What's Been Going On: Monday, 22 November - Wednesday, 24 November, 2021

 

If you’re in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! If you’re elsewhere, happy Thursday! We’ve had a lovely, kind of lazy week around here. My daughter is off school and it’s been really nice to sleep in at least a little and lounge around in our cozy clothes. I hope you’re having an equally lovely start to your week!

Here's what I’ve been up to. Besides trying to see through the cat.

Monday, 22 November, 2021

After having breakfast, I published my Monday post here and my review of White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad. Excellent book; highly recommended.

I filled the dishwasher and ran it, then tidied the kitchen and living room. My big goal for the week was to keep the house nice while everyone has been home! Never an easy task.

I stripped the bedding off my bed and stuffed it all in the wash, then began making my goal list for 2022. It’s important to have something to work towards! I finished reading Jack of Hearts by LC Rosen, then put lunch (some veggie nuggets I’d been saving for my daughter being off of school) in the oven. While those cooked, I switched the laundry, and swept the living room and kitchen.

After lunch, I restarted the dryer- bedding takes for-ev-er to dry- and then my daughter and I did a Pilates video together! It’s fun to have a workout buddy. She also participated in my 30 minutes of Read Harder (currently working my way through The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World’s Religious Traditions by Peter Occhiogrosso), though she just read her regular book. I began the section on Judaism today; it felt nice to be back on some familiar territory! So much of the sections on Hinduism and Taoism felt way over my head.

I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and when my husband got home, it was off to Parent-Teacher Conferences! Our daughter is doing well; she’s made the transition back to in-person school with no problems. Academically, she’s doing fantastically; she has no problems making friends, so that’s also good. She does need to stop giving adults the stink eye, which, uh, trust us, that’s something we’ve been trying to work on with her for YEARS. *gulp* Any advice there?

At home, I took out the garbage and rolled the cans to the curb, then worked on my grandmother’s cross-stitch for a bit while watching Swan’s Crossing on Tubi. Swan’s Crossing was a short-lived teen soap opera that ran back in the early 90’s and that I absolutely LOVED when I was twelve. It’s always nice to relive your youth a bit now and then, right? We had leftovers for dinner. I cleaned up, did my Duolingo, showered, remade the bed with my husband’s help, and started reading Love Is a Revolution by Renée Watson. My husband and I watched two episodes of Forensic Files before bed.

 

Tuesday 23 November, 2021

After breakfast, it was…Art Day!

So, last year, when my daughter started remote learning, she was nervous about doing art class all on her own. “So I’ll do it with you. Problem solved,” I told her, and I went out and bought a sketchbook and some drawing pencils that night. Most Wednesdays (which is when she had art class), she and I worked on art assignments together, and it ended up being a lot of fun! She colored and drew and made a bunch of Hanukkah decorations (including a sign she made for me that says, “I love you a latke!”). I worked on this wave, which I’m not quite finished with yet:

 

 The Hebrew writing is Amos 5:24: ‘But let justice well up like water, righteousness like an unfailing stream.’ Something that’s been on my mind lately. I’m going to eventually use my colored pencils to give this some color when it’s completely finished, and I may try to write the Hebrew a little better, or in a more artistic style (my Hebrew printing is terrible). We’ll see!

We had lunch (I’m not a natural artist; drawing anything takes me ages), and I finished Love Is a Revolution, since our internet was down and we couldn’t do Pilates! I cleaned up, took out the compost, swept the upstairs and downstairs, and my daughter worked on my Read Harder challenge with me for 30 minutes. I had a little bit of a headache, but I started The Simplicity of Cider by Amy E. Reichert (chosen solely because it’s set in Door County, Wisconsin, and I figured it would be nice to armchair-travel back there!) and read for just a little bit before my son called and needed some advice.

Afterwards, I dropped off my library books, then grabbed some pizza from Little Caesar’s. Sometimes you just need someone else to make the pizza, right? It absolutely hit the spot. After dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, and put my daughter to bed before diving back into my book. My husband and I watched the first part of the documentary Wild Wild Country, about the cult that moved to Antelope, Oregon. Fascinating stuff!

 

Wednesday, 24 November, 2021

After breakfast, I scooped the litterbox (and washed my hands- I really hope that doesn’t need to be stated!), and then it was time to get started on Thanksgiving cooking!

My daughter was up in her room cutting out paper dolls (yes, kids still play with those! She’s obsessed), and I dove into making Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie. I cooked the lentils first in my Instant Pot (in vegetable broth; this gives them a little more flavor), chopped my onions, and then started on the sweet potatoes. When the lentils were done, I put the sweet potatoes in to steam, and then cooked the mixture that makes up the bottom layer. The sweet potatoes were mashed (they smelled amazing!), and then everything was assembled into two pans and covered and tucked into the fridge.

Afterwards, my daughter helped me make what I always jokingly refer to as The Family Cheese Potatoes of Shame. They contain so much butter and cheese that that alone would make them worthy of the name, but then they also contain Velveeta (or a store brand, which is cheaper), which doesn’t even have enough dairy in it to rightfully be called cheese (the package says something like Dairy Melt). This is the only time I EVER eat this stuff, but it’s just not Thanksgiving without it; we had these at basically every family get-together on my dad’s side when I was young, so no matter how health-conscious I get (and there are definitely times when I lean more that direction!), these are always on the table this time of year.

When the potatoes were done, into the fridge they went, and I cleaned up, unloading and reloading the dishwasher. I brought the garbage and recycling cans in from the curb, took out the compost and recycling, and wiped down the kitchen counters. And then it was time for an hour’s worth of volunteer work. Today, I finished compiling my list of mental health resources and moved on to a list of legal resources for my state. My daughter played paper dolls while I worked.

After lunch, she did more Pilates with me (OOF! Tough today!), and then we got down to my Read Harder project. I tried to nap afterwards- Pilates wore me out- but it didn’t work, so I ended up working on this post instead. Spaghetti for dinner, because who cooks a full meal the night before Thanksgiving?

I did my Duolingo and showered, then did another not-quite-full-hour worth of volunteer work (I’m going to try to sneak some more in in the morning while my potatoes and Shepherd’s Pie cook). I loaded and ran the dishwasher, then sliced some zucchini for my husband and I to snack on with hummus later on. And then it was time to read and watch TV with the husband (who just got his first haircut since February of 2020!!! He looks AWESOME!).

 

And that’s it for now. I’ve got food in the oven right now, baking so I can take it to my mother-in-law’s. Everyone is vaccinated and still very careful, masking everywhere we go; this will be our first indoor family gathering since before the pandemic. Friday, my daughter gets vaccine #2 and I get my booster shot, so I may have some not-so-productive days ahead. Fingers crossed!

 

I hope you have a wonderful day, wherever you are!