Well, we made it through Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoyed your smaller gatherings this year.
It was the first Thanksgiving in many years that I didnāt have to travel, and that was lovely. I also discovered that I actually love my MILās zucchini stuffing recipe when itās cooked in a different pan (I used a big 9x13 baking dish so it got nice and crispy across the top; she usually uses a decorative baking dish thatās shaped more like a bread pan and it is not ideal for maximum browning/crispiness. I also discovered the marvel of the āstuffleā - the stuffing waffle. I mixed in an egg and a little shredded cheddarā¦ so, so tasty.
So basically, Iām thankful for stuffing, is what Iām trying to say.
My Thanksgiving fail seemed like such a good idea when I did itā¦ I ordered 3 mini pies so we could have a variety of flavors, even though we had way fewer people. Bad moveā¦ no leftover pie. Now I know - always get full size pies! There is no such thing as too much leftover pie.
Good stuff coming up!
Holiday-ing: My Christmas decorations are pretty minimal so putting them up doesnāt seem like much of a chore. I actually enjoy putting some Christmas music on and doing it all myself - but surprisingly this year my boys (10 + 7 yo) were really into helping me decorate the tree. I did my best to suppress my perfectionism about how the ornaments are hung!
Watching: We wrapped up Queenās Gambit (Netflix) which was very good, and now Iām mostly trying to squeeze in Christmas movies where I can. Iāve never seen The Family Stone, so thatās on my must-watch list for this year. I also watched Happiest Season (Hulu), which has some great performances and I know itās groundbreaking for making a lesbian relationship the main focus of the movie, but the story was just so-so for me. Pop Culture Happy Hour did an episode on it that delved into the pros and cons pretty well.
Listening: Of courseā¦ Christmas music. Iāve been streaming the new Dolly Parton Christmas album and Leslie Odom, Jrās Christmas album pretty often, so the other day when I just asked āHey Siri, play Christmas music,ā I got the funniest collection of country- and Broadway-inflected Christmas tunes. Quite a combo.
Reading: I just finished a based-on-real-life mystery called The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon for book club. Itās set in the 1930ās and really captures the era of speakeasies, showgirls, and mobsters. I gave it a B-, but I think if I would have known it was based on a true story, I might have liked it more. There were a few things that just seemed like very strange plot choices, but it turns out thatās what really happened! One of our book club members is a librarian and she did some extra historical research and really like learning more about the story.
Cooking:Ā I followed the Lazy Geniusā advice this fall and made a fall dinner queue of recipes to have on repeat. It definitely has simplified my life, but as fall draws to a close, we are all very sick of eating the same things over and over! At the same time, one of my kids has gotten way pickier than he used to be. (He now refuses tacos and hamburgersā¦ ugh.) So, Iām in the market for some new unicorn recipes for my winter menu playlist. (Unicorns - easy, quick, healthy AND my kids will eat them.) Suggestions welcome! (Ahaā¦ some googling revealed her winter dinner queue from last year in case anyone else wants to try this.)
Crafting: Iāve been missing the more creative/artsy aspects of bullet journaling since I switched over to a more functional/structures daily planner. I definitely need it to keep all the trains running on time, but itās not the most conducive to doodling and fun lists. So I have started carrying around a couple little Field Notes notebooks (beware clicking this linkā¦ theyāre so cute and I canāt be held responsible if you slip and fall on the ābuy nowā button) for bullet-journal-y type lists and notes, and for a daily (but no pressure if I miss one) art journaling practice.
Home-y Stuff: Iām guessing Iām not the only one who discovered FlyLady many moons ago. For me, it was when I was newly married and newly responsible for keeping a whole home in some sort of livable order. I never considered myself a slob growing up (my mom may disagree!) but I am definitely not āborn organizedā as our dear FlyLady would say. I appreciated her attitude about cleaning (āhousework done imperfectly still blessed your family!) but she wore me out with the zillions of email reminders she would send throughout the day. Clearly this was not meant for someone who was away from the house at work!
But, I have recently discovered her app, FlyLadyPlus. It doesnāt bug you with a million notifications, but it does conveniently provide all those daily and weekly cleaning checklists that I always found helpful from the original system. Itās free - definitely worth a try if you struggle to stay on top of housework.
Friends, thank you for reading. Hang in there, and enjoy the little bits of beauty that are everywhere if you only stop to look for them. š
šø Dogwood No. 17 šø
I definitely heard of Fly Lady when my kids were little! I never really did the system but I LOVED (and still kind of do) the concept. I used a different app called Home Routines where I could make and edit my own Focus Zones for the week, plus daily, monthly tasks... But I haven't used it either in years now. I think if I didn't work/ were a SAHM I would totally get into the cleaning routine thing. But it became too frustrating to want to stick to this schedule but then I just didn't have time... oh well. Going to be looking more at those Field Notes notebooks too! They look really cute.