Mum, Dad, and I made dozens of Spritz cookies this afternoon, but the cookie press broke in the midst of the final batch. Mum was not deterred and improvised with the last of her dough, and I used up all the sprinkles I would otherwise have needed to return to their containers with some decorating that looks done by someone more four than 44.

The snowman, provided for comparison, is the size of the average Spritz cookie.

Tomorrow, we’re off to get them a tree and to get it inside before the rain begins in the evening.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
   ~Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Fifty-five miles to be exact. And yet here we sit — nearly an hour now — at 4 a.m., a town over from where I grew up. Sadly, not to watch snow falling (although it is wintry cold), but because ten car lengths ahead of us on the highway is an accident. I’m hoping everyone involved is okay. And after they’re okay, I hope the police get us moving again soon.

Rudi and I headed to the Uptown, D.C.’s only old-fashioned single-screen movie theater still in existence, this evening for The Crimes of Grindelwald, which we enjoyed tremendously. I won’t share any details, except to say that all your favorite characters are back from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and that Jude Law does an excellent job as Dumbledore. We followed up the film with a late supper at a pan-Asian restaurant nearby, where they make a tremendous rainbow salad that I just adore. I also tried their rose black tea, which was very tasty, although I didn’t drink it fast enough for our waitress, who kept coming over to check on the water in the teapot.

I don’t have a lot else planned for this weekend, probably in part because all my days are weekends right now, which does remove some of the novelty and a lot of the urgency. If I get up early enough, there’s a new park opening near the center of the city with a dog parade planned to mark the occasion. There’s also a holiday pop-up shop that might be fun to take in. I also have a couple bike rides to libraries I’d like to get in, but if they get pushed off to the start of next week, it’s no loss. Mostly, though, I just want to get outside and soak up some of the predicted sunshine.

What do you hope to do this weekend?

When I did Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon last month, I entered a Twitter contest that Liz (aka cosbrarian) was running in which she asked which books helped us get through our teenage years. My answer was:

#DeweysEscape When I was a teen I read and re-read the Anne of Green Gables series and Little Women. Sometimes if I were feeling particularly mopey, I’d just read Beth’s final scenes. #itgetsbetter

I was lucky enough to be chosen the winner of the contest and Liz sent me four new books last week!

While I have read Becky Albertalli’s The Upside of Unrequited, it was a library copy and it’s been on my must-buy list for a while (it’s set in the D.C. area just as marriage equality is being made the law of the land and includes a scene that I was actually at). Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson is also set in D.C., and I’ve been on the holds list for it at the library, so it’s really exciting to get my own copy of that, as well. I’m less familiar with, but also looking forward to reading the other two books, The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith and Kelly Loy Gilbert’s Picture Us in the Light.

Thank you, Liz! I’m looking forward to many hours of reading ahead!

Moping is excellent for making progress on stripey socks, so as soon as the sun returns, I’ll have some FO shots for you. In the meantime, take a gander at this washed-out photo that I’m not going to retake tonight. I bought this yarn back in March, with the intent of knitting complementary Christmas socks (cranberry and frost are the colorways), and the time has come to set that plan into motion. I think. Unless I decide to knit something else with them. Time will tell.

I picked up the latest Robert Galbraith book, Lethal White, yesterday after voting, but didn’t have the energy to start it until tonight. I’m already enjoying it quite a bit! This is good, because Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered, which is about two families 150 years apart facing tenuous futures with regards to their finances/employment/housing, is feeling much less enjoyable than it did a week ago. I have tremendous faith in Kingsolver, though, and know she will plot a path through this difficulty that will leave me feeling better about the situation than I do now. But when both books get too stressful, I’m ready to begin a re-read of The Prisoner of Azkaban, which has the added benefit of staying open in my lap while I knit.

You can check out As Kat Knits to see what everyone else is reading and knitting as we head into the woolly months of the year.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday asks about the books we buy (or are given) that languish unread on our shelves. Here are ten of mine (I have way more than ten to choose from), including some from my favorite authors:

1. Frederik Backman’s My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry
2. Zadie Smith’s White Teeth
3. The Odyssey by Homer
4. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
5. Toni Morrison’s Paradise
6. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
7. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
8. On Writing by Stephen King
9. Flora Thompson’s Lark Rise to Candleford
10. Bill Bryson’s At Home

Any of these books you can’t believe I haven’t read and should get to immediately? What titles are on your list?