The book I'm reading is Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman. I have no idea what prompted me to add this book to my library hold list. I usually add a tag saying where I got the recommendation (it's usually from Modern Mrs. Darcy, From the Front Porch podcast or Indiebound.org) but I didn't in this case. But I decided to still read it even though there were mixed reviews. I just started it last night and only lasted for 20 minutes before turning off my light as I was extra tired but so far the writing style is engaging!
The high of my week was enjoying a salad from my favorite place in downtown Minneapolis (The Green and the Grain). Phil brought it home for me on Wednesday. I get so burned out on eating at home so I usually have him buy a salad from this place once a week. It's such a treat as their salads are soooo good!
The high of my week was enjoying a salad from my favorite place in downtown Minneapolis (The Green and the Grain). Phil brought it home for me on Wednesday. I get so burned out on eating at home so I usually have him buy a salad from this place once a week. It's such a treat as their salads are soooo good!
The low of my week was dealing with the bureaucracy of our medical system. I'm on hydroxycloroquin (you know, Trump's COVID wonder drug that has not evidence of being helpful - eye roll) for RA and it requires a special vision test once a year. Last year I had it done at my eye doctor's but then it wasn't covered by insurance as it was considered out-of-network on my medical insurance. So my doctor said to just go to the ophthalmology department of the system she works for. But when I called to schedule it, they said they couldn't order this test unless I have a baseline eye exam first - which is unnecessary since I get that done by the optometrist I see. But I was like - whatever it takes to get this special test done. So I had that appointment this week but when the doctor came in, she said it really wasn't necessary to have me come in for a baseline eye exam. She apologized for me having to come in for an extra appointment that wasn't necessary. I'm just burned out on medical appointments, and it's just going to get worse if I get diagnosed with gestational diabetes because then I will have to see an endocrinologist, which feels like a total waste of time since I technically don't have GD - it just appears like I do since I'm on prednisone. Anyways, I know all these appointments will be fully paid for by insurance since I already met my out-of-pocket maximum. It just gets tiring to go to all these appointments. Luckily my boss and colleagues are very understanding and don't mind that I have so dang many appointments!
A recipe I made was roasted turkey breast with mashed potatoes and gravy. We got a turkey breast on sale this summer and while I wanted to wait until it was cooler to make it since having your oven on for 1.5-2 hours in the summer is not ideal. But Phil wanted to lighten up our freezer inventory, so we had this on Sunday. Usually Paul loves turkey breast but he wouldn't eat it! Oh well - his loss! We'll use the leftovers to make wild rice soup this weekend - which is not at all a summer meal but we eat soup year round!
A show we are watching is Brooklyn 9-9. We are on the last season and I will say it's kind of limping to the finish line. The shows in the last several seasons have been so hit or miss. But we don't have any other show we want to watch together so we decided to finish this show.
The best money spent was on this "Little Orchard" board game for Paul. I ordered it after my friend Amber recommended it on Instagram. Her daughter, who is only 3 months older than Paul, loved it so I figured Paul would enjoy it, too. We don't have any kid board games so I want to start to build a collection of them for Paul. Hopefully he likes this one as I need lots of ideas for indoor activities when the weather turns colder!
My plans this weekend include staying in tonight. We'll make turkey burgers (the greek ones I posted recently), corn on the cob and green beans from my garden. Tomorrow we don't have any plans but Phil's cousin is coming over to help with a list of little house projects, like getting our closet doors properly hung. Seriously not a single closet door works in this house - they are all off-track/missing some hardware! So I will entertain Paul while daddy and cousin Brian work on house stuff. On Sunday morning, Paul and I have a play date with my friend and her 2 kids at a local park. I haven't seen this friend since January! She's an OB so I tend to pick her brain about things as she's always willing to talk pregnancy stuff with me. And our boys are only 3 days apart so hopefully they will play together. That's about it for plans, though!
Bonus Paul photos!
We've had some rough mornings with Paul. He is so not a morning person and even though he's usually awake when we go in to get him ready for school, he is in the absolute worst mood and has struggled with the transition back to school after being with us on vacation. And we've had some tough meal-times, too. So the frustration level has been higher in our house this week. But then I go in and check on him before I go to bed and he looks like such an angel in his sleep and I'm like 'awwww, look at my baby!'
We have an oak tree in our backyard and man is it a messy tree to have! In the spring it drops this sticky moss-like substance and now it's dropping acorns. A bunch fell off during strong storms last weekend (the storm that knocked out our power for 18 hours!) but there are still acorns dropping all the dang time. One night last week, I convinced Paul that the shovel was an excavator (he's super into construction equipment) so he helped scoop up the pile of acorns I had swept. It worked well for awhile until he decided it was more fun to destroy mom's piles of acorns! Womp womp.
The best money spent was on this "Little Orchard" board game for Paul. I ordered it after my friend Amber recommended it on Instagram. Her daughter, who is only 3 months older than Paul, loved it so I figured Paul would enjoy it, too. We don't have any kid board games so I want to start to build a collection of them for Paul. Hopefully he likes this one as I need lots of ideas for indoor activities when the weather turns colder!
My plans this weekend include staying in tonight. We'll make turkey burgers (the greek ones I posted recently), corn on the cob and green beans from my garden. Tomorrow we don't have any plans but Phil's cousin is coming over to help with a list of little house projects, like getting our closet doors properly hung. Seriously not a single closet door works in this house - they are all off-track/missing some hardware! So I will entertain Paul while daddy and cousin Brian work on house stuff. On Sunday morning, Paul and I have a play date with my friend and her 2 kids at a local park. I haven't seen this friend since January! She's an OB so I tend to pick her brain about things as she's always willing to talk pregnancy stuff with me. And our boys are only 3 days apart so hopefully they will play together. That's about it for plans, though!
Bonus Paul photos!
We've had some rough mornings with Paul. He is so not a morning person and even though he's usually awake when we go in to get him ready for school, he is in the absolute worst mood and has struggled with the transition back to school after being with us on vacation. And we've had some tough meal-times, too. So the frustration level has been higher in our house this week. But then I go in and check on him before I go to bed and he looks like such an angel in his sleep and I'm like 'awwww, look at my baby!'
We have an oak tree in our backyard and man is it a messy tree to have! In the spring it drops this sticky moss-like substance and now it's dropping acorns. A bunch fell off during strong storms last weekend (the storm that knocked out our power for 18 hours!) but there are still acorns dropping all the dang time. One night last week, I convinced Paul that the shovel was an excavator (he's super into construction equipment) so he helped scoop up the pile of acorns I had swept. It worked well for awhile until he decided it was more fun to destroy mom's piles of acorns! Womp womp.
How was your week? What was your high?
What a cute little helper. That post-vacation week always seems to have extra challenges! A low of my week was running my workout significantly slower than I thought I should be able to do it. I'm disappointed to have lost so much fitness while injured. A high of my week was finding some discontinued Nikes on 6pm.com. They're the Rival Fly,and you can't get them in the US anymore. I got a pair for under $50!
ReplyDeleteI hate when they medical system gives you the run-around ... you'd think this could be a little bit more streamlined with the online medical records and everything.
ReplyDeleteHehe, I love the Paul is helping with the messy tree ;)
Happy Friday (or Saturday)!! Oh, the medical system is a pain, isn't it. The funny thing about your blurb is that you say that you are glad because at least you've reached your deductible! Silver lining, I guess! My boss reaches his every year and I always have to school him about in-network, out of network (his has a separate deductible, but you can use either or) etc. It really is confusing. The other thing that they always do that I hate is to send you a bill even when the insurance has paid; I think that is sneaky and I think a lot of people think they have to pay it or are unsure and so the company gets paid twice. I went for an MRI and had to pay out of pocket at the office and then I noticed they billed my insurance and my insurance paid for it so now I have to work to get that money back!
ReplyDeleteThe high of my week was a Costco trip (it is the only thing I have to look forward to and it does kind of feel good to spend money as strange as it sounds) and finishing a good book (Unorthodox, about a Hasidic Jewish girl, their customs and her struggle). Otherwise it is BAU as they say: work, run a little (doing less due to the smoke), plan meals (yay), study and read. REPEAT!
That whole in-out of network thing is so frustrating! And anticipating more appointments, even if they are covered. I guess the high of my week was getting back to the lake after too long at home (and that my car repair was only $175 instead of something bad like a new engine!) I'll have to remember that game for the boys.
ReplyDeleteWe have several haba games and love them all! We don’t have little orchid, but favorites for around Paul’s age would first orchid or bubble bath bunny. For slightly older their snail game and dragon game are both a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteOh man, we have a spare room in the basement, and the closet door in there has been off for about 2 years now. Someday we'll get around to fixing it, ha! Neither of us are really handy with that sort of thing, but with plumbing and car stuff, we're pretty good. This week was HOT, like heat-warning hot. The high was my drumming! I can't believe how far I've come since March 14th when I had my first lesson. I feel so coordinated :-D I think I forgot about muscle memory and how much progress can be made so quickly. I am so happy I decided to learn an instrument at 37 ... never too late to learn something new.
ReplyDeleteOh man, all those doctor's appointments and the bureaucracy you have to deal with sound so stressful and overwhelming! It's so frustrating to get to a doctor's appointment, only to discover you didn't REALLY have to go to it! Argh. I hope things get better!
ReplyDeleteMy week was pretty easy, considering I had Monday and Tuesday off. It was SO nice, even though I didn't do anything haha. It was just nice to be super lazy, take naps, get a lot of reading done, and do some organizing in prep for my move next month.
One game Isla liked when she was Paul's age was memory. We had a bunch of different games because the grandmas latched on to her love of memory and bought her different ones ha. I'd recommend not playing with the full set as he learns how to play that! She also enjoyed Spot It. We got some adults in on that too and it's funny as the kids beat some highly competitive adults! I cannot stand CHutes and Ladders it is like the game that never ends.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the appointments!! I literally DREAD appointments of any kind. I don't even like calling to schedule them! I hope you can avoid the GD appointments.... definitely tricky anytime someone is on prednisone. So many of our transplant patients end up diabetic post-transplant and I always feel so bad for them. It's like, here, let us fix your kidney! You no longer need dialysis! Yay!! Oh, but by the way, you are now diabetic and require insulin every day. :/ fortunately in many cases as they taper their Pred doses the post-transplant diabetes can resolve on its own, but not always. Anyway, hang in there with all of those appointments!
ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness - the EXACT same thing happened to me last year with my visual fields for hydroxychloroquine. I went to an optometrist before seeing the ophthalmologist, because I *literally* could not see, my prescription had changed that much. He gave me a new prescription, and 2 months later I found out that for my visual fields I had to have... another baseline dilated exam with the ophthalmologist. Seriously, WHY? this year, I just scheduled the eye exam, figured I'd get to the VF sooner or later, and they managed to fit it in while I was there. Tedious, but helpful. Anyway, completely hear you on that. Hope that you can get it straightened out for next year? I hate unnecessary appointments like the plague. I have enough necessary ones as it is!
ReplyDeleteOmgosh that infuriates me about your eye exam experience. Our medical system is so ridiculous some time, and create so much waste in the process of it all!
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry you had to deal with that - on top of being pregnant! Glad you have a boss/colleagues who are understanding so you don't feel a lot of stress with having to miss work for appointments.