August Coffee Date
WHAT??? It’s August! I’ve realized that any month that involves travel seems to have days subtracted from it, so that’s partially why July felt so short for me. Anyway- here we are, and it’s the first Friday of the month, so I’m linking up with Coco and Deborah for their Ultimate Coffee Date! I’ll be having green tea (sigh). But let’s not dwell on that- here’s what I would share over coffee/tea. School starts in a little over a week! August 11 is the first day. I… think?… I’m looking forward to it? There’s a part of me that’s dreading the earlier wake ups, lunch packing, and overall stressful mornings. In spite of all that, there’s something exciting about the start of a new school year. The beginning of school through Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. Everything seems fun and exciting- new classes, football games, homecoming- and there’s always a holiday to look forward to. I’m also looking forward to a some alone time. Since my husband is a teacher, it feels like everyone is always home during the summer. Especially now, when my son is home (which I LOVE, don’t get me wrong) the house feels a little crowded. One thing I’ve noticed especially is that reading a book doesn’t seem to be regarded as a “serious” activity. Every time I try to read, someone, or multiple someones, decides it’s a great time to ask me questions or start a conversation. I’m trying to read, people! Leave me alone! Except I feel guilty saying that, so I instead put up with the interruptions, knowing it’s temporary. While I’m definitely looking forward to fall, I’m also assessing how the summer went, and it’s a little disappointing. Once again I started off with lofty goals- the “summer of speed!” “summer of strength!”- and feel like nothing was accomplished. Maybe I need to adjust my expectations. If “summer” is the time between school ending and then starting again, it’s only ten weeks. Those weeks can be turbulent, with travel thrown in, people coming and going, weeks of camp, weeks of no camp… add to that the fact that I was sick for two weeks, and I really never had a chance to get into a solid routine. Or, maybe I’m just making excuses. However you look at it, summer does not seem to be the season of big fitness goals for me. You know what it WAS a season for? READING! I read seven books in June (and one of them was 1000 pages, Gone With the Wind) and another seven in July. I know there are people who read a lot more than that, but that’s a great number for me. It turned out to be the “summer of reading,” and I’m happy about that. Are you looking forward to fall, or wishing the summer would never end? Has your summer played out as you hoped? Top photo by Na visky on Unsplash
Random Life Stuff
After I posted about eating on my trip, several people asked how my digestion was. Well, it was kind of up and down on the trip. Not great, but nothing that I ate caused huge problems, and nothing ruined the trip in any way. So, it was probably the best I could hope for. As soon as I got back, I went back on the diet (as a reminder, it’s an anti-candida diet) very strictly, and started two different supplements to kill yeast: So far, so good! My digestion has been in a good phase, but I’ve been down this road before so I don’t want to get too smug and say things like “I’ve fixed the whole problem!” These supplements are a month’s supply, and at the end of the month I’ll reassess the situation again. IF, and only IF, I feel like things are consistently good, I’ll continue the diet but add back one thing, which is my Earl Grey tea, OBVIOUSLY. Then I’ll take it from there. When I talked about my big closet clean out, Nicole said she was wishing for a “before” photo. There’s a good reason why I didn’t post one- I was afraid people would report me to the Department of Health, or have me committed. It was so, so bad. Part of what I cleaned was my dresser, which was in the bedroom next to the closet. It’s a short dresser which actually used to belong to my son. Except, I wasn’t using it as a dresser, in that, I didn’t even know what was in the drawers anymore- I just piled clothes on top of it. And this was the first thing you saw when walking into the room- it looked like a disaster. I cleaned out the drawers, getting rid of about half the things. Then, I had room to put the clothes on top INTO THE DRAWERS. Lastly, I moved the whole thing into my closet. In its place, I put a shelf that had been in my closet. The problem with the shelf was, it wasn’t really accessible because things were piled in front of it. This caused me to constantly “lose” things- I would be saying “What happened to those postcards I bought?” or “Where’s that book I wanted to read?” NOW, the shelf is out in my room, where the dresser used to be. I will include a photo here, but remember, this shelf used to live in my closet so it’s not the most attractive piece of furniture. Still- it looks way better than that dresser, and now I can find all my books, notebooks, and postcards. Speaking of postcards… I sent some postcards while I was on my trip. I purchased and wrote out three postcards from Fabled Bookshop in Waco, but my time there that day was so limited, I didn’t get to mail them. That night we stayed in Lonoke, Arkansas, and I asked at the front desk of the hotel if they had a place for outgoing mail. The guy working there said no, but that he would personally mail the postcards for me. Er… okay. Did anyone get a postcard??? I’m wondering whatever happened to them. Sigh! Top photo by Becky Phan on Unsplash
Reading Surprises
I read two books recently that really surprised me, in different ways. But first… I finished the Kate Atkinson book. I really liked this book, but felt that it was falsely advertised as a “locked room mystery.” It was not that- but I liked the characters, the writing style, and the humor. Too bad I started with this, the most recent book in the Jackson Brodie series! I should have started at the beginning- but that’s okay, I can go back and read the earlier ones. Next up- Meredith on the Currently Reading podcast recommended this book so highly, I immediately put a library hold on it: When I got it, I hesitated. The entire story is told through letter writing. Sybil is a woman in her 70s. She corresponds with everyone- her children, siblings, friends, authors, and pretty much anyone who will write back to her. Wait a minute- is this book going to be… boring? Am I really going to like this? Fine… I’ll try it. You guys… I LOVED it! The writing is beautiful. There are multiple compelling storylines that are slowly revealed, through the letters Sybil sends and receives over the course of several years. It was not boring in the slightest- I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen with Sybil’s adult daughter, her neighbor, and also wanted to know about some murky incidents from Sybil’s past (all is revealed in the end). Seriously- I can’t recommend this book highly enough. You know me- I love mysteries and science fiction. So you know if I absolutely loved a book about an elderly woman writing letters, it has to be amazing. Next up… I book I thought I was going to love: I read two other Wally Lamb books years ago- She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much is True. I loved both of those and was excited to see that he has a new one. I waited a long time to get it from my library, but finally my hold came in. Here’s the premise: Corby Ledbetter, a father of toddler twins, experiences the worst thing a person can imagine- he’s responsible for the death of his son in a DUI accident, and sentenced to three years in prison. This book had so much potential. Corby joins AA, but having been raised by an atheist father and agnostic mother, he struggles with the spiritual aspect of the program. This could have been explored in a fascinating way, but everything in the book felt very superficial. At one point he checks out a book on Buddhism from the prison library- we hear one quote from it, but then it’s set aside. How does a person find peace after causing such a horrific tragedy? What a great question, and you won’t find any answers in this book. Instead we hear a lot of details about prison life that just weren’t very interesting. I found myself reading on angrily, just to find out what happened at the end (although I almost didn’t care). I will say the ending was unexpected, but- I still didn’t like it. Am I a different reader than I was 20 years ago? If I read Wally Lamb’s earlier books now, would I dislike them? I’m very curious to know if anyone else has read this book. Tell me what you think! Up next: My son has been bugging me to read this book, so I moved it to the top of my stack! Top photo by Matias North on Unsplash
Weekly Rundown- Much Ado About Nothing
This was a weird week! My daughter had band camp at the high school every day, and I had an unpaid vacation, thanks to jury duty. I had to call in every evening after 5:30 to see if I had to go to the courthouse the next day, and because my job is appointment-based, I couldn’t book clients without knowing if I would be there or not. But of course there were workouts as always! Thanks to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Let’s just see how this week played out. Monday Because I was able to find out my jury status on Friday evening (not asked to go in) I put myself back on the work schedule for Monday. I took my daughter to the school, went to work, and then after work ran on the treadmill at the gym. 4 miles with some speed work thrown in. Tuesday Again, not needed to report for jury duty! There was no chance to get booked with clients, so I stayed home and did a massive project- cleaning out my bedroom closet. And, I did an upper body strength workout at home, including work with the pull up bar- (negatives, ouch!) Wednesday Still no need to go in for jury duty, hooray! I did a 4 mile run outside, and some of my hip stability exercises. Continued the closet cleaning. Thursday STILL did not have to go in for jury duty. Are there no crimes being committed in my county??? I did a lower body strength workout at home, and made it really hard. Squats, hip thrusts, side planks with leg lifts, and the hip stability exercises I didn’t get to on Wednesday. Friday Well, it was the last day of my jury duty, and when I called Thursday night I got a recording saying my term of service had ended, and thanking me for my “participation.” Yes, I worked hard making those phone calls every night! I celebrated by doing a “long” run of 6 miles. I think I’ve gotten acclimated to the heat- I didn’t feel as bad, and while it was hot and humid (of course) it didn’t make me extremely angry. Finished cleaning my bedroom closet! I took one huge bag of clothes and a bag of books to Goodwill, and threw out two giant bags of trash. Phew- I really needed that. Saturday That was a nice week, and now I’m paying the price. I did the Caroline Girvan dead bug workout in the morning, then headed off to work for a double shift. I have to make up some of those hours I missed! Sunday On tap- an early run, then working all day again. Fun! I’m looking forward to getting back to a normal schedule next week. Can you believe it’s almost August??? Is summer flying by for you?