It’s nearly midnight and I’m listening to Ed Sheeran while I write this. But it’s the only time I don’t have at least two children singing/screaming/dancing/somersaulting within six inches of me, so it will have to do.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned wanting to drink more water. I’ve been doing well with it, knocking back a good 48+ ounces of water a day. The benefits? Well, the more water I drink, the more I want to drink. (Water, I mean. This whole life-changing experiment isn’t turning me into a lush.) I also notice that my muscles don’t seem as sore after taking or teaching dance class, and my skin doesn’t feel as tight and dry on my face and hands (it’s mid-January, so this is significant). I also notice that I’m more hungry drinking more water, which goes against what I would have previously thought, that drinking a lot of water would give me a feeling of false fullness. Instead, I think it’s that I’m drinking more water in place of sugary things like juice or iced tea, so I’m not getting the immediate satisfaction of a sugar buzz from those drinks, and my body is forced to tell me that it NEEDS MOAR. So all in all, I think this is fairly good progress.
In other news:
Still writing. I’ve been trying to write at least 1000 words a day, with mixed results. Trying to fit in homeschooling my oldest child, and part-time work, and simply trying to make sure nothing catches on fire and that we’re all properly fed and watered and not wallowing in our own filth eats up a lot of time. And when I do get free time, sometimes I just want to read Downton Abbey recaps or crochet or build block towers with the kids. So the writing suffers. As it will, I guess, until I’m retired and living in New Zealand in my very own Hobbit Hole.
Speaking of Downton Abbey (SPOILERS MAYBE SPOILERS? Just a general warning there), I cannot stand the schoolteacher, Miss Bunting. I know I’m not alone in this. I know. But she’s so awful and irritating and I know we’re all supposed to be rooting for her or liking her and then this little bit of dialogue occurred between my husband and I during Sunday’s episode:
Me: OH MY GOSH I JUST DISLIKE DISLIKE DISLIKE DISLIKE.
Tim: Well, they’re setting her up as an antagonist, right? You’re supposed to hate her.
DO YOU SEE? My own husband (who was not paying 100% attention to the television, I’ll admit) thought they were setting her character up as a villain. Seriously. This is how aggravating this character is to me. YOU ARE NOT THE VOICE OF A GENERATION YOU JUST NEED SOME FRIGGIN’ MANNERS.
Other than all this, the week has been fine. (“Fine”, according to my husband, being the word I use when things are most certainly not fine. But in this instance, I really do mean fine. Ish. I guess.) It’s been cold (It’s winter. In Pennsylvania. I can’t expect much else.) and we’ve now entered the post-Christmas doldrums of grey grey grey and bad weather and no Christmas specials or holiday movies to look forward to. The kids want to go out and play and all I can say is “I’m sorry but the patio is sheer ice and do you want to break your skull? No, so sit there and make things some more stuff out of the sad colors of construction paper leftover after the good stuff was taken out for the paper chains we made for the holidays.”
They probably hate me now and think I’m doing all this on purpose. But no, I actually want to get outside as much as they do. I may sear like a fish in the sun, but I still love the outdoors, burnt skin or no.
Oh! My husband baked this week. This is not an anomaly. He does enjoy cooking and baking and experimenting (and making messes *ahem*). But he surprised me this week with pineapple upside-down cupcakes (or would they be muffins? I’m not sure I know precisely what the distinction is):
And popovers (courtesy of an Alton Brown recipe):
He wins the week for me.
OH OH OH! Also, my big hand flailing news of the week: Richard Armitage to Join Hannibal for Six-Episode Run. So maybe it is still feeling just a little bit like Christmas. And hopefully this will help when they take North & South off of Netflix at the end of the month. *cries*