First of all, thank you so much to everyone who commented on my last post. You made me feel better!

Let’s look back on this past week. Context: I am home, the kids are home. My husband is working, mainly from home, with two days on site.

I started HRT. A weekly estrogen patch and a nightly progesterone pill. It’s only been five days but I can confirm that I’ve been waking up with random morning headaches (similar to those after you’ve had some wine the night before). Those headaches usually dissipate after I’ve had some water and coffee.

Progesterone makes me feel very woozy, almost like taking a sleeping pill?… The sight where my patch is glued is itchy. Will update more as time progresses. I have been given a supply of three months then my doctor and I will re-evaluate.

My daughter is a cooker! If you know my blog and life, I usually do not enjoy cooking or baking. I just did not grow up with it, and in my childhood we ate only very basic food. Rarely a baked cookie that we made ourselves. The kitchen was off limits.

My 8 year old is changing my bad attitude toward making fun things in the kitchen. She got a magazine in the mail (“Tween”) and the magazine had recipes.

So far, she made peach bars, eggs in windows, muffins, omelettes, ramen, and pumpkin spice cookies with frosting. I showed her how to cut stuff a while back but this time I showed her how to turn the gas stove on. She tends to rush through the steps (Sagittarius fire sign?..) so I had to guide a little but she did great. And, you can review fractions when baking.

Pool and walks. We wanted to go down the shore this week but, because of my headaches and just overall feeling out-of-sorts due to HRT, we stayed local. Playground time and pool time. My son decided he had to read at the pool.

Speaking of reading! On audio I have “Valentine” by Elizabeth Wetmore. On Kindle is “A Family Matter” by Clare Lynch and on paper is my non-fiction book “Unstressable” by Mo Gaudat and Alice Law.

Also in reading are the two cookbooks that arrived yesterday “Love and Lemons Feel Good Food” by Jeanine Donofrio and “Moosewood Cookbook” by Mollie Katzen. We are in a cooking rut, to say the least. So I was inspired by my 8 year old daughter and want to learn a few new recipes before the school year starts and I’m ripping my hair out. Both cookbooks are plant-based. Loaded salads, hearty soups, sauces for pasta, grain bowls, even sweets.

I finally subscribed to The Purse! From their website: “The Purse is a site about money and work and relationships and motherhood and all the big and little things that make our world go round. It’s written by veteran financial journalists Lindsey Stanberry and Alicia Adamczyk.”

My favorite sections are 1. question of the week, 2. home economics, and 3. division of labor. Home economics features real families (low-, medium-, and high-earners) and the breakdown of their finances, in an anonymous, very honest and humbling way. And the Division of labor section profiles families and their set up of who does what in the house.

Exercise. This was my first week back from our trip and I really struggled with jet lag. For the first four to five days I was up early and went to bed early.

I went to the Y on Sunday, but felt blah. I also lifted at the house but those sessions were not so great- I felt weak and distracted. Yesterday at the Y, however, I felt focused and energized. I had a 25 day break in my lifting workouts, and yes, I walked a ton on this trip, but my muscles were screaming when I did that first workout after a break. AND I did not lift very heavy weights giving myself a break.

Kids’ new school. Back in May we decided to send the kids to a different school, within our school district. They went to school A, the school that we are zoned for, but this coming year they will be at school B. Both schools are public schools and is part of our school district.

One main reason for this change: in elementary levels, the kids will have two teachers: one for English/social studies and one for math and science. So it’s more focused. A generalist vs a specialist. Will update as the school year progresses.

This weekend… We have a birthday party (my husband will take the kids while I hang back. I want to read, make Minestrone (from the new cook book!), maybe go to the pool. A nice, easy, weekend :))

Next week, the kids are in camp and I am home! That would be my “vacation” or, staycation.