Does it have to be Monday?  I need one more weekend day, just for relaxing.  We were super busy this weekend – Saturday, especially, because we were throwing Peanut a sixth birthday party.  But I thought she turned six last month?  If you’re confused, so was Peanut; she thought she was turning seven, and you should have heard the caterwauling when I broke the news to her that: nope, still six.  We like to wait to throw her party until a couple of weeks into the school year, so that more people can make it – someone is always on vacation if we do the party in the summer.  This year, Peanut requested a “cheetah tea party,” so that’s what I delivered (although no one drank the African Autumn iced tea – the best laid plans).  We had originally planned to have a picnic down at one of our favorite waterfront playgrounds, but last week the area flooded due to non-Florence-related rainstorms.  (We had such a wet summer that the Potomac was straining at its banks, and I guess last week’s rain was the final straw.)  So the party moved to our house as the backup location, and it was kind of better, because at least that way I didn’t have to haul all of the food down to the waterfront.  We invited all of the girls in Peanut’s class, plus some non-school friends, and the kids had a great time wearing cheetah ears, watching The Lion King, and tearing apart Peanut and Nugget’s rooms.  After everyone left, Nugget was desperately in need of some running around time, so I took him (and my sore party-throwing feet) to a block party (the fire trucks were there) and then to the playground and to ride his bike around a basketball court for awhile.  On Sunday, we wanted a low-key family day, but we were still on the go – down to Mason Neck, one of our favorite local parks, for a hike and some playground and turtle-watching time.  We made it home in time for lunch, and then the kids and I hung out on the patio – the kids digging in the sandbox and playing with Peanut’s new stamp set (a birthday present) while I made some headway on weeding the patio – it was horribly overgrown – and periodically yelled at them to stop bickering.  Good times.  And now – another week.  I’m already wondering if next weekend is apple-picking weekend.  Maybe?

Reading.  I started off fairly intense this week, reading When They Call You a Terrorist: a Black Lives Matter Memoir, which was hard to read but so important.  After finishing that and returning it to the library, I finished up The Modern Guide to Witchcraft and then turned to a book I’d been saving, the meditative and charming The Fortnight in September.  I’m reading it slowly and savoring it – and, to be honest, I was super busy all weekend and didn’t have much spare time for reading – and loving it, as I knew I would.

Watching.  Jumping around here and there.  I only watch TV about every other day at most, and then only one episode at a time.  This week, I think I watched one or two episodes of Parks and Recreation (which can cheer me up when nothing else can) and one episode of The Crown – my favorite, “Hyde Park Corner.”  I told Steve, “I keep forgetting how sad this episode is.”  In my mind, it’s all just Liz and Phil go to Africa and see elephants!  Liz wears jammies and amazing sunglasses! and I somehow forget that this is the episode where King George VI dies.

Listening.  I’m down to two hours left to go in my audiobook of Nick Offerman’s Paddle Your Own Canoe.  I’m still enjoying it, but am kind of getting ready to move on to something else.  And he still hasn’t mentioned Parks and Recreation, except briefly and in passing.  Come on, Nick!  Inquiring minds want to know ALL about that show!

Making.  I made an indoor safari birthday party this weekend, and that sapped pretty much all of my creativity for the week.  But it was a hit!  We had animal print tablecloths, a lion head made out of hummus, cheetah ear headbands and more.  The kids all had a great time, which was the most important thing.

Blogging.  Dishing about starting a book club on Wednesday, and then another vacation recap post on Friday – we climbed a mountain for Peanut’s sixth birthday!  Check in with me then.

Loving.  Okay, this has been public information for ages, but I just found out and it BLEW MY MIND: did you know the actress who plays Caroline “There Is No Enjoyment Like Reading” Bingley in the classic 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth, wet shirt) is DESCENDED FROM JANE AUSTEN?  (Sixth great-niece.)  And also from Mary Boleyn and the first Duke of Marlborough, but focus on the Austen.  HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS FACTOID?!?!  I feel so out of the loop, but also kind of ridiculously (and irrelevantly) excited about this piece of trivia.  As I did whenever I have exciting bookish news to recount, I immediately emailed my fabulous Janeite friend Susan, and she was similarly all-caps SHOCKED and DELIGHTED and ASTONISHED.  So, why am I “loving” this?  Well, Firth of all, I just find this piece of information (which everyone except for Susan and me probably knew already) completely delightful.  Caroline Bingley is my favorite Austen baddie, and Anna Chancellor plays her to perfection, and I can’t love enough the connection she has to Dear Aunt Jane.  You know how sometimes you just learn a little fact that completely delights you?  This completely delights me.  And then there’s the fact that I have a friend who – I knew – would geek out about this too, and everyone needs That Friend Who They Geek Out With.  The best.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?