Category: Musings

Good Tuesday everyone, and welcome to my Monday Musings! I fully intended on getting this up in time for Monday (see the theme in the title), but with the holiday that just didn’t happen. I spent all weekend fixing up part of the backyard to plant a garden; about 9 hours total. Sore is an understatement. I found muscles I didn’t even know I had!

But the garden is done, and it looks darn good. It’s not perfect, but I have plenty of time to spruce it up. I’m thinking more herbs, some flowers, and some paving stones, but we will see. As long as the groundhog doesn’t think I planted a salad just for him everything will be alright. I’m also secretly hoping it will be a neat place to meditate.

All in all it was a pretty good weekend. A lot of relaxing and video game playing. I’m currently trying to work through Kingdom Hearts . These games are so fun but super hard! I’m also not much of a gamer though, so your milage may vary.

We made some delicious waffles with our sourdough starter, and I started reading The Artist’s Way, which is pretty good so far. I will update when I finish. I am also planning on re-reading Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies. It’s so insightful and helpful. I am in love, I need a hardcopy so I can take all the notes.

Please keep up with what we have going on, we have some great recipes going live this week, including sourdough discard waffles and the fudgiest brownies you’ve ever had.

Until next time, with gratitude!

XOXO

Megan Dhote

Hey guys,

Things have been pretty ok around here. We are adjusting to our current life and waiting for everything to hopefully go back to normal. The big, big upside is having more time. What do we do with all this time you? Well, I’m glad you asked!

We have a huge mint patch in our backyard. When we first moved in, we didn’t own a lawnmower, so we hired people to cut the grass. The first time I mowed the grass, I noticed that unmistakable smell. So I pretty much stopped mowing one corner of the yard to see what would come up.  We have not one, but two different kinds of mint back there! I spent more of this weekend weeding.  I am currently planning on clearing a little more of the yard and planting some more herbs. 

To hopefully help with this, I bought a couple of books.  Homegrown Herbs, which was recommended to me by one of the gardeners at Laurel Hill Cemetery (they’ve been doing online talks), and  Plant Magic because I want to pretend I’m more granola than I actually am.  I’ve been going through the to find the best way to have the practical garden of my dreams. I want everything, even the flowers to be edible. 

I am really liking  Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies. Tara Schuster is HILARIOUS and I have never felt so seen in my whole life. Y’all, I could have written this book. It has so many good tips and things to try when everything is falling apart (like right now!).  Another great one is Tiny Habits, which tries to help you figure out your life in a different way. I am obsessed with lists. I am CONVINCED if I can just crack the best order to live my life in everything will be perfect. He recommends getting started at the tiniest place you can imagine. His example is to “floss one tooth”, and this has become something of a mantra around the house. 

My current favorite image from my vision board is:

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/i.drink.tea/

Finally, if you haven’t checked out “The Great” yet, run don’t walk to Hulu. It is funny and dark and so so lewd. I really really love it and will be super bummed when we finish the season. Anyone have shows they can recommend to us?

Love, 

Megan

My husband and I have been self-isolating since mid-March. At first, it was pretty cool. I got to stay at home with my husband all day! I didn’t have to battle the traffic to work! All I really want to do normally is stay at home, so it was perfect. It was perfect until it got boring, and it got boring somewhere near the end of March.

We have been going on walks, but it’s hard to even go around the block when you see groups of people clearly not social distancing. We’ve gone for a couple drives, but we feel almost guilty for being on the roads when we have no reason to be out.

My husband has been doing the grocery shopping. He’s gone twice since we decided not to leave the house. I am so frustrated by the precautions we feel we need to take. I send the grocery list on paper (organized by location in the store to ensure he gets done as fast as he can) and my husband takes a pen with him that he can easily dispose of. He leaves his phone in the car, so once he reaches the store he can’t ask any questions and I can’t add anything. After he finishes, we wash his clothes while he showers and I wipe down everything with Clorox wipes and bleach. Bleach. Something I have never cleaned with in my LIFE.

It’s so exhausting for both of us. I miss being able to go to the store; I love grocery shopping. Since I haven’t gone anywhere since March 21st I am more aware of how different everything is every time he leaves the house.

Just like everyone else, I miss normalcy. I know that we are both extremely lucky. My husband and I can work from home, and we have the space and the ability to buy enough groceries for a couple of weeks at a time. I am worried all the time about my grandmother and her sisters, my in-laws and my husbands family in India. We are concerned about friends and family that have been deemed essential and have to be out there at work everyday, potentially exposing themselves and their families.

I know I’m not alone. I’ve been trying to keep myself busy and away from the news (great use of my NYT subscription). I’m usually pretty pessimistic, but I have to stay positive right now or I will lose my mind. I’ve been meditating, reading, doing breathwork, using the treadmill, going for walks, yoga, cleaning, and washing my hands. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Who knew that self-isolating would be so…isolating?