A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, reads (🚨🚨🚨good book alert🚨🚨🚨), the countdown to quitting my job, and a stepmom brag
Eats
This week's "I saw something cool on Cheap Lazy Vegan and played along at home" award goes to Miso Tofu. Wicked easy, wicked good. I didn't have any miso paste so I subbed a packet of miso soup base, figuring it would be close enough.
Workouts
Not much to say. Another week down of the Ultimate Beginner's series in the CGX app, more run/walking for cardio.
Watching
Look, I'm a card carrying movie buff. I'm well versed in the classics and I've seen all 100 of the AFI Top 100 movies. But I also have a ton of gaps in my movie watching history.
Would you believe that I had never seen Anchorman? In spite of the fact that "stay classy" and saying that someone or something is "kind of a big deal" are regular phrases in my vocabulary? It happens. The hubs and stepson #2 got deep into the memes and picked it for our Saturday night movie.
Reading
Wowza! Have I got a book for you. The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing is a brand spanking new book. One minute I was listening to the author on the Sarah's Bookshelves podcast and the next minute I found out that I won the Libby Lottery when my hold came in.
On the one hand I want to sit down and blab about every last detail but also I don't want to spoil one single jewel in the treasure chest that is this book. I think it's better if I beg you to drop everything and get your hands on this book ASAP so that we can talk about it.
The secret sauce with this one is that the author is an incredible writer. I learned from the podcast that her trademark is making sure that the first and last sentences of every chapter are knockouts, though I would argue that she has the same standard for the rest of her sentences as well. The opening sentence is "reading was my first addiction" - wow talk about a gateway to bring the reader from the love of books straight into the world of heroin addiction.
The audio book was nine hours long and once I started it, I could not stop. I can't just listen to an audiobook without doing something else, so I put in a lot of extra time on projects around the house plus driving time for a weekend day trip.
Quitty Quitting
Two more weeks until Q Day. I thought that August would be a low key month since everyone is on vacation, but no such luck. All of their unfinished projects keep making their way onto my desk. There's nothing like a round of extreme work misery to shore up my resolve to quit.
On the job search front, the company from last week's batch that I called NameBrand got back to me to say that they aren't sure if they are going to move forward with adding the position due to not being sure if they're going to do X project that requires adding the position. Red flag much? To add insult to injury, Instagram decided to blitz me with their adds. I blocked them and then got all of their competitors. I think I've finally gotten them out of my Insta.
Stepmom Bragz
Guys I am so excited because since the last time we last talked everyone in my house is now a driver. Stepson #2 got his temps this week.
And...all of my dreams in life have come true because Stepson #1 is learning to drive my car, which is a manual transmission. We've had a couple of cool drives around the hood while he masters the clutch. He's taking to it like a duck to water. I used to joke that my only life requirement for the boys is that they learn to drive stick, and now it's finally happening.
Who else drives stick???
I'm so excited for you! Q Day is going to feel amazing!
ReplyDeleteAnd then you will enter a new life and you'll wonder how you could put up with that work misery for so long. Those remaining days in prison will fly by like nothing.
My only worry is that they will come back to you with a new shiny offer... but I'm sure you will know how to handle that if it happens.
Team gear stick here! Congrats to your Stepson No. 2 and kudos to Stepson No. 1!
Yuck, it would have to be very shiny. The most common response that I get when I leave a place is "don't let the door hit you".
DeleteI just put that book on hold! I learned how to drive a stick early and even took my driving test in one! I was nervous about starting on a hill, but ended up having no issues, thank goodness. I love driving a stick and wanted to buy one when I bought my last car, but I bought used and it was hard to find one!! I ended up getting an automatic, but once I get my midlife crisis, I am totally buying a Porsche 911 manual transmission and you will see me zipping around the country!
ReplyDeleteYes! It was so hard to find a stick the last time I bought a car. At one place the salesman didn't know how to drive it.
DeleteReport back as soon as you read Mama Love!
I learned how to drive on a stick shift and loved it. They are hard to find now though- I haven't driven one in years. Your stepson might be the only one of his peer group who knows that skill!
ReplyDeleteThey don't seem to have that book at our library (hrumph) but I'll keep looking around for it. I did read the little blurb on Amazon and it sounds great.
You know that miso tofu is calling my name!!!
Yay stick! Mama Love is brand new, so your library might not have it yet.
DeleteI can drive a stick in a pinch, but I'm pretty terrible at it. Sigh. It's a life goal to become proficient. My husband is amazing at driving stick, so when we owned a stick shift, I let him do 98% of the driving. Now I regret not just putting on big girl panties and learning better. My parents also had a stick shift, so I actually did do some learning on a stick, but again was pretty terrible. That said, in an emergency, I could get us from Point A to Point B. My bestie drives a stick, so I should get her to give me a refresher in her car.
ReplyDeleteI put that book on hold and I think I'm first in line?!
Woo hoo on being first in line for Mama Love!
DeleteI loved that author interview and am excited to check out her book! I need to make room on my hold list for it... or what I really need to do is sign my 5yo up for a library card so I can use the libby holds for his card! What can I say - I'm greedy when it comes to holds! I also use my husband's libby holds (he does not read ebooks!).
ReplyDeleteI embarrassingly do not drive stick... when I studied abroad in Australia, I learned that their standard license requires you to test with a manual transition. Otherwise you get kind of a 'second class citizen' license - or that is how my Australian friends described it. Good for you for teaching your step sons how to drive stick!
YES to signing up your 5yo for Libby! I mean, if he's not using his holds there's no sense in letting them go to waste...
DeleteThat's really interesting about the Aussie license.
Two weeks!!! Woot woot! And way to go, current job, for making the decision even easier!
ReplyDeleteYay for your stepson! Congrats! I learned how to drive on a stick shift, and up until my last car, I drove a manual my whole life. (Fun fact: we weren't allowed to drive a stick shift for our driving test [?!?!?!], so I had to parallel park in a Chevy Suburban.) The only reason I don't drive a stick anymore -- aside from manual transmissions seeming to be special order vehicles -- is because my husband hates driving stick and since my car is our Family Trip vehicle, it made more sense for it to be an automatic. Oh well.
Yeech, this job has made it so easy to leave so many times.
DeleteRight now the hubs drives the "mini van"...I mean it's a manly SUV but he has to have the bigger car for scouting. My car is small and fuel efficient and has had an amazing track record for maintenance. I'll keep driving it as long as it lasts, or until one of the kids claims it. Once it's out of the picture, we plan to get something "fun" to replace it.
ha ha, on the stick! I can drive one, but it has to be an extreme emergency, LOL. That is a great accomplishment when the kids can earn their "stick" bragging rights. My kids are all good at stick driving...but it didn't come from my DNA ;-)
ReplyDeleteHey at least you *can* drive stick. There's no rule that says that you *have to*;-)
DeleteYay for stepson! What an accomplishment. NO, I do not drive stick. Back in high school my boyfriend tried to teach me and I almost killed his engine by shifting into first when I should have shifted into third. He never tried to teach me again after that. It was probably just as well, by that time I had stalled his car so many time in so many intersections that I could be considered a menace.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot "that escalated quickly!"
That book is not yet available at my library BUT I need to ask you, how bad are the descriptions of drugs/ addiction behaviour? Because that can be a deal breaker for me.
Not bad at all. She stays mostly with the consequences of the drugs - stealing, losing custody of her kids, going to jail, and then the uphill battle to rebuild her life as a convicted felon. She touches on some of the mechanics of using and detoxing, but not in any great "ugh" detail. We're definitely not in "I'm Glad My Mother Died" territory.
DeleteI was really hoping the title was an Anchorman reference and I was NOT disappointed. If you want to play a rowdy game, check out the Anchorman game. It's a riot.
ReplyDeleteTotal red flag about Big Name. Ugh. Also ugh to all the work at work.
Congrats on stick! I can drive it, but not well (I am out of practice). One of our cars is stick (Datsun 280Z).
I think we're going to have to check out the Anchorman game.
DeleteOoh that's a fun car! I learned stick on my dad's 1983 Datsun stationwagon - not nearly so exciting.
My high school boyfriend taught me to drive stick and the last time I drove a stick shift was with him, so I don't really know if I could do it? Probably not. And honestly, I don't think it's a life skill I need, Birchie. I'm sorry to disappoint you.
ReplyDeleteI currently am using three of my precious ten Libby holds on audiobooks, so I don't think I'm going to add that one to my queue. Plus, addiction memoirs generally make me roll my eyes, so despite your glowing review, I will probably not read it. But if my podcast queue gets short enough, who knows what will happen?
Hey if it was something like the zombie apocalypse and a stick was your only escape option - I think you could do it!!! And yes, otherwise it's a life skill that most people can (and do) live without. But it's fun.
DeleteThe reason that I'd push for Mama Love is simply that the writing is incredible. She's the kind of writer who could take a grocery list as her starting material and come out with an epic that would be a joy to read.
I have heard so many people rave about The Many Lives of Mama Love, but yours is the first one that truly sold me. There's a 12 week wait for it for the audiobook at my library but I immediately put myself on the list. Hoping some Libby magic happens and I get it much sooner!
ReplyDeleteI hope the 12 weeks will go fast! Honestly I have no idea how I got so lucky. The podcast is well worth a listen as well.
DeleteI don't drive stick, but I learned driving stick in Germany (this is slowly changing). It's the best way to learn to drive a car IMHO :)
ReplyDeleteUgh, they really make you want to leave at your current workplace. You won't be sorry to quit.
I'm in the don't-drive-stick camp, unfortunately. I always wanted to learn but when friends tried to teach me... let's just say there was a LOT of stalling. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm already planning the miso tofu for when I finish what I have for dinner now. (Will take a few days to finish it off... :>)