The book I'm reading is The Other's Gold by Elizabeth Ames. This is a campus novel that I heard about on a podcast hosted by a bookstore owner in Georgia. We have really similar tastes so I usually try to read the books she really likes. It's pretty good so far but some of the bad decisions the characters are making make me squirm a bit!
The high of my week was having a call at work go really well. I was part of a team that pitched a huge proposal. We had very little time to pull a group together but we were told that we "killed it" so that was great to hear. I work in financial services and COVID has definitely hit us as the values of stocks and bonds have declined and some people have freaked out and moved to cash, so we really need to bring in some new accounts!
A recipe I made was one of our favorites - pasta with sausage and peppers. We make a couple of modifications - I use chicken sausage that is already fully cooked - I slice it and just brown it for a bit. And we skip the step of adding the provolone on top at the end because it is sooo hard to clean the pan afterwards. Instead we just put some parm on when dishing it up. Paul likes this, except he won't eat the sausage and peppers... go figure. I try to sneak some small peppers into his plate but he detects them and spits them out.
A show we watched was Brooklyn 9-9. We are still really enjoying this show. It's light and funny which is exactly what I need right now! We had tried to watch a documentary on Waco but I just couldn't handle a heavy/dark topic like that.
The best money spent was on a splash pad toy for our backyard. It's not warm enough to use this year, but I wanted to buy it before it went out of stock because I think everyone and their mom is going to be buying things like this since pools, parks, etc, are closed for the summer (at least they are here in Minnesota). I think/hope Paul will like it as he loves the water!
My plans this weekend include getting together for an outdoor play date with my friend Courtney. Our kids go to the same daycare so we figure they are exposed to the same stuff. Courtney and I will social distance so I feel like this is a safe gathering. I know some might disagree, but I just really need some social plans for Paul on the weekend... without the option of going to the park, weekends can get a little bit long! Phil's cousin (he's a handyman) came over recently and looked at our deck and determined that we need to replace all the floorboards/railings. We thought we could pressure wash it and replace the problematic boards, but too much of it is rotted. I don't know what the previous owners did - I think a deck should last longer than this one has (our house was renovated in 2005). So Phil and his cousin are going to get started on that project on Saturday. It's been one thing after another since we bought this house so Phil is not loving our house... So yah. Good times. Hopefully things slow down after we get through this latest project.
Bonus photos!
I only took one photo of Paul this week. I've barely been taking any photos of him lately so I need to work on that... But I snapped this picture to send to the grandmas when he was fresh out of the bath. You can see how long his hair is getting!
How was your week? Did you cook anything delicious?
8 comments:
Anthony is doing his part and buying up stocks. :)
I'm sorry you are having some work stress. I can relate! :) Just such a tough time everywhere right now. I hope your job will remain unaffected and that your team in general will stay intact.
We had some really good chicken tostadas this week. I just used some of the leftover shredded chicken to make a salad for lunch too. We had fish tacos that were a bit hit at our house earlier in the week too.
I replied to your comment on my blog about this, but we also had our first "playdate" with some neighborhood friends last night. I felt fine about it. The kids biked around the neighborhood and I sat at a bit of a distance from my friend in a chair outside and drank a beer. I'm not really one to be over-panicked about things, however. We have followed all of the social guidelines, wear masks to the store, etc. but things are so close to loosening up here in WI that I feel okay with slowly reintroducing some outdoor social time. I think you are fine to do so too! (in my opinion!) We did agree that we wouldn't let the kids go inside each other's homes at this point, however.
I think if the kids are already at daycare together it couldn't possibly hurt! I'm glad you all had that opportunity. I'm ready to socialize myself but we don't really have permission quite yet. We ARE going to church, though! Our church has delayed reopening until June 7th because of the complicated regulations, but we registered online to attend mass this weekend in our parish. You reserve your spot so they can ensure the church meets crowd caps - 25% of fire marshal capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer. I am grateful for our online services, but I just kind of want to be in church, you know?
Congratulations on your work presentation, and I'm hoping your team stays together. It is such a hard time right now with so much up in the air. Remarkably, I've stayed profitable over here - with no clinic visits, new business evaporated. But our profit margins are high enough to handle the volume loss. Now if I could just figure out childcare...
The work thing is worrisome and I hope you don't lose any of your team members. That has to be tough. I suspect there will be a lot of layoffs all through and everywhere but that doesn't make it any easier. That IS a generous severance package for those who take it.
That recipe sounds great.
Oh goodness, I'll be thinking about you and the work situation. My company has been positive so far, but the job I used to have just did major cuts, and I'm sure I would have been a part of that had this happened last year. Good call on buying summer stuff now! Its strange how things go in and out of stock during all of this. And....on the my kindle (i have the unlimited subscription) i'm reading about the construction of the biltmore. It makes me want to go to Asheville and I appreciate a non-novel as it takes me longer to read.
I'm so glad you got to have a playdate! I think as long as we take safety precautions, this type of socializing is fine. Like, we can't just stay inside and not see people for months and months and months. That's not good for ANY of us! We just have to be smart - stay six feet apart and all that.
That's so scary about your job/industry! I hope everything remains okay with your team. My company did some crazy layoffs in the beginning of all of this, but we've actually rehired almost everyone we laid off in the past few weeks, so things are looking up at least in that respect. It was really scary when it originally happened!
Ugh, there are so many hard decisions to make in so many industries right now. I really hope your job will be safe. I wouldn't want to look for a job in this situation either.
His hair is so cute, and so is he :-)
This would be a hard time to look for a job. I worry for a lot of industries, and for many small businesses in my city too. This is definitely a rough time.
I am glad you got to have a visit with a friend.
We really haven't been cooking anything too interesting. It has been so beautiful outside, so we've mostly been eating whatever is quick, and spending a lot of time enjoying our yard. We had my dad over for a BBQ for his birthday at the end of May, so that was our first time really getting together with anyone. Our city only has 4 active cases, so they have lifted a lot of restrictions, and groups of 10 can get together, as long as they distance. We aren't ready for a group that large yet though ...
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