Monday, September 1, 2025

Right now

Right now...* 

*(A (mostly) monthly series/meme.  Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first (similar) "The Current" post, here.)

August went by in a flash!  We were pretty busy: we celebrated a (nephew's) birthday and a (cousin's son's) wedding, remembered Katie on her special day, dealt with some plumbing issues (that turned out to be more complicated -- and expensive! -- than we had anticipated), sweltered through some extreme heat & humidity earlier in the month, and then abruptly shifted to much cooler weather at its end!    

This month, we: 

  • Spent some time with Little Great-Niece & SIL on several Friday mornings this month (Aug. 1st, 8th & 29th).  
    • Stopped off at the supermarket to pick up some takeout soup for lunch en route home from SIL's. (Aug. 1st & 29th) 
  • Celebrated Younger Nephew's 33rd (!) birthday at a barbecue at BIL's with the entire family on Aug. 3rd. We hadn't seen the great-niblings in more than a month :(  and while it was chaotic (lol), it was also a lot of fun. :)  
  • Went to the supermarket with dh for groceries and takeout pizza slices for lunch (Aug. 4th & 11th). 
  • Went to the local drugstore/cosmetic counter to pick up some favourite foundation before the wedding on the weekend (Clinique Even Better in Alabaster, if you're curious!). (Aug. 5th). 
  • Remembered our Katie on Aug. 7th by bringing flowers to the cemetery, then having lunch at a local cafe, browsing in the bookstore (with Starbucks in hand, lol), and winding up with ice cream at Dairy Queen (tradition!). 
  • Had a manicure & pedicure after visiting SIL & LGNiece on the morning of Aug. 8th, then headed to the bank for some cash and stopped at the supermarket en route home to pick up some takeout soup for lunch. 
  • Attended dh's cousin's son's wedding on Aug. 9th. 
  • Went to the local mall to walk and shop (and generally get out of the house...!). (Aug. 12th & 19th). Noticed the hordes of back to school shoppers (even in mid-August...!) and decided to avoid the mall until after Labour Day...!  lol 
  • Went to the mall in our old community to get haircuts, have lunch, walk and shop. (Aug. 15th) 
  • Drove with BIL & SIL to visit Older Nephew & family for a few hours (Aug. 16th). Had fun with the two Little Great Nephews.  :)  (And the dog!)  
  • Went with dh for gelato -- only to find the shop is closed on Mondays (boo, hiss). Wound up having Blizzards at Dairy Queen instead (lol).  (Aug. 18th) 
    • Returned to the gelato shop on Sunday, Aug. 24th. Success!  (We had our favourites: limone/lemon for me, chocolate for him.) 
  • Went out for lunch (pizza at the supermarket takeout counter -- but instead of taking it home, we ate in the little "food court" sitting area there -- which we hadn't done since before the pandemic began!). Picked up a few things there, then went to the bookstore for a browse and to buy some greeting cards, and then to the drugstore. (Aug. 21st) 
  • Spent the better part of two stress-filled days getting several long-standing minor (we THOUGHT...!) issues looked at and dealt with by a plumber (!): one visit to look at the issues and get an estimate (YIKES!), on Saturday, Aug. 23rd, and then actually having the work done (Monday, Aug. 25th) (and then cleaning up after they left, and more cleanup the next day...!). An experience I would NOT care to repeat any time soon...!!  

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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 4 books in August (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2025 books"). 
This brings me to 25 books read in 2025 to date, 56% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :) 

Current reads: 
  • "The Two Mrs. Abbotts" by D.E. Stevenson. Chapter-by-chapter reading & discussion with my D.E. Stevenson group, which started Aug. 4th and runs through mid-October. (My original 2015 review here;  most recent review here).  35% completed to date. 
  • "Childless: A Woman and a Girl in a Man's World" by Fabiana Formica.  This one is beautifully written, but slow going, and I was reading it (or trying to...!) at Mom & Dad's, where there were a lot of distractions. I've put it aside for the moment to focus on other reading priorities, but I've completed 33% to date.
  • "A Place of Greater Safety" by Hilary Mantel, the current slow read with Footnotes and Tangents, which began May 5th and runs for 20 weeks (until Sept. 15th). This one also got set aside for a few weeks while I tackled other, more urgent book group reads. Currently 59% completed. Hoping to catch up and finish at/around the same time the group does! 
  • "L.M. Montgomery and Gender," an essay collection edited by E. Holly Pike & Laura Robinson. Slowly working my way through, in between the other books...! 
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. ;)  
(Simon is a big fan of the late great Hilary Mantel, and the other books he's selected were all ones that she loved, so he figured they would probably be worth reading!) 

A few recently purchased titles (all in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points):  


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Watching: 
  • "American Prince," a three-part documentary series about John F. Kennedy Jr. on CNN this month. 
    • I wrote a bit about JFK Jr. and what he meant to me and the women of my generation (and reviewed two really good memoirs -- both written by childless women! -- that were about him, at least in part) in this post from 2011.  
  • "The Thursday Murder Club" on Netflix, based on Richard Osman's bestseller and featuring an absolutely stellar cast. The book is better (of course), but as adaptations go, it's pretty great overall -- I loved it!   
  • "The Marlow Murder Club" on PBS Masterpiece Mystery. The second season began on Aug. 24th and runs for six weeks (though Sept. 28th). I provided some thoughts on the first episode in my recent review of "Death Comes to Marlow" (which forms the basis of the first two episodes), here. 
Playing:  
  • Heardle Decades: Stats as of Aug. 31st:  
    • Heardle 60s: 74.4% (763/1025, 302 on first guess), down 0.3% from last month. Max. streak: 15.
    • Heardle 70s: 77.1% (590/765, 337 on first guess), up 0.7% from last month. Max. streak: 18. 
    • Heardle 80s: 40.1% (253/631, 93 on first guess), up 0.1% from last month. Max. streak: 5.
    • Heardle 90s: 32.1% (234/730, 58 on first guess), up 0.4% from last month. Max. streak: 5. 
  • NYT Connections:  
    • By July 31st, I'd played 368 games and won 86% of them, including 189 "perfect puzzles," including 8 where I got the most difficult/purple category first (unchanged from last month).  Maximum winning streak:  45.  Current streak: 7. 
    •  By Aug. 31st, I'd completed 398 games and won 87% of them, including 205 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, including 9 where I got the most difficult/purple category first.  Maximum winning streak: 45 (unchanged). Current streak:  0. 
Following:  

Eating/Drinking:  
  • As I've mentioned before, we achieved our goal of lowering our cholesterol levels in late January, after less-than-stellar bloodwork last fall earned us both serious chats with our family doctor -- and we've been trying to maintain/improve on those numbers (and lose/keep off some extra pounds) since then, by continuing to eat healthier and move at least a little more.    
    • This goal has taken a bit of a hit over the summer -- as weight loss efforts often do.  While you might be out and about more and at least a little more active, you're also likely socializing and eating out more! (a few examples of that below...!) 
    • I ended the month 0.2 pounds lighter than when it began. (I'll take it...!  lol)  Overall, I'm down almost 12 pounds since our chat with the doctor last October (dh has lost more than 18), and almost 24 pounds from my heaviest-ever weight a few years ago. 
    • We'll be seeing our family dr again for checkups (and, I'm sure, more bloodwork!) in late October -- so we need to start getting back on track again soon...! 
  • BIL barbecued hamburgers and sausages for Younger Nephew's birthday on Aug. 3rd, served with corn on the cob, bean salad, macaroni salad -- and cake, of course! (chocolate)  SIL sent us home with a huge chunk. (Yes, we ate it, despite the diet...! It yielded three generous pieces -- we each had one piece one day, and shared the third on another.)  
  • We had chicken caesar wraps for lunch back in our old community on Katie's "anniversary" day (Aug. 7th), indulged with Starbucks while browsing at the local mega-bookstore there (grande London Fog tea latte for me) and wrapped up the day with Blizzards at Dairy Queen (tradition!). 
  • The food at the family wedding we attended on Aug. 9th was very good:  we'd been asked to communicate any special dietary requests and indicate a choice of chicken, beef or salmon when we RSVPd. I had the chicken (which came with mushroom risotto and veggies);  dh had the beef ribs. There was also a lovely salad, creme brulee for dessert, an antipasto/appetizer bar before dinner, and a late night dessert table and sliders, plus an open bar. 
  • Not just one but two trips to Dairy Queen for Blizzards this month! -- once on Aug. 7th to celebrate our Katie, and once on Monday, Aug. 18th, as a consolation when we went to the gelato shop one Monday afternoon, only to find it's closed on Mondays (!).  (And then we went back to the gelato shop on Sunday, Aug. 24th, lol.) 
  • Also some of our usual takeout meals, including soup & pizza slices from the local supermarket takeout counter (we actually had pizza slices in-house one day -- the first time we'd done that since the pandemic began), and Swiss Chalet rotisserie chicken. 
Wearing: Enjoying my capris and sandals (and shorts) while I still can/could...!  Had to put on long jeans, socks, shoes and a jacket when we went to the park with SIL & LGNiece on the morning of Aug. 29th -- it was sunny but quite cool! (Overnight lows were in the 7-9C range/40sF.) 

After much dithering (here on this blog and elsewhere, lol), I wound up wearing the floral print dress to dh's cousin's son's wedding on Aug. 9th.

Buying (besides books, lol): 
  • Canadian products (or from Canadian companies), as much as possible ;) -- albeit I will admit I'm not as much of a purist as some people seem to be...!    
  • Some cute things for the great-niblings (on sale), from Old Navy, Carters/Oshkosh and The Children's Place. 
  • Not exactly "buying," but our major expense this month was some plumbing repairs we'd been procrastinating on having done! (See "This month we...", above.)  One item on our to-do list in particular turned out to be a lot more involved than we (or they!) had estimated. GULP. Expensive both in terms of money and STRESS! 
Prioritizing: This week: Reviewing our retiree benefits coverage before it rolls over.  

Noticing: Increasing stiffness/aches in my right hip/upper thigh, along with my long-wonky left knee.  :p  Ugh. (Aren't I too young for this crap??)  

Enjoying/Appreciating:  The sunshine and the lack of humidity (even if the temperatures are a little on the cool side...!). 

Loving: Having a dry/drip-free tile floor in the shower! (after those expensive plumbing repairs) -- no more (or at least LESS!) mildew to scrub constantly...!  

Wondering:  Where the summer went to?? (Seriously...) 

Anticipating:  A busy September, including our annual cottage weekend with dh's cousins.  

Trying/Wanting/Hoping:  To squeeze in some time for a fall getaway in September/October (as the calendar rapidly fills up...!). 
                              
Feeling: A lot of stress, anxiety and grief this month -- 27 years without Katie, watching her same-age 2nd cousin getting married, trying to decide what dress to wear (lol), trying to find time for a getaway SOMEWHERE and fit it into an increasingly crowded calendar, dealing with plumbing issues... Agog at how quickly the summer (and the whole year so far!) has gone by, and how abruptly we transitioned from chilly spring weather in May to extreme heat, humidity and wildfire smoke, and then back to cooler (and then chilly!) weather again...! 
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