I’ve gone from a full house to an empty house in a week. Jonah’s back at college and Steve’s in the office three days a week. I mean, it’s not really empty, because the autistic kid comes home at 3:00, and Jonah is driving home for the weekend. But, by COVID standards, it’s quiet in my house.

With the lower levels of chaos here, I’m working on some long term goals and caring for general wellness. I took a week-long break from stressful things that occupy too large a part of my brain, like Twitter and local politics. I braved the cold for a nice three-mile walk yesterday.

Here are some things going on here:

When picking though the book stacks to pick out good ones to sell on Etsy, I came across this seemingly ordinary copy of a Hemingway book. It didn’t have a dust jacket, so I was planning on selling it as part of a low-cost decor book stack. Good thing that I checked, because it’s actually a first edition Hemingway. It doesn’t have a dust jacket and isn’t a first printing, but it’s still worth around $500-800.

Want to see Gwyneth Paltrow’s California house? (She’s got more elsewhere, too.) More pictures and subtle snark at the Daily Mail.

Shopping: I tripped over the cord of my hairdryer and smashed it. I wasn’t sad. It was time for an upgrade. My nieces convinced me to get this hairdryer/straighener/brush. My hair isn’t salon-level straight, but it’s not bad.

Watching: Yellowjackets (finished that last night; uncomfortable but excellent), Bobafett, Ozark

Cooking: Pasta with a short rib ragu — My favorite Italian restaurant in NYC does this. And Chili (here’s my recipe).

PICTURE: Ian at the tutoring center. How many hours of my life have I spent in waiting rooms for Ian?