Morning, everyone, how were your weekends?  Ours was nice – really nice – although we didn’t get as much outdoor time as I’d have liked.  The weather forecasts were for slightly better (but still a bit grey) weather on Saturday, so we headed to a new-to-us local park to squeeze in a hike.  (The joke was on us, because Sunday’s weather turned out to be much better – sunny and cool – ah, well.)  We explored a trail by the river, talked about kayaking there one of these days, and kept eyes out for birds.  (We met a father and son birding duo who had their binoculars trained at the treetops; the father told me that they were watching yellow-billed cuckoos; sadly, I didn’t spot any, so no new birds for the life list this weekend.)

The rest of the weekend was more productive than playful, but still satisfying in its way.  Both Steve and I had to get some work done, after a less-than-productive week last week.  (The hope is that both kids will become more independent and less needy during their school days…)  And I spent a lot of the weekend rushing around the house, getting art hung and boxes unpacked and hauled out of our space.  I’ve set a goal to be unpacked and settled in by September 22 – the fall equinox.  Steve thinks I’m insane, but I am determined to do it.  I’m exempting the playroom from this; it needs a lot more help than one more weekend’s worth of work.  And I’ve accepted that I won’t be able to get all of the donations out of the house until COVID-19 is over and the libraries are accepting again.  But other than that – I’m determined.  Lots of progress was made on Sunday, and I fell asleep with that satisfyingly exhausted feeling, like when you’ve spent the day doing lots of physical work.  Love that feeling.

Reading.  Good reading week!  I finished A Memoir of Jane Austen, which was hilariously inaccurate, mid-week.  Then spent the latter part of the week with Georgie Codd and a lot of fish, in We Swim to the Shark, which I LOVED.  I’ll have much more to say about it in the next couple of weeks, so won’t go into great detail now, and will just say that I have a strong suspicion that it’s going to end up on my top-ten books of the year.  Finished the weekend with September, by Rosamunde Pilcher, and am settling in for a long haul of reading this week.

Watching.  Since it was Nugget’s half-birthday weekend, we let him choose the movies for family movie night on Saturday and Sunday.  As a result, we all watched half of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and half of Ratatouille.  Other than that, we probably watched an episode or two of Rock the Park this week, but I don’t recall specifics.  Since the kids are now on the computer for big chunks of the day – doing school – we are trying to limit their screen time otherwise.  (Without taking away TV entirely, because COVID-19 is not their fault, and it’s also not their fault that school is online this year, so they shouldn’t be punished by having all TV taken from them when they’ve already lost so much fun this year.)

Listening.  Not much; music on the way to the grocery store this week – taking a break from podcasts – and an hour or so of an audiobook.  After all the screaming matches I’ve been listening to, I downloaded Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings: How to Stop the Fighting and Raise Friends for Life.  Here’s hoping.

Making.  A lot of progress in the house – especially hanging art, which always makes such a big difference.  The sunroom is also starting to take shape, which is so satisfying.  Tonight I’m tackling the dining room, and tomorrow I’ll take the evening “off” – so to speak; I have to go to the grocery store to pick up my curbside order after the kids are in bed on Tuesday.  I’m really determined to have the house fully set up and a relaxing space by next weekend.

Moving.  Oof.  Not as much as I would have liked to do.  I hit my Garmin’s goal for active minutes for the week on Monday, thanks to Labor Day hiking at Shenandoah National Park (always a favorite!).  Other than that – nothing until Saturday’s hike and a run on Sunday morning.  Balancing work with the first week of school took every spare moment I had from Monday through Friday.  I hope it gets better soon, because last week I was burning the candle at both ends and it was not sustainable.

Blogging.  Another bookish week!  I have a Classics Club review for you on Wednesday – of Delta Wedding – and then on Friday, I’m musing about the surprising fact that I have lived in this house for three months and have not yet gotten a library card.  Who even am I?  Check back to find out.

Loving.  I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but this section is all about telling you guys what is making my life better right now, in this moment, and that is: I finally got a wireless mouse.  I know, you have questions.  Haven’t you been working from home for seven months now?  What were you using before?  Told you it was embarrassing.  I have a wireless mouse at the office, but it never occurred to me to get one for home; for the past seven months, while I’ve worked first at the kitchen table and later in the dining room, I have just been using the trackpad on my laptop.  It’s awkward and cumbersome, but it literally never crossed my mind to get a mouse – until I ordered the kids each a wireless logitech mouse to make their online school days easier.  (Peanut chose a mouse that is festooned with flamingos; Nugget’s looks like a little owl.)  They were literally $20 each on Amazon, arrived the next day, and took thirty seconds to set up.  As Nugget comfortably navigated around his virtual classroom with his mouse while I awkwardly swiped around the track pad doing document review, I thought to myself: why don’t I have one of these?  So I’m now the proud owner of my own logitech wireless mouse.  While I was tempted by one with martini glass designs, I acted my age and went for a serene blue.  My only regret is that it took me so long to make this connection for myself.  File this with the rest of the examples of Mom putting literally everyone else before herself.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Good Monday morning to all of you, happy long weekend to my American friends, and happy new week to everyone!  We’re only 2/3 of the way through our weekend over here and off on a hiking adventure today, but so far it’s been nice and balanced – some activity, some rest, some productivity.  I wasn’t actually planning to do any unpacking or organizing over the weekend, but Nugget woke up on Saturday morning inspired to create “our bird-watching headquarters” in the sunroom, and he spent the better part of two days cleaning and organizing.  (Is he 5 or 50, you guys?)  The sunroom has become the repository for boxes yet-to-be-unpacked and a lot of stuff I still have to find homes for, so it needed a lot of work.  Between us, Nugget and I probably unpacked a dozen boxes and set up and cleaned our Adirondack chairs (which were on our front porch in Old Town and were decidedly grimy with city dust and dirt).  We took a break to hike at one of our local parks, which was fun except that on the way to the park I got weirdly carsick – not a problem I usually have – and it took pretty much the entire hike to stop feeling queasy.  I recovered just in time to head out and run some errands to pick up a few things the kids need for school.  So that was Saturday.

Sunday was a bit more weighted to the “fun” side of the scales, although Nugget and I both put in some time in the sunroom, and I worked a tiny bit – I have a couple of action items that are due this week and stressing me out, and I got started on one of them to make myself feel better.  In the morning, Peanut and I drove into Arlington to meet up with her BFF for a playdate.  S’s mom suggested a new-to-us park that had a field and a creek for the girls to explore.  While S stood fastidiously on the bank, Peanut shouted “ALASKA!” and leapt into the deepest part of the running stream, getting drenched to her waist.  It was glorious.  We headed home for lunch, then back out for what is becoming our Sunday tradition – paddling.  This time, we kayaked from Fletcher’s Cove and Peanut was my boat buddy.  It was less dramatic than when I had her in my boat at Riverbend Park, but it’s definitely a workout; she doesn’t help paddle at all.  Meanwhile, Nugget and Daddy were in a paddling rhythm, crushing the current like it was no big thing.  We finished the day with takeout, and then at 6:45 p.m. the kids reminded me that I promised to build a fire pit so we could make s’mores.  Over Steve’s full-throated objection I found myself in the garage, screwing together a new fire pit, then building a full-on campfire for the kids at bedtime.  Hey, it’s the last weekend before school starts.  If not now, when?

Reading.  What a week!  I feel like my reading was at pre-pandemic levels of volume and excitement this past week.  It’s a good feeling!  Early in the week, I finished up The Pickwick Papers, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Review – for the Classics Club – coming later this month, but I have a couple of books in line ahead of it.  After Pickwick, I wanted to read something a bit shorter, so I grabbed one of my new acquisitions: Down in the Valley, a slim little volume that reads like an oral history, and is basically an edited transcription of a tour of Laurie Lee’s home region, given by the author himself to a filmmaker.  It was lovely to read.  Moving right along!  Since it’s the last weekend of official “summer” around here (although it will still be warm for several weeks yet), I figured I’d better get to One Fine Day, which I’ve been meaning to read this season.  It was gorgeous and I loved every word.  Ended the weekend with another one I’ve been meaning to get around to for some time now: A Memoir of Jane Austen, by the author’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh.  I’m still in early chapters, but it’s an interesting read.

Watching.  With all of that reading, watching was minimal – as expected.  A few episodes in our family re-watch of Rock the Park (including Wrangell-St. Elias, which was the episode that gave Peanut the aforementioned idea to shout “ALASKA!” and do “the Polar Plunge” into the creek on her playdate.  Otherwise, not much – just a couple of videos from Miranda Mills’ YouTube channel – on her new life in Yorkshire, summer reads, and favorite books from spring.  Her book recommendations are always winners for me, so I enjoyed that.

Listening.  Still binge-catching-up on The Mom Hour.  I listened to an old (early pandemic) episode full of encouragement for supervising distance learning, a few episodes about this weird summer we are having, and now I’m midway through an episode on “decluttering for the weirdest fall ever.”  It’s such a well-made podcast and I can listen to Meagan and Sarah for hours (obviously) but I probably should make a dent in some of the other shows that are piling up on my podcatcher.

Moving.  It was sort of an all-over-the-place kind of week.  I squeezed in a couple of runs – now that the weather is finally cooling off a little bit (not a lot; it’s still hot here) I am more inspired to get out there, but of course the schedule is about to tighten again.  A paddling afternoon on Sunday, naturally.  And a lot of that “functional fitness” from chasing the kids around, gardening, cleaning the house, hauling boxes, building fire pits – you know, the usual.

Making.  About that fire pit!  It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it?  Pretty pleased with myself for whipping up both the fire pit and the fire itself (that Girl Scout experience helped).  My only complaint about the fire pit is it’s so shallow that it required constant feeding to keep the fire going.  It’s not going to be easy to build a fire, kick back and drink a beer with Steve.  But the kids LOVED it and their s’mores.  Worth every drop of sweat in screwing the thing together in the garage on a hot September night, and in running back and forth between the fire pit and the woodpile to keep it going!

Blogging.  Bookish week coming atcha!  I have a Classics Club review for you on Wednesday, and a Themed Reads post for September on Friday.  I’m excited to share both, so do visit me again then.

Loving.  I suppose I can’t talk about my fire pit since I just went on and on about it above.  Oooh!  But can I tell you about my new bird feeders?  Over the last week I’ve shifted my feeder stations around again.  First, I am delighted to report that birds are eating at the tray feeder I hung last week.  We’ve had chickadees, tufted titmice, and a few cardinals all popping by to grab a snack here and there.  I’m still getting the hang of keeping the tray feeder clean and dry, but it’s nice to see the bigger birds that can’t fit at my tube feeder.  Then the nyjer (thistle) feeder in the backyard suddenly became a hot spot!  I was starting to despair of it, when I noticed a chickadee pop by to grab some thistle.  Within a day after the first chickadee, the goldfinches and the other chickadees descended on the backyard.  At one point, I saw four of them all clustered on the nyjer feeder!  YAY, it’s working!  I am loving watching all of my backyard birds.  I know it’s total pandemic cliche, but I don’t even care.  BIRDS 4EVER.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Yawwwwwwwn.  Mornin’ everyone.  How were your weekends?  Mine was kind of up and down – nothing extreme, just up a little and down a little.  Saturday was rainy – we were getting remnants of the hurricane from down in Texas and Louisiana, not wind but just rain in our case.  We decided to have a cozy day indoors, and I had big plans to get some organizing done around the house.  But those plans involved a trip to IKEA to pick up another couple of bookcases (for family books and games) and when it became clear that the bookcases were not going to fit in my car, I had to reshuffle.  I ended up spending the morning helping Peanut make a fairy library (an ill-advised birthday gift – she wants these craft kits but she always ends up getting frustrated along the way) and the afternoon making runs to the Container Store and Target to try to cobble together a toy storage solution for the playroom.  The kids have trashed the playroom to the point that they don’t even play in there anymore because it’s not fun.  I had to haul several garbage bags full of old broken toys and abandoned art projects out to the bins just so I could see floor.  I think I have the beginnings of something coming together, but it’s a long way to go and I was (am) frustrated – lots of frustration on Saturday, it seems – by their lack of respect for our space and their expectation that we are just going to follow them around cleaning up after them.

Sunday was better than Saturday, in every respect.  The weather was beautiful – sunny but not too terribly hot – and aside from breaking up the usual number of screaming matches, it was a good day.  On Sunday morning I had a virtual relay race to run as part of the second “Love the Run You’re With” series I am doing through Another Mother Runner.  I was runner #3 and was scheduled to run from 8:00 to 9:00.  So off I went at the stroke of 8:00, and other than my Garmin dying 24 minutes in, it was a great run.  Came home and slugged several big carafes of water, then fed the kids lunch and got them ready for our afternoon adventure – kayaking at Key Bridge.  I forgot my phone at home, so no pictures.  But we had a lovely paddle, saw an egret, and came home tired and happy.  A good day.

Reading.  It was a good reading week.  I finished the latest issue of Slightly Foxed on Monday evening – just in time, too, as the fall issue releases tomorrow and will be on its way to me soon.  The rest of the week, I spent with Mr. Pickwick & Co.  That may seem like a slow reading week, but Pickwick is about 950 pages and I am actually making good progress.  I’ve been lighting a candle and reading in the living room every evening for the last week, and it’s been lovely.  Although – I’m just shy of 600 pages in and starting to be ready to wrap it up.  This week, for sure.

Watching.  Very little this week.  After four days of the Democratic National Convention last week, which is much more TV than I usually watch in a week, I was burned out on screens and spent most of the week in the company of books instead.  No complaints!  We watched a few episodes of Rock the Park with the kids; that’s it.

Listening.  I’m continuing to binge through back episodes of The Mom Hour.  The show ran a two part special on school decisions for the fall, which was a wonderful conversation.  Steve and I had already made our decision for the kids by the time I got around to listening, but I still found it so helpful and validating to listen in as Sarah and Meagan weighed different options (and concluded, like everyone else, that all of the choices are bad).

Making.  A little of this, a little of that.  A few dinners – including risotto with Beyond sausages last night, yum.  (I had designs on maple-apple dumplings, but that will have to wait until next weekend, or the following weekend.)  A little bit of progress toward an organized playroom, but not as much as I’d hoped.  And several miniature books for Peanut’s fairy library (and a lot of deep breathing).

Moving.  Pretty good week on this front!  I got out for several weekday runs in preparation for my hour of running for team “Smiles, Strides and Spatulas” in the AMR Relay.  Then there was the relay itself, which – other than the aforementioned tech issues – was great.  I felt strong and had a grin on my face for much of the hour.  And there was the Sunday paddle, which is becoming a summer tradition and I love it.

Blogging.  August reading recap coming for you on Wednesday – not too many books this month, but I found myself with a lot to say about one of them, so check in with me then.  And a little more about our school choices on Friday, and how the year is starting to come together in my mind.

Loving.  I tackled a couple of organizing projects last week, one of which was to get my cookbooks unpacked and set up on a bookcase in a corner of the kitchen.  It was a small, underutilized space before, but it’s now my favorite corner of the kitchen – all those brightly colored spines lined up side by side (under a painting of a basket of blueberries, courtesy of my grandmother) ready to inspire me to cook and bake.  I’m sort of loving sitting at my kitchen table right now – I’ve got a view of cookbooks on one side and my bird feeder on the other; it’s so restful!  A far cry from the kitchen table at my old house, which was jammed into a corner by the back door, and I was constantly tripping over piled-up shoes and boots as I tried to set dinner out.  I would never have thought how happy it would make me to have a place to gather in the kitchen!

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Mornin’ friends.  How were your weekends?  We had a pretty nice one.  Peanut’s birthday was on Friday, and I took the day (mostly) off.  All she wanted to do was open her presents early and spend the day playing, so that’s what she did.  The weather on Saturday was a little gloomy, but we managed to squeeze in a hike at Riverbend Park – quickly becoming a local favorite – and spotted a new bird for Nugget’s and my life list: a common yellowthroat!  (At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what it was.  I can’t find any other possibilities that resemble the photo I got.)  The rest of Saturday was spent poking around the house.

On Sunday, we were back at Riverbend Park to explore in a different way: by kayaks.  We’d discovered that the park rents out single and double kayaks (as well as canoes, I think) and signed up online to rent a couple.  Nugget wanted to paddle with Daddy this time, so I got Peanut, who brings the drama every time we are out on the water.  This time, it was because a (harmless) spider dropped into the boat.  She freaked out and started trying to scoot away from it, and almost turned the kayak over.  I was less than pleased, because it turns out Riverbend Park has a strong current and a lot of big rocks right under the surface.  It was definitely the most technical water I’ve ever paddled, and it’s hard enough to tackle that kind of water, let alone in a heavy two person boat where your companion is not paddling at all, and then tries to stand up and get into another boat and almost dumps you in the water.  I had sympathy because she was scared – even though it was a totally harmless spider, like I said – but clearly we are not going to be paddling Riverbend again with the kids.  Bummer!  Anyway, the rest of the day was more chill.  I squeezed in a run (at the hottest part of the day, and I wasn’t feeling awesome) and spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch with my book – not too shabby.

Reading.  Good reading week!  It was a busy week of juggling work and kiddos, so workweek reading was slow, but I finished up Delta Wedding on Saturday morning.  Review coming soon!  Then I blazed through The Silver Branch, the second novel in Rosemary Sutcliff’s ancient Britain series, and loved it every bit as much as the first in the series – The Eagle of the Ninth.  (More on this below.)  Finished the weekend with the summer issue of Slightly Foxed, because it occurred to me that my copy of the fall issue will be arriving before long and I’d better get through the current issue before it becomes a back issue.

Watching.  One of the reasons I didn’t read much during the week was: I was watching the Democratic National Convention coverage.  I didn’t watch Monday, because I forgot – any suggestions where I can stream Michelle Obama’s entire speech? – but I watched every minute of Tuesday through Thursday, plus pre- and post-convention coverage.  Whew!  And for something completely different: because it was Peanut’s birthday weekend, she got to pick the movies for family movie night (within reason: no Polly Pocket, something everyone will enjoy, please).  On Friday, she chose Finding Nemo, and on Saturday, it was Toy Story (the first one) – solid choices.  So: political convention, plus Disney movies.  About sums up the current life stage, doesn’t it?

Listening.  I burned through several back issues of The Mom Hour podcast – while driving to and from the supermarket, putting away groceries, doing dishes, and running.  Finished up a couple of half-listened episodes (must-have winter gear for all ages; fall fitness update) and listened to a bunch that I’d been meaning to get to (another batch of listener questions; a grab-bag of topics; and must-have beach and pool gear).  Now that I don’t really commute anymore, my podcatcher is more out of control than ever and I’ve totally given up on ever catching up with it.

Making.  Not much.  Peanut mentioned wanting to bake an apple pie for her birthday so I went out and got the ingredients, then she changed her mind (sigh).  I’m sure I made dinner a few times, because I always do, and I made progress on unpacking.  Trudge, trudge.

Moving.  Back on the horse!  After a week of mostly just chasing the kids around – nothing formal – I had a pretty active weekend.  Hike on Saturday, very difficult paddle on Sunday, and I knocked another virtual 5K off my list: the Leesburg 20K/10K/5K.  It’s a local race that I’ve always wanted to run, but it went virtual this year.  I planned to run the 10K distance, but since I ended up going out at 1:00 p.m. when it was full sun and 90 degrees, and my stomach immediately began to churn, I decided to drop down to the 5K distance.  It was an ugly run, but I got it done.  I have a relay coming up this weekend, so I will have to keep up with running a little better this week.  Rest day today, then back at it tomorrow.

Blogging.  Finishing up August content this week – how is the month almost over?  I’ll have themed reads for you on Wednesday, on a topic to-be-determined.  And then a long garden update on Friday.  (I actually did some chores!  And a few things are growing!)

Loving.  Two bookish things to tell you this week: first, I finished unpacking and organizing my bookshelves, and my reading area is coming together!  I have a few books that are going into overflow shelving in the family room, but other than that – it’s all done, and doesn’t she look good?  I spent Saturday night reading on the couch with a candle and a glass of wine, and it was everything.

(Image source: Slightly Foxed on Twitter).  Second, my copies of books three and four in the Slightly Foxed Cubs’ reprinting of Rosemary Sutcliff’s Ancient Britain series arrived this week and I could not be more delighted.  I pre-ordered the entire set over a year ago: books one and two were published on September 1, 2019, and books three and four have a release date of September 1, 2020 – but they turned up on my doorstep early, lucky me!  The above picture is of the four editions together, and I assure you that they look even more beautiful in person.  AND – it gets better – with the package containing my books was a letter announcing that they will be publishing three more of Sutcliff’s Ancient Britain books in series with the first four – in March and September, 2021, respectively – and that they were reserving my limited editions for me, unless of course I didn’t want them.  Don’t want them?!  I logged into my account immediately to confirm that of course I want them.  And then I grabbed book two to read over the weekend and tore through it – so good.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Hey, guys.  How were your weekends?  Mine was okay, nothing all that special.  To be honest, I was disgruntled all weekend.  Last week we were trying to be “on vacation” even though we ended up staying home (after first our plans to go to Lake Tahoe with my family were scrapped – months ago – and then our consolation Cape Cod trip was cancelled at the last minute).  Work ended up kind of blowing up on me – not my colleagues’ fault; they tried really hard not to bother me on vacation, but it just happens sometimes – and the weather was gross toward the end of the week, so I ended up just working Wednesday through Friday.  Figured if I couldn’t be out having fun I might as well work.  But – ugh.  I’m going to try for a do-over this week.  Today is shot – I have a bunch of things to do and am actually going to have to go into the office, a rare occasion these days.  But tomorrow I’m planning a morning of kayaking, then squeezing in a tiny bit of work, and then hopefully taking the rest of the week OFF, for real this time.

Anyway – the weekend.  So, like I said, I was disgruntled at my “staycation” – which wasn’t even plan A or B – getting wrecked by bad weather and too much to do.  On Friday I did manage to escape with Steve and the kids for an hour at Mount Vernon, followed by a picnic at our favorite waterfront park in Old Town.  It felt lovely to be back – Alexandria still feels like home and I imagine it will for awhile.  Saturday was decent, weather-wise, so we headed out for a short hike at Riverbend Park.  The rest of the day was more blah.  I did get some unpacking done, but Peanut was in rare form and I just wasn’t having it.  Sunday was gross weather again – other than a neighborhood walk, we didn’t get out at all, and I was just in a crummy mood.  It happens.  Hopefully I’ll actually get some time off this week (staycation, take two?) and have a happier Monday post for you next week.

Reading.  At least it was a good reading week.  I finished up Mary Barton early in the week – once I hit the exciting murder trial scenes, it flew by.  Interspersed with that, on my kindle while Steve shuttled us to activities earlier in the week, I read Molly Wizenberg’s new memoir, The Fixed Stars.  I’ll have more to say in my monthly reading recap post in a couple of weeks, but I had very mixed feelings about it.  It was wonderfully written, which should come as no surprise.  And I recognize the importance of stories about the queer experience being out in the world.  But at the same time, it felt like an intrusion into Molly and Brandon and June’s privacy to read all the details about Molly and Brandon’s marriage.  I reminded myself over and over that Molly wrote and published this book because she felt it was important, and that she got royalties from my purchase, but I couldn’t help but wonder how June will feel about it in ten years.  Anyway – in a huge shift, after The Fixed Stars I turned to one of my favorite books from high school, Delta Wedding.  Am reading it slowly, re-reading for the first time in years, and remembering how much I love Eudora Welty’s writing.

Watching.  A little of this and a little of that.  Actually, I think, a very little.  Hamilton, over three nights.  One episode of The Mandalorian, a couple of episodes of Rock the Park – that’s about it.  Nothing out of the ordinary this week.  I need to get back to Home Fires.

Listening.  Ummmmmm.  I don’t think I listened to anything at all this week?  Even when driving to the supermarket for my grocery pickup time slot, I just had silence.  Guess I needed to hear my own thoughts for once.

Making.  Despite not really getting the staycation I promised myself, I did do a fair amount of cooking and baking.  Nugget and I made blackberry fool with our fresh-picked blackberries, and it was delicious.  We also made a cherry yogurt cake with Nutella swirl, which was okay – not terrible, but a bit dense.  And I did some cooking; most notably, Sunday night dinner – cheesy white bean bake with broccolini and sun-dried tomatoes, served alongside crostini.  Yum. 

Moving.  Welllllllll… not much this week.  A couple of hikes and long neighborhood walks, and chasing the kids around Lake Anna and the zoo before staycation week fell apart.  No formal workouts, though.  Next weekend I have a virtual 10K, so I will need to change that this week.

Blogging.  Asking you a question on Wednesday – I’m mulling over writing about our amateur homeschooling and wondering if there is any interest in that.  And on Friday, a kayaking recap – yay fun!

Loving.  Oh, you guys!  I am so excited about the big news that Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as his running mate!  I wasn’t surprised – I sort of expected all along that it would turn out this way.  But I am delighted.  I was seriously considering voting for Harris back when she was running in the primary; she ended up ending her campaign before Super Tuesday (when Virginia votes) so I didn’t get to.  But now I will, after all!  I am stoked.  Just a little anxious about my absentee ballot getting counted.  (American friends, vote EARLY.)

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Yawwwwwwn.  Mornin’ friends.  How were your weekends?  Ours was busy – we were up in upstate New York, picking up the kids.  We were actually there for a week, working from my parents’ house.  Ever-responsible goody-two-shoes types that we are, we were careful and mindful of the New York State travel advisory, and we spent the week holed up at my folks’ place.  (Which worked out fine, because we were both slammed with work and spent most of the week hunched over our laptops, punching at the keyboards.)  But on Saturday we escaped our self-imposed quarantine and headed to my parents’ Adirondack camp – a welcome diversion.  And don’t worry, it was totally deserted – no relatives – and we, the kids, and Nana-n-Grandad were the only ones there.  Nugget was chomping at the bit to get out on the water, so my dad hauled the kayaks down to the beach and we shoved off for a lovely ride – Nugget duffing in my old kayak (which dates from high school and is still going strong, thankyouverymuch) and Steve paddling alongside us.  (Ever the party pooper, Peanut had no interest in joining us, and stayed onshore with my folks.)  We let Nugget dictate where we paddled, and the result was over an hour on the water, which felt amazing.  We circumnavigated a nearby island (and also pulled ashore and did a short little hike, dodging goose poop), then paddled along the far side of my parents’ bay and into a little offshoot, where we got a good look at an enormous great blue heron.  Good call, little dude.  It was good we got all that paddling and lake fun in, because Sunday was driving day – six hours in the car, back to Virginia.  We rolled in around lunchtime and the kids were stoked to reunite with their toys after a month away.  It was a good afternoon of resting up for a fun week ahead – since our trip to Cape Cod got cancelled (BOO) we are doing a staycation at home, spreading the days out over the next two weeks (because we both have some work to get done as well).  We have a fun agenda for this week, including a day at Lake Anna; the zoo; berry-picking; and kayaking.  With more fun to come next week – and plenty of recaps ahead, promise.

Reading.  So, busy week of work and travel that it was, one thing I did not get done was much reading.  I’m still working my way through Mary Barton, slowly but with great enjoyment.  I’m about two thirds (or a little more) into it now, and the plot has really started to pick up.  Not sure how much reading time I’ll have this week – between family fun and squeezing in work, I expect to be busy.  But I’ll probably knock out at least the rest of Mary and start something new, so stay tuned.

Watching.  I never watch much TV, and especially not at my parents’ house – other than snippets of MSNBC and old sitcom reruns.  On Sunday night, we did have a little “family movie night” and watched two-and-a-half episodes of Rock the Park, which Nugget loves and Peanut tolerates.  But the best watching, by far, was Saturday at the lake – watching the kids splash and play and have the best time in the water.  Can’t beat it.

Listening.  Hmmm – I’m trying to think.  We listened to Hamilton on the way up to my folks’ house, and that might be it?  I forgot my earbuds, so runs this week were quiet (which was actually nice, and I might continue that).

Making.  Lots of pictures of the fam, on both my dSLR and my dad’s old Minolta.  He still thinks it’s absolutely ridiculous that I, A, wanted his camera, and B, am using it.  He’s at a loss to figure out why I would fiddle with film when I can shoot digitally and edit my photos.  Analog is trending right now, Dad!  Also, who do you think is to blame for me being a camera nerd?  The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, so there.

Moving.  Good week of movement!  After some waffling between programs, I went ahead and signed up for “Love the Run You’re With 2.0” from Another Mother Runner.  (I was considering doing their Heart & Sole program, but decided to save that for later.)  Last week was week one of the new program, and I did almost every workout – three runs and a day of barre3.  The only workout I missed was Saturday’s long run – I had big plans to run up at the lake, only to find out that my usual running route was blocked off by some rich lady’s gigantic new camp.  Poor form, rich lady.  But over an hour in the kayak was a good replacement workout, and probably more fun.

Blogging.  Bookish week coming atcha!  Just because my reading is slow right now doesn’t mean the book blogging has to be slow.  On Wednesday I’ll tell you what I got in this round of the CC Spin, and on Friday, I have a belated “top ten” post covering the first half of 2020.  (Side note: how many of those “2020 Challenge” posts have you seen on social?  My feed is full of them.  I think my favorite is the Jane Austen one with unconscious Louisa Musgrove for May, June and July.)

Loving.  After a month, it’s really nice to have the kids home again.  I’m sure within a week I will be begging Nana to take them back (just kidding – maybe) but I really missed them.  Their little empty rooms were making me so sad, and it’s warming my heart to see Peanut’s doll clothes box rifled through, and Nugget’s rubber snake collection slithering across the floor again.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Morning, friends.  Happy Julember one millionth, or whatever it is.  How were your weekends?  Mine was a bit of a roller coaster.  Started out well – on Friday evening Steve and I drove down to Alexandria for dinner with our old neighbors, Zoya and Robert.  We sat for hours on their back patio, talking and laughing under their twinkle lights, eating Robert’s homemade sourdough bread, a fresh green salad, and pizza from Lena’s – our old fave.  It was just what I needed after a long week – but the good feelings dissipated on Saturday morning, when I got an email from our VRBO host for our planned vacation, telling me I should probably cancel.  We were planning a trip to Cape Cod, and I was so looking forward to a week of breathing in sea air, feeling sand between my toes, and whale-watching to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary.  But with the Massachusetts travel advisory, all of that was up in the air.  I spent a lot of the day feeling sad and angry.  I know, rationally, that it’s not the end of the world – there will be other trips, and at least we’re all healthy and employed.  Many people have it worse; I know this.  But I couldn’t help feeling horribly disappointed, cheated out of two summer vacations (we were supposed to go to Lake Tahoe to celebrate my parents’ forty-fifth anniversary; that trip was cancelled months ago and the Cape Cod trip was the consolation – now even that is gone), and furious at the lack of leadership and abdication of responsibility.  If the federal response had been anything but criminally negligent and incompetent – if thousands of people put community interests before their own selfish desires – we could have this virus at least closer to under control by now.  140,000 American families would still have their loved ones.  And we’d all have something resembling our lives, if not back, at least closer to being back.  I know it’s just a silly vacation, but I’m angry.  I’ve been quarantining strictly for months, homeschooling my children while holding down a full-time (and very demanding) job, working late into the night to make it all balance, going without hugs from friends – and those of us who follow the rules will continue to pay the price and subsidize bad behavior and incompetence.  It feels very unfair.

Anyway.  Thank you for letting me get that out.  Steve and I both needed an outlet on Sunday morning, and luckily we had reservations to rent kayaks at a new-to-us boathouse on the Potomac.  (Used to be, you could just roll up to the dock and be out on the water; those days are gone.  We reserved our boats a week ago.)  We both breathed a big sigh of relief as soon as our paddles hit the water, and it felt good to cruise upriver toward Fletcher’s Cove.  We spotted great blue herons and cormorants and waved to other kayakers, then rode the tide and the current back downstream toward Key Bridge.  We spent the rest of the day finishing up our garage clean-out project while kicking around ideas for summer vacation, version 3.0.  Camping at Smith Mountain Lake?  Renting a cabin in the Blue Ridge?  Staycation at home with the kiddos?  Time will tell.  I’m sure we’ll figure it out.  And now – another week of following the rules, working hard, and seething.

Reading.  If the weekend was a roller-coaster, the reading was at least good.  Mid-week, I finished up Tory Heaven, which was page-turning, a little unsettling, and felt very prescient.  Spent the latter part of the week, and through Sunday afternoon, with Wigs on the Green, which was an interesting read.  (Nancy Mitford takes on fascism… and pokes fun at British fascists, because making fun of things is just what Nancy does.  It felt quite subversive.)  Finished it up on Sunday afternoon, and ended the weekend with Mary Barton.  I’ve only just started that one, but so far I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Elizabeth Gaskell, so expectations are high.

Watching.  It’s been a good week for watching.  A few episodes of The Baby-Sitters Club, which continues to knock my socks off.  And Steve and I have been on something of a Marvel kick.  I got to choose the movie on Saturday, and picked Captain Marvel, which we both loved.  Then on Sunday, Steve chose Black Panther, which was incredible.  Getting out to the movies is a production (<–see what I did there?) these days, so we hadn’t seen either before this weekend, and loved both so much.  I get to choose the next installment in what we’ve decided is our Marvel binge, and I’ve already told Steve that we’re watching Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. II.  Y’all know how much I adore Chris Pratt.

Listening.  Not too much, because I haven’t been driving much.  But I’m continuing to work my way through my back episodes of The 46 of 46 Podcast.  At the moment I’m about twenty minutes into a marathon Summit Sessions episode about becoming a 46’r from 350 miles away – obviously a subject that interests me.  Also caught up on the Northville-Placid Trail episodes and listened to another Summit Sessions on backpacking gear.  I’m not keen on backpacking by foot, but Steve and I have our eye on another kayak trek at some point, and some of the same principles will apply.  So that was an interesting listen, too.

Making.  Meh, not much.  It was a particularly hectic week, so I didn’t do much cooking.  I did put together a nice composed salad Nicoise for dinner one night, so that was fun.  And yummy.

Blogging.  I’ll have a Themed Reads post for you on Wednesday – can’t give you any hints on the topic, yet, because I haven’t decided.  And on Friday, some more pictures from Sunday morning on the water, and the return of Steve’s kayak expedition hat.

Loving.  It’s hard to think of something this week, honestly.  I’m so angry about my vacation being cancelled, that I’m having a tough time thinking positive.  I’m looking for small victories to celebrate, though.  I’m loving the full dumpster out at the end of my driveway, because it signifies that Steve and I have finally pulled off the epic decluttering and purging of all the crap we’ve been lugging from house to house.  I feel so much lighter.  Still have more stuff than I’d like, but it’s a victory for sure.  Another victory: my organized bookshelves.  I have another pile of books that still need a home, but I’m more inspired to read now.  I even told Steve – this is going to come as a huge shock, so sit down – I think I may hold off on getting a library card for a little while.  I’d like to make my way through more of my own books, and they are looking so lovely and organized right now, they’re really enticing.  So that’s a nice thing, too.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Good Wednesday morning to you, friends!  How go your weeks so far?  Catching up and doing my weekly check-in midweek instead of on Monday – no reason except that Monday was the anniversary of the Declaration of Sentiments, and I felt like posting some excerpts both to celebrate how far we’ve come since July 20, 1848, and also to call out how far we have yet to go.

Anyway!  It is weirdly quiet around here without the kids.  I really miss them!  We all needed a break from each other, so this is definitely a good thing, but I would dearly love to hug each of them right now.  They’re having a grand time with Nana and Grandad – Nugget can read three books now, no big deal! – and Steve and I are getting some time to decompress, catch up on work, and knock out a few house projects.  Steve ordered us a dumpster and we have embarked on a massive garage clean-out and de-cluttering project; we spent most of Saturday morning gleefully throwing full trash bags into the dumpster.  We made time for some fun, too – exploring our neighborhood park (pic above!) and hiking at Lake Fairfax and Seneca Regional Park.  It’s nice to have this time to catch up on things and enjoy each other’s company without 80% of our brains being devoted to parenting – but I am looking forward to having the little boogers back, too.

Reading.  Still slowly working my way through books.  I finished up Sword of Bone over the weekend and moved on to one of the newer reprints from Persephone Books – Marghanita Laski’s Tory Heaven, or, Thunder on the Right.  Sword of Bone was wonderful – the end, especially, was gripping and completely riveting.  And I’m really enjoying Tory Heaven so far, too – just finding it hard to make myself sit down with any book.

Watching.  Steve and I finally finished up season three of The Crown last night – so good!  I can’t wait for season four to drop; bring on Diana!  We’ve got to figure out what our next show will be.  On my own, I started watching the new Netflix adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club, and it is WONDERFUL.  More about that below.

Listening.  Lots of podcasts this week and last!  I drove into the office a couple of days and listened to about six episodes of The 46 of 46 Podcast – all about the host’s section hike of the Northville-Placid Trail (which is on my list, but not especially high up there).  Also listened to a couple of episodes of The Slightly Foxed Podcast while organizing my books and re-stocking my shelves, because it seemed like the appropriate choice.

Making.  I’ve been doing a fair amount of cooking without the kids around.  It’s been nice to cook with some more grown-up flavors and ingredients without worrying that half the family is going to complain vociferously.  Steve and I even collaborated on grilled ginger-miso marinated shrimp skewers and zucchini noodle salad one evening.  Look at us go!  I have also been making progress on various grown-up responsibilities – not as much work product as I was hoping to churn out, but I went to the dentist and filled out registration paperwork for the kids’ school.  Next up: a much-needed, long-overdue, HAIRCUT.

Moving.  Again, not as much as I thought I might do, but more than I have the past few weeks, so: winning.  Since the kids embarked on their grandparent vacation, I’ve gotten out for several runs – including a some time on the dirt in my new trail-running shoes!  (If they look familiar, they are a Merrell collaboration with Dogfish Head, designed based on the can design for SeaQuench, my most favoritest beer.  I love this.)  And Steve and I have hiked a few times, and I made it to a Zoom flow hour with my favorite yoga instructor, Angelina Fox.

Blogging.  I’ll have a garden update for you on Friday.  Spoiler alert – not much has happened; I’ve been busy.  And one of my tomato plants was viciously murdered, but you’ll have to wait for the post to find out who the perp was.  (You’re probably thinking that it was a squirrel, my arch-nemesis, but you’d be wrong.)

Loving.  So, I teased up above – I am absolutely loving the new adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix.  I was skeptical, because the premise of the books, after all, centers upon a landline phone; how on earth was Netflix going to update that to present day?  But they did it seamlessly – keeping the landline and easily explaining why Claudia has it, and updating the rest of the show to be very of-the-moment for 2020.  The cast is wonderfully diverse and the girls deal with present-day issues like social media harassment.  Mary Anne finds her voice while advocating for a little girl who is transgender, there are same-sex parents calling the BSC, and there are pop culture Easter eggs hidden throughout – for instance, in one voiceover Kristy reluctantly admits that her mom, played by the legendary Alicia Silverstone, “isn’t completely clueless.”  It’s rare that I find a show I’d like to binge-watch; I don’t have the time for that, unfortunately, but I could easily sit down and watch every episode of The Baby-Sitters Club back-to-back.  It’s THAT good.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?  And have you watched The Baby-Sitters Club yet?

Morning, friends.  How were your weekends?  I guess I did end up taking Friday “off” from posting – whoops.  It was just one of those days, I didn’t have any time to spare for thinking up topics and I had nothing already prepared.  Anyway – this weekend was nice.  My parents arrived on Friday for a quick visit – the first time we’d seen them in seven months.  (They were supposed to come down for Nugget’s birthday party in March, but that ended up being cancelled, like everything else.)  The kids were, obviously, in heaven from the moment the grandparents arrived.  My mom dove right into organizing their playroom (and here I thought I’d gotten it pretty well unpacked!) and the bedrooms.  On Saturday, we took my folks to Riverbend Park for a hike – no owls sighted this time, but I heard a few, so they were definitely around.  They really enjoyed getting to see a new park and a few glimpses of our new area.  On Sunday, they asked for a visit to Old Town, and we are always up for a ramble around our old neighborhood, so we headed down there.  It wasn’t as crowded as I was expecting, although there were more people there than I would have liked.  But we were able to mostly stay away from others – and we got ice cream from The Creamery, my old favorite spot for frozen treats.

My parents left this morning and – this is the really big news – they took the kids with them for an extended visit.  We all kind of needed a break from each other, so I think this will be good for everyone.  The kids will have lots of grandparent time after not seeing them since New Year’s – fun at the lake, swimming at my aunt’s pool, meeting their new baby second cousin, and getting a little summer homeschool in with Nana.  And Steve and I can work in peace during the week, finish unpacking, and do some grown-up stuff – hiking more technical trails, kayaking without duffers complaining the whole time, and cooking together – in our free time.  I’m going to miss the rugrats while they’re on their grandparent vacation – Nugget and I had a good long cry together last night – but we all will be better for it.

Reading.  Well, I promised you a non-Lumberjanes thumbnail this week, and you got one.  It was another light week of reading.  I was slammed with work and the kids were all I could handle last week, and all I could get through during the week was two volumes of bonus Lumberjanes stories.  They were fun, though!  As with any “short stories” I read, there were hits and misses – but overall, really enjoyable.  I think I scratched my Lumberjanes itch, finally, and felt ready to get back to plain words on a page – ha!  Picked up Anthony Rhodes’ forgotten Dunkirk memoir, Sword of Bone, in a lovely Slightly Foxed Edition, toward the end of the week and I’m about a third of the way into it as of today (maybe a little less).  It’s exactly as good as you would expect from Slightly Foxed!  I told my mom all about my favorite small publisher while she was here this weekend, and she took my copy of To War with Whitaker home with her, making me very nervous indeed.  (I hope she likes it, and more importantly, I hope she doesn’t crack the spine.)  Not sure what I will pick up when I finish Sword of Bone, but organizing the bookshelves is on my agenda for this week, so I’m sure inspiration will strike.

Watching.  Hamilton, again!  The parents don’t have Disney+ so they hadn’t been able to watch the film yet (they’ve seen the show on stage, when the Philip Tour stopped in Albany).  We all loved it, of course.  Other than Hamilton – let me think.  Steve and I finished up Continent 7 earlier in the week, so we’re on the hunt for another science/nature docuseries.  (I’m thinking Wild Hawaii is next.)  With the kids gone, we might also be able to get through Season Three of The Crown.  Oh, and on Monday morning before they left, the kids rented How to Train Your Dragon 2 – how?  I don’t even know how to rent a movie on our system.  Nice going, kids.

Listening.  Sort of the usual.  No podcasts this week, but I belted out some R.E.M. in the car on the way to the grocery store on Monday night, and then en route to our hiking destination over the weekend.  I’m sure everyone else in the car enjoyed my rendition of “Harborcoat.”

Moving.  Other than the hike and general kid-chasing, nothing.  This week will be different!  With a normal work schedule back and no 3:00 a.m. fistfights to break up, I am imagining that I am going to get all the running in.  I might even throw on my Merrell x Dogfish Head trail-running shoes and hit the dirt.

Making.  Again, not much.  It was just a really busy week.  I made work product – lots of it – and a pile of life jackets, water shoes, and baseball caps to go up to the lake.  But that’s not really what you’re interested in.  I do have my eye on some grownup cooking this week, so that should be fun.

Blogging.  Errrrrr – I don’t have anything planned, actually.  But I do have lots of spare time right now, so I should be able to pull it together and get you a book review on Wednesday (I have a Classics Club read I have yet to write up) and I’ll come up with something fun for Friday.  I’m planning a post about all the birds we have been spotting lately, but I want to see if I can snag a picture of the downy woodpecker that has been hanging out near our woodpile (!!!) before I share it.  We’ll see.

Loving.  It’s officially summer fruit season!  I brought a watermelon (which was only okay) and a box of peaches (which were delicious) home from Wegmans last week.  I’m working my way through the watermelon, but the peaches were gobbled up immediately.  There’s nothing like summer produce, and especially the stone fruits – I can’t get enough.  I’m thinking of stopping by one of the roadside produce stands near my new place (this is true exurbs, guys) and picking up some more peaches this week.  With the kids on their grandparent vacation, I will get them all.  That, my friends, is true luxury.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Morning, friends.  How were your holiday weekends?  We were pretty low-key around here.  Steve was tied up last week in depositions and was actually out of town for a few days – don’t worry, he was a very good boy, he wore his mask and was careful to socially distance – so by the weekend, I was pretty fried from spending most of the week on solo parenting duty while working.  He’s still super-busy; I’m in a lull for the moment, but my workload is set to come roaring back after this week, so basically, we’re just swimming as frantically as we can to try to keep from going completely underwater.

Anyway, the weekend was pretty nice.  There was some social time, which was a treat after being starved for human interaction for so long.  On Thursday the kids and I drove back to Alexandria and hung out at my dear Zoya’s house for awhile.  The kids played JENGA while Zoya and I talked as hard as we could about the neighborhood birds, Sir Smokes-a-lot (the most reviled resident of Zoya’s street), my new garden, her family – every subject we could squeeze into an hour-long visit.  She fed the kids Persian crackers and sparkling water, and then Nugget smashed an object that turned out to be an ancient fertilized chicken egg that Zoya found while digging by the side of the road and – as I said to Steve, of course she brought it home and put it on her windowsill, because Zoya’s gotta Zoy.  And then on Friday we had a fun family outing to Great Falls Park to visit with Peanut’s bestie and her dad.  They brought a picnic blanket, snacks and a big purple kickball; we contributed blueberry cornmeal mini-muffins fresh out of the oven.  I missed BFF’s mom (my pal Rachel), who had to work – boo.  But the girls had a grand time throwing the kickball to each other and “gossiping” – seriously, are they seven or twenty-seven? – while the dads compared “quarantine hair” from a safe distance of six feet away from each other and Nugget and I spotted a hawk, a Great Blue heron, and a bunch of vultures.

On Saturday, we headed out for a family hike at Seneca Regional Park.  We tried a different trail this time and hiked down to the Potomac – there were a lot of cars in the parking lot, but we barely saw a soul on the trails, since this is such a big park.  No owls this time; I guess they were scared away by the kids’ constant loud bickering.  (I feel ya, owls.)  We had a grilled dinner, of course, and that was it – pretty laid-back Independence Day.  Sunday was an around-the-house kind of day.  I made a run to Target to pick up a few more things that have popped up on the “buy for the house” list, fiddled with my bird feeder setup, and did a few organizing projects around the house.  I was tired and droopy all day – it’s been hard to fall asleep and stay asleep lately and I’m a little ragged.  Not looking forward to another full workweek of juggling my job and my feral lockdown children.

Reading.  Are you tired of seeing these Lumberjanes covers yet?  I’ll probably read something else this week, now that my books are unpacked (if not organized).  But I figured that I’ve come this far so I may as well get through all of the comics.  I finished volume 13, Indoor Recess, midweek, and volume 14, X Marks the Spot, over the weekend, then started on some of the bonus material – Campfire Songs.  Still so much fun, although I miss the sharp art and even sharper wit of Noelle Stevenson.

Watching.  Hamilton, of course!  Like everyone else in America, or almost.  And! It! Was! So! AMAZING!  We’ve been waiting for months for the film to be released and it exceeded every expectation.  So incredible.  I have no words that haven’t already been said, so I’ll stop there.  Nugget fell asleep during Helpless but Peanut made it all the way to Your Obedient Servant (and, I guiltily admit, Steve and I finished it after she went to bed).  On Saturday night we watched the 2004 version of The Phantom of the Opera.  Nugget conked out early again – during The Music of the Night – but Peanut watched the whole thing and then was so hype that she didn’t fall asleep until midnight.  Whoops.  Other than our musical theatre bender, watching was limited this week.  Since Steve was out of town, we didn’t watch Continent 7 at all, and as a family we only squeezed in one episode of Rock the Park.

Listening.  Lots of music this week.  The kids are binging the soundtrack to The Phantom of the Opera, which I think is cool.  (It’s been my favorite musical since middle school, because I’m basic like that, and I’ve seen it performed onstage five times – three times on Broadway, once at the Kennedy Center, and once at Shea’s in Buffalo.)  Steve and I have gotten into a heated debate over the Phantom – I say that he’s complicated, Steve says he’s a sociopathic murderer.  Maybe we’re both kind of right?

Moving.  Oof.  It was not a good week for movement.  Other than gardening and unpacking and general life stuff, I didn’t get out for a run or do any barre or even yoga.  Blah.  Perhaps that’s why I feel so grumpy and out of sorts.

Making.  I am feeling pretty pleased with myself: while Steve was out of town on business I spent one evening setting up the kids’ playroom.  They didn’t deserve all that work, since they had both been giant jerks all day, but it ended up buying me some peace and good behavior the next day, so #worthit.  But the best part: I had a Charley Harper playhouse that I bought from Crate & Kids ages ago – back when it was still The Land of Nod – and had been hauling around in a box, unassembled, from house to house for years.  Obviously, since it was 10:00 p.m. and Steve was away on business, I decided the time was right to tackle that beast.  So I ripped into the box, pulled out the instructions, and read: “This playhouse requires two adults to safely put together.”  I said: “Eff that, how do single moms do it then?” and rolled up my sleeves – and an hour later, I had a playhouse.  I had to stand on a few of the connectors to get enough force on them, but I DID IT.  And the kids have been playing in there all week, so – success!

Blogging.  I have some thoughts about Fourth of July 2020 for you on Wednesday, and then – I don’t know what, on Friday.  I don’t have anything planned, let alone drafted.  So I guess we will all be surprised, or maybe I’ll take Friday off.  Who knows!

Loving.  This is so ridiculously sad, you guys, but – I am seriously loving my master bath right now.  First of all, it has been years – since January 2016 – that I have had a connected en suite bath.  So that alone: game changer.  But on Sunday I took about thirty minutes and organized all of the bath and body stuff that I had thrown across the counter while I was unpacking, and now it’s all clean and fresh, and all of my products are within reach.  You guys?  It’s seriously amazing what one organized, clean, kid-free space does for my mental health.  I want to hide in there all day, just looking happily at the sparkling countertop and the little basket of skincare products.  In fact, I think I’m going to go hide in there now.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?