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!