This week ended with a lot of unplanned solo parenting. Kiddo has been good but it's still tiring. Thankfully, we had stuff already scheduled for this weekend which is helping fill our days. But, tonight, I am going to pour a glass of wine, read some articles I've saved, and zone out to football. 

How do you recover from a long week?

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I picked up House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas at the start of the week. It is an absolute door stopper of a book. The first 100 pages have been a struggle. It's not that the story is bad. I love Maas's fantasy worlds. There is just so much lore and world building happening on top of learning myriad character names. It's a lot to keep track of when you only read in bed at the end of a long day. I've had to reread many paragraphs just to make sure I'm following along. Once I settle into the story, I am sure I will breeze through this one.

*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

• The reason why my kid says things take "for-ever!" [BBC]

• My kind of book club. [What to Cook]

• Are we over our disdain for comic sans? [The Atlantic - gift link]

• This quiz is why we will continue to need librarians. [WaPo - gift link]

• What is itch? [The Atlantic - gift link]

• I've been vacuuming the wrong way. [Lifehacker]

• We keep putting food in pouches. [TASTE]

• The rise of the subscription model. [Planet Money]

• The rise of the holiday rom-com. [The Indicator]

• How Spirit Halloween showed up everywhere. [99% Invisible]

• I was solo most nights this week. You know what that means... binging more of The West Wing. Watching this as the current presidential campaign enters its final stretch has been a really weird experience. [Max]

• We try to eat some form of seafood once a week. Shrimp is my fall back because it's affordable and easy to keep on hand. I used the shrimp from our freezer to throw together shrimp, pesto and, quinoa bowls. Using jarred pesto and pre-cooked quinoa meant this entire dinner came together in about 10 minutes. It was rather tasty and we will be making it again. [Eating Well]

• I used pre-cooked brown rice to make another quick dinner: red beans and rice with chicken. I tossed the chicken in the sous vide earlier in the day to make the cook time on this even faster. I was shocked by how much food this recipe made. We had a hearty portion leftover. This dish had a nice zing from the spices so I added a dollop of sour cream. I recommend that addition. [Eating Well]

Me as a witch. [@sarahandersencomics]

Dawn Chorus is a lovely citizen science program. You can help collect and analyze bird song. Not into the science? You can use the sound map to listen to bird calls from all over the world.

More solo parenting that ends with a grandparent visit and Halloween.