Over the weekend I ate way too many carbs. This happened last General Conference weekend too. Clearly I need to plan better so I don't give in and eat things that make me feel crummy. And I do feel crummy. Not the worst ever, but I'm tired and my anxiety levels are higher than I'd like. Between that and my period I'm not coping with stress as well as I'd like- I've got a lot of moving parts to juggle with business stuff, homeschool stuff, YW stuff, Jeremy tweaked his back again (just looking at the water heater) and has been flat in bed since Saturday evening, and River's birthday.
After grocery shopping I signed my contract with the lawyer to get my liability waiver written. It won't be cheap, but the alternative would be a lot more expensive.
I also sent out requests to friends to talk to me about the course and get feedback, which will make sure I'm on track.
I made River's birthday dinner while Jeremy and the two older kids took Max to the vet. She'd pulled a cast iron frying pan off the stove onto her foot last week and while at first it seemed to heal ok, over the weekend she stopped putting pressure on her foot. X-rays showed nothing was broken, but the toenail area that the pan had landed on got infected and started de-sheathing. They cleaned it up, gave her some antibiotics and a cone of shame and sent her home. Jeremy was shell-shocked by the bill. I reminded him that this is why I'd resisted getting a dog for so long. It may have been 20 years ago, but I did work in a vet clinic. I know how fast things can add up.
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| still coming out of the anesthesia and not yet resenting the cone of shame |
Sunshine made River's cake, which ended up being a Halloweenish-birthday cake. :)
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| the bandaid is covering his scar to keep the salve on it and the scar moisturized |
Tuesday after music lessons I was supposed to take Jeremy to the VA hospital for a shot in his back, but because he tweaked it over the weekend and had to take meds for it, we had to reschedule. We'd planned on stopping by an RV dealership for a bit on our way there, and decided to go ahead and do that anyway. We're thinking of upgrading to a toy hauler before we travel full time, but we've never really been in one and we wanted to get a feel for them. We didn't love any of the models they had on the lot, but they definitely gave us a better baseline to work from.
We're balancing as short as possible while still having enough space for our family, and there's not a ton of options. If we didn't mind going big, we could easily find a 44 foot fifth wheel monster that would fit everything we need. But those are a lot harder to get into small national park campground sites, parking lots, and just about anywhere.
I did a little more research when we got home and we now have a couple floorplans that should work well. The front runners right now are just under 37 feet long, which is a lot more manageable than 44+ feet long. Our current Class C is 27' long, plus the tow dolly and Camry. The fifth wheel setup knocks about 3' off the length, since it's over the truck bed, but we'll also have the length of the truck added in. It shouldn't be too much longer overall, but it will be taller.
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| looking at the trash bins from the kitchen door |
The bear came back again, but was frustrated in his efforts to get into our trash cans. He still managed to pull the trash bin over, though. However, there's no trash scattered all over the woods and driveway, so mission accomplished.
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| and the view from the driveway |
Max hates the cone of shame and keeps knocking into everything. She has definitely done some sulking since coming home from the vet.
Wednesday Sunshine had an orthodontist visit. Max's toenail was looking a lot better and she was back to her usual energy level and inquisitiveness.
After my weekly accountability call I had my first course feedback call with my friend K.
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| I moved the presses off my worktable and into this space at the foot of the stairs. I still need to finish reorganizing the fabric and school books that were in that space, but it's much better having them out of the way, yet still close at hand. |
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| I bought a sheet of fake brick from Lowes to use as a photography background. The red is too dark, so I dry brushed white paint on it, but forgot to take a picture before I started painting. |
I haven't felt great all week (that time of the month + too many carbs = worse cramps than usual), but I did finally manage to go for a short trail run Thursday morning. Max didn't get to come since her toe is still healing, and she was not super happy about that.
She's grown since we brought her home and I can't help but wonder if she's part greyhound instead of part whippet. I always understood whippets to be the smaller cousins of greyhounds, and I'm pretty sure she's now taller than a whippet. German shorthairs are taller, so that could be giving her her height, but her neck is thickening, which is much more indicative of a blue heeler/Australian cattle dog. If she really is part blue heeler, then I'd bet the other part is greyhound.
Thursday evening I was supposed to do s'mores with my YW class, but only my advisor showed up. My one usual attendee was out of town, and the rest: who knows? It's so frustrating. Even visiting the girls in person and inviting them to attend isn't working.
I had to run out and find a tent for the campout this weekend. Sunshine needed our small tent and I realized I needed one as well. Walmart only had an 8 person and a 10 person tent, but I found a 4 person tent at Target. It's not great quality, and it's bigger than I'd really like, but it wasn't super expensive and I didn't have to drive anywhere else to find one. Can't ask for much more on such short notice.
During that time I interviewed a Pinterest VA, which is why we had park day at our house. It was the only time that worked for both of us. I want to hire her, but she charges a bit more than I'd really planned on. On the other hand, she'll bring in more customers to my shop and my course, so I'll be able to afford her fees. It's just the initial month or two of fees while we build that customer base. Since I also have the costs of materials and tool kits for my course, we're looking at significant chunks of money, which stresses me out. I hate spending large chunks of money. But you have to spend money to make money.
That afternoon I had a course feedback call with a local homeschool friend, but we had to cut it short because Max got out. We'll finish the call on Monday. I also had a course call with my sister in law. While not something I would do normally, the calls have been helpful and I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to do them.
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| the paw! so funny :) |
In between all the calls I finished packing and prepping for our first Scout campout in months. We camped at our council scout camp in the site adopted by our troops. It's a large site and had room for the adults in one area, the boys in another area, the girls in another area, and some visiting Webelos in a fourth spot. Everyone wore masks the whole weekend and slept in their own tents- no sharing (which is why Sunshine and I each needed a tent). Masks with glasses and damp cold weather meant my glasses were constantly fogging up, which was a pain.
It rained Friday night and most of Saturday, but I was dressed in layers and stayed warm and relatively dry. Sunshine didn't fare so well. She said she was cold the whole day. I slept ok- I'd layered up and didn't get cold, but I did wake up multiple times: rain on the tent, acorns and sticks falling, other people unzipping tents and tromping to the bathroom... Nighttime noise is always an issue for me. I might need to start wearing earplugs to bed, to see if that helps. Poor sleep quality and sleeping on the ground meant I had a headache in the morning and I felt fuzzy and tired. I spent the morning basically counting down till I could drink an energy drink, which did make a huge difference. I felt a lot better in the afternoon.
There were lots of fun activities that kept everyone pretty busy. I got a one mile hike in doing a scavenger hunt around camp, Sunshine did some more hiking while hiding some geocaches, then finding some hidden by the other group. There was also Nerf archery, wood chopping, knots, first aid skills, knife sharpening, fire starting, and so on.
One of the scouts was cooking for the Fossil patrol instead of us just eating what looked good like usual. It was an experience. The initial bar was set pretty low: bacon, fried potatoes and cereal for breakfast. Apples and grilled cheese sandwiches and chips for lunch. Then came dinner. Two whole dutch-oven roasted chickens, baked potatoes, brussels sprouts cooked in bacon, and cookies. Very ambitious. The chicken did eventually cook through and was quite good, but required several adults to monitor the briquettes, get more started, and add more- she was off keeping her eye on her baked potatoes (which still burned and were inedible) and doing the brussels sprouts and bacon, which also burned. I felt bad, because she put in a lot of effort, and it didn't turn out like she wanted. We were worried about the chicken cooking properly, but she'd brought a digital thermometer to check that it was cooked through. That went a long way to alleviating our concerns. Definitely more effort than I'd put into a campout meal- I'm all for doing as much meal prep beforehand as possible and just reheating at the campout.
We drove home Saturday night with R, who frequently rides with us to or from campouts and her sister A, who is now old enough to join the troop. It was a pain to wear masks in the car while driving, but at least we can do things like go camping again.
Sunday was the last of the small group sacrament meetings. We have the ok to start meeting in larger groups for sacrament meeting, but second hour classes will be virtual. Priesthood and Relief Society have been having virtual lessons once or twice a month, but Sunday School and the youth haven't been meeting. Primary won't be meeting virtually.
Monday- 5.00 miles biked
2020 totals
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge
22.50 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
280.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
481.30 miles total
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