Donalacasa's Daybook: Friday, December 11, 2021

 

Outside my window... It's 67 degrees at midnight in December on Friday when I started this blog post. I can't complain about that one bit. I am thinking... At the moment, I'm tired so I'm not doing much thinking. LOL. I just finished getting the music together for our Shabbat service in the morning and preparing a few slides on the lesson that I am teaching dealing with the Sixth Commandment - Do not murder. This has been my song of the week. I love how it is not studio polished. It's just like some friends getting around the piano for spontaneous worship.  

 

I am thankful... For a lot of things. I got two Bs and an A this semester. Both Bs were from the same professor. With the pace of those classes, along with all of my other responsibilities made those classes less enjoyable. I was just putting out work. I can't say that I really learned much. That stresses me out a bit because the end of this master's program is a test on all this material. I got more out of the Applications of Technology course (that I did NOT want to take). That's the class I got an A in. LOL I am wearing... Ooh. My new favorite pair of winter pajamas. I buy a new pair of pajamas whenever I am going to be spending the night away from home with strangers. I bought these when I volunteered at a family grief camp at the end of October. Cute and comfie.

 

I am creating... This past week, I was invited to come to a monthly knitting meeting with a couple of other retired homeschool moms. I had a great time and it's something that I really needed. One reason that I stopped blogging is because everything hit me at one time - homeschool retirement, empty nest, menopause, the pandemonium (you know), trying to manage my great-aunt's care from afar. It was utterly overwhelming and I felt like I could not start typing because I was so unhappy but I didn't want to tell the world about it. Hopefully, picking up my knitting needles again will help me to work those emotions out. I'm not working on any particular project right now, just working my way through a book of swatches so that I get experience going through all of the most common stitches. After I finish with those, I want to find a nice pattern for a poncho. 

By the way, one of the ladies I knitted with, the super-knitter 😀 teaches at the co-op where my children graduated from. I told her that I had always imagined that when I finished with my BA that I would work there. Things just never worked out that way. She said that people are always asking her about online classes so this may turn out to be a divine encounter. 🙏 I am going... To have lunch with a friend at our usual spot, Salata. This has become a monthly tradition of ours. I am so thankful to finally be getting on with my life in the friendship department. I've been so lonely since Ms. Sophia moved five hours away. 

Also, one of my closest friends lost her daughter in September. The last time I saw her daughter alive, we were eating in her favorite restaurant in San Antonio. One day this week would have been her 26th birthday. We're going to have lunch together at that restaurant in her honor. Also this week, my cousin is getting her 29th degree (I'm just trying to catch up with her - 😀). We're going to stay at an Air BnB to celebrate. It will be my first time. I am reading... I finished my GoodReads challenge already this year. I had originally set it to 24, then raised it to 25. I'm at 26 now. I guess I'll set it for 30 in the new year. I bought a Kindle a few months ago. The last book I read, I finished in October. It was A Gentleman in Moscow. I LOVED IT! I have realized that one of my favorite genres of books is one that starts in a character's youth and continues on through their whole life. Another book that was like that was My Name is Resolute. I've read other books like that too. I'll have to find out what that is called. I am listening to.... Once classes get going, I don't have much time to read. I cannot fall asleep unless I am listening to someone talking in my ear; however, the last audiobook was so good that I could never fall asleep on it. For most of the month of November, I got very little sleep because Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson was so good it kept me up. LOL. Since I enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow, I thought I would try something else by the same author Amor Towles. Now I'm listening to Rules of Civility. It's good so far, but it's not keeping me up at night. Listening to "Box 13" on Spotify will put me to sleep, and The Grand Duchess introduced me to "The Black Museum", which I found on Spotify too.

First thing in the morning I listen to some kind of self-help book for 15 minutes. After I finished Atomic Habits, I started Younger Next Year for Women. The narrator is a little kooky but the book is very inspirational.   I am watching... I only ever watch TV when someone in my family is watching it. When no one is home, I never turn it on. Over the past year or two, Friend Hubby has gotten me into Chicago Med and Chicago Fire. I watch Chicago PD, but I'm not crazy about it. My Facebook memories reminded me that I binge Call the Midwife every December. This month is no exception. I'm waiting to dissolve into a puddle. Star Trek Discovery, Season 4 has returned too. I am looking forward to... Princess Butterfly has finished her internship at the US Capitol and will be coming home this week. Next week, I am looking forward to an African American walking tour of downtown Austin. One of my favorite things... Friend Hubby's domestic team that he manages was in town this week so I had the house to myself for several days. Who knew we'd both be working from home in 2021? Some days we don't really interact until the end of the day, as if he had a work away from home job. If I'm not teaching online, he is on a Zoom meeting so it was nice to have the quiet. He and The Grand Duchess left right after service on Shabbat. I watched Call the Midwife and knitted. Later I started harvesting the kale and bok choy from my container garden so that I can freeze it. We're supposed to have our first freeze of the season this week.   From the learning rooms... Thanks to the Applications of Technology class, all of my students have been working over the past couple of weeks on end-of-the-semester digital projects. This will be a link that I will post on my website and they can share with friends and family. From the kitchen... Last Shabbat I made Caldo Verde (not the recipe I use, but similar. I learned from my Azorean landlady) and Red Beans in the Instant Pot using this great sausage. It was just in time, after all our children came home for Thanksgiving, they all left with colds. I was able to bring the soup to The Grand Duchess' apartment "for the sick and shut in." 

After Shabbat I used some of the kale to make White Bean and Kale Soup. I also made some Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Brown Rice.  Around the house... I have taken up container gardening, but this past week I have not been able to be any more attentive than watering and picking the last few green beans of the season and a few pea pods. After I have gotten all my progress reports out, I am going to sit down and get some seeds started in plastic bottles. They act as miniature greenhouses to get my spring garden started with.
My self-care...So after reading Atomic Habits, which was excellent, I have been practicing habit stacking where my fitness is concerned. Crown Prince Sanban's old room is now my prayer/workout room. In the morning, after making Friend Hubby's breakfast, I go in there and look at my calendar while I am finishing my coffee. I do Leslie Sansone's 5-minute mini walk to get my heart rate up, then I get on the treadmill and spend a half an hour in prayer. I get off and do about 10 minutes of stretching and boom. I've gotten at least SOME workout done, even if I haven't had time for my Les Mills workouts over the past 8 weeks. Shalom and blessings!