The Pulse: "If You Give a Homeowner a Cookie..." & Road Trip Prep
If you’ve ever read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, you already know how my week went. It started with a simple thought: "It’s a great week to own a home, let's get the windows cleaned!" What followed was a full-blown domino effect of home maintenance, sore fingertips, and a crash course in HVAC troubleshooting.
Owning a home is a true privilege, but let’s be honest—it is a lot of work.
The Home Maintenance Cascade
It all started when I hired a startup company of college guys to clean our exterior windows and porch. They needed a bit of hand-holding, but they got the porch clean enough for me to start my next projects.
Then the "Mouse & Cookie" logic kicked in:
Outside Windows: To make sure I wasn't being a Karen and that the windows were clean - I could see every smudge on the inside. So, I had to clean the inside windows.
Inside Windows: Clean glass meant I noticed the dusty shutters. So, I cleaned all the shutters (inside and out).
Shutters: Once the shutters were done, the window sills looked neglected. So, I scrubbed inner sills.
The Yard & Bonfire: With the windows done, we moved to trimming the bushes and yard cleanup. Thanks to last week’s storm, we had enough debris for two nights of bonfires to burn it all away.
Thermostat & HVAC Troubleshooting: The weather cooled down enough to open the windows and put the screens in, so I went to adjust the thermostats. The upstairs one wasn't powering on or connecting to WiFi and was still linked to another account, so I troubleshoot the power issue and re-register all the thermostats.
The Fix: It wasn't a power issue (swapping faceplates proved that). Instead, the AC drain pan was completely full of water! We had to haul a bucket upstairs, clear out the pan, locate the condensate pipe, and make sure it wasn't clogged. Everything powered back on and reconnected, but "HVAC maintenance" is officially at the top of my to-do list now.
Despite the cuts and sore fingers, the house is bright, sunny, clean, and ready for cooler weather!
The Stockpile: High-Protein Preps & Easy Weeknights
With a heavy client schedule ahead and a trip around the corner, meal prep was all about hitting high macros while clearing out the fridge.
My Prepped Lunches & Fuel:
Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese (x3): Used Brami protein pasta tossed with a creamy sauce made from cottage cheese, pepper jack, and buffalo chicken.
Big Mac Burger Bowls (x3): Loaded with seasoned lean beef, greens, pickles, and homemade dressing.
My go-to Avocado, White Bean and Tomato salad with fresh burrata and bread.
Snack Prep: Fresh raspberries and Greek yogurt topped with protein granola, plus a "use up the fridge" snack box of open veggies and fruit for the end of the week.
Weeknight Family Dinners:
Comfort Stew: Italian sausage, kale, white bean, and lentil stew (prepped the sausage ahead to make weeknight assembly super fast!).
Quick Reheats: Leftover Sloppy Joes with Mac & Cheese for busy activity nights.
On-the-Road Wraps: Prepping easy wraps the night before we leave so we have fresh, grab-and-go fuel on travel day.
Road Trip Prep & Unseen Mom Wins
Between client sessions and cleaning up the whirlwind mess from a recent baking session, I’ve been quietly prepping for our upcoming road trip:
Road Trip Goodie Boxes: Picked up fun hotel/snack treats for the boys—shower bombs, Crayola stick body wash, flavored water breath drops, a few Halloween candies, and a fun new pair of socks.
Cub Scout Patches: Spent an afternoon sewing patches onto N’s uniform. They aren't 100% perfect (might have to touch them up!), but we’re almost across the finish line.
School & Sports: The littles have their Shrek school performance this week, plus a baseball game or two to round out our schedule.
The Week Ahead & Master To-Do List
Before we head out, my main priorities are:
Schedule the official HVAC system maintenance.
Plant the clearance perennials I scored from Home Depot and Lowe’s.
Keep the house picked up so we return to a clean space after our trip.
🎧 On the Bike: This Week's Spin Playlist
Here’s the exact playlist driving our cadence and hill climbs in spin class this week:
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