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.

Peach bars
A more involved recipe: pumpkin spice cookies
Cranberry muffins. They do not look very appetizing but they were surely good!

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.


7 responses to “weekly review/changes”

  1. Diane Avatar
    Diane

    I’ve had that Moosewood cookbook for years and years, though I don’t use it as much as I used to. The Indonesian Rice Salad is one of my favorite recipes in that book. Also the sweet potato pancakes.

    Another plant based cookbook I really like is America’s Test Kitchen’s Vegan for Everyone – the recipes are vegan, but don’t scream VEGAN! if you know what I mean.

    My 14 year old has been cooking/ baking a lot. I tell her she has to do at least one screen-free/ analogue activity a day so she bakes or makes dinner. Though it’s not really screen free because she finds recipes online.

    I hope you have an amazing week to yourself next week!

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  2. Lisa’s Yarns Avatar

    I hope the transition to the new school goes well! They have a focused approach for grades 4 and 5 at our school. I’ve heard good things and that it prepares them better for middle school when they will have a lot of teachers. They have a home room and then move between rooms or something like that? It’s a year off so I haven’t looked into it too much.

    We have been going to the pool every weekend for an afternoon. It’s been the best routine for us as Paul is a good swimmer and Will knows to wear a life jacket when he can’t touch. They often see friends they know from school, too, so can entertain themselves and I only have to get in the pool if I want to. When I was a kid, my mom dropped my sister and I off at a pool and ran errands. I wonder how young I was when she started to do that. 7 and 10? I can’t imagine doing that but it is nice to be less hands off with them so they can build some independence. And there are lots of life guards, too. I want to be clear that I’m not being negligent. This is the first year I’ve been able to have my eyes off them and not stress. And their swimming skills have really improved, too!

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  3. J Avatar

    I hope the HRT settles down, waking up with a headache every day does not sound like fun. I’m going to talk to my doctor about it, but maybe it’s too late for me. (I’m 60)

    I love that your daughter has gotten into cooking. I have a different Moosewood cookbook that we use sometimes. Honestly we don’t use a lot of cookbooks anymore, we mostly look at recipes online. I’ve tried a few Love and Lemons recipes that way, and they are good. I hope you enjoy your new cookbooks, and share your favorite recipes.

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  4. sarahjedd Avatar
    sarahjedd

    If I were you, I would tell my doc right away about the headache and the itchy patch site. I found that the brand of estrogen patch really really matters for me, so maybe you should try a different one. No need to feel yucky if you don’t have to… A lot of my friends say the same thing about progesterone, but it doesn’t affect me at all– I sort of wish it did because I started the HRT for sleep issues lol (all worked out now tho)

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  5. rachelinwales Avatar

    Aww so cute that your daughter is cooking out of magazines! I love that. When I started HRT I had headaches for a few days, it was definitely the estrogen. I took the other one as a tablet at night cyclically and slept like a log. The whole thing didn’t work out for me this time but mostly due to lack of being able to check in with any doctors, it helped in someways and I definitely will explore it again if/when other symptoms get worse. I think the headaches stopped by about a week in or maybe a bit more, I hope that happens for you too, and that you get releif for other things you may need HRT for.

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  6. Tobia | craftaliciousme Avatar

    Hope you are feeling better soon with the HRT starting.

    Imagine soon you won’t have too cook anymore if it is a new hobby for your daughter.

    The Purse sounds like a very interesting website/community.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Daria Avatar

      Thank you, Tobia! This week is my third week on estrogen and progesterone. There was a day, after ovulation, when naturally your progesterone increases PLUS I am taking synthetic progesterone, I felt SO sleepy, because that’s the function of progesterone- to relax you

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