What's Been Going On: Thursday 18 November - Sunday 21 November 2021

A new week begins! A holiday week, if you’re in the US. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite: lots of family coziness and good food (made better as I grew into an adult who learned how to cook. Lots of Thanksgivings as a kid where I was only able to eat potatoes and a roll. Feed your vegetarian friends and family members, folks!). We’ll be celebrating with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law; everyone is vaccinated, most are boosted (my daughter gets #2 the next day and I’ll receive my booster at the same time), and I’m looking forward to all the delicious vegetarian Thanksgiving food, because my mother-in-law is an amazing cook!

My husband, who has been learning both to weld and to do some amateur blacksmithing, made me this bookmark. It says 💙VEGGIE on it, and it fits perfectly into my books. I love it! 

Here's what I’ve been up to the past few days.

 

Thursday, 18 November, 2021

After getting dressed and having coffee, I scooped the litterbox, loaded the dishwasher, and updated this blog. I dropped my daughter off at school, made a fruitless trip to Target *sigh* and then stopped by the grocery store to pick up some zucchini and two discount eggplants ($3 total).

At home, I did an hour’s worth of volunteer work and tidied the living room, then it was off to lunch with my daughter. Another fruitless trip afterwards to Michael’s and Bed Bath & Beyond (more on this later! SO. VERY. FRUSTRATING). At home, I had lunch and wrote out my Friday post and did school pickup (I skipped Read Harder and Pilates today; just not enough time!). I picked my daughter up at school, threw some sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot, and helped my daughter with her spelling words and math homework while the leftovers of the taco-rice casserole from the other night warmed in the oven.

We ate dinner, I did my Duolingo, cleaned up, ran the dishwasher, and showered, and I read my book, and watched two episodes of Forensic Files with my husband before bed.

 

 Friday, 19 November, 2021

 After having coffee and getting ready, I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, then chopped up some onion, cauliflower, and carrots for a batch of Cauliflower Potato Soup for dinner (one of my daughter’s favorites!).

I then dropped my daughter off at school and drove to a Target 30 minutes away, where I FINALLY found what I’d been looking for ALL. WEEK. LONG:

HANUKKAH CANDLES!!!!!!!

 SERIOUSLY. It only took FIVE STORES to find these things. I figured I would just run over to the Target by me and grab them like I did last year. On my first trip, I just assumed they didn’t have their Hanukkah endcap out yet (yup, you read that right. We get an endcap- SOMETIMES. Think of that the next time you’re looking through Christmas pajamas for your dog and walking by the 324837249832 aisles of Christmas stuff), but it became apparent on my second trip that they didn’t have the Hanukkah endcap at all this year. I’d heard Michaels and Bed Bath & Beyond were selling Hanukkah items, so that’s why I tried there on Thursday, but nothing. Not a single Hanukkah item at either store. Finally, I checked Target’s website and found ONE SINGLE STORE near me selling Hanukkah candles.

ONE.

Talk about depressing.

But I was deeply grateful to find them at all, and I gleefully drove home with my multiple boxes of candles. I started a load of laundry and set out to prepare the soup. I took out the recycling and the compost, then got the bread dough started in the bread machine. I switched out my Shabbat candles, folded and put laundry away, and made my daughter’s bed.

After taking lunch to my daughter, I stopped by the Dollar Tree in hopes of finding some blue and silver garland- Hanukkah colors!- to wrap around my banister.

NOPE.

SIGH. But I did come home with a few extra pairs of gloves for my daughter, so the trip wasn’t a total wash. I ate lunch, did my 20 minutes of Pilates, then switched/hung my laundry and put the bread in pans to rise. I spent 30 minutes on my Read Harder book.

I picked my daughter up from school, blended the soup, and put the bread in to bake. Being the mean mom I am, I made my daughter complete her math homework- she’s off school this upcoming week for Thanksgiving break, but I wanted her to get the math out of the way. Fortunately, she finished it without too much complaining. ;)

Soup for dinner!

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, put dinner away and cleaned up, ran the dishwasher, then showered. I attended my synagogue’s services virtually, then watched two episodes of Forensic Files with my husband before bed.

 

Saturday, 20 November, 2021

After having coffee and getting dressed, I ran a few errands. I’d realized earlier in the week that there was no way I was going to engage in my weekly grocery shopping this upcoming week, not with my grocery shopping day falling on THE DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING. YIKES. So I ran out to a local grocery store and Aldi to pick up some extras to get us through that week. Forty-nine cent sweet potatoes made me pretty happy!

At home, I put the groceries away, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and we decorated the banister with the blue and silver garland my husband had brought home from Walmart (WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!). My daughter and I walked down to the neighbor’s to pick up the baby she offered to give us, one of about fifty she’s given away. Everyone, I’d like you to meet Bernie:

 

 Isn’t he adorable? I’ve never had an aloe plant before, but it sounds like he comes from prolific stock, so I’m curious to see how this will go.

I hung out with my family and had lunch, and after lunch, my daughter had her first playdate since March of 2020. I spent about an hour chatting with the friend’s mom, and while the girls played, I finished reading White Tears/Brown Scars.

My husband made macaroni and cheese for dinner. I cleaned up, did my Duolingo, showered, began reading Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) by LC Rosen, and watched the episode of 20/20 about the Turpin siblings (it’s available on Hulu if you’re in the US; outside, you can view it in parts on YouTube; I believe it’s called ‘Escape from the House of H0rr0rs’ with 0’s for the o’s in the word ‘horror’). It’s disturbing, but absolutely worth the watch.

 

Sunday, 21 November 2021

Coffee and scooping the litterbox. Always a great start to the morning!

I wrote up my review for White Tears/Brown Scars, then loaded and ran the dishwasher. I tidied the living room and began work on this post, and then my mother-in-law called! I hadn’t chatted with her in a while, so we had a nice talk.

After lunch, my husband and daughter and I went for a walk, since it was such a beautiful day out. Back home, I picked up Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) and read for a bit, then got sleepy and dozed on my chair. Ahh, those weekend naps! I read for a good long while when I woke up, and we all had leftovers for dinner. I did my Duolingo, showered, emptied and refilled the dishwasher. I put my daughter to bed, read more, and watched two episodes of Forensic Files before going to bed.

And that’s it! It’s so nice having my daughter home from school this week. While I’m definitely glad she’s back to full-time in-person school, I really enjoy the days she’s home as well. We have parent teacher conferences this afternoon (she got an amazing report card, so we’re really proud of her!), but other than that, it’ll be a nice slow day around here.

 

What have you been up to lately???