New Year's Coffee Talk

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Happy New Year! Happy NEW YEAR!!! Have any of us ever been so glad to welcome in a new year? I can only wish that with the flip of the calendar, we could flip a switch on life as it is right now. Sadly, no. The pandemic rages on, complete with new strains and continued discontent around us. But I'm not going to dwell on any of that. I'm hopeful for good things to come this year and that's how we should start a new year. Clean slate and all that, right?

It's time to catch up on our first coffee date of the year. What's in your cup? I've got a fresh pot of Dunkin' Donuts coffee brewing. Sipping on it as we speak, along with a scoop of GLG collagen, and that most important splash of half and half. 

If we were having coffee...I'd talk about eating all the cookies I made over the holidays. Then I'd tell you how I started to have an arthritis flare. If I ever needed proof that eating sugary foods makes my RA worse, I got it. Funny thing, though, in a moment of extreme overwhelmedness, I forgot to put the sugar in one batch of cookies. I didn't take a picture of my cookie fail, and they tasted as bad as they looked. They probably wouldn't have bothered my RA, though. By the way, the flare was short-lived and I'm feeling fine.

An oldie but a goodie

If we were having coffee...I'd tell you that I'm scheduled to have my second dose of the COVID vaccine next week. I received the first dose with minimal side effects--just a mild headache for a few days--and I'm hoping the second dose goes just as well. I cannot wait to lose some of this ever-present anxiety that I've lived with for the past 9 months. 

The circle of anxiety

If we were having coffee...I'd update you on my sister and her battle with breast cancer. She has completed 4 courses of chemo with 2 more to go. She saw her oncologist before the holidays, who told her that the tumor was 'undetectable'. We're very excited about this. Once she's done with the chemo, she will schedule her mastectomy and reconstruction. It's been a rough road for her, but we are all so grateful that things have gone so well.

If we were having coffee...I'd tell you about the recent invasion of large flies we had in our house. It was just awful. We cannot figure out where they were coming from. According to this article, though, 2020 was the year of scary bugs, so it makes sense, right? My oldest son brought an electric fly swatter for us to use, but by then we had killed most of them by then. The rest of the flies just disappeared. Just another gift that 2020 has given us. Although I do admit to being disappointed that I couldn't put the electric fly swatter to good use!

If we were having coffee...I'd share my mixed feelings about a Laura Ingalls Wilder American Masters special that I watched this week. As a child, I devoured Wilder's books. In fact, I still have the entire set. I've also added to my collection over the years. I watched the TV show back in the 70s with a critical eye as they strayed from Wilder's original stories. Anyway, the PBS show discussed the ghostwriting done by Wilder's daughter Rose as well as the racism present in the books. I knew about the ghostwriting, but exposing the racism in my beloved books was like finding out Santa Claus wasn't real. It made me realize how much more aware we've become of how words can influence children's thinking. Still, it was a tough pill to swallow. 

Am I right?

If we were having coffee...speaking of books, I'd share my month of reads! I only read 3 books this month but that's because they were big books. Heavy reads for sure and I'll be lightening things up in January.

• Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart was 2020's Booker prize-winning and well-reviewed book that got very little publicity. None of the book blogs I read featured it and it wasn't available for loan at my local library. I was intrigued, so I purchased it from Amazon and I was not disappointed. This was a heartbreaking but compelling story about a young effeminate Scottish boy who is 'not right' according to all around him. Meanwhile, his mother is an alcoholic who does her best to keep up appearances. Shuggie is a hero for the ages. This book kept me up late at night--I couldn't put it down. But oh, was it heartbreaking! 
• A Promised Land by Barack Obama was like a balm for my aching heart. Reading his words made me hear his soothing and sane voice in my head. This is the story of his childhood, leading up to and through his first term as president. I loved the stories of his life and his love for his mother, his grandmother Toots, his wife, and his daughters came through loud and clear. My only complaint is that it was too long. Obama likes to spin a good tale, but at times his voice gets bogged down in the details, especially when it comes to foreign policy. 
• The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue takes place over 3 days in a Dublin hospital during the 1918 flu pandemic. Talk about timing! The narrator is a nurse on a maternity ward; her patients are pregnant women who have the flu. The writing is mostly in dialogue style; it made me feel as if I was in the room with the main characters. This book made me proud to be a medical professional; the portrayal of the nurse, her assistant, and the doctor they worked with was spot on.  Heartbreakingly beautiful. 

What would you tell me over coffee? Any cookie fails? Did you overindulge on holiday treats? Anxiety, anyone? Infestations of bugs? What are you watching right now? Read any good books?

I'm linking up with Coco and Deborah for the Ultimate Coffee Date.