Today’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share what we’re thankful for this year:

1. Our family: I think Rudi and I surprised ourselves by how well we adapted to being in close quarters all the time. My parents and I talk multiple times a week. And my brother and his partner and I have seen more of each other this year via video chat than we have in years.
2. Corey: My dear lump of a cat, with his two speeds — barreling and asleep. He’s been very snuggly this year and very chatty, and our lives would be so much less without him.
3. Our health: We and our immediate families have remained relatively healthy through this year, as have our extended families. 2020 continues to hammer home that this is not something to be taken for granted.
4. Our friends: Whether the ones here in D.C. who would respond to the Bat Signal if I raised it, or the ones further afield who text and call and video chat and email, this year would be so much harder without them.
5. Security: I have an apartment I can afford. I have a job that pays enough to cover my bills and that values my health and safety enough to let me do it from home. I have a family that valued budgeting and saving and that passed that economical mindset on to give us a cushion.
6. Flexibility: Rudi has been without full-time employment for a while, and never have we been so grateful for that as when he needed to uproot things and spend a couple months out with his mom.
7. D.C.’s small businesses: I’m not going to lie: We’re seeing a lot of empty storefronts around here, and more venues are closing every week. But so far, all of our bookstores have survived. Many of our restaurants and bakeries and the farmers at our markets. The mom and pop grocery stores where you can find flour and toilet paper and cleaning supplies when the chain stores’ shelves are empty. Buying local has been important in past years, but this year local has shown us that they are here for us and that our support is tangible.
8. My garden: It’s been an oasis this year, particularly back in the spring when everything was just hard in the city. I planted less variety this year, but harvested a lot, from pounds of tomatoes to, for the first time ever, footlong cucumbers and stripey summer squash.
9. Our local libraries: They haven’t reopened for browsing since March, but they will let you request holds and come pick them up. And that has allowed us to read books and watch films in a somewhat normal fashion. And anything that feels even semi-normal is something to be embraced.
10. Voters: This year has been hard, but I do not even want to imagine what the next four months would look like if the voters of the U.S. hadn’t declared that they were ready for adults to take back over the federal government. Are these adults perfect? Nope. Will I disagree with many of their methods and policies? Undoubtedly. But I believe that they have our best interests at heart over self-interest? Absolutely.

How about you? What are you thankful for?

Oh, and, hey, while you’re here: The Virtual Advent Tour starts a week from today. Wouldn’t you like to take part?

If you’re looking for inexpensive flowers, Trader Joe’s is a really great source. These are from the past two Sundays. The blue pitcher was scrounged out of a freebie pile (one of the best things about city living…).

My office generously gave us all next week off from work, which means I get my first prolonged stretch of time mostly for myself this year. Sure, would I have preferred to spend that time in Connecticut with my family and my BFF? Definitely. Would a good back-up plan have been to spend it here in D.C. with Rudi and my local pals doing a Friendsgiving? Absolutely. Is this 2020, when the lessons of making the best of things and making do and making new traditions is hammered home again and again? Yes, yes it.

So, I will do that. What will my time off include?

• Lots of reading. I picked up this pile at the local library this evening and have two more books waiting at other branches for me. The mid-Atlantic has adopted a pathetic fallacy for its Thanksgiving week forecast, so I believe I should have plenty of time to cross a bunch of these (and some others) off my TBR list.
• Knitting. I just have the toe decreases left on my second sock, so those will definitely be wearable on Thanksgiving. Once that’s done, do I pick up projects I put down partially knit or start something new?
• Cooking and baking. My Thanksgiving meal is still evolving, but I’m narrowing in on it. I’m also thinking that I’m just going to bake every day and maybe see if local friends or my upstairs neighbors are interested in braving my germs. (All fair if they aren’t. This isn’t a normal year.) At the very least, I’ve got a couple pies (or maybe mini pies?) on my to-make list and want to give some thought to Christmas cookies. And I still have dozens of tomatoes I need to do something with.
• Prepping the apartment for Christmas. This is sort of a catch-all item that includes cleaning up my living room so there’s room for a tree, putting new batteries in the fairy lights, and
• Making some progress on my Christmas to-do list. I’ve been working off and on on this year’s Christmas mix and should start working through a playlist. I bought stamps for Christmas cards (also already in hand) this week. The local bookstore is having their quarterly sale and the downtown holiday market has come up with a socially distanced shopping plan. Rudi and I need to talk through virtual tree-trimming parties.
• Biking and spending time outside. I haven’t been great at finding that midday break from work to get outdoors, so I’m definitely going to take advantage of unfettered access to daylight (even if it’s behind clouds) this week. I also still have potatoes in the ground in the garden that I should dig up.
• Having at least one more Netflix date with Rudi.
• Writing postcards to Georgian voters!
• Holding a bunch of video chats with friends and family. We have several in the planning stage, but no set times, so I will need to marshal folks into order in the next couple days.
• Catching up on sleep.

Yes, that does look a lot like my normal weekends these days, but that’s probably okay. If I can make it to next weekend feeling less exhausted and burnt out and on edge (or maybe just one of three, since this is 2020), I’ll feel like the time has been spent well.

How’s your weekend looking?

There was less sun this weekend than I would have hoped for, but also less rain than predicted, so I’ll take that tradeoff (this time).

I got in a short bike ride and Coffeeneuring stop yesterday, ran by the grocery store, and went to the last outdoor concert of the season. Rudi and I had a cross-country Netflix date, and we both recommend Love, Guaranteed if you have access.

This morning there was a trip to the farmers market. I’m trying to get all my Thanksgiving shopping done early — today was a pie pumpkin and potatoes; yesterday was cranberries and cheese. I’ll be celebrating here on my own, so look for a post about what that looks like sometime next week. I discovered an open bag of stuffing my cupboard tonight. It’s already stale bread; can it go … staler?

There were a couple trips to the garden, some cooking, some laundry, and a little knitting and reading. And there was a lot of sleep. But since Corey is now lying on my wrists as I’m typing this, I’m guessing it’s time to do it again. He’s not very subtle, my 20-pound cat.

How was your weekend?

It was another long week here in the Burrow. Three after-hours events for work, plus a major deadline for another department that had me working late/early a fourth day. Plus tomorrow marks week five since Rudi went out to Salt Lake to help his mom, so I’m still holding down the fort here. I’m really glad to have tomorrow arrive without an early-morning alarm.

It does not arrive without plans, however:

• I need two more Coffeeneuring rides between this weekend and next to cross this annual fall tradition off my to-do list. I have several destinations in mind, including one on the other side of town and one in the next neighborhood over. I could do up to four just for kicks. It all depends on the weather and the willingness of my legs to pedal.
• Saturday night marks the final outdoor concert of the season. It will be brisk after the sun sets, so I anticipate a thermos of hot tea will accompany me.
• The lows drop again early next week, so I should probably go harvest that last crop of tomatoes I missed. Since it’s supposed to be pleasant during the day, maybe I’ll dig up my potatoes, too.
• I promised there would be a Virtual Advent Calendar announcement on Sunday, and so there shall be.
• Thanksgiving week is going to include a lot of tidying. (A Christmas tree needs space after all, and none currently exists.) But this weekend I’m starting by clearing off the couch and the coffee table and putting a dent on the space in between where all my work stuff ends up living.
• Two books should really go back to the library before it opens on Monday, so I should probably set aside time to finish them first.
• It is also conceivable that I could finish my sock this weekend. I’m thinking I’d like to wear them for Thanksgiving, so even if they linger on until next week, it will be fine.
• I’d also love to get some pie dough made so I can make a quiche for next week and have the crusts ready for some Thanksgiving pie baking.
• Apparently, Postcards to Voters has kicked back up already for the Georgia senate races, so I may do a little writing.
• And I’m going to catch up on some zzz’s. Have a good night!

What are you hoping to do this weekend?

While I did yank out the flowering weeds that had gone past in my garden (I leave them for the pollinators at a certain point), I discovered my post-sunset harvesting of tomatoes last week was a little slipshod. I found four big tomatoes (the fourth one may have been discovered after I broke the branch it was on, so it came home with me) as well as several smaller ones of varying sizes. Since this week, at least, is due to be unseasonably warm and sunny for much of it, I suggested they all think ripening thoughts and we’d revisit things next weekend.

In addition to time in the garden and at the White House, I also got in two Coffeeneuring bike rides (I’m excited to tell you about them in a couple days, because one of them included a new twist on a favorite drink), trips to the farmers market and the grocery store (to buy myself laundry detergent and flowers), and the penultimate concert in the park for the season.

I also had both a video chat and an audio chat with friends, which was nice.

I did a (very) little cleaning in the kitchen and a little knitting and a bunch of sleeping and may have watched The Avengers and SNL and acceptance speeches instead of reading. This week, though, I need to get my act in gear in terms of cooking and cleaning and the pursuit of laundry money, or else Rudi’s going to return from Salt Lake and wonder what I’ve been doing with my time. (Bon bons, Rudi, eating bon bons…)