Happy Saturday - it was a crazy week, so I'm just now getting to enjoy the newsletter and comments. Spring in MN means cleaning up all the long-frozen dog poops in the backyard, so that was my first spring cleaning project -- many, many more to follow. Hoping that the milder weather helps elevate my mood and gets me out on Stupid Walks again.
Heading to IL tomorrow to celebrate my mom's 85th birthday! She's a force of nature, forged by faith, endless energy, and German stubbornness. We'll also be dropping my daughter off at college again after a sweet week of having her home for spring break. I had a blast with our 3 daughters when they were little, but it's also fun staying up late and watching trashy TV together.
I love your enthusiasm for F1. 😄 Hate inconvenience for *anything* though.
I finished watching Station Eleven last week and was so pleased with how they adapted it. I also had to review the book summaries about “the prophet” because I only remembered the bit about his origin and that I totally despised him... but the series made me compassionate toward him. And I distinctly remember *not* feeling that way in the book. It was a strange experience but satisfying, too. [I also LOVED the expansion of young Kristen’s experience with Jeevan. Plus the casting! I already loved Mackenzie Davis, and I’ve been crushing on Himesh Patel for a year, but that young actress blew me away.] There have been so few *great* binges for me lately, but Station Eleven really resonated with me... even more than the book!
Okay, I misread your original comment as “reading/watching” instead, so I jumped on that prematurely. 🤦🏻♀️ So now I’ll say, be sure to watch the series! 😂
🏥 Last Friday afternoon, took my mother to the emergency room for severe pain. After a stressful few days, she’s ok, mostly out of pain, and scheduled for surgery in April.
🛫 We were supposed to head to New York yesterday so I can run the NYC Half Marathon, but our flight was cancelled. Rebooked for the same flight today, which is right when we’re supposed to have bad weather, so fingers crossed everything stays safe and we get out...
☔️ ...But at least we were home this morning as we woke up to not one, not two, but THREE leaks in the 6-month-old roof...
🛺 ...and the flat tire on my car.
But there were some definitely, non facetious things to be grateful for this week, especially focusing on the fact that my mother is going to be ok and doesn’t need anything emergently done.
👨⚕️I also get to watch my beloved program manager and her husband find out where he matched for medical residency. Heartbroken that they’re probably leaving the area, but so excited and proud of his hard work!
👩🏫 I potentially have the opportunity to move into a tenure-track position from my non-tenure earning appointment.
🎽(If we make it to New York) I’ll get to run my first half in 5 years and see some of our dearest friends who we haven’t seen since before the pandemic.
Oh man—that’s a week. I feel the roof element most specifically since we are in the process of getting a new roof as we speak, and one of my biggest anxieties is that we will end up with leaks because the workers didn’t do a good job. 😑🤦🏻♀️ Hope you make it to New York safely!
It’s been a minute since I’ve been able to be in the comments and I can’t wait to catch up with all of you! Recent treasures in my life include:
📚 Skin of the Sea. If you liked Circe, I’d highly recommend this book! YA + historical fiction + West African mythology= chefs kiss.
🇺🇦 In Lancaster County, there’s a large community of refugees and immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Many of them still have family and friends in Poland, Ukraine, etc, so the last few weeks, they’ve been doing everything possible to assist the work that their friends and family are doing in Ukraine and Poland. My boss and a few other business owners asked how they could help, and we quickly pulled together a fundraiser for over 300 people.
One business let us use a banquet hall, another donated bread, someone else donated soup, etc. It was so moving to watch all of these successful business owners pull together completely behind the scenes - not for publicity or a tax write off. Each person simply said “here’s what I have available to me,” and freely gave it. It’s Lancaster at its absolute best.
🧁 My birthday was last week, and it started with my husband getting the stomach bug at 3am. I was having a ROUGH day for a variety of reasons, and cried quite a few times. Right as I was about to start making dinner, there was a knock on the door, and Jill was standing there with flowers and cupcakes and an Olive and June gift card 😭😭😭 I checked the mail, and there was a gift from Jules 😭😭😭 The way that the Swipes came around me to make me feel so loved and seen… 😭😭😭
Continue in some birthday joy. Keep it going. Our March bdays have been seriously tested this year.
The spontaneous community event is exactly what we need more of, isn’t it? Reminders of what’s true and good and lovely when so much ugliness is being shouted loudly. What a blessing to witness that in person! 💙💛
I am exhausted but here so I'm taking it as a win! I am a few weeks away from being done with my grad school semester which means I'll only have two more after that and I'll be done with my masters. Of course, I've already started looking in to a PhD program because I'm insane. But it is such a cool program (https://coe.uga.edu/academics/degrees/phd-language-literacy-education-literacies-childrens-literature-p-or) and I'm excited about the opportunities it would give me and the chance to dig back into to research and learning in a way my brain loves. My current program is very practical and assignment based which doesn't really work well with my brain.
I've been able to read again which is so, so lovely! I've recently finished The Love Hypothesis, The house In the Cerulean Sea, and The Ex Hex. I really enjoyed them all - especially the House in the Cerulean Sea. I'm currently reading Kate Spencer's book In a New York Minute and N.K. Jeminsin's The Killing Moon. I'll start Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby for my book club this weekend too.
My biggest and best treasure is that I'm finally an aunt!! Baby Stella Francis is here and she is perfect. I'm deeply obsessed. I'll get to hang out with her tomorrow afternoon so my sister and brother-in-law can nap and shower. Here's a picture - https://www.instagram.com/p/CbP7QCRLnwH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I hope you all have a restful and delightful weekend!
Congrats Auntie! I think we're on the same graduation timeline, now that I can see the end I'm just ready to be done. The program you posted looks fantastic.
Thank you! I'm thrilled about it! And yes, same - now that I know I'm almost there I just want it over!! I'm having an informational meeting with someone from the program next week so I'll have a better feel for if it's a good option for me but it looks so neat.
I've only read a few pages but it's cute so far! I love listening to Kate's podcast and I've heard her talk about writing the book for so long. I'm super excited to dig in!
Good morning! It snowed all day yesterday, heavy wet spring snow, and today it will be in the fifties. Oh Denver.
My husband is taking the kids snowboarding tomorrow and won't be back until Monday. Hooray! I have work commitments, but when I'm home, I'll be all alone and if I tidy up tomorrow, it will stay that way while I'm gone, so I'm not complaining. It's been spring break this week for our school, and the amount of crap my kids can strew across the house in the four hours I'm at work every day is impressive.
I woke up from a nightmare a few nights ago incredibly burdened for President Zelensky, and wondered if he'd survived the day in Ukraine. I was so thankful that he had. What a good man. I can't imagine what it must be like to be his wife, seeing him on all the news shows and knowing you will probably not see him alive again.
It is thunder storming this morning, and it will continue until about 2pm. It is so dark and there's loud thunder and bright cracks of lightning every 2 minutes and I really enjoy it. It feels like nature is giving me permission to not work.
BUT tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be beautiful and I'm looking forward to putting out pine straw tomorrow and washing off the patio furniture :)
Treasures:
- The Batman - I've never seen a batman movie, but I went with my husband to see the new one at the theatre last week and I really enjoyed it. It is LONG!!! But I read that the perfect time to go to the bathroom is when they are getting ready to go to a funeral, so I did that and it was manageable. I highly recommend seeing it if you are on the fence.
- My parents got us a gift card to Goldbelly for Christmas and we just ordered something with it! Goldbelly allows you to order food from restaurants all over the world. They flash freeze it and deliver it to you in just a few days. We chose deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's in Chicago! We've never had deep dish pizza so we are super pumped to try it! It's getting delivered today, so tonight will be the ultimate pizza night! What is your favorite kind of pizza???
- We just booked a trip to Universal Studios Orlando for October with my parents. They have really been cooped up since the beginning of the p-word and now they feel comfortable getting out in crowds again. We have postponed this trip several times, and now it's finally happening (I think). My family has been to Universal several times, but my husband has never been and I'm excited for him to experience it.
Can't wait to catch up in the comments!!! Have a peaceful weekend!!!
I love that you ordered deep dish! We do homemade pizza every Saturday and one of my favorites lately is this kind called a grandma pie, that is made in a baking pan. The crust is SO good!
Thank you for the Batman bathroom tip! 😂 I’ve been thinking about pine straw for a strawberry bed I have at our rental home. I had leaves down for the winter and maybe took them off too soon yesterday, but I’m just so excited to have my own strawberries. 🤤 And my favorite pizza is either homemade balsamic strawberry chicken bacon pizza or… cheap, hot, greasy pizza like Dominoes or Little Caesars with a really cold beer or Pepsi. Two different sides of the pizza spectrum, I know. I can’t explain it. That’s just the way it is.
I’m intrigued by this strawberry pizza. Do you have a recipes? Also, papa johns is my favorite pizza. I’m not afraid to admit it. You can’t beat that garlic sauce.
🌳 We've had beautiful weather this week, so I've been going for lots of stupid walks.
🎓 I've officially registered for my last semester of grad school! I'm excited to be so close to the finish line esp. since this semester has felt like a bit of a slog since we learned about my grandma's diagnosis.
🧵 I'm making a big craft store run after work to finally get supplies for some wedding calligraphy I'm doing for a coworker and the notions for my b-day dress. I'm excited to dive into a creative project for a little while and turn my brain off for a bit.
Your last semester, congrats! I wish I had taken advantage more of the nice weather we had the past few days and gotten out to walk; now it's back to being cold and rainy. False spring stinks!
😢 Got me good with that Alzheimer’s video! Sheesh. Kids are the best.
🌱 I am doing ok with the false springs. It means winter is on its way out! But our last frost is May 1, so I’ve got some time to adjust. I’m spending my Lent doing a deep spring clean of the house, and it’s a good transitional process that matches the season.
🩺 I will share one of my treasures with you, and that is that we were referred to an integrative neurologist for my son w ASD, and the guy is terrific. I didn’t know what to expect, but he’s been the most thorough doc we’ve ever had and really seems to care about improving his overall functioning. New meds, new vitamins, and a new hope!
🤖 Speaking of a new hope, here is a cheesy segue… We randomly found a train and toy hobby show at a community college, and got to meet an R2D2 droid. Also saw some cool LEGO displays. So much joyful nerdiness.
We are just starting our journey into getting my son tested for some executive functioning challenges, so it's good to hear that there are great doctors out there. And my son would have LOVED seeing anything Lego, he's so into building all the time now!
I took Thursday & Friday off work to use up my “floating holidays” before I change jobs in a few weeks. Yesterday, I got a pedicure, made myself a fun lunch, watched Loki, finished a book, and got my hair done! Today’s plans are hopefully going to be a little more of the “chill at home” vibes though my oldest is home with me and will probably want to be entertained.
Treasures!
🥳 My youngest turns 4 today! We have Spider-Man balloons and decor set up, cookie cake being made, and his favorite dinner of hot dogs & Mac and cheese on the menu for tonight! I read him “On the Night You Were Born” last night at bedtime and bawled on that last page.
📚 After a bit of a reading rut, I finally got through Unmissing (a Popcast green light - it was a good thriller!), and now working on the Bible Binge book of the month, Out of Egypt.
😬 I have been doing really well with my Lenten fast of “no online shopping” (I even went to a local Party supply store for the Spider-Man stuff instead of Amazon), but Tuesday I maybe sorta bent the rules to order new pillows I have been wanting that were 45% off. I made my husband press the “order now” button but truly, kind of skirted around that one.
Can’t wait to read what everyone is up to! It’s spring (bordering on summer) here in Houston, so we are heading to a gumbo cook-off this weekend!
We are having spring like temps and its so lovely. We started the week with snow and ice and should see 60 this weekend. March in MN be wild.
Still settling in for all things moving.
It has been a whirlwind of emotions for me that I didn't wholly expect. And a whirlwind of expenses that I sort of expected, but truly had no idea how fast one can spend the dollars when you are paying painters, hvac dudes, plumbers, movers, and buying various things for all the super fun (sarcasm) repairs and needs along the way. But tonight I will be ordering 2 chairs for our living room and I'm kind of excited about those. Thanks to Swipe Erin S for all her recommendations. Name a furniture store and I've been hitting the websites, but HOME DEPOT has been having the same things some furniture stores offer but for less money and I can get it sooner. WINNING.
Thanks to all the Swipers who have been my container during this time. I am forever grateful to you all. I can't really formulate the words to say how thankful I am.
My hands hurt this AM as sometimes when emotionally stressed I find either lifting many heavy things or doing something extra physically helps me. That meant I shoveled a lot of heavy wet snow from our back patio area just to get an idea of how far a paved section goes and I want snow moved so that patio area can melt faster. For those not in snowy climates, when the snow is really packed it can take forever to melt in some areas (we like to place informal over/under dates on when the big snowpiles in our work parking lot will melt down).
Also tired as my teenager is going to be trying out for the high school baseball team and has had pre-tryout practices each morning this week at 6:30. Which means we leave around 6:15 which means I'm up at 5:20. For those that get up that early by choice -- I salute you.
So I'm very excited for a no-alarm weekend to rest. SO needed.
Oof! 5:20. Lord have mercy. We are (hopefully) moving soon and are already triaging the repairs, etc. We will probably just not have some of the furniture for awhile - which is fine by me. I hope your new chairs are fantastic!
Mel, in a couple months, I might come to you with ALL the moving woes and hope you can offer advice. I'm glad you're able to find what you need at Home Depot, I would never think to look there! I am also in the "likes to do manual labor when I'm stressed" club; I might have shoveled out our driveway more than my husband this winter. Finally, I feel like my oldest may be able to survive quite nicely as a teenager - his current average wake up time is about 5:30am. Was he a rural farmer in another life?
Yes the money sooooo has wings right now. I started socking away some funds when we knew this was happening, but POOF that is gone. When I started adding up all the extra money being spent it kind of freaked me out for a hot second. BUT I tell myself these short term expenses give us long-term security.
That first tweet got me. I do feel like I haven't been able to concentrate on anything, like I'm just treading water.
My hot take that I just now realized about myself (and that no one asked for!) is that I just do not enjoy debate, no matter how healthy, kind, or trivial. Disagreeing with anyone, about anything, makes me extremely anxious (I even almost didn't say this because conflict!). I just need to get my dad to understand this so he stops trying to debate me.
I love the idea of putting on gratitude like lotion, so today I'm thankful for getting to volunteer in my sister's classrooms and the Lazy Genius's Change Your Life Chicken, which has, in fact, changed my life.
Feel this. And I seem to be surrounded by people who love it. 😒 My main tactic is to just stop talking. I just go silent and let them argue by themselves. I "mmmhmmm" and make other non-committal responses. Either you wanna hear my thoughts or you don't. I will make my case, and then I'm done. I am noy going to use up my limited energy to "argue my point". Nah.
The graduating step after CYLC is the Change Your Life Shawarma, which is basically all I eat in the warmer months and it has caused me to foolishly believe that I am a grill MASTER.
I’m trying to learn how to not be as conflict averse, but growing in a place where conflict and fighting felt one and the same has messed with my brain a bit. 😬
I’m still unpacking it too! I’ve been in severely abusive relationships with family members (not my parents but other folks) and abusive romantic relationships and I’m still learning how to not shut down when hard topics come up. Like, there’s conflict, but we’re just talking, you know? And there’s a distinction between that and a fight. That’s what my therapist says anyway, but I agree!
I agree wholeheartedly about debates. If you simply want to understand what I think/believe I'm happy to explain but I don't want to convince you or be convinced by you. I'm very happy to agree to disagree.
I have a friend who always hears CYLC as Change OF Life Chicken and it very confused about this menopausal chicken recipe lol!
I don’t have much to add, but for those of you who were involved in the Hannah Montana era, I have this tiktok. Happy Friday. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdfGFt6h/?k=1
I’m so excited for good porch sitting weather again. Have some friends coming to visit next week that I haven’t seen in person for 2 years so very ready to see them which means I will be cleaning my house this weekend to get ready for them. I’m so much more motivated to clean when other people will have to see my house.
Yes! Porch life is almost here!! I’ve been quarantined during my chemo and porch life gives me a safe way to visit with friends. So excited to create a beautiful space. Come on warmth!
Happy Saturday - it was a crazy week, so I'm just now getting to enjoy the newsletter and comments. Spring in MN means cleaning up all the long-frozen dog poops in the backyard, so that was my first spring cleaning project -- many, many more to follow. Hoping that the milder weather helps elevate my mood and gets me out on Stupid Walks again.
Heading to IL tomorrow to celebrate my mom's 85th birthday! She's a force of nature, forged by faith, endless energy, and German stubbornness. We'll also be dropping my daughter off at college again after a sweet week of having her home for spring break. I had a blast with our 3 daughters when they were little, but it's also fun staying up late and watching trashy TV together.
Happy spring, y'all!
Happy Friday all! A mixed bag for me this week.
👍🏼 Finished reading/listening to Station Eleven this week. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
👎🏼 Someone backed into me in a parking lot this morning. Fine physically, but will have to get body work done. #inconvenient
👍🏼 The F1 season starts this weekend and I am PUUUUMPED!!!
Love Station Eleven (the book)! Rereading before I watch the show.
Oh NO about your car, but hooray for F1!
I read Station Eleven a few months ago and I freaking loved it! Still need to watch the show though!
Yay F1☺️
I’m seriously so excited. 🤣🏎
I love your enthusiasm for F1. 😄 Hate inconvenience for *anything* though.
I finished watching Station Eleven last week and was so pleased with how they adapted it. I also had to review the book summaries about “the prophet” because I only remembered the bit about his origin and that I totally despised him... but the series made me compassionate toward him. And I distinctly remember *not* feeling that way in the book. It was a strange experience but satisfying, too. [I also LOVED the expansion of young Kristen’s experience with Jeevan. Plus the casting! I already loved Mackenzie Davis, and I’ve been crushing on Himesh Patel for a year, but that young actress blew me away.] There have been so few *great* binges for me lately, but Station Eleven really resonated with me... even more than the book!
Hamish Patel as Jeevan?! That is fantastic casting!
I haven’t watched the show, but I’ve heard amazing things about that too!
Okay, I misread your original comment as “reading/watching” instead, so I jumped on that prematurely. 🤦🏻♀️ So now I’ll say, be sure to watch the series! 😂
It was such a profound show. Beautifully shot as well.
Boo for the car but wahoo for Station Eleven! I really liked it too!
Y’all - it. Has. Been. A. Week.
🏥 Last Friday afternoon, took my mother to the emergency room for severe pain. After a stressful few days, she’s ok, mostly out of pain, and scheduled for surgery in April.
🛫 We were supposed to head to New York yesterday so I can run the NYC Half Marathon, but our flight was cancelled. Rebooked for the same flight today, which is right when we’re supposed to have bad weather, so fingers crossed everything stays safe and we get out...
☔️ ...But at least we were home this morning as we woke up to not one, not two, but THREE leaks in the 6-month-old roof...
🛺 ...and the flat tire on my car.
But there were some definitely, non facetious things to be grateful for this week, especially focusing on the fact that my mother is going to be ok and doesn’t need anything emergently done.
👨⚕️I also get to watch my beloved program manager and her husband find out where he matched for medical residency. Heartbroken that they’re probably leaving the area, but so excited and proud of his hard work!
👩🏫 I potentially have the opportunity to move into a tenure-track position from my non-tenure earning appointment.
🎽(If we make it to New York) I’ll get to run my first half in 5 years and see some of our dearest friends who we haven’t seen since before the pandemic.
Wow! I feel like you've already run a marathon this week. Hope things finish on a high note.
So hoping you get to make it to NYC and have a delightful marathon!
What a week! 🎢 (where’s the accompanying downhill coaster for this?)
Looking forward to the report on your marathon!
Oh man—that’s a week. I feel the roof element most specifically since we are in the process of getting a new roof as we speak, and one of my biggest anxieties is that we will end up with leaks because the workers didn’t do a good job. 😑🤦🏻♀️ Hope you make it to New York safely!
Hope you make it to the starting line! 🏃🏻♀️
It’s been a minute since I’ve been able to be in the comments and I can’t wait to catch up with all of you! Recent treasures in my life include:
📚 Skin of the Sea. If you liked Circe, I’d highly recommend this book! YA + historical fiction + West African mythology= chefs kiss.
🇺🇦 In Lancaster County, there’s a large community of refugees and immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Many of them still have family and friends in Poland, Ukraine, etc, so the last few weeks, they’ve been doing everything possible to assist the work that their friends and family are doing in Ukraine and Poland. My boss and a few other business owners asked how they could help, and we quickly pulled together a fundraiser for over 300 people.
One business let us use a banquet hall, another donated bread, someone else donated soup, etc. It was so moving to watch all of these successful business owners pull together completely behind the scenes - not for publicity or a tax write off. Each person simply said “here’s what I have available to me,” and freely gave it. It’s Lancaster at its absolute best.
🧁 My birthday was last week, and it started with my husband getting the stomach bug at 3am. I was having a ROUGH day for a variety of reasons, and cried quite a few times. Right as I was about to start making dinner, there was a knock on the door, and Jill was standing there with flowers and cupcakes and an Olive and June gift card 😭😭😭 I checked the mail, and there was a gift from Jules 😭😭😭 The way that the Swipes came around me to make me feel so loved and seen… 😭😭😭
This is wonderful. Both the community event and the birthday love. So glad. Happy birthday!
Swipes to the rescue!
Continue in some birthday joy. Keep it going. Our March bdays have been seriously tested this year.
The spontaneous community event is exactly what we need more of, isn’t it? Reminders of what’s true and good and lovely when so much ugliness is being shouted loudly. What a blessing to witness that in person! 💙💛
Yes and amen!
I love how the Swipes turned your birthday around!
They truly did ❤️
Just put that book on my wishlist!
Happy Friday, lil swipes!
I am exhausted but here so I'm taking it as a win! I am a few weeks away from being done with my grad school semester which means I'll only have two more after that and I'll be done with my masters. Of course, I've already started looking in to a PhD program because I'm insane. But it is such a cool program (https://coe.uga.edu/academics/degrees/phd-language-literacy-education-literacies-childrens-literature-p-or) and I'm excited about the opportunities it would give me and the chance to dig back into to research and learning in a way my brain loves. My current program is very practical and assignment based which doesn't really work well with my brain.
I've been able to read again which is so, so lovely! I've recently finished The Love Hypothesis, The house In the Cerulean Sea, and The Ex Hex. I really enjoyed them all - especially the House in the Cerulean Sea. I'm currently reading Kate Spencer's book In a New York Minute and N.K. Jeminsin's The Killing Moon. I'll start Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby for my book club this weekend too.
My biggest and best treasure is that I'm finally an aunt!! Baby Stella Francis is here and she is perfect. I'm deeply obsessed. I'll get to hang out with her tomorrow afternoon so my sister and brother-in-law can nap and shower. Here's a picture - https://www.instagram.com/p/CbP7QCRLnwH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I hope you all have a restful and delightful weekend!
Congrats Auntie!
Adding all those books to my TBR pile now and congrats on becoming an aunt!
She is precious!! That program looks incredible, and now I'm wondering if it's time for me to back to school?
I haven't read the House in the Cerulean Sea yet, but I really need to!
She's adorable! Have the best auntie-niece time tomorrow!
Oh my goodness. New baby snuggles for the win!
They've been a true gem in a few hard weeks - like free therapy!
Congrats Auntie! I think we're on the same graduation timeline, now that I can see the end I'm just ready to be done. The program you posted looks fantastic.
Thank you! I'm thrilled about it! And yes, same - now that I know I'm almost there I just want it over!! I'm having an informational meeting with someone from the program next week so I'll have a better feel for if it's a good option for me but it looks so neat.
Baby!
Also, I just got In a New York Minute from the library! Very excited to start it.
I've only read a few pages but it's cute so far! I love listening to Kate's podcast and I've heard her talk about writing the book for so long. I'm super excited to dig in!
I’ve fallen out of the habit with the podcast, and I really need to get back into it! It’s such a delight!
Speaking of trinity videos, this one made me laugh https://youtu.be/KQLfgaUoQCw
"vomit in the Chicago river" lol
"Get with the program, Patrick!" 😂
"Quit beating around the bush, Patrick!"
Good morning! It snowed all day yesterday, heavy wet spring snow, and today it will be in the fifties. Oh Denver.
My husband is taking the kids snowboarding tomorrow and won't be back until Monday. Hooray! I have work commitments, but when I'm home, I'll be all alone and if I tidy up tomorrow, it will stay that way while I'm gone, so I'm not complaining. It's been spring break this week for our school, and the amount of crap my kids can strew across the house in the four hours I'm at work every day is impressive.
I woke up from a nightmare a few nights ago incredibly burdened for President Zelensky, and wondered if he'd survived the day in Ukraine. I was so thankful that he had. What a good man. I can't imagine what it must be like to be his wife, seeing him on all the news shows and knowing you will probably not see him alive again.
That’s the worst part of the war being broadcast; Zelenskyy’s family is suffering so greatly but invisibly.
Good morning, Swipes!!! And happy Friday!!!
It is thunder storming this morning, and it will continue until about 2pm. It is so dark and there's loud thunder and bright cracks of lightning every 2 minutes and I really enjoy it. It feels like nature is giving me permission to not work.
BUT tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be beautiful and I'm looking forward to putting out pine straw tomorrow and washing off the patio furniture :)
Treasures:
- The Batman - I've never seen a batman movie, but I went with my husband to see the new one at the theatre last week and I really enjoyed it. It is LONG!!! But I read that the perfect time to go to the bathroom is when they are getting ready to go to a funeral, so I did that and it was manageable. I highly recommend seeing it if you are on the fence.
- My parents got us a gift card to Goldbelly for Christmas and we just ordered something with it! Goldbelly allows you to order food from restaurants all over the world. They flash freeze it and deliver it to you in just a few days. We chose deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's in Chicago! We've never had deep dish pizza so we are super pumped to try it! It's getting delivered today, so tonight will be the ultimate pizza night! What is your favorite kind of pizza???
- We just booked a trip to Universal Studios Orlando for October with my parents. They have really been cooped up since the beginning of the p-word and now they feel comfortable getting out in crowds again. We have postponed this trip several times, and now it's finally happening (I think). My family has been to Universal several times, but my husband has never been and I'm excited for him to experience it.
Can't wait to catch up in the comments!!! Have a peaceful weekend!!!
I love that you ordered deep dish! We do homemade pizza every Saturday and one of my favorites lately is this kind called a grandma pie, that is made in a baking pan. The crust is SO good!
I've never heard of Goldbelly, it sounds so fun!
Thank you for the Batman bathroom tip! 😆😆
Yum! My husband just got lou’s sent to him for his birthday-enjoy!
Ahhhhhhh I am so excited for you to bask in the glory that is Harry Potter Land! 😍
Lou Malnati's is the best! A good Chicago-style pizza is hard to beat. Enjoy!
Thank you for the Batman bathroom tip! 😂 I’ve been thinking about pine straw for a strawberry bed I have at our rental home. I had leaves down for the winter and maybe took them off too soon yesterday, but I’m just so excited to have my own strawberries. 🤤 And my favorite pizza is either homemade balsamic strawberry chicken bacon pizza or… cheap, hot, greasy pizza like Dominoes or Little Caesars with a really cold beer or Pepsi. Two different sides of the pizza spectrum, I know. I can’t explain it. That’s just the way it is.
I’m intrigued by this strawberry pizza. Do you have a recipes? Also, papa johns is my favorite pizza. I’m not afraid to admit it. You can’t beat that garlic sauce.
So excited for your husband's first trip to Universal!! :)
🌳 We've had beautiful weather this week, so I've been going for lots of stupid walks.
🎓 I've officially registered for my last semester of grad school! I'm excited to be so close to the finish line esp. since this semester has felt like a bit of a slog since we learned about my grandma's diagnosis.
🧵 I'm making a big craft store run after work to finally get supplies for some wedding calligraphy I'm doing for a coworker and the notions for my b-day dress. I'm excited to dive into a creative project for a little while and turn my brain off for a bit.
Have a great weekend!
Your last semester - hooray! Enjoy your art-making. That is such a great way to rebuild.
Your last semester, congrats! I wish I had taken advantage more of the nice weather we had the past few days and gotten out to walk; now it's back to being cold and rainy. False spring stinks!
Calligraphy is so beautiful and I’m amazed at the people that have the patience for it!
😢 Got me good with that Alzheimer’s video! Sheesh. Kids are the best.
🌱 I am doing ok with the false springs. It means winter is on its way out! But our last frost is May 1, so I’ve got some time to adjust. I’m spending my Lent doing a deep spring clean of the house, and it’s a good transitional process that matches the season.
🩺 I will share one of my treasures with you, and that is that we were referred to an integrative neurologist for my son w ASD, and the guy is terrific. I didn’t know what to expect, but he’s been the most thorough doc we’ve ever had and really seems to care about improving his overall functioning. New meds, new vitamins, and a new hope!
🤖 Speaking of a new hope, here is a cheesy segue… We randomly found a train and toy hobby show at a community college, and got to meet an R2D2 droid. Also saw some cool LEGO displays. So much joyful nerdiness.
Hooray for new hope! And joyful nerdiness. 😊
We are just starting our journey into getting my son tested for some executive functioning challenges, so it's good to hear that there are great doctors out there. And my son would have LOVED seeing anything Lego, he's so into building all the time now!
A new hope. 😂 I get it! That hobby show is my kind of geekery.
That is so great about a new dr. My four yr daughter is autistic so I know what a maze it can be finding the right medical professionals. Great work!
Treasures
Follow adventuresinjelly on Instagram. Don’t ask me why I find it enjoyable but I do.
We are finally getting warmer. Creeping into plus temperatures (Celsius, I live in Canada).
I get to go chaperone a church dance and laugh at the awkwardness that is 14/15 year old boys (one of whom is mine).
The jelly!!!! 😂
Not only 14/15 awkwardness, and not only at a dance, but at a CHURCH dance! That’s prime humor right there.
Hello Swipes!
I took Thursday & Friday off work to use up my “floating holidays” before I change jobs in a few weeks. Yesterday, I got a pedicure, made myself a fun lunch, watched Loki, finished a book, and got my hair done! Today’s plans are hopefully going to be a little more of the “chill at home” vibes though my oldest is home with me and will probably want to be entertained.
Treasures!
🥳 My youngest turns 4 today! We have Spider-Man balloons and decor set up, cookie cake being made, and his favorite dinner of hot dogs & Mac and cheese on the menu for tonight! I read him “On the Night You Were Born” last night at bedtime and bawled on that last page.
📚 After a bit of a reading rut, I finally got through Unmissing (a Popcast green light - it was a good thriller!), and now working on the Bible Binge book of the month, Out of Egypt.
😬 I have been doing really well with my Lenten fast of “no online shopping” (I even went to a local Party supply store for the Spider-Man stuff instead of Amazon), but Tuesday I maybe sorta bent the rules to order new pillows I have been wanting that were 45% off. I made my husband press the “order now” button but truly, kind of skirted around that one.
Can’t wait to read what everyone is up to! It’s spring (bordering on summer) here in Houston, so we are heading to a gumbo cook-off this weekend!
Your Thursday sounds amazing! I hope the rest of your weekend is just as lovely.
Your floating holiday day sounds like a treat! My youngest is only 2, but I hold her extra tight, trying to keep her little isn't working!
I'm also doing a "no online shopping" fast for Lent! I'm here for bending the rules for a good sale though.
Oh and how could I forget the biggest news! Artemis I started her roll-out to the launch pad yesterday!
I feel that your pillow purchase was following the spirit of the idea! :)
Haha thank you!
Good morning all from Mn!
We are having spring like temps and its so lovely. We started the week with snow and ice and should see 60 this weekend. March in MN be wild.
Still settling in for all things moving.
It has been a whirlwind of emotions for me that I didn't wholly expect. And a whirlwind of expenses that I sort of expected, but truly had no idea how fast one can spend the dollars when you are paying painters, hvac dudes, plumbers, movers, and buying various things for all the super fun (sarcasm) repairs and needs along the way. But tonight I will be ordering 2 chairs for our living room and I'm kind of excited about those. Thanks to Swipe Erin S for all her recommendations. Name a furniture store and I've been hitting the websites, but HOME DEPOT has been having the same things some furniture stores offer but for less money and I can get it sooner. WINNING.
Thanks to all the Swipers who have been my container during this time. I am forever grateful to you all. I can't really formulate the words to say how thankful I am.
My hands hurt this AM as sometimes when emotionally stressed I find either lifting many heavy things or doing something extra physically helps me. That meant I shoveled a lot of heavy wet snow from our back patio area just to get an idea of how far a paved section goes and I want snow moved so that patio area can melt faster. For those not in snowy climates, when the snow is really packed it can take forever to melt in some areas (we like to place informal over/under dates on when the big snowpiles in our work parking lot will melt down).
Also tired as my teenager is going to be trying out for the high school baseball team and has had pre-tryout practices each morning this week at 6:30. Which means we leave around 6:15 which means I'm up at 5:20. For those that get up that early by choice -- I salute you.
So I'm very excited for a no-alarm weekend to rest. SO needed.
Time to jump on my 830 meeting.
Byeeeeeeeee!
Mel
Oof! 5:20. Lord have mercy. We are (hopefully) moving soon and are already triaging the repairs, etc. We will probably just not have some of the furniture for awhile - which is fine by me. I hope your new chairs are fantastic!
Mel, in a couple months, I might come to you with ALL the moving woes and hope you can offer advice. I'm glad you're able to find what you need at Home Depot, I would never think to look there! I am also in the "likes to do manual labor when I'm stressed" club; I might have shoveled out our driveway more than my husband this winter. Finally, I feel like my oldest may be able to survive quite nicely as a teenager - his current average wake up time is about 5:30am. Was he a rural farmer in another life?
Nope, 5:20 is not a time at which humans should be awake. Amen.
Amen.
In my 20s I worked at a bakery and would need to be there at 5 or 6, but that was a LOOOOONG time ago.
Did you at least get free bread?
I had summer jobs where I needed to wake up at 3.30. I have no idea how I did that!
YESSS all the food I could stuff myself with each shift. I basically lived on bread LOL - it was heaven.
The dream! (Except for the early hours 😉)
Yes so much money for house stuff. I feel ya on that 💸💸💸. So glad you are feeling more settled.
Yes the money sooooo has wings right now. I started socking away some funds when we knew this was happening, but POOF that is gone. When I started adding up all the extra money being spent it kind of freaked me out for a hot second. BUT I tell myself these short term expenses give us long-term security.
Good perspective because you are right it is so much money all at once.
Woof those early practice times! Hope you get some great rest this weekend!
Yes, next week it might be a combo of AM/PM practices. The joys of HS sports!
That first tweet got me. I do feel like I haven't been able to concentrate on anything, like I'm just treading water.
My hot take that I just now realized about myself (and that no one asked for!) is that I just do not enjoy debate, no matter how healthy, kind, or trivial. Disagreeing with anyone, about anything, makes me extremely anxious (I even almost didn't say this because conflict!). I just need to get my dad to understand this so he stops trying to debate me.
I love the idea of putting on gratitude like lotion, so today I'm thankful for getting to volunteer in my sister's classrooms and the Lazy Genius's Change Your Life Chicken, which has, in fact, changed my life.
Feel this. And I seem to be surrounded by people who love it. 😒 My main tactic is to just stop talking. I just go silent and let them argue by themselves. I "mmmhmmm" and make other non-committal responses. Either you wanna hear my thoughts or you don't. I will make my case, and then I'm done. I am noy going to use up my limited energy to "argue my point". Nah.
Yes, 100% this. It's just so frustrating!
Ahh, did you get to read to your sister's students again? And CYLC is always a win!
I didn't get to read to them, but I'm working with them on their writing, which I love so much!
The graduating step after CYLC is the Change Your Life Shawarma, which is basically all I eat in the warmer months and it has caused me to foolishly believe that I am a grill MASTER.
Ahhh, I need to try that one!! It sounds so good!
I’m trying to learn how to not be as conflict averse, but growing in a place where conflict and fighting felt one and the same has messed with my brain a bit. 😬
Honestly, until the moment I read this I never even considered a distinction between conflict and fighting 🤯
I’m still unpacking it too! I’ve been in severely abusive relationships with family members (not my parents but other folks) and abusive romantic relationships and I’m still learning how to not shut down when hard topics come up. Like, there’s conflict, but we’re just talking, you know? And there’s a distinction between that and a fight. That’s what my therapist says anyway, but I agree!
Oof, yeah. I'm just going to add this to my list of things I need to talk to my therapist about!
I agree wholeheartedly about debates. If you simply want to understand what I think/believe I'm happy to explain but I don't want to convince you or be convinced by you. I'm very happy to agree to disagree.
I have a friend who always hears CYLC as Change OF Life Chicken and it very confused about this menopausal chicken recipe lol!
Yes, this exactly!
Menopausal Chicken! 😂
Melanie - I feel similar about debate! Are you an enneagram 9 by chance?
I'm almost certain I'm a 2, but my husband's a 9 and he hates debate even more than I do!
I don’t have much to add, but for those of you who were involved in the Hannah Montana era, I have this tiktok. Happy Friday. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdfGFt6h/?k=1
V jealous of this Goofy's dance skills!
How did you find a video of me reminding myself I get to see you SO DANG SOON?!
💯
I’m so excited for good porch sitting weather again. Have some friends coming to visit next week that I haven’t seen in person for 2 years so very ready to see them which means I will be cleaning my house this weekend to get ready for them. I’m so much more motivated to clean when other people will have to see my house.
Hooray for porch sitting. I'm heading to a friend's place for tea on Sunday afternoon and I feel like a kid at Christmas. Enjoy!
Yes! Porch life is almost here!! I’ve been quarantined during my chemo and porch life gives me a safe way to visit with friends. So excited to create a beautiful space. Come on warmth!
Yay! This morning I noticed my neighbors put out their porch chairs, and it made me smile.