Scattered Sundays

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Monday morning I woke up bright and early (per usual) and did a 15-minute bodyweight strength class. It was pretty good and I was feeling fine after it. About 90 minutes later, I went off on a 4-mile run.

I felt awesome that afternoon and went to sleep feeling like I had really seized the day. And then, Tuesday came. And I woke up and realized that in the middle of the night I had somehow been hit by a truck. I forgot that I was 39.

I have a fantastic memory but somehow had forgotten that when you’re starting a new workout routine, day TWO is the day you feel like you’ve been in a fight. Silly, silly me.

When I finish a run, I’m always tired, but am never really sore anymore. So, I have to assume that my “did I accidentally insult a bear” muscle soreness came from the bodyweight class. All day Tuesday and half of Wednesday I walked around making the “dad” noise any time I had to bend over to get something. 

My plan had been to attempt my longest run ever on Wednesday, but considering I was still silently crying while lowering myself to pee, I went ahead and skipped that. 

The good news is I was able to get a 30 day free trial of Peloton to get access to their bodyweight classes. I’m not sure if it is worth the money after those 30 days are up because I can find similar workouts for free on Youtube. We’ll see.

For now, the plan is to do a class/video on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I run on the days I can; there is no exact schedule for my life until the boys are in school full-time. We’re all just living in the margins right now and trying to stay sane.

The run I did on Monday was absolutely perfect. The temp was only 33F but it was sunny with blue skies. It was a beautiful time to be outside, and the cold temps meant I wasn’t a hot sweaty mess by the end of it. Pure perfection.

This was what he decided was his Easter best.

There is a joke in our family that whenever the boys are scheduled to go to their grandparents for a sleepover, something bad happens. A few years ago they were supposed to spend the night, and then Troy’s grandma broke her hip. Another time, a different grandma got pneumonia.

The boys spent the night before Thanksgiving (2019) with their grandparents so we could clean, prep, and get the house ready for the next day. Thanksgiving morning, my mother-in-law woke up and felt so ill that Troy had to go over and get them. She missed Thanksgiving and Christmas and then spent the next few months recovering from pneumonia.

And when she was finally feeling well enough to have the boys over in early March 2020, well, we all know what happened in March 2020. I’m sorry world; our family planning a sleepover pretty much started the pandemic.

Now that both of my inlaws are vaccinated, a few weeks ago they asked if they could have the boys overnight. Naturally, Bennett woke up the morning before the sleepover with his first fever in 12 months. Because of course.

For the last year, Troy and I have been in the mindset of we never tell the boys anything good is about to happen until RIGHT BEFORE it is about to happen. Thankfully, we had never even told them about the March sleepover getting screwed up.

We rescheduled their sleepover for this last Tuesday. We were supposed to take the boys over around 9:30 am. At 7:55 am, we thought we were in the clear and told them about it. Five minutes later, Troy’s dad called saying he wasn’t feeling well. At this point, you have to laugh because of course.

The boys were understandably sad (as were my inlaws!). We tried to make the day as fun as possible. They both had gift cards to Barnes and Noble, so they got to pick out new books. We took them to a park but left after a few minutes. The place was packed and one of the kids clearly had a cold or allergies and was deliberately coughing in the face of all his siblings.

Since I had worked so hard to find a parking spot at that park, we left the car and walked to a local bakery to get cookies. The park disappointment turned into a little stimulus for a local small business and everyone was happy.

We also got takeout pizza from one of their favorite places. We took it home and had a “bonus” movie night and finished Gravity Falls (the BEST show for parents and kids to enjoy together) and just tried to make it feel special.

Even though my father-in-law had been fully vaccinated, he went and got tested. He was in the clear, as we expected. He only felt poorly for that day. So later in the week, the boys WERE able to finally spend the night at their grandparents. I secretly packed for them and we essentially told the boys it was happening as we were getting in the car.

I love my kids. But I also really love them not being in my face for a full 24 hours. It was glorious. I ran a quick kid-free errand at Costco, and then had a whole day to get some work done in peace. I was able to wake up and go for my longest ever run, without having to manage the schedule of three other people to make sure I could go work out. Heaven.

The weather this week was…mercurial. Hard frosts overnight but then blue skies and sunshine for the rest of the week. And so much wind! The 10-day forecast is stunning for this upcoming week and I am totally here for it. Laundry on the line, things growing in the garden, and so much playing outside.

The boys and I spent a few hours outside at my sister’s house earlier in the week. They rode bikes, played in the sandbox (well, Jack didn’t because he’s TWELVE and therefore doesn’t “play”), invented a game throwing Nerf darts with some sort of dog toy, and we ate takeout burgers outside from a local small business. Spring, I love you.

Years ago, Troy found a basketball hoop on the side of the road. We bought a new net for it and then he built a backboard out of a leftover piece of plywood. He painted it like a backboard, and then quickly we found out why you don’t use plywood for a backboard…it’s HEAVY! It took us an hour and some pulleys to get that beast into place.

The boys have been playing with it non-stop this week, even though it has basically been unused for three years. Whatever. They’re having a blast and it’s free. Jack’s basketball was pretty much shredded, so we did get him a new one for his birthday. I’m big on useful items and books for gifts. Let the grandparents and aunts/uncles get the toys.

Long-time readers might recognize the robe from Bennett’s nun costume.

For the last few months, I’ve been doing what I call “Sugar Sundays”. I have a wicked sweet tooth and I love desserts so hard. But, I have a hard time with constant moderation when it comes to sugar. I’ve tried the whole “have one little sweet a night” and it quickly leads down a very slippery slope of me freebasing pixie sticks.

I’ve found that I feel better if I just consume a pinch of sugar in my coffee and then only eat sweets on Sundays. Typically by noon on Sundays, I feel like crap. It’s a good reminder for me that excess sugar doesn’t do me any favors.

Well, all of that went out the window this week. We have had leftover cake in the house since Sunday. I need you to understand that I don’t even like cake. Cake is stupid. People who love cake confuse me.

Don’t get me wrong – I make REALLY good cake. Troy keeps saying I should sell cake. But…cake is lame and holds zero appeal for me. Until this week.

The birthday cake I made for Jack was the normal triple chocolate cake he has had since he was two. It’s his favorite and he requests it every year. I usually use coconut oil in the recipe, but for whatever reason, I switched to avocado oil for this batch. Dudes. Game-changer.

It was hands down the best batch of this particular cake I have ever made. It changed the whole texture (and the old texture was already great) and I’m a total avocado oil in the cake convert. And thus, I’ve had a slice every night this week. I still don’t “get” the appeal of cake, but I get the appeal of THIS cake.

And before you ask, no, this cake is not on the blog. I’ve learned over the years based on pure data, you, my audience, do not like dessert recipes from me. You can claim that you do, but the data doesn’t lie. My people may like desserts, but they must be getting those recipes from other sources.

Given that a blog post from recipe development, to photography, to writing, to promoting, can take 20-30 hours, I no longer create new dessert posts. It’s just not worth my time. BUT. If you’d like this cake recipe, feel free to email me and I can send it to you. 

At the end of last week, Bennett’s preschool sent us an email asking for our permission to move him up to the kindergarten class for the remainder of the year. We were a bit shocked by this but thought it was a great idea and approved it.

Since he started preschool, all of his teachers have always commented on how mature he is, and how he avoids classroom drama and just focuses on his work. It’s hilarious to us because at home, his main goal is to start drama. I guess if he’s going to be well-behaved, at least it is when he is at school.

He goes to a Montessori school where learning is mostly self-directed. According to his teachers, he has finished all the preschool content and is ready for more of a challenge for the next six weeks. I also think part of it is they had a few new students join the preschool class and needed to balance everything out for social distancing purposes.

We’re proud of him and we all celebrated with ice cream. But secretly, the best part of all of this is he’s now in class for 30 more minutes a day AND they’re not charging me more. Good job staying on task buddy and earning your Mom 90 more minutes of work time a week!

If you haven’t already gathered by reading previous Sunday posts, chickens are total assholes. One of our chickens keeps getting ganged up on by the others, and she no longer has any feathers on her head. I decided to change her name from Shadow to “Friar Cluck”.

We have four nesting boxes, and all of the chickens want to use the same one. Right now with the volume of eggs they are cranking out, there is usually a 3-5 chicken pile up waiting to use the box. While the other three boxes sit there. Unused. Chickens are basically toddlers that poop breakfast.

I think she is getting “pecked” on when she is in the nesting box. The other girls get mad at her and then gang up on her. Like I said before, chickens are assholes.

I’m not sure which chicken laid this egg on the left, but I wanted to find her and offer her a sitz bath and an Advil.

In the Garden This Week

I did absolutely nothing in the garden. Well, almost nothing. I did a little weeding but I barely made a dent in the work that truly needs to be done. I keep telling myself to just pull one (5-gallon) bucket worth of weeds a day.

But I don’t. So there’s that. Which honestly makes me a mean chicken mom, because they LOVE getting the weeds. And I love a tidy garden.

We had multiple hard frosts this week. I’m so thankful I still have the lettuce covered to keep it safe. My timing with it is terrible though because I keep forgetting to uncover those beds when it is raining. Garden fail.

Housekeeping

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Having done it myself, my pro tip for you is to order take out on your prep day or plan to eat a simple dinner of frozen pizza and veggies! Sign up here to slay meal prep!

What I’m Listening To This Week

The Wondery podcast network is crushing it with another new fantastic podcast – Spy Affair. A little bit about this podcast from the website: A charismatic Russian woman arrives in the US on a mission to improve relations between the two countries, and she soon makes some powerful friends. (source) If you like the show The Americans, this podcast is for you!

What I’m Reading This Week

I started When You Find Out The World is Against You; a funny memoir about terrible things. I haven’t been reading much this week. Well, at least as not much as I normally do.

I’m not a woo-woo person, but I feel like this week I have been just called to crawl into bed early and not stay up late reading. So that’s what I’ve been doing and that’s ok!

Reader Spotlight of the Week

Clarissa left this five-star review on one of my favorite cooking hacks – Air Fryer Asparagus {Pin this recipe}:

Worked like magic! As yummy as roasted (maybe more) and way faster. Thanks!

On Sustainable Cooks This Week

Crispy Teriyaki Cauliflower – These air fryer Teriyaki Cauliflower bites are so deliciously crispy. They use a baked tempura method and are not deep-fried. No air fryer? You’ll also find stovetop methods in the post. {Pin this post}

Creamy Healthy Coleslaw – This simple Healthy Coleslaw Recipe not only tastes delicious but it is easy to make too! This zesty no mayo coleslaw has creamy Greek yogurt and a touch of horseradish. {Pin this post}

Canning Peas – Follow this step-by-step tutorial to learn how simple Canning Peas can be. Having canned peas on hand means your favorite soups, stews, and side dishes can be ready in a flash. {Pin this tutorial}

The Five Most Popular Posts This Week

1. Air Fryer Potatoes – skip using the oven and make these crispy taters in the air fryer.  {Pin this recipe}
2. Air Fryer Egg Rolls – vegan/vegetarian as written, but you can make your version to your tastes.  {Pin this recipe}
3. How to Freeze Spinach – here comes gardening season!  {Pin this tutorial}
4. Instant Pot Garlic Butter Rice – we always have some of this in our freezer. SO GOOD! {Pin this recipe}
5. Air Fryer Pizza Rolls – the childhood favorite with none of the burns on the roof of your mouth.  {Pin this recipe}

Meal Plan

It is supposed to be SO nice this week, so I’m going to make Troy get out and do some grilling.

Monday:: This asparagus and stir fryer dish I ripped out of a magazine. It was supposed to happen last week, but the sleepover schedule shuffle meant it didn’t get made. I’ll serve it over Instant Pot Jasmine Rice.

Tuesday:: Takeout to support a local small business.

Wednesday:: (this also didn’t happen last week because of the scheduling snafu) Air Fryer Chicken Taquitos + testing a new Instant Pot dish + salad.

Thursday:: Troy’s amazing grilled chicken, with grilled veggies on the side. And probably some homemade garlic bread.

Friday:: Popcorn, leftovers, movie night.

Saturday:: Takeout to support a local small business.

Sunday:: Another new recipe I’m testing. I’m a testing fool these days!

What are you having this week?

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