What's Been Going On: Monday, 13 December - Wednesday, 15 December, 2021

 We’re in the home stretch! Just two more school days before two blissful weeks of the alarm not being set!!!

I think everyone’s ready for a break at this point in the year- definitely in normal years, and ten times as much during these bizarre pandemic times. My daughter’s school is still doing remarkably well; they’ve had only 11 cases total so far, and at least one of those cases was a staff member who got sick before the kids even returned in the beginning of the year. Her school is the lowest of all the schools in the district, not counting the school that serves special needs pre-k. I’m really proud of how well they’ve done.

Here's what I’ve been up to so far this week! (Sorry for the lack of pictures, not much to photograph lately!)

 

Monday, 13 December, 2021

After having coffee and getting dressed, I scooped the litterbox. I loaded the dishwasher, prepared taco-spiced lentils in the Instant Pot (to go with dinner), then edited and put up Monday’s post. I dropped my daughter off at school, then published my review for Ant Egg Soup over on my book blog.

I unweekended the living room (what I call cleaning up after everyone’s been home all weekend!), made my daughter’s bed, then sat down to 20 minutes of decent piano practice. I spent 30 minutes on my Read Harder book (The Joy of Sects by Peter Occhiogrosso), where I began the section on Islam. I appreciate the author’s clear explanations, tinged with a wry sense of humor. When the timer went off, I picked up a new library book, Children Under Fire: An American Crisis by John Woodrow Cox, and settled in to read that until lunchtime.

After lunch with my daughter and gulping down lunch myself, I ran my son on some errands, then came home for 20 minutes of Pilates with my husband. I took out the garbage and recycling, then took the cans to the curb and brought in a bag of frozen peppers from the garage freeze and sauteed a bunch.

I loaded and ran the dishwasher, sliced some grape tomatoes and olives, and got the rice going in the rice cooker. Once again, I settled down to read until dinner, which was homemade Chipotle bowls. Always a favorite around here!

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, read some more, put dinner away, put my daughter to bed (we finished reading Have You Seen Hyacinth Macaw? by Patricia Reilly Giff), and read until my husband came upstairs. We watched two episodes of Forensic Files before bed.

 

Tuesday, 14 December, 2021

After breakfast and coffee, I got dressed, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and cleaned off my supergross stovetop. It was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

I took out the tofu to press, then dropped my daughter off at school. I did my 30 minutes of Read Harder, then snuggled under my blanket to read Children Under Fire until lunchtime with my daughter. We began reading The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park. After having lunch at home, I prepared a batch of Tofu Non-Meatballs for Tofu Non-Meatball Subs for dinner.

The prior day’s Pilates had done my husband’s abs in, so we skipped this day. I read and played on the computer, brought in the trash cans and brought in a bag of Tater Tots from the garage freezer. I cooked the non-meatballs and Tater Tots, and we had dinner. I did my Duolingo, biked for 20 minutes, showered, and finished reading Children Under Fire. My husband and I watched two episodes of Forensic Files before bed.

 

Wednesday, 15 December, 2021

Another whirlwind day! Literally. 64 degrees in December in the Midwest makes for seriously bizarre conditions, include a LOT of wind.

After coffee and breakfast, I got dressed and made out my grocery list. I scooped the litterbox, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and then out the door we went for school drop off. I had to get gas before heading to two grocery stores. The only fabulously priced item I got was two pounds of mushrooms that were marked down to what their sale price normally is at Aldi, from one of my local grocery stores. But as mushrooms hardly ever go on sale anymore, I wasn’t about to let this pass me by!

At home, I put the groceries away and settled down for an hour of volunteer work compiling lists of housing resources. While working, I listened to a program on the rise in antisemitism around the world, which talked about things like synagogue shootings and stabbings, the murder of Sarah Halimi, the murder of Heather Heyer (who wasn’t Jewish but who was killed at a protest where people on the far right were shouting antisemitic phrases), the rise in hate groups in the US, and other depressing subjects. Informative, but depressing.

After that, I made probably the best batch of Buffalo Wing’ish Hummus of my entire life (forgive me, hummus purists, I love buffalo sauce-flavored ANYTHING!!!), and then it was off to lunch with my daughter. At home, I ate lunch, took out the recycling and compost, and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. I did my 30 minutes of Read Harder, and skipped Pilates- the temperature swing had me feeling creaky in a way that I didn’t like, so I didn’t want to push it. I just hung out with my husband instead, which was nice, since we don’t often get much quiet time together!

He did school pickup, while I stayed home to look for some books on climate change for my daughter. She had asked questions about it, so I wanted to find her some books that explained it in a way that wouldn’t scare her or stress her out more than necessary (not that it’s not inherently a stressful topic already, but she’s 7 and living through a pandemic where they still have to do active shooter drills, SO). When they got home, I went to the library and grabbed all the books on the list, plus a few extra, including one extra for me!

At home, I worked on this post and got the frozen pizzas into the oven (Aldi had no fresh cheese pizzas this week, so frozen it was! At least it was one vegetable pizza with goat cheese, and one spinach and mushroom!). After dinner, I did my Duolingo and biked for 20 minutes, showered, read with my daughter and then put her to bed. I read When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers by Ken Krimstein in its entirety, then began reading American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadowy History of Adoption by Gabrielle Glaser. When my husband came upstairs, we watched two episodes of Forensic Files before bed. The wind was scary all night long!

 

And that’s it so far this week. I have a bunch of errands to run these last two schooldays, along with all my regular house stuff, so I’m going to be busy busy busy (when I’d rather be relaxing, relaxing, relaxing!). But we’re almost there! I hope you’re all doing well and that you’re safe from the scary weather we’ve been having!