What's Been Going On: Monday, 31 January - Wednesday, 2 February, 2022

 Happy Thursday! Are you bracing for snow, or are you digging out? We got slammed this week and it was pretty awesome. Surprise snow days are the best- as are neighbors who plow out your driveway. So very thankful to live by good people.

 

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

Monday, 31 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I wrote my Monday post. I got dressed, scooped the litterbox, and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. I posted Monday’s post, then edited and posted my review for Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell on my book blog.

I dropped my daughter off at school, then tidied the living room and settled down to make up the hour of volunteer work I missed last week. I then swept the living room and wrote two book reviews before heading off to bring my daughter her lunch. Afterwards, it was a not-as-quick-as-I-would-have-liked trip to Aldi to grab the sliced cheese I forgot the day before. People were stocking up for the snowstorm expected to hit the area starting Tuesday night like they were going to be snowed in up to the rooftop. I just needed some sliced cheese and I picked up a little extra milk in case anyone wanted hot cocoa while it was snowing!

At home, I had lunch, then did my thirty minutes of my personal Read Harder challenge, reading American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood. I replaced the bathroom and kitchen garbage bags, took out the garbage and recycling, took the compost out, then hauled the cans to the curb. And then it was time for school pick-up!

I chopped and prepared Brussels sprouts and took the scraps out to the compost. The Brussels sprouts went into the oven and I settled down to help my daughter with her math homework. I played on the computer a bit, cooked the pasta and garlic bread, and we had dinner. I did my Duolingo, and I was going to bike, but I couldn’t find my sports bra, so I ended up skipping and headed straight for the shower. I read my book, and my husband and I watched one episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Tuesday, 1 February, 2022

After coffee, I edited and posted the monthly recap over at my book blog, then got dressed. I worked on my monthly goals post for this blog, then dropped my daughter off at school. I emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, and edited and posted my monthly goals post.

And then it was time to sit down and get knitting. The squares for my friend’s memory blankets are due by the end of this month, so I needed to put in some work. I listened to a local radio station while I knit, took a break to do a ten-minute abs & core workout (all that sitting isn’t good!), then got back to knitting.

I took my daughter her lunch, had lunch myself, and swept the living room floor (the things you see when you’re down on the floor doing exercises! Eeek!). I did my 30-minute personal Read Harder challenge, and I finished knitting my first blanket square.

 

Terrible photo, so if you can't tell, the design is a spider. My friend Jen loved spiders; in another life, with more opportunities, she would've made an amazing arachnologist. You could text her a picture of a spider and she'd tell you what kind it was. She was smart, funny, kind, determined, and a wonderful friend and mother, and I hope the blanket we're putting together gives her kids even a small amount of comfort, knowing that she, and they, were so very loved.

I prepared a batch of pizza dough (I use the recipe from The Complete Tightwad Gazette), filled and ran the dishwasher, and cast on my second square. I brought in the cans from the curb and picked up my daughter up from school. It had already started to rain, the start of the winter storm heading our way! At home, I visited a few homemaking blogs before decorating the pizza.

 

I took out the recycling and threw the pizza in the oven, and I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. And then the pizza was done! Mushrooms and red pepper. It was awesome.

 

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, biked for 25 minutes, and showered. I read my book, put my daughter to bed, read some more, and then I got the phone call- SNOW DAY TOMORROW!!! My husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

Wednesday, 2 February, 2022

Snow day!!! It snowed all morning and a good portion of the afternoon. This is what we woke up to.

 

After coffee, I edited and published my review for Invisible City by Julia Dahl. I got dressed and then it was time to clean my daughter’s room. Remember how neat and tidy we’d made it last week? Here’s what it looked like before we began.

 

And after!

 

I prepared a batch of vegetarian green pepper soup in the Instant Pot. I don’t make this often, only when I get a good deal on those fake meat crumbles, but it’s one of my favorites. I spent a little bit of time on the computer and then continued reading When It’s Real by Erin Watt. After lunch, I did my thirty minutes of my personal Read Harder project, and I was planning on reading some more, but I was so comfortable, and it was so cold and snowy outside, and I just rolled over and took a really amazing nap that lasted for hours.

When I finally woke up, I finished When It’s Real, spent some time on the computer, and began reading Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford. After an extremely delicious dinner, I did my Duolingo, biked 25 minutes, then showered. I worked on this post, then continued reading my book, and my husband and I watched an episode of Deadly Women before bed.

 

And that’s it. Bit of a quiet week with a somewhat unexpected break (we were on the edge of the storm and weren’t sure exactly how much we would get. My friend half an hour away got two inches and her daughter had school. Our road wasn’t plowed until almost 10 am. It was crazy!

I don’t think we have too much planned for this weekend. I still have two hours of volunteer work to get to this week, so I’ll get that started today after a quick trip to the grocery store. Other than that, just more of the usual, staying warm and cozy indoors.

I hope you’re having a wonderful week! Stay warm and safe!