Last week was Exam Week for Dave — which meant a little less time at school, but a lot more time grading. It was fun to have him home a bit longer in the mornings (he usually leaves the house around 6:30 on normal school days) and have him home with us the entire day on Friday!
Nora also had a special week at school because it was her week to bring home “Pete the Cat”. Apparently her teacher is big on Pete the Cat stuff, so every student gets one week of the school year to bring Pete home and do all sorts of fun things together — mainly revolving around one letter of the alphabet.
We had the letter S and did lots of fun “S things” with Pete:
- sitting on Simon’s lap
- singing silly songs
- stories and stickers
- eating strawberries, salsa, salami, sandwiches, Snickers, Skittles, Smarties, and suckers
- snuggling with stuffed animals
- sleeping in sleeping bags
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Another “S” we experienced was all 3 kiddos getting SICK 🙁
Our kids rarely ever get sick — we are VERY lucky. However, they all came down with nasty colds last weekend. Everyone was coughing and sneezing non-stop, with runny noses, chapped cheeks, sore throats, and red eyes for a solid 3 days.
Dave and I somehow managed to escape the bug, but we had a few sleepless nights as kids were waking up all night long because they couldn’t breath or they couldn’t stop coughing.
They are all on the mend now though, and after tending to sick children for 3 days, I’m even more thankful for how healthy they normally are!
With Dave home a little bit more this past week, I enjoyed crossing a couple smaller projects off my always evolving “to do someday” list.
I purged and reorganized the medicine cabinet (in conjunction with the kids’ colds), I cleaned up the area under the sink, and I purged and reorganized our cleaning supply cabinet in the laundry room.
Yes, I realize it’s somewhat ironic that I spent time cleaning out my cleaning supplies… but I’m always amazed how many cleaning products and items I amass from companies who send me items to review or test.
It felt good to pare down my stash to the basics I use all the time — laundry detergent, Oxyclean, vinegar, bleach, baking soda, microfiber cloths, Swiffer pads, my window cloth, dust cloths and spray, etc.
Another project I tackled was updating our Important Information Binder.
I’ll actually be sharing more about this in tomorrow’s post, as this is something I try to do every January (then I usually don’t worry about it for the rest of the year).
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What I Read and Watched:
Since I’ve been reading quite a bit more lately, I’ll try to include any Netflix shows I’m watching and any books I read!
BOOKS: all books listed below were FREE ebooks I got either through our library, Hoopla, or via Amazon Prime (it’s 2 weeks worth of reading).
- The Girl in the Photo (Gaspar González)
- Star Sand (Roger Pulvers)
- Better Than Before (Gretchen Rubin) I skimmed through this one
- While You Were Mine (Ann Howard Creel)
- The Silver Suitcase (Terrie Todd)
NETFLIX:
- 2 more episodes of the Crown (2 more to go!)
- I’m hoping to start Gilmore Girls soon and I need to finish Fuller House 🙂
Our Menu Plan:
I made a large spiral ham 2 weeks ago and put a bunch in the freezer… you might notice several of our meals included ham last week 🙂
SUNDAY:
- Leftover lasagna (the kids were still sick and didn’t really eat anything)
- Salad
- Fruit
- Applesauce
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
MONDAY:
- Beef, Bean, and Cheese Quesadillas
- Peach Mango Salsa with chips
TUESDAY:
- Cheesy scalloped potatoes with ham (recipe coming later this week!)
- Broccoli and cauliflower
- Green beans
- Applesauce
- Fruit
- Chocolate caramel brownies
WEDNESDAY:
- Culver’s 🙂
THURSDAY:
- Baked Ham Sandwiches
- Raw veggies
- Fruit
- Chips
- Brownies
FRIDAY:
- Steak on the grill (with this steak rub)
- Herb roasted potato wedges
- Green beans
- Ice cream
SATURDAY:
- Pea soup
- Fresh bread
- Crackers
- Fruit
- Easy Layer Bars
While we’re on the subject of food, I thought I’d take a moment to share a quick update on my quest to transition my family over to real maple syrup.
I decided to go ahead and buy maple syrup, even though we aren’t totally finished with our beloved Mrs. Butterworth… and so far, Nora is really the only one who has complained. She is currently refusing to eat “the new syrup” and I’m not forcing her (it’s not a battle worth fighting with her). I’m just happy everyone else (including Dave) has reacted positively to the change!
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We have less than 4 weeks until Dave’s mid-winter break… and then the countdown for Spring Break begins!
On November 23 (the day after her birthday) Nora asked me if it was almost Spring yet. I told her it wasn’t even officially Winter yet… so yeah, we’re all excited for spring!
Jenelle says
That’s a smart way of thiinkng about it.
Aggie says
Love your day in the life posts!
Have you heard of bookbub.com for getting free books? You sign up and select which type of books you like to read and you receive an email everyday with book deals. Some are freebies or some cost .99 to 2.99. If I find one I like that costs money, I will check the library to see if they have it. The daily emails are fun, and they only take a minute to get through. I get the books on my iPad via iBooks so you should be able to get them on your phone.
Andrea says
Thanks Aggie — no, I haven’t heard of bookbub yet (but a bunch of people mentioned it in their comments on today’s eBook post!) Great minds think alike I guess. I’m definitely going to check it out tonight. Thanks!
Tracey says
After seeing it here years ago, we finally got Google Chrome and are loving it! We’ve seen lots of great things on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube, too.
My favorite has been Parenthood, which I missed when it first aired on tv. I love it! Have you seen it? Lauren Graham is in it, too.
Andrea says
Are you talking about ChromeCast or Google Chrome?
If you don’t already have ChromeCast, I would highly recommend it if you’re already using Google Chrome!
Also, I have not seen Parenthood yet, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it!
Jen Ewing says
I just started watching Gilmore Girls with my college age daughter during her winter break. She went back to school and now my husband and I are totally hooked. It is such a “feel good” show it is hard to turn off. We all want to live in Stars Hollow. Can’t wait to see what you think. Enjoy!!!
Andrea says
I watched most of it when I was in highschool — so my thought is that it would be fun to re-watch a lot of it again!
Charissa says
You said you “skimmed” Better Than Before. Did you do this because you didn’t like it or because it was a skim-type book? I am currently listening to Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin and wondering about Better Than Before.
Andrea says
mainly because I feel like I already do almost everything she mentioned in the book. Also, I felt like it was quite wordy (like I could have said the exact same thing in significantly less pages!)
Janice says
Have you thought about introducing Nora to the real maple syrup by doing a half maple/half Mrs. Buttersworth syrup or some other percent ratio? You would, of course, be honest with her that it was not all Buttersworth.
Jane says
REALLY looking forward to tomorrow’s post. I need to put together a similar binder. For years now (since I read your first post about it) I have been meaning to do it but it always gets put back in the “later” pile. THANK YOU!!!!
Andrea says
oh good — no more putting it off until later!
Tracey says
Same here, Jane! This time I’m doing it. Thanks for the reminder, Andrea!!
Shelly says
James is so cute in that last picture! Trying to be one of the big kids :))
Andrea says
I know — he needs his own sleeping bag now 🙂
Mara Yager says
Have a terrific week 🙂
kelly says
could you share what you use to attach the rubber gloves and container for your wash cloths to the inside of your cabinet? Thank You, Kelly
Andrea says
clothes pins and a little plastic box that I taped to the inside of the cabinet with 2-sided tape 🙂
Ann says
Question: What do you do with medicine (OTC and RX) that you are purging? It seems like I never have time to purge when the local fire/police departments are collecting them and I cannot bring myself to add them to our water supply (flushing) or to the soil (trash/landfill).
Andrea says
We didn’t have much to toss out, but I just put it in the trash. I mostly just consolidated, rearranged, and reorganized. There were only a couple expired items.
Nancy says
I appreciate the collection days that are held once or twice a year around where I live, but agree they’re hard to get to. I have literally put it on my calendar once or twice and then made a special trip. It works, but it’s an effort. I also once put them in a bag in the trunk of my car and then drove around with it for months until I happened to be near a pharmacy that accepts old meds. Going forward I’m simply trying to buy less and make do with fewer products so we are more likely to use up what we have. My kids are teens now, and luckily they have been sick less than when they were younger, and we can also avoid doubling up with pediatric versions of some products.
Nicola says
In Canada you can take any expired medicine to a pharmacy for safe disposal.
Linda says
Check with your village. Ours has a box in the lobby of our police department/village hall where we can bring medications any time. We just have to take them out of their original packaging and put them in a zip top bag. I clean out my medicine cabinet yearly and usually find expired vitamins…stuff I bought, but never really bonded with…along with some expired over the counter medications. I dump them all in a zip top bag, recycle all the bottles, put the Baggie in my car and drop them off the next time I’m going in that direction.
Rhonda says
I am a pharmacist in WI. I would agree with the above comments – check with the police or county sheriffs department, they may have ongoing collection. If there are any pharmacies around (independent or chain), they may be willing to “take back”. A local hospital (inpatient pharmacy department) may be willing to help, or know where you can take it.
Hope that helps.
Rhonda says
This may also help:
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm101653.htm
Jen says
Add “Victoria” on PBS to your viewing list! It started last Sunday (at least on our local PBS) and it is soooo good! It helps to fill the “Downton Abbey” void! Also, I love “Mercy Street” on PBS.
Happy Monday!
Andrea says
will do. thanks Jen!