#TheSundayPost! Bye July! Hello Air Fryer August!

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

Hi, Hi! I'm starting to feel much more like myself, I think it is the ton of water I am drinking and the adherence to small meals.  I am happy to report that even with the new medication, I managed to run 11 miles today! Thank goodness the weather was less humid, that helped so much.  I am hoping this month I will be up to speed with my reading.  We are going on vacation and I am thinking I should take like 5 books, just in case the WiFi is dicey, plus it's a long drive. 

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I decided to start selling Tastefully Simple again; and since my favorite part of that is talking about making meals, so starting in August I'm going to do Zoom meal preps.  I'm looking forward to figuring out how to my own little cooking shows. This month I'm starting with meal prep with our Air Fryer 5-meal kit! We have a recipe for Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower I'm going to try!

How was your week?  We enjoyed watching Outer Banks Season 2 on Netflix. It's a great little escape. 

Books I'll be posting about this week:

And hopefully at least one more book TBD! 

Happy August!

Flash Fiction

This summer I am taking a writing class via Zoom. Normally the class would be an in-person venture and take place a few states away from me, getting to take it virtually is definitely a COVID silver lining.

Last week's class was about Flash Fiction. Flash Fiction are very short stories.  Think less than two pages. Think less than one page. Overall, as the Hubs would say, it's not my cup of tea. I was at a bit of loss, my nature is to overwrite. I feel that I don't have something important enough to say in a small space. That sounds so odd, right?  One would think it would be easier to just throw down a few hundred words and be done, not for me. Honestly, my inability to write Flash Fiction is 98 percent due to not wanting to write super-short fiction.

Flash forward to today, pun--most defiinitely--intended, my run provide inspiration for a piece.

While Running Today

by Victoria

I was about an hour into my run today when I saw a gaunt old man clad in blue swimming trunks and toting two pool noodles, one red and one yellow.  

"Take it easy out there!" He said, as I ran by completely ignoring his unsolicited advice.  This ain't my first run dude, I thought to myself and continued on toward a small pond with a water feature.  

A northern hawk owl swooped over the pond and came up with a frog in its beak. Nearby the old man put on his mask and waited for a temperature check before his dip in the condo complex pool. 

I ran past him, Don't drown Old Man is what I wanted to say. 

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

My decision last week to order our whole Easter Dinner from Boston Market was a great decision. The family all enjoyed the food, no complaints at all about my recipe decisions ( I like to try recipes from Williams-Sonoma and my family doesn't appreciate trying new things) and it was much less work for me.  The hardest part was done by The Hubs who put on a mask and gloves and picked up our order. I'm glad it was an option because I was worried about whether or not I'd be able to get all the ingredients from the store - esp. a good ham. 

Today the weather is windy and cold.  My plan was to run about 2.5 miles, I was going to cut myself slack and have an easy day. However, I was feeling good and it wasn't super, super windy so I ran 5 miles.  

As I ran, I noticed how blue the sky was and how vibrant the flowers and grass looked.  I mean, look at this picture how crystal clear is that air?!?  The reduction of cars on the road has made the air cleaner!  Do yourself a favor and go out and grab a nice deep breath of this newly improved air. (Just do that heavy breathing away from other people please).  When we get COVID-19 figured out and are able to move forward, I hope we can plan out a way to keep the gains of this time.  It's easy to see that people staying home more means less pollution = fewer fossil fuels= a reduction in climate change. 

A better environment could be had for all. I'm happy to do my part and avoid driving as much as possible. 

Made some potato salad today and since I have a bunch of parsley in the fridge, I went a little garnish crazy. Tomorrow I have a plan for dinner - it's called Taco Tuesday. I'm trying to stick to an intermittent fasting schedule of eating from 10am-6pm daily.  It's easy to do since I am at home. If I am working downtown I  can't get home in time to start making dinner before six. 

Since the teenagers stay up till all hours of the night my Early Bird Dinner Specials are more like their lunch!

Hopefully the wind dies down more overnight and tomorrow it is as beautiful and sunny as today, w/o a wind blasting from the West.

Tomorrow night I am going to get out of my comfort zone and join a Zoom workout for runners, so that will be ...interesting.

xoxo