Well hello there, Saturday is here again!

Astonishingly enough, the world keeps turning despite trying to freeze some of us like popsicles and hellfire and damnation raining down politically.

It’s fine. Everything is fine.

Also of note regarding said world, look what I finally captured on camera on Tuesday morning! WITH Night Mode on my phone, mind you. The below photo was NOT what I saw with my bare eyes ~ my bare eyes behind my frosty foggy glasses saw super bright white streaks above my house on the way back from my dog walk. But since my friend had told me that she was able to capture the northern lights the night before, I figured I’d try a photo and …

And then I started thinking that maybe the sky ALWAYS looks like this with Night Mode, since I had never actually used it before … so of course the next day I tried it again and whew, it really was the northern lights on Tuesday. Here’s Wednesday morning:

When I wasn’t freezing my hands off taking photos in the dark this week, I did some great reading AND sewed my first ever pair of shorts. Shorts that right now I’m certain I’ll NEVER be warm enough to wear again in this lifetime, but I wanted to try out my next sewing class pattern with relatively little fabric as I tried to figure out sizing ~ I used scraps from the tops I made this fall. I ended up loving how these shorts turned out with all the different colors of linen blend! I will definitely be wearing them a lot if summer ever actually comes again, and I’m absolutely tickled to have made a 100% wearable scrap project.

Speaking of sizing ~ am I the only person on earth this obsessed with finding pants with the correct rise? Does it bother everyone else as much? Rise is the #1 reason I reject pants, and I’m determined to get it RIGHT in the pants I make myself. The ones I made over break definitely need a shorter rise, and although I took out 1.25” in the shorts I made, I think I need to reduce it by at least yet another inch when I try the pattern for the pants. I have been manically measuring the rise of every pair of pants I actually don’t hate and also trying to figure out why else I don’t hate them besides the rise, since 99% of pants and I *really* don’t get along well. WHAT IS THE MAGIC RECIPE? I shall continue the quest, my friends.

My Most-Recommended Book This Week

I had Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block (on shelves now!) on my radar since it first hit Edelweiss back in August, given my affinity for books about education and social welfare. As a public educator, homeschooling impacts my job in a myriad of ways and it is a topic I’m always wanting to understand better because … well, it’s a complicated and nuanced issue.

Block is a writer who initially wrote publicly about the positives of homeschooling, but now is opening up (ALL THE WAY UP) about how it was his mother’s influence that caused him to write positively at the time. Now, only after his mother’s passing, we get to see how he was a child hidden from the world, desperate for someone to rescue him.

Block’s story isn’t one of graphic violence, extreme neglect, or clearly-seen abuse, but one of a child suffering at a mentally ill and alcoholic parent’s hand. With no oversight from public social services of any kind and a horrifically negligent father who ignored what was happening, Block had to be astronomically strong, stronger than any young person should have to be, to break free and make it to where he is today.

Is all homeschooling bad? No, of course not.

But this book makes it clear the history and finances (HELLO LOBBYING) of why there is almost a complete lack of oversight today ~ this infuriates me as a public educator and parent.

As I say over and over again … WE CAN DO BETTER AS A NATION.

A Few Random Links

• I found the perfect corn muffin recipe! In the past I always slathered corn muffins with butter and honey, but these don’t even need it, which makes snacking on the go even easier. I used Bob’s Red Mill Organic Medium Grind corn meal for a great texture, and homemade greek yogurt instead of sour cream since I didn’t have any sour cream in the fridge. DELICIOUS for snacks all week long ~ I warm them up in the microwave for 15 seconds.

• Not sure this is how I’m supposed to share this, but maybe it will work for you? I loved this newsletter from Kendra Adachi on how to be a better problem solver ~ this was a week filled with annoying car problems, behavior issues at school, agonizing about whether or not I should go through with my trip to Chicago this weekend (I didn’t) and the general annual terribleness of being cooped up in January. Kendra always helps me remember that I’m in a season, weeks like this are not forever.

• You all know I’m leaning hard into analyzing and personalizing my wardrobe, and Laura Fenton’s piece about how (and why) to avoid dry-cleaning (and so many great fabric care tips!) landed at the perfect time. I have only gone to a dry cleaner twice in my life, and vow to never again. Best tip? DON’T BUY DRY CLEAN ONLY CLOTHES! Love how easy that is, my friends.

• So grateful to Anne Bogel for sharing this piece ~ I was nodding so vigorously while reading that my glasses almost fell off. “Friction-maxxing is not simply a matter of reducing your screen time, or whatever. It’s the process of building up tolerance for “inconvenience” (which is usually not inconvenience at all but just the vagaries of being a person living with other people in spaces that are impossible to completely control) - “

• And hat tip to my friend Laura G for sending me this clip about who we should blame for teen social media addiction ~ hint: it’s not parents. Here’s the full episode (NYT gift link).

Until Tuesday, dear readers. I hope this weekend is relatively warm for you, that you all have water, heat and electricity, and that ultimately, winter and ice (and ICE, for that matter) don’t win this time. If you live somewhere warm and where the air isn’t trying to kill you right now, get outside and savor it!