Friday, December 31, 2021

Happy Friday and Happy NYE! I don't think the Friday Favorites blog link up is happening today and by the way, the blog world has been mighty quiet this week. I have enjoyed some "Best Books of 2021" posts and some "Most Popular Posts of 2021", though. I really hope that everyone isn't heading to Instagram in lieu of blogging! I much prefer to read a blog post.

Also, did you know you can get my blog sent to your email inbox? Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your email. Or, click follow in right hand corner and enter your email address.

If you are looking for a certain topic, you can search with the looking glass at the top right or at the bottom right. That's as high tech as I get on this ol' blog.

My number one favorite is having Jack and Mason here! And, my second favorite is having this break. I love my job and my students, but it is so nice to just have some time off.

Other favorites are:

As much as I love Christmas, I am always ready to put everything away when it's over.

I like minimalism, twinkle lights, and plants after all the Christmas color. It always feels so fresh when I get everything put away. I know I'm not the only one that feels this way, right?

Monday, I went to the library and choose these three books:

I started with the first one and I am enjoying it so far. It is about a woman in Manhattan in the 40s-50s who gave up her job as a UN interpreter after getting married and starting a family. She is bored with her life as a young mom and is going to get an offer that pulls her back into her past... It's also nice that I have gotten to read outside this week!

I went to Penzey's Spices for the first time ever on Monday. Do you all have one where you live? I enjoyed looking at all the spices and blends.

These are what came home with me:

I have already used all of them!

Just because I'm on break doesn't mean that the meal prep stops. I made a bunch of cauliflower rice and got things prepped for Greek Bowls for my lunches a couple of days this week.

I also cut up celery to have with laughing cow wedges and everything seasoning.

Monday afternoon, Tom and I saw The King's Man at the theater and it was really good. Funny Tom story...he had vacation time to use and took off the week before Christmas. He went back to work Monday, only to find out that the office was closed for their Christmas holiday as Christmas fell on a Saturday. I laughed my head off because he had even been to the gym at 4:30 a.m. because he thought he had a work day. He went and got his tire repaired and then met a friend for lunch that he had been meaning to catch up with. I told him he should probably read his work email a little bit more carefully. So, he was free to meet me for the 1:20 movie.

I really like this "snowdrop" scent. I don't love all of the Mrs. Meyer's scents, but this is one that is really nice and reminds me of snow! Teachers love a snow day! Our district has announced that we will go back to the traditional snow day unless we have a freak weather event resulting in us needing to be out for multiple days at a time. That means no online/virtual work for our students and they can simply play in the snow! But, we do have to make them up so I don't want too many. I may do a "make my own snow day" if you know what I mean - wink, wink. Look at me - on break - already planning for the next time I will be off.

I made an iced coffee with this syrup and vanilla Premier. It was pretty good! I miss my peppermint mocha, though. It is my best concoction.

I was "influenced", but this is a pretty darn good cup. It fits in your car cup holder, too. I have a cup problem, but if it helps me drink more water...maybe it's an okay problem to have?

They wasted no time...the Valentine's Day stuff is out! I love Valentine's Day, but it seems a long way off.

I went in a boutique that I always forget about. If you are local, all of their clothes and Christmas is 40% off. I love having the time to pop in places I don't frequent when I'm working.

A really cool favorite this week...I got to see a girl who I taught with for only one year back in the school year 2000-2001. She taught German and so we were in the same department then moved to another city for a different job. We have only seen each other a couple of times in 20 years, but we have followed each others' lives on social media.

She was in town with her son for a swim meet and we met for dinner. It was so fun and we had lots of laughs! We have the same sense of humor and it was as if no time had passed.

I had red wine, salmon, and broccoli.

I have my new January mantle:

Weird angle - I took it while sitting on the floor playing with Ernie. He will be 9 next month but is still so playful like a puppy. If you sit on the floor, he goes to his toy box to bring something to you.

I saw this on Instagram. Teen parenting is not for the weak and you may be in the throes of it or just entering it. I think this is some sound advice. Also, try to get them in the front seat with you one on one. Lots of good stuff comes out when there is no direct eye contact - lol!

I also saw this and love it...

This was pretty much what I tried to do from age 13 on.

I am trying to do this on break, too. I think you kinda need to treat them like cats. Let them come to you. Don't make any sudden moves. And, please, do not agressively punctuate in your texts. They get really scared off by the... dreaded "!".

I am going to ask mine to sit down with me to get on their college website to set up their payment plans for next semester, show me their classes, and talk about their progress thus far in college. We also are starting to talk about summer jobs and internships. This is a weird in between stage of parenting.

I got kinda deep for a Friday Favorites.

What were your favorites of the week?

Any Fun NYE or Day plans? Read my post from yesterday if you missed it!

Also, this week I posted a Hello Monday - Our Christmas, my 2021 recap, and a WIWW post.

Happy New Year!

Amy