So, mission accomplished for first Day Off of the week: I didn’t get depressed. I set myself various goals and hit them. The trick was that I would only have to spend 1 hour total on any one task. If I didn’t feel like doing something, I could goad myself by remembering it was only one hour.

So belatedly, here’s a photo of Xmas schloot.

Clockwise from top left:

• a coconut scented candle
• an out-of-print book showing weavings from the Victoria & Albert Textile Museum
• a book spelling-bee puzzles (these are fun)
• a wine stopper – but why stop?
• a tea holder – made in Japan of cherry bark
• a vanilla scented candle (there are 2 vanilla and 1 coconut)

I’m surprised X bought scented candles. He’s normally quite opposed. He must have liked these (he smelled ’em before he bought ’em).

The tea holder is funny because three people gave me tea this season.

Did you stay home today?  100%

What local business or charity did you support?   None, will double down a different day

What’s for dinner? Mushroom barley soup. Along with black bean soup, my main Instapot Knockoff Use Case.

Excited that tonight X & I jointly decided on our menu for Xmas day: tourtiere – a two-crust pork pie – with X making his OWN crust, no Pillsbury involved… and coconut cake – from the Best Recipe!

Did you stay home today?  100%

What local business or charity did you support?   Daily Planet. We never even eat there. But I heard they were trying to raise funds to stay alive. I like giving money directly to those in need.

What’s for dinner? Leftover night

Or I’m too lazy.

Did you stay home today?  Popped into JCAT for my pickup.

What local business or charity did you support?   JCAT

What’s for dinner? JCAT

Did you stay home today?  Of course I did, it was nine degrees out.

What local business or charity did you support?   Blake Hill Preserves. I’m on a roll!

What’s for dinner? Wonderful black bean soup, one of my favorite things to do in the instapot. But I ate too many tortilla chips.

Also, today I was raised & bonused! Normally we celebrate this yearly event by running right out to Trattoria D’elia and ordering an entire bottle of wine. Can’t really do anything comparable this year that would feel special. We already have plenty of bottles of wine in the house and get takeout seemingly all the time.

Did you stay home today?  100%. Tuesday is normally a takeout day, but X opted for frozen lasagna because it’s so frozen outside.

What local business or charity did you support?   Now I’m getting into the spirit and seeing little things that might make X smile. I got a spruce-tip infused maple syrup from a Vermont producer of course.

What’s for dinner? Frozen lasagna.

Here’s the progress on the Warm Color project. The one on the far right is the blend of the four shown top to bottom.

And here’s the Rat’s Ass – OK, Rat’s Head:

Did you stay home today?  Was in town but strictly outdoors

What local business or charity did you support?   Ariel’s Honey Infusions – bought a jar of Lavender & Vanilla honey to make a little gift for X; I think he will like it.

What’s for dinner? It was a steak & cabbage stir-fry, from NYT – OK, that’s two recipes per week over two weeks I’ve been giving the NYT column a try. Recipes were pedestrian when not disastrous. I satisfied my curiosity; I can do better.

Did you stay home today?  No, Sunday is danger day

What local business or charity did you support?   I just bought some sauces from Angry Goat Hot Sauce partly because I like the name.

What’s for dinner? A chicken and bok choy dish baked on a sheet pan; from NYT’s 5 Dishes to Cook This Week. Will be ready shortly. Note I am always a week behind, so I am really cooking 5 Dishes to Cook Last Week.

Postscript: Well THAT freaking didn’t work! My bok choy turned to cinders! What is wrong with you, NYT!? I always regret straying from the Best Recipe people.

Good thing I started early. Time to improvise another vegetable.

Still working on the Warm Color project.

I signed up to talk to a teletherapist. And I decided to do ancestry.com. Both of these decisions out of boredom.

Yesterday:

Did you stay home today?  100%.

What local business or charity did you support?   Really dropping the ball.

What’s for dinner?  Leftover Chinese

I’ve been in top form, but this afternoon I just crashed.

Here’s a picture; it’s a corner of my office. I was aiming for a pic of that little Xmas cactus bud. Yeah I know all my friends with Xmas cactuses have big behemoth amounts of blooms as soon as advent starts. My guys just give me these little buds, just as Xmas approaches and, I LOVE them, they are MINE.

Yesterday:

Did you stay home today?  Yes, sent X to pick up the Chinese.

What local business or charity did you support?   Oriental Wok

What’s for dinner?  Oriental Wok

Today:

Did you stay home today?  Yes, popped over to the library but it was curbside.

What local business or charity did you support?   Supported a New Mexico charity instead to satisfy a friend’s birthday wish.

What’s for dinner?  I improvised a kind of turkey chili over grits.