The Weekly Wrap: August 4, 2024

Despite nearly five years of parenting, I still get nervous when I need to do it solo.

Early on, I had to do my first solo overnight while the husband went out of town. Thank goodness my family was here or else I would have been a basket case. I liked knowing that my mom could rescue me with a single phone call. Then, when my husband went back to work while I was on parental leave, I was nervous something would go wrong. I had visions that I would, somehow, lose our kiddo a la Oscar Wilde. Or, even worse, that kiddo would cry and cry and cry and cry and I wouldn't be able to fix things.

Then, lucky for me, just a week after he went back to work, the husband's company change some office things which meant he started working from home permanently. Even though I was solo parenting during work hours, at least I knew he was there. His presence was enough to calm my fears.

That was five years ago. You would think I would be chill by now. Nope. Every time my husband goes out of town, like he did this week, my brain starts catastrophizing.  I'm pretty good at solo parenting but my brain still panics that I might, I dunno, forget our kid in the car... even though we take the metro. This week, our kiddo fell off her scooter and skinned her knee. There were tears (hers outside; mine inside) but it was all fine. I patched her up, let her watch some Bluey, fed her dinner, and then tucked her into bed. And, yet, I still don't find myself unable to fully breathe until the husband comes home.

Tell me I'm not the only parent who does this...

---

• Capturing Olympic moments in photos. [PetaPixel]
• Yet more proof we need to stop catering to cars. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• Project 2025 is terrifying. [Abortion, Every Day]
• Paris made its city the Olympic arena. [WaPo - gift link]
• Bookstores can stock whatever they want, and that makes some people cranky. [LitHub]
• We need to remember to teach our kids to be kind. [The Atlantic - gift link]

• The insidiousness of misinformation. [Hidden Brain]
• We need a "yes, and" energy policy but current constraints make that impossible. [Good on Paper]
• The math of the Rubik's cube. [Short Wave]
• Home design is more than just decor. [Culture Study]
• On hostage's experience in Gaza. [Radio Atlantic]

• We have watched nothing but the Olympics since they started. Week one is always my favorite. I prefer gymnastics and swimming to track and field. I do find NBC's inclusion of Snoop Dogg to be a curious choice. It's fine - just unexpected. [Peacock]

• For my lunch meal prep this week, I made skillet ratatouille with pesto toasts. This used up the eggplant and a tomato from our farm share but, because of the timing, I actually had to buy the other produce. It's a lot of chopping but the result is delicious and reheats well in the microwave. Instead of store bought basil I made a quick pesto using our farm share basil. I started making it in a regular blender but it was not breaking down like I wanted. Then I had the wise idea to move to our immersion blender; that worked beautifully. I like making pesto because I use as little olive oil as possible which results in a thicker spread. [My Evernote via Cooking Light]
• For a quick dinner this week, I made a take on our regular caprese gnocchi. This week, our store only had mini gnocchi. I tossed them on a sheet pan with some diced tomato from our farm share. Then I roasted it for 15 minutes. I scooped a serving into a bowl, stirred in some chopped fresh basil, and topped with shredded parmesan. It was soooooo good. I might need to make this one again. [My Instagram]