Another Turning Point

Well, we're finished with elementary school. My son's 5th grade continuation ceremony was this morning. Afterwards my husband and I took him out for brunch. Then I took him to go look at dwarf hamsters which he'll be getting this summer. This afternoon I took the both the kids out to get frozen yogurt and celebrate the last day of school.

Last day of 5th grade

During the continuation ceremony one of the speakers talked about how they had entered the school as little Kindergarten students six years ago, and now they were leaving for middle school. I have very vivid memories of the first day of Kindergarten for both of my kids. I dropped my daughter off in her class and she hollered "bye" over her shoulder as she ran off to greet the experience, while I fought tears. When my son started school, parents weren't allowed in the building, so I stood outside (fighting tears, again) as a little boy held his hand and walked him in to the building while my son was crying. I'm still working on accepting the fact that it's all done now.

First day of Kindergarten

On the weight front, I posted that my new goal is to really focus when we get back from our vacation and get down to my goal weight of 125 pounds by Halloween. I've decided that if I achieve that, I'm giving myself the reward of getting to see Crimson Peak in the theater. If not I'll have to wait to watch it until it comes out on Netflix (though not streaming, that would be cruel and unusual punishment).

I'm also all set on my summer reading. I'm reading Jane Eyre right now in this lovely leather-bound book that my grandmother got for me a long time ago (which is apparently a "rare" book now). My mom got me The Seamstress for Mother's Day. I picked up The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August while we were shopping for a retirement present for my son's teacher. I also got A History of God on an impulse buy on Kindle. So I'm all set for a few weeks anyway! For this fall I've still got October Dreams 2 which I got for my birthday in February but am waiting until fall to read.

I probably won't be posting again for a couple of weeks, and should have some pretty spectacular photos from Ireland at that time. I hope the end of the school year goes well for all my readers!

Reading Vacation

I saved up my vacation time this year in order to take the two weeks of the holidays off with my family.  Although I've had to log on and do some work a few times, it's been very nice being home with my family and working on my schedule.  It's also affording me time to read.  Of course I find time to read when I'm working too, but right now I can sit down and devour books since I don't have very many responsibilities.

We have bookshelves in our living room, our master bedroom, both kid's rooms, and the basement.  There isn't one bookshelf in our home that isn't overflowing.  I'm a sucker when it comes to buying books, and my kids know it.  Book fairs at school are basically a free-for-all.  My daughter and I both love to read and spend a great deal of our free-time doing so.  My husband and son are a little less enthusiastic, though they both still read on a fairly regular basis.  My daughter enjoys physical books, although she does most of her reading on the Kindle app because of the convenience.  My son will read on a Kindle if that's his only choice, but he strongly prefers physical books.  I think it might be because of his ADHD that he finds it easier to focus on the story when there aren't any other options competing for his attention.

I'm pretty agnostic when it comes to my reading platform.  As long as there are words strung together in sentences, I'm good.  I do love the look, feel, and smell of a physical book.  I also love the convenience and anonymity of an electronic reader.  I can have multiple books with me when I have my Kindle app on my phone or tablet.  If I happen to finish the book I'm reading while I'm sitting on the bus, I can just start the next one without having to carry multiple books.  I can also read my guilty pleasure books in secret if I'm reading on an electronic reader, rather than giving everyone around me fodder for judgment when I'm reading something that might be written for a younger audience.  Also, books like The Stand are so huge that they're difficult to hold, so that one is physically easier to read on the Kindle app.

I've also spent lots of time with my family.  We've watched some family movies together.  We've had family game nights where my daughter destroyed us all playing Clue Master Detective, and my husband crushed everyone on Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.  I've also played some more with Lightroom.  I think it's going to take some time to get really proficient at it and make the photos look really good, but that's what practice is for.  But overall it has been a reading vacation, and I have to admit, as soon as I finish this blog post, I'm picking up my book again.  I want to finish The Book Thief so I can return it to my mother-in-law since I've had it for an embarrassingly long time.  There's really no better way to spend a cold, snowy winter day, in my humble opinion.

Another Course Correction

I was MIA this weekend and yesterday because of how busy my life has been.  Or really that's just an excuse, because I could have made the time, but I used every spare minute that I had to read The Queen of Bedlam.  It's one of those books that I had a really hard time starting as it's obviously written for a male audience (my brother recommended it to me), but once it took off I couldn't put it down.  So I read instead of writing.

I'm back today now that I've finished the book to share another required course correction.  In my quest to make choices that add up the best possible version of me, I've decided that I need to work on few things and set a few goals.

• I want to weigh 125 pounds by Halloween.  I'm going to start posting my weekly chart again this weekend to hold myself accountable to myself and my readers.
• I want to focus on the positives in my life and be more grateful for all that I have.  I especially want to be more positive at work, which has always been the toughest place for me to maintain a positive attitude.
• I want to make more of an effort to connect with my friends.  My kids won't always be at home, and I'm going to be awfully lonely someday if I haven't made an effort to have a life outside of my immediate family.

Work was somewhat challenging again today and I'm emotionally worn out.  I know that it doesn't matter what I think other people should do and that I need to live in reality.  I just wish people would understand that if we all spent time working together instead of at cross-purposes or just trying to get out of as much work as possible; we'd be so much more successful.  We'd also probably all feel better and have more energy.  But some people seem bound and determined to expend all of their energy on avoiding work, which could have been accomplished in the time they spent trying to foist it off to someone else.  Clearly my second bullet point above is going to be the most challenging item.

I'm pretty sad about Robin Williams.  This celebrity death has definitely hit me harder than any other.  I think it's because I grew up watching him and he's not that old.  I imagine that I'll experience this more and more as I continue to age.  I'm especially sad because he wasn't able to get the help he needed to fight his own demons.  Accidents and illnesses are tough to deal with, but suicide is hard to get my head around.  I don't like to think of any other human being feeling so alone and lost.  It's just a reminder that we don't always know what's happening on the inside, and we should all try to be as kind as loving as possible.

Less Than Expected

We did not get as much snow as the initial forecasts thought we would.  I woke up to about 3 inches, which was still quite lovely!

This morning at 4:15 there was still a light snowfall.

By noon the snow had stopped and the trees were still simply beautiful.

It was a wet, heavy snow more like we typically see in the Spring time.  I replaced my workout this morning with snow shoveling, and I am feeling it in my arms!  I'm sure I woke up the entire neighborhood between scraping the shovel on the concrete and then banging it on the street to clear off the sticky snow!  Luckily my husband came out and helped or I wouldn't have gotten to work on time.

One of the best things about my job (other than the fact that I absolutely love the work I do!) is half-day Fridays.  So now I'm back home and I get to enjoy a quiet house until the kids get done with school and my husband gets home from work.  Since the weather is just perfect for it, I'm going to snuggle up in my blanket and read.  I'm currently reading the 2nd book in The Strain trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.  I highly recommend the series if you enjoy vampire stories.  It's a very original idea and well written.  So now I'm off to enjoy a lazy, snowy afternoon.