(^Amazing meme I texted to several people last week; credit to rightful owner.)

Hey, friends.  How went your weekends?  Same as always?  Here, too.  Saving lives by staying home, but I’m feeling the effects of cabin fever in a big way.  Saturday was our better weather day, so I got out twice – once for a walk with the kiddos and Steve, and once for a 5K run on my own.  The rest of the day was spent doing… I don’t even know what.  Nothing useful.  Oh, except that I cleaned out the freezer.  We’re moving at some point in the next couple of months, and it’s just a local move so we could simply load the contents of the freezer into a cooler and drive them over to the new place, but I still want to eat through as much of our current stock as I can before we go.  Sunday was gloomy, and I stayed in the house all day – blah.  I wasn’t all that productive, but I did manage to bake a loaf of bread on Sunday night, and to cook up some coconut curry dal with red lentils and green peas for Sunday dinner – yum, let’s hear it for homemade Indian food.

Reading.  Although you wouldn’t know it to look at the four images above, reading continues to be slow and hard going.  I think I’m at the point of declaring it a slump – a dreaded reading slump.  At least I know why, and I know I’m in good company; seems like half the bookish world is having a pandemic-induced reading slump right now.  I’m stressed and overwhelmed and my attention is seriously lacking.  That said, I managed to finish three books this week and start a fourth, so I’m struggling on.  (This is at least in part thanks to the fact that we only have one TV in our household and it’s almost always claimed by someone else.  The only time I get to watch whatever I want is Tuesday nights, when Steve has standing plans with friends.)  Anywho, I finished To War with Whitaker early in the week and loved it; I think it’s going to be one of my top ten for the year.  Spent most of the week on Wicked Autumn, which was entertaining but didn’t hold my attention particularly well.  On Sunday I ripped through A Shropshire Lad – didn’t give it the time and attention that poetry really demands, but whatever.  And now I’m taking what feels like a reading break and meandering through the Old Farmer’s Almanc’s Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook.  Not sure it will do me any good this year, because I don’t think I’m going to do much in the way of a garden – since I’m moving houses in the middle of the gardening season – but it felt like what I wanted right now.

Watching.  I’m pleased to report that I have become the last person on the planet to see The Mandalorian, but I’ve finally made the time to sit down and watch.  Steve and Nugget have watched the entire series through four times, which is unfortunate, because Nugget is eager to share the excitement ahead and doesn’t really understand about spoilers.  But it’s a lot of fun.  We’ve watched two episodes together, the three of us, and I’m enjoying it so much.  (BABY YODA!)  Peanut wants nothing to do with any of this and spends the episodes sulking in her room, but you can’t win them all.  (We were trying to choose a family show to watch together and she rejected my suggestion of Be Our Chef, and I think she’s now regretting her choices.  Maybe after we finish The Mandalorian.)

Listening.  Podcasts, just podcasts as usual.  A couple of episodes of The Mom Hour this week, including their take on the “how to stay sane during this crazy time” episode that everyone seems to be doing.  (I discovered that Sarah and I share a joy in using up beauty products and pantry items.)

Moving.  ‘Twas a good week of movement.  I got in all my runs for the AMR “Love the Run You’re With” series, and did the first of my four virtual races – a 5K – on Saturday.  I even had a bib to pin to my shirt, and a few people shouted out “Lookin’ good!” as I ran down Queen Street.  Too fun!  I’m so glad I signed up for this program; it has brought me so much joy in this very weird and anxious season of life.  Also bringing joy: I came home from my 5K to find that the kids had built “fairy gardens” on the back patio, and Nugget’s was vaguely heart-shaped.  Awwww.

Making.  Most exciting of all, I made a cleaned-out and organized freezer.  Don’t you find that it’s so much easier to save money and eat what you have if you actually know what you have?  I didn’t go too crazy, since we’re not going to be living here after June, but I took everything out, wiped the freezer drawers down quickly, and loaded it all back in an organized fashion.  Other than the clean freezer, as noted above, I made homemade Indian food and sourdough bread on Sunday, which is always fun.  Oh!  And I finished compiling and editing our 2018 family yearbook – yes, I’m behind, but the good news is I have plenty of time these days, and not much fun to do other than relive past adventures.  2019 is next on the agenda.

Blogging.  Armchair travel Themed Reads coming atcha on Wednesday (I think we all need this) and April’s book list on Friday.  So it’ll be a bookish week.  What else is new?

Loving.  Would it be a cop-out to say I am loving my organized freezer?  You can probably tell, since I’ve mentioned it twice already in this post.  So here’s something related: in an effort to (1) eat the contents of the pantry and freezer; (2) save money; and (3) inject some excitement back into the dinner hour, I’ve started meal planning again.  Nothing too fancy, just writing a week’s worth of dinner plans at a time on the kids’ school calendar.  (There’s nothing else to put on it.)  I’m taking stock of the pantry and freezer contents, figuring out what needs to be eaten, and then planning a few meals around that and picking up whatever odds and ends I need when I go to the grocery store (which I’m now doing on Tuesday nights).  In addition to the aforementioned coconut curry dal, this past week we’ve had Southwest salad with seared tofu; mustard-crusted tilapia and roasted broccoli; Buffalo field roast and more roasted broccoli (this is a broccoli-loving household); and a pizza night.  On deck this coming week will be veggie-packed enchiladas and a lightened-up tuna casserole with lots of greens, and I haven’t figured out the rest of the week just yet.  But this revived meal-planning habit has been great for adding structure to my day, not to mention the anticipation of some kitchen fun after full days of parenting, homeschooling, and powering through work to-do lists.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?