{maique}

We switched things around this weekend, and went to the in-laws right after school, on Friday. movieStar had a Christmas Run (read Walk) on Sunday. We’re doing the same this week, we have a birthday party next Sunday. Busy week with Christmas creeping in.

🤧 Both girls got very mildly sick (sore throat for both, and a very VERY small increase in temperature for the older one). She did not attend the race. I’m not completely convinced she didn’t do something to that thermometer… Anyway, they both felt better soon afterwards, and I’m the one now with a scratchy throat.

🍺 We spent most of the weekend at the in-laws, and went to our friend’s place, where the ongoing beer making project is nearing the end. We bottled the stuff. I’m not too hopeful, but that’s probably because I actually know a brewery owner, and have seen him make his delicious beer often enough to have some doubts about this one. Very VERY different process.

😻 I got to see Gaspar again, my favorite weekend model, and gain a bit more weight. I spend most of the week trying to lose what I put on during these weekends. We also spent a good while looking at old family photos.

🎄 ElFofo is ongoing. I think we (grownups) are having a better time than the little one. I’m sure she’s aware he’s not going back to the North Pole every day, but just plays along. She likes the part of hunting him down, and seeing what he’s up to. We enjoy coming up with ideas (sometimes we get inspiration from others) and setting the Elf up after she’s sleeping.

🖕🏼 Oh! When we got home after the weekend, we found out our building had been graffitied! One of the letters of the tag is between our living room windows, so they were standing in our balcony to do it. Odd, and mildly unsettling. Turns it it’s a pretty famous French crew, but still very ugly, and uncalled for. The neighbours went to the police, but nothing will come of it, of course.

🍕On Monday tinyMovieStar wanted to stay home the whole day. We wanted that as well, but we had work to do. I walked her to kindergarten in the morning, after she said she wanted to go with me, as long as I took my box of stickers. And then we picked her up for lunch, and had wonderful pizza. Back to school after that, for a little while. We all had the most wonderful day.

💈 This was followed by two more days translating the website text (it’s a big website!), and a haircut. My last one of the year.

🧑🏻‍🍳 The kindergarten Christmas party was on Friday, but we still had to go through Thursday, a very important prep day. Every year the parents have a present for the school. We persuaded my father-in-law to use his unique skills to produce this year’s gift: wooden kitchens (the sink/countertop part), a mud kitchen, where the kids can play with water and stuff. I did have to drive to their place, and load my car with the finished product. My car is the only one with a trunk large enough for this kind of stuff, and it’s not our first time moving stuff. I actually enjoy this, as it’s an opportunity to drive, alone in the car, listening to a podcast or theee. Drove back to the city, and placed the kitchens at the school’s patio, after the kids were gone. Surprise for Friday. The kitchens look amazing, and the kids loved them. The parents loved them. The teachers loved them!

🕺 The Christmas party happened on Friday, today, in the morning. It was raining. We went to the venue, there was a show, singing and dancing, a movie with the kids, and then we all headed to school, and had the traditional Christmas lunch. All the parents, all the kids, all the school’s staff. It’s great, I’ll miss it when tinyMovieStar moves to a new one. We pitch in, bring food, organize stuff, have surprises for the teachers, and it’s as good as these parties get.

🎄 Regarding dinners. Christmas dinners. I have none of the “work” kind. There’s no “company” I work for. I did see an ad on Instagram, a “Christmas Dinner for Freelancers”, but didn’t get curious enough to check what that was all about. We did have dinner with friends, as a family. A couple, a close one. We spent almost a month with them this year, vacationing. We then moved on to the Azores, and the islands, and they went to Spain when we got back. Just like that, months had gone by without meeting them!

📚 Reading books. tinyMovieStar loves them. I love them. But I remember my father, when I was a kid, always with a book in his hands. I still read a lot, but mostly on the phone. That’s what she sees when she looks at me: me, with a phone. I wonder if that will make a difference.

🔒 NordVPN’s iOS app works great, as well as the macOS one, once I managed to find the last compatible version for my old Air. I think I’ll be alright for a year.

🧠 Perplexity is growing on me. After using it daily to speed the translation along (DeepL has nothing to worry about, except it’s crazy cost!), I’ve also been asking some questions a day. The fact that it’s up to date with current events, and provides links that allow me to double check the veracity of the information, is great. I like it. Not enough to justify the Pro cost, but, since it’s free for me, it’s good.

🦆 I’d been looking at Mountain Duck for a while, but couldn’t justify the license price. I know I’m not going to use it enough for the (fair) price, so I was hoping for a discount. Enter Lou Plummer, with his linkage.lol blog. Lou shared a post on social.lol, as he does, and I learned about Bundle Hunt. They had Mountain Duck for $7, a pretty good discount, down from the usual $39. Immediate purchase.

👾 There’s a lot of cool stuff on every edition of the hiro report. This time it had a link to a collection of camera apps. I got two of them. Mood camera, meh. Some of the photos look ok, I guess, but still can’t beat my usual workflow: Camera.app + Lightroom. That’s it. And BitCam. Fun. And fun is good.

🕹️ Monument Valley 3 is here. Glad my Netflix subscription is on. I wouldn’t be playing it if it was only available on Arcade.

📺 The Bear. Lioness.

🍿 Nutcrackers. Thelma the Unicorn. Polar Express. Yes, Christmas is getting close.