Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

At some point in motherhood I won’t have Frozen songs stuck in my day, RIGHT?

I would have loved to have had the option to vote for Kamala Harris, but I’m hopeful she’ll land a prominent role in a cabinet position of the Democrats win 2020. I don’t agree with some of her decisions as a prosecutor, but I think she’s definitely an asset.

Sawyer and I are running a 1 mile Santa run at UC Irvine on Saturday… and it’s supposed to rain. Lucky for me my kid is pretty gung-ho about pretty much everything, so we’re going to make it work. We’ll earn their finish line hot chocolate!

We went to my family’s house for Thanksgiving and it was an absolute blast. I generally host to some  capacity at our home, taking a year here or there off for just the three of us to have it together, which was what I planned on originally. Then a week or two before the holiday I mentioned I’d like to go home to Modesto one Thanksgiving in the future and my husband said he’d go this year, since we don’t have a dog. Hotel arrangements were made within twenty minute and off we went last week, dealing with horrendous weather and my son’s sudden cat allergy (thank goodness for Benadryl). But snow and swollen eyes aside, it was one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever.

On our way home from the Central Valley we timed it so we could use out tickets to a really spectacular light show at a botanical garden near Pasadena. It was freezing but stunning. We have lots of fun Christmas activities planned this year, so I’ll do some sort of picture round up in a few weeks, instead of sporadic barrages.

There have been a few articles floating around on the internet about how so much of the “Christmas magic” falls on the woman’s plate and I have mixed feelings about it all. Yeah, that’s true, but it’s all totally optional. I actively decide to plan fun things for my son, no one is expecting me to or telling me that I must. There are things I have decided to sit out this year and no one has given me any grief. It isn’t like cleaning or cooking; those things have to get done and the balance of gender equality is a relevant discussion there. I can see the transfer, but I guess the fact that I really have a ton of fun with the holiday hullabaloo prevents me from getting my feminist undies in a wad.

While we’re on the topic… the Peloton add. I guess I’m going to be a bad feminist again- people got a little too triggered by it. People are reading way too much into it; she got a crazy expensive bike from her husband, worked hard at being diligent about using it, and was happy with the outcome. If anything, the actress over-acted a tad, but, honestly, there are so many worse examples of patriarchy and body-shaming in this world to get upset about. (I haven’t watched Black Mirror; I head there’s a connection, but… I don’t care ?)

My reading has been really slow lately, since I’m trying to get through some Etsy special orders and end-of-the-semester grading. I need to read seven books, though, so as soon as those things are done it’s double time!

I was so lucky to spend time with two friends on separate occasions during Thanksgiving break and, I swear, it was like free therapy (we all said the same, too). It’s just so helpful to have sounding boards in life and I am so lucky that I have some amazing ones. And it’s awesome that it’s mutual; we take turns needing feedback and it never feels one-sided or unfair. I have definitely hit the friend jackpot.