Phil had a guys night that night which I was very happy about. You may have gathered from reading my blog that I have quite a few social gatherings - despite being an introvert. His friends are not planners and if you don’t plan, especially once you have children, you usually don’t see each other. But they finally got together last weekend and I am hoping it will be a recurring thing. I have a bit of an obsession with things being ‘equal’ - which I recognize is not possible. But I would feel better about being away for work travel and social gatherings if Phil had more plans!
One upside to all the snow is that the creek has water again. Much of it is frozen but this area has enough of a current that it doesn’t freeze. I was thrilled to see a bunch of ducks! They were all taking a nap. They looked so cute with their heads tucked into their wings!
Saturday was my day to get up with the boys and they sleep until 6:45!!! That never happens!! I was so glad as I was up at 4:30 thinking about work. I read for a bit and fell back asleep and was sound asleep when Paul came in so I am glad it was a later waking than usual!
We FaceTimed with my parents after breakfast and got to see my niece who was spending the weekend with them. And then I headed out for a run when Phil was up. Several of you recommended I wear Yak Trax and when Kyria, a fellow runner suggested them, I knew I should try them. We already owned a pair so I threw them on and headed out. I was worried they would impact my stride but they didn’t! I didn’t like running in them on pavement but there isn’t much pavement to be found these days. I felt so good that I ran around the lake which is a 4 mile loop!
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| This is what most of the paths look like thanks to snow and freezing rain. |
We didn’t have time for the library that morning since I ran further than I thought I might. The boys had fun at gymnastics. Will is getting a little raider to shepherd through the stations!
After quiet time, Paul and I headed to my friend’s house for our annual favorite things party. We each bring something that costs around $10 for everyone. We used to do this in December but I suggested we move it to Jan/Feb when we have less going on. This is what I gave - slipper socks from Target. I love tucking a pair of these in my purse when we go to others homes in the winter. In the upper Midwest, you don’t wear shoes in people’s homes and my feet get cold, even with socks on!
The party was so much fun! Some of them brought their kids, and the host was watching her nieces for the weekend so Paul had lots of playmates. It took a bit of time for him to warm up but he didn’t want to leave at the end of the night and said he had a blast! We were there from 4-7 which is pretty much the ideal time frame for a social gathering for me! I love getting home and being able to get some time with Phil and time to read before bed!
Sunday was my day to sleep in. The boys slept until 6:45 again! I was planning to read in bed for a half hour or so, but Will was having a BAD morning - i.e. SCREAMING. So I headed down to help Phil. Of course he calmed down pretty quickly. Toddlers are so fun sometimes!!
He was off all morning so I tried a walk. It wasn’t great. This picture does not reflect the experience. He whined and cried on and off, even though I found multiple snowmen (his latest obsession) for him to admire.
I did meal prep when we got back. This is what meal prep looks like in our house. I chopped everything I needed for our Sunday and Monday night meals - corn chowder on Sunday, veggie-packed ragu sauce with pasta for the boys and zoodles for me tonight, and I chopped veggies for the salads I will eat when I’m in the office this week. I take the ‘prep dish’ approach to meal planning/prep and do as much as I can ahead of time so the meals come togehh h er quickly.
Post-nap, Paul sledded for a bit with Phil. Will and I watched as Will is not quite into sledding yet. Of course when we were at the sledding hill, he kept saying stroller over and over. But I had no confidence he’d actually be happy in the stroller after the unpleasant walk earlier that day.
I made a corn chowder for dinner with some leftover ham from Christmas. The boys took an extra long bath. And then it was bedtime. Hurrah! I worked on my puzzle and watched part of the 49ers game with Phil.
How was your weekend? Do you do much meal prep? I’ve always meal planned but once we had kids, I have tried to do as much ahead of time since meal time is so rushed!
13 comments:
brilliant idea on bringing socks to other people's place. I also feel obliged to take my shoes off but don't like to be bare foot.
sorry about the office issue... not the great way to start the weekend but I guess that run helped to clear your mind.
I'm sorry you had a rough day on Friday. I hope this week is much better for you at work. Days like that can affect the whole weekend.
Your weekends are always so busy! I hope the boys continue to "sleep in" until 6:45. It makes a huge difference!
Those slippers look very cosy. We don't wear shoes in the house either - never never! I'm always shocked when people leave their shoes on. You're bringing outdoor dirt into the house! Then again I have a huge dog who does just that so...
In any case, tucking slippers into a bag for other people's homes is brilliant!
I am so glad that the YakTrax worked! I wish I would have known about them when I I lived in Iowa as I spent many a miserable hour on the treadmill! I think I tried going outside once but it was so slippery! You are right though, when its patchy snow or ice, they are not as great although they are better than microspikes when it comes to wearing them on the pavement. I guess it may depend on which ones you have because when I went to send you that link, I realized that there were different kinds (mine are the ones that look like tire chains).
I am sorry you had a rough day at work, and even more sorry that you were unable to sleep because of it; that is the worst! It has been awhile since that has happened to me, but I used to wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to go back to sleep for hours due to the thoughts swirling around my head. The less I slept, the more I thought about it and it made for a miserable night (and following day!).
Ugh, sorry about the work issues. My work can be physically and mentally exhausting, but the good thing is, when I leave work I can leave it all behind. I hope this week goes better for you!
I know a lot of people love the YakTrax- I've never used them (not even sure if they were a thing when I lived up north) but it seems like a great idea.
Sounds like you had a good weekend, although with a difficult toddler. It's making think of one Christmas where my daughter literally cried all day because Santa brought her an orange whistle instead of pink (oops.) One person can definitely ruin everything! You have to wonder what's going on in their heads to make them so... prickly. Well, it passes (although my daughter can still be very dramatic, but I think that's a girl thing.)
Ugh. I'm sorry your work is so stressful. Hopefully it will pass soon.
I'm glad you used Yak Trax. I was starting to get worried about you falling all the time!
Wow! Four miles in Yak Trax! I had no idea a person could run in those and it's awesome that they worked for you.
How amazing that the boys slept in so late both mornings. Fingers crossed that this is the beginning of a new trend.
I don't meal prep because I feel like my food mood changes so easily. If I prepped for a specific meal on Tuesday, and then didn't feel like eating it, I would either be grumpy about eating it or waste the food which both don't sound great!
Sorry to hear that work has been stressful. I hope that the issue is resolved, at least?
So hard to shake off a bad work day-- I have so much empathy for this. I also think the idea of taking slippers to ppl's houses is a GREAT ONE. I also get cold feet and am rarely wearing sicks because of Uggs.
I had never considered running in them? We own a set, but I haven't used them in years.
It is so, so hard to shake off a tough day at work. I'm glad you had some fun events over the weekend (minus the toddler screaming which, if you're anything like me, can also sometimes be hard to shake off)!
I do SO much less meal prep now. I really am so out of my A-game with food lately. A few years ago I decided to implement this very regimented meal-planning setup and it...was amazing. I had a set schedule I basically followed week after week (soup on Monday, leftovers Tuesday, a freezer meal Wednesday, a big "meat/potato/veggie" meal on Thursday, homemade waffles on Friday...). But then I took on another work position, my husband started traveling again for work and it all just flew out the window (I cook so differently when it's just the two kids and I - like tonight I took a little container of chickpea lentil soup from the freezer and made some toast and DONE - but it would not have been enough to feel us all if my husband had been home, so I just grab little dishes of things or make wraps or we'll have a big bowl of oatmeal for supper which my husband would NOT enjoy for supper, but the kids and I love).
Even when he's home, I mostly just plan a day or two in advance and we eat a lot of meals on repeat because it's so much easier for me that way.
That said, I would really like to have a better meal-planning system again. It makes me feel less frenetic about life in general!
That's great that Phil went out with friends. I don't think you need to worry about making it "equal", because not everyone values that type of time the same way, but it's nice that you are considerate about it. :)
Send me your corn chowder recipe! I've been in the mood for soup. I'm so impressed with all your meal prep. I've been trying to meal plan/ grocery shop more frequently, etc, but I'm still not on the level of doing true meal prep. But I guess it's not as important since I work from home. I definitely did a lot more batch cooking and things or at least trying to pre-pack my lunches when I worked in the hospital. I rarely bought food there because the cafeteria was so far away from my unit that I didn't want to waste over half of my break getting there and back!
Those slipper socks are great! I always take slippers when I go to someone's house and those are especially cute! Sounds like a great party and idea!
I'm really sorry to hear about the work situation. It can be so tough to shake off things like that. We had a really awful work thing happen in mid-December and I felt like I was walking around in a stupor for weeks! I hope you have some work friends you can talk to about it, at least. That's what helps me the most.
Those slipper socks look SO COZY. I may need to get a pair because my feet can get so cold during our (infrequent) cold weather.
And hooray for the boys sleeping a bit later for you. Hopefully, this trend continues!
Those slipper socks looks so warm and cozy. A great gift.
I don't do much meal-prepping but I always plan our weekly meals. It makes it so much easier to decide what to cook when you can pick from a list and know you have everything on hand.
Work stuff can be so stressful!!!! I’m glad the weekend gave you time to recharge!!! Hopefully things at work have calmed down!
Lori
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