Thursday, November 18, 2021

Gratitude 18/30: Nope

 Okay. Real talk. Today's prompt is "Self-Love" and honestly, everything I thought of had to do with *ahem* self-love or was so saccharine/cliché that I felt a little nauseous. Neither of those are really on brand, so I'm practicing self-compassion by deviating from the prompt today. Because while routine is wonderful, sometimes self-care means changing it up. 

So how about a generic update instead? 

We have family pictures this week and I'm about thisclose to cancelling the whole thing. One of my children, who shall remain nameless but who does not tolerate anxiety well, is freaking the freak out about their outfit and has changed it about 7 times in the last 24 hours. Each time, I'm slightly more tolerant and so this may be a really sophisticated manipulation because I've gone from a certain color scheme and level of formality to "I don't care. Just make sure it doesn't have food on it." And honestly I'm assuming the photographer can edit out the food so we're sliding fast. Alternative option is that our Christmas card this year is just a professional picture of me and stick figures of the rest of the family. 

I met my 2021 reading goal this week and according to Goodreads I'm 9 books ahead of schedule. I'm not sure I'll read nine more by the end of the year, but maybe! I've read some really good ones so far. 

I've also started Christmas shopping/list making. We're pulling back on screens a bit after recognizing that some of us are much happier without, which is lovely but has also cut down on viable gift options quite a bit. I'm thinking that this year is going to be a little more reserved. I really love the "want, need, wear, read" convention and so without tech, I'm focusing on "read." It's been fun to comb through booklists trying to find ones that suit each of the kids and their interests. Averson is reader so choosing her books has been easy, but I'm hoping I can get a few books that Eli and Sydney will be excited about too. I'd love any recommendations anyone has! Eli likes memoirs and Sydney typically likes believable fiction. If you have an 8-11 year old, on Averson's list so far is the Unicorn Rescue Society series and the Avatar graphic novels. I think I might get her the Tuesdays at the Castle series too. That seems like her gig. 

I'm also combing through my Read list to find books to give as adult gifts. Have you gotten a book as a gift that was a delight or a slam dunk? I love to gift books since as adults, we typically buy anything we really need or want for ourselves. 

Other things... A really wonderful friend has been making soup every week for my mom, and it's inspired me to up my soup game too. So far I've made a pumpkin soup that sucked the first day, and then was amazing as leftovers, a vegetarian chili with lentils, and a really good chicken and gnocchi. My friend delivered a parsnip and pear soup that was a huge hit and a broccoli soup that I put over meatballs and literally licked the bowl after. 

We're back to being busy despite all my best efforts. Eli had his first high school wrestling meet yesterday, Averson is finishing out soccer, and because of course, C took on the middle school basketball team after their coach quit. My efficiency muscles are a bit rusty, but we're getting there. And we've still managed to start Squid Games which, I know we're behind the times a bit but seriously, WTF? I finish every episode thinking "Why am I doing this to myself?" 


2 comments:

  1. The _Wings of Fire_ series was a huge hit with my then tween (and millions of other tweens as well acc. to the NYT).


    For adults/teens, this one was a good gift: If You’re Freaking Out, Read This by Simone DeAngelis

    Piranesi (Susanna Clarke) and Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr) were my favorite reads this year.

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  2. These Unicorn books! Look so good! I agree with Maya re: Cloud Cuckoo Land. Harry is loving Cloudbuster Nine, and Jack has fallen HARD for John Green. Dorothy is all over the Babysitter's Club graphic novels.

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