April 30, 2020

Day One of Trying to Work Out a Schedule

strawberries and blackberries

Oh. My. Gosh.

I cannot even begin to describe how sore I am today! As I wrote yesterday morning, I got up at 4:30 in the morning with Jerry before he left for work. (I'm trying to get in the habit of a good sleep schedule--going to bed at 9:00 and getting up at 4:30.)

After he left, I wrote my blog post and then went out to the garage to work on the drywall. I know you are probably totally sick of hearing about my drywalling the garage, but with this quarantine, there isn't a whole lot to write about!

My days are filled with working on projects--like the face masks, insulating the garage, and now drywalling the garage. I've even been knitting and crocheting.

I really enjoy the drywalling--the day flies by!--and I actually consider that "me time". I gave the kids chores to do because they are out of school for the year. They have been doing some of the things I normally would do--wash and put away their own laundry, poop scoop the yard, clean out the litter box, and stuff like that. Nothing grueling! And when I need to lift a piece of drywall so it butts up to the ceiling, I make them come help me (it's SO hard to lift without help).

I made some serious progress yesterday! I finished an entire wall, so now I have three full walls done. I highly doubt I'll be able to work on it today because I'm so sore. Wall #3:

hanging drywall

I'd LIKE to say that I'll spend the day catching up on email (which will likely take 6-8 hours--I've gotten so far behind!). But I have a feeling I'm going to want to head out to the garage again ;)

True to my word, I followed the plan for an evening routine. Once I came inside from drywalling at 3:30, I spent about an hour playing a game on my phone--I'm addicted to Best Fiends!--before starting on dinner.

I planned to make steak and asparagus, along with a small salad. Well, I bought way too much asparagus, so we skipped the salad. My family LOVES asparagus. I honestly cannot even remember the last time that I cooked steak. I really don't like eating plain pieces of meat (I like it to be mixed into things like in a stir-fry or some sort of skillet meal, soup, or casserole).

I feel terrible for not cooking meat for the family like that, and I thought steak would be a treat. It was so sad when I told the kids what we were eating--when I said steak, Eli replied, "You mean like a real steak?!" and Noah said, "Do we each get our own?! YES!" Hahaha, I am going to make it a mission to cook meat like that more often.

This week, when I went to the store, I bought salmon, shrimp, and pork chops; I'm going to plan to make those things as separate items alone with side dishes instead of a skillet meal or casserole or something.

I marinated the steak in this marinade (this site is really difficult to find the recipe and there are a trillion ads, so it was hard to find the recipe--I almost gave up--but I'm glad I didn't). I also added mushrooms to the marinade, because I love mushrooms.

Because I never cook steak, I had no clue how to cook it! I ended up deciding to sear it on the stove and then finish it in the oven with the marinade. I added some olive oil, salt, and pepper to the asparagus and threw that in the oven as well.

The whole meal turned out delicious! I was shocked that I cooked the steak to a perfect medium-rare, and the boys (including Jerry) all loved it. Even though steak isn't a favorite food of mine, I really liked the marinade and the mushrooms. And of course I loved the asparagus! (Clearly, because I had a ton of it on my plate, haha)

steak and asparagus

It felt good to cook a good meal (with fresh veggies!) yesterday. And especially good to cook something that my kids were thrilled with. Today, I'll probably make the pork chops with Brussels sprouts (my kids actually love Brussels sprouts--I quarter them and then sauté them in coconut oil). I also have little baby potatoes (SO tiny--they are adorable!) so I'll roast those.

So after cooking and eating dinner, we went for a family walk (with Joey, of course) around the neighborhood. After that, I felt kind of rushed. Since I was supposed to be in bed at 8:30 to read my book for an hour before going to bed at 9:00, we had just enough time to watch a TV show together with a snack. I chose to have strawberries and blackberries (I've been craving fresh fruits and veggies SO much lately).

strawberries and blackberries


We watched an episode of House. My kids hadn't seen it, and I thought they might like it. We need a show to watch an episode of together in the evenings, so I've been trying to come with something they'll like. They can watch "adult" shows--for example, we watched Breaking Bad together--but I'm at a loss of another show that will keep them interested. If you have suggestions for a 14 and 15 year old, please let me know!

After our show, I felt kind of rushed to get in bed by 8:30 to read my book and then go to bed by 9:00. Just as predicted, I was falling asleep while reading in bed by 8:45! There is something about reading in bed that makes me SO tired.

I slept terribly, unfortunately. My carpal tunnel has been acting up since making the face masks and since I started knitting again. I know it's not from the drywall, because the motions aren't constantly repetitive like they are in cutting fabric or knitting/crocheting.

However, I'd like to make another batch of face masks if I can get a hold of some more fabric. I ordered a special presser foot for my sewing machine that should make it easier and take up less time. Sewing the elastic hair ties to the mask is such a pain! The new presser foot should make that easier. I can always have Jerry or the kids help me cut out the fabric and I can do the sewing to lessen the irritation to my carpal tunnel.

Waking up this morning was much harder than yesterday morning--but I did it! I was up at 4:30. Jerry and I had coffee/tea before he headed off to work. I'm going to work on some emails right now, and then either go look for fabric somewhere (I don't even know if JoAnn's is open).

Wow, this post is much longer than I thought it'd be. And so boring--I literally just recapped my day from yesterday! But like I said, there isn't much to write about during this quarantine, so this is it ;)

I hope everyone is safe and healthy!

10 comments:

  1. --Bojack Horseman (animated; super dark, but an authentic portrayal of mental illness; drug/alchohol addiction portrayed)
    --Mindhunter (about the formation of the FBI's behavior science unit, if you like crime shows; no nudity but focus on sex crimes/deviant behavior)
    --The Magicians (based on a book series about a darker and more adult Harry Potter-like world; drugs, violence and some sex, no nudity)
    --Santa Clarita Diet (dark comedy about a suburban cannibal; but it was cancelled abruptly; lots of blood but no nudity or over the top violence)
    --The Killing (slow and methodical but excellent; some graphic violence, no nudity)
    --I've heard Narcos and Ozark are good but I haven't seen them.

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    1. Thank you for the suggestions! I was thinking Ozark (Jerry and I watch it--it's similar to Breaking Bad in a way, but it's on the money laundering side of things rather than the drug producing side.) And I LOVE Mindhunter. I read the memoir as I was watching the show, and that made it fun for me!

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  2. When I was recovering from surgery I got hooked on CSI: NY and my older kids liked it too! If they like supernatural/spooky things they might like X Files. If they like Marvel stuff, maybe Agents of Shield.

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    1. I used to watch CSI (the original one) and I loved it! I forgot about that show. I bet my kids (or at least Noah) would really like it. Jerry and the boys watch Agents of Shield ;)

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  3. The garage project sounds fun and is looking good! I had to laugh at your comment about eating steak. I prefer any meat that I eat in my diet to be mixed in with other things. I’m just not a huge fan of a ‘hunk of meat’ on my plate. Jason is a huge ‘hunk of meat’ fan though!!! Lol

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    1. Yes! A "hunk of meat" kind of grosses me out. If I feel any texture in it while I'm eating (other than the actual muscle part of the meat) I gross myself out imagining what it is--a tendon, or something like that. When it's all mixed in with other stuff, I don't notice it! hahaha

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  4. I really enjoyed this recap post! Not boring at all. :)

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  5. Have you watched Better Call Saul? It is a prequel of sorts to Breaking Bad. It is really good. There are also a few smaller series on Netflix-I liked Locke and Key and The Umbrella Academy.

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  6. My granddaughter is 13 and loves Stranger Things. I've never seen it myseslf. We watched the first couple episodes of Life In Pieces last night. I loved it. My hubby liked it alright, but said I don't need to wait for him if I want to watch more. We also really liked The English Game on Netflix.

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  7. Have you watched Psych? It's my all time favorite show and my 13 yr old nephew likes it too. I'm pretty sure it's on Amazon Prime.

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