Happy new week, and happy Monday after Mother’s Day to my friends!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend – whether you were celebrating, being celebrated, or both – and that you’re feeling refreshed and restored going into the week.  (And for those of you for whom Mother’s Day is hard for any reason – I see you, and I honor you and send you virtual hugs and strength.)  This was definitely a good one around these parts.  On Saturday, we drove down to Mason Neck State Park – my favorite Virginia state park – for a hike.  It’s becoming a tradition to hike at Mason Neck on Mother’s Day, and it’s also becoming a tradition to roll into the park and be surprised to find that the annual Raptor Festival is going on; this was the second time we’d wandered into a parkwide celebration of birds of prey at Mason Neck.  Because both of my kiddos are obsessed with raptors (Nugget loves bald eagles, and Peanut is a falcon kind of girl) you’d think we’d actually plan this – but it’s always serendipity.  Anyway!  We did it all – hike along the Bay View Trail, playground stop, fishing in a baby pool, strawberry shortcake donuts from a mini yellow camper van, horseback riding, and two raptor demonstrations starring five different owls.  (More stories to come on Friday.)  I was glad to get some outdoor time in on Saturday, because Sunday was rainy and gross.  Obviously we went to the aquarium, which was bumping.  (Steve said it must be the destination of choice for ocean-loving moms on a rainy Mother’s Day, and I think he was right.  This ocean-loving mom had a great time.)  And the spoiling continued when we got home, as the kiddos presented me with a new life jacket and a beautiful boxed set of Jane Austen books.  I’m so grateful to have them, and while it’s nice to know that my hard work and sacrifices are appreciated – I felt like I should be thanking them for making my life so full and sweet.

Reading.  It was a lovely, if slow, reading week.  On Wednesday evening I finished up Good Omens, just in time to discuss it with the one member of my book club who showed up.  I think we might be fizzling out… But the two of us had a lovely chat about the book, sipped some rose and ate spanakopita, and it was delightful.  On Friday I finished up Factfulness while Steve was out with a friend, and over the weekend I’ve been slowly making my way through Travel as a Political Act, which I am loving (and trying to savor).

Watching.  An episode of Parks and Recreation here and there is just what the doctor ordered.  (I know as soon as Good Omens drops I’m going to be throwing everything else aside.)  Oh!  And the trailer for Where’d You Go, Bernadette – anyone else seen it?  What did you think?  I’m excited, although some of the lines in the trailer (like, “I think my mom just got so focused on her family that she forgot about herself” and “The answer to your problems is – get your ass back to work”) made me furrow my brow a little bit.  It seems like the screenwriters changed the story a bit, but maybe the trailer is just… off.  In any event, I hope they do the book justice.

Listening.  The highlight of the week in listening was – I finished up The 46 of 46 Podcast!  Really enjoyed it, and it made me want to get back to the mountains sooner than later.  (I don’t have any Adirondack trips planned, sadly.  And spring and summer are booking up fast.  But maybe this fall?  I need to get back to Saratoga to see my grandmother sooner than later, too.  It’s been a few months, which I don’t like.)

Making.  Soup for the week – hurray!  I always feel more grounded and less scattered when I have a big container of soup to ladle out for lunches during the week.  This week – potato, cabbage, gardein beefless ground, and a blend of tomato soup and homemade veggie stock.  YUM.

Blogging.  Another book review coming at’cha on Wednesday, and more about the Raptor Festival on Friday.  This is the time of year when my family fun posts and recaps start to heat up – what can I say?  I love me some summer fun.

Loving.  I’ve probably plugged for the International Rescue Committee before, but I just love their Rescue Gifts.  The kids dedicated gifts of school supplies for Christmas gifts to their teachers, and after recently – on a whim – looking IRC up on Charity Watch and discovering that they have an A rating (way to go!) I decided to send newborn baby kits to Zimbabwe in honor of my mom and her dear friend (who is like another mother to me) for Mother’s Day.  (I thought of Hans Rosling as I purchased the kits – he spends quite a few pages of Factfulness arguing that the most impactful thing anyone can do to bring more of the world out of poverty is to dedicate resources to improving basic primary health services.)  It felt wonderful to do something that I knew would make a difference to another mother, and my mother’s friend sent me a lovely email telling me how much it meant to her to receive the IRC’s notification that I had dedicated a newborn baby kit in her honor.  Warmth all around!

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Y’all.  I’m zonked.  It’s been a WEEKEND, and before that, it was a WEEK.  Is there a happy medium between sunshine-filled, soul-satisfying weekends and weekends that feel like one long screeeeeech?  Because I’m looking for that.  This weekend was the latter.  I had the trifecta of kid-shrieking excitement: a trampoline birthday party on Friday evening, a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party on Saturday, and an afternoon at Scramble – the noisiest, wildest, most overwhelming and overpriced indoor playground in D.C. – on Sunday.  The birthday parties were made worse by the fact that Peanut hated them.  She was afraid of the trampolines (don’t ask me to explain that, because it’s not like she’d never seen a trampoline) and Chuck E. Cheese is her personal hell.  It’s mine too, so I was sympathetic, but at the same time – I’m trying to teach her the lesson that we show up for our friends.  Even when we don’t want to.  Part of me is like – well, shoot.  She hates this, and so do I.  We should just decline the invitations if it doesn’t make either of us happy to force ourselves to these birthday parties.  But – we show up for our friends and that’s just what we do.  (And for what it’s worth, she has fun after she’s warmed up a bit – even at Chuck E. Cheese – and the other moms are loving, kind women that I enjoy spending time with, so we’re both actually fine.)  So I’m gritting my teeth and getting through, and so is she – and we rewarded ourselves with pimiento cheese and the Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon (what a terrible decision by the stewards though, right? Maximum Security was clearly the best horse in the race, and now I think we can count 2019 out as a Triple Crown year).

As if two birthday parties in a weekend wasn’t bad enough, Nugget needed to run off some energy on Sunday, but it was raining cats and dogs, so the playground was out and we were left with Scramble, which I like even less than Chuck E. Cheese.  Because the thing about Chuck E. Cheese is – yes, it’s loud and bright and overstimulating, but I love their “everyone who comes together leaves together” policy.  (If you haven’t been to a Chuck E. Cheese party recently, they now stamp hands at the door.  Every party that arrives gets the same stamp.  And the stamps are invisible, so the only way to read them is under a special light.  No kid goes out the door without an adult with a matching hand stamp.  So every molecule in my brain is screaming from the flashing lights and screaming kids and beeping video games but I am not afraid of my kid being dragged off by a stranger or wandering out the door and into the road if I blink or turn away to tend to their sibling.  And removing that one source of anxiety makes the rest bearable.  At Scramble, it’s a total free-for-all, there are always at least ten kids crying and a contingent of roaming big kids who get their kicks by bullying the littler ones, and I am constantly terrified when Nugget goes into the two-story play space that he’ll come out somewhere I can’t see him and end up drifting out the door and into the parking lot or being bundled into a white van and driven away.  I’m a lawyer; we dwell in the Land of Worst-Case Scenarios.  We spent two hours at Scramble on Sunday afternoon and I had a low-grade panic attack the entire time.)  But I don’t want to give the impression that the weekend was all bad.  The best part was – Zan came over on Sunday morning!  We spent a couple of hours chilling on the couch, watching Spider-Man (Peanut made sure to call Zan’s attention to her personal favorite part of the movie, when Peter Parker’s pizza gets stuck to the ceiling), sipping homemade sparkling water from the Sodastream, and catching up on life.  It was restful and peaceful and definitely set me up for, at least, the afternoon.  And now another week dawns and I’m making it work.

Reading.  It was a busy week at work, which usually translates to a slow reading week, but not this time.  My giant doorstopper Edith Wharton biography was due back at the library on Saturday, so it was crunch time and don’t say I can’t deliver when it’s crunch time.  Since it’s absolutely enormous and clearly a health risk to haul on the Metro, I also made my way through the rest of the Wendell Berry essay collection I was reading at the beginning of last week, then burned through Outer Order, Inner Calm in one day (there are some margins in that book, I don’t hate it) and started Factfulness, which is as uplifting as promised.  I finally finished Edith Wharton on the playground on Saturday – just in time to return it to the library and dust off my shoulders.  On Sunday, I flipped back and forth between the first volume of Giant Days – which I read almost straight through with one eye on Nugget belly-flopping down slides at Scramble – and Good Omens, both for my book club on Wednesday and in preparation for the show dropping on Amazon Prime later this month.  So – yes.  A busy week.  The early part of this week will be dedicated to polishing off the rest of both Good Omens and Factfulness and then – I’m not sure what next.  I still have a tall stack from the library, but it’s gradually dwindling.  I’ll try to focus on that, but I did just get a lovely new Folio Society edition of Sense and Sensibility, so good intentions may not prevail.

Watching.  The usual, mostly.  Snippets of what the kids were watching.  Zan got to experience the majesty of Spider-Man on Sunday, but we were talking the whole time and I missed most of my favorite lines.  (Not all, though.  In my universe it’s 1933, and I’m a private eye.  I like to drink egg creams and I like to fight Nazis.  A lot.)  The only grown-up watching was on Sunday night – the Harvest Festival episode of Parks and Recreation – one of my favorites – take that, curse!  Man, that show is just brilliant.

Listening.  The usual: podcasts, podcasts and more podcasts.  The episode of Sorta Awesome on “Burnout” was excellent, as expected.  And I felt so seen by Sarah and Meagan as they talked about fumbling toward the school year finish line on The Mom Hour.

Making.  Well – not much.  It was one of those running-around-screaming weekends, as I said above.  Not a lot of time spent jamming to folk tunes while kneading sourdough and chopping veg in my kitchen, or hacking through the basement purge project.  I did make a couple of things, though.  A work document.  (If I’m counting last week, I made a LOT of work documents.)  Progress on my 2018 family yearbook – photos are selected through our Cornell trip last June.  And phone calls to catch up with my high school BFF (milestone alert – her daughter has pierced ears now!) and favorite aunt (currently on a trip to Santa Barbara – I told her she MUST go to the Botanic Garden) while Nugget played pirates on the playground with a new friend.

Blogging.  A Classics Club book review for you on Wednesday, and my May garden to-do list on Friday.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  New podcast alert!  This week I started listening to The Literature Lady Podcast, which just launched (so you can get caught up quickly) and currently has three episodes available.  I’ve been following The Literature Lady, PhD on Twitter, where she hilariously tells the stories of forgotten heroines from history using GIFs, and she’s one of the only reasons I’m still occasionally meandering over to that platform right now.  Her podcast is awesome in all the same ways – the tagline is “telling the tales of badass women from history and literature.”  YES, MOAR THIS.  I started with episode two, about Temperance Flowerdew, survivor, and how Captain John Smith was an @$$hole.  LOVING.  Go listen right away, and check out her Twitter feed while you’re at it!

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

You know that phrase, “A Sunday well spent brings a week of content?”  I’ve probably said this before, but for me, a Sunday well spent brings a week of wishing it was still Sunday.  We had such a lovely, full weekend and all I want is for it to continue.  I needed it, too, because I was weirdly more stressed out than usual last week.  I have a few cases that are just giving me hives right now – nothing I can talk about on here, but I’m even more anxious than I normally am as a result.  This weekend helped, though.  On Saturday we were out the door early to get both kids their spring haircuts, and then it was off to the countryside to pick daffodils.  Long-time friends may recall that two springs ago, we picked tulips at Holland in Haymarket and had the most wonderful time.  Last year we couldn’t pick because a freak storm destroyed the whole crop (the farm is still talking about “the great tulip tragedy of 2018”) and this year we were almost too late.  The tulip fields were extremely picked over – we went on the second-last day of the season – but the daffodil field was glorious.  We filled two baskets, spent some time on the playground, then headed back to the city to await our special visitors – Nana, Grandad, and our family friends.  They were working their way back north after a month in Hilton Head (I have to tell you, retirement seems amazing) and stopped by for a quick visit to break up the trip.  On Saturday, they arrived a little before 5:00; Nugget and Steve were at a birthday party but Peanut and I were there to greet them.  We had a lovely evening with wine and appetizers, then they staggered back to their hotel.  On Sunday, all eight of us tried out a new adventure – a visit to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Anacostia Park.  It was very restful and we got to watch some goslings for awhile – so sweet – but I think we’re going to have to go back in July to see the lotus and waterlilies in full bloom.  We got nice and muddy, then headed back to our neighborhood to clean up, feed the kiddos a quick lunch, and then walked down to the waterfront to explore the new park area on the riverbank and visit our old haunts, like the Torpedo Factory and Fire Boat 201.  We closed out the weekend with a joyful family dinner at Virtue Feed + Grain, and I felt full of love and happiness and not at all motivated to trudge back to my office.  But… trudge I will.

Reading.  It’s been sort of an up and down reading week.  I am still working my way through the gigantic Edith Wharton biography – not quite halfway, so I have to get going, as it’s due back to the library on Saturday.  Since it’s too big to take on the metro with me, I have been carting along smaller books for commute reading.  I polished off An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good on Monday and LOVED it.  (I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, but it was so short that I figured, why not?  Turned out, it was wildly, devilishly fun, and I’ve recommended it to several people already – including my friend Susan, who ordered it from Amazon immediately.  She’s going to love it.)  The other commuting book last week was Our Only World: Ten Essays, by Wendell Berry.  I’m about halfway through it as this week begins, and so far – underwhelmed.  But I’m pressing on with it and keeping an open mind.

Watching.  See, this is where I feel like I get repetitive.  This week, the only thing I watched was… Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, again.  With the kids, of course.  They love it and can’t get enough.  But… you guys, it’s good.  I mean, it’s really, really good.  (“How’d I end up with the janky old broke hobo Spider-Man?” … “Take that off, it’s disrespectful.  Spider-Man doesn’t wear a cape.” … “They took a BAGEL!” … “I’m taking this cube thing with me.  I don’t understand it.  But I will.”)

Listening.  Most of The Queen of Hearts, by Offa Rex, while gardening.  And several podcast episodes on introversion.  All so good.

Making.  Lots of lovely things.  Pomodori al forno and artichoke dip – again.  Two weeks of visitors, two weeks of the best appetizers.  And sparkling water, finally, from our Sodastream, which we got for Christmas and which I finally unpacked and learned how to use this week.  (LOVE.)  And a bowl full of dried blossoms for Beltane.  And mint tea in a new mug from my favorite potter – this one looks like the end of a sunset, and I love it.

Blogging.  I have a fun week ahead for you – my April reading recap on Wednesday, naturally, and more pictures and stories from daffodil-picking on Friday.  How is it almost May?

Loving.  Time with family and friends is always precious.  I think I say that every time we have them in town, but it’s my very favorite thing.  (You will not be surprised to hear that my love language is quality time.)  Also, our family friends shared some WONDERFUL news, which I can’t divulge, but which made us all smile all weekend long.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Hello, friends!  Happy Easter and Happy Passover to my friends who were celebrating this weekend, and Happy Earth Day to ALL of us here on this lovely planet.  (Remember: there is no Planet B.)  We had sort of an up-and-down weekend.  Up: Steve’s mom was in town visiting!  She still works and has a hard time getting away, so visits are not nearly frequent enough and we try to maximize every moment that we have together.  We did our usual Grandma-visit activities: the zoo (Grandma loves the pandas), Chart House, hanging around Old Town.  The kids also got to show off the library, and they enjoyed that.  I think Grandma had a lot of fun, and she even got to see the kiddos’ Easter baskets before heading off to the airport.  Down: our A/C is on the blink.  It’s not horribly hot yet, but it’s hot enough, and the only way to regulate the temperature in the house is to open the windows, which is murder on my allergies.  Up: the redbuds, dogwoods and crabapples are in bloom all over NoVA and it’s like living in fairyland.  Down: obviously we can’t make it through a major holiday without one of the kids having a tantrum in church.  And round and round we go.  I’m attempting to take today off – we were planning to go out to Haymarket and pick tulips, but now Steve has to stay home and wait for a parade of A/C repairmen to come and give quotes, because our landlords want a second, third, fourth and fifth opinion before they replace the unit.  (And we’ve started to talk about buying again one of these days – lots of things stink about being a homeowner, but at least you’re not sweating and sneezing while you wait for someone else to make a decision.)  I might still take the kids to the tulip farm – we’ll see.

Reading.  It was a busy reading week again.  Over the course of the workweek – even with no metro commuting a couple of days – I went through Women Heroes of World War II, The Glimpses of the Moon, and The Mother-Daughter Book Club (a re-read, and so charming).  Over the weekend I turned to the gigantic doorstopper biography of Edith Wharton, which is due back to the library in two weeks and – well, it’s going to be tight.

Watching.  Last night Steve and I started watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which I’ve heard wonderful (marvelous?) things about.  I liked it – it was fun and snappy – but there was a little more nudity than I usually go for.  (Steve asked me how much nudity is not too much nudity and I said “zero nudity.”  What can I say?  I’m a prude.)

Listening.  All the podcasts, as usual, but the highlight has been a new one I started working my way through – the “46 of 46 Podcast” – about hiking the Adirondack high peaks.  It’s been interesting and informative and it’s really well-done, and I like the host a lot.

Making.  Lots of making this week!  I made: a totally planted garden – update on Wednesday – and progress on my 2017 family yearbook, yes I’m behind, and a bunch of appetizers while my mother-in-law was visiting, including artichoke dip (who doesn’t love artichoke dip?) and a family friend’s recipe for pomodori al forno, which came out almost as good as the original chef’s.

Blogging.  It’s a very gardeny week around here.  I’ll have my April garden update for you on Wednesday, and one last poem for National Poetry Month on Friday.

Wondering.  Do you like this format, or would you rather I go back to just writing a paragraph about what I’m reading after the break?  Let me know, please.  Sometimes I feel like I’m just repeating myself – “listening to podcasts, watching nothing” – week after week.  Are you bored?

Loving.  The biggest thing that was making my life better last week was – I got a new office!  I’m sad that a colleague left our firm, but very happy to have a view and sunlight again.  My old office had a window, but it looked out on a wall and was dark and gloomy all the time – not exactly a fun space to work in.  Now I have light, and a bigger space, and maybe I can even get a PLANT!  The world is my oyster.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Well.  Hello.  Sunday scaries hit hard this week; I don’t know why, exactly.  I do have a busy week ahead, with a client site visit, volunteer shift serving food at a shelter with the other kindergarten parents at Peanut’s school, lunch plans with a friend on secondment, and a long to-do list.  So I’ll be clinging to memories of this past weekend to get me through.  We had a nice one – on Saturday morning, we were out the door early for our annual hike on the Bluebell Loop Trail during blooming season.  This was the third year we’ve gone (here’s 2017 and here’s 2018) and it was as spectacular as ever, but rather muddier than usual.  We made it through the part of the trail with the heaviest concentration of bluebells, then turned back – which was plenty of time for both of the kids to get covered in mud.  ‘Tis the season, right?  On Saturday afternoon, Steve had to work so I took the kids to our favorite playground, where they ran around for almost three hours.  Once Dad joined us, we headed to the library to drop off a few books and pick up another (every weekend) and then walked home via Hank’s Oyster Bar.  Sunday dawned dreary and gloomy, so we piled into the car for a trip to the aquarium in Baltimore, which Nugget had earned by sleeping in his big boy bed two nights in a row without ending up in bed with us.  (Standards have really slipped around here.)  The rest of the afternoon was low-key; there was more playground-going, until Nugget poked something questionable and got dragged home to wash his hands repeatedly.  And I folded a pile of laundry and finished putting away the kids’ Christmas presents (better late than never) and I now have a clean bedroom to show for my efforts.  Huzzah!  And now another week dawns.  It’s a short one; the kids’ school is closed Friday and Monday and I’m going to try to take a long weekend too.  Emphasis on try, because long weekends are never guaranteed in law practice.  But we’ll do our best.

Reading.  I had a good reading week.  I polished off The Familiars in about twenty-four hours and really enjoyed it – highly recommend if you’re into historical fiction, witches, and stories about women’s lives.  I like all of those things, so The Familiars was my jam.  Next up, I was bad and reached for something on my own shelf instead of working on my absurd library stack, but Another Self was calling my name.  James Lees-Milne’s memoir of his childhood and young adult years – ending with his service during World War II, right before his famous diaries pick up the story – was a delight and I am not at all sorry I threw over the library books in Jim’s favor.  I got back to them soon enough, and read The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Cafe over the course of Friday evening through Sunday morning, then picked up Women Heroes of World War II.  Not exactly calming bedtime reading, but that’s what I was curled up with on the couch come Sunday night.

Watching.  Snippets of whatever the kids happened to be watching, that’s all – so, some Spider-Man, some Finding Dory, and some Star Wars (Nugget is into the prequels right now, please send wine).  An eclectic mix, I know.  But what I’m most excited about is Amazon has finally announced a release date for the Good Omens miniseries!  Mark your calendars for May 31.  I think my book club is going to be reading the book to prepare.  (“We are an angel and a demon!  We have nothing whatsoever in common, I don’t even like you!”)

Listening.  All the podcasts, all the time.  I made good progress in back episodes of Speak Up for The Ocean Blue and The Crunchy Cocktail Hour, by the highlight was Robin and Bianca discussing why it is, exactly, that we all love Mr Darcy on Drunk Austen.

Making.  No food or crafts to report, but I made a clean bedroom, and that is a big achievement indeed!  I try so hard, but certain rooms seem to become dumping grounds for random miscellaneous stuff, and the master bedroom is one of the biggest offenders.  I had three baskets of laundry to fold, several bags of Christmas gifts to be put away, a pile of junk on top of my dresser, and assorted toys scattered around.  At press time, it’s almost all clean.  The dresser is tidy, the laundry is put away, the toys and Christmas presents are in their rightful places, and all that’s left is my donation bin, which lives under the window near my closet and collects the stuff that I’m planning to give away to friends, donate, or sell to the used bookstore.  It’s almost full, so that will be a project for next weekend, maybe.

Blogging.  I have a fun excerpt from Another Self that I just had to share, so that’s Wednesday for you, and on Friday, I’m continuing – as I always do – with posting a poem a week for National Poetry Month.  Pairing it with pictures of bluebells, because everyone needs more bluebell pictures in their lives.

Loving.  This week’s shout is more of a love-hate.  I know it’s cliché, but I am loving the warmer weather.  This week was the first week of 2019 that it was warm enough to go without a jacket every day; part of my commute includes walking outside several times a day, so the end of jacket weather is a big quality of life boost for me.  And it was even warm enough for a skirt-without-stockings outfit a couple of days last week.  Yippee for the approach of summer!  (Ya girl is one of the few – sometimes I think the only – Washingtonian who will never complain about our hot, muggy summers.  Bring on the heat index!)  But the hate part is – with the warmer temperatures, the pollen has finally struck.  I’ve been managing my allergies fairly well this season.  I switched to a different allergy medication and have been really good about remembering to take it every morning.  But this weekend the pollen was literally floating in Baltimore Harbor and coating the cars, and my nose was having none of it.  I am so looking forward to the end of tree pollen in a couple of weeks.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Another work week looms and I’m starting it out exhausted.  We had a fun weekend, lots of the usual running around – but no birthday parties to throw or attend this weekend! – but there was also a lot of bickering and backtalk and not a lot of cooperation from certain quarters.  Anyway.  Saturday morning saw us out the door bright and early to see the cherry blossoms blooming around the Tidal Basin.  We usually don’t go, because pollen and crowds, but I just felt like adding it to the agenda this year and so we went.  It was gorgeous.  And swarming with people.  At one point, I said to Steve, “I thought by going early we would miss the crowds,” and he replied, “I think this is missing the crowds.”  Later on Saturday I went by myself (!!!) to the garden center and picked up the first few plants for this year’s patio garden.  (Neither of the kids wanted to go with me, which was a first.)  I got lettuce, mint and thyme, and I’ll be going back to – I hope – pick up the rest of the plants in another week or two.  I spent the afternoon happily planting and watering the few plants I was able to get.  Sunday dawned very early – too early – as Nugget was up long before the crack of dawn to demand breakfast.  I mean, not that I don’t enjoy making eggs in the pitch dark, but the result was that I was tired and cranky all day.  I mustered up enough energy to paint Nugget’s face like a tiger cub (Peanut was supposed to be a cheetah – her request which led me to buy the face paints to begin with – but she got cold feet at the last minute) and we headed to the zoo.  The only animals we saw were the great cats and the cows, goats and donkeys at the kids’ farm, because Peanut and Nugget refused to budge from the playgrounds otherwise.  But it was fine.  We’re zoo members so we get free parking and we’re going back when Grandma visits in two weeks anyway.  And that’s about it – a busy and tiring weekend.  Nugget burned off the rest of the energy he still amazingly had (despite waking up at an ungodly hour) on the playground on Sunday afternoon, and I ended the weekend curled up on the couch with a book, as usual.  And now, somehow, I will summon what little energy I have and face the week ahead.

Reading.  I’ve been having a busy bookish week as I continue to make my way through the (still robust and ridiculous) library stack.  I finished Moon Tiger early in the week and moved on to A City of Bells, which was about as different from Moon Tiger as you can get – except that both were wonderful reads.  Next I turned to the latest Maisie Dobbs, The American Agent, and enjoyed it as much as I always enjoy a visit with Maisie.  I finished that on Sunday morning as the sun was rising (thanks, Nugget) and turned to The Familiars – I’m about 100 pages in now, and enjoying it immensely.

Watching.  No screen time for me this week, unless you count watching a video of a humpback whale doing a sounding dive in the middle of a marina way too many times (thanks, Facebook!).  But I spent a lot of time watching my munchkins run around various playgrounds, which is much nicer than any screen.

Listening.  The usual smattering of podcast episodes.  I think the highlight was listening to the hosts of Vegetarian Zen interview The Unkempt Gardener.  He was totally approachable and inspiring, and made me even more eager to break ground (well, planter) on the 2019 garden.

Making.  And break ground I did!  I made progress on the back patio and potted three starter buttercrunch lettuces (my favorite!), some thyme, and spearmint (in its own pot, naturally).  I also cleaned up the other pots and revived the chives and rosemary that survived the winter.  The garden center didn’t have much in the way of edibles yet, thanks to a cold snap we had, but hopefully there will be more in the pots soon.

Blogging.  I have some springy content for you this week.  On Wednesday, my April to-do list for the garden, and on Friday, an A.E. Housman poem that is so on point I am literally unable to even.  Check in with me then.

Loving.  This is going to sound weird, but go with it.  Of all of the many, many, many things I am self-conscious about, perhaps the strangest is… my eyebrows.  Over the past few years they have gotten lighter (while the hair on my head has gotten darker, insert shrugging emoji here) and the result is that they look thinner than they used to.  I finally got tired of cringing at them in the mirror and decided to try a brow gel.  I got this one from Thrive Causemetics, mainly because I saw an ad promising that it would permanently thicken brows in just a few weeks.  I’ve been using it almost every day for about two weeks now, and I don’t know if it is delivering on the permanent thickening thing or even if I am applying it correctly, but I definitely feel like my brows look better after I’ve applied it.  Who knew?  I am as low-maintenance and casual as it gets and I rarely wear more than a quick dash of makeup, so this is new territory for me.  Beautycounter also has a brow gel, so I might try that after I run out of the Thrive Causemetics one.  SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.  Who even am I?  (If I start raving about lip liner, send help.)

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Happy Monday, I suppose.  I could use one more day.  I know I say that every week, but it’s true.  Last week was so hectic that I feel like I need more recovery before I’ll be human again, but it’s not in the cards.  As I mentioned last week, I started off the week on a business trip.  I had to drive to a client site last Sunday evening, and I worked there until Wednesday, including pulling one day that lasted, with one break, from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 a.m. the following day.  Yipes!  So my reading was slow early in the week, but I made up for it over the weekend.  I really should have put in some time on adulting sorts of things, like folding laundry, grocery shopping, meal prep, and continuing my decluttering efforts – but I didn’t.  I just… read.  I mean, I did other things too.  Actually, we had a pretty typical weekend.  Library – check.  Playground – check.  Birthday party – check.  (This time, it was the son of a friend from my old job; he turned six and had a party at a bowling alley.  Nugget won his first ever bowling game, and Peanut gorged on ice cream and cake and went to bed with a tummyache.)  We also added in a not-totally-typical activity: a walk to the Lee-Fendall House, which is a historic mansion and museum in our town, for a children’s “hands-on history” event.  The kids dressed as Alexander and Eliza Hamilton, like ya do, and they were obviously the hit of the event.  They got petted and squealed over by all the museum volunteers, and they loved every minute.  And now it’s back to the grind.  I have big plans for gardening and spring fun next weekend, but I have to get through five long workdays first.  Wish me luck…

Reading.  Thanks to blowing off all adult responsibilities and just reading all weekend (well, when I wasn’t parenting) I actually have a pretty productive reading week to report despite the business trip-induced snoozes early in the week.  I finished Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret while on my travel; it was okay, but a little out there for my tastes (rather like PM herself).  Next I turned to The Glass Ocean and read a bit while I was away, but more out of an unwillingness to ever be “between books” than because I actually had time for it.  It took me from Tuesday through Saturday, and I finished it feeling a bit underwhelmed.  In fact, the whole reading week would have been underwhelming, but David Litt’s White House memoir, Thanks, Obama, saved the weekend.  I blew through it from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Ended the weekend curled up with Moon Tiger, which has been on my library stack for six weeks now.  I’m not far enough into it to have opinions about the story, but the writing is lovely.

Watching.  I have something to report!  I’m still on my TV hiatus, recovering from an epic week in which my mom and I watched ten hours of television, but Steve and I had a date night on Friday and saw Apollo 11 at our local multiplex.  It was wonderful.  As we were walking out of the theater, I told Steve that I can’t remember the last movie I enjoyed that much.  The whole thing was fabulous, but what struck me most of all was the ingenuity and the sheer audacity of everyone involved in Project Apollo.  It takes some nerve to think, “Send a man to the moon?  When we’ve never left near Earth orbit?  And then bring him back safely?  Mostly using slide rules?  Shoot, let’s go for it!”

Listening.  The usual.  Lots of podcasts, and some Decemberists.  Nothing earth-shattering (or moon-visiting) to report here.

Making.  Well, I made a LOT of work product last week.  Including eighty pages of single spaced typed interview notes.  I know you’re impressed.

Blogging.  Another bookish week coming up for you!  On Wednesday, I will have my reading round-up for March, and on Friday, my favorite poem to share for National Poetry Month (and I know I share it every year, but at this point I think I can safely call it tradition).  Check in with me then!

Loving.  A couple of weeks ago (I think it was a couple of weeks ago, anyway, time seems to blur around the edges for me these days) I took Nugget to a play date at the home of a friend who had recently left his class and gone back to his old preschool.  The other parents offered me coffee, but I’m trying to cut back, so the other mom mixed up a pitcher of ice water with cucumber slices.  I felt like I was at a spa – well, a spa featuring playground sand and foot acupressure using matchbox cars – and it reminded me how much I love cucumber water.  I usually have sliced cucumbers around for putting in everyone’s lunches, so I’ve been tossing a few into my glasses of water and loving the refreshing taste.  It’s the little things in life, right?

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Good morning from Virginia’s Blue Ridge!  I’m on a business trip to a tiny town near Roanoke and currently extremely relieved that it isn’t snowing like it was last week.  (Just as the trees were bursting into bloom all over NoVA, the practice assistant to the partner who assigned me the trip emailed me a picture of “what the weather is doing” in the town that was to be my destination: blizzard conditions.  Yipes!  But it was seventy degrees when I rolled into town last night, so I think I dodged a bullet.)  Unfortunately I have such a busy schedule that I don’t think I’m going to have time to squeeze in any hiking – I didn’t even bother to pack my boots.

Other than dreading my business trip – mainly because of the punishing schedule that was circulated on Friday – it was a pretty nice weekend.  Steve had to work again, so the kids and I mainly bummed around the house on Saturday.  We attempted to ride bikes to the playground, but had to turn around because nothing I did was going to convince them to ride the same speed, or even close enough together to allow me to keep them both safe from cars.  In the afternoon, Nugget and I made playground and library runs – pretty standard stuff.  On Sunday, we were all set to head out for a hike at Mason Neck, my favorite Virginia state park, when I realized that Nugget had a rescheduled play date – oops!  Plans quickly changed and Peanut delightedly curled up with a book and a blanket while Nugget and I headed to his friend’s house.  We had a lovely morning, walked to the playground near his buddy’s house, and went out for Mexican food.  In the afternoon, there was more playground-going, and I worked through most of my garden to-do list for March.  And then my workweek got started early as I climbed into my car and shoved off for my business trip.

Reading.  Evidently, I had a very Royals-heavy reading week last week.  From Monday through Thursday, I was immersed in Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days that Changed Her Life, the new biography from Lucy Worsley.  I thought it was such a creative way to approach a biography and I enjoyed every minute.  Next I turned to Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, not because I am on some kind of royalty bender (at least, no more than usual) but because of library deadlines.  It’s also a very creative approach to biography, but I’m not sure I am enjoying it quite as much as I enjoyed Queen Victoria.  I’m still reading the Margaret biography as of press time; I did bring my next book (The Glass Ocean) with me, but I’m not sure I will have time to finish with Margaret and start anything new on this trip; between the schedule while I am here, and trying to keep up with my other work, I’m expecting to be buried in my laptop the whole time.

Watching.  Nothing – I’m still recovering from my epic week of watching the entire second season of The Crown with my mom over the course of five days.  I did watch parts of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse again while the kids were glued to it, but I’ve now seen it so many times I don’t really need to pay attention.  (It’s such a good movie.)

Listening.  Lots of podcasts, as usual.  I actually had a lovely drive out to the mountains yesterday evening, listening to Tea or Books? and the new-ish Slightly Foxed Podcast.  I’d been saving both for a long car ride – when I listen to podcasts during my commutes, it’s in snatches of a few minutes here and a few minutes there, while waiting for trains, standing in the coffee line, etc., and I wanted to play these episodes straight through.  They made the trip speed by.

Making.  Nothing at all.  I’d hoped to make a loaf of sourdough and a batch of olive focaccia at some point this weekend, but that didn’t happen.  I’d also hoped to make folded laundry and a clean bedroom, but that didn’t happen either.

Blogging.  It’s a bookish week!  On Wednesday I have two more books to review for The Classics Club – I actually read them months ago, but was saving the review until I could do the whole series in one shot.  It occurred to me that would be an absurdly long post, so I decided to break them out instead and do them two at a time.  On Friday, I’m sharing a book that I recently read and couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out if I’d read before.  Book deja vu?

Loving.  With spring springing everywhere, my bird feeder has been an especially hot spot lately.  I have a squirrel-proof variety from National Audubon Society (the squirrel-proof part is totally necessary in my neighborhood – they’re EVERYWHERE) and I love to sit by the window and watch the birds flitting between the tree, the fence, and the feeder.  So far we’ve mostly had our run-of-the-mill sparrows and wrens, but I’m always hoping for a cardinal or two.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Happy Monday, friends!  We had such a fun party weekend around here, I just wish it could keep going for another week.  Most of last week (starting Tuesday) my mom was in town.  The kids were over the moon to get some extended quality time with Nana – it’s always so nice having her here.  I had a super stressful Friday at work, so I was ready to relax and have fun by the time I got home.  We kicked off birthday party weekend with the zoo on Saturday morning: always a treat.  The kids had a grand time running around, and we got to hear the tiger roar and see the little orangutan, Redd, climbing around outside.  Too much fun!  We spent Saturday afternoon on the playgrounds and at the library, of course; Nana knows all our haunts, but it’s always fun to share them with her.  On Sunday, Nugget and I slipped out in the morning to pick up his birthday cake, then we spent midday hanging out on the back patio – I love that it’s finally nice enough to play outside for extended periods of time without shivering.  FINALLY, FINALLY, it was time to head to the party – I know Nugget would tell you it took FOREVERRRRR to get here.  He had the very best time ever at his indoor bounce house extravaganza – running around with his sweaty hair plastered to his forehead and the biggest grin on his face.  It was a little bittersweet for me – I love anything that makes him happy, but I can’t deny that he’s getting SO BIG.

Reading.  It was a fairly slow reading week.  I never get through as many books when I’m either visiting family or have them visiting me.  But between commutes and a few before-bed pages, I made it through The Joy of the Snow (finished on Monday, so before Nana mania began on Tuesday), then The Murder of Roger Ackroyd for most of the week, and Three Men on the Bummel over the weekend – finished up Sunday night right before my head hit the pillow.

Watching.  It was a very watching-heavy week for me.  My mom doesn’t have Netflix, so when she visits me she likes to get caught up on The Crown.  She’d seen the first season, but not the second season, so we found ourselves watching ten episodes in five days – that’s about two hours of TV a night, which may not seem like much, but it’s a LOT for me.  I half-jokingly said I wouldn’t be watching TV for the next five months after this week.  I’ll probably turn it on again sooner than that, but I’m very television-ed out for now.  No regrets, though!

Listening.  Same as usual – lots of podcasts.  The Sorta Awesome spring seasonal show was a lot of fun – I always love their seasonal episodes.  Especially for spring – I’m on record as admitting that it’s not my favorite season, so anything I can do to make it more fun, I’m going to try.  I loved Rebekah’s idea to get cute 3D animal umbrellas for the kiddos – I think Peanut and Nugget might find some fun little brollies in their Easter baskets this year.

Making.  Well, it was a light making week.  I have barley soaking on the counter for beefless barley soup I’m planning to make this evening.  Does that count?  Normally, I’d say I made a birthday party for my boy baby, but I didn’t really do anything except hand over my credit card; the venue took care of basically everything else.  (All we had to bring was the cake.)  It was nice not to worry about it and not to be tearing around, stressed to the max, all morning – but I did feel kind of useless just standing there while the Pump It Up! staff refilled fruit punches and handed pizza and cake around.

Blogging.  It’s a springy week for you!  It may not be my favorite season, but I’m leaning into it as best I can.  On Wednesday, I have my spring fun list, and on Friday, a to-do list for March in the garden.  (I guess in addition to being a springy week, it’s a listy week.)  Check in with me then!

Loving.  It’s been wonderful having my mom here for almost a whole week.  The kids love her so much!  (So do I.)  She has been picking them up from school, helping out in their classrooms, reading stories, doing crafts, and cleaning out their dressers.  I wish I could keep her here forever, but Grandad wants her back now.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Happy fourth birthday, little Nugget!  You guys, I can’t believe he is four years old.  Where does the time go?  For Nugget’s birthday weekend, he requested to “go to Mount Vernon dressed as Alexander Hamilton,” so that’s what we did.  Old friends may remember when Nugget and Peanut dressed as Alexander and Eliza Hamilton two Halloweens ago – sadly, we no longer have Peanut’s costume, but we still had Nugget’s and it still fit, thanks to the magic of elastic waistbands.  He got a lot of attention at Mount Vernon, as you may imagine.  After we had seen the cows and sheep and checked out the museum, we headed home for lunch and then Nugget and I hit the library – and we hit it hard.  We currently have thirty-seven books checked out (eighteen of them are mine).  Our favorite children’s librarian is always thrilled when she sees us walk through the door, because we’re so good for circulation.  Sunday wasn’t quite as birthday-rific.  It was still a nice day, but Nugget and I had to hit the grocery store in the morning, and then we had another birthday party to attend in the afternoon.  (Nugget’s party will be this coming weekend – we wanted to have it yesterday, but a little girl in Nugget’s class got her invites out first and caused scrambling on our part.)  Nugget did get to celebrate a bit more when we got home – opened some of his presents (he’ll get the rest today) and then we walked out to our favorite pizza joint, rode the DASH bus home, and gave him a bath with a mountain of bubbles.  A pretty good way to end your birthday weekend, don’t you think?

Reading.  It was a lovely reading week last week.  Early in the week I finished Edith Wharton’s Old New York, which had been sitting on my TBR for some time – and reviewed it here.  Next I turned to The Joy of the Snow, Elizabeth Goudge’s charming memoir, but set it aside for a day or so over the weekend when the new issue of Slightly Foxed arrived – and I regret nothing, because it was a really good issue; the perfect combination of books I’ve already read, books I haven’t read but had been wanting to read, and books I’d never heard of but now need in my library.  I went back to Elizabeth after finishing the new Foxed, and at press time I have about 35 pages left to go, so I anticipate finishing today during my commute.  I’m not sure what I’ll grab next – something off my towering library stack, I’m sure.

Watching.  The best thing I watched this week was my sweet boy running around Mount Vernon dressed as a founding father.  You don’t see that every day!  The other visitors were delighted with him and he got a lot of squeals and “SOOOOOO CUTE!”s as he ran from the cow pasture to the sheep paddock and back again.

Listening.  Lots of podcasts, as usual.  A great episode on “going crunchy in the kitchen” from The Crunchy Cocktail Hour – that was probably the highlight.

Making.  I didn’t make anything this weekend, other than an even taller stack of books from the library.  When will I ever learn, you guys?

Blogging.  I’ll be revisiting my winter to-do list and checking in on how I did on Wednesday, and Friday’s going to be a tribute to my favorite four-year-old.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  On my baby’s birthday, I am loving being his mom – how could anything else top that joy?  He’s really such a fun, smart, cuddly little guy and I am constantly delighted by him.  I say it all the time, but I really don’t know how the world survived without him.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?