I’ve mentioned how I’ve been giving myself a pass over the past few weeks and it will continue over the next week or two until the season’s loose ends are tied up and we can shift into a bit of travel and a slower routine of summer schedule.
I was talking to a friend the other day and she asked what we’d been up to and I had to laugh because I feel like I am occupied sun up to sun down but couldn’t really give a straight answer as to what I was doing during those hours. It boiled down to, “well, school and feeding the family I guess.” So I decided to snap some pictures to photo journal what is filling my days during the spring season of May! Will I be on my game enough to do seven days in a row to share a full week? I guess we shall see! But we can at least start with Tuesday…
A Tuesday in spring in full grass allergy season. The grass pollen is off the charts and we’re feeling it. Unfortunately the allergy shots I sang the praises of last year when we felt almost zero symptoms are failing us this year. I am blaming the new serums that were mixed by our new allergy office, as it’s known many places use different blends. This one seems to be largely ineffective for both Hailey and myself. So instead, I’m relying on my at-home allergy arsenal:
Allergena Zone 2, Xlear saline rinse, and for when symptoms arise, both D-hist and Boiron Histaminum Hydrochloricum. The kids really don’t mind that last one because they are sweet! They also are effective; dose as indicated on the bottle and you’ll feel relief.
After waking up (6:30), sipping coffee (6:45), we took off for Finley’s morning hike (7:10). It’s only about a mile but it is my favorite way to start a day- fresh air. Back home, I reheated some breakfast casserole from the day before. I used my go-to recipe with the ends of a sourdough loaf, but switched up the fillings to include mushrooms, peppers, and onions.
After breakfast we all cleaned up, got dressed, and the girls and I jumped into school stuff. We dragged on math the day before so I opted for us to jump right into it on this day while they were fresh. I bounced back and forth to help as needed and ordered their math books for next year. Since we use Saxon, which is a spiral method, new books start off with review, which we’ll do over summer. We keep some math and reading going all year long. Still loving Nicole the Math lady!
After math, we do some grammar and copywriting, then Kaitlyn requested we do a MEL science kit. We chose one with the highest rating of danger and time (40 minutes) of course, but it ended up being super fun. I couldn’t get a photo of the combustion flash, but recorded it in slow motion and put it on IG. It was so neat!
After we finished up school stuff, I ate a banana and peanut butter, then David and I worked out around 12:45. It was upper body push day on Madeline Moves’ app. We’ve been sticking with the 30 minute workouts for time purposes.
Afterwards I made David a smoothie and I ate my last freezer portion of vegetable beef soup. I freeze it in Souper Cubes, then store them in labeled freezer Ziplocks. When I want one for lunch, I just put the frozen cube in the mini slow cooker at breakfast time and it’s hot and ready by lunch. I’ve eaten through my whole soup stash from the freezer. Until next fall! I made the girls ham and cheese wraps then they took off outside to play with friends.
I turned on some podcasts: Just Ingredients 201: Natural Detox for Kids and The Genius Life 485: The Top 5 Longevity Secrets Backed by Science (not for little ears because of one of the recs being a little spicy in nature). While I listened I finished the last coat of paint on the beadboard David installed in our laundry room. Wallpaper will be installed next month! I also made dinner: red lentil and carrot curry and some bone broth rice in the rice cooker.
I needed some sunshine after that so I headed out to check on the garden. I joke that “piddling” is my new favorite past time. I like to piddle in the garden, looking over each plant to see the potential centimeter or two it might have grown since the day before. I piddle in “the orchard” which is a big name for a little section of the yard that we’ve planted apple trees, plum trees, and blueberries. I piddle in the construction zone of the chicken coop and think about how crazy it’s going to be to have chickens in our yard. Piddle piddle piddle.
Well, piddle until 3:30 when David and I had a call with our financial advisors. I was in on it for 45 minutes before having to dip out and head to our weekly CSA pickup. I got Bok choy, baby Swiss chard, radishes, and arugula. All picked probably same day. How cool is that? Since moving here our eating has shifted to more local meat (we just got our half cow) and produce. I’m loving it!
Back home, we ate a quick bowl of curry and rice then headed out to cheer Kaitlyn on in her softball game. Her team is all first year softball players, so while winning hasn’t exactly been their thing this season, it’s been fun to watch them all improve! Most importantly, she enjoys it.
We got home around 8:00. I had another small serving of curry and made David and I sleep well mocktails with magnesium. I mix a scoopful of magnesium with lime Spindrift (and usually a splash of tart cherry juice, but I was out). We both notice a difference in how deep we sleep when we take it!
While the kids cleaned up, we took Finley for a leisurely stroll down the street while we sipped. It was such a beautiful night and luckily with the help of the homeopathic allergy melts, I could actually enjoy it. The kids headed to bed around 9:00. We brushed teeth and got ready for bed, then watched about half of a White Lotus episode before calling it and going to sleep around 10:00.
Not sure how well you can see it, but David has a nice little cut across his nose from where a 2×4 slid off a ladder and right into his face when he was working on the coop this past weekend. Luckily that was the worst of it!
And that’s a wrap! Kind of reminds me of blogging before social media. Sigh… I’m such a nostalgic sap 🙂
