Weekending

Weekending
collie dog gazing at sunset

Scout is even prettier in the Golden Hour.

It’s the weekend, Gentle Readers. What a lovely thing. Have you had a good week? It has been a mite cray-cray here, as it always is when Christmas season collides with the beginning of our melodrama season. But it’s all good. It’s the weekend and we will try to catch up on the things that matter and kick back and whittle down the list a bit, too, kicking to the curb the things that really don’t. 

Meanwhile, here are a few things that I ran across this week that might interest you.

Feel nostalgic about Christmas movies this time of year? Me too. There are lots of good ones, but (imho) a lot of the new ones are drek. This one is NOT drek.  (Netflix) Beautiful animation, delicious soundtrack, and the pleasure of hearing little Irish kids say “baby Jesus” over and over again. I loved it. I love it. And it’s only 30 minutes long so you can afford to watch it more than once.

Speaking about great things to watch on Netflix: this one is super-duper and there’s a bonus: a website that you can find (most of) the recipes on! I’ve already made a couple of them and they are now in my current menu rotation. The only better thing would be to have the cheerful and fun chef from the show, Samin Nosrat, in my kitchen to cook with.

Oh! Because of Ms. Nosrat,this is on the top of my gift list. Maybe it should be on yours, too?

A divorce lawyer’s guide to staying together: If you’re married, or thinking about getting married, or want to someday get married, you really oughta read this. So many good things to chew on, including this: (excerpt): I think you fall in love really fast, then fall out of love slowly. And if you want to keep your love alive, you have to be attentive to all the little things that go wrong along the way, and constantly course-correct. If you can do that, you’ll never set foot in my office.

Want to go into space? Virgin Galactic is making it more and more affordable. Would you go, if you had a wad of cash with nothing better to do with it? I think I would.

Christmas is nearly here! I’ve (frankly) been in denial about all that still needs to be done around here. I vacillate wildly between “Everything must be perfect!” and “Nobody’s gonna really care what the house looks like . . . ” Which one will win in the end? Time will tell, but I’m betting on the latter. This book has helped me–a lifelong “messy”–set up routines and habits that are helping me to the (hopefully) impossible and actually get my big barn of a house neat and tidy *fingers crossed*.

Meanwhile . . . if you’re looking for something yummy to make for the folks you love best, I’m going to make these but shhh it’s a secret,  and also the recipe in this post (and some cute vintage photos of little Mack) is so easy, you’ll want to make it for alll the neighbors.

And if you’re still wrapping gifts (holding up hand) there are some fun and natural-looking ideas for making your packages unique and special right here. (And a perfect excuse for going on a long nature walk, too, which of course is always needed this time of year. Or any other time of year.)

One last thing . . . have you heard the buzz (harhar) about how scientists are telling us that we really oughta wait an hour after rising to drink our first cup of coffee? This is a joke, right? No joke. But I like what this guy has to say about it, and I concur. I’m turning a blind eye to the advice of these scientists. Bosh. For Pete’s sake, also. What’s next?

Oh, hey, one last last thing: I got kinda hooked on this music and listened to it nonstop for a week, and it’s on my Christmas list too (hint, honey). (Caution: it’s so beautiful it just might make ya cry, but crying for beauty at Christmastime is not such a bad thing.)

Have a good week! Be good.

Love you folks!

xxoxox

Amy