This morning, as I drove Carla to school, it was snowing heavily – the kind of thick, breathless snow that makes you feel like you are in the center of a cloud, big clumps of snowflakes sticking together, so much snow that you can hardly see anything besides the lacy, dancing white. I love it so, so much. I recognize that snowfall and bitter cold is wreaking havoc in parts of the country that don’t normally experience snow, and of course I feel terrible for all the people with bursting pipes and icicles hanging off their ceiling fans and days without power. And I sure hope that YOU and your loved ones are warm and safe. But I still love the snow.
We did already have a Snow Day this week, which meant that Carla was off two days in a row. In a normal winter, I would enjoy an occasional snow day. But this year… well, Carla has been at home TOO MUCH (for instance, this was our second four-day weekend in a row) and I have nothing left to give. We spent her snow day playing Barbies and Scattergories and otherwise puttering around the house; it was too cold to play outside, sadly. So I am delighted both by today’s snow and by Carla’s being at school rather than here with me. Yes, I recognize that many children are still at home permanently. I have many blessings and in-person school is right up there near the TIPPETY TOP of that list.
I tried some new (to me) candy. In fact, I bought this specific candy for Carla, for Valentine’s Day… but then I also overbought other candy for her, plus my husband brought some treats home from work, plus we made all those cookies. So I put them away for another time. “Another time” being, apparently, yesterday.
The new candy is Big Chewy Nerds.
I ate a couple of every color, which is how I discovered two important things: 1. The pink are the best and 2. I do not care for Big Chewy Nerds. In my opinion, they are deeply inferior to regular nerds.
My husband told me, in advance, that they were similar to Nerds Ropes, so I don’t know why I found them disappointing. I am familiar with Nerd Ropes only because Amazon accidentally sent us an entire box full of Nerds Ropes a few years ago. We ate a couple – enough to realize that 1. The only person in our family who likes Nerds Ropes is Carla and 2. When Carla eats Nerds Ropes, the Nerds all fall off the Rope and get everywhere. We donated most of the box to the local food bank, which suddenly sounds like a mean thing to have done.
I would say that yes, Big Chewy Nerds are very similar to Nerds Ropes. They are a thin shell of Nerd candy wrapped around a chewy rather tasteless interior. I would liken the interior to gum that has been chewed so long that it is losing both its flavor and its elasticity. Perhaps my expectations were too high; I thought they might be like Chewy Sprees or Chewy SweeTarts or even Chewy Gobstoppers, all of which I enjoy. Anyway, I saved the rest of the bag for Carla, who will, no doubt, love them.
(Do you know what the best use for regular Nerds is? Using as an ice cream topping. They are DELICIOUS on a scoop of vanilla.)
Let us not be deterred from counting our blessings by the disappointment of the Big Chewy Nerds. There are many things I have been enjoying immensely lately, and I haven’t shared any since… late October.
My sister-in-law sent me this hair turban for Christmas in that exact shade of pink. I absolutely adore it. It holds my hair much more snugly and daintily than wrapping an unwieldy bath towel around my head. Plus when I wear it around the house my husband makes fun of me less (though admittedly not zero) than when I plop my hair in a T-shirt and make a turban of that. It has a little button at the nape of your neck, and you fit the button through a loop on the other end and it stays put as long as you want it to. What a time to be alive.
My husband and I just finished watching The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) and I loved it and want MORE. I know I’m a little behind on watching it, but if you, too, have been delaying, I highly recommend it. The thing that surprised me most about the show – and there will perhaps be very slight spoilers in my explanation, although nothing big – was how nice it was. A person would appear in Elizabeth’s life and I would think, based on my copious TV-watching experiences, aha! that person is going to take advantage of her or treat her badly or Something Terrible is going to happen! And then they/it didn’t! The people in her life were (mostly) genuinely loving, good people who cared about her and admired her and wanted her to succeed! It was surprising and fresh and I really appreciated it. It reminded me of Ted Lasso in that way (although the two shows are similar in no other way except that the each centers around a sport I am unfamiliar with). And don’t get me wrong – just because the people were, in the main, kind and honorable, doesn’t mean that there wasn’t plenty of sadness in the show. But there was also a lot of support and redemption and family-doesn’t-necessarily-mean-related-by-blood kind of goodness. If you were also hesitant because you don’t play/like chess, let me assure you that you need NO knowledge of chess playing to understand/enjoy the show. I’m guessing it might enhance your viewing if you were a chess enthusiast, but I did not feel like my lack of chess knowledge put me at a disadvantage. (If you want an idea of how little I know about chess: the other night I asked my husband, “What are the horse ones called?”)
You know how I absolutely LOVE my Uncle Grey tea from Tea Squared, right? Well, the boxes my husband ordered me for Christmas came with samples of a few of their other teas. I just tried a sample of Lavender Rooibos and it was amazing. Like, so amazing I am strongly considering shelling out $11.50 plus shipping just to have more of it. (It inspired me to buy a box of regular Rooibos tea at the grocery store the other day but it was NOT the same. By a long shot.)
Yesterday I put on a BRA and JEANS and went to Target like it was 2019 (I had to exchange something and I haven’t figured out a way to do that remotely), so today I am leaning hard into Soft Clothes. My favorite lounging-around-in-yoga-pants sweater is this pranayama wrap from Athleta. It’s super soft and has pockets AND thumbholes and I just love it so much. I have it in the marl grey heather but the next time I get a coupon I am going to buy another one, perhaps in the chrome blue or the black.
Carla still doesn’t love to read, which causes me a lot of angst as a book lover myself. I keep telling myself that she just hasn’t found something she WANTS to read. Because I think there is immense value to being read to in addition to reading by oneself, I have encouraged Carla to listen to audiobooks. She has been listening to several Judy Blume audiobooks lately (many of them read by Judy Blume herself!) through our local library, and she LOVES them. I am so delighted by that because I loved Judy Blume books as a kid and, in fact, love them to this day. Carla went through Iggie’s House and Blubber in a couple of days (and we had some really good conversations about racism and bullying and commenting on other people’s bodies). She gobbled up Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. We’ve been waiting for what feels like WEEKS for the next book in the Peter-and-Fudge collection, and I am thinking I might use the delay as an excuse to buy her the box set of the books. Perhaps she will be interested in reading them as well as listening to them? I have always been a re-reader, but I’m not sure whether Carla will be the same or not. Well, we’ll see.
What are you loving these days?
Remember Nerd Blizzards at DQ? Legit my favorite food item ever. I am reading the Fudge books with my 7yo and I will pass on the reminder someone helpfully gave me…Superfudge contains a chapter all about how Santa isn’t real. Perhaps Santa isn’t a thing in your house but I very nearly ruined it all for my kiddo.
My best purchase recently was a small silicone face scrubber. It has very small, very soft nubbies and makes for a very pleasant face washing experience.
LOVE Nerd blizzards and OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH for the heads up. We DO do Santa around here, and – although I am pretty sure Carla has figured it out – I want to keep The Magic alive as long as possible.
I use similar towels for my hair and I LOVE them! Yes, my husband will still poke fun (“I LOVE your hat!” comments); I do not care.
I also loved The Queen’s Gambit. I also had the same takeaway – so refreshing that she wasn’t exploited. And I second the opinion that you do NOT need to know anything at all about chess to enjoy it.
If it were me, I’d buy her the books. You never know – she may enjoy the experience of reading them and picking up on details that she missed in the audio version. And yes remove the edition with the spoiler alert on Santa, don’t spoil Santa just yet.
I am amazed, absolutely amazed at the thought of chewy Nerds, Sweetarts, and Gobstoppers (I had never heard of the other candy). I looked online to see if they were available in Canada, and they were – FOR TEN DOLLARS FOR ONE BAG. Jeez louise. This led me to remember when I was in the States, how much VARIETY of things you have. Like cereal, or Oreos. I don’t even LIKE Oreos but you have such an incredible variety!
Well, one day when we are able to travel I am going to fill my bag with chewy Sweetarts, mark my words.
You also reminded me how much I love Judy Blume, and I just went and put a bunch of them on hold at the library. I have a copy of Deenie, which is excellent, but I feel like I need some Margaret in my life. Thanks for reminding me!
That sweater is fab and right up my alley!
My daughter was also not the young voracious reader I had envisioned. She did get into the Ramona books for a while at Carla’s age, and the Never Girls series (Disney) was actually pretty good, and she liked those. I would say around 8-9 years old. There was a season of Raina Telgemeier books (Babysitter’s Club and the Smile/Drama/Sisters series), and then Dork Diaries, which I resisted but her teachers told me “If she likes it, let her read it! Anything!”
Finally THIS year (age 13) after what felt like a long hiatus from reading anything, she decided all on her own that she needed to read Harry Potter, and has been speeding through those, and I am SO RELIEVED! So maybe it will just take time. And, if/when you feel like it’s safe, I think that taking her to the actual bookstore or library will help spark interest.
Other things I am loving right now? A new hoodie I bought on clearance, and some $6 (!!) leggings I found at Aeropostale while there w/my kids. They’re so soft! It’s definitely the soft, cozy things right now.
My 7 year old does like to read. Some of her favorites are the Heidi Heckelbeck series (a second grade witch who gets in trouble for using magic), Cam Jansen (mysteries), the boxcar children, magic treehouse, rainbow fairies, and the list could go on. On long car drives, we’ve recently started listening to audiobooks that also have a movie, and watching the movie is like a prize for finishing the audiobooks. We don’t watch many movies or much TV in my family, so it is a very big prize for the kids. We recently enjoyed “because of Winn Dixie” by Kate DiCamillo and Matilda by Roald Dahl.
Favorite part: “We donated most of the box to the local food bank, which suddenly sounds like a mean thing to have done.”
At Easter, there are Nerds Jellybeans that look just like those Big Chewy Nerds, and I wonder if they are in fact the very same item. I do like them, but I like them in a mix of other kinds of jellybeans, so that OCCASIONALLY I get a surprising crunchy-coated one.
When I was in high school, Dairy Queen had a Nerds Blizzard, which I thought sounded gross until I went there with a friend and she got one and made me try it.
Queen’s Gambit was really good! My husband actually learnt chess after watching it and will not stop playing unless I scold him 😂
We are still 100% remote, and I’ve found the lack of possibility of snow days has made me much more snow positive this winter. It’s not going to disrupt anything, so why not?
I’m glad you found an author Carla likes. Have you tried the Beezus and Ramona books? North was obsessed with those for years.
Mm yes, Imma need that hair turban. Yes, yes.
I think the best way to raise a reader (says the childless person) is to model a reading life yourself. (Which I’m pretty sure you do!) One podcaster I listen to sets aside time every day (or maybe it was more like a few times a week) where she sits down with her daughters and they all read silently for an hour. I love silent reading time (I even have reading dates with friends where we do this!) and it could be a fun activity for the two of you. Perhaps an hour is too long, but maybe start with 20 minutes and see if she enjoys it or not?
I also think it helps to give her lots of different kinds of books to read, even graphic novels! It’s hard to define what your kid will like/want to read, but she doesn’t seem disinterested in reading so that’s a start! She’s slowly finding the right books for her, thanks to you! And that’s more than a lot of kids get.
Also, I really want to reread all of the Judy Blume books I read and loved as a kid and you just gave me another push to do it!
I absolutely LOVE your statement, “Yesterday I put on a BRA and JEANS and went to Target like it was 2019.” … best line I’ve read in ages!
What I’m loving these days is how nature just keeps on moving forward. It’s helping pull me out of my pandemic slump to see what she brings anew.