March 16, 2024

Hacks saving my life right now.

$37 worth of baby/toddler medicine. 
Which cost 5x as much as the mucinex I would give to Wells if he were sick. And it would actually work.

I had a moment this week again. It was I should really make sure I work out at night. I have been doing yoga a lot of mornings as it does help to set my day in the right direction. My routine is to listen to The Bible Recap while I clean up the kitchen at 5am and, then, once everyone is up and watching TV with their cups of milk, I do a 10 minute yoga video locked in my room before getting ready for school. 

But then, my complete lack of sleep has thrown this off, so it's been hit or miss. So my idea was Wow, if I would just exercise, I would feel more energetic. This, in a vacuum, is true. However, I'm kind of back in this place where I don't think I can ask one more thing of myself. It sounds dramatic but I can feel my body rebelling. I cannot ask it to do one more thing that gives energy instead of stores or replenishes it. 

Anyway. That's the state of things. 

There's not one thing anyone can actually do to help unless you want to be a live-in housekeeper. I have a friend who offers to take the kids after school (I would only take her up on it in case of an emergency but it's the offer that means the most). Sutton has the best people in the world taking care of her each day. Scott actually sleeps with Sutton on the couch most nights just to keep her quiet. I am the problem. If she sees me, she loses her mind and wants held and wants to cry and whine. He, on his own, can keep her quiet. She has been sick on and off for two weeks so the reasoning is it's just a phase. I hate that phrase more than anything. It doesn't feel like a phase while you are up 8-10 times a night for no discernible reason and this will go on for an indeterminate amount of time. 

Needless to say, I have strategies to cope. Here they are:

+Keurig + this giant box of kcups.

I found that taking the time to clean, refill, and set the coffeepot each day was stressing me out. Plus, sometimes on the weekends, I just want one cup of coffee. I don't want to make a full pot. For awhile now, I've just been setting the pot for 8 cups each night and it brews in the morning and that's it. Our pot is also five years old and has lived in PA, KS, and MO and I can't say that moving has been kind to it; it doesn't always work right. 

However, taking even a 10 minute task off my plate gives me some relief a lot of nights when I'm trying to clean up the kitchen (which meant the kitchen had to be cleaned up at night and not in the morning). 

The Keurig is super helpful in this way. It brews in 2 minutes while I brush my teeth and put my contacts in each morning and there's no prep and no clean up. 

It's the little things. 

I also got this giant box of kcups from Costco for about $30. Saves me remembering to buy them each week and much more cost-efficient. 

+This big bag.

All my stuff goes into this tote and it's very easy to transport a toddler back and forth to school if I'm not juggling 4 bags. I cannot recommend it enough. The toddler would probably fit into it too. 

+Walmart brand diapers and wipes.

Luckily, Sutton is not picky about her diapers and wipes. I buy the Walmart brand. They're the cheapest products I've found and the diapers don't leak. With Wells, I think I used mostly up&up because we lived practically next door to a Target. I really like the commissary's store brand too (Tippy Toes?). Also, very cheap. There is no need, in this economy, to be buying Huggies or Pampers. Like, the reason just doesn't exist. 

In addition, the Walmart grocery pick-up I mentioned last week. I would not survive without grocery pick-up. 

I'm sure there's more to mention, but those are the 3 at the top of my mind right now. 

What's saving your life right now?

March 13, 2024

Easter Basket Round-up + 2 things I don't like buying.

I was little caught off guard by the fact that Easter is two weeks after Sutton's birthday this year. I realized I needed to have my act together more than usual. I am still used to Wells and his mid-July nothing-going-on-here birthday. 

However, there are few things I dislike more than clutter and trinkets so I didn't go All Out on the Easter baskets but I probably went more all out than normal (I'll refrain from saying "overboard") because I really wanted them to have useful things they'll love and things they'll need. You know, nstead of a bunch of goodies with a one-week shelf life from a dollar spot section (which is exactly what Wells would probably prefer :). 

If you need a kick in the pants to get started on your Easter baskets, you've got three weeks. 

For a 5 year old boy:

The Pokemon lego set was on sale for $10 last week which was the only reason why I got it. He's been asking for this one. 

For a 2 year old girl:

I'm trying to get away from plastic (which means I also need to get rid of the take and toss cups) but these Thermos brand bottles are the best one I've found for kids. Wells has two. 

It was determined that I needed something stuffed for the baskets and my parents sent this in a box of goodies yesterday, saving the day. 

You see, I saw on a blog that Five Below had some great deals on Easter Squishmellows and were much cheaper than Amazon. I googled "nearest Five Below" and was met with resignation and disappointment. I had to zoom out just to see the locations. 

I checked Amazon and they were anywhere from $12-30. I was thinking I'd be willing to pay like $6 or something. 

Also, I have trouble with the idea of intentionally buying stuffed animals because we have so many. 

Wells really wants Candyland, so I got that for them to share. I think he has played it at school. They are doing more cooperative play these days at home so here we are. Connect 4 kept them busy all weekend. Board games are something else I don't like buying because they take up storage space and require maintenance (putting them back together correctly). Like, these Connect 4 pieces ultimately ended up being thrown and flicked off the table, stacked into towers, and carried around in a play shopping cart. I had to count them to put them away. 

March 11, 2024

Currently in March

A week late but listen: every time I go to write a blog post or I tell myself I'm going to write a blog post, someone is up all night or someone throws up. 

And then the blog post doesn't get written because laundry, carpet cleaning, and substitute plans take precedent. I cannot lie: someone randomly threw up last week but this child didn't look or seem or feel sick. We went to school anyway. I thought about how the day would look with a sub. I realized it. could. not. be. done. It simply could not. I am not irreplaceable at work and I would've enjoyed a day of working on things at home, do not get me wrong. But ... Luckily, said child was fine after all. If I didn't negotiate the rules, there would be no forward progress. 


Loving: I'm really loving my yearly rewatch of Better Call Saul. It's just so good. I cannot imagine a better-written fictional universe than the Breaking Bad one. 

Looking forward to: Spring break. One week will not be enough. I have so much I'd love to do, but we mostly just have doctor appointments and tasks to complete that week. 

Planning: Sutton's birthday next week. I'm glad it falls on spring break. I really just need to get the balloons and bake the cake. Luckily, she's too young to know the difference. (Wells, on the other hand, has all kinds of plans for birthday #6 this summer.)

Wearing: I basically hate most of my clothes right now and, no, I still haven't found that skirt. I've stopped taking outfit pictures because I don't care. I also have noticed some serious "shoe holes" in my wardrobe and I can't find what I want. I have bought and returned like 6 pairs of shoes in the last 3 months. I wanted Chelsea boots (waterproof ones), white sneakers, and black booties. I've found, I guess, black ankle boots, but I don't know that I love them. I do wear them though. My issue is that I've worn my tan booties to death and they're not gonna make it another school year so I need to get a new pair. I also like Tevas but I don't like the Tevas tag all front and center like a Colorado hippie. I saw some Reef sandals too but I don't know. It's really hard when there's nowhere to go to actually try on shoes either. 

I've grabbed a few major sale items from Old Navy and Gap recently just to give me some athleisure options for spring. 

Eating: I'm knee-deep in sourdough. Any time I'm like, hey, I'll sit down and waste time online on the weekends, I usually have to go prep a loaf or feed a starter or do the dishes from the last batch or something. It's a process. It's not nearly as easy as you'd think but not as difficult either. 
I'm sure that made sense. This is the recipe I use and then I usually get the best results in a loaf pan


Linking up with Jennifer for Currently!

March 9, 2024

Friday favorites, 3/8

i.e. Things that make my life easier. Also, now it's Saturday. 

1. Walmart grocery pickup. 

I go twice a week. It saves my life. And I always go directly after school. I don't waste time on the weekends. I usually go on Thursday or Friday afternoon, so then I can start my Saturday without worrying about groceries.

*fun fact: I thought I ordered the groceries yesterday at 6am. I never clicked "place order". So I am picking up my groceries on Saturday morning now :)

We are also in a phase of toddlerhood where there is a real chance of full-scale nuclear disaster if we run out of bananas or milk or yogurt. So not only do I pick up groceries twice a week, but I ask Scott often to stop at the store. 



2. e.l.f. toner. I've been wanting to talk about this. I've used it for a month and a half now. Cannot recommend it enough. I miss my old Rodan and Fields toner, so I had tried a Beauty Counter toner and it was okay. I have a giant bottle of it but it's more for summer, I think. It doesn't give that matte effect that the e.l.f. one does. For $9(!), this is the best thing I've bought in awhile. 

3. Dinnerly. Well, here's my endorsement: we've had 3 Dinnerly boxes over the last 5 weeks or so and I truly recommend them. It's hard to put a price on knowing I have the ingredients for multiple meals already in the fridge. Especially because, if you go back to my original review, we don't eat out, like ever. 

4. I'm convinced that we have some of the best people on the planet taking care of Sutton every day. I tell them all, often, that they get the best version of Sutton. She saves the meltdowns for home (when we run out of bananas).




March 4, 2024

There's a direct correspondence..

..between Sutton sleeping and how much I blog. Last week she didn't sleep. Last week I didn't blog. I actually brought this up at my Bible study last night (the sleeping, not the blogging) and they added it to the prayer list. Last night she slept. I think there's a direct correspondence there too. 

Today is supposed to be Prime Purchases but I'm going to try and do that tomorrow. Here's a few things:

1. Twice last week I attempted to get dressed for school. The first day, my dress had a giant hole in the front. It's one of my favorites too from CJLA, which stings. I don't think it can be fixed.

Then, I went to put on my romper/jumpsuit thing and the strap broke. I was disappointed because I rely on it at least once or twice a month for school and then I really don't think I had gotten my $27 out of it yet (similar). I took it to the resident tailor and he fixed it in 15 minutes with a needle and thread. 

2. I went to buy myself a treat for making it through this week and the thing I wanted was out of stock. Which tracks for how the week went. 

3. Does anyone have a Pura? I've been influenced but haven't bought it yet. 

4. I was putting my calendar together for March and noticed this.

I really appreciate the way this manufacturer just went for it, with a product that's meant to be displayed in elementary schools. I mean, why not?



I could not make it any clearer but it does say tequila

5. I'm making it a point to get out for a walk every weekend. A low bar, but in this season of life (i.e. the next 3 months) it's what's doable. 




Because there's also a direct correspondence between vitamin D and how we feel. I don't like warm days at this point in the year because there's way too many of those to come but the sunshine is necessary. 

7. Lastly, if I buy frozen pizza, all we will eat is frozen pizza. 



February 26, 2024

My current Roman empire.

Let's be clear: my Roman Empire is not the Roman Empire. There's lots of historical eras and events I could go on and on about, but that's not the point of this post. 

I suppose TRE could be something you think about more often that you do other things.

I bought this skirt in December in Pennsylvania.

I brought it back to Missouri with me. 

I unpacked it. 

I put it in a drawer. I may have put it in the closet. But then I decided the dresser was a better spot for it. 

And I haven't seen it since.

I am beyond frustrated. 

I bring it up to Scott at least twice a week. 

I have ripped the closet apart.

I have taken out dresser drawers, thinking it got wedged into that abyss where only socks go. 

I took apart Scott's dresser. 

I looked through the baskets of black PT clothing because that's all black and I thought maybe it got mixed up in there.

I went through Wells' dresser. Just in case. 

I drug out the suitcase I took to PA, in case I accidentally left it in there. Even though I knew I put it in that dresser. 

I am not Catholic and do not believe in saints but you better believe I start talking to St. Anthony when things like this happen. Someone taught me the St. Anthony prayer once and I've never forgotten it. (Usually it's me asking for some interceding on behalf of Scott and something he can't find.)

Last week, I lost a paper at work too. Like, an important one. I had it when I walked into my room. It got lost or mismatched with the wrong pile of papers (I had a lot of papers scattered about on this day) and I spent the entire afternoon looking for it. I am looking forward to seeing where I put it when I eventually come across it again. I did check the trash. It's in that room somewhere. 

In addition:

We own this Daniel Tiger toy. We own it. I have no idea where it went. It is on our Missouri property, house or barn. We own it. It came here with us from Kansas. 

I have no idea where it is.

I have looked. In the barn loft. In the tubs of toys I hide from Wells.

In the closets. 

I cannot find it.

I will not buy another one. I won't. You see, we got the trolley for free and then my parents bought the figurines. 

Iwillnotbuyitagain no matter how much Sutton loves Daniel Tiger.

I won't.

Back to the skirt:

I am thisclose to buying it again in a different color (just in case it reappears). 

To further my annoyance, I got it in a Christmas sale of sorts and it was like $25, instead of $45. 

I am out of places to look so I will, I think, just start checking and rechecking again at this point. 

To recap: if you see a black skirt, a class roster with information on it, or a Daniel Tiger trolley toy, let me know. 

February 22, 2024

I (unapologetically) go to bed with a dirty kitchen

Guess when I have the most energy?

5:30am. 

I know my day is beginning whether I want it to or not. My alarm goes off at 5:00, I snooze it once usually. Then I put in the kcup, I put in my contacts, brush my teeth, and pop in an earbud. Lately I've been trying to make it through Exodus and Leviticus, and I'm always a few days behind on the plan. I need the most empty version of my head to listen to The Old Testament genealogies and laws and I'm only getting that at this time of day. 

Anyway. 

That's when I clean up the kitchen from the night before. 

Now, relax.

I put away leftovers after dinner and usually leave the pans to soak. Most times I wipe down all the counters too. But I don't touch anything in the sink. Instead, I load the dishwasher and run it at 5:30am, and I wash all the pots and pans. 

The internet is full of moms who swear that they cannot rest until the kitchen is clean and the house is "put to bed". That's nice. Seriously, great for them. But when I put in 60 minutes of putting the house to bed at 7 or 8pm, I'm so exhausted that I can barely take a shower, let alone enjoy even 15 minutes of tv or reading or whatever it is I feel like doing in that kid-free time before I pass out, counting down the hours of sleep I'll get if I go-to-sleep-RIGHT-NOW. 

In the summer, sure. Before I went back to work, absolutely. On the weekends, usually. But during the average school week, I do not clean the kitchen at night because my time to decompress is more important than the feeling of a clean kitchen. 

This is how I also know I'm Type B and not Type A: I don't get an ick feeling from leaving a dirty kitchen. It doesn't actually phase me or affect me at all. Sure, I feel better about myself and my time management if I clean the kitchen at night. But I don't get that creepy, crawly can't-sleep feeling so many of you seem to describe. I don't think about it at all. If anything, I sometimes feel disappointed that "ugh yeah time management got me again" if I get up in the middle of the night to get water or milk for Sutton or something. But otherwise...

This guy watched me do the dishes the other day. 

February 20, 2024

3 1/2 day weekends should be mandatory


 

I have to say, Friday was a great day. 

It was a teacher workday and then we, the teachers, were released at 11:00am because of "inclement weather". So I threw everything I was working on into my GIANT tote and got home in time for Sutton's nap :) She watched TV for about an hour and then took a 3 hour nap. Wells played with Legos for 7 hours and did his reading and sight words for me. I watched 6 hours of Love is Blind and did all of the grading and sorting and planning I had been wanting to accomplish. Well, most of it. As well as all of the laundry (all of it), dishes, and basic housekeeping I'd been neglecting. 

Saturday was super cold. I worked on my sourdough attempt. I went to Walmart to look for a dutch oven. All they had were the gaudy Pioneer Woman ones so I had to order from Amazon. I also attempted to bake in a loaf pan instead, since I already had the dough going. 

I had gotten a starter from a teacher who was offering a class on how to make the dough. The catch was that I had to haul everything there and back myself and the whole supply list angle was very unappealing to me. I can barely get myself in and out of the building each day without a kid melting down. I'm not taking breakable bowls, ingredients, and a starter back and forth to the building with me. 

This is what Youtube is for anyway and I figured I wasn't an idiot so I could figure it out on my own if I set my mind to it. I've spent 3 years resisting the sourdough trend because the idea of learning something new is overwhelming. I really thought I could just bake the bread without learning how the process actually worked and it turns out that's impossible. You need to immerse yourself in the blogs and the videos and all that to understand it. 

Anyway. Now I have a new weekend hobby I guess. 

Moving on...still sick not feeling 100%, I went into Sunday by taking both kids to the playground for the first time in 2024...Wells wanted to know when the splashpad would be open. Summer seems so far away.

Monday I had a dentist appointment and I took Wells to get a haircut. 

I made my favorite soup for dinner and I added cream cheese instead of heavy cream. I make this soup all the time and it's so easy to change up the recipe. I do shredded carrot and zucchini if I have it on hand. 

(We were in the driveway and he was half unbuckled. Does it bother anyone else when people record stories while driving? Like, we can SEE you driving. I don't care if you're at-a-red-light. Your car is in Drive. I cannot understand why people think that's okay. It's like advertising your irresponsibility in the most public way.)


If you want a peek into my mind, here's my screenshots from the weekend:
















I was looking up the vaccine schedule and I'm beyond puzzled by the use of "pregnant woman" in one sentence and "pregnant person" in the next. 







And my life in a nutshell:





February 16, 2024

Stuff and things that bother me.

I have been sick all week. Like head cold, barely-functioning, not sleeping because of numerous reasons and just on autopilot trying to make it through the week. Also, when I'm sick, I do not like to be touched (by human or dog). So it's working out great for my family as you can imagine.  No fever so I kept going to work. Not really medicating because I've learned I get super anxious when I take cold/cough medicine at this phase of life. 

I do my grocery shopping almost exclusively by pick-up order because it's the least energy-extensive option. But this is the email chain I get for every order. This is insane. 90% of my unread emails are from Walmart, I'm sure. I also have thousands of emails in my inboxes because I never delete anything. I'm that person.



I'm baffled by how much I'm bothered by the Chiefs winning the Superbowl. I don't know why I care. We lived right outside of KC in 2021 and I wasn't bothered by the Chiefs love. And last year, when they won (which I don't even remember happening), I didn't care. Something about *this* year annoys me. My only solace is in the Lord and knowing that the arrogance of Holmes and Kelce will be dealt with is that no one ever remembers who even won the Superbowl by March. I immediately forget almost every year. Here's to August 10th. 


Going anywhere after school, ever, bothers me. I had to bribe them with Pringles to run errands last Tuesday. 


Which involved running to a florist to buy flowers for the guidance counselor and somehow getting this to school safely while dealing with ^^


We stopped at the post office this week and then to get gas and Wells told me he was actually going to starve "for real" if we didn't get home immediately. 

Sutton is still not sleeping so I set up pack and play next to our bed thinking it'd be an option to plop her down in the middle of the night (didn't work), but I did use it for all of the clean laundry last weekend. I immediately envisioned a habit forming, folded and put away everything, and put away the pack and play.


This is the least effort I've ever put into Valentines: 


No picture of Sutton with her box because by this point on 2/14, she'd already thrown up her dinner and refused to get in the bathtub. 


Wells did make the sweetest little card, Then his teacher told me he needed to "do his reading" each night and I'm like "well that's my fault" because refer back to the beginning of this post. 




And my number one complaint:




Stitchfix loves to show ads with the best outfits ever. And there's no way to get to the outfit. It just takes you to the SF site to sign up for a box. It doesn't matter how much I'd pay for this. I can't find it. 

February 13, 2024

Dinnerly review.


I subscribed to Dinnerly a few weeks ago. I picked Dinnerly on a whim, based on this article, which I bookmarked to refer back to. 

I think it was the best deal, price per meal, even though it wasn't a company I'd heard of before. 

Immediately I was annoyed: you must put in your card information before you pick your meals. Which means, you are locked in to a shipment before you pick and see what's available. Which led me to immediately, also, cancel my subscription as soon as I picked 6 dinners. 

The price was right with the hefty first-time customer discount, but I felt a bit like I was doing this:

...as I tried to navigate canceling without accidentally giving them more money.

I think I wrote that in the "why are you canceling?" reason box too. 

In addition, because I ordered on a Thursday, for a following Tuesday delivery, a lot of the meal kits were sold out. Friday is the last day on Dinnerly to make adjustments to your order for the following week. I didn't want to wait almost two weeks for a box (like, I was doing this so we could eat dinner the next week) so I just took what they had. 

Plus, my reason for doing this altogether was to get more variety in our dinner routine. Taking their recommendations seemed like a small price to pay and $70 was a good deal for what we got for sure. 

But that was a logistical issue on my end; I initially wasn't sure how the process worked. 

Anyway. It was about $70 for 6 dinners. 

The box showed up right on time. I don't know when it was actually put on the porch, but the timeframe was 9am-8pm and it was there when I got home from work at 4pm. 

Everything was packed in ice packs and still cold. 

There was one bag of chicken that leaked on the bottom of the box though, so I had to scrub down some of the items and throw away the ice packs away. 

I did report this on the website, which was very easy to do, and I immediately was given an $8 credit...

...after I reactivated my account of course and was set up with another delivery for a few weeks from now. 

Scott really enjoyed these dinners. They were, I admit, very easy to make and the 4-person portion gave us lots of leftovers because the kids didn't eat it. They have pb&j most nights with fruit and yogurt. They also like to eat their dinner at 4:30pm so there's that. 

I was okay with the dinners. I don't really do pork. Ground beef is hit or miss for me. I like chicken and vegetarian meals most. This box had a mix of all of them so I hit my goal of variety and they were all very easy to make. 

Here's the details:


Ravioli. This was really good. I'm usually not a fan of stuffed pasta and never buy/make tortellini, but this sauce was great and it made a lot. The ravioli in the box was round and the ravioli in the picture was square. I don't know why. 


Shepherd's Pie. This was like a bbq beef with veggies cooked in it. It was supposed to be "sloppy joe". I took a short cut and used a package of instant potatoes for the top. Scott liked it a lot. It was fine but not my favorite. Wells didn't try it either. 

Boneless pork chops. Scott, again, liked this a lot. I've literally never made a pork chop before because, shocker, it's not my type of food. I was in a hurry so I saved the rice for another night. 

Garlic Butter Steak. I made the rice with this. Skipped the potatoes because of time. Probably our favorite of the meals. 


Okay, this fascinated me. I could not get behind the cooking method of putting raw turkey sandwiches into the oven, so I cooked the turkey first. The sauce was good. It needed some tomatoes and cucumbers and it would've been make-at-home Greek food. So I feel like that was a missed opportunity.
Fresh dill on potatoes is a must after making this. The fries were very good. 



Flavor palate-wise, this was tasty. Stone ground mustard on chicken, and ranch on potatoes. You kind of can't beat that. 

Liked:
Lots of food for the price.
Very simple recipes but lots of flavor.
Some new cooking methods learned (cottage fries, put dill on fries, put garlic butter on steak)

Disliked:
Very potato heavy. We still have a bunch of potatoes on the counter.
Very meat-and-potatoes, which Scott liked but I didn't care about.
You are given nothing but raw ingredients in a box and you have to sort out what goes with what. 

In the end, I really liked the convenience of it. While I don't mind *cooking*, it's the finding recipes, making a list, physically getting the groceries, making sure I have everything...and then cooking that just wears me down in this particular season. 
This was a good experience so I do have another order placed for this week. I do recommend them 100% for the price vs. some of the other companies. 
This is obviously not a sponsored post but here's a link if you want to try it. 

Opening the box was a lot like the co-op experience I had in Colorado, when my friend and I would get fruit/veggies every week and then have to figure out what to do with them all.