February Ins and Outs + January Goal Post Mortem

 

February goals:

Schedule at least one fun thing every week. So far I have a pedicure (I bought this polish, which is the most perfect combo of 2 favorite shades), coffee, lunch, and 2 date nights on my monthly spread

Get my hair trimmed, and get Dorothy and Minnie's hair trimmed, too. Ugh. We are switching salons and stylists, so this one is kind of a pain. ALSO we have zero free time after school, and our weekends are filling up.

Finish prepping CA260 for the semester. Maybe a reach goal, but it wold be great to feel like I have the whole class ready.

See all of the Best Picture Oscar movies, plus the Kate Hudson and Rose Byrne movies so I can see everything in all the major categories before the Oscars. We are almost 1/2 way through the best pics with the middle 3 kids and hope to do a family Oscar pool/viewing party.

Buy Dorothy's bday presents, and start buying Easter basket stuff. She sent us a list, so I feel like this project can really start. I am also thinking the bunny might bring spring shoes...

Make sure every kid hosts at least one hang at our house. It feels like it's our turn in all contexts.

Sign up for Crazylegs and start an 8K training plan. I am the queen of the 12-minute mile, but I really want to finish in under an hour and plan to reward myself with a post-race bloody mary.

Buy pillows before they are gone from Costco's seasonal offerings!! (They have a $20 2-pack of "hotel pillows" whatever that means that would be totally great for Ben's shams)

Decide when and where we are celebrating Jack's high school graduation

January goal check:

Apply for 2 jobs ✅

Join a gym 🟡 I did not do this, but I do not know if I want to do this. Cooper's dive team has started training twice a week (outside of their FIVE PRACTICES) at a gymnastics place doing strength and trampoline and conditioning, and his tourney baseball team has started practicing. This means he has MORE THAN 7 sportsball practices of some sort a week, and I have Apple Fitness, a bunch of different weights, an ellipitcal, and a love of jogging in the freezing cold.

Run up hills (seek out hills; pick up the pace on the way up): FORGOT THIS ONE. ❌

Buy Vday gifts for the kids and stuff to send to Harry ✅

Explore more blogs to find designs I really like ✅

Open my book project and decide if it is still alive ✅

Decide on dates for Ben and Dorothy's bday celebrations ✅

Look for Apple Watch sales for Ben ✅

Become a mini-expert on the AI academic landscape 🟡 I am not a mini-expert by any means, but I did attend a panel the other day.

January: What I Read

 

SO MANY AUDIO BOOKS THIS MONTH YOU GUYS because I have been in Avonlea. I bought 6 of the Anne books in a bundle and then had to buy Anne of Windy Poplars a la carte and will be treating myself to Anne of Ingleside as soon as I am done with Anne's House of Dreams. Ingleside and Windy Poplars were written after the others, so they are not in the common domain and not usually included with Green Gables, Avonlea, The Island, Rainbow Valley, and Rilla of Ingleside. I didn't even count the 5.5 I have finished in my total this month, but I am happy to say that I eliminated about 80% of my doomscrolling and replaced it with Anne and Kids Baking Challenge.

Because! The world is fairly horrible to engage with right now. I mean-- if you think domestic politics are horrifying, just peek at foreign relations for a second, and you are going to need smelling salts. Besides Avolnea and the intense inward focus of a good yoga practice, the only thing that makes me feel better is my favorite protest chant which is my sort of rosary these days-- the people united can never be defeated.

(Also, if you are also bereft at the death of Catherine O'Hara, I suggest a little Waiting for Guffman and also THIS episode of Wiser Than Me, which is really a podcast you ought to listen to anyway.)

ANYWAY. MY JANUARY READS in order form least to most favorite. Also! I have moved to  Storygraph, and I only have like 3 friends, so plz join me.

All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell: This was weird, and I liked it a lot-- a general overview of death and dying and our cultural rituals. **audio

Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by LM Chilton: I liked this well enough to finish it, but only just. **kindle

Bad Tourists by Caro Carver: A decent thriller. **audio

Greenwich by Kate Broad: A great, quick read. **kindle

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling: She is also Rachel Hawkins, and she smells as sweet by either name. **audio

A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken: I love these kinds of books on the craft of writing, and this one is particularly good.

Aint't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha Ackman: This was terrific, and the pictures in the middle were fabulous. Dolly Parton is our generation's Mozart.

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman: YES. Read this. Charming and delightful.

This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through US History by Beverly Gage: You had to figure a book about the US as told through our geography by a Pulitzer-Prize-winning Yale historian would be awesome-- and you would be right. **2026

The Last Session by Julia Bartz: This was weird and wild-- a great thriller to pass the time. **audio

Yearbook by Seth Rogan: We listened in the car on the way home from HH, and it was hilarious. **audio

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst: THIS IS WILD. Ben and I would have died almost instantly. Def within the first 3 hours. **audio

 There Is no Place for Us: Working and Homelessness in America by Brian Goldstone: YES YOU SHOULD READ THIS RIGHT NOW. I think it is better than Evicted, and that book was great. Really hits home the lingering effects of the panny.

Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E Smith: Oh, please treat yourself to this family saga. Lauren Graham reads the audiobook, and I definitely cried. **audio

The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill: LOVED THIS-- definitely for fans of Mary Beth Keene. **kindle

Dog Show by Billy Collins: My brother sent me this poetry collection, and I adored it so much I helped Jack cut it into an 8-minute program for poetry reading on his speech team. **2026

Inhale, Exhale by Nicole MacPherson: YOU GUYS. This book is every bit as wonderful as you have known it was going to be from the first second you heard it was coming into the world. **2026 **kindle

5 on a Friday: From my camera roll

1. A kindergartener with a snack to share

2. Two bros with the same stylist

3. Best friends having a nap

4. Silliest thing I have seen at Costco in awhile

5.  An old fave sign that popped up in my FB memories

how was I so young and gorgeous just 10 years ago? sob

This post is really only about Minnie, but I did throw in an aside about Dorothy and Cooper

 

I felt so RUSHED this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We didn't even light the menorah one single night. Wait no, that's not true. We did light it one night-- the night of our annual sibling gift exchange-- but it was WAY past sundown. I didn't have my holiday ish together enough to ebven buy candles!

I blame my university for not having a fall break AND ALSO the extreme lateness of Thanksgiving.

ANYWHO. I resolved that this year, I would be ready early for all of the things, and V-Day is up first. Not only do I have everyone's gifts purchased, but I also have cards and candy AND Minnie has already made her school Valentines. I even have 2 extra boxes of pre-made Valentines to take to school when I volunteer in class this week for kids who might not be planning to make them at home.

They're just so stinking cute.

She made bespoke cards for each person and wrote lobe Minnie on the back. hen she put them in little treat bags with stamps, a heart-shaped pop it for their back packs, and a couple teeny containers of Play-Doh, plus confetti. Then she wrote the recipient's name on a cute little heart tag. I love them!

Can I just say, apropos of nothing, that Santa hit it out of the park with the Barbie Dream House? Minnie has played with t every single day, and her 2 BFFs also each got one and love to go house to house playing Barbies.

It is so cold here that my tween and teen are WEARING COATS and GLOVES. Wow.

The Clorox wipes in the foreground here are perfect. Cold and flu season indeed. Minnie was delighted her entire ballet class and is thrilled to be dancing a Tinker Bell themed number for the recital.

Also thrilling? She has been nagging and nagging for a chore chart, and her dreams have finally come true. I gotta take a picture of her making her bed-- it is too much. She also insisted I add "dust" to her chart, and she uses a Swiffer duster VERY SERIOUSLY.

Her laundry folding! IS SO CUTE I can't stand it.

And she told me I could put reading on her chart and she will do it every day, but it is NOT a chore. I FINALLY GOT A READER YOU GUYS. IT ONLY TOOK 4 PRIOR ATTEMPTS.

Hey! The Reset Worked! And Then We All Got Shut In Together

 We had a HIGH of NEGATIVE NINE ARE YOU KIDDING ME on Friday,  and both  of our colleges (people in IL are big wimps-- it was not as cold there) and the kids' schools were all closed. SO COZY. But kind of killed my Friday vibe of going to campus (TOTALLY KILLED IT YOU GUYS) (AND WE HAD A BASEMENT FULL OF 8TH GRADERS which made WFH... not ideal). (And yes, my school was closed, but I don't teach on Fridays anyway and really need any work time I can get to make sure I am ready for my huge NEW class...)

Also, the reset did not totally work because when Ben came home from his conference lat on Thursday, I found his talk about AI tools very rage baity and responded accordingly. We will never speak of it again (seriously-- I cannot even with him, especially since he likes to take the opposite side of whatever I am arguing just for fun).

I wore an outfit I loved to school (and it was a perfect choice because I could lift weights in it when I got home and honestly could have also done yoga and maybe this needs to be my new standard for work clothes...)

(With slippers because it is January)

I had coffee in a fancy cup, which is as good as fancy coffee

Even though I did not read in bed (no time in the morning; too tired at night), I did read in my office and finished a book I was working through for a committee (it comes out in April and was GREAT)

I downloaded the free (with subscription) Audible version of Anne of Green Gables read by Rachel McAdams, and Minnie and I listened to it while we drove the kids to dance and diving. AND! I used an Audible credit to buy ALL 7 ANNE BOOKS!!!! I have SEVENTY-THREE hours of Anne to listen to!!! YOU GUYS!

(Minnie said apropos of nothing on Thursday I have a great imagination-- I am just like Anne, and I almost died of happiness)

We came home and bundled up and took Annabel for a snowy walk with plenty of time to stop and play

And the big kids and I watched Dance Moms and ate sour Skittles (delightful, BTW).

We achieved MAXIMUM COZY on Friday. The girls started their day with Inside Out 2 and a snackle box breakfast

With their new Disney stuffies and their dog who looks like a stuffy

Ben bravely took the first walk in NEGATIVE 18 DEGREES (the actual gd temp, not the  wimpy "feels like")

 We had a delightfully cosy trip to the library

I DID have to walk the dog a few times...

But otherwise it was all reading in blanket forts

Having a bunch of kids in the basement

And eating leftover pulled pork as pulled pork nachos-- so delish!

5 on a Friday: January Micro Delights

 1. Dogs in sweaters

2. Winter pedicures (they feel so much more indulgent that summer pedicures), and I am really into white glittery polish (I bring my own polish because I am the queen of chipping my pedicure and want to be able to fix it)

3. Leggings as pants. Still. On campus even.

4. Book It pizza

5. Snowy dog walks (sans bobcat)

Midweek Reset

 Ben is in Disney World right now, and it is hard not to be jealous (even though we made a good choice when we decided to stay home). There is no snow at Disney World, for one thing. No one is asking him what's for dinner, and none of our kids need rides to their million-dollar activities, either.

GAH.

(srsly we made the right choice to not go with him because everyone has stuff going on, from finals to a spelling bee to specials practice at dance to the first week of class, but also FOMO)

I need more of this energy

Why do I always save cozy little treats for the end of the week?

Today I want to tackle unsolved problem number 4 from Monday's rant:

4. Never being off duty Tuesday-Thursday. People's schedules are a mess, and there is often a third dinner shift happening at 9pm, which means I am working as a mom from 6:40 when Minnie wakes up until 10pm and have zero time to relax. ZERO.

First of all, you guys. NEVER being off duty is not accurate. More accurate to say my momming shift is longer than usual when Ben is out of town, and I am looking for ways to add more fun and relaxation into a busy time of the week. 

Next, it's not accurate to say I have ZERO time for relaxation. That's not a helpful frame-- I would like to find more opportunities to relax and enjoy myself mid-week.

LIKE READING IN BED, which I cannot do on Wednesday morning, but probably COULD do on Wednesday night. I bought some vanilla sleepytime tea to make this happen.

For the rest of the semester, I am going to have a Wednesday reset which should include:

at least 10 minutes of reading in bed

an outfit I love for campus

a fancy coffee

a show I want to watch at night that I maybe even stay awake for

something fun to make Wednesday a little midweek treat

    lunch with a friend

    coffee with a friend

    a walk to the lake

    a visit to the campus art museum

    a new skincare product

    a walk n talk

    an after dinner treat

    an extra yoga session

    a new release book for my Kindle

TINY THINGS, is what I am saying

This particular week, I have given myself the gift of a slow ramp up to the beginning of the semester. We started the semester on a Tuesday, which interrupted the lecture/discussion flow in both of my classes (some kids had a Monday discussion that didn't happen; no Monday lecture) SO both classes have an online module 0, and we start meeting F2F next week. I AM A GENIUS.

(ALSO, I aim for four 20-minute weight lifting sessions a week and three 10-minute yoga flows, and I really like to do them the first few days of the week. BUT ALSO. I think I will have a better chance of leaving the house by 8 on Wednesdays if I do NOT do weights or morning yoga. Maybe I can do yoga at night on Wednesdays, and I will just make Friday a weight day instead of Wednesday. This bothers the rigid part of me who wants to do things early in the week, but I think it's the best choice for now.

I am going to walk right by a sandwich shop on the way to my car on campus, so I think I have solved the Wednesday after school snack dilemma. 

I am also going to walk Annabel and listen to a podcast the second I get home, even if the house is still trashed from the morning. A little walk (even on the very coldest day) always makes me feel happier.