What's Been Going On: Thursday, 13 January - Sunday, 16 January, 2022

Happy Monday! Oof, what a weekend that was. I’ll get to the why in a little bit, but I hope you were able to find a bit more relaxation than I did. My daughter has today off from school, so we’re enjoying a nice day at home. Potentially a walk at some point today; it’ll be a balmy 30 degrees Fahrenheit, which is definitely warm enough to get out there for some fresh air (and lots of complaining from my daughter, but that’s just a given!).

Here's what I’ve been up to!

 

Thursday, 13 January, 2022

Super quiet day!

After breakfast and coffee, I posted my Thursday post and got dressed. I put some chickpeas in the Instant Pot, and then it was time for school drop-off.

At home, I took out the recycling and compost, then settled down for a little over one hour of volunteer work (working on compiling lists of Tennessee food pantries). When I wrapped that up, I prepared the start of dinner, Chana Saag (a chickpea and spinach curry that we all enjoy). I took lunch to my daughter, had lunch myself, then did 30 minutes of my Read Harder book (American Literary Almanac by Karen L. Rood) and read Rookie Move by Sarina Bowen the rest of the afternoon.

I put the rice in the rice cooker, ran to the library to pick up a book from interlibrary loan, then finished cooking the rest of dinner. After we ate, I did my Duolingo and showered, read my book, put my daughter to bed, continued reading, and watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight with my husband before going to bed.

 

Friday, 14 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I wrote my Friday post, got dressed, then posted Friday’s post. My daughter was heavy on the attitude this morning; school drop-off was NOT a fun time!

At home, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, took out the compost and recycling, then tidied and swept the living room, I went over my Hebrew flashcards, then spent 30 minutes on my Read Harder project. And then I got a message from someone from Freecycle, and I was off to pick up a fishbowl for a future terrarium project! It was just across town; I wouldn’t have made the trip if it had been further, but being so close made it worth it. Stay tuned for whatever I do with this- it’ll likely be a while, but I’m excited about it!

 

I messed around on the computer until it was time to take my daughter her lunch, then I had lunch myself and curled up in the chair to finish reading Rookie Move. And then I pulled out my grandmother’s cross-stitch to get some work done on that while watching YouTube videos. We had leftovers for dinner, I did my Duolingo, and I continued with the cross-stitch and YouTube until it was time to attend my synagogue’s virtual services. The husband and I watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before going to bed.

 

Saturday, 15 January, 2022

I ran the dishwasher before having breakfast and coffee. I got dressed, scooped the litterbox, tidied my daughter’s room and the kitchen, the unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. I folded a load of laundry, then swept and tidied the living room. And then I ran to the library to pick up another interlibrary loan book! I love when I get those emails.

After lunch, the family went on a three mile walk. It had snowed overnight, so there was a fresh coat of snow over the old, iced-over snow, which is what made this walk possible for me (hurray for no slipping!). It was cold at 23 degrees Fahrenheit, but the sun was out and we were all dressed properly, so we didn’t really feel it. My daughter’s attitude was out in full force, however!

My husband made cocoa and I helped our daughter with her math homework, and then I pulled out Prayerbook Hebrew the Easy Way to begin studying chapter 3. I’d barely started when notifications began coming in about the hostage situation at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.

When it comes to the Jewish people, what happens to one of us happens to all of us, and every single one of us knows that it could have easily been us in that situation. Our synagogues have high-tech security systems complete with cameras, intercoms, and codes needed to enter. Police are stationed there outside every Friday night (or Saturday, depending on when services are held) and Sunday, for Sunday school (which is when most children’s Hebrew and learning classes are held). The juxtaposition of our rabbi wishing us a peaceful Shabbat and then having to walk out past the armed policemen standing guard is jarring, to say the least, but it’s absolutely necessary, and what happened in Colleyville is why. We’re all vulnerable, all the time; it’s just an unfortunate fact of life that comes with being Jewish.

I got the chapter done, but I kept pausing to refresh my Twitter feed for updates and to pray for a peaceful outcome, because I was desperate for updates on the situation. I made a batch of cinnamon-vanilla waffles and scrambled eggs with onion, garlic, and pepper for dinner. I ran the dishwasher, did my Duolingo, showered, and put my daughter to bed. All the time, I was hitting refresh like a madman and praying.

I began reading The Book of Separation by Tova Mirvis, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight. And when he went off to the bathroom to brush his teeth, I refreshed my Twitter feed and let out a cry of relief when I saw that all hostages had been released safely. Baruch HaShem, I felt such a massive, full-body sense of relief upon reading that news. I cried a little. I’m so sorry for the trauma my fellow Jews suffered during that ordeal, and I’m sad that the man who took them hostage felt that that was his only means of receiving attention. I’m sad that he had to be killed for this to be resolved, relieved that my fellow Jews are safe, and desperate to live in a world where something like this never happens again. Can we make that happen, please?

 

Sunday, 16 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I got to work, writing three book reviews to catch up on what I’d read this past week. I got dressed, cleaned up the living room, then unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and sat down to begin working on this post. : ) I also managed to schedule three doctor appointments for myself (two regular yearly checkups and a follow-up). I’ve been putting this off for ages, so that’s a win!

After lunch, my husband and I did a twenty-minute Pilates video that pretty much wrecked me for the day, so I took a nap afterwards and then continued reading The Book of Separation by Tova Mirvis. My husband made macaroni and cheese for dinner. I did my Duolingo and showered, then read my book, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before bed.

 

No school today for my daughter and no work for my husband, so at some point in the night, she crawled in with us and we woke up all snuggly. I love mornings like that!

Nothing really big planned for this week, but I’ll have to shuffle a few things around, as we have a planned power outage on Wednesday from 10-1. Other than that, more of the usual! Wishing you all a wonderful, productive week. Stay safe, and stay healthy!

Friday links: 14 January, 2022

 Happy Friday, friends! Be safe if you’re in the path of that giant snowstorm. All we might get are a few flurries, so that’s nothing to worry about.

I definitely need to get the living room tidied up today. My daughter, bless her messy little heart, is a Level A Destructor and can bring down a clean room in seconds. If I want what’s left of my sanity to last throughout the weekend, I need to get this place in better shape before she gets back home from school today, so that’s what I’ll be doing this morning. Wish me luck!

Not many interesting links this week; I haven’t spent too much time online. But here’s what I found!

 

Hospitalizations skyrocket in children too young for COVID vaccines

Oof. So scary. While most of the time kids aren’t hit quite as hard with COVID, it’s not true for all kids. (One of the prevailing hypotheses right now is that there’s something genetic that may contribute to some people getting a worse case than others; I’m wondering if this holds true for kids as well.) I read a story last year of a mom who was an anti-masker, who yelled from the rooftops that COVID was no big deal, and then the youngest of her kids, her two-year-old, ended up intubated in the ICU with emphysema after the family came down with COVID. Protect the little ones in your life; their pulling through this unscathed isn’t guaranteed, and we don’t know the long-term effects. (Post-polio syndrome, anyone? Measles’s SSPE?)

 

The coronavirus may cause fat cells to miscommunicate, leading to diabetes

A fascinating article on how COVID may lead your body down a path no one wants (or no one should want. Trust me on this; my father is a Type 1 diabetic). This is something that worries me deeply, since here in the US, we’ve basically given up and are just sentencing everyone to whatever those long-term effects, including diabetes, may be (and here, diabetes can be a quick death sentence if you can’t afford insulin).

 

Every parent I know wants to walk into the sea right now.

I could have written this. There’s nothing fun about being a parent right now. We’re asked to go against every parental instinct we’ve ever developed and send our children into a building where several kids per day, on average (for my daughter's school; the middle school in town has dozens of kids testing positive each day), test positive for a virus that can have devastating effects- on them, on us if we catch a breakthrough case, on others if we unknowingly spread it (husband and I are double vaxxed and boosted, but it’s those long-term effects I worry about. Long Covid isn’t my idea of a good time, thanks). And we’re losing years of our children’s childhood without being able to make fun memories- or really, any decent memories. My daughter hasn’t eaten in a restaurant in two years. She hasn’t played at a park with other kids or gone into a grocery store since before March 2020, she hasn’t gone to the zoo or the swimming pool since before this started, she hasn’t had a birthday party with friends EVER. We could get a handle on this as a country, but our leadership (from both parties) has actively chosen not to, and we’re all paying for it. Be kind to the parents in your life; we’re all at our breaking points and are being demanded to sacrifice our kids to this. Just over 130 days until school is done for the year for us…

 

Hang in there, friends. Things are so, so hard right now. (Anyone need a partner to walk into the sea with???) This will end eventually, although it’s sure taking its sweet time.

Love and peace to you all, and I wish you a relaxing weekend.

What's Been Going On: Monday, 10 January - Wednesday, 12 January, 2022

 Phew! We’re getting a little bit of a break from the fierce cold, thank goodness. It got all the way up to 38 yesterday. Which is definitely still cold, of course, but it’s nothing like the bitterness of a 6 degree day with the windchill below zero. Our temps will fall again after a few days, so I’m hoping the driveway melts completely before then, because it’s basically an icy death trap right now.

So far, so good with my daughter at school this week. No COVID cases at her school the past two days *knocks on wood*, so hopefully things are starting to slow down a little here. I’ve been doing my best to get things done around the house, now that I’m home alone during the days again, but I haven’t felt all that productive this week yet. Maybe because I’ve been so sleepy due to several nights of poor sleep!

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been up to so far this week!

 

Monday, 10 January, 2022

I threw a batch of white beans into the Instant Pot, then had breakfast and coffee. I edited and posted my Monday post, got dressed and ready, then posted my review for Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods by Amelia Pang on my book blog.

After unloading the dishwasher, it was time for a very cold school drop-off. Fortunately, when the temperature OR the windchill is below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, they allow students to walk right in, instead of waiting in line outside, so on this day, I was able to drop my daughter off and make a beeline back to the car. By the time I got home, I couldn’t feel my fingers, despite having two pair of gloves on! Piglet the tuxedo cat had the right idea about how to spend this day.

I made an Instant Pot full of Cauliflower Potato Soup with white beans, threw the dishes in the dishwasher, and tidied up the kitchen. I cleaned the living room, started a load of laundry, and did a quick tidy-up of my daughter’s room. And then I settled down in my chair to do my 30 minutes of Read Harder, reading American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood. I did my first 20 minutes of piano practice since mid-December. I’m still working on I Want It That Way and I was really pleased with how I sounded. I’ve got the verses and chorus down; I need to focus on the middle eight and the key change, and then I’ll be good!

I hung out on the computer for a bit before taking lunch to my daughter (BRRRR). At home, I had lunch, then took out the compost (super icy out there!). And since I had some extra time, I read two more chapters of Le Petit Prince. I tried to nap, but ended up just lying there with my eyes closed, so I read and helped my daughter with her math homework when she got home.

I took out the recycling and trash and hauled the cans to the curb, blended the soup, and then it was time for dinner! After we ate, I did my Duolingo, showered, put dinner away, and read until it was time for bed (no watching anything; my husband had a headache and fell asleep at 8 pm!).

 

Tuesday, 11 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I scooped the litterbox, got dressed, and posted my review for Rad Girls Can: Stories of Bold, Brave, and Brilliant Young Women by Kate Schatz on my book blog. I dropped my daughter off at school- no standing outside again, too cold!- then I headed to Walmart for cat food. I also bought a seventy-cent loaf of herb bread and two dollar pie from the discount bakery rack. I was going to make bread, but this saved me the trouble!

At home, I loaded and ran the dishwasher, then did some organizing of my reading list. Some of the ebooks on my list (which I resolved to finally get through) were no longer available through my library (likely their license expired and the library didn’t renew them), so I ordered a few of those books via interlibrary loan and downloaded an ebook version of Miss Jacobson’s Journey by Carol Dun.

I did my 30 minutes of Read Harder, then began reading Miss Jacobson’s Journey. I took lunch to my daughter (BRRRR again), had lunch myself, read a little bit more, and then napped. It was hard waking myself up to pick my daughter up from school, plus my back hurt (which also explains the lack of exercise right now; I’m taking it a little easy for a few days).

I read while my husband did math with my daughter. We had leftover soup, bread, and pie for dinner. I did my Duolingo and showered, read my book, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before bed.

 

Wednesday, 12 January, 2022

Breakfast and coffee, and then I made my grocery list and got dressed. Today was warm enough to stand outside for school drop off, but we timed it so well that there was probably only a minute of standing before they let the kids in. Hurray! (And a squirrel visited our rain barrel before we left. So cute!)

I went to two grocery stores. No good deals this week, sadly. Aldi still looks a bit like a Soviet wasteland; lots of empty shelves. They didn’t have any coffee creamer at all for the second week in a row. They did have peppermint ice cream, though, so I bought some of that to have this week. ; )

At home, I put the groceries away, then sat down to do my volunteer work, but my computer decided to be grumpy and not let me.

 

Hmph. I instead finished reading Miss Jacobson’s Journey, returned it, and downloaded the next book on my list, Rookie Move by Sarina Bowen. I had just enough time to start reading it, and throw the dishes in the dishwasher, before it was time to take my daughter her lunch.

At home, I had just finished up my lunch when my mother-in-law stopped by for a few minutes to drop off my daughter’s Christmas present. She was sick with COVID over Christmas, so we weren’t able to get together, but fortunately, she had a mild case and is all better now. We both still masked, just in case- I also don’t want to potentially infect her with anything I might have, because who knows what her immune system can handle right now (not that I’m sick, but I’d rather be as safe as possible!).

I finally got my hour of volunteer work done, then I curled up in my chair and fell asleep. I also had to take some meds for my back the night before and those make me sleepy, and I was still feeling the effects from that. It’s such a yucky feeling! When I was finally able to haul my carcass off the chair, I ran the dishwasher and threw the pizza in the oven.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo and showered. And then I took a minute to absorb the news that a dear friend had died.

She was a beautiful, strong, fierce, independent, loving, intelligent, funny, witty woman who had been dealt a crummy hand in life but who somehow managed to keep going through all of it. Through no fault of her own, she contracted HPV and wound up with cervical cancer, which spread. She leaves behind two beautiful children the same ages as my own, children who deserved to have a mother there to watch them grow up. In her blessed memory, I will speak out loudly about the importance of vaccinating your children- both boys and girls- against cervical cancer. The vaccine came out too late for her; your children don’t have to die of this horrible cancer-causing virus. Please, in Jen’s name, to prevent your families the pain her children are feeling right now, talk to your doctor about Gardasil, the HPV vaccine. I will miss her so very much. May Jen’s memory be a blessing.

I showered, put the rest of dinner away, then hopped into bed with my kindle and read until my husband came upstairs. We watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before going to bed.

 

That’s all for now! No big plans for the weekend here, just reading, mostly, and maybe a nap or two. Wishing you all a peaceful end of the week. Cherish your loved ones, friends, and do everything you can to protect them.

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 6 January, 2022 - Sunday, 9 January, 2022

 Chilly, chilly this morning! 14 degrees Fahrenheit this morning, and I’m NOT looking forward to standing out in that while waiting for my daughter’s teacher to come get the class when the bell rings.

Sending my daughter back to school today feels like a terrible decision out of a bunch of equally terrible decisions. Be kind to the parents in your life right now; we’re all struggling to do what’s best for our kids when given no real decent options. It’s really, really tough.

It's been a busy weekend around these parts. Nothing major, but I felt like I got a lot accomplished, which is always nice. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately!

 

Thursday, 6 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I wrote and posted my Thursday post (I usually try to get these written at least the night before, but it doesn’t always happen), and I posted my review for Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt on my book blog. And then it was time to start ‘school’ with my daughter!

We read about how clothing is made, school in other countries (this was a long book, so we broke it up into parts), and a long book on lighthouses. Suffice it to say, my daughter never wants to go back in time to become a lighthouse keeper! I also had her do a bit of writing. Her writing has improved a lot since last year, so I’m really happy about that.

After lunch, I took out the recycling, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and we finished the book about school around the world. We did our 30 minutes of Read Harder (I’m reading American Literary Almanac by Karen L. Rood), then I finished reading Made in China by Amelia Pang.

I swept the living room, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and cooked the pizza I’d bought the day before. We had dinner, and I did my Duolingo, biked for 25 minutes, then showered. I began reading The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis, and my husband and I watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before bed.

 

Friday, 7 January, 2022

 

Terrible night of sleep! It’s been too cold out to get much exercise, and my step count has been way down, which I think fed into my inability to sleep decently. I crawled out of bed, and after breakfast and coffee, I wrote up  my Friday post and posted that. My daughter and I tidied the living room and the kitchen, and I did some of my PT exercises with a resistance band to help out the crawly, restless-leg type syndromes I was having.

And then it was time for school work with my daughter. We read about colonial America, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and a story from the Osage tribe. She did her writing while I did more PT exercises.

After lunch, I chopped some broccoli, onion, and a red pepper, and put some tofu to press. I made the sauce for what would be Sheet Pan Cashew Tofu (this is seriously better than Chinese food delivery!), and made a batch of guacamole with the avocados that had been lingering on my kitchen counter all week. And of course I cleaned up my mess!

My daughter and I did our 30 minutes of Read Harder, and I dozed for a few minutes afterwards. My husband rubbed my back, which had decided it would be cranky and not work that well, and when he went downstairs, I put on my shoes and…walked laps around my house for thirty minutes! Gotta get that exercise in somewhere, right? What else can you do when it’s too cold to go outside? I actually got sweaty doing this.

Afterwards, I caught up on a few computer things, then cooked the Sheet Pan Cashew Tofu. We ate dinner, I put the leftovers away, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and then it was time for virtual services at my synagogue. It was another Kabbalat Shabbat service, so it was a little shorter than usual, which meant I was done in time to put my daughter to bed. I showered, read a little bit, and my husband and I watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight.

 

Saturday, 8 January, 2022

Coffee and breakfast, followed by scooping the litterbox, emptying and loading the dishwasher, and tidying the kitchen. I stripped the bed and put on the new sheets I’d bought a few weeks back, and started a load of laundry. I usually try to get this stuff done during the week, but with my daughter at home and needing to keep her learning, I didn’t get much of a chance, so I made an exception and got it done this day!

I wrote two book reviews, switched the laundry, and then it was time for lunch. I biked for 30 minutes, switched the laundry, and then settled down with Prayerbook Hebrew the Easy Way. I completed the whole second chapter on feminine nouns and added to my flashcard stash.

 

I put the dry blanket back on the bed, switched the laundry again, and then sat down to read two chapters of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Since one of my goals is to read at least one book in French this year, I’m starting out a little easy. This is a good pick because I just read it in English to my daughter. I’ve read parts of it in French before (in high school, which was *mumblemumblemumble* years ago), but not all of it (I have read it entirely in Spanish, though!). I’ll read all of this and then move on to another French book. At some point during my reading, I got up and threw a batch of Cilantro Lime Rice into the Instant Pot.

We had faux-Chipotle bowls for dinner; I did my Duolingo and visited a few homemaking blogs afterwards. I showered, then crawled under my heated throw and finished reading The Premonition. Absolutely incredible book. We didn’t watch anything last night; my husband was too tired and had a headache.

 

Sunday, 9 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I wrote a book review, then loaded and ran the dishwasher, and began reading 100 Side Hustles: Ideas for Making Extra Money by Chris Guillebeau. I don’t know that I’ll ever start up a business like these people have, but I’m not a hugely creative person, so I enjoy reading about others who are!

I cleaned up my side of the bedroom, and cleaned up that pile of clothes at the end of my bed. You know that pile. Some people’s piles are draped over a piece of exercise equipment; other people throw their pile on a chair in their bedroom. Mine is on top of a Sterilite container that holds all the jeans that I can’t really wear anymore due to chronic pain but that I keep holding onto thinking that one day it’ll get better enough for me to wear them again (sigh…). The pile always contains sweatshirts and sweatpants and shirts I only had on for an hour or two; it gets especially bad when the weather goes back and forth and I’m forced to change outfits like I’m a cast member of a Broadway musical. I also tidied up the rack that holds the dresses and cardigans I wear most days.

I switched the laundry (there was still a load in the washer, waiting to be dried!), cleaned off some of the stuff on the kitchen table (mostly piles of unopened mail that my husband has neglected for several months!), and then it was time for lunch. Afterwards, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and read for a bit, until my husband suggested we do Pilates. I found a 30-minute yoga/Pilates combo, so we did that, and my back did NOT like it one bit. I pretty much lay down on my chair and passed out for 45 minutes when we were finished!

I sautéed some onion, garlic, and green pepper and read a little bit before taking the recycling out (BRRR!!! Also ICY!!!), and I brought in a bag of tater tots from the garage. I threw together my version of SouthwestTater Tot Casserole (I always add salsa to the eggs; sometimes I add black beans), put the dishes in the dishwasher, then sat down to write this post (with the cat on my lap. So warm!). We had dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, and showered my daughter. I put the rest of dinner away, and loaded and ran the dishwasher.

I put my daughter to bed, then headed to my heated throw to read. My husband and I watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight, and then it was time for what turned out to be a terrible night of sleep. Boo.

 

And that’s it for now! Today will be filled with a lot of random chores. It’s the first day I’ll have the house to myself since school let out for winter break, so there’s a lot of tidying up to do. Of course, I’ll still be taking my daughter out of school at lunch time, so that will still break my day up, but I’d rather do that than have her sit in the lunchroom with 34824309034 unmasked kids, especially with the recent news about how diabetes diagnoses are up among kids that have had COVID. Not my idea of a good time as a parent.

Wishing you all peace and warmth this week!!!

Friday links: 7 January, 2022

Good morning! Currently, it’s -2 degrees Fahrenheit here. I’m not even sure that’s a real temperature, but I’m glad I don’t need to go outside in it! I slept pretty terribly last night, so a nap may be in store at some point today. That, and more exercise. You’ll see why!

Here's what I found interesting online this week!

 

Home for the Holidays? Get Off the Couch!

Sitting is bad for you. We know that. But, it turns out, sitting…is REALLY bad for you. And we’re all sitting way, way too much. Probably more these days, when a lot of us are stuck in the house because of weather (hello, -2!) and desperately trying to stay safe from the world of COVID out there. But there are plenty of ways to remain active when we’re at home. YouTube has TONS of free workouts (yoga, Pilates, cardio routines, dance-based exercises. Do a search and pick one that appeals to you. It’s okay to start off slow and hit pause 23489274893 times to catch your breath. Ask me how I know…); so many of us have at-home exercise equipment that we use solely to store laundry (if you don’t, check your local Freecycle! Mine always has equipment people no longer want); doing chores and being active around the house also counts, so get that cleaning project done! And if nothing else fails, walk laps around the inside of your house. Exercise is an important part of staying healthy, and I’m definitely going to be keeping more of an eye on how often I get up after having read this.

 

Intimate portraits of a hospital COVID unit from a photojournalist-turned-nurse.

These aren’t the worst I’ve seen, but they’re still hard to look at. If you aren’t aware of how complex COVID treatment can look, this is a good introduction. And again, I’ll recommend the documentary The First Wave on Hulu. It's a difficult watch, but it really puts everything into perspective.

 

A day after giving birth, I was asked back to work. America needs paid family leave.

Oof. The United States likes to play pretend a lot. We like to pretend there’s no racism, that poor people are poor because they’re lazy, that anyone can succeed and become a billionaire no matter what your challenges, and we also like to pretend that childbirth is as simple as clipping off a hangnail. I’ve read stories of women going back to waitressing jobs four days after giving birth because she couldn’t afford to take more time off. That’s completely inhumane, not to mention completely dangerous. We need to do better.

 

A Mother Needed Welfare. Instead, the State Used Welfare Funds to Take Her Son.

This is a situation I’ve seen play out in so many of the books I’ve read on poverty, and in real life. A friend of mine found herself unexpectedly pregnant, but didn’t realize it until extremely late in the pregnancy. She was also extremely low-income and couldn’t figure out a way to make things work financially, so even though she desperately wanted to parent her baby, she gave it up for adoption…and promptly suffered several mental breakdowns that required her to be hospitalized. Poverty causes trauma in myriad ways, and instead of addressing the root cause, we as a country criminalize poverty and cause more trauma to everyone involved. This is a devastating article with a story that’s far too common.

 

A hockey fan spotted a staffer’s suspicious mole from the stands, saving his life.

Ending on a happier note! A college student attending a hockey game saw a funky-looking mole on the back of an assistant equipment manager’s neck, so she tapped out a message to him on her cell phone to warn him, enlarged it, caught his attention, and held her phone up to the glass to show him. He did get it checked out (after dragging his feet a bit), and it turned out to be early-stage cancer, but they caught it in time before it spread. I love stories like this!

 

I hope you’re having a good week. It’s tough out there for everyone, in different ways (solidarity with my fellow parents of young children!), so please be kind- to others and to yourself. Be sure to leave yourself some time for whatever relaxes you and makes you feel whole, and I wish you a calm, peaceful weekend. : ) 

What's Been Going On: Monday, 3 January - Wednesday, 5 January, 2022

 Brrrr! It’s a cold one today. As I write this, it’s currently 5 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and I have no desire to go out whatsoever. Fortunately, other than taking the recycling out (which is located conveniently by my back door!), I don’t need to. Much better to stay inside my cozy, warm little house on days like today.

This week looks a little different. We ended up not sending our daughter back to school yet; her teacher told us, in response to the email we sent her, that they anticipated a lot of absences and that this week was just for review because of that, so we ended up not sending her at all. COVID numbers are far too high, so we’ve been doing our own thing and having plenty of fun together!

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

 

Monday, 3 January, 2022

(This was technically my daughter’s last day of winter break.)

After coffee and breakfast, I wrote my Monday post (I usually like to do this before the day of posting, but there’s not always time). After I posted it, I loaded and ran the dishwasher, tidied the living room, and then did various things on the computer while my husband and daughter played in the living room in front of me.

After lunch, we all went for a chilly three-mile walk. This took a lot longer than normal, because of the snow and ice (fortunately, no falling, only a few slides!). We live in a really active town, so the path was already well-trodden.

 

I took the garbage and recycling cans to the road when we got home (I was already warm from the walk, so I figured this was the best time!), then ran to the library to grab some books for my daughter. At home, I prepared another batch of oven-roasted Brussels sprouts and put a new bag in the trash can, then unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. Leftovers for dinner, along with those Brussels sprouts!

 

I did my Duolingo and showered, read more of Gory Details by Erika Engelhaupt, then watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight with my husband before bed.

 

Tuesday, 4 January, 2022

Breakfast and coffee, and then I got dressed, scooped the litterbox, filled and ran the dishwasher, and tidied the living room. And then it was time for not-quite-homeschool with my daughter! We read a bunch of library books that I’d picked up the day before, about the ocean, activism, simple machines, how things work around the house, and health. We had a lot of great discussions!

After lunch, I made my daughter do some writing, and then we worked on my Read Harder project of silent reading for 30 minutes. She read her Katie Kazoo book; I read American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood. When the timer went off, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, took out the compost, and made a pitcher of orange juice.

When my husband got home, I ran out to GFS to pick up some large containers of peanut butter and also ended up grabbing a bag of pierogies for dinner (total comfort food!). On the way there, the COVID testing line on Main Street was at least 20-25 cars long, at around 3pm. Yikes!

At home, I bagged up the bananas I’d chopped and froze a few days ago. Four bags of bananas, ready for smoothies and baking. Yum!

 

I brought in the trash and recycling cans, finished reading Gory Details by Erika Engelhaupt, and began reading Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods by Amelia Pang. Y’all…this book is utterly soul-crushing, and I’m not sure I can ever buy anything again in good conscience. Chinese forced labor is devastating, and there’s really no way to tell which products come from forced-labor camps. If you’ve ever bought a product made in China, you need to read this.

I boiled the pierogies for dinner while chatting with my sister-in-law, who is a teacher. Her school district, which is right down the road from ours, shut down for three days due to too many teachers and staff having COVID. No one left to teach. Ugh.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered (this is when my husband went over math with our daughter), read, and watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight with my husband before bed.

 

Wednesday, 5 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I made my grocery list. Not many good sales this week.

I wrote and posted my review for Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller on my book blog, and then it was time for fake homeschooling with my daughter! We read books about mermaids, school in other countries, vaccines, and how food gets from where it’s grown to our homes. Afterwards, I had her do some writing, and she killed it! I was so happy.

I wrote a review for Gory Details, and then it was time for lunch. We did my Read Harder reading, and then I finally got dressed, and when my husband got home, I was off to get groceries. It was extremely cold and fiercely windy, and my trunk wouldn’t open, but the light came on showing it was open- and I’m not strong enough to force it open or thump it closed. SO frustrating. I even cried a little trying to deal with this, but that was more due to everything ELSE going on. I’m so stressed out about sending my kiddo back to school next week; I just don’t think the kids are going to be safe there, unmasking at lunch, with as contagious as this Omicron variant is. (I’ll still be taking her out for lunch, but she’ll still be in class with those kids afterwards, and I’ve seen how poorly some of them mask…). Be kind to the parents in your lives right now; there are no good answers to anything and everyone I know with young children basically all feel like screaming and throwing up all the time because of the stress. (My husband got the trunk to close when I got home. PHEW.)

After hitting two grocery stores (no decent deals anywhere this week), I came home and did an hour of volunteer work, and then we had dinner- Chinese food for my husband’s birthday! I did my Duolingo and biked for 25 minutes (even though I didn’t want to!). I showered, put my daughter to bed, read Made in China, and watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight with my husband before bed.

 

And that’s it for now! My poor house is nowhere near as tidy as I would like it, but that’s what happens when you’re home all the time and trying to replicate school for a small child. I should have a little more time today that I can get things in better shape.

I hope wherever you are, you’re staying warm and HEALTHY. I don’t want any form of COVID, ‘mild’ or not, and I don’t want my daughter getting it either (kids can get long COVID as well; I’m not interested in a seven-year-old living the rest of her life with a medical condition that could have been prevented…). I’m really not sure what we’re going to do about school next week. There have been 13 reported cases at her school already this week, in two days, so…Stay tuned, I guess. It’s a whole entire saga…

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 30 December, 2021 - Sunday, 2 January, 2022

 Good morning and happy Monday! It’s a cold one here, currently just 6 degrees Fahrenheit. I slept a little funny on my right shoulder, so it’s pretty cranky with me, but I’m not going to let that stop me!

We got our first decent snowfall over the weekend. It snowed almost all day Saturday and a little bit into Sunday morning, leaving us with a little over four inches of snow. Everything is covered in a lovely mantle of white and looks so cheery!

Here’s what I’ve been up to lately!

 

Thursday, 30 December, 2021

After breakfast and coffee, I posted my Thursday post and did an hour of volunteer work. I unloaded, reloaded, and ran the dishwasher, did 20 minutes of Pilates, and then rested, because I was wiped out!

By this time, it was time for lunch (winter break means sleeping in a little later, so I don’t get quite as much done). Afterwards, I sat down for 30 minutes of my Read Harder project, and friends, I FINISHED The Joy of Sects by Peter Occhiogrosso!!! Almost 600 pages and I completed it. My first Read Harder book since 2020. Super proud of myself!

I dozed for a few minutes, then got up to unload the dishwasher. I sliced the bananas I’d bought on markdown on Wednesday, and chopped some on-sale peppers, then took everything out to the garage freezer to freeze.

 

I unloaded the dishwasher, took out all the compost (it was a lot!) and recycling, and reloaded the dishwasher. I sat down to do some cross-stitching, but the cat hopped onto my lap, so I figured I’d just leave him there and played on the computer instead. : )

I created a Google doc version of my want-to-read list. I have a paper version that I bring to the library whenever I go, but I figured it might be handy to keep a Google doc version as well; that way, I always have a copy with me, accessible on my phone, wherever I go! We had dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, and finished putting together my Google doc list. I put my daughter to bed, read my book, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight.

 

Friday, 31 December, 2021

I had breakfast and coffee, finished and posted my Friday post, and got dressed. I loaded and ran the dishwasher, wiped off the gross stovetop, then spent the rest of the morning turning my pile of old bread ends into bread crumbs. I’d been needing to get to this for a while, but had lacked motivation; it’s not my favorite of tasks! But I got it done and now have a huge bag of breadcrumbs to show for my efforts.

 

 

After lunch, I biked for 25 minutes, then picked out my new Read Harder book, American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood. This has been sitting on my shelf for…over a decade, at least, so it’s time to take this bad boy down! I spent 30 minutes reading this, then spent the rest of the afternoon finishing Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller (I may have napped a little in there as well).

We had a dinner of appetizers from the grocery store. I did my Duolingo and showered, and began reading Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt (really loving this!!!). My husband and I watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before going to bed well before midnight. We’re real party animals. ; )

 

Saturday, 1 January, 2022

Happy New Year!!!

After coffee, I posted my monthly update on my book blog (WordPress was being a BEAST. I don’t understand why WordPress is so consistently buggy and difficult to work with). I got dressed, then went out to gas up my car in preparation for the snow and cold that was coming. At home, I reloaded and ran the dishwasher, scooped the litterbox, took out the compost and recycling, then sat down to clean up my email. The snow started falling around this time and was super pretty. Check out our colorful visitor!

After lunch, I biked for 25 minutes, then did my 30 minutes of Read Harder. I tidied and swept the living room, unloaded and reloaded the dish washer, then mixed the dry ingredients for Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. I completed the first chapter of Prayerbook Hebrew The Easy Way (I had gone through the first few chapters this summer, but I’m starting over, just to make sure I get everything!), including making flashcards, because my Hebrew spelling could use the work!

I prepared the baked oatmeal and put it into the oven. I chopped and sauteed an onion and the rest of the mushrooms from my fridge and made scrambled eggs with those veggies to go with the dinner oatmeal. Breakfast for dinner is so fun! After we ate, I did my Duolingo, showered, read Gory Details, and my husband and I watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Site before bed.

 

Sunday, 2 January, 2022

Quiet day!

After coffee and breakfast, I loaded the dishwasher and prepared a batch of spicy black-eyed peas in the Instant Pot (no recipe; I had to use the Wayback Machine in order to retrieve it, since the website no longer exists. I would’ve made these on the 1^st, but I’d forgotten I had some! Forgive me, New Year!). I ran the dishwasher, helped my husband use the dehydrator for a project he was doing, and then sat down to work on my grandmother’s cross-stitch until lunch.

I continued cross-stitching after lunch while watching YouTube and Swans Crossing (a short-run teen soap opera that I loved when I was 12 and which is available in full on Tubi). I unloaded and ran the dishwasher to clean it, did a brief ten minute Pilates video, and put the rice in the rice cooker before settling back down to continue cross-stitching.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, biked for 25 minutes, showered, showered my daughter, then settled down under my heated throw to read Gory Details, and my husband and I watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight before bed.

 

And that’s it! Really not sure what this week will bring. I’m not feeling at all confident about sending my daughter to school this week. I wouldn’t go into a room with twenty other people for seven hours a day, five days a week, in a building with several hundred people; why would I do that to my child? Case numbers are ridiculous right now, and we’ve worked so hard to avoid COVID these past two years. I don’t want all our efforts to be for nothing. My husband has emailed her teacher to see if we can get take-home work if we keep her home this week. I don’t know what the answer will be, but I really don’t think sending her into a school full of kids who have traveled and spent time with who-knows-how-many-other-people over break, who are (often improperly) wearing cloth masks (which aren’t enough with Omicron) and sitting in the unmasked stew of the lunchroom for 25 minutes every day, is the right call here. Wish us luck; parenting during a pandemic is full of awful decisions with no clear answer.

Whatever you’re doing this week, I hope it’s a productive one, and you stay healthy and warm!