What's Been Going On: Monday, 17 January, 2022 - Wednesday, 19 January, 2022

Happy Thursday! The weekend, and sleeping in, is in sight! (Can you tell I’m tired as I’m typing this? Is it summer yet???)

Bit of a quiet week so far, but that’s okay. The winter doldrums are upon us and the temps are freezing, so I’ve been trying to balance curling up under a blanket and reading the days away with getting plenty of exercise- or at least enough exercise to make my body happy. It’s not always easy to pull myself out from under that warm blanket!

Here's what I’ve been up to so far this week!

 

Monday, 17 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I posted my Monday post, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and threw some chickpeas in the Instant Pot. I got dressed and prepared the non-chickpea parts of Moroccan Chickpea Stew in the crockpot, took out the recycling and compost, scooped the litterbox, and tidied the living room. And then we met up with my sister-in-law and nephew for a snowy hour-and-a-half walk in a local forest preserve.

 

The paths were tramped down enough and covered with fresh snow so that there was zero danger of slipping, and proper clothing kept us warm the whole way. While we were there, we saw a woman walking her husky, and on her chest was a carrier with a huge fluffy black cat hanging out of it! Seriously the greatest thing I’ve seen in a while. She says the cat loves it, and I’m glad she humors it and brings it with her. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but it felt weird to ask.

After lunch, I took a nap and read, then took out the trash and hauled the cans to the curb. I threw some brown rice in the Instant Pot. Dinner was really good. If you end up making that Moroccan Chickpea Stew, don’t skimp on the yogurt, whether vegan or dairy; it really needs that to cut down on the acidity of the tomatoes. We all really liked it!

I did my Duolingo and showered, put dinner away, and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. I showered my daughter and put her to bed, then finished reading The Book of Separation by Tova Mirvis and began reading Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back by Mark O’Connell. My husband and I watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before bed.

 

Tuesday, 18 January, 2022

I would’ve figured our tramp through the woods wore me down enough to sleep well, but not quite enough- I had a terrible night’s sleep. My anxiety decided to ramp up into full gear, and what’s weird is that it was all physical- mentally, I was perfectly fine. It was really a bizarre feeling and lasted throughout most of the day.

After breakfast and coffee, I got dressed and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. My daughter gave me some serious attitude at school drop-off- anyone mind if I set up a tent in your back yard for a few years? Decades, maybe?

At home, I did just over an hour of volunteer work. Not my usual day for this, but we had been informed of scheduled power outages on Wednesday, so I wanted to get some of this out of the way. I played on the computer for a bit, then cleaned off the counter next to the microwave and made a jar of taco seasoning for my mom (for whenever it is we get to see her next!). I set up the stovetop full of baking soda and vinegar, to soak for a bit, then refilled my baking soda canister.

After lunch with my daughter, I had lunch myself at home, then wiped down my stovetop and did my 30 minutes of my Read Harder project (reading American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood). I dozed for a bit, read my book, played on the computer. Dinner was leftovers, and I did my Duolingo, then headed upstairs for 30 minutes of biking. This left me a sweaty mess, but my anxiety was still so ramped up that I didn’t feel winded at all, because my heart had been pounding like a maniac all day. So, so bizarre.

I showered, then settled into bed with my book, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before bed.

 

Wednesday, 19 January, 2022

No coffee this morning! I finally opened the almond milk coffee creamer I’d bought from Aldi, and it was…not good. Not the worst, but, just…not good. Totally disappointing. But I had breakfast and made out my grocery list, then got dressed. School drop-off was intensely cold and windy; no idea why they made us stand out there!

I hit up three grocery stores, none of which had any ready-made veggie sandwiches (to take to my daughter for lunch; she’s stopped eating meat, all on her own. I’ve been vegetarian for years), but I did come home with a crapload of marked-down Brussels sprouts and several packages of marked-down mushrooms, so I’m a happy camper! As soon as I got home and put the groceries away, the power went out, just as we’d been warned it would. So I sat down to start on this post, and when it was time, I hopped in the car and drove over to Burger King in order to pick up some Impossible Burgers for a special we-have-no-power lunch for my daughter and me!

Being vegetarian, I hadn’t had fast food like that in YEARS. Guys…it was incredible. That was a seriously good not-burger. I’ll definitely be going back to get more of those from time to time (it’s a good thing I’m extremely frugal with a ton of self-control, because this particular Burger king is about a two-minute walk from my house!). My daughter also really liked it, so it was a win all around.

The power was still out when I got home, and it was about 59 degrees in the house (with a windchill in the single digits outside), so I huddled under the blankets and tried to nap, but a panic attack- still all physical, nothing mental- woke me up. Just as I was putting on extra clothing, the power came back on, hurray! I played around on the computer a bit to relax and calm down (with a mug of coffee, of course!), then dumped the entire litter box and refilled it. And then it was time for school pick-up.

We don’t often take our daughter out, but on this day, I figured it would be safe, and she went with me to Michael’s (a craft store) to pick out some yarn for a project for my friend’s children- this is the friend who recently died; our friend group is knitting/crocheting squares, and one woman is going to piece them into blankets, one for each child. So of course I signed up for two squares. The store was pretty much empty, as I’d assumed, and we were in and out quickly.

At home, I found my needles, cast on the necessary stitches, and knit the first row. I likely won’t have much time to sit and knit until tomorrow, but that’s okay, it’ll be ready and waiting for me!

 I mushroomed the pizza I’d bought for dinner, then threw it in the oven and took out the compost. After dinner, I did my Duolingo, biked for 30 minutes, and showered. After putting my daughter to bed, I continued reading Notes from an Apocalypse, and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women (I think that’s what it’s called) before bed.

 

And that’s it for now! We’re going over to my mother-in-law’s this weekend for a late birthday celebration. She had a breakthrough case of COVID over Christmas (a mild one, thankfully; she was only down for a few days); my nephew is tested weekly in school, and one of us will likely test before going, so we’re being as safe as humanly possible about this. Even then, it’s still a little nerve-wracking! Other than that, more Hebrew study, cross-stitching, reading (and reading Le Petit Prince, which I haven’t managed to do yet this week), and knitting are in the plans for the weekend. Anyone have any interesting weekend plans?

Stay warm and safe out there, friends!