Weekly Rundown- All the Things
Oh hi! Did an entire week really pass by since the last Rundown? Yikes. It was another jam-packed one. Lots of cookie baking, present wrapping, and general busyness. But I had some great runs, and chose my holiday phrase of the year! Every Christmas I try to pick a phrase, like “comfort and joy” or “next year all our troubles will be out of sight” (Covid year.). We’ll get into all of that- thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Monday Let’s get this week started! A 3 mile run, and I definitely thought of Kim when I saw that full moon. I followed this run with the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout. Tuesday Strength day at home (I’m not sure if my car even remembers the way to the gym at this point.) I did the CG deadbug workout again, hip stability exercises, and upper body. I have to be a little careful with upper body strength, because I still feel that rib injury a little. Wednesday Long run! I was worried this run would be hot and muggy, so I brought along water. But it turned out to be cloudy the whole time, and breezy. I was planning on 8 miles, but felt so good I ended with 9. I’ve mentioned that I’ve been doing a little bit of speed work, and I can already see the difference. I can’t say I’m running fast, but I’m faster. During this run I listened to a Christmas playlist, and when Jingle Bell Rock came on, I picked my 2024 holiday phrase: “Giddyup, jingle horse, pick up your feet…” As a matter of fact, that’s going to be my phrase from now until my half marathon in February! Thursday I did the CG deadbug workout and hip stability exercises, and called it a day. Friday Oops. Somehow I OVERSLEPT MY ALARM. This was the first day of my daughter’s vacation, so she wasn’t awake. And the cats didn’t wake us up! How is it that they wake us up when we want to sleep in, but they let us sleep this morning? We didn’t wake up until 6:50. My husband was especially disgruntled because he didn’t have time to run. I threw on my running clothes and got out the door for 3 miles. Saturday I did a lower body strength workout at home (of course) and then drove to Orlando! I took my daughter and her friends to a holiday anime convention. It’s a three hour drive each way (oof) but once we got there, all I had to do was drop them off. AND THEN I HAD THE DAY TO MYSELF! It was amazing. My daughter is the one in the blond wig- she and the girl in the middle are dressed as characters from a game, and the girl on the left joined in at the last minute and kind of did her own thing. Their costumes were pretty tame compared to a lot of people I saw when I dropped them off. It actually looked really fun and I almost wished I were going… almost. Sunday On tap- so many things. Since I didn’t work yesterday, I have to work today. I also have a four mile run planned. And cookie baking, and cleaning the house. And at night- MY SON COMES HOME!!!! It will be a full day. How was your week? Did you manage to fit in all the workouts you wanted?
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
The strangest thing happened at Target the other day- this Feliz Navidad mug just jumped off the shelf into my cart! Ha ha… well, I saw it and couldn’t resist. I do NOT need any more holiday mugs, but this one was only $5 and now it’s mine! Christmas prep is going full steam ahead. I made the dough for my gingerbread cookies, using the recipe from this cookbook: The dough is chilling in the fridge! Cookies coming up soon. In addition to buying YET ANOTHER holiday mug, another crazy thing I’ve done lately is agreeing to take my daughter and two of her friends to a holiday anime convention tomorrow, in Orlando. This will be an all day affair, with six hours round trip of driving. But- I don’t have to GO IN to the convention with them. I can just drop them off… and then I have the whole day to myself. At first I thought I would do last minute shopping, but the thought of finding a mall in Orlando on the last Saturday before Christmas is… not appealing. Instead I’m planning to find a quiet location to delve into the “Did Something” project from Monica Packer’s About Progress podcast. I listened to the episode last week where she says “Let’s take a moment together to reflect on what we’ve accomplished, identify what truly matters, and set the right intentions for the new year. I introduce you to the ‘win-win’ formula and explain how looking back can guide your future goals.” If you go to the page I linked to, she has a free downloadable guide. I have the pages printed out… … and all I need is a few quiet hours to work on it. I’m looking forward to a little break from the holiday madness- after tomorrow it will be all Christmas, all the time until the 25th. Have you had any time to reflect on 2024? Do you choose a word of the year?- I do sometimes, but then I usually forget all about it after a month.
The Home Stretch
One week till Christmas- noooooo! I want the season to last forever! But here we are. Tomorrow is my last day off before the big day, and I have a LOT to do! But first… Five or six days ago a pile of packages arrived on our doorstep. Assuming they were all things I had ordered for the kids, I put them into the closet. The days passed, and meanwhile I was thinking, “Man, my Secret Santa is kind of a slacker! Weren’t we supposed to mail our presents by the 7th? I haven’t gotten anything!” Then today I went to wrap all the presents I had hidden away in the closet and- you may have guessed where this is going- one of them was for ME. From my Secret Santa, who turned out to be… BIRCHIE!!!!! Look at this amazing mug: …and all that Earl Grey tea! I love it so much, and it will make the transition from holiday mugs back to everyday mugs much less painful. Thank you Birchie, and thank you to San for making the Secret Santa swap possible. Meanwhile, on Sunday my daughter wanted to go to a yard sale. She had heard they had a lot of “vintage” and “goth” clothing. Well, okay! I thought of Elisabeth and her amazing thrifting abilities. We ended up spending $65 and got: a sweater and two shirts for me (do I need to clarify that these were not “goth”?), two pairs of jeans, a hoodie, five shirts, a ton of jewelry and a purse for my daughter. It was amazing! The bad news is, Christmas will now have to be canceled. Honestly, the things we got on Sunday are nicer than the things my daughter is getting for Christmas! AND, I wasn’t done shopping for her- I was going to get her some clothes to round out her gifts. Now I feel like that would be pointless. Arg. Bad time for a yard sale. The good news is, I found molasses!!! Un-cancel Christmas! Gingerbread men will be baked! And we will have our annual cookie decorating party on the 24th. Phew. On tap for today- first, an eight mile “long” run. Then getting bagels (to be frozen until Festivus.) Bath and Body Works for three wick candles (they’re on sale, and will be gifts for our guests on Christmas Eve.) Do you think the mall will be crowded? Naaaaah. (Haha.) I still need stocking stuffers for my son (the most impossible one to shop for) and some weird odds and ends, like a disposable tablecloth for the cookie decorating. And… I have to FINISH AND SEND MY CARDS. Wish me luck! Do you wish time would slow down, or are you eager for Christmas to get here? Top photo by freestocks on Unsplash
Cookie Palooza Part 1
Last week, Suzanne suggested a vitual cookie swap. Yes! Yes! I love seeing the cookies everyone bakes (although, in a more recent post, Suzanne linked to this article on how to create a “stunning” cookie platter, and now I have an inferiority complex.) For what it’s worth, here’s my “mini’ Cookie Palooza. I originally planned to make two different cutout cookies (regular sugar cookie and gingerbread) plus two other cookies. But I went to two grocery stores and they were both out of molasses. What is going on??? Is there a nationwide molasses shortage? How am I supposed to my make gingerbread? I decided to pivot and save the cutout cookies for later in the week- I don’t need them until Christmas Eve. I made two beloved favorites and one new cookie. First up- luckily I had just enough molasses to make one batch of these Seriously Soft Molasses Cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction. The backstory of these cookies is, one year when my son was in high school, he had his wisdom teeth extracted in December. I was googling recipes for soft foods, and came across this recipe. He LOVED these cookies, and I’ve made them every year since. A quick note- all the cookies I made are vegan! When I’m adjusting a non-vegan recipe, I usually substitute a flax egg (one tablespoon ground flax + two and a half tablespoons water= one egg)) and it works great. I also use Earth Balance vegan butter in place of the butter. Every December, Sally publishes ten new cookie recipes. This year one of the new ones was this recipe for Lemon Shortbread Cookies. Shortbread cookies don’t require an egg at all! I figured a tangy lemon cookie would be a nice addition to our cookie platter. The third cookie I made was a tried and true recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Veganomicon cookbook, orange chocolate chip biscotti. These cookies are SO GOOD. One year we gave them to my son’s teachers, and one sent us a note saying they were the best biscotti he had ever had, vegan or otherwise. I think my family would mutiny if I didn’t make these at Christmas. Here’s the platter of cookies I put out for my family: The rest were packed into gift bags, or frozen, to be taken out closer to Christmas when my son is home. Still to come- Cookie Palooza Part 2, with peanut butter balls, gingerbread men (depending on the molasses situation) and sugar cookies. Who else is making cookies? What are your favorite Christmas cookies? Top photo by Deidre Schlabs on Unsplash