This is the last “Monday reading post” (as I think of them) I will write from my little row house in Alexandria – sniffle.  Our moving truck rolls in on Thursday and we are headed for Fairfax County, the land of cheaper rent, bigger yards, and awesome public schools.  I know that, on balance, this is going to be a good move for us, and that we’re only moving 20 minutes away and will be hanging around here all the time – but I’m still a little sad.  Living in Old Town for the past four years has been a total dream come true, and while not every moment has been perfect, a lot of them have been.  That said – it’s time to go.  There’s no pretending the house is even remotely livable right now.  I’m sitting at the dining room table (which doubles as Steve’s office) – and on my left hand side is a cooler, which is not normally here, plus my bike and the kids’ bikes, which are.  On the right is a wall of boxes.  From where I sit, I can see Nugget’s t-ball tee, my cello, and a stack of baby gifts ready to be mailed before we go.  There’s a potholder in my bedroom and a pile of headbands in the kitchen.  It’s all very weird.

This weekend, we were all business.  It’s down to the wire and Steve and I were both going nonstop, getting ready for the move.  Steve made two trips over to the new house to bring valuables that we didn’t want on a moving truck – like the kids’ toys, our family photo albums, and my collection of L.M. Montgomery first editions.  (Shall I show those to you, once we unpack on the flip side?)  I stayed home and ran interference with the kids, folded laundry, put together the “do not move” boxes, packed up clothes for donation and hand-me-downs, and ran a baby gift and a load of baby and toddler clothes over to my friend Vanessa’s house.  It was exhausting, and it’s only just beginning – this is going to be a hectic week at work and at home.  Thankfully, we have a babysitter for Tuesday through Friday, which is going to be huge.  But still – I’ll have a big sigh of relief this time next week, on the other side.

Reading.  Light on the reading this week, and it’s still all Lumberjanes, all the time around here.  (Although, amazingly, I am starting to – not burn out, but – feel ready for something different for a little while.)  But it was a good reading week.  There was more Greek mythology, and the return of camper Diane – if you’ve read volumes one and two you’ll know who I mean.  I’m enjoying them a lot, but starting to fizzle out on reading again.  So we’ll see how long this lumberphase lasts.

Watching.  So, not much reading, but lots of watching.  I’ve been working my way through Continent 7: Antarctica on Disney+ and totally loving it.  (I think Steve would like it too, so will probably re-watch it at least one time.)  With the family, we’re almost through Blue Planet II – the “Big Blue” episode was a highlight, although surprisingly light on cetaceans.  I think the “Green Seas” episode was actually my highlight of the week, because: sea otters!  And Steve and I also found time to watch Where’d You Go, Bernadette on Saturday and another episode of The Crown on Sunday evening after the kids went to bed.  Tootle pip!

Listening.  Not too much this week.  More R.E.M. in the car to and from the grocery store.  (It’s not a Monday night if I don’t belt out “Electrolite” and “I’ve Been High” on my way home from Wegmans.)  And a couple of episodes of Another Mother Runner and The Marine Mammal Science Podcast, while running and doing laundry respectively.

Making.  Lots of food prep on Sunday.  In the morning I baked blueberry muffins in order to use up some fruit that was starting to approach the “past its prime” point.  I only made half a batch, and thanks to two voracious shorties, they were gone before lunch.  In the afternoon, I planned out the week’s meals, pulled the ingredients together, and spent some time making hard-boiled eggs, sliced cucumbers and segmented grapefruit, and a roasted green bean salad with miso-tahini dressing.  There’s nothing stopping us from loading up all of our food into a cooler and bags and driving it over to the new place – the benefits of a local move, we don’t feel pressured to eat the entire fridge before we go – but I’d still like to get through as much of the perishables as I can and start fresh in the new house.

Moving.  Not too much this week; it was a hectic workweek and super humid outside, so I wasn’t especially motivated to step away from the computer and into the murky soup outside and only got out for a couple of runs.  I did think about running.  Does that count?

Blogging.  I’ll have another moving-related post on Wednesday – a farewell to my kitchen, which I will miss – and then some book talk on Friday.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  Okay, this is going to sound weird, but go with it: I am recently obsessed with Weight Watchers light smoked mozzarella string cheese.  I didn’t realize it was a Weight Watchers product – I saw the “WW” logo and though it was some sort of fancy Wegmans string cheese for grownups.  (I am book smart, but maybe not street smart!)  It took me a week to realize that it was Weight Watchers cheese and you know what, guys?  It’s delicious.  I love a smoked mozzarella – I will literally choose pizza joints based on who puts smoked mozz in their cheese mix – and it’s GUILT FREE STRING CHEESE.  If you’re on Weight Watchers, it’s one point (I don’t know what that means, but I think it means go nuts?) and on Noom it’s a green food.  (I do use Noom periodically, so you can take it from me that a string cheese that falls within the green foods definition is a big deal.)  And the kids like it, which is good or bad depending on how much I feel like sharing.  (They have their own full fat colby jack cheese sticks, but they are forever taking my stuff.)  And I think this is probably the most words that I’ve ever written about string cheese on this blog, so I’ll stop here, except to say: go get you some.  It’s so good.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?