The Saturday 7

1. I am loving school. Taking classes you're interested in really makes all the difference. This week, I got to research a children's book illustrator and write a brief summary of his life/artistic style. And I got to pretend to be a reference librarian and help an imaginary library patron find information. I'm loving the class with the new professor I was initially nervous about. She's strict, but I thrive on knowing exactly what's expected of me and being rewarded for doing it well. She's also very enthusiastic in her grading. I'm pretty sure her favorite word is "outstanding" and I have no doubt she tells everyone their work is outstanding, but I love the positive reinforcement. Lol. #millenial

2. I read a couple good chick-lit type books this week that were surprisingly clean for not being Christian fiction. (Some swearing and romantic involvement - but nothing graphic.) The first was The Little Bookshop of Love Stories by Jaimie Admans. It's about a woman who wins a contest to take over a bookshop and keep it as her own. Of course there's a quirky man that practically lives at the bookshop and they fall in love and discover family secrets and all that jazz. I really liked it. The second was Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey. It's pretty much what it sounds like. Lol. The main character wants a Nora Ephron inspired love story (think Sleepless in Seattle/While You Were Sleeping/You've Got Mail), but obviously discovers that life is not like a romcom. It was silly and funny and sweet. And it made some great points about why people watch romcoms (or in my case, read frivolous fiction). We know it's not realistic, but we don't want realism. We want escape from reality. 

3. Today, Justin and I were feeling restless. He kept saying, "Let's go somewhere. Let's do something." But one of the kids (who shall remain unnamed) was in a particularly bad mood and didn't come out of her room other than to eat all day. And the other two didn't want to go for a long car ride. They just wanted to go to the park and get slushies. Booooring. Justin was a peach and took them to the park while I took myself to the salon for a pedicure. I have such a love/hate relationship with nail salons (as I've written about before, but it's been a while, so hopefully you've forgotten). First of all, there's like this nail salon culture that I'm not a part of, and I feel totally adrift every time I go. Am I supposed to make an appointment? The sign says walk-ins welcome, but what do I do when I walk in? I already struggle with hearing and with deciphering accents, so throw a mask on all the nail techs' faces and I'm really lost. I don't know if I want you to cut my nails. Just do whatever is normal. I can't hear or understand you when you try to make small talk, so I know I look super rude just staring at my phone, but it's better than saying, "What?" a thousand times, right? I know my feet are so gross. I have bunions and callouses and corns (I think - I don't actually know what those are) and inches of dead skin build up on my heels and bunions and the tops of my toes. I see you with that industrial sized cheese grater and I'm trying really hard not to squirm or kick you in the face when you start using that scratchy sponge thing on the soles of my feet. And then you tell me to sit by the dryer while you start on another customer and I don't know if I'm supposed to stay there until you tell me to get up or if I get up and pay whenever I'm ready. Meanwhile all these other women are coming and going, throwing out phrases like, "I need a fill" or "Let's do the dip this week" and I don't have any idea what they're talking about, and I'm astounded that people actually pay to do this weekly, and I'm wondering if I totally missed that lesson in "how to be a civilized woman" class. But my toes look pretty now, so I guess it was worth it?

4. Speaking of cheese . . . I have a recipe for you. Lena has a friend at school who has an elaborate birthday party at the end of every summer. The friend's mom always makes the most amazing tostadas that this year I finally asked her for the recipe. It's the easiest thing ever, and I'm totally obsessed. Here's the recipe. Ready?

1 lb. ground beef or turkey, browned

1 package of taco seasoning, added to the ground beef with a little bit of water

1 can of refried beans

1/2 brick of cream cheese

Mix it all together on the stove over low heat until it's combined and warm. 

Smear on top of pre-bought tostada shells (Aldi's has packages of 20ish for $1.75). Or make your own from corn tortillas if you're a hipster. Whatever works for you. Then you add whatever toppings you want and you eat until your stomach hurts and you have refried bean gas. It's the best.

5. This week in our study on Triggers, we read about two common problems moms face that trigger anger and unkind responses: backtalk and disrespect. I don't know about you, but we've got some of that going on in this house, and it sure does trigger anger and unkind responses! The chapters are so short that initially I thought they'd be shallow and unhelpful, but I seriously underlined 75% of what I read this week. It's profound in its simplicity. One thing that jumped out at me was this idea: "Think of how you want to respond to your kids. Think of the kind of mom you want to be. Then be that mom." That is really a "duh" statement, but I've been preaching it to myself this week. Today, Lena had a bellyache and Levi thought it was hilarious to sit on my lap and breathe hot air into my ear (?). My instinct is to throw them off my lap and demand to be left alone (because I'm loving and compassionate like that). But then I thought, "what kind of mom do I want to be in this moment?" I want to be a mom that is warm and welcoming. I want to laugh with them and cherish the snuggles. Do I value personal space? You bet. But I want them to feel more valued than my love of alone-time. If having a tween has taught me anything, it's that these days of easy affection and a desire to be near me are numbered. I better soak them up.

6. And in this week's most exciting news . . . I'm a great-aunt again! My nephew Tyler and his wife Rieley brought this beautiful baby girl into the world on Thursday:

I blocked out her last name because I feel weird about plastering private information about someone else's kid all over the Internet. ("Identify theft is not a joke, Jim!")

This is the third baby to join our family in the year(s) of Covid. And I still hate that we don't get to be at the hospital waiting for the birth, and then taking pictures with the fresh-from-the-womb baby. But hopefully we'll be able to bring Ty and Rieley a meal and get our (carefully washed) hands on that newborn baby goodness sometime this week!

7. The pics

"Take my picture before church!"

On Monday, Nova came to my house with that mini magna-doodle (that she calls an "etcher sketch"). We ran to my parents for a little while that afternoon and the kids found another one in the toy closet. They thought it was the best thing ever.

I realized I should take some before pics of Justin's man cave project in the basement. This tiny bedroom has concrete floors and had mostly concrete/moldy drywall walls. He and his dad got the new drywall up this week and it's already looking so much better! I tried to talk Justin into making this room into a library, but he wasn't as excited about wall to wall bookshelves as I was. I think he's planning on wall to wall shelves of fishing paraphernalia instead. Lame. 

I was so excited to hear about Dr Pepper Zero. I was not a fan of Dr Pepper Ten, and can just barely stomach Diet Dr Pepper. 

It was gross. 

Justin keeps me stylish. He's the only reason I own all-white Adidas shoes. I wore them for the first time today and felt so cool. Too bad my feet hate them and I came home with big red bunion welts. 😭🤦 #bandname #bigredbunionwelts