Weekend stuff.

We were actually very busy this weekend, compared to my own standards for what "busy" means. You be the judge.

Saturday, I walked the dogs before it got too hot (yeah that's still a thing here).

Then we went to a local fall festival where I waited in line for food and Scott stood outside the bounce houses while the kids went nuts. We actually walked there, as it was about a mile from our house (okay, we drove down to a parking lot and walked from the lot).

it was so hot. i can't even explain. i could feel my arms burning. 

The good news about why I'm glad we went: there were local booths frrom organizations all over town and there was a local homeschool co-op there having a bake sale. It caught my attention and I went over to talk to them. I got a better feeling about this group. I think that may be my move for January. Time will tell.

Saturday, after we watched Penn State fizzle out in real time, we went to meet some friends at Dave and Busters. They have kids older than ours but everyone, especially Sutton it turns out, loves Dave and Busters.

 

Then we went out to The Lawn (really what it's called) with apparently everyone else. They had a giant movie screen they were showing Ghostbusters on but, after some Coldstone, we headed home. 

Sunday, Scott had plans in the morning and I honestly can't remember what we did all day. Definitely walked the dogs before that high of 87 degrees hit. I definitely watched the Steelers game. I don't care what anyone says: I really like Aaron Rodgers. 

Then Scott went to the Chiefs/Lions game with a friend who had tickets. 

His view:

My view:

don't mind the weird cord situation. we move the antenna around a lot.

I have told him he has to stop going to games because the Chiefs always win when he does. 

And that was the weekend. 

Monday again?

Not to be confused with "Monday already?".

Here's the thing: I spent most of last week in a Sunday Scaries mentality, knowing I have 44 days of school left. Plus I had a lot I wanted to accomplish with my spring break and I did...very little of it? I think I froze up. 

Monday, we had a vet appointment. Scout had an infection a month and a half ago, and they wanted to do one more recheck. Then we went to the chiropractor. Tuesday was Sutton's birthday. We went out for lunch, stopped at Aldi, and then had cake and presents at home. Wednesday, I woke up feeling awful...a cold? dizzy? ugh. But Sutton had her 3 year appointment so off we went. I don't remember the rest of the day. Thursday, *I* had my regular annual doctor's appointment. I do like my PA so it was just one more thing to check off the list (before I grab those medical records and run from Missouri). I was supposed to have an eye appointment too, to renew my contacts prescription but they had to reschedule. Friday, I finally made it to the library and then I went to get my hair highlighted. It was only my second time having it done professionally and it's such a nice treat. 

Anyway, the funny thing about Thursday and Friday is that Scott had taken off work to take care of some house projects and the kids wanted to stay home with him. All I needed him for when it came to watching them was for the hair appointment; I could, and have in the past, wrangled kids at all kinds of appointments and situations. They legitimately just wanted to stay home with him. I feel like I'm entering a whole new era of parenting with Sutton getting older now. 

Saturday was Sutton's birthday party and then Sunday was my day to catch up and prep for...another week. 

before:

                                                                            after:

I made a hard commit to that center part.

When she comes to the store, she gets a treat at the check-out. 

Post-doctor's appointment treat. for real though, I need to do something with my nails. 

Stages of annoyance, with me, at the pediatrician's office:

They give kids actual stuffies now, to keep them quiet, at doctor's offices. It's not just a sticker at the end of the visit. And she wanted so little to be there that they kept handing her more stuffies. We ended up with 3 and, when we left, she gleefully waved and yelled "bye!" to everyone. They were shocked because they thought she was mute and violent, I'm sure, based on her reactions to nurses and doctors. 

Cracker Barrel 

Aldi

Presents, cake, and babies:

This was Sutton's bassinet and we used it for about 2 months, give or take. It was definitely indispensable during that time. It's in excellent condition and I've searched high and low for a a new owner for it, hoping to find a good home. No one wants it and that's really annoying to me for some reason. Anyway, I've decided that Sutton can just have it for her baby dolls and this was a good idea. My friend originally suggested that a year ago but it seemed like it would just be clutter. But I really do think she'll use it as a toy. 

Alright: it's going to be a long and packed and busy 44 days, but 44 43 more wake-ups until school is over. 

Weekend recommendations.

1. My splurge is that I'm still drinking this stuff every day. Sometimes I make it at lunch at school. Sometimes I drink it in the car when running errands. Sometimes I drink it at night while I'm watching TV. 

2. It's insane that the best outside weather in the fall is in November in these parts. 

3. Flared leggings. I never thought I'd see the day. I stopped wearing these back in 2009, I thought, for good. Back in the olden times, we called them “yoga pants”. 

4. This episode was so eye-opening. I have Dr. Marty Makary’s new book in my library holds. 

5. I’ve been on a minimalist kick, as has been reflected in my listening (Minimalist Moms podcast, specifically) and reading the last two weeks. I spent last weekend cleaning out closets and this weekend I tackled a few boxes in the barn and garage. 

I mean, maybe instead of having a box labeled “party supplies”, I should just let them kids use these cups and plates up since I literally buy paper plates these days anyway. 

And maybe I should actually reuse the gift bags Wells got for his 2nd birthday(!) instead of keeping them in a plastic tub in the barn loft. Do you know how many gift bags I buy for kids’ birthdays? It’s not zero. 

Long weekend cleaning

Scott went hunting this weekend so I got that trash bag energy. The Lazy Genius calls it big black trash bag energy. I used white bags. All in all, I threw away two bags of stuff (maybe three?) and then I filled a huge box with baby items to give to a friend. Then I filled three more bags to take to the donation site. 

I randomly started listening to the Minimalist Mom on the Alex Clark podcast, completely by chance, when I was in the middle of this and so I think I became fueled by "I can't live like this anymore" at the same time. There's a book too.

I had spent so much time organizing and sorting toys over the summer. It made no difference. NONE. So I cleared out three big totes, dumped in every small toy I could find that was worth keeping (lots of broken stuff went into those above-mentioned trash bags), and put them into the kids' closets (which now had a lot of space in them!). 

I came to the realization that we won't live in this house forever and maybe I just won't be super organized as long as we live here because I do feel like there's a major lack of storage space in the house (I'm such an American...the house is 2,000 sq. ft). But then, listening to that podcast, I realized the only way to feel better right now is to have less stuff. The less stuff, the less stress/organizing/cleaning that needs to be done. I have realized that since, maybe 2017, I don't bring random things into the house anymore, I don't buy candles, trinkets, TJ Maxx runs are usually for clothing items or rugs or something. I only buy what has a purpose (to me). I do not browse-shop for pretty things, even online.

I haven't even bought new clothes since the end of August, now that I think about it. 

Anyway.

I was getting ready to vacuum the other day and the vacuum started to smoke. This is not the Dyson cordless that we use for hard floors but the Bissell we bought in 2020 at the beginning of covid lockdowns. It was definitely $70-80 so it wasn't a huge investment. 

I could honestly talk about vacuum cleaners for days...we've had 7 in 15 years...we've had multiple properties so two of those originally came from other places. One of those is in my classroom right now because it comes in handy. When you remodel and when you move a lot, it's hard on vacuum cleaners. That's my tidbit of knowledge you may not know. You need to transport them. You deep clean more often. Scott has, more than once, picked up *my* vacuum to take care of drywall dust. Our shop vac is also on it's last leg so I won't let Scott bring it in the house.

My point: The vacuum started to smoke, make a funny noise, and there was an awful smell. I had already replaced the belt twice and it didn't seem to be the same issue. I put it in the garage and we went to Walmart. I'll call it an early Christmas splurge. I got a Shark Rotator and it was much cheaper at Walmart when I compared it to Amazon. 

I also did some cooking. My friend had a baby a few weeks ago, so I took them dinner on Sunday. I did tortilla soup (this is the only recipe I ever use for tortilla/taco soup and I've been using it for 12 years), chips, guacamole, and cilantro lime rice I also made a box of brownies and then pumpkin muffins. I made my own taco seasoning.

And, then, I went absolutely insane and made "goldfish" crackers because I'm over the processed food. I did not have a goldfish cookie cutter. 

This was so easy and worth it. The worst part was cleaning the food processor. I used unbleached all-purpose flour.

We went to the playground and for a walk and then finished the evening with the new episode of Lioness. 

I cannot find Yellowstone for free...we have Peacock and Paramount+. Where are you watching Yellowstone? 

9 more days until Thanksgiving break...

Weekend stuff

You'll laugh here: I actually meant to write this about last weekend, never got around to it, so I just deleted the text and started over. Apparently nothing too interesting happened last weekend?

I also was working on the same outfit post all last week and I never got around to posting it. I'm literally just going to call it "September and October Clothes" at this point. 

This weekend started with an idyllic trip to the pumpkin patch.

There were definitely no stomping feet, dramatic flounces to the ground, or "I don't like this"s. Anyway, I take the blame for this, partly. I didn't want to drive 45 minutes to a (potentially) more fun pumpkin patch so went to the usual one and it was way too hot and way too dry and dusty. Literally, I was covered in dust by the end. Plus a lot of the attractions were broken. So I don't blame the "I don't like this"s but at the same time, our parents never took us to pumpkin patches for goodness sake. Kids today expect a level of entertainment that is something else. 

Speaking of "kids today" and being old, I wore heels that were a little too high this week and I hobbled around for 3 days afterward. So I ordered a new pair of slippers because my old ones were worn out and I need, apparently, a sturdier footbed. I went with something trendy but did not splurge on the Uggs :/ Usually I buy a new pair each late fall/early winter because that's how exciting I am right now. I'm afraid if I bought Uggs, they'd get destroyed and I'd be super irritated. 

(destroyed by the owner of those paws ^ if expensive slippers would happen to be destroyed)

Then I tweaked my neck so I've been dealing with that. I'm not sure how I did that but the motrin and the warm compresses help, I guess. 

Saturday ended with fall pictures.

It went super well. (Just kidding)

We bribed with everything imaginable and that's the thing about Sutton: she's too smart to take a bribe. She has nothing but time on her hands so she'll wait you out. She can also sense when you want something out of her. Wells earned ice cream for his participation. He was the same way at 2, though. He wasn't an awful toddler but when he turned 3.5-ish is when he became someone I could truly reason with. 

And then, Scott ran into Starbucks (Dunkin was closed already because that's the kind of town we live in) for coffee pre-pictures and I asked him for a cold brew. He got me a pumpkin spice cold brew. I think PSLs taste like warm garbage water. This wasn't much better but at least it was cold. 

And ended with a relaxing day of football and cleaning and cooking.

Just kidding.

We went to the grocery store and Sutton skipped a nap :)

I also, though, have resolved that I'm not bringing school work home anymore. I'm going to try it for the 2nd quarter now that we're officially one quarter into the school year. I legitimately fear that it won't make a difference in a lot of ways. Which means all the time spent working at home was for nothing, you know? I actually think I'm going to stop taking my tote bag to school so I'm not tempted to bring things home. Thoughts?

Photos lately.

 

Sutton went to the dentist last week. She did really well, me holding her arms down and all. But I think watching Wells go first made a huge difference. 

This piqued my interest. I screenshotted it so now I get lots of ads.

The discreet doggy door in a random back corner of the house changed everyone's quality of life. We put it in about a year ago. It's a game changer. If you don't have a doggy door for your dog, you need to get one. 

The pellet stove also is a huge quality of life thing around here. Missouri winter is bitter cold, wet, windy, and gross. There was an addition added onto this house before we bought it and this keeps that part of the house warm, especially at night. Fun fact: it was definitely broken when we moved in, despite us being told otherwise. Scott fixed it a year and a half ago and we haven't looked back. 

Building a cheetah habitat. I do enjoy it when teachers give parents homework.(not really). He did do this himself. I wrapped up the box in paper, bought the cheetahs, and used the hot glue gun after he had it all arranged. Scott said *I* did it, when I definitely did not. I provided no guidance because as soon as I handed him the box, he got started and I didn't have a chance. He used a whole roll of tape on that den there.

Next week, we are building a kid-sized cardboard car for their next project....

Ice cream.

Eclipse viewing.

Cheetah habitat on display.

Our front yard these days. Those are roof panels.

I make one or two sourdough loaves a week. 

It's nice when they get along. Usually "getting along" means sharing a $6 container of blueberries. I bought two of them on Saturday and they're already gone. 

I don't take outfit photos anymore because this is what it usually looks like when I walk in the door. 

I decided on Friday I was going to pack up the high chair because she never wants to sit in it (she sits at the counter on a stool). Yesterday she decided all she wanted to do was sit in it, so it might make it to summer vacation. 

6 more Mondays....

(I initially thought 5 more Mondays last week and it was a little heartbreaking to realize my math was so wrong.)