My college students show up each week for their lessons and sigh and tell me how tired and busy they are, and I feel empathy for them, and I think, yeah, me too! I know you are tired of hearing it, but it’s been a crazy semester. The good news is, it’s going by quickly. (Also the bad news, because who wants life to just fly by like it’s nothing?!)
I don’t think I mentioned that my friend April visited for a few days. It was wonderful to see her, even though we were both working and didn’t get to hang out as much as we would have liked!
While she was here we went to Corner 17 and to Schlafly Bottleworks. We also chatted a lot and enjoyed the lovely weather we had during that time! I miss her and wish she still lived here, but she has an awesome life in Atlanta now and I’m happy for her.
There are just a few days left until Thanksgiving. I am hosting dinner for 9, it looks like, and I’m excited and stressed out. The key, as always, is planning. And yelling at Louie for not planning, while he judges me for being “controlling”. (half kidding!) Here are the plans to make Thanksgiving happen and to finish this week.
Today: attend student recital at Wash U this morning, attend Symphony concert in afternoon, play concert with Metropolitan Orchestra this evening.
Monday: teach class in morning, do big grocery shopping trip, workout, catch up on at home business type errands (I always do my finances on Mondays, that sort of thing, and sometimes wait to send important emails until I have time on Mondays and Thursdays ), teach private lessons in afternoon and evening.
Tuesday: teach last class of week in the morning, pick up the turkey (I have a fresh one on order from Whole Foods). Teach last day of students at Wash U (last day before Thanksgiving break, that is, not last day of semester. Teach last private student. Cook: thinking of doing pie crusts, baking the cornbread for the stuffing, possible making the gravy ahead of time (this is a thing people on the internet tell you is possible).
Wednesday: house cleaning (we outsource this every two weeks, thankfully, and yes, I love the word outsourcing!), pick up rolls at Union Loafers (it’s so unnecessary but they only do rolls for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I love them so much) make pies, make green bean casserole (I am attempting a vegan recipe: I don’t always do green bean casserole, but I thought it would be a fun addition this year), assemble salad ingredients (shaved brussels sprout salad), toast stuffing cubes (dry them out, whatever is needed) and assemble stuffing, pre chop whatever I can (Louie has much better knife skills than me, so I may ask his help or even just have him do a lot of chopping on Thursday). My parents arrive this day at some point, and I’ll probably ask my mom to help out.
Thursday: I’m a workaholic/freelance musician so I’m playing at a church service this morning. Did you know people have church on Thanksgiving morning?? Our guests don’t arrive until 5 pm, so while I’m doing that, Louie will prepare the turkey and put it in the oven. I’ll get back and we’ll finish the rest of everything: potatoes, butternut squash, and getting everything cooked. We have a sizeable toaster oven and a small side oven which could also help.
Friday: Relax! Eat leftovers!
And that’s the week. When I retype my food plans it sounds like a lot, but I think it’ll be a lot of fun, and I won’t be doing this all by myself, it’s just that I am the on in charge. I will share the entire menu later, most likely.
Other things that have been going on that likely deserve more attention here but aren’t getting it today: squirrels in the basement, having a company come and remove a squirrel nest from the chimney, leaf pickup drama, and lots of good books read. I am planning a blog post at some point about books, and some of my favorites over the years.
Books, lately: I’ve gotten into the books of Katherine Center for easy and fun reads (How to Walk Away is my favorite so far), and the best book I’ve read recently not by her was Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. I’ve also gotten into books by Ben H. Winters including the Last Policeman Series, and I read Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See and enjoyed that quite a lot. Looking back through my Libby app (the best way I know to keep track of what books I read on the kindle), if I haven’t mentioned The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, I am doing so now because that’s another good one. I tend to like fiction that spans several generations and goes into great detail, and takes place in another country so I can feel like I’m learning something about a different culture, but there also has to be a good story with it. I haven’t read as many mysteries later, more into the “character learns something important about herself while making a major life change AND falling in love” genre, which makes sense since I’ve been so busy and stressed.
You might ask when I find the time to read: sometimes I’ll have a spare 30 minutes to an hour midday, and I’ll just cozy up for a bit and read. I read if I’m eating a meal alone, I read before bed, and pretty much whenever I have time. I know I’m always happier if I read a book rather than scroll, though I do both of course.
