Oh friends, how are you all doing? It’s a tough time to be alive, isn’t it? My soul is tired and yet I am content. Both/and. Always. I think about the holidays this year and all that we’ve given up and all that we’ll continue to give up and the governmental nonsense on top of everything else, and my heart just aches.
I think about how my family is healthy and safe with a roof over our heads and food on our table and how we spend our days learning on our computers, and playing games, and making food, and watching interesting television and making things and I am so grateful.
I miss watching soccer and basketball games and swim meets and choir concerts. I love having mini-bookclub discussions with Violet and playing endless hands of Skip-Bo with Abe. It’s sad and scary and lonely and hard. But it’s also precious and beautiful and simple.
We make the best of it. We stomp and pout. We have dance parties and laugh. We makes waffles and messes. Both/and. All of it smooshed together in a big gloppy heap.
Knitting: Socks. A different scarf. I’m increasing the length on the scarf. I made it once before and I didn’t like how short it felt. Time is running short and I really need to be knitting faster. I also want to make some heart ornaments this year. We’ll see how fast I can knit.
Watching: I’ve got a lot on the currently watching list. The Queen’s Gambit. The storyline is good but the costuming and set design are the best. Drool-worthy. I watch it when I’m in the mood for something a little more serious. Dash and Lily. It’s a complete teenie-bopper Hallmark Christmas movie that’s a mini-series on Netflix and I. LOVE. IT. I watch it when I’m in the mood for something cotton candy – light and sugary. The Crown. I binged it all while finishing a sock. It left me feeling sad.
Reading: I finished reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and I loved it. Violet stole it before I could get to it (which is good, because I might not have put it in her hands) and she really liked it as well (fantasy and magical realism are much more her genre than mine). We had a very interesting conversation about it when I finished. I also read The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Every single one of my friends on goodreads has given it 5 stars. I didn’t rate it. It think it’s an important and interesting story, but…it just felt beyond ratable to me. I have three books that I can’t decided between so I haven’t picked up anything since. I want something completely mindless and fluff after The Vanishing Half.
Making: Waffles. I still am getting requests at least once a week. (Kari, our family is forever grateful to you for the recipe.) Order out of chaos. We had a space set up in the basement for kid art/craft stuff, but as they are getting older, we are thinking it makes more sense to have everything in one area and free up space downstairs. (This may not have been my smartest decision as *some* people are decidedly less particular about how things are put away while other things are still scattered across the floor while waiting for storage homes.) Ornaments – a local glass blowing studio set up kits where you bring home a clear glass ornament and decorate it with colored glass frit and then bring it back to be fired. I’m excited to see how ours turned out. Hygge – all the candles and lanterns and sparkly lights. And maybe a Christmas tree or two (or three) are being set up. (I’m a minimalist’s nightmare in search of the sparkle this year.)
So that’s me this week! What are you watching, reading, listening to, making, or whatever other -ing you want to share? Hope you’re staying safe and healthy!!