What I’m Into: February 2021

Main Events

Like a lot of the South, Memphis had our biggest winter event in decades this month. There were three waves over the course of a week – freezing rain, snow, and then more snow, with a little extra snow in between. I’ve lived here since 1989, and before this, the most snow I had seen was around four inches, which had always melted at most two days after falling. I had definitely never seen it snow more than once within a short time.

It started out with ice and a dusting (it was already very cold).

Then it snowed four or five inches. We went for a walk around the neighborhood to take it all in. I wished I had snowshoes! We were in the single digits around this time. One morning it was 1 degree.

Then it snowed several more inches, the temperature rose into the 20s, and the icicle fest began.

I wanted to make a family of snowmen, like that commercial where the woman uses snowmen to tell her husband she’s pregnant. It turned out this was a dry snow that didn’t pack or shape well, so this was the best I could do (using my sand castle skills).

All told, we were snowed in for about ten days. The roads were so dangerous that we didn’t want to risk driving. I enjoyed this special experience, but still felt relieved and ready to move on when the roads started to clear. I know northerners like to laugh at us for shutting down over a few inches of snow, but we do not have the infrastructure or support to deal with this type of weather here. While we thankfully never lost power or water at our house, the city was put under a boil water order, which just lifted yesterday after a week. Not being able to wash and clean my home, or briefly, even bathe was pretty much my breaking point after already dealing with a long renovation on top of a pandemic while pregnant and snowed in. But we have clean water again and things are improving, and I’m glad they’re improving in Texas too, where people suffered much worse.

Meanwhile, we had a cozy, snowy Valentine’s Day at home. I got to pick the movies (You’ve Got Mail and Far and Away), and I cooked chicken marsala (no recipe link because, while it was good, something was off about it). Taylor gave me a huge quantity of flowers, which are impressively still alive.

Reading

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (5 stars) A well-off family is vacationing at a lovely AirBnb on Long Island when an older couple shows up at the door in the middle of the night, bearing alarming news. It’s best to go into this book not knowing more than that. It’s probably not for everyone, but I was immersed and read the whole thing in an afternoon.

The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis (4 stars) I’ve liked Mariah since I was ten years old, through all her ups and downs, and thoroughly enjoyed her memoir. She’s been through a lot of crap… and I believe her.

Best of Luck by Kate Clayborn (4 stars) The final installment in a trilogy about three best friends who win the lottery, focusing on the quiet one, Greer, whose lottery wish was to get an education.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (4 stars) Real talk, I do not find the Elizabethan era very interesting, but once again Harkness sucked me into Diana and Matthew’s adventures through time and magic.

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (4.5 stars) I almost gave up at the beginning of this urban fantasy, but I’m so glad I didn’t. In the book’s universe, some old cities eventually come to life and choose a human avatar to represent and fight for them. When New York is born, it’s immediately attacked by a mysterious enemy. Five new avatars representing the five boroughs rise up and have to find each other, team up, and rescue the main avatar. Really unique and interesting.

Everything You Ever Wanted: A Memoir by Jillian Lauren (4.5 stars) A thoughtful, well-written adoption memoir. I now plan to read her first book, about her earlier life and experiences in an actual harem.

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow (5 stars) A unique and profound YA that combines siren (mermaid) mythology, the BLM/anti-racism movement, renfaire culture, and the beauty of true friendship. I loved it and am excited that a sequel is in the works.

The Baby Plan by Kate Rorick (3 stars) A novel about two very different sisters who unexpectedly get pregnant at the same time.

Baking Me Crazy by Karla Sorensen (3 stars) This was billed as the first in a romance series about a bakery, but it was only tangentially about a bakery, and primarily about a family whose sons are “cursed” to fall in love only once. I enjoyed it well enough, but probably won’t seek out the others.

Share Your Stuff. I’ll Go First. 10 Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level by Laura Tremaine (5 stars) I’ve been waiting for this book for years! The chapters are framed around big questions to ask yourself (like “Who are you?” and “Who was there?”), and Laura shares her answers. I’ve heard some of these stories before either on her blog or her podcast, and I was still enthralled. My church book club is going to (re) read this together over the summer. I haven’t really delved into the questions myself yet, so it should be good.

Listening

Loving this song from the movie mentioned below:

Watching

To All the Boys: Always and Forever was wonderful! Beautiful to look at, full of love, and the soundtrack was excellent. I’m excited that some of Jenny Han’s other books are also going to be adapted.

We’re getting our money’s worth out of HBO Max. The access to new releases is nice. This month we saw Denzel’s latest The Little Things, and Judas and the Black Messiah, which deserves all the hype.

New WandaVision episodes are currently the highlight of my Fridays. We also started watching For All Mankind on Apple TV. I love a good alternate history.

At Home

The home renovation continues! Most of February’s progress was painting, because the shower conversion kit for my clawfoot tub was delayed (Taylor ordered it in November). Now that it’s finally here, our contractors can finish the bathroom. Anyway, we had off-white trim throughout the house, which was okay with me but drove Taylor crazy. (I spent an entire year painting trim by myself in my first house, so I’ll tolerate a lot to avoid thinking about that again.) The contractors are almost done painting all the trim a fresh white and now I see the difference it makes! Below, our entryway area to the left is finished, and the living area to the right has the old colors. Our new wall color is Sherwin-Williams Passive. At first we were going to go with Mindful Gray, which looked great in our last house, but discovered this house needs a slightly cooler tone.

The work is moving quickly now and there’s a chance everything could be done by the end of next week! For the first time I’m allowing myself to prepare for what I can do when this is over (like finally start getting ready for the baby). Among other things, I’m very excited to have bathroom space of my own again instead of putting on my night cream in the hallway next to a rolly cart. Expect a big post next month with all the before and after pics!

Eating

Every few weeks I see a recipe that looks so good, I have to cook it immediately. This month’s winner was Rigatoni Alla Vodka, which I made with penne. I will never say no to a vodka sauce. Other good eats: quiche with red peppers and spinach, and a spanakopita melt.

For the Super Bowl, I tried these Baked Buffalo Wings. They didn’t turn out quite as well as I hoped, but I figured out what to do differently next time. I also had a ton of carrot and celery sticks with ranch, and made guacamole (randomly, my go-to guac recipe is by Ben Affleck, clipped from an issue of InStyle at least a decade ago). Taylor made one of his homemade pizzas.

Wearing

I didn’t realize how much it was affecting me for hardly any of my clothes to fit right. Then Alanna loaned me a huge bin of cute maternity clothes in my size, the same day I found a few maternity returns on the clearance rack at an Old Navy. I felt much less frumpy and more like myself immediately. I’m thankful to be saving a ton of money by not having to buy a maternity work wardrobe, but I was taking that to the extreme of not really letting myself buy anything. This reminded me that I deserve to feel comfortable and confident in my prego body, even if I’m just working at home. I’m currently looking for just the right dresses for my maternity photos and baby showers (still figuring out how that’s going to work).

Beauty

I’m not buying much beauty stuff these days, so my monthly Ipsy bag has been a nice dose of fun. Some recent wins: Lottie AM to PM eyeliner in Espresso (because my search for great eyeliner is eternal); a FARAH flat foundation brush, which feels nicer and provides more even coverage than my existing RealTechniques brush; and Briogeo Farewell Frizz leave-in conditioner spray. Unfortunately for my bank account, the Briogeo spray is the best heat styling spray I’ve tried (better than Ouidad). I used every drop of the sample. They have a few other products I want to try too, like the scalp exfoliator scrub and the avocado co-wash. I loaded a cart with these items on their website, but am still hesitating to pull the trigger.

Wellness

February is always a tough fitness month, and this might be my worst showing ever. I did almost no cardio because my elliptical spent the month under a tarp surrounded by construction materials and hazardous dust. One night I pulled out an old favorite aerobic dance video just to keep my legs from atrophying. But I’ve been having ye olde pregnancy heart palpitations and shortness of breath (and even still feeling sick some days), so it was probably good to take it a little easy anyway. I have kept up yoga several times a week, am back to weight training now that the roads are clear, and finally found some prenatal yoga and tabata videos on YouTube. I am LOVING prenatal-specific exercise. It feels great, you don’t have to do anything too strenuous, and they give you all the modifications to make room for your belly. Whereas I spent a lot of of the January yoga challenge laughing at myself about things my body cannot currently do.

Historically, this is also my worst month of the year for mental health, and in a pandemic there’s no indoor social interaction or escape to a warmer, sunnier climate. I was feeling really low around mid-month, just absolutely over everything, but then my sister got vaccinated and that lifted my spirits a lot. She should be able to visit in early April. Better days are coming!!

Your Monthly Rufus

Rufus was not a big fan of the snow. He got very nervous when we tried to take him out to see it.

We moved this nightstand into our entryway area, in a spot that happens to be right over a floor vent. Rufus immediately took up residence in the cubbyhole. When we brought the lemon tree inside (since it was too cold for it even in the greenhouse), he gave it a thorough examination, after not really noticing it previously. (BTW, the tree is absolutely thriving since we brought it in. The most leaves and flowers it’s ever had. Yay!!)

Good Reads

• Dolly Abides
• Kristin Kobes Du Mez Talks Gendered Racism, White Patriarchy, and Jesus and John Wayne
• The best $85 I ever spent: Nursing bras that actually worked
• One Last Goodbye
• I’ve worn skinny jeans exclusively for years, so this kind of shook me up: The Best Three 2021 Denim Trends That Will Last More Than One Season
• The Quietening
• How to Be Creative When Everything Is Bad
• But his books are still good, right? – 5 things Christians must stop saying about sexual abusers
• The Lies Hollywood Tells about Little Girls