I’m FINALLY posting this! Apologies for the delay….I had some website and email issues last week which lasted several days. It wasn’t completely fixed until the weekend! Maybe I’ll talk about this in a future post. But without further adieu, here is episode 9:

What have you been doing? Are things getting back to normal where you are?

Image credit: Dech St/ShutterStock

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So what have I been doing lately, besides working on my new show? First of all, with Toronto opening up again, I’ve started to go back to some things I did in my previous life. Like going non-food/essentials shopping. If you follow me on Instagram, I walked into a Sephora store for the first time since March 2020 recently and bought moisturizer and tinted lip balm! I also had my first haircut in some 18 or more months! That was so wonderful!! I splurged on that one – LOL. A lot was chopped off, but I don’t think it’s long enough to donate. I have that chopped off hair sitting in a drawer in the bathroom. Thank goodness the hair is still long enough to tie back as I need it in that length to work out.

Speaking of working out, I recently went back to the gym. The REAL gym, rather than working out on my home elliptical and via streaming. I’m still using the elliptical and have kept my Essentrics.com subscription, but going back to the gym, to a trainer and seeing more people – even though you’re not having a conversation with them necessarily – is such a good thing for the mind. The past 16 or so months have been tough for me from a mental health perspective, as I’m sure it has been for many people. Not everyone would admit it because they don’t want to be shamed. It’s disappointing that mental health awareness is so behind the times, especially in some cultures – many think it’s a “middle class invention,” or worse, do not acknowledge it at all.

I’m writing this on August 1, and as of this date, I have yet to dine in a restaurant. My family and I have ordered tons of takeout, especially on weekends (we’ve kept up with our weekend brunch, and have even tried places we never went to in the past. New places we tried over the last 14-15 months include Starving Artist and Lady Marmalade. The little guy loves Starving Artist and even has a “waffle dance”). Now that dining in is an option, it’s nearly impossible to make reservations at some restaurants, especially for dinner. I tried making one for our anniversary, but they were fully booked. Luckily, we were able to get one for brunch the following day.

What else? Well, as you probably know, the little guy is growing up fast. He’ll start preschool in September, and we’re really hoping that things don’t change much and in-person learning is in session. He hasn’t seen a kid his own age since March 2020 outside of his virtual music classes. His vocabulary has improved a lot since then and even since the expressively delayed episode dropped on July 6. While you can’t carry a full conversation with him, his sentences ARE getting longer. I’m only hoping that he’ll be able to properly say the “magic words” (i.e. please and thank you) without prompting and lose the habit of saying “huh” for “yes” by September. I’m told that vocabulary can increase significantly as kids see other kids. They have to figure out how to communicate with each other, after all. I’m also hoping that he’d understand one isn’t the centre of attention and that people won’t always respond when you call their name. He SAYS he gets it, but I don’t think he does. He’ll find out the hard way if he doesn’t understand before school starts,

As for everything else, I’m still cooking more, still making my weekly soda bread. I haven’t really experimented too much with the recipe (I typically use a mix of flours including quinoa, oat, spelt and whole wheat), though I started baking it with a lower temperature (dropping it from 450 F to 420 and extending the baking time to 45 minutes with the lid on and 15 with the lid off). Still works great. I’ve also made two ingredient oatmeal cookies (the recipe for this is all over the internet and basically involves mashed bananas and oats (some suggest old fashioned rolled oats while others use quick cook. It doesn’t matter, to be honest) several times. That’s basically the only cookies I make since I typically don’t like adding too much sugar to any baking (the only sweeteners I own are honey and maple syrup – outside of foods that have added sugar in them already, such as ice cream and some chocolates. If you’re wondering, YES, I own 100% cacao, too). The little guy loves the bread. I’ll talk about my cooking in an upcoming episode of my podcast.

Podcast recording has been great. I love doing my own show, talking about things I feel are important to discuss. Some might find me a little conservative, but in a world where people like me struggle to get topics acknowledged – especially when it comes to diversity – then outside of blogging, podcasts are the a great way. I just need better ways to promote the show without having to spend money! Hahaha!!

Image credit: Christian Horz/ShutterStock

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