Sunday, November 22, 2020

Life: It Goes On - November 22

Happy Sunday! What a strange Thanksgiving week we are entering. None of my siblings are coming, none of their kids, and only, maybe, one of our kids will be with us at my parents' on Thursday. Assuming neither my mom nor I balk at the last minute and decide we can't risk their health by being together. My mom has everything she would need to put a holiday meal on the table and so do I, just in case. We tried to buy a half ham or a small turkey but there are none to be found in Omaha (or at least not in any grocery store near us); it no one is planning the usual big event. Could that mean enough people are starting to take this seriously enough that we might be able to avoid completely overwhelming our healthcare system? I certainly hope so.

Last Week I: 

 Listened To: I finished Tana French's The Searchers Thursday and started Yaa Gyasi's latest, Transcendent Kingdom, Friday. In between, I listened to some podcasts, including Root of Evil, Singing Bones, and The History Chicks

Watched: Football (still in mourning about our Huskers), The Voice, Grace and Frankie, and a couple of episodes of The Queen's Gambit

Read: I finished Where The Crawdads Sing just before my bookclub met to discuss it on Tuesday and then I went back to Dark Tides. I discovered that Dark Tides is the second in a series when I was about 100 pages in and was impressed that I hadn't been able to tell earlier. Now I'm really feeling like the books should be read in order; there are dual story lines and they hardly intersect which I'm sure makes more sense if you've read the first book.

Made: Tried something new this week - chicken florentine which we both liked a lot. I always hew to the new recipes pretty closely the first time I try something but when I saw it called for only a "pinch" of seasoning, I laughed and tossed in a tablespoon or so. Next time I may add even more and (here's something I thought I'd never hear myself say) more spinach. 

Enjoyed:
 A record warm day Thursday. I took off work a couple of hours early and used the time to paint a chair for my office (once upon a time it was in Miss H's room, hence the hot pink). Earlier in the week, The Big Guy and I worked on the garage, which you wouldn't think would be enjoyable, but is for me, especially when it looked so much better when we finished. 

This Week I’m:  

Planning: To start making Christmas gifts this week. Yea me, for not waiting until the last minute this year! I'm going to try my hand at some bookish crafts but if they turn out, I won't be able to show them to you until after Christmas. 

Thinking About: I'll start taking down Thanksgiving this week (although I'll leave the dining room decorated since we'll celebrate with Miss H on Saturday) and then Friday I'll bring up the Christmas bins. I'm torn between keeping it really low key (since we can't entertain in December) and going all out because we need to be festive where we can. We'll see where my brain is at next weekend!

Feeling: I'm pretty sure that you can tell that the stress of this virus is wearing on me this week. Mini-him has been exposed again for the second time in two weeks through work and now we are waiting again for him to be able to get in and get tested. My family has been very careful through all of this but when you have to work, there's only so much you can do. 

Looking forward to: Seeing my parents this week, even if we will be eating in an entirely different room and having to shout to talk to each other!

Question of the week: Have you tried any new recipes lately? Anything I should try?

4 comments:

  1. I hope you guys have an amazing Thanksgiving however you choose to celebrate it. This year, it's hard - How do we put aside years of tradition? And yet, we've all done that all year long. Hopefully the end is in sight.

    Hope your son tests negative. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for him.

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  2. Wow, you have some GREAT reading and audiobooks going on! I loved Crawdads, want to read Transcendent Kingdom, and my husband and I are both big Tana French fans.

    We have also been watching Queen's Gambit. I never thought I'd find a show about chess interesting, but we're loving it.

    I'm still working on getting my Thanksgiving decorations UP right now! We may go get our Christmas tree early (next weekend) though because the past 2 years, they sold out super early and it seems like lots of people are already decorating now.

    I hear you on all the holiday uncertainties. Whew, same here! Our two sons (in their 20's) are coming home with their girlfriends (one of them just moved out 3 weeks ago), but we are planning separate tables, masks, windows open (brr!), etc. And we finally decided to exclude my 95-yo FIL. We were agonizing over what to do because the isolation has been hard on him, but he's the one who finally said he shouldn't come because it's too risky. So, he'll have dinner Thursday at his Independent Living place, and on Friday, we'll bring him all the leftovers for an outdoor lunch there :)

    Crazy times! Hope you enjoy your books, food, and family this week -

    Sue

    Book By Book

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  3. Holidays are stressful anyway and then you add in a global pandemic and this president and this election...meltdown city at least in my house. I sure hope you all have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving and that Mini-him is Covid free as well. We are sticking to just us this year. Everybody is staying at their respective houses this year. I'm trying to make the best of it. I know what I need and I just hope I can get it all bought and cooked in time!

    I made a lovely little cocktail over the weekend call gingerbread cocktail. It was just yummy.

    We're hoping to get all the decor down and xmas decor up this weekend as well. It's hard to want to put up all the things when you know you can't host and have people over but it's also so pretty to enjoy on your own. I hope you can find a nice balance.

    I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Lisa! Virtual hugs from my neck of the Covid woods.

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  4. No new recipes here but I noticed that my local grocery store started to carry Panera soups so for a couple of nights we had soup and fancy grilled cheeses made with all my leftover Thanksgiving cheese board goodies.

    I hope Mini Me is COVID negative. My son got a new job, worked it for two days, quit because of people coming in WITH COVID and not wearing a mask, walked into Williams Sonoma and got a new job. I can't keep track.

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