First off, I realized I never shared the boys’ Mother’s Day cards. They were very sweet, and also very different, which actually made me smile, because the boys are different, of course!
Asher, who is naturally artistic but sadly is not currently doing anything to continue fostering this (he used to do a ton of sketching and drawing and has lots of fancy supplies, but recently has not been…), made me a homemade card.
He wrote me a very heartfelt message, which either he meant sincerely OR he is just good at knowing “what you’re supposed to say”. 😉😉 Haha. There’s nothing particularly personal or embarrassing, so I don’t think he’ll mind me sharing:
Love it! I hung it on the bulletin board behind my desk.
Ethan is definitely more the “buy a card” a type, lol, and would be more a man of fewer words, typically. And probably not the guy who will write up a sentimental message. 😉
I’m the G.O.A.T!! 🤩😁
Both cards were perfect. 🙂
We had AMAZING summer-like weather last week (let’s not talk about the cold, wet weather this week…). One morning, Ivan had an appointment and therefore was leaving a bit later for work. I was going to shower, but it was just a gloriously beautiful morning outside. Asher was about to eat breakfast when I realized I didn’t have any early meetings. I opted to briefly delay my “start to the day” and suggested he eat on the deck and asked Ivan to have coffee out there with us, too.
It was just 10-15 minutes but it was a really great start to the day! Out of the ordinary, so it felt special. 🙂
On Friday, Ethan was at tennis Conference all day in downtown Madison. (It’s kind of entering like “play off” season, so he actually was not playing this time; only the top few seeds play I guess. He went along to be with his team, though.)
Anyway, we didn’t attend and he drove himself. In the evening, the timing worked out where he was about to head home just as we were heading downtown for dinner.
I texted him to see if he wanted to meet up with us, and he did! I hadn’t been really planning on this, so it was a fun, unexpected surprise. Also, it’s crazy to have a kid old enough to “meet us at a downtown restaurant”.
Saturday I had a big chunk of the day to myself – Ethan at tennis again, Ivan at soccer, Asher at work.
I needed a gift, so I took myself to our little local downtown to browse a few of the shops. I have actually never even been inside a couple of these shops- they’re just local gift/novelty shop type places. Also, I rarely frequent our local main street in general, so this also felt “out of routine” and fun!
I am a sucker for dumb funny jokes, so I had to snap pics of these coasters I saw:
And this sign made me laugh, too:
I then went on a little excursion to Menards, as we still need cabinet pulls for our new bathroom. (Side note- I realized I’ve never shared how beautiful our remodeled bathroom turned out! I will wait until these final touches are installed, and then I will!)
I actually wanted to go look at a local lumber/ cabinet store, but drove there only to find they are closed on Saturdays and only open M-F 7-4. Hmm. Interesting hours! (Presumably many people who might be in the market for cabinet related things might be, you know, working to pay for the cabinets during the hours of 7-4!) Oh well. They’re probably more geared toward contractors, I guess.
I picked Asher up from work at 4, and from there we drove to the Dells to go to the big Outlet mall there. He has been wanting/ needing some new shirts (like polos for golf, or just button downs for more “dress up” occasions, i.e. not t-shirts).
It’s about 45 minutes away via a pretty, mostly countryside interstate route. He drove us there and we listened to music and it was really fun! 🙂
We stayed until they closed at 8, and then went to nearby MACs for dinner. He got fancy mac n cheese and I got a toastie (grilled cheese). He commented several times that the whole evening was so nice. 💗
On Sunday we had Ethan’s tennis banquet at noon, which meant a ~30 minute drive to and from school….
We made Ethan drive us on the way home, just to spot check his driving skills. 😉
The tennis coach is young (a recent UW college grad last week!) and doesn’t really do a big formal banquet program like we’ve seen for soccer + swim. It was casual and short and sweet. (Which, in the middle of our Sunday, I think people generally appreciated…).
The food was good! The team ordered tons of pizzas, and then all the parents also brought side dishes and desserts. (We brought two fruit platters that I sent Ivan out to buy Sunday morning.)
In other news this week, dare I announce here (tentatively… I am admittedly horrible at sticking to “diets”): I am going to do a month of Whole 30! I know it’s old news, but I’ve never done it before.
I have been feeling for a long time that something that I eat or in my general diet does not really agree with my body. I tend to get bloated easily (though no other digestion issues, so it’s confusing) and have had ongoing, very frustrating issues with my skin breaking out. Dr. Google and multiple podcasts and other sources all seem to indicate often these two things can mean my body is “not happy” in some way.
I’ve never done an elimination diet, but I mostly just want to try eating only real/whole foods for a while (Whole 30 includes cutting out gluten, dairy, grains, processed foods, sugar, alcohol) and just SEE if I notice or feel any differences.
The timing is a little wonky, I guess. I am just planning to do this until we leave for Copenhagen on June 11, so it’s only like 25 days, and obviously I’m not going to do a special diet while on vacation.
I figure- if I notice any marked improvements, I can always try it again another time when I can do the strategic “reintroduction” of foods part at the end.
*I am not 100% confident I can/will stick to this, and Asher immediately said, “Yeah, you’re never gonna make it”. 😅 But I really do want to try!! It’s only very temporary, so seems… reasonable?!
At least I can have eggs! And potatoes! And all the fruits and veggies I want… Ha.
And finally, a small collection of a couple funny things I’ve saved recently:
This one CRACKED ME UP! Hahaha.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for my dear friend Sarah! Happy 45th Birthday to SHU today! Can’t wait to celebrate in Nova Scotia! (Well, I guess we can celebrate MY birthday, which is actually in October, and your… half birthday? lol. 😆😆)
GRATEFUL KAE 
Good luck with W30!! I did that probably over 10 years ago? It was challenging and expensive since you mostly eat meat and fresh produce. I had already been GF for quite some time so it was a little bit easier for me, but I do eat rice and such so it was still an adjustment. I would have dreams that I accidentally ate something I shouldn’t have and would wake up feeling sooo guilty. Phil and I were not living together at the time but I remember him thinking the whole thing was dumb/silly. Which is very on brand for him. Ha. You are supposed to reintroduce things one food at a time but I did not do that as I just did not feel like prolonging the restrictive eating. But I think dairy is not great for me. And I know that ice cream in particular does not sit well with me typically. And yet I still eat it!
The mother’s days cards from the boys are so cute! Especially Asher’s! What a sweet kid! The boys both made me things at school so that was sweet. I tried to talk them into making something for their grandmas but neither was interested in that… art is so not their thing!
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I know, I feel like Whole 30 is old news now and I haven’t even read the book and all of that, so this is sort of random, but I just mostly feel like I want to see how I feel after a bit of eating only whole foods. I feel like my diet has sort of snowballed into reaching to too many processed and/or dairy things for snacks, and we eat out often, and it just adds up. So even though I also eat lots of “healthy” meals, I feel the ratio of “unhealthy” foods is just a bit higher than it should be. Maybe I won’t actually be able to pinpoint my issues this go-round, but I don’t think I’ve EVER not eaten dairy or gluten for even a single day! Also, I know my fruit/veggie intake is not where it should be, so I’m also just curious to see how my body responds when I truly fuel it with good nourishment for a while! I agree with you (and Bridget below) that the reintroduction piece is probably necessary to really figure anything out, but, oh well. Hahaha.
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My kids completely forgot about Mother’s Day and are past the point of doing things in school so I got…nothing. (Oh, and my husband left the country that morning.) Thankfully I am 100% okay with it. I know my kids love me, I’m not big into gifts (aside from Christmas) and it was a pleasant, regular day for me.
I have done Whole30 twice. I found it tough. The first time, I felt amazing. The second time, I ate a lot of onions and garlic and discovered at the end that I had built up an intolerance to both and ended up spending most of the second Whole30 feeling terrible. The first time it was just John and I doing it; the second time was during COVID and we involved the kids and that was hard because I couldn’t just hand them random things for snacks. I think doing it solo and without your kiddos eating along will make it totally manageable.
It was not sustainable for me at all, but I learned some really great things from eating that way.
NOVA SCOTIA! I am counting down the days. Seriously.
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Oh wow, I can’t imagine doing it with the kids! My kids would be a hard pass. I tried to get Ivan to do it, but before I even asked him, I knew he would say NO. Haha. He is a rebel on the personality tendencies and doesn’t like being told what to do! Also does not like restrictive diets, lol. He is a much better moderator, I think, where I do tend to do better with more clear cut rules/ structure.
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Hi! I’m a relatively new reader but wanted to speak up on the Whole30. I have done it a couple times and messed up on reintroduction both times. They really should have called it the Whole45— without the reentry phase, its kinda a waste of effort, but I am DONE at day 30. I knew I felt better but never got definitive info about which food impacted me. I recently started working with a dietician and downloaded the mysymptoms app (for android, iPhone has better, similiar app options) I can track what I eat and my symptoms and whatever else I want (mood, sleep, meds, supplements, etc) and AI finds patterns. 100% worth the effort for me. It’s not fool proof but felt like a much better investment of effort to outcomes before starting another elimination diet. For example, peservatives may be my culprit rather than gluten like I suspected in the past.
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Hi! Welcome 🙂 Thanks for the comment! Thanks for sharing your experience. I can totally see how that reintroduction phase would be really important. And, in my case, with us having a trip on the horizon, I know I won’t be able to properly do that. BUT, I guess in this case I don’t have super high expectations of what I’ll necessarily “figure out” right now. I think I mostly just want to see how my body feels and responds if I eat only whole, real foods for a while. I just feel like my diet has shifted too far away from that style of eating, too few fruits/ veggies, etc. Also, I tend to eat quite a LOT of dairy….I’m treating it mostly like a mini-experiment!
That app and using AI for that purpose seems genius! What a great idea! It is mind boggling how many different things could cause issues for people, like you say with the preservatives, etc… so complicated to figure out!
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I love that you are trying an experiment with your body– it’s always fascinating what we learn!
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Kae, I’ve been feeling the same way- something in my body is just not happy and I can’t figure out what it is. I think doing the Whole 30 diet is a good idea- I’m contemplating something similar. I’ll be interested to follow along with you!
And… those cards. Yes, each one is perfect in its own way! Paul is my sweet son who always seem to know the right thing to say (OR, the thing he thinks I want to hear???) and Angie is… not. Ha ha. Both Ethan and Asher nailed it.
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Never done the whole 30 but will be following along with your journey!
Those cards are precious! I got a card that had a cat on it and was making “meow” sounds lol plus another drawn by L- the four of us holding hands.
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Good luck with the whole 30! I think eliminating process food helps with bloating in general. Acne could be related to food or it’s due to fungal or bacteria infection. Worths trying this first and see if it improves.
Love boys cards! It’s always nice to receive them no matter how many times.
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I’ve been having very weird digestive issues and I need to see a GI doc, and I am VERY NERVOUS that they are going to suggest some sort of elimination diet, which I’ve never been good about doing. I hate the restriction! I will be interested in seeing what insights you gain from it.
Those Mother’s Day cards melted my heart! Especially Asher’s sweet note.
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