Bibliomama

 Not that I think anyone is going to bake the cookies from the recipe I linked to in the last post (oh crap, HI HELEN, hope you see this in time) but just in case anyone is, here's a PSA regarding something I remembered halfway through baking a couple of nights ago: choose a small-ish cookie cutter for this cookie, and roll out the dough quite thinly. I neglected to do either of these things the first time I made them, and the resulting first few cookies were terrifying - no one wants a hamburger-sized cookie coming at your face. I was baking last night and trying to get the main floor clean enough to host book club today and my foot hurt and my arm hurt and my joints hurt and my back hurt and I had this wave of dispiritedness and thought that I can't keep doing this, or shouldn't, it's stupid to keep breaking myself. The salted toffee pretzel bark is probably the biggest hit of anything I make and it's the easiest thing. I should just make eight pans of bark next y...

 I feel like I'm doing that thing where I do NaBloPoMo and feel like I could blog every day forever and then it's kind of a relief not to have to blog one day and then it's almost Christmas and hello not blogging anymore.  So remember the package I got that wasn't for me, that I taped back up to take to the proper house? Today I just went "hey, there's an unopened package on the table, what's that?" Sorry Emily, it's coming, I promise.  I am feeling the seemingly-inevitable dread and pressure about getting everything done for Christmas and then getting mad at myself for feeling dread and pressure because I am a strong independent woman who rejects the patriarchal capitalist social structures that dictate that women are responsible for producing a Hallmark-worthy Christmas. I had to think for quite a long time before I remembered my motto for the last few years at this time of year: "Do what you can, and let the rest go." It's fifty pe...

 I was a little worried (okay, I was very worried) yesterday that going away and visiting Eve and Zarah, while absolutely lovely, had completely removed my previous energy and desire for cleaning and purging and Christmas decorating. Happily, today I feel quite a bit better. I also remembered something that I almost never remember when I'm home for the day, which is that I should not get up and shower right away, I should get up and wash my face and put on grubby clothes and do some stuff around the house I want to do and then walk Lucy and THEN shower. I was almost as happy that I REMEMBERED this order of operations as I was actually carrying it out. I realized something last week as I was lying in bed in the morning thinking I should get up and do yoga before showering. I'm still thinking of anything that could be deemed exercise as a chore, even if it's something I like to do. Realizing this doesn't automatically solve the problem, but it's maybe a start? Today w...