Happy Friday! This week felt kind of long, probably because I had a lot of doctor appointments - 5 for me, 1 for Will. It was all routine stuff but the appointments all ended up happening this week. Not the best planning on my part, but it's the way it worked out. I took 1.5 days off from work since I was going to be gone for a good block of time for 5 of the appointments but that time off wasn't exactly 'relaxing.' I'm definitely due for some real days off - I need to book them soon. Otherwise they won't happen!
The books I'm reading are The Other Black Girl and The Thursday Murder Club. The Other Black girl is a physical book I'm reading from the library. I heard about it through the Modern Mrs. Darcy summer reading guide and am intrigued so far. I read about The Thursday Murder Club in a magazine that is available at my library called "Book Pages" or something like that? It sounded charming so I checked out the eBook. It's about a group of retirees that get together to solve murders. It's set in England and the writing is pretty full of whit so I am enjoying it.
The high of my week was a couple of things. First on Sunday morning, I thought Paul was tracing letters in his coloring book (something he enjoys and chooses to do) when he came running over and said, "I wrote I love you, mommy." Here is a picture of what he wrote. (It's LUV U with a P behind it). We didn't even know he knew how to write any of his letters so this was quite the surprise for us! I think it's pretty darn good for a 3.5 year old!
My other highs were going to the Van Gogh experience with a girlfriend on Wednesday. The Van Gogh experience has been going around the US and abroad - they project Van Gogh's art work on the walls (see pics below). It was very cool! That was the original reason for my day off and then I ended up booking 2 doctor appointments since I had the day off. I thought it was a really fun exhibit and am glad we went! We grabbed lunch ahead of time. I also saw the 3 moms in my second time mom group - we met for a late dinner on Wednesday night. It was so great to catch up and talk about what the babies and toddlers are all doing.
The low of my week was some challenging toddler behavior from Paul. Oof 3.5 is turning out to be very challenging. We ended up buying a course about tantrums and emotional regulation from a podcaster I love (Good Inside with Dr. Becky). It's been helpful to watch it together.
A recipe I made was picadillo with black beans and rice in the instant pot. This is a meal we have nearly monthly. I've mentioned it before - it's from the Milk Street instant pot cook book.
A show we are watching is LuLaRich on Amazon prime. It's about the rise and fall of the multi-level marketing company LuLaRoe. On my own, I'm watching "Making the Cut" on Amazon Prime, which is kind of like Project Runway. It's filmed in Paris so is giving me a bit of a France fix. I adore Tim Gunn so love this show!
For workouts I ran on Tuesday and Thursday. I started a new beachbody program called "Morning Meltdown." There are 100 workouts in it and they are meant to be done daily, but I end up doing about 2-3/week on days when I don't run. It's going to take me quite awhile to get through this program but I will do more workouts/week when my running tapers off which will happen after the 10 mile race/when the weather gets colder. I'm really enjoying the program, though! The workouts are 20-35 minutes long and there is so much variety - intervals, strength training, mixed martial arts, stretching/recovery, etc. Shout-out to Kae for introducing me to this program!
The best money spent was on my sushi lunch and dinner out on Wednesday! Yes, I ate out twice that day - on patios for both meals. We met up at 7:45 on Wednesday night so I had already eaten but ended up getting a small side salad to go with my glass of wine as I love the house salad the restaurant (Red Cow) makes.
My plans this weekend include very little. This is a good thing as this week felt pretty over-scheduled and last weekend was pretty busy. I'll run 8-9 miles on Saturday with my neighbor and that is it for actual plans. It's going to be warm and summerlike so I think we might take the boys to the beach at our local lake on Sunday. Paul is very into using his scooter lately so I am sure we'll spend lots of time on our block scooting!
Bonus Paul and Will photos!
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| Crazy hair, don't care. I think it's time to get his hair professionally trimmed. I've done it a couple of times but I think it's time for a real haircut! |
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| No interest in crawling but loves to stand along furniture! |
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| Working in his toddler coloring book under the supervision of Oscar the cat. |
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| Paul's crazy post-bath hair! |
How was your week? Are you reading or watching anything good these days?
Apart from all the appointments and the tantrums, it sounds like a good week. Actually, just getting that note from Paul would be worth all the tantrums. That's pretty darned good! You've been one busy woman. I'm not sure how you do it, but well done!
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched that doc yet, but am hearing good things! MLM drive me bonkers, although I will purchase from them if I like the products (I wear some beauty counter make up, and have 1 thirty one tote bag, and own 2 pairs of the leggings from lularoe.) But I do worry about how many people get sucked into those companies without realizing the costs involved.
ReplyDeleteThat Van Gogh museum was in my city and I was so upset to miss it! It was here in early 2020 and just as I was feeling ready to open up my life more, it was fully booked out. Womp! I'm glad to hear it was as amazing as I expected!
ReplyDeleteI really want to watch that Lularoe documentary - need to grab my mom's Amazon Prime login!
What a sweet note from Paul! It must be so fun to watch his learning explode - even if it does coincide with so much challenging behavior.
I've been doing Ellen Barrett workouts since April of 2020. Low-impact strength training and cardio. In better shape now than before I had a kid, somehow! Thank you COVID quarantine. She's also so positive, and I'm inspired by her decision to let her hair go grey. https://www.ellenbarrett.com/
ReplyDeleteAs your Grandma Janet always says, a strong willed child is a good sign so keep that in mind! You were strong willed, too, but parents are able to put the bad behind as a child matures as you will, too.
ReplyDeleteI love Will’s wild hair - it’s so a part of him that we will miss it when he gets a haircut! He is growing up so fast and I love how much he adores his big brother!
We were supposed to go to the big Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2020! Wahh...pandemic of course ruined those plans. Glad you got to go to the traveling exhibit, though! How fun!
ReplyDeleteI really like the variety in MM too! I found I really looked forward to the Fight Club workouts, which surprised me. I've never been into martial arts or kickboxing or anything like that. But I found those workouts to be really fun. And a good way to get some aggression out. I also generally am not a huge fan of cardio workouts, so I like that that program fits some in, but in a quick and efficient way. I'm thinking that if I go back to the gym for my strength workouts, I may rotate in some of the cardio MM workouts at home on the off days. I don't enjoy intense cardio/HIIT on a machine. I still don't love cardio days the most even when it's on a video format, but I know it's important to at least do some... :) And I find I'm at least more motivated to do it in the group setting, be it a class or video.
The Van Gogh Experience is in Saskatoon currently, so only a couple hours away, but we haven't been yet, although it's something I'd definitely love to see!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many shows on various streaming platforms that I want to watch, but I am already paying for Netflix and Disney + and am not willing to add more ... but the new Sex and the City show is really tempting me. I'm hoping it comes out on DVD so I can just buy those. Everything is a subscription these days, and it's hard to draw the line. Even though Christopher and I are both huge music lovers, neither of us has subscribed to a music streaming service yet. We're still on CDs, lol.