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.