really only 10 days you CAN do that. We'd have had the roof on before he left *if* the trusses had come when they were scheduled.) Anyway, happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend.
Well, I started October with a bang-definitely not a no spend/low spend month. However, I am gifting people,plus came across some phenomenal deals for future gifts I could not pass up. Also, if my retail therapy is a grocery store, I guess it can't be all bad. I need to cut m husband slack with that.
DeleteOh-and say more about Texas and Trader Joe's? I though tit was a foreign owned company.I too try and put my values where my money is by shopping elsewhere.
DeleteTheir U.S. headquarters is listed as Monrovia, California, but they also have a corporate office in Texas. I would like to kick Waste Management to the curb, which is also headquartered in Texas, but our transfer station contracts with them--it's really irritating me! I am also staying away from J.C. Penney, Dell computers, Dr. Pepper, Cinemark, Michael's, Gamestop (youngest kid)Frito Lay, Whole Foods and Sally Beauty off the top of my head. Actually, I didn't *really* frequent these much at all, but there it is. There are more companies, but these are ones I remember off the top of my head from my time living there. The other one, besides Michael's which is a bit hard is J.C. Penny--I could use some new t-shirts, and their St. John's Bay ones are great, but I'll go without.
DeleteWhat's making me smile? A diagnosis ( of sorts, and not without some issues), and it's not MS or early onset dementia, which are the things which concerned me the most. It's a case of more patience needed though, because there's a huge waiting list for the clinic which deals with the thing I've been diagnosed with and my GP has to wait for the letter to come through from the neurologist. I'm counting this as a momentous week!
ReplyDeleteI just get caugh tup on your updates. I'm happy you got those ruled out. I'm sorry you will need to wait yet again for care.
DeleteSorry but I had to laugh about people commenting when your hubs cooks occasionally and how wonderful he is. I follow Chumplady (a blog about how to leave a cheater and gain a life) and today's post is (somewhat) about how you have to sing the praises of your partner for doing one bloody thing when you do 99% of the rest. Now I know your hubs is a sweetheart but it tickles me that you brought this up today. Oh by the way, I made my blog "private" today and for the time being because I was p....d off that someone I know personally did not respect my desire to remain anonymous. Oh I'm sure I'll be back online pretty quickly, but ....speak soon and stay safe!
ReplyDeleteThis was also on Thursday, his day off, and a day I typically stay on line until well past 6, so him making dinner was not tha tunusual. USually it is something easy like pasta and jar sauce, or heatin gup stuff I already had prepared, lol. YEs, I try and stay somewhat sperate-real life to the blog so I'm sorry that happened.
DeleteOne day I plan to go on a BST (bitch slapping tour) and at least figuratively lay into everyone who needs it.
ReplyDeleteIt could be a tour-we could go person to person, house to house.
DeleteNick is a class of 2025 guy :-)
ReplyDeleteOn the husband stuff, I can very much relate. With the comments about "oh, it's great he made dinner", I always assume people have a reasonable division of labor to start with (unless I know they don't), & think it's nice when people help with things not in their "swim lane" of assignments, for lack of a better description. But as a general rule, men get way more kudos for doing things that women are expected to do.
I have today off, so I'm heading out to enjoy the day.
I just thought it was funny that I had both blog comments, and my sister commented. Mu sister for goodness sakes knows what I do day in and day out. She really has never worke doutside the home and was once quoted after a shopping trip and a big spurge, " XX can make more money on Monday." Fo rher, it would be a big nice deal if her hubs made supper. We do try and distribute things as needed based on time and aptitude. I hate uneven partnerships of any kind.
DeleteWell, I think you are sweet for cooking six nights a week. Pre-covid, I loved having friends over for dinner, but even one meal was a lot of work, and I managed to make the shopping, prep, cleanup, and recovery period stretch over a whole week. But it was worth it!
ReplyDelete--Jim
Cooking is a loose term though, but thanks, Jim. For the two o us, pretty basic meals, but I too will make special things when people join us, bu tthen we might be eating frozen pizza the next night, an dleftovers the da after that.
DeleteI am with Anne, I think we should go as a group, it would be fun. SO happy you get to go hear your daughter sing. Wish I could hear her.
ReplyDeleteHer choir FB account posted a picture. They sang yesterday morning at the HomeComing Services (college is religious founded). It will stream live for those that want to hear.
DeleteAs my husband pats himself on the back for washing a small sink full of dishes and telling me how nice he made the kitchen look. Insert eye roll here! Sorry, between getting up at 6 yesterday, driving the kid to school, taking care of pets, driving my dad to the doctor and then straight to the ER, per doctors orders, immediately going to work for eight hours, coming home to talk on the phone with my dad and the nurse, falling asleep on the couch only to wake up at 7 and go back to work for 8 hours I just didn’t seem to find time to wash the dishes that I wasn’t even home to get dirty. My dad is fine-ish. They are keeping him and running a bunch of tests but it’s heart related so always scary. And when I come home, I have to finish the fafsa and get ready to work all day tomorrow, my 6th day in a row :) Meanwhile husband finished work early yesterday morning and doesn’t work until late tomorrow night. So he has free time to get stuff done when I’m not here. I think that was my number one hesitation for going back to work and full time at that. That I was going to have two full time jobs. Essentially I do but at least I don’t have small children anymore. The week hasn’t been all bad. My daughter got her acceptance to her school of choice and got her first crack at night driving under her belt. Her Econ teacher who is tough, complimented her and she has the highest grade in the class. My son is thriving at his job. Every day I swear, he comes home with more exciting news. They have a new machine at his work for recycling chemicals, very high tech and environmentally friendly. I just live through my kids because I’m boring as heck lol. JoAnn
ReplyDeleteYou're not boring at all JoAnn. This is the time of life where everyone needs you, but it's behind the scene, holding balls, not letting anything fall. No one notices that, but sure do if something goes wrong. I now have every little of that. My college kid is well aware now of how much adulting life takes, and when she needs help, she appreciates more than ever. My son calls for grown up advice and he and his other sister regular thank us for when we do help with things. A decade and 1/2 agao? Not a chance anyone even noticed the things I did were done.
DeleteTommy tells me every little thing he does. And, I thank him. He has never said he likes dinner or thanked me. Let's all line up, walk past him and give him a slap!
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like he has changed form how you first described him-at least he'll try things now.
DeleteDear me! A figurative slap indeed !
ReplyDeleteHe's not all bad, but grrr, sometimes.
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