So much for writing four blog posts in one day, huh? It ended up taking me almost the entire day to finish up the batch of dolls I was working on. Reminding me once again, that as awesome as it is to finish them up and make some immediate sales, I NEED to stop working so much on weekends and nights. I’d really prefer to use this time for more enjoyable and relaxing pursuits. It’d also be nice not to have my usual weekend meltdown because – gasp – my children actually want to be fed real meals and I need to force myself to stop what I’m doing, no matter how important it feels TO ME AND ME ALONE, and take care of other things. But at the same time, it feels great to set myself up to start fresh on a Monday morning. Or in the case of this week, give myself maybe a few days off to enjoy the upcoming holiday festivities. Balance is so hard.
Anyway! I’m honestly so tired right now that I barely remember what happened this week. I know it rained a lot! Many storms, with increasingly hot temperatures and sluggish humidity. It really feels like summer now. I still haven’t made it to the pool myself, but Greg takes the boys and a slew of neighborhood kids almost every night. I’ll get there someday… In the meantime, I’m really appreciating our new air conditioner!
We went to the farmers market, as always, on Wednesday afternoon. Annie was the lucky one this week with a new fresh bone and some treats. I stocked up on mascarpone to eat with peaches. And the boys each got baked treats that they ate up right away.
Shepard and I have been watching The Chef Show and getting a lot of fresh cooking ideas, so we made some garlic pasta, cheese bread, and berry bowls for dinner on Wednesday. The pasta was a little too overpowering, but it was a good experiment.
The berry bowls were, in the words of Shepard, “the best dessert we’ve had in a long time!” I just bought a bunch of fresh berries and very slightly macerated them with turbinado sugar about half an hour before we planned on eating them. Then we stirred them up with a mix of the three mint leaves we’re growing (peppermint, sweet mint, and chocolate mint). I made a fresh whipped cream and added a big spoonful of the mascarpone to give it some added depth. With more sugar and a mint garnish on top! Fancy words for something super simple and SO delicious. If it weren’t so expensive to buy that many berries I’d make it every day!
On Thursday morning I went out to the annual peach truck arrive to buy my 25 pound box of peaches. It was SO hot, but I got there early and only had to wait in line about ten minutes.
My mom came over to baby/dog sit while Greg and I went on a long date. Annie was so excited to see her!
We had an spontaneously picked dinner at a place called Right Bauer that I’ve been wanting to go to. I didn’t like my chicken sandwich very much, but the fries were good and Greg liked the pork. It was a really cute place, just with a very limited menu. More of a beer lovers destination. It’s funny how many unique breweries we go to, but I don’t drink beer at all. I’m probably missing out.
Our main destination for the date night was a comedy show featuring Daniel Van Kirk (from one of my favorite podcasts, Penpals). But the time listed on the tickets was 8:00 and we found out just that evening that the show was actually at 10. So late!! With more storms happening, and not much energy (Greg’s been mildly sickish all week), we decided to go see the movie Yesterday in between dinner and the show. It was really good! We also really enjoyed the comedians. It was a very late night, though. Too late for me.
On Friday I had a dentist appointment and ran some errands. Then we joined in the little fireworks and sparkler celebration happening next door. Annie loved taking some dips in and drinks from the kiddie pool!
Saturday was a fun day! Finally some socialization! Shepard and I went to the neighbor’s house for a crafting day. I came home to take a nap after four hours, but Shepard stayed another three or four he was having so much fun. He loved having adults indulge all of his unique crafting ideas that I’m usually too tired or busy to try to figure out for him.
In the evening, Annie and I walked over to my friend Angela’s house for a bonfire. Annie had the greatest time playing with her new friend Ally! It was a really nice night out for me. It’s been forever since I’ve spent time with friends.
And today I worked! And did laundry, which turned into an all day project because the dryer did not want to dry my comforter and blanket. And made food. And took a nap! And now I’m ready for bed.
Sunday Intentions
I’m feeling a little apprehensive about this week. There are only two days left of summer school. I’m still not ready to have my kids home all the time. Caden gets SO “bored” ALL THE TIME. He’s going to make my life very, very difficult for the next two months. I’m strongly contemplating making a no screens before noon rule (I think I mentioned this last week!) to try and eliminate some of the whininess. And the waking up super early because he thinks he can play the minute he gets out of bed. It’ll hopefully help him be more cooperative for running errands and doing some fun activities as well if he doesn’t think he’s missing out on valuable game time. The problem, however, is with this new plan I don’t know when I’m going to work. I’m too tired in the afternoons. I might have to switch to ONLY working at night. Which I don’t like either. But mornings are for being out and about, afternoons are for reading and resting, and nights are for working? I don’t know. Normally I really cut back in summer, but I’m desperately trying to bulk up my vacation funds with two big trips coming up really soon. I don’t feel like I can afford to take time off this summer. Plus I have so many ideas for new dolls that I want to fit in before mid August when I need to start on fall themes.
My tentative plan for the week is to spend tomorrow running errands and then trying to figure out what the heck to do with the 15 or so pounds of peaches I have left. Yesterday I made a peach crumble to bring next door. I gave a bunch away to my mom and mother-in-law. The boys ate a ton of them right off the counter today. I made roasted peaches for lunch. I’m planning to make some peach salsa to go with dinner tomorrow. And maybe a peach sorbet. And maybe a peach pie (they made one on the last episode I watched of The Chef Show – more inspiration!). But there are still going to be so many left. And they’re all ripe and need to be used NOW.
Tuesday will be my last day with any time to myself, so I’m hoping to spend it just chilling. I’ve been accepting a few more custom doll orders, so I’d like to work on those this week, but probably nothing else new. A little lower pressure on myself.
Wednesday I’d really like to do something fun to celebrate the first “real” day of our summer. Maybe take Annie to a new dog park or something. Or just go to the pool during the day. We’ll see. The weather is looking very iffy all week, so I don’t want to get too set in any plans. Maybe we could check out the carnival in the evening.
Thursday is the 4th! We decided to go to Cedar Lake this year, IF the weather looks good. We’ll miss out on the parade (and my beloved once a year amazing cheese fries from the fire station fundraiser), but the boys will like going to the lake more. And depending on moods and timing and weather, maybe we’ll walk down to see the fireworks in town at night.
Friday will be a recovery day! And Saturday we’re going to see the new Spiderman movie. It will hopefully be a really fun week making lots of good memories!
