Last weekend was Mother’s Day, and a wonderful couple of days. Prior years, the holiday hasn’t been my favorite, with too high expectations that never end up coming to fruition. This year, quarantine and all, somehow ended up being the best one I’ve ever had.

I started out the weekend with a trip to the Seattle Cinnamon Roll Company and an early visit to Molbak’s for garden starts and supplies. I went out by myself and had a quiet morning picking up delicious pastries and browsing plants. Molbak’s also had the very best social distancing and safety set up I’d seen, so I was actually able to enjoy the trip.

After that, my in laws came by for a distanced chat (and some of the cinnamon rolls in a separate box for them). The weather was lovely, and hanging out in the front yard was no problem at all. Once they went home, we headed to my parents’ for another camping weekend. It was a hot, sunny weekend, and camping out made it that much better – even if it was in a yard and not out in the middle of nowhere. Overall, it was a weekend filled with family, gardening, and good food, though not enough hugging or being near each other. All things considered, it was a fabulous two days.

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Friday’s Frugal Five

1. A neighbor of mine recently had surgery and has had to mostly sit to recover, which means they’ve done quite a bit of reading as of late. They mentioned that they could use some new books, so I was able to send a couple over.

I got the first of them back this week (Ever After) and will likely be sending a few more down over the coming weeks. I’ve limited the number of physical books I still own, but it brings me joy being able to share them with others.

2. The husband has been spending his afternoons bending paper clips to make nose wires for cloth masks. Neither of us sew, but I’ve been able to purchase supplies and he’s been able to make the hardware part of the masks.

If you are making masks, are thinking about it, or know someone who is, here is a great post for how to sew them more efficiently. I expect it will be a while yet before we get to ditch the masks, and it seems like there is an endless need for them right now.

3. I brought half of the garden starts and supplies from the nursery to my parents’ house over the weekend and spent hours on Saturday and Sunday planting their garden. They moved to their home a couple of years ago and haven’t reset their garden since then other than a few pots, and it felt good being able to set them up in a more real way.

It might be interesting that my best Mother’s Day weekend was spent working hard out in the garden, but if you’ve read this blog for any length of time, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that my best days happen while playing in the dirt. It was my Dad’s birthday this past week as well, so it was hours of work that was a present for both of them. And, to be honest, a bit of a present for me too.

4. It’s that time of the month again, so I brought out my cloth pads yet again (Gladrags are my favorite, though pricey). Between that and family cloth, I feel particularly virtuous that week each month because of the lack of garbage increase. Adding the fact that the weather is nice and I’m able to then hang dry them off the deck, and my menstrual cycle has almost no waste at all these days.

5. Thanks to the extra nice weather this early in May, we were able to turn off our furnace this week (hopefully for the summer, though no guarantees yet). The mornings are a bit cool inside – low sixties – but the house warms up to the normal 67-68 degrees by afternoon. While turning the furnace down to fifty or sixty degrees would do the same thing, I find extra satisfaction knowing it is off and we aren’t using any energy for our home’s heat for a season.

Exercise Update

I’m now closing in on a full month of daily yoga practice that began on April 18th. Most days are still just twenty minutes, but it is definitely becoming a normal routine part of my day. I sometimes have company, but usually I do the session by myself out on the back deck as the weather allows.

Friday I took my phone and played some continuing education videos that I needed to complete for work and went to the park. I used the high curb around the playground equipment to do an aerobic routine for a half an hour and then walked through the woods. I have thirty hours to complete every two years, and going outside for those hours makes it much more enjoyable.

Monday was a HIIT running routine at a field at the park, followed up with some body weight exercises and my yoga out in the sunshine. Tuesday was a more strenuous hike through the woods, and I even found a trail I’d never been down before. Otherwise, every day of the week had some time spent walking outside on top of my yoga practice.

How was your weekend? If you celebrate, I hope you had a good one. If Mother’s Day is difficult for you, I want to send you love and comfort. I know it isn’t an easy day for everyone.