The last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind. Thanksgiving was wonderful. We celebrated at my parent’s new home with everyone bringing a little something to the table. On Friday we went to Chicago where we swam in a hotel pool, ate good food, took a carriage ride, and watched the musical every single one of us love and know by heart. I spent more time watching Violet and Abram as they watched it than the musical itself. They were entranced.
Since we’ve been back, I’ve had my head down working on Christmas presents and getting ready to completely redo our first floor. I know I’ve mentioned it but without much detail and to be honest, I’m so overwhelmed at the thought of all the moving parts that I’m not going to talk much about it now. Suffice it to say, I’ve been picking light fixtures, faucets, sinks, cabinet fronts, flooring, countertops, etc. etc. We’re getting to the part where things are getting really, really real and I’m trying to also finish up the making of Christmas presents and the wrapping of Christmas presents and all the other madness that goes into this time of year and I kind of want to crawl in a hole and hibernate until it’s all over. Except I can’t.
So…Knitflixing: Just finishing up a few Christmas presents while watching some Doctor Who. Matt Smith is growing on me which is good because I also binged the second season of The Crown and he’s in that as well. I’ve also curled up with a few Christmas movies.
Reading: I did finish Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. It was quite interesting and gave me pause. I don’t know that I really found any answers (despite his putting forward some suggestions), but it was definitely worth reading. I also read One for Sorrow by Mary Downing Hahn which was a Violet recommendation. She was up way too late reading it (so she could finish) and it’s really hard to chastise her when I turned around and did the same thing when she gave it to me. When I looked up the author, I got a little chuckle. Around Violet’s age, I spent the night at a house where there was a girl just a few years older than me and being bookish, I raided her bookshelf and found a spooky book that I couldn’t put down. (And that was my introduction to liking spooky books despite having an overactive imagination and no business reading anything even slightly chilling.) Turns out, same author. Now I’m browsing used bookstores (both online and off) because I think I’d like to start collecting some of my favorites – with the covers that originally caught my eye. In other book news, I currently have Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine on my nightstand (thank you for the recommendation, ladies) but I haven’t had a chance to open it yet. I’m hoping this weekend I’ll get a little bit of time to do it.
Listening to: Spotify Christmas playlists. This one and this one but I do skip some of the songs. (I’m looking at you Baby, It’s Cold Outside)
I haven’t been cooking much of anything. I feel like I should be utilizing my kitchen while I still can, but we’ve just been so busy! Sandwiches and grocery store deli meals have been on rotation. Spaghetti is also a pretty regular feature. For my family’s Christmas potluck we’ll be doing shrimp cocktail and my grandmother’s ramake recipe. For Christmas morning I’m making this casserole.
So that’s wonderful, crazy, overwhelmed, happy me. How is the holiday shaping up for you? I hope it’s fully of very merry and bright!!!