It’s Monday & It Snowed in Southern California

In case you missed it, it snowed in California this weekend and, more specifically, it snowed in Southern California. I got several texts asking me if it was snowing where I lived, and my answer to each was no. Because I did not see the snow. I saw the hail, I saw the rain, but I did not see the snow. If it did snow where I lived, it was before I woke up.

My mother called me and asked if I was sure I lived in Southern California because all of her weather sources were telling her snow, but I was not. So, yes, my mother thought I was LYING to her because I wasn’t filming snow from my patio door. (This is mostly a joke.)

Group text was lit, tho.

a picture of a group text exchange

Text from the photo says:

[picture of snowy landscape with a link title “Desert snow: Rare snowfall accumulates in Palm Springs during SoCal storm

Person 1: This is wild.

Me: Welp. It’s the end times

Me: Nice knowing you all

Me: We’ll see which of us gets left behind shortly, I guess

Also, I know it’s feeling real fifth season-y, but it has snowed in Los Angeles before.

So maybe the end is only a little near.

I also read some books since my last post:

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It’s Monday & I hope this posts before midnight

I am writing this at 10:55 p.m. WILL I MAKE THE DEADLINE? I hope so. (The answer, btw, is yes. Hitting post on this at 11:15.)

I won’t be participating in Month of Faves this week because I never post my fave books before December 31 as I may read one of my favorite books of the year between now and then. So, here’s a recap of all my Month of Faves posts from the past week instead:

I also read some books and watched some movies:

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#AMonthofFaves Jólabókaflóð

Today’s Month of Faves topic is actually favorite books read this year. However, I’m still reading, and one of the two books I’m currently finishing could make that list. So instead, today I’m going to talk about how we celebrated Jólabókaflóð (Yule Book Flood) that I mentioned in my #AMonthofFaves This Is How I Holiday Away From Home post. This can either be categorized as a part two of that post OR as fitting the day/weekend in the life post that I missed because I was grading non-stop.

amonthoffaves19

Here was the plan for Jólabókaflóð.

Everyone (me, my best friend Fernie, her husband, and the four kids–“kids” even though three of them are grown) are all going to put our names in a hat, draw a name, and then go to the used bookstore and pick a book for that person. Then, we’re going to make hot cocoa and sit around and read on actual Christmas Eve.

Here’s what we actually did based on ideas we all contributed as we tried to work out logistics. As a reminder, there were seven of us in total participating.

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It’s practically Monday, so here’s what I’m reading

This is it! My last weekly roundup of the year because tomorrow will be all about wrapping up the WHOLE YEAR. Whew. 2018, man. I had a lot of personal ups and downs this year, and they were all very keenly felt. Many were good and a lot more than I would have liked were emotionally intense and draining. It will be interesting (in a good way, I hope) to see what 2019 brings.

I have been in super vacation mode for the past week. In fact, I’ve been so in the vacation zone that I only made it to the gym once (on Christmas Eve) for low impact exercise, which was me and a bunch of elderly people. It was a pretty good workout–especially considering I didn’t do any other exercise last week–and I should probably repeat that tomorrow since this upcoming week looks to be more of the same. Except I’ll be taking a short trip to San Diego, so that may include more walking.

Continue reading “It’s practically Monday, so here’s what I’m reading”

Goal: fewer work dates, more play dates

1. A lot has been going on this week. I asked some friends how they were and what was happening, and then I listed two things for myself and thought of a bunch more. But then I remembered I have a blog.

you_have_a_blog
Not really, Willy Wonka, and to be honest, I don’t like your tone. (source)

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It took me over two hours to write this post.

Not because it was hard, but because (a) my daughter kept talking to me and (b) I kept getting distracted by The Oscars. And Twitter and Facebook. Also, I was trying to figure out which leggings to buy. Anyway.

Okay, I had to look at my calendar to see what I actually did this past week. Is that sad? It feels sad. I guess it’s a good thing I’m doing the Slice of Life challenge next month, huh? Anyway, that’s where I am. So yes, this past week I:

  • went to a Hamilton trivia night (my team lost)
  • went to the dentist
  • went to a search committee meeting for the church’s new minister
  • attended a plagiarism hearing as a witness
  • visited an astronomy class as part of the pilot Teaching Squares program at my school (and learned quite a bit!)
  • attended a student conduct hearing as a member of the conduct board
  • went to see a student production of The Drowsy Chaperone, which was super fun (I love a good farce and a good meta-narrative)
  • dropped in to a party I wasn’t invited to to visit a friend who was only in town for one night
  • went to the Women’s March celebration and activist fair held by the local chapter of the march

And that doesn’t even count my regularly scheduled activities (work, gym, etc.).

Continue reading “It took me over two hours to write this post.”

It’s Monday & I am plugging away at the Read Harder challenge

To be quite honest, though, I did feel like chucking it all after I made my post about my planned reads. I mean, do I really want to spend my winter break doing a bunch of required reading? Especially when there are other books I want to read but probably don’t meet the challenge? But then I had to remind myself that none of this is actually required, and I am doing this for fun (and also because I am committed to winning–even if it’s just at this one thing with no actual prize except the thrill of victory). Plus, some of these books I actually want to read. So on I go.

Me after finishing this challenge, probably (source)
Me after finishing this challenge, probably (source)

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It’s Monday & I am DONE with this semester!

That’s right. All grades are in, and this long and exhausting semester is over.

It's handled.
It’s handled. (Source: GIPHY)

(Fun fact: When looking for the name of the character featured in that gif, I discovered that ABC is doing a Magnum P.I. spinoff/reboot. Interesting. Could this fill the Psych void in my heart?)

This is so exciting! I get to read books and decorate for Christmas and clean my house and unpack from my move this summer!

Also, this post will be all over the place.

Continue reading “It’s Monday & I am DONE with this semester!”