Thursday, December 31, 2020

In Lieu of Resolutions


 

2020 was, without a doubt, a weird year. I can't help but feel partially responsible since we did usher it in with charcuterie, slime, and the absolute cheapest rot-gut alcohol we could find. I promise we won't make that mistake again. For many, many reasons. 

This is the time of year that I'm usually planning my intentions for the upcoming year. Setting my resolutions (which are often based in self-degradation or FOMO) and making grand plans for how the new year will be DIFFERENT! BETTER! MORE RESPONSIBLE!

I decided I'm not doing that this year. I'm quietly, cautiously welcoming the new year and rather than make big declarative statements, I want to reflect on what I'm proud of from 2020. Chances are that if I set big goals for 2021, I'll miss the mark, but I did the same last year and yet here I am, having done some cool shit despite everything. I think I like that idea better. 

  • At the beginning of the year I bought a "Line a Day" journal. I only missed a single day (RIP May 8th) all year. I love the idea of journaling but often get intimidated by the actual writing part. Having a tiny area to fill has made this a really easy routine to adopt. Each date has space for five years, so I can't wait until next year when I can look back and reflect on "STILL HOME" and "Tiger King. WTF?" 
  • I KILLED it with the kids' Christmas presents this year. Each kid loved their gifts and no one (at least outwardly) expressed jealousy or disappointment. I stayed within a reasonable number of gifts and budget. No one got last minute filler gifts. I feel like I've peaked and that I should hang up my Santa hat now but also maybe I'm just getting really good at this? 
  • I have worked out regularly, and intensely, for the last three months. That in and of itself is a big accomplishment but even cooler is that even though I haven't lost any weight (like any. at all.) I still feel like it's been worth it. It's changed the way I think about my body shape and size and I'm so much happier. I can hold a handstand (against a wall, but still), knock out a bunch of burpees, and row without wanting to die. 
  • This goes along with working out but deserves it's own section. Eli and I have been working out together and it's been so cool to hang out with him in a different setting. I feel like he's really becoming who he's going to be and man, he's just such a cool person. If I wasn't related to him I'd still want to be his friend. If you want to bond with your teenager, I highly recommend taking up a hobby that neither of you knows anything about. Also he's really really good. 
  • I quit wearing make-up everyday and I like it. I put on foundation for the first time when we had our family pictures taken and as soon as we got home I washed it off. These days my work look is literally brushing my hair and putting on mascara. I have slowly whittled my morning routine down to about 15 minutes and it is GLORIOUS. 
  • I read 62 books, including a few that I read out loud to the girls.
  • My family pictures this year were awesome. I loved my outfit, everyone else loved theirs, our photographer was lovely, and they came out beautifully. 
  • At the beginning of March I got really into buying games and puzzles. We've continued to play games pretty regularly as a family and have actual favorites. The kids pull them out randomly and our dining room table is always kept clear in anticipation of a game. 
  • We've managed to save money this year in a way that we've never been successful before. Part of this is the lack of activities, but I also think that C and I have reached a point where we have a really effective shared language that's helped. 
For 2021, I hope that I can keep the things that I liked about 2020. More unstructured time with the family. Less hustle on the weekends. Reading in the middle of the day. Doing activities with my kids that highlight their unique personalities. Saving money and spending more intentionally. Focusing more on "feeling better" than "appearing better." 

It's been fun too to read other people's resolutions for the new year. What are you planning to focus your energies on next year? What are you really proud of when you look back at the last year, as weird as it was? 

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

What I Read: 2020

 If I could identify a small handful of personal heroes to the 2020 Dumpster Fire, my local library would be near the top of the list. When there was talk of a two week quarantine (ha!) I rushed to our tiny little branch and stocked up on kid books and a few new releases. Then when they suspended all due dates and late fees and started allowing for curbside pick up, all hell broke loose. I outgrew my library book shelf. My holds that I'd been waiting forever for came flooding in. I literally couldn't keep up. Besotted with a guilty conscience, I returned several books that I just didn't get to, but what a lovely problem to have. Too many fun books to choose from. Interestingly, and probably related, I didn't have a lot of DNF's this year. If it didn't grab me from the start I had so many others to pick from. My goal this year was 60 books. As I'm writing this, with two days left in 2020, I'm sitting at 62 with another started. Not too shabby! I think the pandemic balanced out the work hours to let me keep my pace. 

So without further ado: 

Books I read out loud to the girls: For as much as I love reading, I suck at reading to my kids. I do okay when they’re little and we’re reading picture books, but I’ve never been great at reading chapter books together. I hate the slow pace and we inevitably lose steam. BUT, this year we did better! I found that it was a really nice wind-down for all three of us (and sometimes Eli) to settle in at the end of the day and read a chapter (or three) together. We started with Harry Potter and read books 1-3. Book 4 got a little dark for Averson, so Syd picked up there on her own. Others that we liked were The Family Under the Bridge (so dated but so sweet and a quick read) and we're working on The Lottery's Plus One. It's a great story but a little difficult as a read aloud because there are a TON of characters to keep track of. Next year I really want to read Anne of Green Gables. I'm also tempted to do Little House, but I recall reading these as an adult and being really disappointed that they didn't hold up. We'll see. 

Weird Mind-Fuck books: Obviously a favorite genre of mine. Wonderland. OMG. This was so weird and scary. I still think about it a lot. The author didn't hold back at all. Definitely read it. Mexican Gothic. Totally lived up to the hype. I want to reinterpret it as a dollhouse. Bunny. This one was a WTF all the way through and I felt a little dirty when I finished. 

Fun books that were easy to read: Nothing to See Here. I liked that this one had a weird element that was just accepted as a quirk. I kept waiting for a grand reveal or plot twist and it never really happened, but I liked it nonetheless. Mostly Dead Things. I LOVED the main character in this book about a lesbian taxidermist in a small town. Read this. It's totally worth it. Oona Out of Order. Okay. This one could have been a Mind-Fuck book too, but it was sweet and not as disturbing as the others. Kitchens of the Great Midwest. I loved this story and it was on my list of books that I gave out for Christmas. 

M'eh. These are books that I wanted to love, but just came up a little short. I'd still recommend them, but they weren't my favorites. Olive Kitteridge. People love this one but for me it was kind of boring and slow. But maybe that's the point? Normal People. One of the rare books that I think will make a better movie. 

Books about families: I definitely had a couple themes this year and read several books about families and family dynamics. These were ones that I really liked: The Jetsetters. I loved every single person in this book, and a scene at the end made me laugh out loud. The Most Fun We Ever Had. So sweet. All the way through this was sweet and lovely and you were rooting for everyone, even when they were terrible. 

Read these as soon as you can: American Dirt. This book kept me up at night. It is so heart-wrenchingly good. The Book of Longings. Biblical historical fiction has a special spot in my heart. I loved this story, told from a unique perspective. If It Bleeds. This was basically a compilation of all of my favorite recent Stephen King characters in a series of short stories. Dear Edward. Oh, this one broke my heart in the best way possible. Edward is the sole survivor of a plane crash and this is the story of his life. I loved it a lot. 

If you want to see my previous wrap-ups, you can find them here, here, and here. I'm thinking that I'll stick with the 60-65 goal as that seems to be the sweet spot. What were your favorites this year? I'd love to get recommendations. My hold list at the library is getting thin!

Saturday, December 26, 2020

A Cozy Christmas

Our Christmas was so quiet and cozy that I forgot to take almost any pictures. But I got the gist of it
Christmas is my favorite season on our street. The luminarias are a pain in the butt but they do make it all so magical.

I gathered the kids for the requisite Christmas Eve Matching jammies pic (after a quick alteration on Syd’s because she grew since Black Friday.) man, these are so much easier with big kids


Or maybe not...

Not to toot my own horn, but I KILLED it with the gifts this year. Each kid got at least one gift that blew their minds and a couple more that made them really happy. Syd got the iPad she was convinced was too extravagant to ask for. Eli got the TV for his room that we’ve been fundamentally opposed to for years (until we realized that between his phone and laptop, he already has access to a bunch of screens.) And Averson got a new bike with gears AND a kickstand and more legos than she knows what to do with. 

And it’s not a robe (and I actually got mine last year), but the whole family got the Sherpa hoodies. These might have been the all around favorites. 



All Girl Rock band! LOL!

It was declared to be “The Best Christmas Ever!” Movies were watched, the food was delicious (cinnamon rolls and tri tip chili), and everyone stayed in their jammies all day. We managed to talk to or FaceTime everyone we were missing throughout the day. It was perfect. No notes (except that I think C and I will start buying, wrapping, and hiding gifts for each other [or ourselves] in January. The SNL skit is funny because it’s true. I will say though that the gifts I got were really on the nose)



Tired, happy parents

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, however that looked. Five more days until 2021. We’ve got this! 

 

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Festive AF

We’re having an outbreak at work (150+ cases in a week. It’s scary) and I thought for sure that my time off this week was going to get cancelled. But after working the weekend and Monday, my boss sent me away. I’m taking this gift and running with it, determined to fully enjoy the next week and make as much merry as I possibly can. When I left the house today my mask smelled like frosting so I’m pretty sure I’m nailing it 
My first foray into royal icing. Half my cookies looked adorable and the other half looked like a demented, inbred cousin of adorable. 

Eli and I went Christmas shopping and he bought himself this suit. He is FEELING it and has worn it for two straight days. I love how he looks like his first job is in the mailroom at the North Pole

C brought home a poinsettia from the school that’s bigger than any plant I’ve ever successfully kept alive

And then he hung my giant wreath on the house. But now I think it needs to be bigger maybe?

These two ❤️

MORE COOKIES

We’re watching at least one Christmas movie a day. Last night was The Night Before. HILARIOUS but maybe I could’ve skipped watching dirty bar sex and numerous duck pics with both my kids AND my mother

I just love these so much
This Snapchat filter brings me joy (and confirms that I was not actually secretly adopted.) Its all me, but the resemblance to my mom, my brother, and Averson are uncanny

My presents are bought (and wrapped!) My cards got sent out today. I bought the ingredients for our traditional Christmas Day chili. All I have left to do is make cinnamon rolls and eat all those cookies! 



 

Monday, December 14, 2020

Modern life

 I took all of these at 1:30 today. I’m on a training for work so I’m home this week. I’m camped out at the dining table, the girls are next to me, and the boys are in the living room. The dogs are quiet so I don’t care where they are. 




Saturday, December 12, 2020

I don't even know what's happening anymore

 I haven't blogged in, basically forever, and I feel bad about that. Even if no one reads these anymore I really like having a scrapbook of our lives and I love going back and re-reading my posts. It's also a nice compilation of photos and has come in handy lately for school projects. Averson needed to do a Google Slide on a family tradition and copying birthday donut pictures from the blog was WAY easier than trying to find them all on our various back-ups. 

So all that to say... I logged on to do a photodump catch-up and maybe a little "Christmas Prep" broad stroke. But you guys? My phone is full of a bunch of bullshit. The girls have been using an old phone that still syncs to mine, and mine if I don't keep an eye on it, and they screenshot some real weird shit. And now I didn't delete them fast enough so all this nonsense is saved in at least three different places. Seriously. I give up. 

There are approximately 57 of this exact same picture


I think this is Syd? Maybe? Or else my nightmare of a creeper living in the crawlspace is coming true because that is 100% her bedroom wall behind her

Pictures of my TV during the Dog Show on Thanksgiving. MANY pictures of my TV



I don't know what Sexually dimorphic means and I have no intention of getting a ferret





No idea who this is or why she has a blob fish on her head. She must be important to the girls though



So yeah, we've been doing some stuff. We made salt dough ornaments. We took family pictures. Thanksgiving was lovely. The dogs laid in patches of sun like the cat-dogs they are. C and I took selfies. But apparently a lot of shenanigans have been happening too

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Working from home updates

When the world started ending, I kept my 5 day a week office schedule. It was hard for me to imagine trying to be available to my team without being physically on-grounds when they were. We slowly built in a good telework schedule and so for the last few months, I've been taking a day each week. It works in nicely into our distance learning adult supervision rotation, gives C a regular day to go into the school,  and let's me work in my comfy clothes one day a week. 

Here are some tips and tricks that I've learned along the way:
When the dogs are being shits, it helps to put whichever one is being worse on a leash and tie them to me. For some reason this makes them stop wrestling, whining to go in/out constantly, and barking at the wind. 

This is NOT a good solution during video calls


And speaking of video calls. I'm back to teaching and it's WAY DIFFERENT. Rather than a 3 hour lecture course, I'm running a one hour zoom discussion meeting each week. On Mondays I run home from work, throw whatever dinner I prepped in the oven, work out, and then rush to get my zoom up and running. It only took me one week of trying to play off my workout top as professional wear to realize that I could be business on top, yoga pants on bottom. It took me one more week to invest in a ring light. If you don't have one yet, get one! Best $15 I've spent on "the new normal." Mine clips on to the woodshop stepstool that I'm using as a desk. Behold the man behind the curtain. 

Also not pictured. I have to lock the door so the kids don't interrupt class. Averson has been sliding the cutest notes under the door and it's fun to read them when I'm done (even if the answer to nearly all her questions should be "go ask your dad.") 

The kids are slated to go back to school in January, but on a modified schedule that will 100% make all of our lives significantly more complicated. I think we'll send them, but with cases on the rise and our county shutting down again, I'm not feeling super optimistic. If/when they do go back, I suspect that I'll also need to modify my schedule a bit so we can do all the driving. We'll see I guess.  
 

Sunday, November 1, 2020

#Halloween2020

I turned 40 yesterday and it was as perfect as 2020 would allow. C surprised me with a new coffee pot to replace our 15 year old Mr. Coffee. My mom had flowers delivered to the house (growing up in the country, I will ALWAYS be excited to have things delivered to my house.) The kids made and picked out sweet and thoughtful gifts. My birthday donut was pumpkin spice flavored.



We really struggled with what to do for Halloween. After a lot of thought and efforts to come up with ideas, we settled on “measured and thoughtful decision making.” We didn’t have people over, but we let Eli hang out with a friend and I took the girls trick-or-treating. And we decorated the hell out of the house.


Averson REALLY loves our skeleton collection and plays with them constantly
Case in point: the Morning After still life

Syd had a VERY last minute costume change that found me at Party City on Halloween morning and Thank God because otherwise I never would have impulsively bought a Bob Ross costume to make C laugh only to find out that it’s been his dream costume



Dr. Dolittle, Hermione Granger, and an inmate (OMG I had some feelings about this one until I remembered that I was a Playboy Bunny in 4th grade. At Catholic school.)

Trick or treating 2020 style. Our neighborhood did so many cool candy delivery systems. The girls were great about masks and overall it felt really okay