Happy new week, my friends!  I hope everyone had a relaxing and restful weekend.  I didn’t, since I never do, but I hope you did!  We are deep into the festive season around here, but Steve is also still not feeling well, so we have cut down on our holiday activities, since there’s only so much I want to wrangle both kids for.  Peanut is (finally) growing out of the loooooong running-away phase, but she still tears around like a maniac and then falls down and gets hurt, and Nugget is a constant flight risk.  Playing a man-to-man defense is pretty much the only way to do anything in public with them and have it be enjoyable, and when the defense is down a man – well.  On Saturday, we had plans to attend the Scottish Walk (which is the big holiday parade in our town) with some friends, but Steve didn’t feel well enough to go.  I didn’t want to disappoint our friends, or Peanut – who knew that she had plans with her BFF, S – so I decided to take the kids myself.  S’s family parked at our house and we walked to the parade together (I love living in a walkable neighborhood!) and we had a great time.  The parade, obviously, has a Scottish theme, so there were lots of kilts and bagpipes.  There were also vintage cars, Miss Virginia, the local high school ROTC, and even our Congressman walking with his wife and wearing a red sash that said “CONGRESSMAN.”  (I’d have recognized him without the sash.  I spend a lot of time thanking his office for his sane and sensible votes, especially on climate issues.  My Congressman is THE ACTUAL BEST.)  Anyway, the best part of the parade was Clan Ramsey, which dressed up as characters from Star Wars.  There were stormtroopers and Imperial officers in kilts (!!!), R2-D2 in a kilt (!!!!!!!!) and even Darth Vader in a Santa hat.  (Nugget, predictably, shouted “HEY, IT’S MY BUDDY!” at Lord Vader.)  After the parade, our friends came back to our house for cocoa, and then headed off for their afternoon plans – and that was pretty much the end of the excitement for our weekend.  I spent both Saturday’s and Sunday’s naptimes working, and Sunday morning at the grocery store.  We ended the weekend as we almost always do – making our library/playground/firehouse circuit – but just me and the kids.  Actually, that was kind of exciting.  I picked up the new Andy Weir book, Artemis, from the library, and the firefighters have a brand new truck.

Reading.  Another busy week!  Last week, I finished Crazy Rich Asians, the second in Kevin Kwan’s hilarious Crazy Rich Asians trilogy.  Looking to balance library deadlines, I didn’t jump right to Rich People Problems (the third) but picked up What Happened instead, and finished it on Sunday evening.  This is going to sound weird, but What Happened was delightful.  Yes, it was super sad – of course – and maddening, because Secretary Clinton would have been such a fantastic President.  I’d have loved to see that massive infrastructure and jobs initiative she was planning come to fruition – but instead we are stuck with a destructive misogynistic megalomaniac that 3 million fewer people voted for.  But the book was still delightful, because Hillary’s writing voice is so frank and friendly (I remember that from Living History too) and now that she can say anything she wants, she’s also kind of salty, which I love.  Her writing about her family – especially Chelsea and the grandkids – brought tears to my eyes.  Anyway, I knew I was going to need to take a breath after What Happened, so I started two books on Sunday – Christmas at Thrush Green, for the #MissReadalong that just started up on Instagram – on my kindle app, and Rich People Problems from my library stack.  I am only about 30 pages in and already there has been a familial kidnapping from an elite private school, and a Singapore Airlines jet with 440 passengers has been rerouted by the Secret Service so that a passenger can be whisked off the plane to attend to a VVIP patient.  And Nick and Rachel have ordered dinner.

Watching.  Last night, I said (breathlessly, in between spasms of laughing) to Steve that I think Parks & Recreation might be even more fun on re-runs.  I think that’s true.  Knowing as much as I now know about the characters and what lies in store for them, I was laughing even harder at Ron and Leslie’s battles with the library (“The library is the worst group of people ever assembled in history. They’re mean, conniving, rude, and extremely well-read, which makes them dangerous.”) and at the team’s “camel” entry to the City Hall mural contest.  We have an ongoing joke that Peanut is going to turn into April Ludgate – the film footage of knee surgeries attached to April’s mural entry is totally something Peanut would do.

Listening.  After finishing the first season of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text I decided to take a little break and try to catch up with the rest of the podworld.  My podcatcher is still looking out of control, but I’ve made some headway and listened to all of the holiday gift guides on there – the Read-Aloud Revival gift guide for young readers was particularly good, and I also got some good ideas from The Mom Hour‘s episode on gifting for babies and toddlers.  I’m looking forward to The Home Hour on favorite Christmas traditions next.

Moving.  Well, last week wasn’t a very good week for movement.  I had a super busy week at work, and exercise classes kind of fell off the agenda.  I’ve got another busy week coming up this week, but I need to figure out a way to cement workouts in the routine.  Often, between the day-to-day of a busy job and parenting (especially when Steve is not feeling up for much kid-wrangling) workouts are the first thing to go, but that’s not really fair to me.

Blogging.  Lists galore this week!  I will have the wrap-up post for my fall list on Wednesday, and my winter list coming on Friday – check in with me then, and do let me know what’s on your winter lists, so I can borrow your ideas.  Haha!

Loving.  I sat down with my calendar the other day and tried to map out all of the holiday activities I want to do and there are SO MANY.  We live in one of the top holiday towns in the country (no joke, US News ranks holiday towns, and last year we were in the top ten) with multiple parades, beautiful classic decorations, and activities almost every weekend.  It’s not actually possible to do everything I’m planning, but it’s so much fun to try – and in January, I know I’ll be glad I made the effort.  I just love the holiday spirit around here, and I love experiencing all the delights of the season – not just Christmas morning – through Peanut’s and Nugget’s little eyes.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?