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Sunday Salon: December 6, 2020

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz runs The Sunday Salon. 

What I've been reading:   

What it's like outside:
We've been having lovely days recently with clear skies, sunshine, and temps in the mid-60s. My dad, daughter, and I take a post-dinner digestion walk each evening, in the dark, and my favorite thing is that we talk about the stars and the moon: it's phase, placement in the sky, etc. We don't really know much about it, but enjoy it anyway.

What I've been eating:
This week we had quinoa with tofu and veggies, potato tacos, and orzo with spinach and feta. Oh, and Mexican take away.

What I've been watching:
Now that my daughter is home I watch more TV/movies and I read less as is evidenced by the fact that I only finished one book this past week. We finished the most recent season of The Great British Baking Show and have watched 3 episode of the newest season of The Crown. Boy is it good! On the treadmill, I finished The Queen's Gambit and MyOctopus Teacher. If you haven't watched the octopus documentary, I highly recommend it. Here's the trailer:

What going on in my life:
My colleagues are tired. Most did manage to take time off from grading and lesson planning during our week off, but I think they were wary of coming back to the uncertainty that is education right now. 

Our county is in the purple tier (the worst one) and the Governor of California has put us on lockdown again.

We've bought all the Christmas presents for our overseas family and I mailed them off yesterday. Now I just have to figure out what the heck to get the family in my household and how to do it now that we have a lockdown order in southern California.

We'll get our tree this coming week, which means the holidays and a break from work are getting closer!

Bookish thoughts this week:
I participated in the The Broke and The Bookish Secret Santa again (hosted by Artsy Reader) (I sent my present off and it's already arrived in Maryland) and in her 5 Holiday Card Exchange for the first time. I have received my first holiday card and I must say that to receive snail mail is pretty darn fun.

It's December so I am starting to think about which challenges I want to do in 2021. I realize I am much more comfortable doing challenges for books I will naturally read rather than choosing ones that will be "challenges" and make me read outside my comfort zone. I'm not sure that's such a good thing. What challenges do you recommend?

How I am doing on my 2020 challenges
  • Big Summer Book Challenge--5 books total (completed)
  • Literary Escapes Challenge--29 states and 30 countries total
  • Mount TBR Challenge--80 books total
  • Popsugar reading challenge--38 books total
  • Social Justice Challenge--14 books total
  • YA Award Winners--10 books total

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