The Saturday 7

1. I've been feeling guilty that I haven't cooked much lately. It's discouraging to even try when my kids literally don't eat a single thing I make and when groceries are so stinkin' expensive. But I need to make more of an effort for Justin's sake. Sick of my usual rut, I tried out three new recipes this week. They were all fine, but nothing wonderful (title of my memoir). Garlic Ranch Baked Chicken Thighs, Asian Chicken Wraps with Peanut Sauce, and . . .

BBQ bacon meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, and air fryer Brussels sprouts. 

2. I've experienced similar dissatisfaction in my reading life lately. I've read 34 books so far this year, but not a single one has been a five star read. Everything is just the same, so predictable, only marginally entertaining. I've even DNF-ed a few, which is very unlike me. (That's "did not finish" for you non-voracious-readers.) Reading is pretty much my only hobby, so I'm annoyed that it's not as fulfilling as it once was. Any suggestions for something very fast paced that will grab me from the first page, and keep me riveted throughout? 

3. Remember last week how I bragged about how lackadaisical I've gotten with my schoolwork this semester? Well this week, I got my first truly bad grade: a 63%. Wanna know the worst part? It was a writing assignment. 😨 Ok, but here's my defense. We were given a journal article to read about a scientific experiment relating to childhood development and told to write a 3 paragraph response. The first paragraph was a recap, the second was "why this is important" and the third was supposed to be a critique about anything that seemed wrong with the article. We were explicitly told not to critique anything that was left out, like "This article doesn't give good advice for how to go forward with the information presented." And I couldn't find anything wrong with it. It was written by experts in the field. I'm on chapter 2 of this class. How on earth am I supposed to know what's wrong with it? I tried to BS something, but obviously failed and got 0 points for the final paragraph. Whoopsy. Fortunately, the majority of the assignments are reading quizzes/tests. I'm much better at proving I comprehend what I read than I am at critiquing it. Hopefully that'll tide me over for the rest of the class!

4. This week's topic for my math class was percentages in business. We had to calculate how to find the price of an item after taking a percent off. I'm a pro at that thanks to my years of Kohl's shopping. 😁 And for my library class, we had to look up a non-book item in a digital collection. I searched the Grand Rapids Public Library and found some cool records from World War 1. There was a national effort to register women for war-service that they could do from home. 20,000 women from the Grand Rapids area signed up, and I'm fairly certain a few of them are my ancestors!

Thanks to my previous genealogy research, I know this Esther was my Great Grandpa Casper's sister! 

5. Yesterday, Justin's mom had the girls over for a sleepover with their cousin Persephone. She moved about an hour away in January, so they haven't seen her in a long time. Lena was sooo excited until about an hour before the sleepover - when she devolved into tears and hysterics. It is beyond frustrating for all of us. I finally talked her into going, but she called at 10:00 and asked us to pick her up. Justin's parents brought Lucy and Persephone to Levi's game this morning, and offered to take Lena out to lunch and shopping with them. But she couldn't bring herself to do it - go shopping with her sister, cousin, and grandma, where she would surely be spoiled. How young is too young to start anxiety medication? 🤦

6. I came down with a killer migraine yesterday. None too happy that the girls got to have a sleepover without him, Justin and I promised Levi that we'd take him on a date. We went to Logan's and Five Below, but I was miserable the whole time. I'm thankful that I don't get headaches like that often, but when I do they're doozies. It's always on just one side of my head, but it spreads down into my cheekbone, the teeth on that side of my mouth, my neck, shoulders, and back. It made me super nauseous and dizzy and no amount of ibuprofen helped. I went to bed last night at 10:30, which is unheard of for me, slept til 9 this morning, and woke up in just as much pain as the night before. I powered through Levi's soccer game, then went back to bed. Finally, after 9 ibuprofen, two naps, two cups of coffee, a can of Dr Pepper, and two carb-heavy meals it subsided enough that I could function again. We were able to go to our school's 40th anniversary celebration, but then Levi started complaining that his head and legs hurt, and his eyes started to look glassy. Justin and I are both supposed to teach Sunday School tomorrow at the same time, but he's currently downstairs with a crying Levi for the third time since putting him to bed hours ago, so I'm not feeling very hopeful. 🤦

7. Pictures

"I can make the same face as the toad in my book!"

Twins at the restaurant last night.

Why can't I always look like that? #filtered

My 6th grade teacher saw me at the school anniversary thing tonight and said she wouldn't have recognized me if not for my nametag. I wanted to say, "That's because I literally weigh 100 pounds more than I did in 6th grade." Lol

It ain't pretty. Pooh doesn't have stretch marks like I do.