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.
🏥 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.
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… 😭😭😭
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!
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!!!
🌳 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.
😢 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
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.
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… 😭😭😭
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!
Speaking of trinity videos, this one made me laugh https://youtu.be/KQLfgaUoQCw
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.
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!!!
🌳 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!
😢 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.
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).
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!
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
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.
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.