It was a surprisingly balmy weekend for January, and I was lucky enough to be able to spend a good deal of it outside. Which means my living room is still a hot mess, only one load of laundry got done, and the tree is still inside and covered in lights (although the ornaments are off).

I don’t regret any of it, and I’m glad that some of my tasks were mobile. I’ll be spending some of my evenings playing catch-up this week, but I think it will have been worth it.

How was your weekend?

Sitting outside in a tshirt, reading and knitting, as one does when climate change is a reality…

Oops! Apparently in my haste to finish my post and go to bed, I forgot the key step of hitting publish. Here’s my weekend planning, now partway in:

I think this is the last weekend I’ll have without plans for a while, although there’s a possibility that bowling doesn’t start until the following week. Volleyball does kick off this coming week, so at the very least it’s the final week where my physical activities consist only of walking and cycling. (Don’t be impressed by the cold-weather biking; it’s pretty much just the couple miles to work in the morning. And even then it’s only because I’m impatient and a procrastinator and would rather leave for wherever I’m going at the latest possible moment.)

Anyway, how am I thinking I’ll spend these next two uninterrupted days of inactivity?

I have some fun things lingering from Christmas (movies I wanted to watch and a couple other things), so Rudi and I may queue up some dvds after he gets back from ski coaching tomorrow and Sunday.

I put a bunch of things on hold at the library and then failed to put some of those holds on pause, so I have nine (!!) books waiting at the local branch. I also have a couple dvds they’d like back, so I’ll take a walk down there and then tote my treasure home.

My living room once again looks like hobos reside in it while I’m at work. I mean, sure, they’re using Rudi’s and my stuff, but I’m certain that’s just a coincidence, right?

Laundry must be done so I don’t have to wear fun but uncomfortable underwear to work this week. (I refuse to believe I’m the only one here swayed by cute patterns at the store only to find elastics will not stay in the right spot when you want to do something strenuous like walk more than a dozen steps.)

We also need to then take down the Christmas tree. Ornaments are starting to slide down branches, and I fear breakable baubles will soon fail to defy gravity.

And finally, I hear rumors that the sun will peek out at some point over the weekend — likely on Sunday — at which point I will drop whatever I’m doing (unless it’s breakable, in which case I will carefully put it down first) and run outside to soak up some wintry rays. The sun is back to setting after 5 p.m., so that could potentially include quite a few hours outside reading and/or knitting. Hooray!

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. We had early dismissal due to a winter storm on Tuesday afternoon. Those of you who live in snowy places will be amused, but in part such caution has to do with the long distances people commute here and the prevalence for icy highways. At least two major roads shut down due to jack-knifed tractor trailers. I, on the other hand, spent the end of my workday napping after walking home in the rain via the bagel shop.

2. Rudi and I celebrated “Little,” or Orthodox, Christmas this week. (His mom was born in Russia.) Rudi made borscht and we exchanged a few last gifts.

3. I used up the last of my use-it-or-lose-it healthcare savings account fund just before year’s end and today the box arrived. Opening it felt like a very practical Christmas present, in part because the money was deducted from my paycheck before I ever saw it and it felt free. We are set for contact solution, sunscreen, and bandages for a while.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

I suddenly realized that I owe an embarrassingly overdue public thank you to Helen at Helen’s Book Blog for a delightful package of goodies she sent me back in November.

Helen was my #TBTBSanta this year. She sent me an amazing box filled with a wonderful assortment of delightfully shaped gifts.

I opened them over a period of three weeks, squeezing a whole lot of joy out of the mystery.

There were little packages that I immediately knew were nail polish — a cheery red and a lovely blue-green. Mum and I both benefitted from that gift.

There were colorful pens.

Helen even sent Corey a present. This is the least blurry shot I have of him playing with his new toy.

And there were books! Three of them! Jasmine Guillory’s Royal Holiday (which I’d been on the wait list at the library for and which I devoured after Christmas), Cath Crowley’s Words in Deep Blue (which matches the nail polish and which has been on my TBR list since it came out in 2016), and Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare (which got such good reviews this fall and which I saw on several people’s best-of lists for the year).

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Helen, for such a great package. I loved every bit of it, and opening all the packages (and then reading Royal Holiday) brought such light into my Christmas season. I look forward to many more hours of reading this winter.

And thank you, too, to Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting #TBTBSanta this year. I really enjoy taking part every year, and I appreciate how much work must go into organizing such a massive endeavor.

Keeping in mind that if I’d managed to see Little Women before the end of the year that it probably would have topped the list, here are the ten movies I saw last year I enjoyed most:

10. Shazam!: A teen boy is suddenly imbued with powers that include giving him the body — but not the decision-making — of a grown man. But his superhero-loving foster brother warns him that with great power comes great responsibility. The set-up of the villain becoming evil irritates me tremendously, but Zachary Levi is such a favorite that I can overlook that terrible plotting.

9. The Sun Is Also a Star: I loved the y.a. novel, written by Nicola Yoon, so was particularly interested to see how they were going to adapt this modern romance. While they changed some details, losing perhaps the message of how random acts have unintended consequences, both good and bad, it did tighten the focus on illegal immigration and deportation in its current iteration. This is a love letter to New York City, as well as to soul mates.

8. Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase: In a modern interpretation of our teen sleuth heroine, skateboarder Nancy and her pals have access to modern tech (Carson has never not texted her at least once a day since her mom died), but still must rely on their wits to solve the case. Linda Lavin has a great role as Nancy’s client.

7. Yesterday: A failing wannabe pop star awakens after a freak accident to discover that no one else remembers The Beatles (among other things, like Coke). He capitalizes on this by recording all their songs, but it’s tough to remember all the lyrics — and why would a modern guy born after the Cold War write about being “Back in the USSR?”

6. Spider-Man: Far from Home: Tom Holland is my favorite Spider-Man. He is goofily earnest as Peter Parker, and it’s great to see an actual teenager in the role. In this post-Avengers story arc, Peter must come to terms with the death of mentor Tony Stark and the interest he has in M.J., while trying to just have a normal school trip in Europe. But when Nick Fury shows up in his hotel room, he’s going to have to make some compromises. Is it possible to walk away from our destiny?

5. Rocketman: This biopic about Elton John acknowledges the pop star’s struggles with addiction and depression, while also elevating his friendship with lyricist Bernie Taupin.

4. Captain Marvel: Vers cannot remember her past before coming to the home planet of the Kree, but when she is kidnapped and then ends up on earth, she meets a young Nick Fury and discovers her past as ace pilot Carol Danvers. Forced to question everything she knows about herself, Carol relies as much on dry humor as superpowers to win the day. Her subsequent demotion to plot device in the final Avengers movie (which you’ll especially enjoy if you’ve been wondering why white dudes don’t get all the superhero roles anymore), was highly disappointing.

3. Knives Out: In this modern whodunnit homage to Agatha Christie and Poirot, a successful mystery writer is found dead, and a super-sleuth is hired anonymously to solve the case. At the center of the tale is a spoiled family and a young personal nurse who had befriended the writer. The story is expertly crafted and remarkably acted, and despite both of those facts, does not take itself overly seriously. This is an entertaining film.

2. It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Mister Rogers has gotten a lot of well-deserved posthumous fame since 9-11, when his advice about looking for the helpers resurfaced to comfort generations of people exhausted by the constant negativity in the news and the world around us.
In this biopic, a hard-hitting magazine journalist is forced to interview Fred Rogers, whom he is certain cannot possibly be the real deal. But as with everyone else, eventually he, too, is won over.

1. The Farewell: Awkwafina stars as a Chinese-American woman who returns to her Chinese homeland to attend a wedding that has been hastily arranged so her family can surreptitiously say goodbye to her beloved grandmother. Unbeknownst to the old woman, she’s been given a terminal diagnosis, but tradition dictates that she not be informed lest her death be hastened. — “It’s not the cancer that kills … it’s the fear.”

How about you? What were your favorite films you watched in 2019?