This week has, as usual, been a bit of a mixed bag. I had a couple of medium-level migraines on the weekend and another on Tuesday, but luckily that was just before I went to bed, and it didn’t interfere with my sleep. My foot is improving every day, and I’m almost at the stage where I can walk without being aware of it (it’s not painful, just weak). G left for China on Monday. Is it terrible to say that I kind of enjoy having a bit of solo time? I quite like keeping my own schedule, having a lot fewer interruptions, and being able to eat cauliflower without needing to worry about offering an alternative! G won’t eat cauliflower, but I love it. Often, I save the cauliflower for when the kids are there and make it one of a number of veggies so G has something to eat. E has been home but he has been happy eating cauliflower and also brussels sprouts. I guess that is a pretty good thing! Here’s some more:
Fri 26.7.2024
- Since my foot has healed, I’ve been trying to include longer walks in my schedule each week. Today was a gym day, and since the weather was so good and the weekend forecast was so bad, I decided to walk the long way to the gym. I figured that since I was walking I’d try to knock off some more streets in my walk every street in Brighton project. The ones I decided to tackle today were two small dead-end streets that I hadn’t covered when I’d run the streets in that area. On the second street, I got to the end and saw a mural painted. I went to explore further, finding a small laneway decorated with paintings by students from the Brighton Grammar School Year 10 art students. I don’t think I would have stumbled across this if not for my little project.
- It’s so good being able to go out and pick some greens to have with my scrambled eggs post-gym.
- The girls came over. The whole family was home for take-out Friday.
SAT 27.7.2024
- The Olympics. Getting up on Saturday morning and watching the whole replay of the opening ceremony. Paris … swoon! Watching the heat of the swimming at 7 pm our time (I wish it was the finals at this time, though).
- Chilli Beef and Corn Pie for dinner. The recipe didn’t say to cook the polenta before mixing it with the other ingredients for the topping, but I figured you must have to, so I did. This is going straight into our family recipe book.
SUN 28.7.2024
- Avoiding any news and watching the swimming final replays so I could have all the suspense of watching it live.
- Enjoying Australia being on top of the medal tally for a brief window of time. The Aussie women brought home three gold on the first day.
- G leading church on Sunday with me able to settle into a support role while recovering from a migraine.
MON 29.7.2024
- I got my grocery shopping and gym done after mainly music, so I didn’t have to venture out into the atrocious weather for the rest of the day.
- Sitting at the table chatting with the kids after dinner. G is away and it was good to have the kids all here.
TUES 30.7.2024
- I went to a Pilates reformer class today, which I hadn’t been to since I got the stress fracture. I’m going to try to get to more of these over the next couple of weeks to strengthen my core and hip area.
- I went to the bulk store at Hampton and, while I was there, popped into the Opshop. There were no 2000-piece puzzles, but I found a 1500-piece and a 1000-piece that should be difficult.
- I am thankful for my good friend who texted me to let me know that the BOM was predicting a possible Aurora Australis viewing opportunity. She knew how disappointed I was not to see it in May. It didn’t pan out (it was too weak to see with all the lights here), but how good is it to know that your friends are thinking about you and taking the time to let you know?
Wed 31.7.2024
- It was foggy early this morning, but it quickly cleared once the sun was up. The sun sparkling on the dew covering the grass and trees … so beautiful!
- I cleaned the fridge out in time for my box of veggies to arrive. Now, the fridge is clean and filled with fresh veggies and lots of healthy leftovers for lunches. This makes me inordinately happy.
Thurs 1.8.2024
- It was another cold morning with clearing fog. Today, after the dog park, I walked with Riley through the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve. Our council is turning the old Elsternwick Golf Course into a wetland nature reserve. It’s been a while since I’ve walked through there and everything in the chain of ponds area has grown so much. The protective netting has also been removed, and they’ve moved on to developing the wildflower meadow area. It’s going to be stunning once it’s all finished, and it’s only about 1 km from our house.
- When I got home, I woke E up so he could get ready to go to IKEA. We had worked out an IKEA cabinet that would solve some of the storage problems in his room a couple of months ago but hadn’t had a chance to go and pick it up. Since his work day got switched from Thursday to Friday this week, and he was going to be home all day, I decided this was the perfect opportunity. I got him to look up online where it was in the warehouse so we could go straight there instead of wandering all through the showroom. We picked it up and were home before lunch. He put it together in the afternoon, and it is now in his room. The rule will be that the shelves and cupboards he has now dictate the amount of stuff he can have in his room. It feels good to have got this done.
That’s all from me this week. How has your week been?
Comments
8 responses to “Good Things Friday”
So many Good Things, Melissa.
I know the feeling when the house is a bit quieter and the dynamic changes. I never want my husband to leave on work travel, but it does streamline some things and so I do enjoy the change of pace and more autonomy over my schedule (until something goes awry with the kids and I’m left solo).
This week has been INCREDIBLE. For the first time since having children, we are home alone in our own house. They get back from overnight summer camp today and I’ll admit I wish I had another week of this, but I have enjoyed every single second of the peace and quiet.
It is amazing what a difference having less people in the house makes
I can understand enjoying having a quieter house and eating exactly what you feel like eating without considering the other person’s preferences! I love to have the house to myself – it’s more restorative for me than getting me time elsewhere. But it’s tough to come by with young kids, hence my heavier usage of “shouldless days” this year. We’ll have a really quiet house at the end of the month as my parents are keeping both of our boys for the week. I’m really looking forward to that – they’ll make memories with my parents and my husband and I will get a chance to reconnect and enjoy a very quiet house.
I hope you week sans kids if everything you need.
No terrible at all to say that you enjoy a bit of solo time. I think it’s a normal craving… I sometimes wish Jon would be away more often because I almost never have any solo time at home LOL Enjoy it (and your cauliflower!).
It sounds like you had a pretty good, active week and I am so glad that you’re able to put more weight on your foot and walk more again. The murals in your city are really cool. We have a lot of murals in Sacramento and I mean to “tour” them sometime.
One of the major tourist things to do in the CBD is street art tours, our suburb is not quite at that standard but it has little pockets. We are not an edgy suburb, LOL.
I feel you on eating stuff you love and not worrying about alternatives. I have a ton of those things I can pull from. I’m mostly on my own during the day so I am happy to have the husband around during the weekends but every once in a while I enjoy a few days on my own.
The gold course turned wetlands sour like a great project and the picture already shows that. So cool. I bet it’s beautiful to spend time.
The wetlands are really lovely. I need to pull out my camera and go early to get some photos