On paper, our week looked like it would be relaxing. It didn’t end up feeling that way!
Last Friday afternoon John got home from Helsinki, and we celebrated by going to bed early (I was tuckered from a very busy week full of commitments/solo parenting, and John was jet lagged; we were both asleep by 10 pm). Saturday morning was fairly leisurely—a walk for the two of us before John and Belle headed to Halifax to do some thrifting en route to collecting my father-in-law from the airport.
To know my father-in-law is to love him. He is genuinely one of the most hilarious people I’ve ever met, but the magic is in the fact he never tries to be funny. He’s prim and proper: holds his knife just so, documents things fastidiously, uses archaic language… and it’s nothing short of delightful. We spend the majority of his visits laughing.
This text from Belle sums things up. Simply waiting for him to get off the plane and out to the car is always an adventure (usually full of at least a few misadventures). This particular time he mentioned that he was on his way across the “concourse” which, of course, made us all laugh.
RECENT THRIFTED FINDS
- I said I had recently bought three new-to-me thrifted dresses, and this is the final dress of that trio. (Each dress was $5.95 at my preferred thrift store.)
Speaking of thrifted… does anyone remember the great blue Nike shoes I found at a consignment store in like-new condition for Indy this summer? Within a few weeks, the treads were bare and one of the air bubbles had burst. I have NEVER met a person who is harder on shoes than Indy. He is so active and things get worn out incredibly quickly. This means we are ALWAYS on the hunt for thrifted footwear.
While they were thrifting in the city on Saturday, Belle spotted these Nike Air Max sneakers IN INDY’S SIZE. They fit perfectly and have become his indoor sneakers at school (we bought a pair of sneakers for school but they are slightly too big, so we’ll swap them out for these ones and then hopefully once these are too small, the other pair will fit perfectly… his feet are growing so fast).
Belle is the absolute BEST at finding things at thrift stores. If you give her a task, she almost always completes it. Once, John mentioned wanting to find an obscure book, and she literally found it that very day. She wanted to find a monkey costume for Halloween (she and a friend are going as Curious George + The Man with the Yellow Hat). Of course she managed to find a thrifted monkey costume at the second thrift store they visited.
WALKING CLUB
I wouldn’t classify my walks this October as overly ambitious, but most days I’m managing to walk outside. The weather hasn’t been the greatest—a lot of wind and a fair amount of rain.
But knowing other people are out walking at the same time is a lot of fun. Thanks again to everyone participating (Week 2 Recap is here).
GOOD FOOD
We had a lot of delicious meals this week.
Things started off with chili on Saturday evening, paired with a yummy side salad. Both were SO good. We had homemade cookies for dessert (ginger and peanut butter chocolate chip).
Monday night we enjoyed seafood casserole (lobster, shrimp, and scallops) served over rice, with salad, veggies, and a berry cheesecake + cinnamon coffee cake (so people had options) for dessert.
Wednesday night was turkey—served on paper plates because turkey dinner creates SO many dishes and the kids and I had to dash out to a youth event as soon as dinner was over AND we had three extra people over for said dinner—with carrots and baked potatoes and stuffing and corn and cranberry and gravy and bread and butter pickles, with pecan and pumpkin pie for dessert. SO GOOD.
Tonight we’re having a traditional Portuguese boiled codfish dinner (much beloved by our whole family) as we celebrate John’s birthday: codfish, broccoli, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, chickpeas, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. It’s basically a deconstructed fish cake and it’s delicious even if it might sound unusual.
And, all the other days have involved delicious leftovers.
I’m tired of cooking and running the dishwasher, but I sure have enjoyed all the great food.
JOHN
It’s my favourite person’s birthday.
I’m so thankful for him. For his love and patience and humour. For our competitive spirit (we played Scattergories with a group on Monday evening and I wanted to beat him SO desperately… in the end we didn’t tally up the final score, which is probably a good thing for marital harmony).
I’m thankful he doesn’t expect or desire a big celebration. I’m also thankful I got all his little gifts pulled together well in advance (the week was much busier than expected).
I’m glad we can celebrate him as a family and that his dad is visiting (his dad also celebrates a birthday in October, so we combine his birthday, Thanksgiving, and John’s birthday, so it’s a very celebratory week; my father-in-law’s one request was cherry cheesecake—which John made—and I was very happy to accommodate that request since it’s my favourite dessert and I didn’t end up having it for my birthday this year!)
BONUS HAPPY THINGS
- The first sip of coffee in the morning.
- Books that make me think. This week it was the teeny-tiny epistolary novel Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. I want everyone I know to drop everything and read it. It is eerily prescient for a book written in 1938. SO GOOD.
- Leftovers. Yes, there was a lot of big food preparation this week, but that also means lots of delicious leftovers.
- Sunshine. It has been windy and dreary and rainy a lot lately. But right now it’s sunny and that does boost my mood.
- Making progress on holiday gift guides. I know some people absolutely loathe gift guides, but I’m pulling together a collection of them again this year and they’re A LOT of work. I’m about 1/3 done, which feels like a relief! Stay tuned in early November.
- The privacy panels on the deck. I love opening the curtains and having a quiet nook right outside our door.
- Robot vacuums. Our floors. OUR FLOORS. The mess on our floors is unreal! Grass clippings and leaves are everywhere (Indy and a friend played outside yesterday and came in covered in grass). The vacuum is running, sweeping up copious amounts of outdoor detritus without me lifting a finger.
That’s all I’ve got today. There are some busy things coming up and I have anticipatory fatigue: a very intense (hundreds of people! loud music! multiple consecutive late nights!) youth conference next weekend, a very real need to get over to visit my parents and offer in-person support/help them do some long-term planning, Halloween is coming (note to self: we need to buy candy), and then Christmas will be here before I know it.
I’m trying to stay in the moment, but am feeling quite overwhelmed right now. Anyone else??? I think I need a long nap 🙂
Happy weekending, friends.
Your turn.
- Favourite food item at your traditional Thanksgiving dinner?
- What home maintenance chore can you never seem to stay on top of? For me, it’s floors, laundry, and bathrooms. Oh, and food prep.
- What’s feeling most overwhelming in your life right now?
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I dont ever stay on top of dusting. I just dont like doing it, and the clean surface never lasts. So mostly I give up, until guests plan to come.
Overwhelmed? Thr first part of the week- yes! Too many papers to grade, too many tests. The house has descended into chaos. Some of my kids had fall break and were home all week. I looked up Wed morning at breakfast and realized no one would be home with my daughter would be alone for a 2 hour stretch. ( teen brother had band practice all morning, junior high brother still had school, everyone else had classes) How did I overlook that? I would have taken her to work with me, but I had tests to give and important things. So we figured out a plan- son drove her to husband’s work before going off to his college class, she hung out in his classroom for a period, then my son picked her after his class. However I cried all the way to work in the car that I screwed up so badly. (The schedule has sat on the fridge for months. No excuse).
Favorite Thanksgiving food? I do like turkey a lot, but its such a hassle to cut and store. I also feel a little guilty throwing away the carcass, but I just can’t deal with making broth. I’ve done it in t he past, and I decided that’s just too much. ( one more thrifty thing off my list).
I hope you have a great weekend, and sneak in a nap somewhere!
I also dislike dusting and don’t do it very often. That’s one time being fairly minimal in decor really helps. When I do dust, it’s straightforward.
You are very busy and have a lot of moving parts in your life. That’s not an excuse, that’s reality. Please do NOT feel shame over a lapse of 2 hours. AND you sorted it. Gold stars for doing that, and I’m sorry for the extra stress it added. It is a lot of work to manage work and home responsibilities. An overwhelming amount of work, actually.
Turkey is so much work to prep, clean up after, and then store. AGREED. Most years we just have a rotisserie chicken but Belle is not impressed by that shortcut. I think I’ll go back to that next year, though. Cheaper, easier, and I’d argue more delicious than a turkey.
Laundry – floors and bathrooms and dusting, I have a cleaning lady to help out, but laundry… Especially with all the sports activities, it just adds up.
I am grateful for being able to call in sick at work, and knowing that people have my back. I finally feel more on the mend, and less like I will crash once having done a minor activity. Although the thought of going back right now still feels somewhat overwhelming, also as I’m stepping in a new role. I’m sure it’ll feel more comfortable by December, but for now I’m not quite there yet.
Also grateful for all the sunshine this week, and ginger tea to support my immune system.
Overwhelm: holiday planning, there’s still a couple of loose ends for our holiday in Norway that I would like to get clarity on /sort out. Plus, we’re going on a family holiday with my in-laws, and as I’m good at organisation, I’m now in charge of booking everything 🤷 but hey, at least we’re now at the point that we know where we’re going and when!
Laundry is NEVER done.
I’m glad you’re feeling better and so happy you have some good support networks. Our bodies get sick and deserve rest, so I’m glad you’re moving in the right direction in terms of your recovery.
Ah yes, the liability of being good at planning. IT IS REAL! Things will get added to your plate. That said, sometimes it is 10x more work to try to organize other people to do the work that we’re best at. Double-edged sword.
I took a break in the middle of reading this post to look up Address Unknown on Libby. The hold time is 10 weeks!!! Was not expecting that, but I’m in line for it and will report back.
Happy Birthday John!!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!
It’s so good. A quick read, but with a VERY serious, important underlying theme. I thought it was brilliant.
Your father-in-law sounds hilarious! I can just imagine everyone cracking up over his “concourse” text!
And I think I need a Belle in my life for when I go clothes shopping. Perhaps she could learn to be a stylist, too, then we’d have that covered as well (or she could team up with Nicole and the two of them could become style consultants).
Overwhelming right now: I just some marathon-related happy news (more on that next week!) and I feel both excited and a little bit scared, too!
I AM IN for a Belle/ Nicole partnership!
Who uses the word concourse? He’ll also say things like: “We shall be going” and “sentry” and “insular”… hilarious.
I cannot WAIT to hear your news, Catrina.
And yes to a Nicole/Belle collab 🙂
The eagle has landed!
Girl, you and I are in this together, in terms of floors. You have Indy. I have Rex. I feel like they are in a floor-off to see who can cause the most chaos. If I don’t vacuum daily I feel like we will be ankle deep in dirt by day two. Even when I do it feels like we are ankle deep in dirt. It is never ending. Ah well, whatcha going to do. At least Rex is less expensive in terms of footwear. I remember those days, actually I remember when they could no longer fit into children’s sizes and whoa nelly, men’s shoes are so much more expensive.
Speaking of which, can I borrow Belle? I’ve never been able to find anything at thrift stores. I mean, perhaps if I went more frequently than every five years this wouldn’t be an issue. Hashtag lazy.
Thanksgiving dinner has traditionally been super gross and underwhelming to me, but since moving here and being in charge of all the side dishes, I’ve really had fun with it. All the roasted veggies! Plus I made a carrot cake and I put vanilla bean PASTE in the frosting and Elisabeth, it UPPED THE GAME.
I think teenage girls have some sort of talent for thrifting. Angie has found so many great things lately and basically has a whole new wardrobe. She’s loving it. I hope we get to see photos of these Halloween costumes!
Happy birthday to John! And your FIL. He sounds like a really great person- BUT it’s hard to have people visiting, no matter how much you love them. Your life does seem very hectic right now, and I don’t envy you (I need my ALONE TIME). Oh, I do envy one thing- you’re done with Thanksgiving and can focus on Christmas as much as you want!!! And btw I do love a gift guide.
I hope you get some time to relax this weekend!
I am also so glad to be finished with Thanksgiving, and I’m pretty sure I will revert back to rotisserie chicken next year. Turkey is just too much work/mess and I actually like the chicken just as much. I have not broken that piece of news to Belle, yet.
I know you like gift guides!!! They’re actually fun to pull together but the formatting… GAH!
I’m currently sipping coffee and “watching” Indy play Minecraft. Mostly he just likes someone sitting beside him, which means it’s a perfect time to get caught up on blog comments 🙂
I immediately stopped reading the post and put Address Unknown on hold at the library —thank you for the recommendation. Epistolary novels have never disappointed me—Daddy Long Legs, Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Correspondent, another whose title I have forgotten about someone writing to either Mr. Roosevelt or Mr. Churchhill. . . This caused me to look up epistolary novels, and holy cow, there’s a new one by Elizabeth Berg, one of the best novelists I know of. . . and I BOUGHT IT BRAND NEW! What’s the matter with me? I will be evicted from the Frugal Girl if I don’t get a grip.
I cannot wait to hear what you think of Address Unknown (no hard feelings if you don’t enjoy it as much as I did).
I’ve never even heard of Elizabeth Berg. Let me know how it is.
I feel like I’m a horrible influence on your frugal ways. I seem to be the one surreptitiously convincing you to buy things new (multiple books now, a MUG!). That said, money is there to be spent on things that bring joy and I very much hope this new book does just that.
Work is absolutely bonkers for me right now and I don’t even want to think about it. Ha! I might have to work on the weekend, which is something I really hate to do. Oh, well.
I immediately ordered Address Unknown from my library because what’s one more book when you already have a dozen books checked out, right?
Ugh. I hope you manage to avoid working this weekend.
I am so far behind on my TBR. Such is the life of a reader. Address Unknown is SO short. I’m not convinced you’ll like it, but I will be very curious to hear what you have to think.
Glad you had a good Thanksgiving, and your FIL sounds like a hoot! Happy birthday to John!
I have a child with a November birthday, then Christmas, then an early January birthday, then a February… ahh!! That is overwhelming me right now. Also we have a lot of trees on our property and all the leaves are falling, it’s a lot to clean up.
A very happy thing is that we got our pool closed last night, so that can officially be off of my to do list for the next 7 months.
A “hoot” describes it perfectly.
It is such a relief to get big things crossed off the list. I’m sure the time to wind down the pool can be a bit nebulous, so hooray for it being “done and dusted” for another season.
That’s a lot of celebrations/gifts in quick succession. I’m feeling a bit less scattered now that Thanksgiving and two family birthdays are done (all in the span of a week!); Indy’s birthday is next, then Christmas. But I really need to get my brain in gear about some gift ideas. I have a few things in my head, but haven’t actually ordered anything. Maybe next week?
happiest birthday to JOHN!!! also I would LOVE to eat that seafood casserole again- it was SO GOOD!
I have always felt bad you didn’t get a wholly authentic seafood casserole experience (I did a “quick” version when you came to visit), so I’m relieved to hear you enjoyed it!
Another birthday in the books… next up: Indy’s!!!
We do easy Thanksgiving with just the two of us. We buy a precooked turkey breast, gravy in a jar, instant mashed potatoes, canned cranberry sauce, canned sweet potatoes, and a pumpkin pie. Dave used to make our pie but even that has now gone by the wayside.
We have a housekeeping service included in our rent but she does not dust our silk plants. It takes me a long time to finally do that.
Our daughter is coming to visit for a few days next week–Monday instead of Friday as planned. So the things we had planned before her visit are all needing to be rescheduled. We’ll still be glad to see her. She’s going to help me make new versions of overnight oats while she’s here–banana walnut!
I get almost no pleasure out of prepping a big meal; we use boxed stuffing (preferred), baked potato (about the easiest preparation), canned corn, canned cranberry, and delicious, boughten pies.
Enjoy the visit with your daughter. I hope it’s both delicious (banana walnut overnight oats sound so good) and fun.
My favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal is stuffing/dressing. I look forward to it every year! (And somehow never get my life together to have it any OTHER time of the year, lol)
Dusting is definitely the cleaning task I never stay on top of. And cleaning the tub, ughhh. I loathe that chore!
I’m just overwhelmed at the thought of going back to work after two weeks off. I’m just thinking about my inbox and could I log on this weekend and try to tackle some of it? Sure. But I am not going to do that because work still does not exist in my world for another three days!
Stuffing is the family favourite in our house, too. I think really juicy white meat from the turkey trumps the rest for me.
Cleaning the tub. It’s the devil’s chore, Stephany. HATE it and mostly just avoid it.
Enjoy the rest of your time off. The work will wait and I bet you’ll be caught up faster than you anticipate <3
Have you tried buying a small turkey and spatchcocking it? Takes way less time to cook and also takes up hardly any oven height which helps a lot in a many dish situation. (Though I totally support your chicken plan! I usually do chicken for Christmas if it’s a smaller group, more people actually like it).
I have never done spatchcocking, but I was reading about it. Maybe something to consider for Christmas.
I am going to go back to chicken next Thanksgiving, I think. SO MUCH EASIER (and equally delicious).
After seeing all the great photos of Indy jumping, climbing, launching, and hurling himself onto and off of every known structure in the world, I’m not surprised to find out that he goes through shoes quickly! Happy birthday to John! You are very busy, but it sounds like everything is going well. Dusting is where I fail at housekeeping. Ugh! I need to go dust right now!
Ha. Good point. Yes, Indy is a VERY active boy 🙂
I hate dusting, too. Other than tidying, I don’t really like any housekeeping, if I’m being completely honest.
Happy birthday, John!
I love that your daughter is so skilled at finding things while thrifting. That is a very cool, very useful superpower.
It is definitely a unique superpower. I have it, to a lesser degree, but it’s truly uncanny how she can basically always find these obscure things on the first try!
I hope your visit with your FIL is perfect. Happy birthday to both him and John!!
Girl, you made my eyes light up when you wrote anticipatory fatigue. I never knew there was a term for that! I get it!!
We will have our Thanksgiving next month and it’s all about comfort food. Turkey, mashed taters, roasted veggies. I love it.
I love that Belle can find whatever is needed while thrifting. This is a talent I would like to have myself!
I feel so seen by the other people who feel anticipatory fatigue. I guess it’s just a fancy word for dread?
Comfort food is the best. And it makes sense we have that in spades at a time we’re celebrating things we’re thankful for!
Happy birthday to John and your FIL! Your FIL sounds like a true delight.
Anticipatory fatigue – YES! I completely get it. My husband does not… he sees it affect me and tries to help assuage it but he also just doesn’t experience it himself. It’s nice to know this is not just a me thing to be exhausted just thinking about All the Upcoming Things.
Hope you have a lovely and refreshing weekend!
Ps In case it helps with your blog troubleshooting, commenting was not working whatsoever for me yesterday because it wouldn’t let me see past where I type in my email.
It is definitely not just a you thing!! (I also think it is far more common for women, likely because we tend to juggle a lot more logistics simultaneously than men do and tend to manage home/children which are a never-ending source of fatigue.
Sorry about the blog commenting 🙁
Your father-in-law sounds like an absolute delight. I just love people who are so confident in themselves and don’t feel like they have to fit a certain mold, but who also aren’t doing it to seek attention.
Belle has a real gift! I don’t often have such luck at thrift stores, but then again, I don’t go that often. Greta has had good luck at our neighborhood thrift store though — I feel like most of the clothes I find there are so out of style, but she manages to find good staple pieces.
Happy birthday to John. Your tribute to him was so sweet!
Home maintenance that falls by the wayside: cleaning the tub/shower, mopping the kitchen floor, and keeping the counters clear. I have a hard enough time keeping myself from piling things on the counter, let alone managing the five other people who can and do leave things there too (George obviously can’t reach the counter yet, but in a few years I’m sure he’ll be just as guilty as the rest of us).
Ha, he DEFINITELY breaks all sorts of molds 🙂
I think kids have a bit more patience in looking?
Ha. Yes, I guess you can’t blame that specific sort of mess on George, but babies come with a lot of paraphernalia.
The story of your father in law made me laugh. I had to google concourse to remember what it means exactly hehe. Love it. Happy birthday John! That was a busy week. We don’t have thanksgiving in Australia so I don’t have a favourite dinner, but I generally love seafood over turkey any day! Laundry and tidying up are the chores that never end for me – the kids are like a whirlwind causing chaos wherever they go in the house at all time. The thing causing overwhelm right now is WORK! Its been SOOO busy for the last couple of months, and I’m tired and ready for a holiday. But still a couple of months to go until I have a proper break. Sigh. But then I’ll have almost a month off over Christmas. Hooray.
Yes, Google is frequently needed with my FIL. He is a master of vocabulary!!
Hang in there!!! That is a long stretch until Christmas, but I’m delighted you’ll have almost a month off. I hope it is truly restorative.
I need a picture of Belle and her friend in their Curious George + Man in the Yellow Hat costume (did you know the man’s name is Ted? We learned that in one of the Curious George books we read! Both boys have loved it but Will especially loves that show. Isn’t it odd that the monkey has a name but the human doesn’t? I mean all the other characters have names – but not Ted (well unless you read allll the books and discover that detail on your own).
I am glad you had a great birthday + Thanksgiving celebration. Your FIL sounds delightful.
I can’t pick just one dish that I love on Thanksgiving! I love the combo of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. My mom always makes me my own GF stuffing. Yum!
And gosh, what isn’t overwhelming me these days? Top of mind is deposition prep… I just spent over 2.5 hours makes detailed notes which involved looking up appt notes from 3 hospital/clinic mychart platforms + looking through therapy notes that my therapist exports and sent to me. Next up is making the instruction list for my parents… it’s a lot trickier since they need to get the kids to/from school. Usually give them very few instructions and just let them wing it but it’s different when the kids need to be on a schedule!
I feel like somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain I did know it was Ted. I actually kind of love it that the monkey has a name and the man is described by his hat colour. Isn’t that JUST like how a kid would think? Describing an adult by some defining characteristic??
I loved, loved, LOVED Curious George as a kiddo. We own two of the treasuries and I read all those stories to my kids a lot, but I don’t think they ever took to him quite as much as I did.
What’s isn’t overwhelming… GAH! Isn’t that the truth, especially for you. I really, really, really hope that this next step in the legal saga goes smoothly (can’t something go smoothly for you in all this???). None of this is fun, it’s all stressful, but you are doing all sorts of hard things and there WILL be a time after this. So many hugs <3
Hi! Just discovered your blog through your Happy Things Friday post — what a lovely ritual. My happy thing this week was finalizing a Christmas gift guide for the blog I run — there’s something about October that makes Christmas feel close and exciting at the same time. Do you start your Christmas prep early too, or are you more of a December person?
I pick away at Christmas things over the year (finding gifts here and there, especially at thrift stores)… but mostly don’t go all in on prep until mid-November.
Confirming that I have dropped everything and added “Address Unknown” to my TBR list! Will try to remember to report back when I read it, but it sounds brilliant.
Also, I’m totally giggling that “10pm” is your “early to bed”… it’s made me realise how much of an early bird i really am.
Final thought – I love love love that red colour on you!! The thrifted dress is divine!
I am so curious to hear people’s feedback about this little book.
10 pm is early for me… but I’d also like to fit in a nap every single day 🙂
Aww. Thanks for such a sweet compliment. I love thrifting.