August 11th

I mentioned recently how much I hate my apartment’s hallway, and how it’s just a garbage heap of random junk. I decided I’d had enough so over the past couple of weeks I’ve slowly been clearing it out. Taylor and I sorted through all the books and boxed them up (we’re getting rid of six boxes worth) and dismantled one of the busted, mismatched shelves. I have some craft supplies to sort through still and then one tall shelf that I have to decide if I’m going to get rid of it or move to Sym’s room, but it’s so much cleaner already! I also finally put all the childlocks back on the kitchen cabinets. Gwen’s bedroom is the first room off the hallway so my next goal is to put a set of gate hooks in the hallway just past her door so we can block her from the other bedrooms and the bathroom. This way she’ll be able to get to her room and her toys whenever she wants, but I don’t have to worry about her making a mess of everyone else’s things.

My favourite dinner to make recently is vegetarian tacos. I haven’t been cooking a lot of meat these days because the texture while I’m prepping/cooking it tends to gross me out, and I’m not supposed to eat too much soy (thyroid probs) so most fake meat/meat substitutes are out as well. I like to make a bunch of different fillings and everyone can choose whatever combination that they want. It’s perfect because I don’t have to deal with any whining and complaining about “I don’t like this” because there’s so many different options. Sym chooses mostly plain veggies (tomatoes, lettuce) & cheese, and Gwen will only eat the filling, no tortilla. She’ll eat a lot of them though! Her favourite is roasted red peppers; the first time I made them I did four, thinking I’d have plenty of leftovers for her lunch the next day but she just kept shovelling them in her mouth and finished them all. I made them over the weekend and I had roasted red peppers, fried corn with jalapeños and garlic, black beans (I cook them with a little tomato sauce, garlic and pepper), and fried peaches with lemon juice, plus baby argula, salsa and cheese. I also had some amazing heirloom tomatoes I’d bought at the farmer’s market but I forgot to cut them up!