Right now

Right now...* 

*(an occasional (mostly monthly) meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current"). (Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first "The Current" post, here.)

Pandemic diary/update: January was Month #34 (going on #35) of living with the COVID-19 pandemic, with dark reports of the emergence of a new, even-more-contagious/transmissible Omicron variant, XBB.1.5 -- which has been dubbed with the ominous-sounding nickname of "the Kraken" (!). Although the province's Chief Medical Officer recently reported that the numbers of covid and other respiratory illness cases are stabilizing/improving, hospitals are still swamped, shelves remain bare of many basic medications, particularly for children (Tylenol, etc.), and antibiotics are also rumoured to be in short supply. 

This is NOT over. :(  

(It's not just me...!  Even the World Health Organization declined to declare the global health emergency is over, albeit the director-general said “there is no doubt that we’re in a far better situation now” than a year ago.) (Notwithstanding the U.S. government's intention to let the emergency designation expire in May...)   

On the personal pandemic front: This was a(nother!) busy month for us! We remain covid-free -- and hope to stay that way! -- although dh has had a nasty, lingering cold for the past several weeks (rapid tests to date have been negative) -- but we're trying to get out a little more, while still taking precautions. We still mask in public places (albeit we usually don't in smaller/family settings). 

On top of dh's solo trips to the supermarket for groceries (about once a week), and for occasional takeout lunches & dinners: 

• We flew home on Jan. 2nd. after 17 (!) days with my family over Christmas and New Year's (in retrospect, maybe a LITTLE too long...!). 
• PND came over to play cards with us on New Year's Day, before we left.   
• We both went to the supermarket for groceries and takeout soup for lunch the next day (Jan. 3rd), and then headed over to BIL's so dh could help him out with some paperwork. 
• Even though Little Great-Nephew is not at his grandparents' house every day now (since his mom went on disability with carpal tunnel syndrome), we still got to see him several times this month:  
• I stayed with SIL & LGN on Jan. 4th while dh & BIL went out to run some errands.  (Described in this post.) 
• Sunday, Jan. 15th, we drove with BIL & SIL to a smalltown arena north of us to watch Little Great-Nephew skate!!  <3  
• Older Nephew's Wife had an appointment and dropped off LGN at BIL & SIL's for a few hours on Jan. 20th.  :)  (Described here.) 
• We headed up to Older Nephew's on Thursday afternoon (Jan. 26th) with BIL & SIL, where we had a nice visit with everyone -- including the dog, lol.  :)  (Related post here.) 
• BIL & SIL came over for coffee after dinner on Jan. 6th. 
• For my birthday on Jan. 12th, we went to the art gallery, bookstore and supermarket. BIL & SIL dropped by later too (as I wrote here). 
• The next day (Friday the 13th!) saw us back in our old community for haircuts, with side trips to the cemetery to visit Katie and to the frozen foods store to stock up on a few convenience items for the freezer compartment. 
• Monday, Jan. 16th, we headed into the city to our optometrist's midtown office to check on the eye I had surgery on this past summer.  
• We stopped at the supermarket on our way back home for groceries & takeout lunch. 
• Wednesday, Jan. 18th, we took our Dyson humidifier/purifier/fan unit to the company's warehouse about a half-hour's drive away for repair.  (The story here and here.) 
• We returned to collect our repaired unit on Friday (Jan. 20th)(as mentioned here). 
• We went to the bank on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 24th, to meet with our financial advisor there, then to the bookstore for a browse, and finally the supermarket for takeout pizza slices for lunch. 
• Last Saturday afternoon (the 28th), we went with BIL & SIL to visit stepMIL & family and deliver some (slightly??) belated Christmas presents. It was the first time we'd been there since stepMIL's 80th birthday party last summer.
• Before heading home, we paid a quick visit to Katie at the cemetery -- BIL & SIL had not been there in a long time and expressed an interest in going -- always nice. :)
• And we picked up some takeout teriyaki rice/noodle bowls from the supermarket and took them back to BIL & SIL's for supper before heading home. 

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Also right now:  

Reading: I got the 2023 reading year off to a great start by finishing 6 books in January (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads, & tagged "2023 books").  

• "The Empty World" by D.E. Stevenson (before my D.E. Stevenson group's chapter-by-chapter read & discussion -- see below). (My review.)   
• "Living the Life Unexpected" by Jody Day of Gateway Women.  This was a year-plus-long, chapter-by-chapter group read within the private online Gateway Women (now called Lighthouse Women) community, which started in January 2022 and just wrapped up -- and since I've read the book before (several times!), I'm counting this one as a re-read. (We're starting a new group read of the book again soon, back at chapter 1!) (My review.) 
• "Anne of Avonlea" by L.M. Montgomery. (My review.) 
• "Anne of the Island" by L.M. Montgomery (#3 in the series, first published in 1915). I read this as my LMM Readathon Facebook group's chapter-by-chapter group read and discussion was beginning, on Jan. 9th. I will count it as a re-read when we're finished, at the end of May. (My review.) 
• "The Metal Heart" by Caroline Lea (the January/February selection for my Gateway/Lighthouse Women NoMo Book Club. Our Zoom discussion is scheduled for Feb. 26th).  (My review.) 
• "Spare" by Prince Harry. (My review.) 

This brings me to 6 books read to date in 2023,  13% of my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. :)  I am currently (for the moment, anyway...!) 3 books ahead of schedule to meet my goal. 

Current read(s): 

• "The Empty World" by D.E. Stevenson, together with my D.E. Stevenson group. We just started our discussion on Jan. 29th. I will count this as a re-read once we're finished, in late April.    
• "Anne of the Island" by L.M. Montgomery, with my LMM Readathon Facebook group.  (See above!)  I will count this as a re-read when we're finished at the end of May.  
• "The Menopause Manifesto" by Dr. Jen Gunter. (I will re-start this one... someday...!) 

Coming up: Most of my book groups have their next reads plotted out for a few months in advance -- and listing them here helps me keep track of what I should be reading next. ;)  

• For my Gateway/Lighthouse Women NoMo Book Club: 
• March book: "Three Eleven" by Margaret Grant (a GW/LW group member! who will take part in our Zoom discussion on this book, March 25th.) 

A few recently purchased titles (mostly in digital format, mostly discounted ($5.99 or less) or purchased with points -- some good pre- and post-Christmas deals!):   

• "Spare" by Prince Harry (hardcover -- see above). 
• "The McCartney Legacy, Volume 1, 1969-73" by by Allan Kozinn & Adrian Sinclair  (hardcover) 
• "Watergate: A New History" by Garrett Graff (hardcover) 
• "Preventable" by Andy Slavitt 
• "The January 6th Report" by The Select Committee 
• "We Don't Know Ourselves" by Fintan O'Toole 
• "This Chair Rocks" by Ashton Applewhite 
• "Ejaculate Responsibly" by Gabrielle Stanley Blair 
• "John Turner" by Steve Paikin 
• "Happy Ever After" by Paul Dolan 
• "The Queen" by Andrew Morton 
• "Nice White Ladies" by Jessie Daniels 
• "Frientimacy" by Shasta Nelson 

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Watching: 

• The four-day-plus spectacle that unfolded in the U.S. Congress's House of Representatives in early January, as Republican Kevin McCarthy tried (and tried... and tried... and tried...) to achieve his longtime dream of becoming Speaker -- finally winning enough votes after 15 (!) ballots -- the first time in 100 years it's taken more than one round of voting.  I always thought that nobody on TV news looked like they were having more fun than Peter Mansbridge, the longtime anchor of CBC News (now retired), on Canadian federal election nights -- he was always as gleeful as a kid in a candy store -- until I watched Jake Tapper on CNN covering this story, lol.  
• (I'm not sure about how the role of Speaker of the British House of Commons would compare, but here's an article comparing the roles in the U.S. Congress's House of Representatives and the Canadian Parliament's House of Commons. The TL:DR:  the Canadian Speaker's role is more like that of a referee, while the American version is more like a quarterback.) 
• The new season of "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates on PBS.  
• Figure skating: the Canadian and U.S. national championships. (I had to PVR some of the U.S. skating, this past weekend, because dh desperately wanted to watch some of the NFL playoff games.)  
• I've seen it before, but saw a lot of it while watching figure skating: anyone see/notice the Geico insurance commercial: "We have a(u)nts!" (lol)  As a proud auntie/great-auntie, I'll admit it tickled my funnybone.  :)  (I promise, I'm not THAT overbearing!  lol)  
• Not watching:  NFL and/or U.S. college football playoffs!  (lol)   
• Still not watching: "Magpie Murders" (PVRd from PBS after reading the book), or anything after the first two seasons of "The Crown"...! 
• Speaking of "The Crown,"  Netflix actually sent me an email saying that unless I specifically affirmed I wanted to continue to subscribe, they were ending my "membership" and would stop billing me. I mean, it's nice of them to offer to not to just keep taking my money (lol), but kind of surprising! (I guess I haven't watched anything on there for quite a while...!).  

Listening:  Last month in this category, I mentioned the Shazam app that our nephew introduced me to before Christmas. When I downloaded it, I was thinking of a specific song that's been driving me CRAZY for a while now. They play it fairly often on the Stingray Classic Rock channel -- it sounded familiar, but despite Googling the lyrics, I'd never been able to find out the name of the song or who was singing it! I FINALLY got my answer, thanks to Shazam!:  it was "You Remind Me" by Sheriff! -- a Canadian band from the early 1980s, who also sang the monster hit "When I'm With You" (which was one of the songs on my shortlist for the first-dance song at our 1985 wedding -- along with "Your Song" by Elton John and "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney -- alas, the inspid "You & I" by Crystal Gayle and Eddie Rabbitt won out, lol).  Here's a link to a live version of "You Remind Me," and  "When I'm With You." (live performance footage, but it has the recorded version of the song dubbed overtop). 

I'm still enjoying the daily Heardle challenge(s), including the decades versions -- although (as you'll see from the stats, I do MUCH better on the 60s & 70s versions than the others...!). Current stats as of Jan. 31st:  

• Heardle (original/all decades): 28.7% correct (52/181, including 13 on the first guess), a slight improvement over last month. 
• Heardle 60s:  80.1% (113/141, including 57 on first guess), down slightly from last month. 
• Heardle 70s:  68.5% (100/146, including 60 on the first guess), up from last month. 
• Heardle 80s:  44.3% (58/131, including 22 on the first guess), down slightly this month. 
• Heardle 90s: 36% (50/139, including 16 on the first guess), down slightly this month.  

Eating/Drinking:  Takeout dinners this month included a chicken & pasta dish from a favourite restaurant on my birthday;  chicken souvlaki on a pita with Greek-style lemon potatos; rice bowls with chicken and teriyaki sauce (from the supermarket takeout counter), fish & chips, and... McDonalds, lol.  It's probably the closest restaurant to us, geographically speaking (we could walk there in five minutes), we hadn't had it in ages, and dh had a craving for a quarter-pounder with bacon. I had my usual Chicken McNuggets with honey dipping sauce, and we split an order of french fries. :)  

Buying (besides books, lol):  I ordered a whole bunch of my favourite Pilot Precise V5 pens in different colours from Amazon. I always used to buy them at Staples, but they don't seem to carry them anymore?  and my supply of several colours was dwindling.  I've tried other pens, but they just don't cut it, in my books. ;) (I use different colours for different things, particularly in my datebook/calendar/planner:  red for birthdays & anniversaries;  black for bills coming due, important deadlines, etc.;  green to tick off bills paid or cheques/deposits received, and the amounts;  turquoise for mail sent & received;  purple for notes on the weather; brown for phone calls;  and blue for just about everything else, lol. When I was working, I used to use pink to write down what outfit I'd worn that day!)   

This bottle of Bumble & Bumble Sunday Clarifying Shampoo from Sephora (online). I am getting down to the bottom of my last precious bottle of Neutrogena shampoo (sob!) -- it's been discontinued, as I moaned in this post from earlier this summer -- and the B&B shampoo was one of the similar products I've found recommended via Google. The price is exorbitant ($35 for one small bottle of shampoo?!! -- granted, you're only supposed to use it once a week, and a little goes a long way -- but still...!!)  -- but I had an email offer for 20% off (plus a birthday bonus), so I decided to give it a try. Anyone else ever use this product?  Do you have recommendations for another (cheaper??) clarifying shampoo I could try? 

Wearing:  Still wearing some of my (less Christmas-y/more winter-y) Old Navy holiday themed waffle-knit PJ tops with yoga pants. Adding a cardigan on particularly cold days!    

Noticing:  How much my mood improved on those few, rare days this past month when blue sky became visible -- even in small patches through clouds! -- and (sometimes) the sun even shone!! (even if the temperature, inevitably, plunged at the same time...!). It really does make a difference! 

Appreciating:  The sunshine (when we can actually see it!). 

Enjoying:  Spending whatever time we can with Little Great-Nephew.  :)  

Wondering:  Whether he will remember any of this when he gets older? (I do remember some things from when I was 2-3, but I've been told I have an exceptional memory...!) 

Wanting: More sunshine!  A little more variety to our days... 

Prioritizing:  LGN time.  :)  Anytime we know he's going to be around now, we happily reshuffle our agendas in order to spend some precious time with him. :)  No matter when/whether his mom returns to work, we know that he'll be off to school in September (!)(junior kindergarten/nursery school) and we won't be seeing anywhere near as much of him after that...  :(  

Hoping:  That the next deep clean cycle for our Dyson humidifier/purifier/fan unit works better than the first one did...!  (Links to the full story above...!)   

Trying:  To take advantage of all the birthday offers I got from various retailers, before they expire.  ;)  

Loving:  All the good books I've been reading lately!  :)  

Feeling: Still a bit holi-dazed (what day is it? -- and how is it February, ALREADY??!). In a bit of a post-Christmas/birthday funk -- and the almost continuous dark, gloomy, grey weather is NOT helping! Dreading February -- my least-favourite month, this year with an added "anniversary" of significance to deal with...  But still, thankful for dh, our families, and our cozy condo during this grey & chilly winter...!