Happy new week and happy day after Valentine’s Day to you, friends! I hope that you all had lovely weekends. Recently a friend of mine shared a meme on Facebook that lamented, in effect, that weekends are starting to feel more and more like thirty-minute lunch breaks. I feel that so hard. This was a relaxing weekend, even if it did go too fast as they all do. It was the rare weekend in which we didn’t hike or really go outside at all. We were expecting ice, and ice we received. I nipped out to pick up a grocery order on Saturday morning and saw multiple car accidents on my way to and from Wegmans – yikes. (The other drivers on the road may not have appreciated my slow speed, but I made it to Wegmans and back without a skid, so who’s laughing now?)

We spent the rest of the weekend hunkered down indoors – not even a walk outside; our hilly neighborhood is a skating rink right now. We’d had plans to get together for an outdoor, socially distanced playdate with my friend Carly and her munchkins, but ended up postponing – I wasn’t in the mood to drive into D.C. and she wasn’t in the mood to drive to the exurbs, and no one was in the mood for the playground in the freezing rain. Hopefully in a few weekends. The rest of the weekend, we all just kicked around the house. I finally rolled up my sleeves and organized the family/overflow bookshelves, which was long overdue. And that’s about it. Sunday Scaries hit hard, but I did get some good relaxation time in.

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Reading. Whew! Some reading week, indeed. I have been really good about setting my phone down, and not doomscrolling, in the evenings – and this is the result. I finished up Winter: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons on Monday, and then whipped through Crossed Skis: An Alpine Mystery, which was one of my Christmas presents from Steve. Loved it – totally engrossing, and the scene-setting was fabulous. Next I wanted to get to an anti-racism book that has been on my list for ages now; I’ll say more in my monthly reading recap, but Me and White Supremacy was okay but not as informative as I was really looking for. Switched back to classics with some relief – The Diary of a Nobody over a few days (so funny!) and then spent the weekend over Moby-Dick. No ideas as to what’s next; I’m only about halfway through Moby-Dick as of this post going live, so I have a few days before I’ll need to consider what’s on deck.

Watching. This and that, and more of this and that. I spent part of Sunday catching up on some of the newer content on Miranda Mills’ BookTube channel that I hadn’t already watched – always a delight. We also watched a few episodes of Giada Entertains, as the kids are still on a major Food Network jag and I am loving that. And finally, I got the remote for family movie night on Saturday, and drunk on my own power, I subjected everyone to my favorite movie of all time, Bringing Up Baby. Steve and I cackled throughout; the kids laughed a lot, but I’m not sure how many of the jokes they got. They liked the leopard, though.

Listening. Just podcasts this week – mostly bookish ones. Several back episodes of Tea or Books? – a consistent winner.

Making. The usual – dinners, mostly, and work product, and more dinners and more work product. But also, some house progress! I’m almost done with moving-related organizing tasks at this point (only eight months after moving, which seems embarrassingly slow, but I never really got organized in our last house and we lived there four years). This weekend, as noted above, I finally found time to organize the family/overflow bookshelves; they were in a sorry state but they’re looking much better now, and more important, there’s space for me to buy more books, hurray! That’s the last real unpacking sort of task although I would like to get the playroom closets organized and tackle the chaos in the kids’ rooms. All in good time.

Moving. It wasn’t the best week for movement. Other than a 5K on the treadmill on Sunday, I didn’t do much – especially toward the end of the week, my work days were quite full and it was hard to carve out time for a workout. I know, I know. I’m feeling the lack of movement and fresh air.

Blogging. Bookish week ahead! On Wednesday, I have a Classics Club review of Song of Solomon, which (spoiler alert!) I loved. And on Friday, I had a little bookish accident and I’m telling you all about it. Check in with me then!

Loving. As I approach the close of my umpteenth (seriously, I’ve lost count) Whole30, I have been treating myself to overflowing berry bowls almost every day. It is a treat – berries in the dead of winter aren’t cheap, but I’ve had good luck in getting some really juicy and delicious ones, at least. I drizzle coconut milk or coconut cream (depending on how decadent I am feeling) over the berries, and it’s delightful and wonderful. Often, I avoid eating berries because I want to leave them for the kids. And then the kids end up chowing down on pretzels and ignoring the fruit, and it goes bad – sad, sad story. No more of that! Give me ALL the fruit.

Asking. What are you reading this week?