January Scribbles

Disconnected thoughts. The best socks. "Everyone I love is doing beautiful things."

1. We don’t have any snow. Which might make sense if I lived in Alabama, but I don’t. I live in Minnesota. And it’s January. It’s 50 degrees at this very moment. I love the cuddle-up and cozy-in time of year but here we are, almost into February, and it’s practically missed us. No snowstorms. Hardly any cold. Some people are thrilled but I find it disappointing. Almost eerie. I feel like a part of me is missing.¹ I’ve always known that I like living in a place with distinctly different seasons but this winter has shown me just how much I’ve come to rely on them to regulate my mood, my activities, my rhythms.

   

   This picture of Nolan playing catch with me, taken this ACTUAL morning before school, should make no sense.

2. Sometimes, when a kid has a hard day at school, you can take them out for some good old-fashioned fast food and it will turn their whole mood around.² You don’t even need to talk about it. Chicken nuggets for the win.

3. I’m knee-deep in trying to figure out summer camps and I hate it. HATE IT. Hate the planning six months before it’s even summer, hate the cost, hate that all the schedules/registrations come out/are due at different times, hate trying to coordinate schedules for three kids because sometimes I stick them all in the same camp but sometimes I’m a nice mom who lets them explore their own interests.³ I know a lot of people dream of being rich so they can have a personal chef or regular house cleaner, but I think my number one priority would be to have a personal assistant to deal with all the schedules/registrations/logistics/just ahhhhhhhhhhhh.⁴

4. I love that we’re rooting for the Chiefs solely because of Taylor Swift.⁵ I love that we’re all collectively watching football and I don’t even like football. I love that we’re treating the Super Bowl like another Eras Tour stop. I love that we’re all calculating the length of a flight from Tokyo to Vegas. I love that while some dads, Brads, and Chads are bemoaning the state of the NFL, the rest of us are living our best bejeweled lives.

Around the Internet

• “But! It’s also easy for me to read Cristo’s sentence and feel visceral gratitude for no longer being a girl and instead, being myself. If someone were to pay me MILLIONS of dollars, I’d go back and inhabit my 16-year-old body, sure, BUT ONLY with the self-knowledge of my 42-year-old self.”

• I loved this beautiful Prayer for the New Year.

• The Pop Tart Bowl mascot being lowered into a toaster and then eaten was absolutely unhinged and brought out the best of the internet.

• My friend Krista writing about the whole entire thing that is baby teeth. Of course, it’s not really about the teeth.

• “Everything is on fire, but everyone I love is doing beautiful things”

• One of my favorite genres of writing is anything and everything about food. Highly recommend this article about creating chip flavors if you feel the same.

• TikTok roundup: If I was an Olympian, this is also what I would be thinking about. I love you, NYT Connections, but this is also 100% accurate. If you’re not following Mychal the Librarian what are you even doing with your life?

Eating

• This Chickpea Curry from Pinch of Yum is the EASIEST weeknight meal.

• I’m not a spaghetti fan,⁶ so of course I birthed three kids who think spaghetti is the best meal ever. This Spaghetti Carbonara is as close as I get to enjoying it. The kids call it “bacon spaghetti” and I get a pass for another couple of months on that particular meal.

• This is the best time of the year for these Lemon Poppyseed Muffins. I omit the rose in the glaze and prefer to make them in a mini muffin pan. Does the small size make them harder to glaze? Yes. Is the glaze still essential? Also yes.

Fun Things

• Nolan has suddenly gotten into K’Nex. We have an old hand-me-down set from a neighbor that I had forgotten about until he pulled it out last week. So I guess you can add that to your list for 7-10-year-olds.

• I love these socks. They’re cushion-y and warm and keep my feet and ankles warm even when I go for walks in single-digit weather. But Shannon, you’re saying, This is the “Fun Things” section. Socks aren’t fun. And to that, I say: Shhh. Yes they are.

• I asked for this throw blanket for my birthday and it is so cozy. It’s chunky and warm and everything I think a blanket should be.

1. Not to mention how it fuels my climate change fears.

2. It will turn both of your moods around, actually.

3. I love not having them home all day every day in the summer, though.

4. “I scream inside to deal with it, like, ‘Ahhhhhhh.’” (IYKYK)

5. Except my friend Molly, who was legitimately a Chiefs fan before it was cool.

6. My hot take is that spaghetti is an F- pasta shape.