What's Up Wednesday: May 2024

If you read my blog regularly, you will notice that I haven't posted much this month. That's because May has been kicking our butts. We've had a full month topped with very few days when all four of us have been healthy and it's been a struggle. So this post reflects "all the things happening" combined with "someone is sick...again."

I really do love answering the What's Up Wednesday questions every month. I like how they help me reflect on the past month and I love having a monthly record of what we've been up to. I go back and re-read these posts often.The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... I don't remember exactly how I found it, but Tanya who blogs at "The Other Side of the Road" linked to a bread recipe on another blog of hers. I baked some at the beginning of May and now I "can't stop, won't stop." I've baked this bread three times already this month. We all LOVE it and it's a super easy, fast, recipe. And since the recipe only makes two loaves, we gobble it up before it goes stale. You can find the recipe here. I highly recommend you make some!

What I'm reminiscing about... I'm reminiscing about when we were all healthy! Hahaha! No, I don't really know what I'm reminiscing about this month. Except for the illnesses we've been dealing with, I am loving life right now and not thinking about the past.

What I'm loving... We randomly ended up with some rhubarb (long story) and so I made some rhubarb syrup for St Petersburg Burros -- a drink my dad invented one summer. It's basically a Moscow Mule with the addition of rhubarb syrup and it's sooooo good! I've been loving having these to drink this month!

 

What we've been up to... Besides all the sickness, we've been up to a lot.

We belatedly celebrated my birthday with a yummy supper and by going to get ice cream.

 

I volunteered for Rachel's dance performance rehearsals and the first show but, sadly, didn't get to actually watch the performance because I came down with the stomach flu :( Boo.

 

 We celebrated Mother's Day at a "pick your own tulips" farm!

We belatedly celebrated Sam's birthday at a Toronto FC soccer game with two of his friends, a sleepover, and a waffles and bacon brunch.

 

We've done a bunch of yard work. These are two of my current favourite spots in our yard.

We enjoyed our first pool visit...

...and our first food trucks visit.

We didn't enjoy an ER visit but are thankful for good health care and for the hope of better health soon. (Posted with Sam's permission, in case you were wondering.)

I tried throwing pizza dough, somewhat successfully!

And in moments of calm, we've been enjoying morning coffee and reading outside in the afternoons.

What I'm dreading... As I mentioned above in "reminiscing," I'm loving life right now (except for the health stuff) so I'm also not dreading anything this month.

What I'm working on... Well, I bought 73 annuals and I've only planted five of them thus far, so I should be working on that this week! Hahaha! There's also always more weeding to do as shown in the picture on the right :)

We've also been working on "deep cleaning" our house, one room at a time. This month we've done our bedroom and Rachel's room. We only have a couple of rooms left and we've been working on them when it rains. I'm loving having more time to get things done around the house now that we have a bit of a dance break!

 

What I'm excited about... I went on an Art Walk to highlight public works of art in our downtown. It was really interesting and fun. Best of all, our city has produced a guide so that we can tour the art on our own. I am excited to take my family on a guided walk of all the art in our downtown. I know I only got to see a small portion of it on the walk I took. Best of all, one of my co-workers has a few pieces featured!!!

What I'm watching/reading... During Covid, our library got rid of overdue fines. While I appreciate the principle, these past few months I've been considering asking them to reinstate fines solely for me! Hahahaha! I have so many overdue books right now so I've been working on getting them read and returned to the library. I am the worst.

 

Not all of these books are overdue, just more than the library appreciates :)

 

As for watching, Sam's soccer season has started but he's been too sick to play :( Hopefully he'll be able to start soon. I'm looking forward to watching him on the soccer fields, rather than just in our back yard, and not only because soccer in the back yard leads to the breaking of my solar lights and various plants in our flower beds :) 

What I'm listening to... As I write this I'm listening to our ice machine making ice. Three of us love ice and the fourth person doesn't understand our obsession! My favourite thing to do in the afternoon when I come home from work is put some lime juice in my Guinness glass, fill it with ice, and dump in a can of Coke. YUM! And every night I take a glass or two of water, ice, and lime to bed. I really love our ice machine :)

What I'm wearing... I had been wanting a pair of denim capris for a few years and I finally saw a pair at Costco! Hahahaha! I snatched them up and I have been loving them! They have a bit of stretch and are so comfortable. So I've been wearing these a lot this past month.

What I'm doing this weekend... We're going to a baseball game, a birthday party, and possibly an art show. It's going to be a full weekend and I can't wait!!!

What I'm looking forward to next month... We still have a full month left of school (and work for me) but I'm looking forward to celebrating Rachel's birthday, a fun baseball experience (I hope!), and some special visitors :) Dave has another work trip but this time he won't be gone over our anniversary so I'm looking forward to that as well.

What I bought on Amazon... I didn't buy anything on Amazon this month.

So that's what's been up with us -- more sickness than we would like, more housecleaning and yard work than I'd anticipated (but I love it), some belated birthday celebrating, and some fun exploring. This is one of my favourite times of the year so I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible.

Happy Wednesday!!!