Yawwwwwn. Morning, friends. First of all – the Bills. What a heartbreaker last night, right? Steve is processing his feelings today. I am not into football and even I was on the edge of my seat during that wild fourth quarter, and then so bummed. Mostly, I’m just super sad for Steve and for our friends who are just crushed today.

Anyway – the weekend. It was a crazy busy one. I had designs on taking Nugget skiing or at least ice skating again, but I think I knew deep down that it wasn’t going to happen; there was just way too much to do. On Friday afternoon I nipped out to a nearby park to pick up Peanut’s Girl Scout troop’s cookie order. I have never seen anything like it: I don’t say that lightly. There were tractor trailers lined up in the parking lot in a big ring, each loaded to the gills with thin mints, samoas, trefoils, and the like. I drove slowly around the ring in a line with other troop cookie managers while a volunteer walked alongside and other volunteers jumped off the backs of the rigs and loaded my open trunk with forty-seven cases of cookies. Can you believe all of that fit in my Mazda?

So Saturday was pretty much spoken for. Nugget and I had a play date with one of his bus buddies who lives in the neighborhood. The boys played outside for three hours in the bitter (below freezing!) cold while the other mom and I huddled by her fire pit. Steve and I spent rest of the day doing chores around the house – there were baskets of laundry to fold; Steve cleaned the playroom out for five hours; and I poured over my cookie manager manual and tried to make a plan for how I would get the cookies to the girls. I emailed the other moms with instructions to choose time slots between today and Friday because I needed the weekend to get the cookies unpacked and sorted, and one mom immediately asked if she could come on Sunday instead. Sigh. Fine. Which meant that my Sunday morning run went out the window as I rushed around unpacking, sorting, and counting cookies. Peanut was my assistant and helped me QC to ensure each stack had the correct number of boxes. (Real world math! If Jane needs 38 boxes of thin mints, and there are twelve to a case, how many cases does she need and how many extra single boxes?) The other mom stopped by at 10:45 and I handed over her daughter’s cookies and the cookies for our two booths, and then we rushed out the door for the usual Sunday circus – swim class, then immediately to indoor soccer (I salvaged my run while Nugget was scoring four goals), and then I took the kids off to old town to visit with our dear friends Zoya and Robert. Zoya cooked a Persian feast for us and the kids gorged on her stash of marzipan and meringues. It was good, after a weekend packed full of chores and obligations, to have that time with loved ones. We looked through their pictures from their recent Costa Rica trip and the kids played a loud game of Jenga. And now another week looms, but at least I have a fresh stash of Zoya hugs to see me through.

Reading. It was sort of a busy week, so I didn’t manage to power through as many pages as usual, but I did get some reading done. Most of the week was given over to Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, by Mark Aldridge – one of my Christmas presents (thank you, Steve!). Over the weekend, I steamed through a new reprint I’d been anxiously awaiting: Jane’s Country Year, which was absolutely delightful. And then on Sunday I started Original Letters from India, but didn’t have much time for reading with all the rushing around (and then football). I’ll dive in properly tonight.

Watching. Well, on Sunday there was that fourth quarter of the Bills game, which was way too stressful. I don’t think I’ll make a habit of watching football. Other than that – on Friday Steve and I watched the Kenneth Branagh Murder on the Orient Express. We both knew the denouement (I’ve read the book, and he had seen the old version of the movie with Lauren Bacall) but it was just as much fun to watch, and gorgeously filmed. I’m trying to convince him that our grand return to movie theaters should be for Death on the Nile (the second Hercule Poirot movie to star Sir Kenneth) and I think this went a long way. Other than that – I know I’ve been waxing rhapsodic about Winterwatch so I should mention that I’ve also been keeping up with Miranda Mills on YouTube and am almost caught up on back episodes of her show; always a total treat.

Listening. A mixture. A few more episodes of The Stubborn Light of Things via my podcatcher while making the grocery run and taking a few walks early in the week, and then I decided to switch back to Audible. I put in a few hours on In the Crypt with a Candlestick but wasn’t enjoying it, so I returned it to Audible and switched to the ever reliable Agatha Christie; I’m an hour into The Man in the Brown Suit and liking it much, much better.

Making. Well, you saw those cookie cases. Most of the weekend was spent making stacks of cookies (divided by girl, and counted and double counted and triple counted to ensure everyone got her correct order). I also quickly made our 2021 family yearbook on Shutterfly when I realized that there was a great deal – too good to pass up – and ordered our book on a steep discount. That always feels good!

Moving. Speaking of feeling good, running is feeling good. Several neighborhood runs last week; I unearthed my cold weather running pants and got a new pair of tech-friendly running gloves so I could get out in this icy weather, because it’s always a happier day when I get a run in. I knocked out a couple of longer runs, and a speedy 5K on Sunday when I had to squeeze it in and be back in time to pick Nugget up from soccer. (Apparently the best motivation for me to run fast is the need to not keep my heart’s treasure waiting.)

Blogging. Themed Reads coming atcha on Wednesday, and back to Olympic National Park on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. I think every time I get together with friends over the weekend, I say that I love that time. But it’s true – and the pandemic has, if anything, shown me that I really do enjoy and need those social interactions. (Still an introvert, though.) I was running on empty this weekend, and seeing Zoya and Robert was just what I needed.

Asking. What are you reading this week?