Battle Hymns of a Hot Mess Mom

What an adventure we got to go on. The ebike rental company did ultimately have one for rent. I was super excited.

The weather was going to be awful on Friday so I planned for a trip to the Winchester Mystery House. I went there with A maybe 10 years ago when he visited and thought the kids would have a good time. My memory of the place was hazy to be honest. There were A LOT of stairs, I was tired and winded, but with a fresh unit of blood I thought I’d be a rockstar…I was more the slow caterpillar than I was a rockstar.

Both children thought it was pretty cool and the weather was actually great! It didn’t rain at all. By the time we got back the children were still able to play on the beach and play tag with the ocean. I wasn’t able to make it to the ocean and dip my toes this time, with the wind and terrain I would have never made it to the water. Disappointed but still grateful I got to be there at all.

Big day on Saturday!!! E-bike day!!!

This was actually what was rented to me, S and I rode together and L was tall enough to ride on his own. We rode down the bike path by the ocean and just enjoyed our entire time. J dropped us off and did whatever he did. I didn’t even bother asking what he was up to, cause quite frankly I didn’t really care. It sounds harsh, but he chose not to be with family. He chose to be alone and away from us. It was an active choice. So if you don’t give a sh*t about me and the kids, I don’t give a flying f*ck about you. Yes, I am petty like that. Sorry, absolutely NOT sorry.

The kids and I rode around and met him for lunch around 12:30pm and the headed off to the Mystery Spot. I was there also about 10 – 11 years ago with my son in tow. Back then he wasn’t having it at all. He was extremely bothered by the whole place and remembered that I held him the entire time to comfort him. He still didn’t like it much this time. He was bothered by how standing straight was slanted and the optical illusion of it all. He was not particularly thrilled but he got to experience it. I stayed in the car…if I can’t get to the ocean, there’s no way I’m climbing up a damn mountain.

S had a school project about the Santa Cruz Mission so we thought we’d cruise on by after the Mystery Spot to check it out. It was…disappointing. There was a wedding happening in there church so we couldn’t go inside, but online it said this was called “Santa Cruz Mission State Historical Park” – so I guess I imaged a large sprawling park.

We headed to Phil’s for lunch afterwards. Cioppino (Fisherman’s Stew) and an absolute must every time for us. Every year we say we need to bring our own bread because their bread is terrible and every year we don’t.

After lunch, we headed to the Giant Artichoke Restaurant to get ourselves some fried artichoke hearts. Since we were pretty full from lunch we shared an order of 10. I think I could have eaten 10 by myself, it was hot and crunchy. We brought home some frozen ones to put in the air fryer.

Saturday was a very full day for us, children still had daylight to run back to the beach and play some more tag. I had some time to do some laundry and clean up a bit since we were going to leave super early on Sunday. Of course, Saturday night the steroids were working overtime so I slept all of ZERO hours and didn’t really sleep in the car. I got about 4 hours Sunday night and spent all of today exhausted.

5:00pm blood draw…I need another unit of blood. I’m frustrated that I can’t hold on to a unit of blood for more than a week. I don’t understand it. I got blood on Wednesday and in one weekend I need blood again. Today was a quiet day for me which I was grateful for since there was very little sleep. My friend D graciously took my Walmart list and helped me buy produce. I normally use the Walmart pick up ordering and have J pick up on his way home from work and for most things it’s not an issue. When it comes to produce however…8/10 times it’s molded or damaged. Money, food and time wasted. Walmart has the best prices but not always the best quality so you have to look and pick out your own produce. With both children in Flag Football and J being the sole driver…time is short. When D said she’d be willing to shop for me I was elated – but she wouldn’t let me pay her for her time, energy or gas. I am truly, truly blessed to have such amazing people in my life. I’m not only grateful for them emotionally but physically they are here to support me as well. It doesn’t seem like much…grocery shopping but it is HUGE for me. The medication keeps my immune system very low so I start at a disadvantage already, I don’t hug anyone that isn’t immediately around me so that I don’t get sick. Even the children have to bathe before they can hug me or sit near me. If anyone has a tickle in their throat or a sniffle, they aren’t allowed to hug me or be too close to me. So imagine D driving over to me, then Walmart, shop for like two hours and then deliver groceries back to me and doesn’t accept anything from me. It’s huge. I’m so incredibly grateful! Bonus the produce she picked was FIRE! We had steamed artichokes for dinner tonight and it was perfection!

1:16am I’m still juiced up. I spent most of the day creating a “Family Dinner Book” – J and I had a list when we first got married of the things we both liked for dinner and would put into rotation. I have no idea where it is today, but L and I stared talking about how we needed a dinner book because I always ask “What do you what for dinner?” and the answer is almost always “I don’t know.” Not helpful if I’m trying to meal plan for the week. So I spent most of the afternoon printing out recipes and trying to recall meals that we all like and adding it into rotation. If 75% (3) of us like it, the odd person out is eating grilled cheese or whatever they want to make. Typically it’s J that is the odd man out. S has ramen when J makes his Chicken Enchiladas…they are fire, but S always says “I don’t like chicken.” when he makes it. I’m wondering if she just wants ramen.

Tonight’s meatloaf did not turn out well, it was at J said, “Not very meaty and more bready.” I followed the normal recipe but added quite a bit of mushrooms and used breadcrumbs to compensate for the added mushroom moisture – I guess I added too much. Tomorrow is leftovers anyway…Thursday is trash day so we need to eat up whatever is left in the fridge before I make anything new. We have pizza, ceviche and clam chowder from the trip and meatloaf tonight. We may not be getting anything new until Friday.

I need to know what’s in everyone’s dinner rotation…I’m going to text my friends in the morning and get their rotation list. Like…I can’t be the only struggle bus right? Friends, family…random people from the internet…what’s in your dinner rotation? Please let me know. Send halp.