Weekend Warrior #24

by Tish MacWebber | Aug 6, 2017 | Weekend Warrior

If you have ever wondered why I picked the “Angry Tomato” pic for this series, there are a few reasons.  One is that it made me laugh, out loud.  I reacted to it, so I decided it would work.  Another is because I am fighting my way to living a healthier lifestyle, and I wanted a kitchen themed picture for this series.  I try to do the cooking and cleaning on the weekends, I find it had to work at during the work week.  I have had some success this year in my spring cleaning challenge, but as of yet, I have not finished.  I choose not to dwell on what I have not done and try to move forward because of what I have done.

I am planning my day out, dreading the return to work tomorrow.  I am a firm believer that there should be less week and more weekend.  I do not have the power or the budget to sustain a lifestyle that does not include a day job, so the reality is, I have to keep the day job, even if I would rather devote all of my time to being creative and writing.

Which brings me to my books.  I have started them, yes.  I have had an idea (finally) this morning about where to continue as I plan to write some more today.  I don’t know if I will succeed in writing enough to complete the weekend challenge I joined, but I am going to see what I could do.  That is how I entered.  This doesn’t count, as it is not progressing on my book.  I will add it to the word count as a side project, because it is writing, nonetheless. I do have deadlines with my blog, too, though and I have to do my best to keep up with it here for myself, and for my followers.  Thank you to those who are taking the time to read my Blog, and welcome to any people who are new here.  I write at least twice a week, and this is one of my regular categories. Me vs the weekend. 🙂

Yesterday I got up early, bought and delivered a birthday present to a friend.  Her birthday had been the day before, and I wanted to make sure I got to see her.  We had a good talk, but as she was working it wasn’t the same as a real visit.  I am going to try and pop over again today, as I think it would be nice.

I then tackled some indoor gardening projects.  I have read online that spiders and other bugs do not like mint plants.  A few weeks ago, I had bought six different mint plants, and my husband replanted them into new pots for me.  I have noticed that they were drying up.  I am still trying to figure out a watering schedule for them.  I watered them from the top yesterday when I was finished, and just before I started writing I watered them from the bottom.  I will have to do some online research.  While I was working yesterday I found a green “leaf eater” bug, which my husband buried in the dirt saying that it is a leaf eater, that should be the end of it.  I have my doubts.  I also found an inchworm in another one, and that was successfully relocated outside on a leaf from that plant.  Late last night I got him to move a ladybug back outside for me.  The ants and spiders are not found as frequently inside, so that is a bonus.  I am hoping it works and more bugs stay outside.

Something else was a little confusing.  There is a spearmint plant amongst the varieties I bought, and around the base of the pot on the shelf that I have it on are a lot of hard, black dots.  It is either droppings from a critter or the plant went to seed because it was so dry.  I am not sure, the black bits are no bigger than granulated sugar pieces.  They may indeed be little seeds.  I may gather them up and plant them, to see what comes up!

My husband worked a few extra hours yesterday.  He has been doing that on one of his days off to help with our budget.  I am not going to write about my work here, at least not this week, I had a frustrating week.  I am going to leave it at that, and it is also the reason I did not do any over time at my work this week.  Sometimes I do.  This week it just wasn’t going to happen.

After he was done, we picked up a few groceries.  He made us subs for lunch and he barbequed some wieners for supper.  We then headed out to spend time with some friends.  He had a guys gaming night, and I watched a movie with another friend and called it a ladies night.  Sometimes it is important to plan activities apart.  Other times, like today, we will spend more time together.  It is OK to not spend every single minute with your significant other when you have free time.  It is healthy to have different friends, hobbies and activities.  There is still a common ground for the things you enjoy doing together, but a little break here and there is something we all need.

For prep cooking today I am making Bangin’ Ranch Drums.  It is a Trim Healthy Mama recipe.  I love it, and my husband is OK with it in the rotation, but like with all of the THM recipes, he doesn’t want it all the time.  We also got buns for barbequed cheeseburgers and sloppy joes.  I have some THM sloppy joe mix already made in my freezer.  He likes Manwich.  On this, I am OK with him making his own supper.  If I am to be on plan when I eat it, I will have it with salad, not on a bun.  I may make some green bean fries this week too, as I do enjoy them as a side with the chicken.  I am still working on everything all at once but trying to be realistic at the same time.

Today I will be continuing the cat sitting job.  I also did some plant care there yesterday, they have one houseplant and it needed TLC.  I don’t know about the plant boxes on the deck, though.  They look like they have had a rough summer, and I am not sure if they can be rescued.  I may try, just to surprise my friends when they come home.  I will see how the day goes.  It is very dry, there is a no fire ban here province wide. If I do work on the outdoor plants, I will have to remember to water them.  If they don’t read this, it will be a nice surprise.  If they do, I make no promises.  It may be beyond saving.

I am a member of the Fredericton Science Fiction Society.  The FSFS gets together a little less frequently than it used to, but today we are going to meet up at a local ice cream shop.  My husband is a member too, and the group usually has potluck events year round.  With a ban on fires, we decided it would be better to go have ice cream instead of an outdoor BBQ at a local park today.  Air conditioning may or may not have been a deciding factor in this plan.

We have to do some cleaning.  While I was working on my indoor gardening yesterday, my husband was trimming the lawn.  He didn’t mow it yet.  It is still very dry so there may not be a rush for that.  He is amused that I think we should water it with the garden hose.  It is turning brown.  I just want it to be healthy, and not be so dry it is at risk for burning.  There was a thunderstorm last night, but we need more rain to remove the risk of fires, sooner rather than later.

All in all a busy weekend, but thankfully, it has been going at a slower pace this week.  It is a holiday tomorrow, and I look forward to the holiday pay that I *may have* already spent yesterday.  It is OK. I will forfeit it to the budget since I went ahead and bought some extras.  It’s all about compromise and doing what you can to make life enjoyable with what you have to work with.  Weekends are supposed to be fun and relaxing.  I think I snuck a little of each in this weekend, so it is a win for me!  What did you do this weekend?