Gooooooood Monday to you, bookworms!  What’s the weather like where you are?  We’re having a SNOW DAY here – the first of the school year.  It started snowing on Saturday around dinner time, came down all through the night and all day on Sunday, and I don’t know how many inches we ended up with, but suffice to say: it’s a LOT.  Especially for our area, which never handles snow particularly well (even though we usually get one decent-sized snowfall a year, sometimes more).  The kids had a ball playing in it yesterday – we made our rounds of the playgrounds in the morning, where we discovered that Nugget’s new ski jacket is extremely slippery.  He was FLYING off the slides and catching air before landing in the snow piles.  It was pretty hilarious, and as you can imagine, he thought it was awesome.  In the afternoon, Nugget and I went back outside to play with a border collie that our next-door neighbor had borrowed from a friend; we spent a good hour running around our alley, throwing a tennis ball, and chasing after the doggo.  The rest of the weekend was a lot calmer – Nugget and I rode bikes to the library on Saturday afternoon (where we hung out with the children’s librarian, who babysits for us from time to time) and I squeezed in a few hours of work.  Pretty standard stuff – but THEN CAME SNOW.

Reading.  A good reading week!  I finished The Time In Between on Tuesday and enjoyed it, although it was quite long and I did wish the author would’ve gotten to the spy parts a bit more promptly.  Then – library deadlines beckoning – I quickly turned to I’ll Be There For You, the new cultural history of Friends.  It’d been forever since I’d seen the show, but now I’m craving a re-watch.  Back to the library that went, and I returned to The Nine Tailors, which I’d started last weekend – finally finishing it, and turning to another book on a deadline: The Go-Between, a classic I’ve been meaning to check off my list for ages.  Just started it, so we’ll see if it lives up to the hype in my head.

Watching.  Nothing at all, unless you count bits of The Incredibles ii while cuddling Nugget to sleep on the couch on Sunday evening.  I did watch the scene in which Jack-Jack wrestles with a racoon, which is my favorite scene in the entire Incredibles franchise (or possibly my favorite scene of any Disney movie, ever – I always laugh until I cry, especially at the racoon’s face when Jack-Jack bursts into flames).

Listening.  I’ve been on a book podcast bender this week, so mostly catching up on the New Year’s episodes of my favorites – The Book Riot Podcast, From the Front Porch, The Read-Aloud Revival and more.  Tossed in a little Decemberists here and there, too – just skipping around from album to album and listening to the songs I fancy in the moment.  I got the new Decemberists vinyl, Traveling On, for Christmas and I need to listen to that one of these days.

Making.  What with spending several hours in the snow on Sunday, there was only one thing that sounded good for dinner – chili.  I made a vegan version which was light on calories but heavy on warmth, comfort and vegetables – two kinds of beans, wheat berries, gardein “taco meat” I’d made and frozen a few weeks ago, peppers, tomatoes, and a whole bunch of kale and cilantro.  Served with plain vegan yogurt and a few crumbled tortilla chips – perfect.  I have a big tub full of leftovers and I’ll be packing some good lunches this week.

Moving.  Nothing formal, but Sunday was an active day!  Between walking to multiple playgrounds, running around in the snow, toddler-wrangling and dog-chasing, I was beat by the end of the night.  I also did some sprints on the soccer field, because how often are you all alone on a snow covered soccer field?

Blogging.  It’s a bookish week!  I’m sharing Parts I and II of my three-part reading retrospective on Wednesday and Friday.  I had a great year in books, so do check in with me then.

Loving.  I forgot how much I like Leinenkugel’s grapefruit shandy!  I usually only buy it in the winter, and I grabbed a twelve pack last week at the grocery store.  I’m the only one who drinks it, so it will take me a few weeks to get through it, but I sure am enjoying the journey.  So citrusy and refreshing!

Asking.  What are you reading this week?