Weekend Report

Gymnastics and soccer got canceled because of the snow storm. There was a fair amount of snow shoveling (mostly done by my husband) but our area didn't get hit too hard. We had pretty much the perfect amount of snow. Enough for sledding and fun but not enough to be too disruptive.

What got done:

• Sledding (lots of it! Saturday and Sunday!)
• C has awesome balance and is a natural on a snow board
• Husband and kids went out on the icy pond. The ice was not great for skates but perfect for just stomping and sliding around.
• Lots of outdoor time in beautiful winter weather.
• Cooking and baking (split pea soup, sourdough bread, husband made calf liver with onions, I baked salmon, lots of salads, blueberry pancakes... we eat a lot)
• Piles of laundry
• Watched Grantchester with husband
• Watched a few episodes of His Dark Materials (season 1) with kids. Pretty good! We've had some interesting discussions about who would have what daemon. Mine would probably be a hedgehog.
• Vacuuming, dusting, and tidying up 
• Reading (started reading A Boy and His Horse to C; also reading Termination Shock).

What didn't get done:

• Board games (everyone seemed to prefer playing outside or watching shows)
• Work (I kind of wanted to do a bit of writing to get a head start on the week, but ah well)

More Snow!

 Things I am excited about:

• Snow! It snowed a bit in the morning - enough to cover the ground. 
• Going on a walk: I've been trying to go for at least a 30-min walks every day. I don't have time to go to the park this afternoon (the trails would look beautiful...) but it would still be pretty nice to just walk around the neighborhood.
• Watching first season of "His Dark Materials" with kids.
• Reading in front of the fireplace.
• More sledding!
• Drinking tea.
• Snow storm... (but I hope we don't loose power).
• Board games with kids

Things I am not excited about:

• Vacuuming and dusting
• Washing bed sheets
• Potentially taking kids to a local arcade (ugh... covid, noise, video games... but it's a neighbor's half-birthday and they invited us... still deciding if we should go or not).

Things I would like to try:

• Screen-free day. We used to do it on a regular basis back when the kids were doing virtual school - and it worked pretty well. Looking up recipes and other information without resorting to computers or phones was surprisingly invigorating (as in yes! I can function independently!). The fact that I feel a bit anxious about not checking my messages or the news suggests that a screen-free day is definitely a good idea. One of these Saturdays or Sundays! But perhaps after the Olympics.
• Making a new soup. Something that's not lentil, pea, cauliflower, or chicken/matzo ball soup.
• I'd like to do a "streak" of something. Maybe daily walks, or daily piano practice, or daily dusting... something like that. Nothing hard - and something that I already enjoy. I want the streak to last at least a couple of months.

Labor

 Both of my middle-schoolers have Home Econ this term. Except it's called Consumer Science. Apparently, the teacher said something along the lines that her class was a dictatorship and she was the dictator. The kids acted out a skit yesterday, making fun of what the class was like. H was the teacher and yelled "DETENTION" every 2 seconds. E and C were the delinquent students who pulled down their masks, put their feet on the table, and were rolling their eyes. They got about 16 detentions each.

Apparently, the kids will get a detention if they are late for class (hmm... even the first time?), if their mask is down (OK, makes sense), if they make a mess, if they bleed all over the floor (I assume my kids exaggerate but I could be wrong), if they are disrespectful, and for about another 100 infringements. My son is kind of worried - he already warned me that if he doesn't come home on a regular bus it means he got detention with Ms Home Econ. H does not seem worried at all - if anything, she appears to be amused. I have a feeling she may start a revolution, overthrow the current dictator (Ms Home Econ) and crown herself as the Empress. 

In my daughter's class, they'll be sewing a pillow. In my son's class, they'll be baking muffins. The kids are not thrilled. H at least appears to be curious about learning to use a sewing machine. E says he already knows how to bake muffins.

Oh boy, this brings back some old memories... Home Econ equivalent back in the USSR (we called it "Trud", or "Labor") was one of my least favorite classes, along with PE. My hands grow out out of the wrong place - my teacher's words  (I believe the American expression would be "all thumbs"). In 6th grade, I had an absolute nightmare of an experience sewing a skirt. Lots of tears and snot. I spent hours and hours at my teacher's house, where she was helping me stitch things on her sewing machine.

And then, at a different school, there was an incident with pickled cucumbers. My jar exploded... 

I knew pretty early on that I absolutely did not want to be a housewife. Because everything around household tasks seemed absolutely out of my league difficult. Chemistry, math, physics - I could do. Sewing, knitting, pickling, and making soup - not so much.

As an adult, there are some things I have to do whether or not I enjoy them. Interestingly, I came to really like cooking. Especially soups. If absolutely needed, I can stitch things up and re-attach a button (although I procrastinate forever and try to avoid it if at all possible) - I do a messy job and I am pretty sure my old teacher would shake her head sadly at my uneven untidy stitches and would give me a "C-" (or worse). But... the button works and the hole is gone and no one in  my house complains about the poor workmanship. I never attempt to sew any clothing for myself or for my kids... no home-made Halloween costumes here (because hands growing out of my *ss, as they would say in Russia).

What was your experience with Home Econ like?

Weekend Report

 We had nothing planned this weekend except "hopefully go for a hike". The weekend turned out to be busy and fun. Maybe not productive in a conventional sense of the word, but definitely fun.

Saturday.

• Sourdough pancakes with blueberries for breakfast.
• Girls had gymnastics in the am. Because of covid, you can't wait inside (they have a very small sitting area - it can get very crowded). C has an hour-long lesson. H has an 1.5 h lesson. During the first hour, I went for a walk. It was in the teens but sunny and no wind. I was bundled up in multiple layers. The walk was great - I ogled at houses and daydreamed. I came back to the car after about 45 min and read a little bit before it was time to pick up C. C and I then went around to the back of the gymnastics place, where there is a large grassy area, a stream, and some puddles. Everything was frozen and we had a blast playing on the ice, slipping and sliding and pretending to figure-skate.
• Then I decided to use up some cabbage that I had sitting in the fridge. Piroshki with cabbage are delicious, so I figured I'll make some. I kind of forgot how time- and labor-intensive it was to make piroshki. The kids did not show any interest in helping (and I was fine with that -I was kind of in a zen space, rolling the dough, putting in cabbage stuffing, pinching piroshki closed). 
• And then I ran out of cabbage but I still had about half the dough left. So I improvised. We had some Ricotta cheese in the fridge. We had some super-sweet apricot jam from the Russian store. We had raisins. I mixed it all together and it turned into a delicious sweet "tvorog" (a type of farmers cheese popular in the USSR). The kids eyed the manipulations with ricotta suspiciously, but got pretty excited when they tried it (H has made a similar mix herself the other day for snack). 
• Unfortunately, piroshki with tvorog were a bit of a disaster - most of them burst open in the oven, with stuffing leaking out all over the baking sheet. Still - they taste good. 
• C and I made apple sauce.
• Kids watched a movie (it was C's turn to pick)
• I made salad and quinoa with raisins for supper (husband baked chicken).
• I read, played & chatted with kids in front of the fireplace, and played with Vlad the Ripper (our cat).

Sunday:

• Sourdough pancakes with blueberries for breakfast (yes, again... they are delicious).
• 2 loaves of sourdough bread (part-whole wheat, with orange zest, and caraway seeds.
• Family hike at the local arboretum! We explored new trails. H did not freak out. There was a stream crossing that I, with my terrible balance and weird anxieties about taking risks, had a hard time getting across. The rocks looked slippery! Jumping at the narrowest place from one shore to the other did not look possible (although H managed it)! Walking across a fallen log (but what if I loose balanced and fall in!!!) - I did it. (It wasn't anywhere as terrifying as I anticipated when looking at the log and the stream).
• C and I went off on our own, following a trail that lead to a nearby state park, and then walked home. The rest of the family finished the loop trail at the arboretum, had some fun at the stream, and drove home. 
• C and I got home first and made matzo ball soup. 
• The kids played with neighbors outside. For hours. 
• The kids played minecraft at home while husband and I sat in front of the wood stove (outside) and talked.
• I made eggplant stew (turned out delicious!).
• Husband and I moved some more wood closer to the house. We've been having fire in the fireplace almost every day.
• Laundry.
• We all read in front of the fireplace. And played geography trivial pursuit-type game. 

What didn't get done:

• I didn't clean anything (living room and family room need to be vacuumed; my study needs to be cleaned up and vacuumed).
• We forgot to set up birdfeeders.
• I didn't organize/make things pretty/tidy around the house.

Randomness

Random thoughts.

• Cold winter is better than warm winter. Because snow makes everything pretty, because hiking on frozen ground is much more pleasant than hiking in the mud, because when ponds freeze over you can go ice skating for free, because you can go sledding in a park, because you can go cross-country skiing. 
• I don't like arcades. It's kind of like gambling for kids - it eats up your money and leaves nothing in return. And some people can't stop - they want more, more, more. I find arcades stressful - both because they keep eating my money and because the games are stressful. 
• One of my kids repeatedly complains that I should become better friends with neighborhood moms. "Just go talk to them! You'll like them!". I do like them - I just don't want to talk. To anyone. I want to stay home and read my book. Yes, I am antisocial like that.
• I like having friends. I like making new friends. I like getting to know people. But I don't know if I have the mental energy to socialize. I've been cocooning myself at home (hibernating?)
• Husband and I are watching Grantchester. What the dickens... The stories pull you in, the acting is great.
• Kids have half-day at school today. I keep fantasizing about retirement (will I live that long?) My boss just recently retired but he is staying on part-time as a consultant.

Favorite Reads of 2021

 

Cecilia Eckback. Wolf Winter.

• Beautifully written: interesting place, time, and characters. It was dark and unexpected and it completely pulled me in. 

Liane Moriarty. Apples Never Fall.

• Interesting story of a family: sensitive and kind without being sugary. Complex personalities, complex relationships, and gratifying personal journeys for all the characters.

Barbara Kingsolver. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

• Non-fiction: went from being a bit preachy in the beginning, to a very fun, friendly, and inspiring read about growing, making, and appreciating food.

Fredrik Backman. A Man Called Ove.

• So sad. So full of hope. So full of life. So full of death. 

Avi Loeb. Extraterrestrial.

• Non-fiction. Controversial, thought-provoking, and inspiring, but only after I was able to get through annoying first couple of chapters full off bragging and self-adoration.

Lauren Wilkinson. American Spy.

• Interesting, compelling, with believable multi-layered characters. Thought-provoking and deep enough for late-night conversations about ideologies, desires, philosophies, and political, personal, and moral implications of human actions.

New (for me) author I really liked:

Lisa Black (Gardiner and Renner series). Crime-solving police procedurals from the perspective of a forensic scientist. She really knows what she is talking about - I loved reading about microtubes, and repeat-pipettes, and multiple other technical details that are very familiar from my bench-work science days. Her writing is OK, the plot lines are OK (as in, not fabulous but interesting enough, and thought-provoking). She puts a lot of research and thought into her books. The best part, for me, were the (realistic, I think) forensic science approach and descriptions of every-day lab work. These books pulled me out of a reading slump. That said, I am not sure I'll be going back to her books any time soon.

Long Weekend

 All of us here had a 3-day weekend (MLK day). It was... mostly nice, but I have a tight angry knot inside. Because one of the kids is just infuriating. Nothing new - just same old screaming during our weekend hike (she is 11), just same old doing things without asking, just same old bickering and fighting with the siblings, just same old talking-back to the parents, just same old demanding (but kind and caring deep inside) little tyrant.

Good stuff:

• Kids made lunch on Monday. Salad, mac-and-cheese (from a box), and chicken soup (from a can). It was all good. Especially the salad!
• Baking bread
• Baking cookies with our youngest
• Hike in a chilly wintery forest, with semi-frozen streams and crunchy mud (we were able to tune out H's screaming and complaining, most of the time).
• Kids played with neighbors outside
• Trip to the library
• Brief walk with my oldest in a muddy trail (it warmed up and crunchy trails turned into, well, mud soup).
• Solo walk in the neighborhood.
• Reading (a lot!!!) 
• Finished a project for work
• The whole family playing Apples-to-Apples together, in front of the fire place.
• Husband and I are watching Grantchester - I really like the stories and the characters.

Weekend Report

 Fun stuff:

• Sledding with friends: we took our friends on our favorite sledding hill! The snow wasn't ideal, but the kids made it work. There was some sibling drama (our kids), but overall it was all good.
• Hiking on a wintery trail (beautiful!)
• Working on a snow fort with kids
• Kids found giant icicles (and ate them)
• Laundry, laundry, and even more laundry
• Husband bought a giant push-cart to move yard-stuff around. Kids converted it to a covered wagon, pioneer-style, and proceeded to play "Laura's Family". Girls dressed up and had some awesome pretend-play for hours. Our son was "Pa" for a bit (he then took a break to play Minecraft), our older daughter was "Ma", and our younger daughter was Mary. Not sure what happened to Laura.
• I baked bread.

Movies and shows

• Husband and I finished 8th season of Dexter! I liked the ending. I was kind of glad to end the show - it lost most of its humor and got pretty dark. But wait, there is now season 9... except we can't get it for free at the moment, so we'll wait until we can. 
• Watched Indiana Jones (The Last Crusade) with kids. Loved it! Hollywood at it's best. Entertaining, funny, and not too deep.
• Husband watched a couple of episodes of Monk with kids. 
• After much deliberation, husband and I started watching "Grandchester" as our "grown-up" show after kids go to bed. 

Books

• I am almost half-way trough Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods". I have mixed feelings about it - I sort of like it, but it also sort of annoys me sometimes, and the humor is a bit on the mean side, and he definitely likes to complain. It wasn't what I expected - I guess that's the main thing. I thought it would be more like Gerald Durrell (loved his books when I was a kid) - funny, kind, curiosity-inducing, and cautiously hopeful. 
• I am also working my way through "Termination Shock" by Neil Stephenson. I like it, but I need breaks from it.

Games

• Geography-themed Trivia Pursuit - the game we have is from the late 80's or early 90's, I believe. That makes things a bit more challenging - because geographic and historic facts changed quite a bit since then. Soviet Union was still a thing! And Cambodia was Kampuchea. It's like playing Trivia Pursuit in a time machine.

Snow Day

First snow of the season! First snow in 2022!

I am so excited. I love the snow. I love how it hangs on to trees and bushes, like fuzzy white fur coats - each branch has it's own.

Kids are thrilled. They area already in their snow pants, getting ready to go outside.

I am planning to go out with them - even if it is just for half an hour.

My husband is clearing the drive way. At some point today, we'll go to my parents to clean up their sidewalk and driveway.

I am really hoping to go sledding!

Except I have to work... Ugh, I wish workplaces gave snow-days, too.

Around Here Lately

Life in general:

Schools are open in our area, despite the Omicron madness. Getting official testing done seems arcane and nearly impossible (because hours for walk-ins are very short and inconvenient, scheduling a test on-line hasn't worked, and if you call, the voicemail is full). I guess if we are actually sick with symptoms, we can do it through our doctor's office or pediatrician (? maybe ?) But if we want to test after a potential exposure, or even without a known exposure just to be hyper-vigilant - then I don't know. We have a couple of home tests that we are holding on to, to be used only when absolutely necessary (however, the school does not accept results of home tests). 

Movies:

Our family watched a couple of Mission Impossible movies last weekend. The first one was fun. MI2 was pretty awful. I don't think we'll be watching MI3 anytime soon. We may go back to watching old James Bond movies...

Our kids really like Clue. I am thinking, they might also like Arsenic and Old Lace.

Books:

We've been reading Brothers Grimm stories. I totally forgot how dark and murderous they get... Kids love it! Perfect for long winter evenings in front of the fireplace...

Happy New Year

 We are having a very laid-back winter vacation. 

We spent a couple of days with my husband's family. We spent a few days in the Poconos with family friends. We meant to spend New Years Eve with friends and January 1 with my family, but decided to cancel because of a) omicron concerns, b) on-going colds that may or may not be covid, and c) ... it's pretty nice when it's just us.

We all stayed up past midnight to welcome 2022. We made some delicious foods. We played games. We watched movies. We watched concerts on TV. We read Brothers Grimm fairy tales.

On January 1, we went for a walk in the neighborhood, cooked, played more board games, and watched a movie. There was some complaining and fighting among the kids (isn't there always) - but overall, it was a very nice relaxing day.

Poconos. The only negative - there was no snow! We actually brought all our snow gear (boots, pants, gloves, etc), and we packed a sled - just in case. No snow!!!!! I hate this. It was pretty warm, so it was pleasant to be walking around, but I'd rather it be below freezing instead of walking on mushy squishy mud.

We stayed in a house on a lake, and there was a pretty nice layer of ice on it. Kids had a blast trying to break the ice by throwing pebbles and stones on it (even big rocks didn't go through). They managed to break off chunks of ice with a wood club and then dragged ice shards onto the floating dock - those were pretty cool, like pieces of glass. They called it "ice harvesting", or something like that, and spent (I kid you not) over an hour doing just that. In the meantime, our youngest, who was semi-sitting on the dock, put too much weight on her feet (we told them the ice was thin! but kids were, like, but look how thick these chunks of ice look!!!), went through the ice and got her feet submerged in the water. I pulled her out - she didn't go in too deep at all and everything above her knees was totally dry. Still, she got pretty freaked out and her boots were totally wet. And husband and I absolutely didn't say "WE TOLD YOU SO!!!"  because of course we said about a million times to not stand on ice because it is too thin. Ah well, childhood. I remember falling through ice when I was just a little older than our youngest - the water was all the way to my waist and it was a pain to climb out.

Our youngest then proceeded to develop the sniffles. We used one of our covid home-tests - it came out negative. A day later, I got the runny nose. Now, our son is sneezing. Ugh. Do we have to test for covid with every sneeze? Of course it is nearly impossible to get official tests in our area. We have a couple more home-tests left but want to save them for when absolutely needed (because it is now pretty hard to buy those).

It is snowing outside. Nothing is sticking but I am happy to just see the snow flakes! First snow!!!!!

I want to go sledding. And cross-country skiing. Snowshoeing would be fun, too. Hiking through the wintry forest - yes, want to do that! (Maybe I should move north....)