Well, that was a doozy of a week!
My part of the world (and honestly, most of North America, it seems) got walloped with winter. It was absolutely frigid and, to add insult to injury, we got an absolute buttload of snow. Knowing it was coming made it easier to prepare—we stocked up on groceries, and I confidently told the kids there was positively no chance of school on Monday (I didn’t even bother checking my phone).
Saturday morning my watch said –15°C… but with the windchill it was –25°C. SO COLD.
Let’s talk Happy Things!
IT’S FIG TIME!!!!
Eeks—February came quickly!! That means that our gratitude practice starts THIS SUNDAY. Here are all the details, and I’ll repost a handy printable as wel!
I’m planning to share recaps on February 11th, 18th, 25th and March 4th. If you have FIGs and/or photos you’d like me to include, please e-mail them to me at: optimisticmusings {at} gmail {dot} com
STAYING WARM
I feel like this time of year I spend a lot of time and energy trying to stay warm, get warm… or at least feel slightly less cold.
I’ve taken to layering my two thrifted puffer items: I wear my long coat and then layer my long vest over top. I look like a black marshmallow, but I’m a few degrees warmer than usual. Gotta take wins where I can get them.
Warm food also helps. I cleared out some veggies in the fridge and made a quick and easy Instant Pot stew (this recipe, which I followed fairly closely). Next time I think I’ll cut the cook time to 30 minutes and do a quick release; the veggies were a teensy bit mushy, but still delicious.
A PROPER SNOW STORM
While I’m not generally a fan of snow, if it’s going to snow I’m of the mind it should have the decency to really snow. The days off school felt fully justified, and we hired out snow removal. We usually shovel our driveway ourselves, but there was SO MUCH SNOW, and for the first time in several years we paid for a tractor snowblower to come. I can confidently say it was worth every single penny.
We still got out for a few walks. Monday morning, Belle and I walked over to my parents’ place for coffee and a chinwag. John, Indy and I did a short walk through the woods.
Indy and I went sledding in our backyard.
But most of the time was spent inside. We did laundry. John and Indy deep-cleaned Ferrari’s fish tank. I blogged, read books, prepped some invoices for work, and watched Indy play Minecraft. Belle babysat a lot.
On Tuesday, our big snow day outing was sledding. We went to a local hill and I supervised SIX kids and (this is the important bit) everyone came home without any broken bones despite some pretty epic stunts.
HAPPY THINGS IN BLOGLAND
- Nicole’s debut novel—Inhale Exhale—is out. I repeat: NICOLE’S BOOK IS OUT. I am impatiently waiting for my copy to be delivered to a local bookstore.
- Engie announced the book selection for Cool Bloggers Book Club (The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton). I’m excited to read this classic from the 1920s. ALSO, I absolutely love Engie’s plan for celebrating birthdays!!!
- Speaking of birthdays, Michelle’s dollhouse friends threw her a party. It was, as expected, a wonderful event. Even Jane Austen made an appearance!
- I am so proud of Lindsay who is heading back to school to pursue a passion in her late 40s!!! She’s going to be taking a Masters of Library and Information Science program. How cool is that?!
- Rebecca finds the most creative ways to make reading more fun—her latest idea is a TBR Jar. Genius. Also, scroll to the bottom of her post for the best “books read this year” sign I’ve seen.
- Kyria rounded up advice for our 20-year-old selves. I’m always up for crowdsourced wisdom!
- Pictures of Suzanne’s cat, Leo, always brighten my day.
- And speaking of kitties… Jenny has a (temporary/permanent?) pint-sized feline friend!!
BONUS HAPPY THINGS
- One of my 26 for 26 goals was to watch Rebecca with Joy (based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier). It lived up to the hype! Of course I had to immediately text the person who got me started on Hitchcock movies—Birchie! She was with us in spirit.
- It’s been a tough season for Indy’s soccer team for all sorts of reasons. BUT, he has played his heart out, and it warms my heart to see him consistently participate with kindness and respect (more than can be said for some teammates and opposing players). And he consistently scores goals, too!
- Crossing things off my to-do list!
- When I was cutting up salad ingredients, I realized I could stick my toes in front of the heating vent! Also, not everyone likes the same ingredients in their salad, so I made a salad bar of sorts which worked like a charm.
- Coffee! Two cups in the morning. A few times I added a sprinkle of cinnamon to the grounds and it made things feel extra fancy 😉
- My purple Crockpot. It’s such a fun pop of colour.
And that’s a wrap on Happy Things from my world this week. Your turn!
- Tell me about your Happy Things!
- What’s an ingredient you dislike finding in your salad?
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Go, Indy! Having parentied kids on not-very-good teams before, I know it can be disheartening. Glad Indy is keeping up his good spirits and scoring!
No real happy things this week. Just the grind. I cleared up a bank issue, but that’s a relief not a joy.
Ah- basketball season is over! The last game was terrible for our team – wracked by illness, my son’s team lost by 30+ points, but they showed up and played the best they could. So proud of them, but I’m happy I don’t have to drive late at night in the dark to away games anymore!
I don’t like salad, but I’ll take lettuce and shredded carrots. No tomatoes or wet veggies ever! Picky eater here, so your salad bar would thrill me- I could construct my own!
Sometimes relief can market itself as a joy?!
It is always such a relief when a sports season is over!
I know a lot of people that don’t like tomatoes! I’m waiting for Suzanne to chime in here 🙂
what a colorful crockpot! so pretty!
I don’t like olives in my salad nor cheese. veggies, any time.
you got soooo much snow!!!!! isn’t it peaceful to look at it?! lizzy has never touched snow and wishes to move to a cold place next time. I am less sure as I like summer/spring the most.
happy thing yesterday was meeting lizzy while I waited my uber to go home from dentist, she was with Sofia who had a dentist appointment. So I took lizzy back home with me. not planned, so happy surprise.
Unless it’s feta, I don’t want cheese in my salad EVER. Olives are okay… I can take or leave them. But Belle and John love them. Indy is a hard pass.
I cannot imagine never having touched snow. Tell Lizzy it’s overrated 🙂
Oh gosh, so much snow! My happy thing – everyone has agreed on a move date – we’ll be moving 30 April!
Coree, that is incredible news. I’m so happy you have all those plans sorted! The waiting and not knowing and having a concrete date is the hardest part. All the best with all the logistics.
Ooh! I do like that purple crockpot! And… I CANNOT BELIEVE February is almost here! Usually January drags for me, but this time it sped by. I’m excited for FIGS!
I love all the snowy pictures. If it’s going to be cold and wintery, there might as well be lots of snow. I’m sure the kids are loving it. If it’s just cold with no snow, things look so drab and brown. Of course, I’m saying that safely down here in Florida, where there’s no chance I’ll have to shovel a driveway.
I like just about all salad ingredients. Mushrooms would be a deal breaker for me though.
January felt both long and quick. We had a “real winter” this year. I’m glad it’s almost February and feel a bit more settled than I did at the start of January. I am also really appreciating that it’s not pitch black at 5 pm.
I don’t like uncooked mushrooms. I would never go out of my way to have cooked mushrooms, but don’t mind them. Mostly because I tell myself they’re good for me. The kids HATE mushrooms, which isn’t surprising.
Oh wow, minus 25 with windchill is survival mode! Very brave to go out walking and sledding….with SIX kids, no less!! The black marshmallow look must have kept you nice and cosy (we probably would have called it the “Micheline Man” look).
My happy thing right now is pure sunshine and the luxury of recovering at home after a long run… including naps!
I do love a good nap and sunshine boosts my mood like nothing else!
Hey, Lindsay and I have the same Master’s!
My happy things:
1. I actually made it out for a run. It was absolutely freezing and there was a very cold wind but I ran further than I planned and also managed to go to a yoga class afterwards.
2. I kept up my streak of strength training twice a week.
3. A dress I ordered from England finally arrived.
4. I finished writing a paper for work and I went for a mental health walk with my friend around a local park. We bought pastries afterwards, and I ate mine once the paper was submitted!
5. I’m going to Sweden this evening to see a friend.
Gold stars to you for fitting in exercise despite the weather conditions.
Have fun with your friend and congrats on submitting the paper AND being intentional about celebrating that “win” with something delicious.
Eek! It has been so cold with you! I complain about it being cold here but it’s nothing like the temperatures you’ve been having!
The F.I.G. Collective sounds wonderful and your coat looks so cosy! You really did get so much snow and the sledding looks like fun!
Yup, lots of snow and more on the way. We’re supposed to have another big storm starting Sunday afternoon, so I’m assuming the kids will be off for yet another snow day. I think that makes 3 Monday’s off for weather in a row??
We are supposed to get actual fluffy snow tomorrow! With more ridiculously cold temps. So I guess if it’s going to be miserable, it might as well be PRETTY and miserable, haha … I’ll be making cookies and more bread and a pot of chilli today to prepare 🙂
There’s a heating vent right under the sink, and I love washing dishes in the winter because it blows right on my poor frozen toes. I’ve been pulling out all the wool socks and thick sweaters and it’s just cold.
That purple crockpot is gorgeous!!!!
Thanks for the shout out, and so many other great blogging finds too! 😀
My sister (in SC) is texting me pictures from South Carolina where they’re getting snow right now!
All of those warm, cozy foods sound amazing. I haven’t made chili in months and I think this week needs to be the week!
Both of my (15+ year old crockpots) broke within a week of each other last fall and so I told John I wanted a Crockpot and he surprised me with a PURPLE one. I had no idea they came in colours like that. It’s such a pretty colour of purple.
This winter has been so brutal! But as your lovely post shows, there are always things to be thankful and happy about 🙂
This winter has definitely been very wintery 🙂
Raw onions, NEVER NEVER on anything.
I could not stand The Age of Innocence or anything by Wharton. So many words, so little substance. I read it while having pneumonia a handful of years ago. Isn’t it odd to remember when/where reading a book I couldn’t stand? It might have been a book with 3 of her novels, because I can’t remember the story but remember the heft of the tome.
Happiest of the happy things: My closest friend since age 17 has been renting the house across the street for the past week and a half (she lives about 1200 miles away). We are having such a good time. It’s a little challenging because we have to balance things with retired husbands, which makes our times of just us that much sweeter.
Our new pastor started this week after 2+ years with a pastor who was increasingly more disengaged. The new guy is high energy!!
I had some very nice conversations with virtual friends from another blog, which went kind of off the rails this week; lots of kind support for those of us who were puzzled and saddened by the turn.
Raw onions hurt my stomach and are a hard pass for me.
I am going in to The Age of Innocence “blind” so I’ll keep an open mind.
Enjoy the special time with your friend. That’s so wonderful.
The purple crockpot is SO FUN! I love that pop of color! It’s so unexpected!
I like pretty much all salad toppings. I would not want to have any anchovies if it’s a caesar salad. I am just not on board w/ anchovies. Besides that I can’t have croutons because of my gluten intolerance. But otherwise I’m here for pretty much any and all toppings.
The highlight of my week was catching an earlier flight home yesterday (even though it was a bit of a harried experience getting on that flight – like no time to stop at the bathroom for example). And then I slept so hard last night so my Oura ring isn’t shaming me anymore.
Yes, John found that for me! I would never have thought to look. At first I wasn’t quite sure (is it too much??) but now I LOVE it. And it’s such a delicate, pretty purple.
I have never bought (or to my knowledge) consumed anchovies in my life.
I’m glad you got a good sleep. Travelling is exhausting!
The black marshmallow look is very in this season. It’s too cold to do much of anything – the dog can’t be out for very long, there’s too much snow on the trails and it’s too cold to hike, yada yada yada. Next week the highs will be back to our normal in the 20s and then the world will be our oyster. On a related note, I’m trying to decide when to start my next trip to somewhere warmer. I just need to feel more confident that I won’t be traveling during a weather situation, which is tricky at this time of year.
I can’t wait for Nicole’s book to come in or for CBBC to start! I love reading good books with good friends, and bonus points if they are written by good friends.
REBECCA!!!!!!! I have less (or is it fewer?) than 10 movies to go in my Hitchcock rewatch. The earlier movies still have a touch of the Hitchcock magic, but they are no where near Rebecca’s level.
Good call to go somewhere warmer right now!!!
I got notice that Nicole’s book is en route. We’re getting a big snow storm so I’m expecting it to be delayed, but it should be in my hands at some point next week?
Rebecca was a gem; next time we see each other we’ll have to watch it together.
“if it’s going to snow I’m of the mind it should have the decency to really snow.” <– I agree with this so much (I am living vicariously through everyone's who has gotten snow, because we didn't get any here (never do), but it was colder than usual here as well.)
I love your "black marshmallow" outfit… that would be me, if it was really cold here. (Side note: I cannot wait for some skiing in the Alps in March/April).
There are a lot of happy things going on in the blogworld, which is a nice distraction from all the not-so-happy things in the real world.
I’m so excited for you to go skiing! I just got back from our local hill. It was -8C, but sunny and there was no wind so it was a lovely day!
My copy of Nicole’s book arrived today! YAY! I finished listening to Heart the Lover today, which I really enjoyed. I’m a couple of chapters into The Age of Innocence, and thus far am really enjoying it. This is my third Wharton book, and I’ve loved them all.
I hesitate to tell you that the early blooming trees are starting to bloom here. While everyone East of the Rockies has been getting clobbered with cold and snow, it has been mostly sunny here. Perhaps a couple of degrees colder than average for January, but not ‘cover the avocado tree so it doesn’t freeze’ cold.
Your snow photos are beautiful. They remind me of my childhood in Fairbanks. Does your snow last all winter, or does it rain and wash it away? My brother had a ton of snow a few weeks ago in Juneau, but then it rained and melted it all.
I’m so excited to read Nicole’s book. And I downloaded Age of Innocence to my Kobo but haven’t started it yet.
You have blooms???? Well, it was sunny and beautiful (despite being cold) and I went to the ski hill and had a wonderful time, so today I’m feeling grateful for the snow. Talk to me again tomorrow as we’re getting walloped again…
Our winter’s vary; some years we have snow into April and other times it’s green most of the winter. This year, we’ve had more snow than normal!
I love your purple crockpot!!!!!
My local bookstore called me with the news that Nicole’s book had arrived!!! So very exciting!
Love how you and the family are making the most out of the snow. I haven’t been outside much, but I very much enjoy admiring the snow from the windows.
Sometimes I prefer snow from the inside, too – ha!
Nicole’s book is on the way. But we’re set to get a lot of snow starting tomorrow, so I’m thinking it will be delayed in arriving. Harumph.
I have printed my FIG worksheet and I’m excited to use it during the whole month of February! The sledding pictures are amazing! What great action shots! I’m seriously admiring your puple crock pot. I love a salad bar, and my family does that for get-togethers. It’s so great that people can choose what they like and avoid what they don’t. I’ll pass on the onions! And I really don’t like salad dressing. I often use cottage cheese as my salad dressing.
I love cottage cheese but have never thought to use it as a dressing! I’m curious about that now!
Yay for FIGs <3
Thank you! <3
FIG month! Yay! I love seeing all the snow pictures – and the only reason I’m not sooo jealous is that we had proper snow at the beginning of January.
Happy things – my regular ballroom dancing partner can’t do this season, but our dancing teacher has found somebody who’s willing to assist, yay!
Couple of tough conversations at work that I needed to have are over now and I’m hoping to see results in the next month.
Better grades! My oldest had a couple of low grades on his report, but we’re now planning his homework twice a week, including all the learning for exams, which has resulted in a lot better grades! Very proud, now we need to stick with it…
Thanks for sharing these Happy Things! Don’t be too jealous of our snow. It can be a proper nuisance!
Can’t wait for FIGs! January was a fast month for me… Usually it’s the opposite.. I am yet to do my monthly “good bye, month, hello, month” recap..
I dig the black marshmallow outfit! Anything warm works for me!
I am all about the warmth this time of year. Warm food, warm blankets, warm clothes!
January dragged for me, so I am relieved to get to February. A shorter month and in March I feel like there is always at least some spring weather. January is just… winter.
Happy February Elisabeth! It always feels to me like a turning point in terms of longer days (we’ve now gained just over an hour of light since the solstice and it’s noticeable- by the end of February it’ll be another 75ish minutes of daylight!). My happy thing today is that I can finally say I’m due next month! (Not until mid March but still next month.)
You’re due next month! How exciting and wonderful.
Yes, to really noticing the longer days. I love it!
Sweet peppers. Green peppers. They don’t belong in a salad. I have strong feelings about this. And raw onion. Who does that? (Lots of places, I tell you. Lots of them.)
I just put a reminder in my journal to send you FIGs every Friday! Yay! I like this practice because it makes me really focus on the positive in my daily life.
Green peppers don’t belong anywhere, IMO. Blergh.
Raw onion hurts my stomach so much. I can’t eat them. Even cooked onions seem to upset my tummy now.
You are always ON THE BALL with FIGs and CBWC and it makes me so happy. I cannot WAIT to read all your FIGs <3
I’m pretty sure that all bell peppers are the same, just different degrees of ripe. Green, red, orange, yellow. Why the heck would anyone eat unripe fruit/veggie? I’m more prone to the yellow and orange now. I’m sorry that raw onions hurt your tummy. My MIL is the same way. They are so good in salsa and some salads, so I’m sorry. Also regarding Stephany’s comment below…tomatoes. Most people I know who hate tomatoes hate the texture. SAD. (Big tomato lover here)
I LOVE a good tomato. Sadly they are not all created equal, but a delicious vine-ripened tomato freshly picked is one of the most delicious things on the planet, in my opinion!
FIG FEBRUARY IS HEEEERE. I’m so happy!
OMG, my mom would go bonkers for that Crockpot. Purple is her favorite color. Now I may need to add that to her Christmas list to buy for her. Ha!
I NEVER want to find tomatoes in my salad. Yuck!
You should totally get her a purple crockpot. It’s SO random and SO fun. All credit to John; I didn’t even realize they made Crockpots in different colours. And it’s the PRETTIEST purple colour.
I love tomatoes but I feel like so many people I know HATE them. Is it the taste? The texture??
Sounds like you made the most of your snow days. Nice one! That action shot of Indy is awesome. And I love your purple crockpot- is that a slow cooker? Love mine but it’s boring white, I think I love everything in my salad- not fusssy. But kids are another story! Deconstructed definitely the way to go.
It is a slow cooker! I needed a new one (both of my 15+ year-old ones died in the same week last fall); I asked John to get me one for Christmas, and he found one in purple which is so sweet!
I love your purple crockpot!
I hate it when I find the heart of lettuce in my salad—like, the part you should throw out. It’s inedible, and hard and ughhh.
We had much snow and ice in Georgia. It was lovely, but also, you can’t drive for a few days.
Isn’t the purple so fun!!!
The roads are finally clearing up here; the sunshine and slightly warmer temps are working their magic.