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?