Current view from my comfy new Ikea chair, here in the study corner. I might truly give up sitting at my desk from now on.
The Texasfolk arrived around 10 last night --- earlier than I had expected, but then they had left at 5 a.m. The Fire Son went out after we had gone to bed to collect A. from the airport, and I heard them dimly later on, bumping a suitcase up the stairs. She's in with the Artgirl; when the other sisters come tomorrow, the study will be no more a gathering place but a guest bedroom, so I'm enjoying it as a morning retreat while I can.
Spent much time yesterday making banana bread (already eaten), gingerbread, and pumpkin bread. It is good to have something baked to pull out for people to munch with their coffee. The husband is not feeling well, so I'm going to Mass by myself, and on the way home I think I'll stop in at Aldi and procure some sausages to cook with eggs for a late brunch. Then I have chicken thighs in the freezer that I can pull out to make a casserole for dinner, which takes us over the shoals of the weekend. Tomorrow's dinner plan is shepherd's pie, then fiskesuppe for Christmas Eve, then ham for Christmas Day . . .
Temperature: in the 20s Farenheit right now, high of about 40F.
Wearing for dog-walking, Mass, and beyond:
*Secondhand vintage April Cornell silk dress, bought summer 2024, last worn on Advent 1, if memory serves. I'm really not tracking wears for this dress, because it's not especially an everyday dress, and I didn't pay much for it --- roughly $30. Cost-per-wear won't dip below a dollar anytime soon, but I intend to have and wear this dress for a good long time, so I'm not sure it matters that much. The price was good for a wear-when-I-feel-like-silk dress. Silk is good and insulating, so today I did in fact feel-like-silk.
*Thrifted Banana Republic lavender merino sweater/base-layer tee. One of the better $4 I have ever spent. Bought in November when I was in Dallas, last worn December 19.
*Secondhand Connemara merino cardigan, bought September 2024, last worn November 23. Today seemed like a good day to pull out this extremely warm cardigan.
*Snag merino tights in Silver Lining (not seen), bought fall 2021, feet cut off by me last year, in their fourth season of wear.
*Devold wool socks, bought in Norway, June 2023. In their second season of pretty regular wear under boots.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Melrose boots in Graphite, bought summer 2023, in their second season of regular wear.
Finishing my coffee, then I'll take the dog out for a brisk trot in the cold. Hard to believe we're at Advent 4, but here in fact we are. I'm just glad it isn't also Christmas Eve this year . . .