Summer

I stepped outside today and felt the warm, almost-summer humidity that is nearly tangible during the summer months in this part of the country. You can almost bottle it up. On one hand I thought, "Is it summer already!?" On the other hand, I thought "It's about damn time."

I am currently in a state of not-drowning and I am relishing every second. There were some intensely stressful work moments last week. We had a monthly meeting with Cooper's teacher last week and found out that there is a huge, scary decision to be made regarding Cooper's schooling next year. Greg and I also had to decide on our summer approach for his therapy since he does not qualify for ESY services. These are doable things. We can do this. After the last year? This stuff is small potatoes.

Several months passed since I stopped my anti-depressant that I was on for 3 years. It took a bit to remember how to deal with BIG feelings. I am a feeler. I get hurt easily. This is the first year that I recognize that it isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is just that, a thing. It is part of who I am. The medication I was on did not erase my panic, anxiety, and feelings. It did, however, take the edge off of them. It made it a little easier to breathe. That being said, I am doing pretty well without it! It is overwhelming to feel my anxiety in full force, but it is great to feel the good feelings in full force. I think I was on the medication so long that I didn't realize it was also dulling the good things too.

Thanks to a new summer flex opportunity, my work schedule is temporarily changing as of Tuesday and I couldn't be happier. I am switching to 4, 10-hour days with a 3 day weekend every week until Labor Day. I hope that this will help build up PTO, go on a few long-weekend camping trips and attend Cooper's appointments without having to stay late at work to make up the time. I am so thrilled for the change!

Cooper has grown and changed so incredibly much over the last 6 months. I look at him sometimes and it just hits me. He is his own person. He has limbs that get a little stronger with each month, and one hell of a personality. He gets pissed when the weather changes and he can no longer wear his jacket every day. Rain makes him sleepy. To him, water is still the best. thing. ever. He loves to pick up any phone or camera he can find and open up the camera to view his world through a camera lens. He loves to see people laugh. He is more attached to his favorite blanket than Linus was. The fact that he turns 4 in less than a month completely boggles my mind and makes me ovaries hurt.

So, summer. Hello there. I hope I can continue on this path of not-drowning. I hope the run of not being sick continues. Cookouts and seeing friends would be grand. Maybe a camping trip or 3? Beers and bonfires. Borrowed pool time and a million freckles. All the good things. Let's make it happen.

Back to reality: meal edition

The end of April and early-mid May were pretty chaotic. There was a quick trip to NY for my grandpa's funeral service at the end of April. A week after returning from NY I was back on the road but this time headed to FL. Both of those trips were stressful in their own ways, but there were good memories involved too.

Now it's back to reality until I manage to convince my husband to venture somewhere else. The laundry situation is slowly catching up but the meal situation is back to it's lazy person state of "Pizza? Okay. Cookout? Okay." Starting today, I'm making an effort to change that. Summer is around the corner and with that, fresher produce. Salad actually starts to sound appetizing when the temperature heats up. Now that Greg doesn't work until 10PM we also have the opportunity for grilling.

Here are a few new things I plan to try out this week:
Chopped salad with spiced chickpeas
She had me at "chickpeas" and "feta." I'm planning to make this for work lunches.

Lemon ricotta parmesan pasta with chicken and spinach
2 types of cheese and pasta, but clearly the chicken and spinach make it healthy?

Grilled balsamic steak with tomatoes and arugula
Any night that Greg grills is a good night. That + the fact that this is a Skinnytaste recipe pretty much guarantees a recipe win.

We're also cooking up some go-to meals. BLTs on sourdough, salsa chicken tacos, tangy lentil salad. It's so easy to get into a recipe/cooking rut. Hopefully these will spice things up a bit and I can get into the habit of actively trying new (healthyish) recipes each week. As always, that pun was intended.