Half year resolutions

I wrote this post in the car coming home from vacation on Sunday and then it ceased to exist on my iPad. Sigh. It makes it so much harder to crank out actual thoughtful posts in a timely fashion when you have to think of what and how you want to write, the same thing twice.

Anyhow, today is my birthday. I've been thinking for the past few weeks that I'd like to make a few resolutions of how to work on the second half of my year, the first half of my 36th year. So here goes. I'm pretty sure this was more eloquent the first time I said it - we can pretend, right?

a) Get healthy. This is always a New Years resolution, isn't it? It's really not about pounds, although that is always a little bit of a concern - how tightly I'm fitting into non-leggings, but I feel noticeably weaker. I get tired faster. I get headaches in the heat more. I have less stamina, endurance, etc. ... whatever you want to call it. So now that my birthday is passed, I am hanging up the weekday alcohol. I'm making better decisions with food - more lean proteins and veggies and complex carbs, less dairy and pasta and alcohol (right after I finish this glass of wine). More water. Less sugar. I want to start running and/or working out five times a week again. Ideally, 3x running and 2x strength training. I want to feel better.

b) Get healthy emotionally. I need a therapist. I have an appointment with my doctor in a couple weeks and I need to address this. I've been putting it off because it's not covered by my health insurance but I need to buck up and deal with shit. Also I need to do more things on my own, for myself.

c) no-buy July, September, November, except for Christmas gifts and birthday gifts.

d) Learn Spanish. So I don't know if I can, at my old age, but it's so frustrating to not know what is being said around you. I live in a very Hispanic area. Most of the parents on my son's baseball team speak prodominantly Spanish. There were a couple who tried to switch to English to make me feel more welcome, but mostly I felt excluded. This is a skill I should have, in this day and age. So I'm playing Duolingo. I'm going to work on Rosetta Stone. I'm going to see about checking some Spanish learning CDs and books from the library. I might as well see if this brain still works.

e) there was something else, and I'm sure I'll remember after I hit publish, so this is a placeholder. I have one more expectation of myself for the second half of 2016.

Books I Read: May 2016

May

reread:

11. Dragonfly in Amber - Diana Gabaldon still meh

12. The Wrath and the Dawn - Renee Ahdieh (audio)

13. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas

new:

32. The Last Letter from Your Lover - Jojo Moyes fantastic

33. The Wrath and the Dawn - Renee Ahdieh beautifully written

34. The Glittering Court - Richelle Mead

35. The Rose Garden - Susanna Kearsley lovely

36. The Raven King - Maggie Stiefvater sigh <3 div="">

37. The Rose and the Dagger - Renee Ahdieh (audio)

38. The Winner’s Curse - Marie Rutkoski (loved this series)

39. The Winner’s Crime - Marie Rutkoski

40. The Winner’s Kiss - Marie Rutkoski

41. Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter underwhelmed

42. Silent Blade - Ilona Andrews

Currently (in fifteen minutes)

I have a dearth of time but I want to, so very much wish to post. So here it goes – how fast can I do it? And will it suck? Signs point to possibly, but hey, what can you do? We all do our best.

Currently, a la Katy Upperman.

Loving

This is the best thing on the internet right now.

Reading

I finished rereading A Court of Thorns and Roses in anticipation of A Court of Mist and Fury, which I’m still waiting on from Overdrive (I’m next! I’m next!) but I’m having trouble finding a book that really speaks to me. I had really good May books. I need good recommendations for June books. I was underwhelmed by Karin Slaughter’s Pretty Girls despite (because of?) they hype, and I haven’t been able to get into Michael Scott’s The Alchemyst. I'll post my read in May books ... soon? I need recommendations for now though.

Watching

Baseball. I loved the first season of Glee but I haven’t cared enough to watch any more. You know what I want to be able to watch? CSI. Why is it Miami and NY are available but good old Vegas is nowhere?

Listening To

Classic Vinyl on Sirius.

Oh! Also, I listened to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and LMM narrates it and WHERE IS MY HEART-EYED EMOJI? I had thoughts and feelings and opinions about the ending, but I don’t want to ruin it so I’ll keep my opinions to myself. The  voice of the book as voiced by Lin though, broad smile. Broad Smile.

Thinking About

Everything I’m not doing while I type.

Anticipating

WILLIAMSBURG. We leave in 19 days. Man, I need an extended vacation. I’m so scared of what I come back to though.

Wishing

Magically I was on top of everything

Making Me Happy

 

Currently...

I don’t know what to say today.

So I’ve started a couple posts with this sentence and then haven’t gotten past that because man, things are busy these days.

So let’s start things back in motion with a try at a “currently” post, shall we? Yes, let’s do that.

Loving

I’ve been walking twice a day with coworkers and it’s been so good to get away from my desk. Mental health is underrated.

Reading

In the last week (okay, maybe four days) I’ve read the Winner’s Curse trilogy (fantastic), The Raven King (is there a word for better than fantastic?) and The Rose Garden (which was lovely but paled next to the others and I’m glad I read it first).

My plan is to read The Raven King again before it has to go back to the library.

Watching

You thought I was going to say baseball, right?

Well yes, but also hockey. Go Bolts!

Listening to

Right this very second I’m listening to Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits on Prime Music.

Good stuff.

This morning I finished listening to The Wrath and the Dawn by audio (I read the print earlier this month) and it was delight to the eyes and the ears. I have The Rose and the Dagger downloaded to start this afternoon on my drive home from work.

Thinking about

I finally got an orthopedic appointment for Spencer scheduled for tomorrow so I had to go through all the intake forms for him and I’ve been thinking about that. I’m not going to the appointment and it’s hard for me to let it go. My husband is perfectly capable.

Anticipating

I go to Kansas to see Dawn in SIX DAYS. And see the Rays play the Royals and spend quality time not working.

I went to find photo number 1 but then couldn't not use photo number 2 also. Sigh. Love that girl.

Wishing

 It was the weekend already.

Making Me Happy

No-buy continues, Mother’s day and more baseball

I’ve done pretty good on my no-buy lately, although I have to admit that I haven’t been keeping track as well as I should.

5/8 I thought about flowers for my mom but they were unrealistic since she drives a scooter so I didn’t end up getting anything until early Sunday morning when I took myself to Walgreens and got chocolates etc for her and my sister. $35. Doing this earlier in the week probably would have been cheaper.

I know that C spent a bit of money getting foodstuff for hanging out at his parents’ house for Mother’s Day but I’m choosing to ignore those expenses as reasonable and necessary. Food=good.

Other than making sure I had wine and beer in the house when I went grocery shopping, I haven’t bought anything else. I've THOUGHT about buying things, and one night I even dreamt I bought a bunch of things on Amazon but I have not done so.

So. Mother’s Day! I have been fraught with anxiety and thinking about Mother’s Day took me over the edge on Friday and I went home to lay down for three hours and eat cheap macaroni and cheese. I made some decisions though, and on Sunday I carried them out. I made overnight French toast and left explicit instruction on baking so that I could sleep in. I am incapable of sleeping in and rose at 6:53a, but I tried and they tried which is all that mattered. 

I got several hours with my family, and then the boys and I packed up and headed to the hospital with my mom to spend some time with new baby and my sister. That again ended up being a lot of nonsense, but I did get to see new baby and my sister for 10 minutes and the boys were uncommonly good at the hospital. At exactly when I said we needed to leave, we headed home, dropped off my mom and spent the rest of the day at my inlaws’ house eating fried chicken and Cubans and eight million chips and veggies soaked in ranch. It was a good time.

(side note because I just reread my last post: C took the boys shopping for me for MD and I said “I want bath stuff and/or chocolate” and got my bath bombs. I went for direct. Score!)

My anxiety came back with a rush around 5pm, but since we had taken two cars to my inlaws’ house I packed myself home for a quiet moment and a bath before everyone else came home. We might need to do that every time we go anywhere; it was so freeing to say “whelp, this was lovely but I’ve had enough and ciao!” without waiting for everyone else to be ready to go.

Monday we found out that S made the AllStar team and that is exciting! But wow, expensive. (I’m not really surprised but there was a slight bit of sticker shock still) We had wanted him to find out when they called his name at closing ceremonies but then practice started this week and he had to be told. However, he went through practice and didn’t understand that he was on the Allstars, he just thought they were letting him practice with them so that was a little amusing.

AllStars puts a slight crimp in our vacation plans as regionals is the same weekend we planned to leave, but we’ll end up spending the weekend at a hotel in the city of the tournament and then leaving direct from there Sunday night. Now that we have specifics on when practice and games are, we’ll be able to actually plan vacation and other things that come up. I love actually being able to plan. 

House buying, no-buy May and Whole 30-ish too.

We’ve been talking about buying a new house here for the past several months and have started driving neighborhoods and crunching numbers. We’ve been deciding what really matters to us (me: 4+ bedrooms, pool or community pool, fireplace, sidewalks. Him: good deal, office, space, no major immediate updating needed).

So for years we’ve lived far within our means, which means that we can dine out when we want and order from Amazon when we want and generally not worry and even still save money. It’s been lovely, but now we need to get real. I decided to do a no-buy this month because honestly, it’s out of hand. I need to just say no to Amazon. Make a meal plan and stick to it. Not run to Target and accidentally spend … well, you know what we all spend at Target on an unplanned run.

It helped that Stephany blogged that she was going to do one, so here I am. Admittedly, it hasn’t gone perfectly so far, but I can at least say that I thought about every dollar spent and how to change that for the rest of the month.

5/1: we had plans with the baseball team to go to Culver’s, so that was $25. This was already a planned expense because we’re going to do the kid stuff. It is what it is.

Also, midday a friend messaged me to ask if I wanted to go to a musical with her. I didn’t have to pay for the ticket, but I did buy myself two glasses of wine. $16.

5/2: I stopped at Starbucks for coffee and breakfast, but I have money in my account so I’m not sure yet if this counts. But anyhow, $11. My sister had her baby, which was unexpected, and I picked my mom up and took her down to the hospital. Coffees and waters at the cafeteria $6

5/3: I forgot to pack myself a lunch for work, and with the insanity of some professional stuff, I did not take a lunch and ate from the vending machine. Cheetos and Dr. Pepper: $2.

Today I brought my breakfast and lunch and my water bottle so hopefully even though I left my La Croix at home I’ll be good.

I did my grocery shopping for the week and only forgot one thing, so I’m going to make myself a very specific list to get in and out without buying up the store. I’m trying to decide if I want to buy bath bombs or make comments tonight about needing them and see if they show up for Mother’s Day.

So obviously also, my expectation to try to do Whole 30 has not worked out well either. I’ve been a bit more purposeful in my carb-loading that’s a lie. I haven’t made pasta or rice with dinner. That’s the only truth. I want to try. That’s a truth. Once the rum cake my MIL got me in the Caribbean is gone, I’ll see what I can do. Tomorrow is another day. Truth.

Books I Read: April 2016

reread:

10. Shattered Silk - Barbara Michaels In high school I loved this book and it kept coming back to me so I picked it up from the library for a fun reread.

new:

22. Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard After having a long trouble of settling down with books, I read these in a weekend, staying up until obscene times of the night to finish. I loved them.

23. Queen Song - Victoria Aveyard 

24. Glass Sword - Victoria Aveyard

25. Soundless - Richelle Mead Very different for Mead. I liked.

26. Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow (audio) I might never finish listening to this but I'm loving it. There's such an obvious bias that I'm now interested in reading more about the other founding fathers to get a better picture of all sides. I found out that somoene I'm acquainted with through work wrote several books about Jefferson, so that might be my next foray into political biography.

27. Spirit Gate - Kate Elliott I thought the reason I couldn't get into Black Wolves was because I didn't read the prior trilogy, but it wasn't the case. Everytime I got attached to a character, she killed them off and I had trouble following the full plot. Just wasn't to be.

Black Wolves - Kate Elliott and since the prior trilogy wasn't to be, I finally put this to bed. Not everything is perfect.

28. Ammie, Come Home - Barbara Michaels This was a fun little palate cleanser of a spooky book. I can't believe I read all of Michaels' other books in my teens and missed this one.

29. Steel Scars - Victoria Aveyard not as good as the rest of the books but a short fun read.

30. Hamilton: The Revolution - Lin-Manuel Miranda This has been bedtime reading for the past week and I'm loving it.

31. Alif the Unseen - G. Willow Wilson This was beautiful and strange and I didn't understand half of it and loved it anyhow. I might need to buy and reread this a few times.