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!

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 9 December - Sunday, 12 December, 2021

Monday, Monday! Our last school week before winter break, and then two delicious weeks of the alarm not needing to be set. Two weeks of snuggling with my daughter, reading, being cozy at home…can you tell I’m looking forward to it???

It was a nice, relaxing weekend around these parts, and I hope the same is true for you! Here’s what I’ve been up to lately.

 

Thursday, 9 December, 2021

I loaded and started the dishwasher, then sat down for my coffee. Always a good way to start off the morning, being productive!

I ended up having to rewrite my Thursday post; it seemed that my computer had eaten it, so I banged that out as I drank my coffee, then got dressed. After school drop off, it was time for another hour of volunteer work. I started compiling lists of housing aid resources in my state, which is interesting to learn about. And, uh, afterwards, I spent until lunchtime with my daughter reveling in the guilty verdict in the Josh Duggar case. I’ve been creeped out by that family since they first hit the scene and was utterly appalled by the numerous foul deeds perpetrated by their eldest son over the years. I was deeply gratified to see justice served in this case. Child sexual abuse material is no small matter, and the material he downloaded was referred to as some of the worst investigators had ever seen. I deeply hope that everyone who has been victimized by both Josh and the people responsible for the material he downloaded are able to find peace in their lives. If you or someone you know in the US are struggling with having been sexually victimized, please contact RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization at https://www.rainn.org/ or their 24-hour hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

After lunch with my daughter, I had lunch myself and did 30 minutes of my Read Harder book (The Joy of Sects by Peter Occhiogrosso). I did 20 minutes of Pilates with my husband, then stripped the bed, put clean sheets on it, and threw the bedding in the wash. I wrote out my Friday post, switched the laundry, and put the leftover tomato soup on to warm before dinner. Then I called my dad; it was his birthday, so we had a lovely chat.

After dinner, I cleaned up, did my Duolingo, restarted the dryer, and killed a few minutes of time before logging on to the class I had signed up for with the Union for Reform Judaism. The funny thing about the Jewish world is that it’s relatively small; even in random spaces like this class (made up of about 50 people from all over the US), odds are that some people will know each other or be related to each other, and sure enough, I knew TWO of the people there! It was a wonderful class.

When class ended, I put the bed back together, showered, read my book, and watched two episodes of Forensic Files with my husband before bed.

 

Friday, 10 December, 2021

That comforter I bought last week? SOFTEST. THING. EVER. What an incredible night of sleep! This thing might be trouble, y’all! :D

After coffee and breakfast, I put up my Friday post and put some beans in the Instant Pot. I got dressed and ready, scooped the litterbox, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and gathered my library books to return. I dropped my daughter off at school and returned the library books into their drop box, then drove over to Kohl's. My mom had given me the Koh'ls cash she wasn’t going to use, so I wandered around the store trying to find something. Their clothing didn’t appeal to me much (I have a pretty plain and simple style; most showy patterns don’t look good on me), so I ended up finding a new shiny unicorn watch for my daughter, and a pair of earrings for me. Perfect!

 

At home, I tidied my daughter’s room and the living room. I took lunch to my daughter, had lunch myself, and took out the compost and recycling. I did my 30 minutes of Read Harder and then started coming down with a headache, so I skipped Pilates and closed my eyes, hoping that dozing for a bit would take the edge off. Instead, I slept HARD for an entire hour! It did indeed help and felt wonderful. I picked up my daughter up from school, lounged around on the computer, prepared a pot of One Pot Southwest Pasta for dinner, and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher.

I ate dinner, did my Duolingo, showered, put dinner away, and worked on my grandmother’s cross stitch. Virtual services at my synagogue were lovely this week; one of our members was celebrating her adult bat mitzvah, and it was truly joyful to watch! My husband and I watched three episodes of Forensic Files before bed, and we were awoken several times in the night because of the fierce winds. All the tornados were well south of us, but our daughter still got scared and climbed in with us at some point in the night. My heart goes out to everyone affected by these storms.

 

Saturday, 11 December, 2021

Lazy, relaxing Shabbat! I had breakfast and put the dishes in the dishwasher, then spent the morning working on my grandmother’s cross stitch and watching YouTube videos. After lunch, I did 20 minutes on my exercise bike (starting slow; this tends to flare up my SI joints, so we’ll see how it goes), then spent the afternoon on my soft, soft bed comforter, reading, napping, and reading again. Ahhhhhh. That comforter is dangerous, I’m telling you! I may live the rest of my life from bed…

We had Chinese food for dinner; I did my Duolingo and showered, and loaded and ran the dishwasher after putting dinner away. I put my daughter to bed, then read until my husband came upstairs, and we watched three episodes of Forensic Files.

 

Sunday, 12 December, 2021

Another slow start to the morning! Coffee, breakfast, and working on this post made up the bulk of my morning. I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and took out the recycling as well. I spent my time after lunch cross-stitching and listening to a podcast. 

 We met my sister-in-law and nephew at a local park and let the kids play for a bit, then went into the military museum. It’s always a moving experience in there- there’s a video of soldiers liberating concentration camps and forcing the citizens of the surrounding towns to provide burial for the dead there, as a way of ensuring that these people not only understood what had been going on in their backyard, but acknowledging that they too were responsible for it; I wasn’t feeling up to spending time in front of it this visit, but I said a brief prayer as we passed by. The whole museum to me emphasized on this visit what an utter, utter waste war is: the destruction, the loss of lives, the loss of human potential. So much heartbreak. How have we not learned to stop killing each other after so many years on this planet???

By the time we got home, it was time for dinner. I did my Duolingo and continued cross-stitching while watching YouTube. I showered, showered my daughter, loaded the dishwasher, and threw some chickpeas in the Instant Pot to cook overnight. I finished reading God Is In the Crowd by Tal Keinan, and my husband and I watched three episodes of Forensic Files before bed.

 

And that’s it! This is the start of the last school week before my daughter is off for winter break, so I’m looking forward to the end of the week. I’ve got two library books to finish, two ARCs from NetGalley to dive into, and hopefully visiting the local animal park with our friends at the end of the week (didn’t happen this week because my daughter’s friend wasn’t feeling well). I may have a few things in the works with my son as well, but we’ll see. I hope you’re all gearing up for a wonderful, productive week!

Friday links: 10 December, 2021

 Happy Friday!

I hope you all have a fun weekend planned, or a relaxing one. We’ll likely get the Christmas tree up at some point (we’re an interfaith family), and we may have some outdoor plans with friends, so hopefully the weather holds up. I desperately need to get more reading done, and I’d like to get more work done on my grandmother’s cross stitch. And maybe a nap or two in there. The new comforter I bought the other day is sooooooooooooo soft! I sleep on top of the comforter, covered by a heavy fleece blanket (because of my back, I frequently switch positions during the night, and this way I’m not constantly waking my husband up by rustling or stealing the covers!), and it was like sleeping on a cloud. Two thumbs up from me!

Here's what I’ve found interesting online this week. (My apologies for there being so many downers this week!)

 

California firm touts ‘mushroom leather’ as sustainability gamechanger

So, a lot of people out there have ethical reasons for not wearing leather, which is perfectly fine. An industry of vegan leather has cropped up to serve those people, but unfortunately, that’s problematic as well, as a lot of the products out there are made from plastic. And the environment really doesn’t need more plastic in it. Enter…mushroom leather! An interesting solution. It would be nice if everyone on earth could be fed before we started making clothing out of food, but I’ll take a win for the environment wherever it comes. Would you wear mushroom shoes or a mushroom jacket? Maybe carry a mushroom purse?

 

Our home on native land

This is a website where you can enter your address and learn which tribe’s land you’re living on. For example, where I live is Miami land, which is something I often think about when I’m outside in my yard- the native people who walked on, hunted, and foraged or grew plants on this land before people who look like me showed up. What were their lives like before and after being forced off their land? Are any of their descendants still alive today? I’m going to need to do some reading about the Miami at some point. If you live in the US, this is history you need to grapple with and learn about. No one has ever been served well by knowing less.

 

Cognitive rehab: One patient’s painstaking path through Long Covid-19 therapy

Oy. This is a sad article to read. The woman in question had a mild case of Covid, didn’t even need to be hospitalized, and still suffers not only from Long Covid, but devastating neurological effects. She has to be reminded of the steps to brush her teeth. She can’t quite figure out what to do at red lights. She confuses days of the week and has a harder time caring for her autistic daughter. This is the reason my family was so, so strict in terms of precautions before we were able to get vaccinated. And we’re still not letting our guard down too much; breakthrough cases happen and I’m not eager to tempt fate!

I know two people from my hometown who ended up at Shirley Ryan Ability Lab after having Covid.

 

The Staggering Number of Kids Who Have Lost a Parent to Covid-19

This? Another bummer of an article to read, but if you’re able to read it (The Atlantic offers a few free articles per month; otherwise, it’s behind a paywall), I highly suggest you do, because this is our reality now. I’ve seen this go down online, instances where both parents didn’t take the pandemic seriously and now they’ve orphaned their three, five, eight kids, and even more instances where kids lose one parent. Let me repeat: this is our reality now. These kids are going to be your kids’ classmates, their teammates, your grandchildren’s friends. Your niece or nephew might date someone who lost a parent or both parents to Covid. These kids are going to suffer the trauma of losing a parent- especially hard to fathom when their deaths came after the vaccines were available and the parent/s refused to get vaccinated- and growing up with their sense of security damaged. Many of them will live in families that have suddenly descended into poverty; some will be sent to live with relatives; others will find themselves in foster care. None of them will have the lives they expected or their parents dreamed of for them. Our schools are woefully equipped to support a generation of kids who have suffered such loss. This is going to have ramifications for generations, truly.

 

And that’s it for this week! Wishing everyone a peaceful, relaxing weekend, wherever you are and whatever your plans are!

What's Been Going On: Monday, 6 December - Wednesday, 9 December, 2021

 Brrrr! We had the coldest day in the last nine months here this week, and it was brisk! One of those walk-outside-and-your-nose-sticks-together kind of days. I’d be lying if I didn’t say summer is my favorite, with its warm temperatures and ability to sweat half to death while reading for hours on my backyard swing, but there’s something so lovely about the cold weather as well. I find I’m more productive during this season, if only to stay warm! What about you? Are you busier in warmer weather or cold?

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

Monday, 6 December, 2021

After coffee and sharing the leftover sufganiyot with my daughter, I got dressed and posted my review for Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, and then it was time for school drop off.

After that, I headed over to Walmart to rustle up some Christmas gifts for my daughter (because it’s still Mom’s job even when it’s not Mom’s holiday, right? Ha!). I was lucky to find a whole bunch of stuff, and I found even more at the Five Below store at the other end of town. We’re pretty much done with her; I’d like to get her some more fuzzy socks, because she really loves those, but I can pick those up at any time. Shopping wasn’t all that fun, since I had a lot of nerve pain in my left leg, but I was glad to cross this off my list!

At home, I posted my Monday post, and then it was time for lunch with my daughter! After I ate my lunch, I read my Read Harder book (The Joy of Sects by Peter Occhiogrosso) for 30 minutes, then closed my eyes, but a nap was elusive, so I grumblingly joined my husband for 20 minutes of Pilates when he got home. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading Ant Egg Soup and helping my daughter with her math homework; I finished the book and put it back in my library bin.

I took out all the trash in the house as well as the recycling, replaced the trash bags, and took the cans to the curb. I threw the leftover kugel into the oven to reheat and made a batch of cinnamon vanilla waffles, and filled and ran the dishwasher. After dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, showered my daughter, began reading God Is In The Crowd: A Model for Post-Diaspora Judaism by Tal Keinan (despite the dryish-sounding title, it’s actually really fascinating, I promise!), and watched two episodes of Forensic Files with my husband before bed.

 

Tuesday, 7 December, 2021

After having coffee and getting dressed, I prepared a batch of Tomato Butternut Squash soup in the crockpot, since the high this day would be about 21 degrees, and cold weather means soup! This is my go-to tomato soup recipe; I buy the squash in the fall when it’s cheap, roast it, and freeze it in freezer bags, making this a fairly quick meal. I also blend the soup so it’s completely smooth. It’s delicious!

I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and dropped my daughter off at school. This was the first day of the year that they let the kids walk right in, instead of waiting outside, since it was only 16 degrees out. Brrr! At home, I got some bread dough started in the bread machine, started a load of laundry, and posted my review for Nurture the Wow by Danya Ruttenberg. I tidied the kitchen and living room, vacuumed the rug under the table, and swept the living room and kitchen.

I did 20 minutes of piano practice, switched and hung the laundry, did my 30 minutes of Read Harder, and then it was time to take my daughter her lunch! After I ate lunch at home, I switched the bread dough into pans to rise, then worked on my grandmother’s cross stitch while watching YouTube videos. 20 minutes of Pilates with my husband when he got home, and then, since I was on such a roll with the cross stitching, I continued to work on it until dinner time while watching more YouTube videos.

 

Piglet likes to join me when I stitch, but it often doesn’t last too long. He got booted right after I took this picture for being a little too swipey with his clawed paws!

After dinner, I did my Duolingo and showered, put my daughter to bed (we finished Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli), read, and watched two episodes of Forensic Files with my husband before bed.

 

Wednesday, 8 December, 2021

A different sort of day!

I had coffee and scooped the litterbox, put together my grocery list, and ran the dishwasher before dropping my daughter off at school. Getting groceries took me to two stores; the local store had some jackfruit mixes in the markdown section for 99 cents each, and a huge package of zucchini for a dollar, so those all came home with me. Aldi finally had in the bedspreads they’d advertised a few weeks back. I thought about it for a bit and ended up buying one. I’ll still need a lighter one for the summer, I think, but the bedspread we have right now is old, limp, discolored, and starting to really show its age, so we really did need this.

 

At home, I put the groceries away, brought in the trash cans, took out the recycling and compost, then sat down to do an hour of volunteer work. One of the people speaking on JBSTV (which I usually have playing in the background as I work) was author A.J. Jacobs, whom I love, so that was really enjoyable to listen to as I compiled lists of legal resources.

I took lunch to my daughter and started reading Have You Seen Hyacinth Macaw? by Patricia Reilly Giff to her as she ate. At home, I unloaded the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen and the living room, and then my mom arrived!!!

This was the first time we’d had an inside visit since February of 2020. She and I have gotten our boosters and my daughter is double vaccinated, so we all felt safe enough to let our guard down a little bit with each other. It was so nice to finally hang out with my mom and hug her! I made a batch of frozen pierogis that I’d bought that morning for lunch, and we had lunch together and chatted. My daughter didn’t know she was coming, and it was so wonderful to hear her excited shriek of, “GRANDMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” as she ran out of school. She dropped her backpack on the ground and ran right into Grandma’s arms. So sweet!!!!

We all spent the afternoon together at our house, and we watched Frozen 2 while enjoying an Aldi pizza for dinner (I did my Duolingo during this!). When my mom headed home, I showered, put my daughter to bed, then returned downstairs to work on some of the upcoming year’s reading lists (I like to be prepared!). My husband and I watched two episodes of Forensic Files before bed.

So nice to spend time with my mom after so long! Yesterday was truly wonderful. Right now, the only thing I’m struggling with a bit is balance, trying to find time to fit in crafting with all the reading I want to get done, along with trying to keep the house in a livable state! I’m sure I’ll figure it out as time goes on. I’d really like to get to a place where I’ve got at least a little bit of time to work on my grandmother’s cross stitch each day. Hopefully my brain is working on this problem in the background and will present me a solution or a better schedule soon! : )

 

I was going to strip the bed, wash the sheets, and put the new bedspread on the bed today, but the cat decided to go back to bed immediately after breakfast and I feel bad moving him, so that’ll have to wait until he gets up! (I’m such a sucker, but he’s an old man cat, so he gets what he wants from me!)

I hope you’ve had a great start to your week and you’re looking forward to lots of fun things as we head into the weekend! We’re supposed to meet up with some friends at an outdoor mini-zoo near us, so hopefully that’ll happen, because yay, animals! What kind of plans do you have for this weekend?

What's Been Going On: Thursday, 2 December - Sunday, 5 December, 2021

 Already a week into December! No snowy weather here; we’ve had some cold days (Tuesday is supposed to only be in the twenties, eek!) and some random flurries, but it’s mostly been too warm for snow. We’ve been getting our big snows in January, February, and March the past few years, so I keep telling my daughter to wait, it’s coming! I’m not looking forward to having to traipse over icy ground in order to get her into school, or standing outside waiting for the bell to ring when it’s 19 degrees!

It's been a calm week here. Nothing super big going on, but here’s what I’ve been up to!

 

Thursday, 2 December, 2021

After coffee and getting ready, I scooped the litterbox, posted my Thursday post, loaded and ran the dishwasher, then sat down to finish reading the last few pages of Nurture the Wow by Danya Ruttenberg. I had enough time, so I began reading the graphic memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. After dropping my daughter off at school, I headed out of town to pick up a pair of snow boots for her from someone on Freecycle. She was in desperate need of new boots, so these showed up at the perfect time!

 

At home, I did a little over an hour of volunteer work, finished reading Gender Queer (graphic memoirs and novels are so easy to blast through!) and began reading Ant Egg Soup: Adventures of a Food Tourist in Laos by Natacha Du Pont De Bie. I took lunch to my daughter, had lunch when I got back home, did 30 minutes of my Read Harder book (The Joy of Sects by Peter Occhiogrosso), then took a brief nap, because I was completely exhausted for reasons unknown.

When my husband got home, we did 23 minutes of Pilates together, then, since it was super nice outside, walked the mile and back to pick up our daughter from school. I relaxed and played around on the computer while she did her math, then prepared tostadas for dinner (store bought crunchy tostadas, a layer of refried beans, salsa, and cheese, baked in the oven until the cheese melts. Super easy and delicious). I lit the menorah when it got dark. (I think this was another night my photo didn't turn out!)

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, and read, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Forensic Files before bed.

 

Friday, 3 December, 2021

After getting dressed and having coffee, I put some chickpeas into the Instant Pot, then loaded and ran the dishwasher. I dropped my daughter off at school, tidied the kitchen and living room, and swept the living room. Then I settled down for 20 minutes of piano practice. I Want It That Way is coming along swimmingly. There’s a key change near the end that I need to work on; I’ll try to get to that this week.

When the timer went off, I prepared Healthy Chickpea Tikka Masala for dinner (this was REALLY good!!!), took out the recycling, and loaded and unloaded the dishwasher. I peeked in at a few of my favorite homemaking blogs, but then it was time to take lunch to my daughter!

After I ate my lunch, I did my 30 minutes of Read Harder, and my husband joined me for 23 minutes of Pilates (with much groaning from me, since I was really tired again!). We walked to school and back to pick up our daughter, and I played on the computer a bit when we got home before falling asleep for a brief nap.

We had dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered, and put dinner away, and then it was time to join my synagogue for online Shabbat services! (I waited to light the menorah this point.)

I read for a bit afterwards and ended up dozing off, but I still managed to watch two episodes of Forensic Files with my husband before bed.

 

Saturday, 4 December, 2021

SUPER lazy day! We slept in later than normal, and after I finished my coffee and my daughter finished her breakfast, she and I got our flu shots. Very important to protect yourselves and your loved ones.

We all went to a local science surplus store we hadn’t been to since before the pandemic. It’s local but not super close, and it’s always fun to jaunt over there and dig through their various treasures. My husband got a few things he needed, and then it was home for lunch.

After lunch, I took a nap (ahhhhhh…), then wrote out two book reviews I hadn’t gotten to yet. I lit the menorah when it got dark.

 

We ate various leftovers and such for dinner, I did my Duolingo, loaded and ran the dishwasher, showered, read some of Ant Egg Soup, and put my daughter to bed. I read a little bit more before my husband and I watched two episodes of Forensic Files.

 

Sunday, 5 December, 2021

I drank my coffee, got dressed, and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. I cleaned the kitchen, took out the recycling, scooped the litterbox (almost time to dump the whole thing!), took out the recycling and compost, ran the dishwasher, and started this post.

After lunch, I ran errands to Sam’s Club (I bought more cat litter, garlic, carrots, and pancake/waffle mix) and the Aldi next door (I bought green beans). Whooooooooooooole lotta people out there who seem to think the “Face Coverings Required For Entrance” signs on the doorway don’t apply to them. SUPER gross of them to be that disgustingly entitled and potentially endangering especially the employees of the store. I get so disgusted by these people.

At home, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and prepared a potato kugel for dinner, cleaning as I went along, because afterwards, I made some air fryer surganiyot. And then I had a full dishwasher again, so I ran it again! I am so very grateful to own a functioning dishwasher.

My daughter had a friend over, so I mostly played on the computer while semi-supervising their playdate, as it was kind of too loud to focus on anything else! They both enjoyed the beauty of the menorah as I lit it for the eighth and final night of Hanukkah.

 

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, cleaned up the kitchen and showered. Putting my daughter to bed only took a few minutes tonight; she was up a little later than normal finishing her math homework (eep!). I read Ant Egg Soup, and my husband and I watched a single episode of Forensic Files before bed.

 

That’s it for now! Exciting week here this week; my mother is coming over, TO MY HOUSE, for the first time since February 2020. We’re all vaxxed and boosted, so I’ll finally be able to hug her again! On Thursday, I have an online course I’m taking via the Union for Reform Judaism, so I’m really looking forward to that as well, and this weekend, we’re going to plan to take our daughter to a local animal park (a very small one, but fun all the same!) with a friend and her mom. My daughter may also have another playdate this weekend, so we’ll see. Busy, busy, busy!

I hope you’re having a wonderful week and staying warm! SUPER chilly here today!

Friday links: 3 December, 2021

It’s Friday again! This week absolutely tore by. No idea where any of it went! We’ve only got two more weeks until my daughter is off school until January, and I’m looking forward to having her home- and to being able to turn off the alarm clock for a few weeks! The very hungry cat, who is used to getting his breakfast at 6:30 am, won’t be too happy about that, but my daughter is usually up by 7:30 most days anyway. Not much extra rest around here!

 

Here's a collection of some of the things I’ve found interesting online this week.

 

Bill of the Month: Critically ill woman skips ER after spouse’s costly stitches

This is a really good series on NPR; I’ve caught a few of the pieces while I’ve been in the car. It highlights the massive medical bills people get and the ridiculousness of the American healthcare system. In this case, a man received a bill for more than $6,500 for six stitches, leaving his wife in fear for their financial future when she fell ill. She avoided going to the hospital because of this. Eventually, she had to go in and was diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, a tick-borne illness that could have killed her if not treated in time. It’s disheartening how disposable life is in this country, all because of money. And it doesn’t have to be like this, but we actively choose to keep it this way.

 

Nonsensical Hanukkah items corporations wanted Jews to buy this year

Oof! Imagine walking into a store and seeing baskets and stuffed bunnies and plastic grass…at Christmas. Or a sweater with the saying, “Unto us a child is born,” at Easter. If we Jews get much of anything at holiday time, it’s likely to be something along the lines of this. This is a pretty good article that sums up the ridiculousness of a lot of the Hanukkah products available for purchase this year and the problem of that. Representation matters; if you’re selling a product targeted at a group you’re not a part of, literally asking ONE PERSON who is a part of that group will save you a whooooooooooooooooooole lot of embarrassment. And speaking of Hanukkah…

 

Hanukkah isn’t Jewish Christmas. Here’s the story of the holiday and why we celebrate.

Not Jewish Christmas. A minor holiday and not one that’s all that religious, to be honest (you light the candles while saying the blessing, maybe retell the story, and that’s it! The rest is just fun). Here’s a brief article that shares the story of Hanukkah, with an interview with an author of a children’s book that tells a story of Hanukkah and Christmas. There are lots of fun Hanukkah books; check your local library’s holiday section- just make sure they’re not messianic books. I ended up with one of those once and noped out of it as soon as I realized what it was. Lotta yikes there.

 

The quest to find genes that drive severe COVID.

This is something that my husband, a molecular biologist who does genetic engineering as part of his job, has suspected since the early days of the pandemic. (If you don’t live with someone who’s obsessed with genetics, you might be surprised by how much genetics affects quite literally everything. I’ve gotten quite the science education throughout our marriage!) It turns out Chromosome 3 is a real jerk for some people, and you may be at massive risk and not even know it, because the risk is hidden in your genes and all the health, fitness, and vitamins in the world won’t make the least bit of difference. But getting vaccinated will.

 

And that’s it for this week! I don’t know that we have any plans this weekend. I’d really like to get a ton of reading done, but that all depends on what we decide to do. I think one of the days is supposed to be nice-ish (or at least not super cold), so we’ll likely try to get outside for at least part of that day. Wishing you a relaxing, peaceful weekend!

What's Been Going On: Monday, 29 November - Wednesday, 1 December, 2021

It’s December! Where on earth did November go? Time stopped having any meaning whatsoever during this pandemic, but really, this is getting bizarre. We were just trick-or-treating like two seconds ago!

(And why is it every time I sit down, the cat basically sits right on my eyeballs???)

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

 

Monday, 29 November, 2021

After having coffee and getting dressed, I scooped the litterbox, then scrubbed off my stovetop. I published my Monday post here, then posted my review for Love Is a Revolution by Renée Watson at my book blog.

After school drop off, I threw in my first load of laundry, then cleaned and arranged my daughter’s room a bit. My husband had switched out her dollhouse for her play kitchen over the weekend, and I wanted to rearrange a few of the things for better use of the space she has. (Result: she exclaimed, “Thank you, Mama!” when she saw it after school.) This included vacuuming her room (thanks to her paper doll habit, there were a lot of little bits of paper all over), and sweeping both the upstairs and downstairs.

I switched and hung the laundry and started another, and since my husband was home that day for a doctor’s appointment, we watched the last segment of the Wild, Wild Country documentary while I folded laundry and mended a pair of my daughter’s pants.

We took lunch to our daughter, then I had lunch at home and ran the dishwasher. I did 23 minutes of Pilates, and switched and hung the second load of laundry. I did my 30 minutes of my Read Harder project, then relaxed on the computer for a bit (Pilates wears me out!). I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, collected the trash and recycling and took it out, then rolled the cans to the curb. And then it was time to light the menorah! (I took a picture, but it didn’t turn out. HMPH. A lot of my pictures didn't turn out this week. My phone is new and I'm still working out the quirks of its camera.)

My husband had been making a pot of turkey soup out of the turkey he had cooked over the weekend (using my cooking help; he’s not much of a chef), so I added some noodles to his pot while he was out in the garage and messed around on the computer while waiting for them to boil.

After dinner- leftovers, still!- I did my Duolingo, loaded and ran the dishwasher, showered, then played more computer dreidel with my daughter. I put her to bed, read my book, and watched two episodes of Forensic Files with my husband.

 

Tuesday, 30 November, 2021

Eek! My alarm didn’t go off! Turns out you need to set it for every school day of the week and not just one single day. Fortunately, we only lost twenty minutes, so it was no big deal. Still plenty of time and no rushing. Coffee and getting ready as usual, and I still had time to post my review of The Simplicity of Cider by Amy E. Reichert.

After school drop off, I unloaded the dishwasher, put away a load of laundry, and then folded and put away a second load of laundry. And then I sat down for twenty minutes of piano practice.

This is something I’m going to try to keep up in the new year. I’d fallen away from it during the pandemic- hard to play piano when your daughter is attending all of first grade right there in the living room!- and I may or may not pause when my daughter is home over winter break, but I’d like to improve my playing again, one song at a time. As it is, I made good progress on the song I chose to start, I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys (don’t laugh! It’s a pretty song and it’s not complicated, which is exactly what I need right now).

When the alarm sounded, I settled down with my Read Harder book. My son called afterwards, so I chatted with him until it was time to take my daughter her lunch. After having lunch at home, I played the piano for another 25 minutes. By the end of this practice period, I was able to play the first two pages of the song without stopping! Not bad for not having played much at all the past two years!

I read until my husband got home, and then he did my 23 minute Pilates video with me. We’re going to try to make this a more regular thing. It’s fun to have someone to whine with when you work out! I relaxed on the computer after we finished, until it was time for school pick up. And then we came home, changed our clothes…

 

…and went to an outdoor Hanukkah event! Where else do you wear Hanukkah and donut leggings, right?

Super cute event put on by PJ Library and the Jewish United Fund. We had hot cocoa and donuts, sang Hanukkah songs, and there was, of course, a menorah lighting. The park had lights set up on a track, so we walked around to view them and occasionally chatted with a friend who was also there. My daughter and I had such a wonderful time, and I’m so grateful we had the opportunity to attend this!

My daughter roped my husband into playing dreidel with her after dinner (she had been given a small dreidel at the Hanukkah event, so they played on the living room floor. Super cute to hear her explain the Hebrew letters and what they mean in terms of the game to my husband. “Shin, shin, put one in!”). I ate dinner, did my Duolingo, showered, and cleaned up the kitchen.

I had a difficult time focusing on my reading this evening. My son called with some unfortunate news (nothing truly bad, just a bummer), and I learned that a friend’s son attended the high school in Michigan where a tragic school shooting had happened earlier this day, and that one of his best friends had been killed. I felt, and still feel, so angry and sad and powerless, not only that this keeps happening, but that we keep letting this happen. That we’re all vulnerable to this- some more than others, but none of us is safe from random gun violence in this country. It was nearly impossible to focus on reading, and honestly, I’m still really upset about this. It put quite the damper on the earlier joy of the evening.

My husband and I watched two episodes of Forensic Files before bed.

 

Wednesday, 1 December, 2021

As I had my coffee, I made up my grocery list (no good sales this week) and posted my book blog’s monthly recap post. I’m planning on doing something like that here in the new year, with a list of goals I have for the year. Stay tuned for that! I also signed up for the library’s winter reading bingo. We’ll see how far I get! I thought to check my NetGalley account on a whim and found that I’d been approved for another book, so after I finish my current stack of library books, I have two ARCs waiting for me on my kindle. Hurray!

After school drop off, I stopped by Walmart, which didn’t have the item I went in for (story of my life these days!), but I was able to get cat litter and toothpaste anyway. Since they have an Aldi right next door, I did my grocery shopping there.

At home, I put the groceries away and settled down for an hour’s worth of volunteer work. I took lunch to my daughter, then came home and had lunch myself. I waited to do Pilates with my husband, messing around on the computer until he got home, but he had other things to do, so I did 23 minutes of Pilates alone (*sniff*). 30 minutes of Read Harder, and then it was just about time to pick my daughter up from school. My son had stopped by to learn how to change the oil in his car, so I chatted with him for a few before leaving.

At home, I talked with my son a bit more, then got started working on this post. I chopped up some mushrooms and tossed them on the pizza, pulled the trash cans in from the road, and took the compost out. Dinner, Duolingo, shower, and reading with my daughter before putting her to bed. I was able to focus better on my own reading tonight, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Forensic Files before bed.

 

And that’s it. There’s an awful lot going on in the world right now, so be kind to yourself and stay safe. I hope you’re having a productive start to the beginning of your December!