Happy Things Friday: 16 October

On paper, our week looked like it would be relaxing. It didn’t end up feeling that way!

Last Friday afternoon John got home from Helsinki, and we celebrated by going to bed early (I was tuckered from a very busy week full of commitments/solo parenting, and John was jet lagged; we were both asleep by 10 pm). Saturday morning was fairly leisurely—a walk for the two of us before John and Belle headed to Halifax to do some thrifting en route to collecting my father-in-law from the airport.

To know my father-in-law is to love him. He is genuinely one of the most hilarious people I’ve ever met, but the magic is in the fact he never tries to be funny. He’s prim and proper: holds his knife just so, documents things fastidiously, uses archaic language… and it’s nothing short of delightful. We spend the majority of his visits laughing.

This text from Belle sums things up. Simply waiting for him to get off the plane and out to the car is always an adventure (usually full of at least a few misadventures). This particular time he mentioned that he was on his way across the “concourse” which, of course, made us all laugh.

RECENT THRIFTED FINDS

• I said I had recently bought three new-to-me thrifted dresses, and this is the final dress of that trio. (Each dress was $5.95 at my preferred thrift store.)

Speaking of thrifted… does anyone remember the great blue Nike shoes I found at a consignment store in like-new condition for Indy this summer? Within a few weeks, the treads were bare and one of the air bubbles had burst. I have NEVER met a person who is harder on shoes than Indy. He is so active and things get worn out incredibly quickly. This means we are ALWAYS on the hunt for thrifted footwear.

While they were thrifting in the city on Saturday, Belle spotted these Nike Air Max sneakers IN INDY’S SIZE. They fit perfectly and have become his indoor sneakers at school (we bought a pair of sneakers for school but they are slightly too big, so we’ll swap them out for these ones and then hopefully once these are too small, the other pair will fit perfectly… his feet are growing so fast).

Belle is the absolute BEST at finding things at thrift stores. If you give her a task, she almost always completes it. Once, John mentioned wanting to find an obscure book, and she literally found it that very day. She wanted to find a monkey costume for Halloween (she and a friend are going as Curious George + The Man with the Yellow Hat). Of course she managed to find a thrifted monkey costume at the second thrift store they visited.

WALKING CLUB

I wouldn’t classify my walks this October as overly ambitious, but most days I’m managing to walk outside. The weather hasn’t been the greatest—a lot of wind and a fair amount of rain.

But knowing other people are out walking at the same time is a lot of fun. Thanks again to everyone participating (Week 2 Recap is here).

GOOD FOOD

We had a lot of delicious meals this week.

Things started off with chili on Saturday evening, paired with a yummy side salad. Both were SO good. We had homemade cookies for dessert (ginger and peanut butter chocolate chip).

Monday night we enjoyed seafood casserole (lobster, shrimp, and scallops) served over rice, with salad, veggies, and a berry cheesecake + cinnamon coffee cake (so people had options) for dessert.

Wednesday night was turkey—served on paper plates because turkey dinner creates SO many dishes and the kids and I had to dash out to a youth event as soon as dinner was over AND we had three extra people over for said dinner—with carrots and baked potatoes and stuffing and corn and cranberry and gravy and bread and butter pickles, with pecan and pumpkin pie for dessert. SO GOOD.

Tonight we’re having a traditional Portuguese boiled codfish dinner (much beloved by our whole family) as we celebrate John’s birthday: codfish, broccoli, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, chickpeas, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. It’s basically a deconstructed fish cake and it’s delicious even if it might sound unusual.

And, all the other days have involved delicious leftovers.

I’m tired of cooking and running the dishwasher, but I sure have enjoyed all the great food.

JOHN

It’s my favourite person’s birthday.

I’m so thankful for him. For his love and patience and humour. For our competitive spirit (we played Scattergories with a group on Monday evening and I wanted to beat him SO desperately… in the end we didn’t tally up the final score, which is probably a good thing for marital harmony).

I’m thankful he doesn’t expect or desire a big celebration. I’m also thankful I got all his little gifts pulled together well in advance (the week was much busier than expected).

I’m glad we can celebrate him as a family and that his dad is visiting (his dad also celebrates a birthday in October, so we combine his birthday, Thanksgiving, and John’s birthday, so it’s a very celebratory week; my father-in-law’s one request was cherry cheesecake—which John made—and I was very happy to accommodate that request since it’s my favourite dessert and I didn’t end up having it for my birthday this year!)

BONUS HAPPY THINGS

• The first sip of coffee in the morning.
• Books that make me think. This week it was the teeny-tiny epistolary novel Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. I want everyone I know to drop everything and read it. It is eerily prescient for a book written in 1938. SO GOOD.
• Leftovers. Yes, there was a lot of big food preparation this week, but that also means lots of delicious leftovers.
• Sunshine. It has been windy and dreary and rainy a lot lately. But right now it’s sunny and that does boost my mood.
• Making progress on holiday gift guides. I know some people absolutely loathe gift guides, but I’m pulling together a collection of them again this year and they’re A LOT of work. I’m about 1/3 done, which feels like a relief! Stay tuned in early November.

• The privacy panels on the deck. I love opening the curtains and having a quiet nook right outside our door.

• Robot vacuums. Our floors. OUR FLOORS. The mess on our floors is unreal! Grass clippings and leaves are everywhere (Indy and a friend played outside yesterday and came in covered in grass). The vacuum is running, sweeping up copious amounts of outdoor detritus without me lifting a finger.

That’s all I’ve got today. There are some busy things coming up and I have anticipatory fatigue: a very intense (hundreds of people! loud music! multiple consecutive late nights!) youth conference next weekend, a very real need to get over to visit my parents and offer in-person support/help them do some long-term planning, Halloween is coming (note to self: we need to buy candy), and then Christmas will be here before I know it.

I’m trying to stay in the moment, but am feeling quite overwhelmed right now. Anyone else??? I think I need a long nap 🙂

Happy weekending, friends.

Your turn.

• Favourite food item at your traditional Thanksgiving dinner?
• What home maintenance chore can you never seem to stay on top of? For me, it’s floors, laundry, and bathrooms. Oh, and food prep.
• What’s feeling most overwhelming in your life right now?