Life Lately #22

I swore when I started blogging again that I wasn't going to get into the rut of "Life Lately" posts again. But, here we are again. I just don't have anything terribly exciting (or tragic) to share, and this seems to be the easiest way to share a bunch of hodge-podge topics all at once without seeming too ridiculously disjointed. I don't have a picture for this post because all the photos I've taken recently have my childrens' faces in them, so enjoy this purely black and white Lately post.

Reading: I literally just finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley last night. It was...weird. The beginning was interesting and bizarre because of the dystopian premise, the middle was a total slog to get through (I skimmed a lot) and the last chapter or two was kind of what I expected the rest of the book to be like, and it was better. I would probably recommend it just because it's been said to be the antithesis to Orwell's 1984, and I would agree with that assessment. I'll just warn you that it's not exactly an easy or enjoyable read. Winston (1984) is at least a somewhat sympathetic character. There just isn't one in Brave New World. I hated everyone. Maybe that's the point.

Watching: The new season of The Masked Singer on Hulu. It's enjoyable if you like listening to masked celebrities sing so you can try and guess who they are, based on a bunch of clues they give throughout the season. Just once, though, I want a complete stranger to be inside the costume when they take it off at elimination and reveal who they are. I just want to see the confusion on the judges' faces when they're like, "...and who are you???" 

Listening to: This Spotify playlist. It's maintained by Redeemer Bible Church in AZ (Costi Hinn's church, if you know who that is) and I really like it. Takes the work out of putting my own "God music" (Imogen's term for worship music) playlists together. If you can call it "work." 

Baking: These lemon rolls this weekend. Isaiah has a coworker who is retiring so they're having a retirement party. It gives me an excuse to bake and not have to eat. As a friend asked me recently, "Is baking your stress release?" Yes. One hundred percent, yes.

Wishing: That the internet at large would be a little more sensitive toward moms who stay at home with their kids with no help from family or friends and who haven't had a solo date with their husband in over two years. (Me. That mom is me.) I've honestly thought about writing a whole blog post on this topic before, but I can't think of a way to express myself that doesn't come across as angry and jealous. I mean, I might be a little jealous (working on it!) but I'm not angry. I'm just sad, and frustrated. I'll leave it at that for now, because one of these days I just might get angsty enough to write that post. It's not just everyone else's monthly date nights and childless weekend getaways that get to me, it's feeling alone in motherhood in general. And I know some people have it even worse than we do - though I don't see how it gets worse than literally never getting a solo date with your husband, ever - but I'm sure it's possible. 

Thankful: That Kilian is getting better all the time at communication. We still have our typical early-toddler struggles, like crying in the car because he's hungry and doesn't understand why he can't eat now, instead of five minutes from now when we get home, but it's getting better all the time. He's starting to put two words together fairly consistently, and it's so fun. "Mommy come" and "Sissy play" and things of that nature. Now, if only he would get better at eating. He is absolutely not the adventurous eater that his sister was, and still is. That girl will try just about anything once, and insists that she is "the only girl in the world who loves spicy food." Kilian won't even put something in his mouth if he doesn't already know that he likes it. Makes for some super fun family dinners. Not.

Laughing at: The Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shrimp-Gate saga. If you haven't seen this, it is both completely disgusting and utterly hilarious. You just can't do any better than Jensen Karp, married to Danielle Fishel, finding shrimp tails in his cereal box (get it?). I'm dying to see what comes of this.

Life Lately #21

Reading: The Good People by Hannah Kent. I just finished her other novel, Burial Rites, and was completely riveted the entire time. It wasn't a happy story by any means. It was actually quite tragic (and loosely based on real events), but her writing style completely sucked me in. The Good People doesn't have quite as good of ratings on Goodreads, but as they say, I'll be the judge of that!

Watching: Nothing at the moment. Any recommendations? I adore true crime, but I haven't found anything worth delving into recently. I guess there are always old episodes of Homicide Hunter on Hulu...

Listening to: At this very moment, the audiobook of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I told you...it's mostly kid stuff around here. Later, sans kids, there's an Allie Stuckey podcast I've been meaning to listen to. But most of the day, if I try and listen to anything that isn't geared toward children, I get an indignant "I don't WANT to listen to this!!" from my lovely oldest child. I would force the issue and make her listen to a podcast with me, but she's 3 1/2. The incessant questions would just drive me insane. I can hear it now. "Mom, what's critical race theory?" She's already asked me recently how babies get out of tummies and I am for sure putting that off as long as possible. 

Baking: Norwegian sweet buns! Yesterday, I had a random urge to make something from Norway. I am 6% Norwegian, after all, and I felt like getting in touch with my roots (lol). Enter Google and a recipe for skolebrod, or skoleboller (literally "school bread"). They turned out pretty good! They're a lightly-spiced (cardamom) sweet bun with a vanilla custard center and a lemon glaze on top. I didn't have shredded coconut on hand and I'd make a few tweaks next time, but I'd definitely make these again. 

Missing: My macrame projects. I've been on about a two year hiatus thanks to moving, having a baby, and now not really having anywhere to do it. In our house in Alaska, Isaiah kinda jerry-rigged a way for me to make things hanging from hooks and a dowel in the doorway between our kitchen and living room. But since we are currently renting, we can't really do anything like that, and there isn't a good place for that in this house anyway. I have seen a ton of people use clothing racks but that means I'd have to buy one and I just don't want to spend money on that. My other problem is what to do with projects once I make them. I don't have a great place to sell them - Etsy is far too saturated these days. In Sitka, I was doing craft fairs, and that was a ton of fun. I noticed that there was a farmer's market/craft fair one town over from us last year, but they were only allowing vendors selling either food, or Covid-related items (handmade soaps, hand sanitizer, masks, etc). I have no clue what the situation is going to be this year. Besides, I'd have to figure out Washington state business license rules, tax laws, etc. and I just don't have the time or energy to do that right now. 

Laughing at: and also shocked and appalled at how quickly toddlers go from cute and loveable to sassy and snotty. I used to chuckle at the term "threenager" because, ha, three year olds are not thirteen year olds, how silly! But oh my goodness. Suddenly my lovely daughter has learned how to make a scoffing noise with her throat, roll her eyes, and say things like "leave me alone." I am not joking when I say she did not learn these things from me, and we are pretty careful about what we let her watch on television. Needless to say, if I got paid for the number of times I said "That is not kind, try again," in a day I could probably claim an income on next year's tax returns.

Wishing: That it didn't get so cold at night still! It's been getting up into the 50s during the day, which is amazing, but it's still right around freezing at night. It's not a big deal, it just means the ground stays wet pretty much 24/7 which is annoying when you have little kids that want to go outside and play in the sun, but you don't feel like dealing with the soggy mess 45 minutes later when they want to come back inside because they're "bored."

Wanting: A krumkake iron. I told you I'm getting into all things Norwegian! I'm even loosely attempting to learn the language.