The Weekly Digest

The big news for me this week is that I finished the December issue of The Dirt! The community events calendar/newspaper I started publishing just before the pandemic went into hibernation mode for nearly three years. I wasn’t sure if I would be printing it again, but the City of Davis reached out about helping get things restarted with an arts & culture grant! So I started ramping things up again and we got it out in time for a December 1 issue!

I was definitely re-thinking things a bit when I realized that both the rush time for this month and next fall squarely over the holidays—definitely a bummer—but I think I’ll keep figuring out ways to get more done earlier in the month with practice. Or, at least… I hope.

If anyone is a local reader or is interested in what’s happening in Davis, please subscribe to get a digital copy in your inbox each month. When you sign up, you’ll get December’s issue. It’s also found all around town—the library or Avid Reader are always a good bet for finding a copy!

Speaking of emails and newsletters, I realized recently that everyone who had signed up to get Hither & Thither’s RSS feed delivered to their inbox was no longer getting those emails. And I neglected to grab the emails off feedburner before Google shuttered the service. So I’m going to try and figure out a way to make that an option again for those who are interested. Thank you to the readers who let me know. I can’t believe I lost all of those contacts for readers who’d subscribed over the past 10+ years. I’m trying not to think too hard about it—it’s too upsetting. If anyone knows of any way to remedy that, please reach out!

How was everyone’s Thanksgiving? Even though there was a lot of work to do, we had fun watching World Cup games and hanging with family and friends. Hudson, in his newly independent 6th grader-ness, basically biked off to play pickle ball every morning with a friend and then disappeared for lunches downtown and video games. Skyler was a little more stuck with us as I’d thought we’d be traveling and didn’t register for gym with her buddies. But fortunately she still thinks we’re pretty cool. Sawyer turned 10 over the break and taught us that his new senior stomach cannot tolerate birthday treats. Whoops.

Our garage is finished! Any favorite wall-organization finds? That’s next!

I watched all of the Friday and Monday deals come and go with some serious FOMO, (“How much more is Christmas going to cost if I miss that sale?!”) but just wasn’t able to really look it all over. Did you find anything good? Is everyone done shopping? Should I still at least try to pull together a favorite-things list?

Wishing all well this weekend! Happy December!

We started the advent calendar yesterday! I asked the kids about which activities they didn’t want to forget to include and one of Hudson’s replies was “bring out the red thing that spins and plays music.” Folks, he means this record player! Ours is red. HA!!!

I think tonight will be to open the holiday book bin. That’s what Skyler’s most excited about, she says. I think it’s because she’s eager to see this Story Orchestra Nutcracker book again. She still loves it so much—I’m thinking of getting her a new title this year.

These are so cute! I think I might try to use them as inspiration for a holiday craft!

We just finished watching the first season of Ted Lasso with Hudson (definitely pushing the edge on the sex content for his age, but very good). Anyway, it always makes me want to make shortbread. And on a recent episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour, Bob Mondello reminisced about his mom’s baking: “I used to love when she would start making these things that she would allow me to stick my hands into and squish dough together and stuff like that. … one is shortbread. And basically, with the shortbread, it only had three ingredients. It had four cups of flour, a cup and a third of sugar and a pound of butter. So it’s obviously good for you. … And you basically just take those things, and you squish them all together, and you push them into a glass dish and cook it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. And then you take it out and cut it right away because otherwise you won’t be able to ’cause it will get so hard. And you leave it in the Pyrex dish until it’s cool, and then you pop them in your mouth. And they’re so good.” Host tip: don’t forget to use salted butter. [I’m going to have the kids try this today! Though I might start with a smaller recipe. It’s basically 1 cup flour /1/3 cup sugar/ stick of butter.]

I had an IG story up with this quote and it was amazing how many people replied that it resonated. (The post disappeared and I don’t recall the source, so here it is on a tote!)

I love Kottke’s media diet round-ups. I’m still in the process of reading through this one.

The New Yorker Best Of Lists are out for 2022.

Also fun to peruse: the Net-a-Porter gift guide. Luxuries I mostly just enjoy looking at, but there’s always a few wish-list worthy items. Speaking of which, noting these sparkly (dance-friendly?) shoes. (P.S. Which gift guides do you look out for?)

On the more practical side, I’d like these socks.

Aron and I had a good laugh at this! “shhh… don’t wake daddy

Thanks again for the support and have a great weekend!

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