TGIF!

We have had a great week with a fun mix of lazy and activity!  The kiddo had Art Camp this week which gave me some free time. I did some errands and was a little lazy myself with some of that time.  This weekend we are going to enjoy some time in Frankenmuth which I'm pretty excited about.

Favorite pictures from the week: 

The high of my week was hanging out with friends Thursday night at our community weekly free concert in the park.  It was fun to chat with adults and listen to some music.

The low of my week was my own clumsiness!  I stepped on a cardboard box that apparently had a staple sticking out (darn kids and their forts) and that hurt.  Then while cleaning my spiralizer I cut my thumb.  For like the 234324 time this summer.  Usually I cut it with a knife ha.

For my workouts, I completed 

 Tuesday - a walk through our local gardens which included going off the trails and up and down hills in the hot hot heat.

Wednesday - a short river trail walk/hike with the family at our local nature center!

The best money I spent was on some cute birthday presents for some people in my life.  I love some of the new and not so new local shops that are in our downtown! I also bought the kiddo a really cute dress for school and some underwear that she loves because IT HAS UNICORNS ON THEM!!!!

What I’m listening to (and loving): This week I listened to a lot of old episodes of Pod Save America and a sweet/fun old episode from How to Be a Girl.  I'm trying to sneak in podcasts when I can since the 7 year old likes to interrupt them!

What I’m watching: I'm finishing up Southern Charm New Orleans (just blah) and then moving on to Southern Charm Savannah.  I've also watched a couple episodes of 10 things from PBS and I really enjoyed the 10 roads that changed America!

What I’m reading: A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.  Not sure how I feel about it..  It's the slowest read I've read in a few months, but it is a book club pick and one I've had on my shelf for a few years!

found this book at the library and it is a good one for young (and some older kids) on problem solving and dealing with anxiety!

What are you reading, listening to and watching?  

Currently...

Here is my semi-sporadic update on what is up currently!

Reading A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick for our July book club pick.  I just finished Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes, which is a great middle grade book about a 12 year old girl getting through Hurricane Katrina.  

Loving making new veggie recipes with stuff from our garden!

Feeling like summer is flying by.  The kiddo has Art Camp this week and it kinda sucks up our days since we are extremely lazy in the morning, but next week I need to plan some adventures for us.  There are a couple museums I want to take her too and some parks we should visit before summer has flown by us!

Thinking about which area of the house I should organize next and if I should just have a garage sale with the kiddo or try to sell some more stuff via facebook posts.  I have most everything separated clothes wise. but I hate going through the sell groups when people get wishy washy on meeting.

Anticipating our epic road trip we have planned for Spring Break.  I'm slowly finding spots to add to our 'might do' lists.  Trying to plan out some healthy eating for the massive road trip so we don't get sucked into the fast food for every meal on the road vortex and what we should make for our beach rental food wise so we don't spend extra down there.  We are obviously frugal travelers concerned about food hahaha.

Watching finishing up Southern Charm and then moving on to the other Southern Charms and then I have a massive list of old movies I've recorded with some PBS history shows...

Working on nothing right now... I need to get back into the house organizing project I was doing, but I'm really enjoying summer time with my kiddo.

Grateful for all the time I get to spend with my kiddo!

Listening to podcasts whenever I get a chance.  Some of my favorites lately have been the newest season of In the Dark, that I'm still not finished with, Pod Save America ,and NPR.  Oh and Oprah's Super Soul Conversations are always good.  I introduced my mom to podcasts last week and can't wait to hear what she thinks!

Wishing that snapping fingers was an effective way of making dinner appear, transportation to occur, shopping to happen and yourself to get magically dressed.. so not much!

What are you reading and watching and listening to? 

Summer Eating

I love eating in the summer.  Well, I love eating any time, but I love eating fresh foods from my garden and that all the veggies are cheaper.  We have been eating a TON of zucchini, cucumbers, green and yellow beans, and sweet corn lately! Soon we will add tomatoes to this list.  Everything but the sweet corn has come from our back yard!  We also tend to grill more in the summer and that is my favorite way to cook steaks and chicken!

part of the garden in early July.. we've had about a week of rain now and everything is huge!

I also have gotten to expand my zucchini recipe repertoire this summer because I have more time to invest in cooking and I am in charge of meals again!

Some family favorites have been the zoodles I've made.

Recipe

1. Use the spiralizer, put it in the colander, shake on salt, put it in the fridge.  I've left it in there up to a few hours.  Then I squeeze the water out. 

2.  In a pan melt butter, throw in some red onion.  Cook a bit, then throw in a garlic, cook a bit.  Then toss in the zoodles and warm them up. 

3.  YUM!  I have thrown in a few sprinkles of parm cheese a few times.  Also delicious.

Another zucchini fan favorite was following this recipe for Parm Zucchini rounds!  I threw salt on them in a colander and left them in a fridge for the afternoon and then squeezed out the excess water!

I've also zucchini tots which are  fave.  My least fave way to eat them is grilled plain ha. 

Any zucchini ideas?

another view of the garden.. we have strawberries, raspberries,peach trees, apple trees and asapragus elsewhere.. you can't really see the blueberries at the end of this picture but we planted 4 this year to try again!

For cucumbers, I've mixed them with equal parts vinegar and water, dash of sugar and some diced red onion.  Yum! I do like to eat the plain or with a dash of salt.

Green and yellow beans we made a green bean casserole one night that was a hit and besides that we've been just sauteing them with garlic, salt and pepper.

Sweet corn has just been boil for about 20 minutes and then serve with butter and salt.

Last night we had an excellent dinner.  I made thin pork chops that I drenched in egg and then dipped in a jalapeno pretzel/parm mix.  SOOO GOOD.  We've made it a couple times like this and it's a win.  We make the kiddos with a panko/parm mix and then I add the jalapeno pretzel mix into that with some more parm.  You just need to make sure you smash up the pretzel good.  But it gives it a great flavor.  We inherited this bag of pretzels and they were almost just a bit too spicy on their own, but on the pork chops it's fabulous.

before the pork chops were cooked up.. 

The pork chops were then served with green and yellow beans, parm zucchini rounds, cherries, and mac and cheese.  So yummy!

What have you been eating this summer? Any veggie recipes you swear by?

TGIF!

We have been having such a good summer! The days are flying by and we are doing so many things and I feel like there are so many more we could do and I will be bummed about NOT doing in the fall but there is only so much time!

The high of my week was when swimming with Isla in the pool this week she showed off her improved skills! She has been apprehensive about keeping her face under water for longer periods of time and when using strokes.  She improved by about 4 seconds earlier in the week and by yesterday she was under water for almost a full 20 seconds!!! I am so proud of her and the bravery she is using to improve her swimming.  She is so not a risk taker!! Though she claims to be haha.  We have spent a LOT of time in the water the last few weeks and we started summer with a week of swimming lessons so I'm thinking of adding on another week next month!

the child's new door sign!!! hahaha

The low of my week was the scratchy throat I woke up with.  Allergies? Wtf? It's July.  I thought I had escaped this year.

The book I am reading is The 17th Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.  It's part of the Women's Murder Club series.  I've read some really good books recently including The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz part of the Millennium series started by Stieg Larrson, Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (AMAZING juvenile fiction about a young black boy who is shot in the back by a white police officer -- HIGHLY RECOMMEND), Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union and The Abosolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.  

a little pool side reading...

A Recipe I made was garlic and onion zoodles! We have are first zucchinis of the summer from the garden.  I used Iowa Girl Eat's advice and used my Vegetti spiralizer on the thick side and then cut up the spirals.  I put salt on it and threw it the fridge for about 30 minutes and then absorbed water with paper towels.  Then in a pan I melted butter and sauted onions.  After that I threw the zoodles in and added some garlic powder.  I cooked it for a few minutes until warm.  So good! I had it with spaghetti sauce and meatballs once night and then the next night with beef and broccoli.  I won over the child and the husband admitted it was 'okay.'  yum!

The best money I spent was mmm.. I think the only money I spent was on groceries and then i threw in a dollar when my mom took us to lunch.. soo the good lunch shared with my mom and kiddo!

enjoying our free slurpees on 7-11!

My plans this weekend include going down state to a family wedding.  Besides that, who knows!

What are you reading? What was the high of your life?

Currently

Howdy! It's been awhile.  I've been a bit busy since school got out and on the go with my munchkin! Here is what is up currently with me!

Reading:  “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” by Agatha Christie.  I read one of her others earlier this year, “Murder on the Orient Express” and a book based off of that one for book club, and decided that she would be a good every now and then pick me up for an interesting mystery.  It does read a bit slower as I am able to pick it up and move on quickly, but I do adore her writing.

what I read in June!

Loving:  spending this summer with my kiddo! We have done a real good job so far of being busy and lazy.  So far we have had a week of swim lessons, a long weekend camping, 4^th of July party with friends, boat rides, multiple nights at our town’s free concerts, trips to the local beer garden with friends, and many trips to the library!


Feeling:  thankful we got central air!!! It has been super muggy and being able to stay cool at my own house has been so nice.  I roll my eyes at people who choose not to use their air since I’ve spent the last 12 years sleeping like shit.  Bring on the air.  Plus, cuddling a kid and hanging out all day at a house with no air IS NOT FUN.  Especially when you sometimes get the fresh smell of manure from down the road!

Anticipating: our busy month ahead! Our weekends are all full.  This weekend the husband and I are enjoying a kid free Saturday night to enjoy a dinner at a nice local restaurant that we got a gift card for our birthdays, then taking a morning kayak trip down a local river before we join the kiddo with my parents for afternoon boating on the lake they live on.  The weekend after that we go downstate for a family wedding, the following weekend we head up north to Interlochen with friends, and then down to Frankenmuth for a quick weekend trip.  Definitely a Pure Michigan summer in the works here!

caught a fish on a recent trip up north!

Watching: not a lot… we are trying to finish off the season of Blindspot and besides that I am usually reading or surfing the internet.  Or watching tv with the kiddo which seems to be The Loud House or Double Dare lately!

Grateful: that we have so many fun family friendly things to do in our area.  In the summer alone we have free Thursday night concerts, farmers market twice a week,  a local gardens that does kids activities and a free lunch time concert once a week, a wonderful public library, beer gardens, festivals, and rivers to explore plus much more!

Working: on decluttering this house.  One baby step at a time.  I’ve put dents in Isla’s closet, the office closet/that whole room, plus our winter clothes.  Each day I have Isla going through some of her stuff since she is such a packrat.  The art scraps everywhere! I’m also trying to decorate more around our house since we’ve basically done nothing to our house because we really haven’t cared in the 12 years we’ve lived here.

Listening: sadly to not a lot of podcasts right now because I always have little ears around me and some are just not little ear friendly! Ha.  But I am enjoying the new season of In the Dark and Order 9066, which is about Japanese American incarceration during WWII. 

Wishing: I had crafty ways that would help decorate the house/improve it without having to pay other people.  Let’s just be real, no amount of youtubing can give you skill.

What are you reading? What are you anticipating? What are you listening to currently?