TGIF

Another week is in the books, and we are closing in on the end of January, which is a good thing when you live in the frozen tundra that is Minnesota in January! We've had days where the high, without considering the wind chill, was 0. No thank you! Next, please. 

The book I'm reading is Pony by RJ Palacio. This book received high praise from one of the hosts of the Currently Reading podcast, so I moved it up my TBR list. Palacio is the author of the beloved book, Wonder, which I adored so I'm pretty confident I will love this book, too. I'm also working my way through The Count of Monte Cristo on the serial reader ap. I'm 13% done with the book. There have been days when it's been a bit of a slog, especially when it talks about the political environment in France in the 1800s (yawn!). I know some about France's political history but there are gaps so some of the discussion went over my head. I much prefer the parts where the main character, Edmond Dantes, is the focus!

The high of my week was making banana bread with Paul last Sunday. We had a lot of brown bananas and Paul had been asking to bake, so I found a recipe in my America's Test Kitchen GF cookbook. It was so putzy - we had to microwave the bananas, drain the liquid, and then reduce that liquid down to a syrup on the stove (by we I mean me, of course). Phil questioned why we were going to so much effort but I said we have to trust ATK because no one writes a recipe better than them. 

My little helper. He is great assistant in the kitchen!

Sure enough, it was the best banana bread I've ever eaten! You sprinkle some sugar on top before baking it so it has a delicious, sugary crust. This is surely not low cal as it also called for a stick of butter and we of course added chocolate chips.

Phil said that Paul Hollywood (a la Great British Bake Off) would have been proud!

The low of my week was being sick again! Could a person have a worse immune system than me? I mean, my immune-suppressant RA drugs are probably mostly to blame. I came down with a cold during the night on Sunday and went from totally healthy at bedtime on Sunday night to feeling like crud on Monday morning. I got a covid test (the 6th one for our household in 2022!!) and it was negative. So I guess it was just another cold. I felt so awful that I ended up taking Tuesday off so I could rest. When you work from home, there is a temptation to just work through whatever is ailing you. And some people, like my healthy-as-a-horse husband, can do that just fine. But I am learning I can't. I felt much better by the end of the day on Tuesday so I guess that was a sign that I need to take the day off when I feel like crud, even if I could still work.

A recipe I made was turkey breast in the instant pot with mashed potatoes, gravy and roasted asparagus. I don't know what I was thinking making this on a Tuesday night. This is clearly a weekend kind of meal. Making the turkey breast in the instant pot saves a lot of time compared to making it in the oven. It's the mashed potatoes and gravy aspect that are too time consuming for a week night in our house. I thought the boys would eat the turkey, but Paul ate a couple of bites and then declared he didn't like it, even though he likes rotisserie chicken... I tried to persuade him to eat it by giving him a little bowl of gravy to dip the turkey in. Did not matter. Will ate a few pieces of turkey and threw all of the asparagus on the floor. We didn't even try to give Paul asparagus since I knew he'd refuse to eat it, just as he refuses to eat mashed potatoes. Phil and I talk about how our German grandparents would roll over in their grave if they could see what our children refuse to eat! But... Phil and I very much enjoyed the meal, so there's that? Phil kept saying, "I can't wait to come over to your house to eat!" to Will. Will is in a developmentally-appropriate but extremely frustrating food dropping/throwing phase. 

A show we are watching is Archive 81 on Netflix. We only watch about 1/2 of an episode a night since I go up to read around 8:30. It's a little bit weird - it's about a person who is restoring damaged film that was nearly destroyed when an apartment burned down. It's a little creepy. On my own, I am watching Younger on Hulu which is delightful. It's about a 40yo woman who passes as a 26yo so she can get a job in publishing after going through a divorce. It's very easy-breezy viewing material which is just what I need these days.

For workouts I did not do anything since I was sick and am giving my body some rest. But last week I had a solid stretch of workouts and went for a run on Saturday morning with my neighbor.  

The best money spent was registering for a women's 10 mile race in late May! I'll be running it with my neighbor. I've ran this course twice and it's so pretty since it's along the Mississippi River. I'm hoping my time will be faster than October but if it's not then so be it.

My plans this weekend include not much! I think Phil is taking Paul out to his mom's on Saturday afternoon and I am planning to go for a walk with my second time mama group on Sunday afternoon since it will be 25F which is downright balmy compared to the weather we've had lately! I'll probably tackle some more organizational tasks from the Apartment Therapy January Cure, which is more of a Jan/Feb cure for me. 

Bonus Will and Paul photos:

My brown-eye little guy, playing with a tube of lotion, because things like lotion and tubes of chapstick are way more interesting than toys.

Paul is very into the hand-me-down magnatiles that I found when I organized our game closet. He made a road in this photo but has been making lots of buildings with daddy, including a church and the "Hyvee House." Those in the Midwest might be familiar with Hyvee's "our house" commercials. Turns out they were very effective in reaching our almost 4yo.

He's happiest in the bath! He's so wild in the bath with the splashing and moving around that Paul doesn't like to bathe with him anymore! I'm hoping to get in him swimming lessons this spring since he loves the water so much!

What was the high of your week? What is the best thing you spent money on this week?