Happy Monday, friends! So we’ve cleared the midpoint of winter, but the groundhog saw his shadow and we’re in for another six weeks. Well – I can’t be too sad about that, because I’m loving this season; skiing weekends with my little adventure buddy have given me a whole new lease on winter. We had another, and he is making such amazing progress. On Saturday we drove up to Liberty Mountain in Pennsylvania again (at about an hour and twenty minutes from us, it’s the closest ski area to where we live). We bypassed the magic carpet and got right on the bunny lift chair, and he did so well that after two runs he told me he felt ready to level up to the main mountain and tackle some green circle runs. (For my non-skiing friends, ski runs are graded by difficulty – green circle is the easiest; blue square is an intermediate run; black diamond is advanced; some mountains have double and triple black diamonds.) I thought another couple of runs on the bunny slope might have been helpful, but he insisted he wanted to try the main mountain, and it struck me that the slight level up in difficulty would be balanced out by fewer out of control beginners. So over we went to the main slopes and hit up three different green circle trails! (One out of control beginner did plow into me, but I don’t go over easily. Glad it was me that got run into, and not Nugget.) Super, super proud of this kid for trying something new and a little scary, pushing past the nerves, and persevering. He’s the best!

Sunday was another quiet one. The normal dash to swim lessons and soccer, a long neighborhood walk, Olympics coverage. I read one of Peanut’s books, that she pressed on me (more below) and really enjoyed it. Nugget and I planted our Aerogarden, a Christmas gift from Nana (thanks, Nana!). Olympics coverage to finish the weekend out.

Also, I want to let y’all know some blog business. I’m going to skip Monday reading posts for the next few weeks; there will still be posts on Mondays but they’ll be other topics. I’m behind on content and need to catch up, and I just have a lot going on and need to pre-schedule posts for a bit. Back to regularly scheduled Monday content on February 28, and I hope you like mixing it up in the meantime.

Reading. It was a busy week of work and errands last week, so reading was a bit lighter. I spent most of the week over the last two novels in the “Mapp and Lucia” series – The Worshipful Lucia and Trouble for Lucia. Both are on my Classics Club Challenge list, so full reviews coming soon. On Sunday afternoon, I blazed through Yummy: A History of Desserts, which is – wait for it – Peanut’s book! I gave it to her for Christmas (it’s a nonfiction graphic novel style tour through the history of popular desserts, so scratches several of her itches at once) and she kept insisting I would like it and should read it. So I picked it up and it was a total delight! Bookish mom achievement unlocked. Ended Sunday evening with The Dud Avocado, which seemed like a good choice for February as it’s all about an American expat’s exploits in Paris of the 1950s. Really enjoying it so far, but I’m only about fifty pages in.

Watching. The Olympics (and I know, there’s a cloud, but I want to support the athletes and I have loved the Olympics since I was a little girl). We had a little watch party on Saturday night with our dinner in the family room (a major treat for the kids, since we usually don’t allow them to take food out of the kitchen) and I’ve been watching the coverage after they go to bed. Aside from Olympics coverage, Steve and I watched the first episode of Mapp and Lucia with Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor. I LOVED it and Steve even enjoyed it. A miracle!

Listening. I thought I’d be able to tell you I was finished with The Man in the Brown Suit on Audible, but not yet. I’m close, though. The problem is it’s far from Christie’s best – even in the thriller genre, which isn’t her wheelhouse, Passenger to Frankfurt was much better – and I’m having to force myself to listen, rather.

Making. The usual, mostly – work product and family dinners. That’s the round of life. I also made some plans and some purchases for an upcoming adventure, about which more soon.

Moving. Finally, a week in which I can tell you I got some strength training in! I fired up the dusty Peloton app and tried out a full body strength program I hadn’t yet done, and was sore the next day (good soreness). Yay! Other than that, the usual walking, running, and skiing with the little guy.

Blogging. Back to books on Wednesday – the last of my three-part New Year’s reading retrospective, and then we can leave 2021 in the rearview mirror. And a really neat travel experience to share for Friday! Check in with me then.

Loving. Those of you who don’t ski will glaze over, but those of you who do will certainly agree with me that the worst part of skiing (or snowboarding, for that matter) is carrying all of your gear from the car to the lodge. Nugget and I have been trying to use the car as our base lodge so as to avoid indoor crowds, but we did try out getting a locker one weekend. Between our first and second ski weekends, I decided I needed a better solution for lugging my boots around, and I found the Dakine boot pack, which has been a total game changer. It has a back compartment for my boots (to keep wet, dripping gear separate from everything else – very thoughtful) and the upper zip pouch fits my helmet, goggles, gloves, and neck gaiter. It’s a backpack, so none of the shoulder slipping issues I had with the boot bags I used growing up. Like I said – game changer. And the “Solstice Floral” pattern is so pretty, I keep stealing glances at the backpack just because I like looking at it. If you ski and are tired of your boot bag, I can’t recommend highly enough.

Asking. What are you reading this week?