Good-bye to January

I'm ready for February, even though we are still in the middle of winter, it puts us a little closer to Spring.  It's very cold here with mounds of gorgeous snow, and I did make it outside for one long walk with the dogs.  I still feel bedraggled many days and overwhelmed on other days but there is still an inching toward feeling healthy and whole again. Soup always makes me feel better!

I made a delicious black bean soup from the New England Soup Factory Cookbook, a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law. This is the second soup I've made from the book and both recipes were easy to follow and tasted delicious. The first recipe I made a few days after Christmas and it fit the bill for how I was feeling: Spicy Chicken and Rice Flu Chaser Soup and my mother had just gifted me several local farm-raised chickens. Look at all the wonderful mothering help I've received! Grateful for that during this tough month. 

This black bean recipe was very easy to put together on a Saturday afternoon and even though I didn't have any sherry in my cupboards it turned out amazing.  We added diced avocados as well because why not?

So, of course, I've been eating well. And reading lots in between creating major lesson plans for school. I had a library hold on The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which I read an amazing review about and the book is short but worthy. It pokes into some philosophical ideas I've thought about over the last few years. The road less traveled or the road not taken...

Let's dive into February and find ways to educate ourselves and celebrate Black history everyday through February and make it a part of who we are. 

Huge gap

I've been diligent over the past months to post once a week and I've failed on this through this first half of January. What began as, I assumed, a simple cold quickly became so much more and as December ended and the week to return to school approached I decided to get tested for Covid-19. I didn't have the major symptoms of loss of smell or taste but I did have a cold that defied all my natural home remedies and proven in the past methods of alleviating a cold. It was a lot of deep symptoms and the worst was that we were homebound over the holidays and could not pinpoint how we picked up this terrible virus. Not only did I feel terrible physically but I was angry because we've been so careful all throughout this pandemic.  

The only highlight was that we'd made it through the Christmas holiday feeling good. It doesn't matter that I spent New Year's Eve on the sofa in my pajamas with a box of tissues near me instead of a glass of champagne. I did have an extra week off from school because of how I felt plus my positive Covid test. I went back to school last week and made it through the week with fairly flying colors. I did crash once I made it home but that's okay. I wish I could say I feel great but that's not the case; I'm still sneezing, coughing and tired.  My husband shared the same symptoms with me and he still feels exhausted.  Somehow our Groovy Girl did not get sick and really did a fantastic job of taking care of us. She is going to make an amazing healthcare professional when she finishes school. I felt really blessed that she was still home for her winter break. We all know (most) husbands are not great caregivers and mine was busy being sick himself. It was good to have someone else here who has a gentle hand and a thoughtful heart. She'll be gone after next week and I hope by that time I feel 100%.

While I've been sick I've read a few books of course and streamed a little. After watching all of Bridgerton  while I was curled up in bed I set a goal to get caught up on The Handmaid's Tale. I'd lost the thread after a few violent and too close for comfort episodes so I shelved it for quite awhile but recent events got me fired up and I am now finished with season 2 and ready for season 3. With a lot more laughter I finished up Schitt's Creek and will go back at some point and rewatch all of this series. Laughing out loud is a perfect way to recuperate or stay sane through a pandemic! We also enjoyed the adaptation of our favorite author Chris Bohjalian's The Flight Attendant on HBO. 

Right now I'm reading Deathless Divide, the second in Justina Ireland's Dread Nation series and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.  I would love to see Dread Nation and Children of Blood and Bone turned into movies. 

I'm anxiously awaiting Inauguration Day because I'm very excited for Dems to be in the WH but most importantly for Kamala Harris to be sworn in as our very first female VP. I'm anxious for our country, for the protests but I have to hope for the best. Welcome to 2021.