Friday, February 07, 2025

5 on a Friday: Things I Heart

 YOU GUYS. Ben also got Strep and Flu-A. WHAT THE WHAT? And now! He and Cooper are off to Minnesota for a dive meet (Dorothy has dance rehearsals all day Saturday, so we could not go with) and will probably get snowed in at about the exact second strep, flu, and RSV hit me. #itfigures #patriarchy


ANYWAY. Onto 5 things I love this week:

1. THIS hand sanitizer. You can also use it as a hair refresher, and I love the smell. Dorothy has the watermelon onne and also likes it a lot. I am kind of obsessed and will definitely be buying these for basically every purse.

2. THIS podcast episode. Lowered my blood pressure for a hot second anyway.

3. THIS series on audiobook. YOU GUYS. DRAGONS. AND SMUT. BUT NOT DRAGON SMUT (don't google that).

4. Annabel's really really awkward groom



5. MINNIE'S TAP COSTUME.



Bonus: Cows who have been blown dry. (Their feet and legs don't NOT look like Annabel's)




Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Bedroom makeover-- not a terrible distraction.

Minnie!! HAS STREP AND RSV AGAIN!!!! She got swabbed for everything last week on Tuesday (EXACTLY A WEEK AGO) and was NEGATIVE and then was fine on Wednesday, sick again Thursday, fine Friday, Saturday, and Sunday-day. But Sunday night at bedtime, she said her throat hurt when she swallowed, and Ben took her to the doctor Monday afternoon: positive rsv and strep tests**sob**


 

Dorothy asked me to make a double recipe of THESE for a school project, and I have TONS AND TONS of leftover custard and buttercream (mixed together into the most indulgent mess of frosting I have EVER EVEN TASTED). I think I am going to use the rest in eclairs? Or maybe chocolate cupcakes? With fudge frosting? All of this-- the cupcakes themselves and the leftover recipes-- are a ridiculous use of eggs, but I am sitting on SEVEN DOZEN because I am a panic buyer, so... (I blame the NO FOOD WASTE FEBRUARY for my need to use up the rest of the custard/frosting).

2025 status symbol: CUSTARD



I washed my dirty little sentient mop this weekend, and then I immediately booked her a grooming appointment for a bang trim and to have her nails done because honestly? She kind of grosses me out when she's wet, and I think someone else should wash her.



We shopped all weekend for furniture for Dorothy's bedroom because she wants a bedroom makeover for her 12th birthday (SHE IS GOING TO BE TWELVE NEXT MONTH AND WHAT?!?!?! I feel like THIS DAY JUST HAPPENED. My dad dressed all 3 boys in their matching big bro outfits and had them waiting for Ben to come home and bring them to meet their new sister, and that's just so sweet). I hate furniture shopping with Ben because he is SO SLOOOOOOW to make up his mind, and I could drop 4500 for a basement skee ball table in NO TIME. (We bought nothing). (Dorothy said she just wants an 86-inch TV and a sleeping bag LOL). 

She needs a new bed (unsure whether Minnie will get her old bed or a new bed herself because the IKEA one hasn't held up great, but would get replacement slats and hardware, which would go a long way. Minnie also needs a new bookshelf because hers is technically a changing table), and Dorothy needs a new nightstand. She also deeply wants a makeup vanity with a stool and a cute chair for reading. HER ROOM IS VERY SMALL. Also, we will paint, buy stuff for the walls, etc etc etc.

I am sold on this Costco daybed for both girls

I tried to talk Dorothy into this Costco fold-up vanity (we saw another slightly bigger version at a furniture store, too)

But she wants something silly with lots of lights, even if it means she won't have room for a cozy chair. Ben doesn't know if he wants to buy something from Wayfair or a similar place that will require assembly or of he wants to buy whatever big gaudy thing our local furniture stores have in stock.

Minnie is getting this bookshelf though because I mean seriously

Dorothy and I walked around At Home so she could show me her vibe (she says coquette as inspired by the Loveshack Fancy collection at Pottery Barn Kids), and I found a hilarious picture of a flamingo in a gilded frame that I am using as a starting point. (Mentally. I bought nothing).

Anybody bought a vanity lately that they love?



Monday, February 03, 2025

Money Monday: Welcome to FOOD WASTE FEBRUARY

 We spend over two thousand dollars a month on food-- mostly groceries (typically around $500/week for groceries-- more if we are going to Costco to stock up on things). And then! Nights out, quick dinners, takeout-- all of the things. So closer to 3k (and over?)

Soooo, when we are taking a look at our budget and trying to cut the fat, this is, of course, the first/ most obvious category to consider.

This month, I am going to keep doing the 2 no-spend days a week, and I am also going to tackle the problem of food waste. I think (based on nothing but casual observation and a hunch) that we are wasting quite a bit of fresh food, and if we ate it, we'd all be healthier.

Frist, Ben and I cleaned out the two giant (and really annoyingly deep-- I think the shape of our kitchen cabinets really contributes to food waste) cabinets where all of our meal ingredients and snacks live. We only got rid of expired things and stale things, and the the difference is startling. We can SEE what we HAVE, which is radical for us.

Also, say hello to the winning expired products of shame (beating corn bread mix from 2021 and green beans from the start of the panny): RAMEN FROM 2018

Next, I have started encouraging everyone (including myself) to open the fridge first when they are looking for a snack, not the cupboard.

Third, I have started cutting up veggies in small amounts every other day or so (I used to wash and chop and prep them all when I put away groceries as part of weird pandemic hygiene theater), and then I have them on hand to offer as a pre-dinner snack or eat myself when I need something crunchy.

Fourth, I am saving and re-serving fruit the kids don't eat. Dorothy, for example, ate like a third of an apple at breakfast, and I knew she had another apple in her lunch (and giant off-season organic honey crisps are like $2 a pop). I sliced up her breakfast apple and put it in a bag and returned her lunch apple to the fruit bowl. Minnie might find, for example, her leftover cutie wedges from breakfast mixed in with sliced strawberries at lunch. She eats half a banana every night after dinner and refuses the other half the lext day because iut gets brown. So now I have a tupperware of browning bananas for bread/muffins.

What other suggestions do you have for me as I solve this problem in February?


Saturday, February 01, 2025

January: What I Read

Not my Favorites:

Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash: I just don't have the attention span for another WWII book it seems.

James by Percival Everett: It appears I am not smart enough for this book.

Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia: Listen, I really wanted to like this because I have huge ethical and labor rights concerns about AI. But, this book was based off of an excellent long-form article the author wrote, and there just wasn't enough there there for a book. Or she couldn't weave all the threads together?

Reboot by Justin Taylor: Solid meh, but the concept was terrific. **audio

Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While also in an Actual Cult) by Bethany Joy Lenz: Meh. But great title!

 Backlist Beauties:

Ward D by Freida McFadden: I like her books better the more terrible they are, and this one **chef's kiss** **kindle

What the Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman: A perfectly serviceable, page-turning thriller.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen: THIS IS TERRIFIC. **audio

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen: Maybe I should read more books by dudes? **audio

The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery: Darling. *kindle

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand: HOW DID I MISS THIS ONE? **audio

These Titles Are so Last Year

What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould: SO SCARY! Also YA, which I didn't realize until no one was having any sex even though they had Feelings. **audio

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI by Fei-Fei Li: WELL THIS WAS TERRIFYING.

After Annie by Anna Quindlen: This is really wonderful-- you should read it. **audio

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer: YES! I loved this so much!!!! 

My First 2025 Book!!

What Happened to the McCrays by Tracey Lange: Hockey! Romance! Sadness! Liked it a lot.

Book Books: 8

Kindle books: 2

Audio books: 6

2025 books: 1

BTD: 16

(Dorothy is reading the book)