Good for the Soul, Bad for the Back

Yesterday was the first day in months that I worked outside extensively. It. Felt. So. Good. It was probably no more than 55 degrees, and cloudy. But blue jays were rustling in a bush, a woodpecker was going to town on a tree, and the dog has finally learned the concept of “fetch” and ran himself silly chasing a ball.

Unfortunately, I f—ed up my right wrist/forearm pretty good and can barely type now. I had to shovel dirt from one planter to another and I guess I overdid it. But! I’m excited because my plan worked: I took dirt out of the tall blue planter and put empty plastic cat litter containers in the bottom, then dirt back on top. There was just no reason to have this very tall planter filled completely with soil. The litter containers fit the space perfectly. Now I have dirt to fill in other containers that need it.

And! We got the FREE fencing from the Craig’s list guy on Monday and Tom has a plan to fence off my safe area. It’s very sturdy fencing, and tall! 

I also went to Sprouts and got a lot of produce and a whole chicken. F. wanted to go back to Costco but I was not in the mood for that. I was totally in the mood for easygoing, never crowded Sprouts. Came home and baked a double chocolate chip sour cream loaf, which worked out well because F. had two friends sleeping over so they snacked on it. Dinner was mac n cheese for her, a turkey and avocado sandwich for me (everyone else was working or otherwise out).

In last week’s blog I mentioned that I didn’t have a meal plan. Mistake! We were a bit unmoored and had a lot of those Costco frozen foods for dinner on Monday and Tuesday. Still better than takeout, I guess.  (And the chicken chipotle mini tacos were delicious.) Wednesday we had the Dark Master. First time in quite a while for me. We were in a rush because I had promised F. I would take her to get her ears pierced that night. Thursday, Tom made a sort of beef stroganoff? It was pretty tasty. As has been his practice lately, he did a small midweek run for groceries. Friday, the kids were out and about, so I just had my corn tortilla mini pizzas (Italian cheese mix, a bit of parmigiano-reggiano, garlic, basil) and Tom had spaghetti. My photographic records say I had the pizzas on Monday, too. Maybe that was my dinner.

Lunches consisted of egg salad, leftover pierogies, and one purchased lunch ($11).

A few wins:

F. let me use her Wawa points to get a free coffee for Tom (I bought her a breakfast sandwich).

I was able to get the senior portraits I wanted (three 8x10s) at 60% off. The photo company would probably eventually offer a deeper discount if I waited longer, but they were threatening that the photos would be deleted and I had to blink. Total was $78. Now I can give them to the grandmothers as an Easter present.

Still have not bought paper towels and have been instructing everyone on workarounds.

I thought A LOT about ordering Panera on Door Dash for me and F.’s dinner last night, but I didn’t. Medal, please.

EDITED TO ADD: I totally forgot about my biggest win: The State of New Jersey finally coughed up my property tax rebate check! They had tried to tell me I submitted my application late, when I totally did not (though it was close!). Guess my protest letter did the trick. The check arrived Monday.

A few negatives:

Not too happy that we had McDonald’s on Wednesday.

I also spent like $17 at Auntie Anne’s pretzels in the mall when I was there with Fiona last Saturday. I’m just a sucker for them (and I was starving).

The bread I made last weekend tasted a little salty. I think it’s because I forgot to add the melted butter initially and had to add it after the first rise. I don’t think I mixed it in well enough. But I’ve still been eating it.

Today, I need to get a few more provisions, probably from Acme. I need to bake more bread and cook dinner. I need to meal plan and declutter. I had coffee with a friend this morning which was lovely! But right now, I can’t get off the couch. My back is hurting now too, from the shoveling.

The kids had a busy weekend: dances, working, pet sitting, sleepovers. Happy to see them having fun. I need to really start thinking about a graduation party — in addition to T. graduating high school, F. is graduating middle school this year. If we could get the backyard straightened out a bit and stop Rocco from digging holes (and “disappear” Rocco for the day) perhaps we could have it here?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Btw, I am reading “Say Nothing,” about the Troubles, and it’s really good (as was the TV series). It is a used book that I bought Tom for Christmas.