Highlight Reel – Dec 1-7, 2024

December is just clicking right along, and I’ve actually been pretty busy. At the beginning of the month, I did my 401 Day Update for the Countdown to 50 – 101 Things in 1001 Days, Version 5. I actually said in my 301 Day Update back in August that I wanted to have 15 items completed and a total of 50 items started and/or completed by the end of 2024, but as of the 401 day mark on December 1, I only had 13 complete and 33 in progress. So (hopefully!) you’ll see a lot of those items featured in December!

Quote of the Week

Episode of the Week

Re-Watch of the Week

Song of the Week

“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” from Chicken Little; original version by Elton John and Kiki Dee

Other “Songs of the Day” this week:

• “Crazy Train,” by Ozzy Osbourne
• “Call Me Maybe,” by Carly Rae Jepsen
• “Flowers,” by Miley Cyrus
• “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” by The Police
• Original Score from Twister, by Mark Mancina
• Christmas Song of the Week: “White Winter Hymnal,” by Pentatonix

Headlines, Highlights, and Lowlights

• No new movies this week (shocking, I know!). Been busy with other things.
• Lots of TV shows (part of why there are no new movies). Several may have gone on hiatus, but I think all but one of the remaining shows that we watch had new episodes this week.
• Also started Only Murders in the Building, as promised. That is the 5th new-to-us series we have started watching, which completes item #16 on my Countdown to 50 – 101 Things in 1001 Days, Version 5. Woohoo!
• Making slow progress on Children of Dune, but it’s still progress! I’m up to 39% complete. Really hoping to finish by next week’s update.
• Drunk Christmas Unicorns have finally made their appearance for 2024. (Honestly, I was starting to get a little worried!) And there was much rejoicing in the land! And apparently lots of partying, since they couldn’t even stand up by day 3. If you have no idea why this is “a thing,” I also realized this week that I mainly only posted about it on Facebook the last 2 years and never made its own post on my blog. So here is the legend of how I became the Official Photographer of the Drunk Christmas Unicorns.
• We thought L would be officially finished with the Fall 2024 semester on Friday, but his are rolling into next week. Grades should be out by the end of next week, I think, and he doesn’t go back until early January.
• Finished up stocking stuffer shopping with one final purchase. Really need to get gifts wrapped and shipped to Wyoming!
• Managed another 10,000 step day, thanks to my friend Sandy. Apparently, I walk about 2500 steps per mile, and we did about 2 miles at the mall on Friday. Also, my stride length is only about 80% of the length of her stride (she’s 5 inches taller than me, mostly in the legs), so she got 4000-ish steps, while I got over 5000 in the same distance.
• Sandy and I followed up our 5000+ step walk with lunch at a new-to-me restaurant on Main Street in Tucker, so that knocked off another item on my Countdown to 50 – 101 Things in 1001 Days, Version 5; it was the 5th new-to-me restaurant I needed to close out item #79. I also got several items started this week, for a total of 37 items in progress or finished, so a decent dent there.
• Not only have I lost all of the 3.9 lbs I gained after Thanksgiving (mostly due to higher-than-typical carbs and salt, plus water retention from car travel), but I also saw a new low on the scale since beginning my Zepbound journey, so that was exciting! I’m now less than 1.5 lbs away from having lost 50 lbs this year. I am truly astonished!

Coming Soon

• The LEGO Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular is back this year for a 2-night event. They’ll be spaced out by a week this time, so look for them to air on FOX on December 10 and 17.
• Looking forward to finishing up The Penguin series when L finally gets home.
• Starting to work on my “Top 10” (or maybe some other number, depending on the list) and “Favorites” lists for 2024 year-end wrap-ups. I’ll probably schedule those to post during the last week of December.