Hello there! Just a quick pop-in to talk books and movies because Friday night, yay!

I just started Sing, Unburied, Sing which is shaping up to be quite good. I have another book waiting to be picked up from the library, plus a friend just handed me this book, too. I love it when there’s a plethora of good reading material at my fingertips.

To the younger two, I am currently reading Jane Eyre. They both drag their feet about it, but now that Mr. Rochester’s bed went up in flames, they’re a little more engaged.

My younger son is reading the first book in The Wheel of Time series. At first he didn’t like it, but I made him persevere and now he’s hooked. With fourteen ENORMOUS books in the series, he should be good to go for the entire winter, me thinks.

I had both my older two kids read this Time article. My older daughter said she was going to snapchat it to her friends (ha). My older son says I should read this Atlantic article (also about smartphones) next.

Last night we finished watching season three of The Great British Baking Show. It’s my favorite season thus far. I cried.

Olive Kitteridge: my mother got the DVDs through Netflix and I finished watching them last night. After the first episode (there are four), my husband refused to watch, saying they were too depressing. I, however, found them absolutely delightful. Frances McDormand is a superb actor (and she has a new movie coming out, yay). Highly, highly recommend.

I’m mulling over whether or not Monty Python and the Holy Grail would be a good family movie. It’s been so long since I’ve seen it. Thoughts?

I can’t wait until Lady Bird hits Redbox!

I’m rewatching all of Stranger Things, this time with my mother and older daughter (see photo). Tonight is our third viewing session this week (we’ll finish season one and maybe start on season two)!

In other news, I made a tiramisu and tomorrow is our post-Thanksgiving turkey feast. Also, we might get our tree.

Now, gotta go make popcorn….

Happy first weekend of December!
xo

This same time, years previous: writing: behind the scenes, in the sweet kitchen, the day before, the quotidian (12.1.14), Thanksgiving of 2013, pot of red beans.

For Thanksgiving, we once again shlepped our way down to Tennessee, this year with Alice, aka the best traveling dog in the world, in tow. There were coffee and donuts each way because survival. 

Once in Tennessee, highlights included:

*Eating, duh…

*The annual Turkey Trot (in which this mama kicked one eighteen-year-old son’s butt, take THAT, Youth).
*Thrift store shopping.
*Constant Kitchen Clean-Up…

*The always-open hot chocolate bar…

*Reading (I finished this book and then, on the way home, I read this one — so good — from start to finish).
*Over-priced candy buying…

*Soccer games on the turf field.
*The new Spiderman movie and popcorn in the living room: a couple people insisted on turning on the subtitles but so great was the outcry that a vote was called for and they, the subtitles, were mercifully (now you know how I voted) removed.
*A hike to Point Park…

*Dancing to this song, which ended up being the weekend’s soundtrack (to get the full effect, blast it) via Alexa…

*Towel snapping wars…

*Nyquil shots
*Arm wrestling paired with Shakespearean insults…

And then, when everyone was sufficiently stuffed to the gills with family, food, and frolicking — the Holy Thanksgiving Trinity — we loaded up the van and drove home, the end.

This same time, years previous: Chattanooga Thanksgiving of 2016, curried Jamaican butternut soup, Chattanooga Thanksgiving of 2015, apple crumb pie, in my kitchen: 7:35 a.m., a treat, how to use up Thanksgiving leftovers in 10 easy steps, monster cookies, peppermint lip balm. 

This same time, years previous: spiced applesauce cake with caramel glaze, in my kitchen: noon, apple raisin bran muffins, sock curls, candid crazy, the quotidian (11.19.12), orange cranberry bread, chocolate pots de creme, brownies.