Quick Escapes Chicago

2013, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I didn’t have any books on my library cart that I really wanted to read enough to commit to them — not when I’ve got a dozen waiting for me at the library that I really want to red before the end of the year. And, I also want to put in a lot of hours on JMP’s Christmas stocking this month so… what to do last night when I wanted to read something but didn’t have anything I really wanted to spend a lot of time on.

I discovered I did have a very old version of Quick Escapes Chicago sitting on the library cart (huh, I thought I’d read all of the travel guides I reserved back in October but I guess not.) Quick, easy read and now I can move onto stuff that I really want/need to read. And, it was one of the best “beyond Chicago” travel books I’ve read. Outdated, certainly, but a good set of excursion recommendations. It made me want to pack up and head out for a day or three.

I’ll remember that for the next time we decide to take a mini vacation.

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I’m Thankful For PTO and Clean Floors

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day, Pets, Work /

I’m on PTO right now (paid time off) which I almost didn’t take because our original plan to go to Lake Geneva for a couple of days got sidelined by the adoption of Buster. All of the funds for a mini vacation went to his adoption, his vet bills, his extra dog food and all of the darn toys he eats. (Well mostly Skeeter eats them after she takes them away from him, which causes him to need more toys for Skeeter to take away and eat. Vicious cycle.)

I decided to go ahead and take the PTO because gah, all of the things have become ALL OF THE THINGS and I figured I could at the very least sleep a little later, read a few more books, work on JMP’s stocking, take the dogs to the dog park, get some stuff to the post office and maybe even do something fun in the city with TW.

I’m not sure how many of those things I’ll get done but they’re all still on the table. But first, I realized I needed to do some housework. There was no way I could sit in the living room and watch Dawson’s Creek (or Superman) marathons and work on the stocking while the living room was trashed with aforementioned dead dog toys and all of the sand tracked in by these mutts from our backyard sand pit.

So I’ve spent the morning on that. It didn’t take much more than an hour to do the floors in the cold room, office, kitchen, our bedroom, our bathroom, the dining room and the family room. The Dyson DC56 makes it pretty quick and easy. I was feeling all good about how clean everything was and getting ready to turn on the first of my tv marathon when I realized Buster was covered in mud.

Of course he is.

It’s raining and he was outside trying to chase Skeeter around the mud pit in the backyard. My clean floors will only be clean for about another ten minutes so I’m probably going to have to do the floors again tomorrow morning before I settle in with the stocking and the video marathon watching.

Thank goodness for PTO, right?

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“Yikes, I’m In Trouble”

Daily Dose, Family Funk, Friends & Family, Kid Talk /

When one of your children messages you saying “Yikes, I’m in trouble!” It can make your stomach do horrible, horrible things.

Thankfully, it can also make you laugh when you find out the reason your child is in trouble is that her son, your grandson, is totes adorbs and she’s in trouble because you’ve sent her the link to the Toys-R-Us Black Friday ad and your grandson needs ALL. OF. THE. THINGS.

I’m thankful for that kind of trouble.

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Ah, My Weird and Crazy Family

1 Comment / Family Funk, Friends & Family /

Haven’t I already given thanks, numerous times this month, for my family? Seems like that’s pretty much the only thing I’ve written about. I kind of hope these prompts take me in some other direction — soon — otherwise I’m going to have to go off the rails and come up with my own topics because as awesome as my family IS, they aren’t the only thing/people I’m appreciative of. Seriously.

It’s been another one of those rough mornings. Lots to do and everything should be done quickly — very quickly. But, I’ve still had time to receive a text from my son. Look at a couple of unusual gift ideas for one of the girls. Laugh at TW because the puppy stole her iPhone (again). And tease TW’s mom about her not having an iPhone.

Pretty typical day, so far.

I expect I’ll hear from a couple more kids before the day is out. I’ll hear some weird story from TW’s mom. I’ll laugh over many things with TW and I really should call my dad but that will have to wait til my mini vacation later in the week. I might even get a photo of JMP to really make me smile.

I’m thankful for these crazy people. Every single one of them. I cannot imagine what my days would look like or feel like without them.

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You and you and also you….

Community Chest, Daily Dose /

Today’s prompt is “a person who lifts you up” — a person. Impossible.

Certainly I could talk about JMP all day. It just takes a silly photo or an update from his mom to make my day. But it’s also TW who’s always been able to lift me with a tree joke or a mint on my pillow or topping off my coffee at just the right moment.

Or my kids, who even when I’m sure they’re trying to see which one of them can make me nuts the fastest, are also the ones who make my day every single day. Or my parents, who always seem to call me or text me on the very same day (still).

Or the people I work with who can make me laugh when there’s really not much to laugh about. Or the bloggers I’ve met and those I’ve never met who make my life better with their words and their photos and their desire to make connections and share their lives with me (with all of us.)

One person who lifts me up — impossible. I’m grateful for all of you.

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Superman: The Unauthorized Biography

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Comics & Graphic Novels, Non-Fiction /

I’m not a diehard Superman fan. I’ve probably only read a handful of his comics over the last 50 years. I know I’ve only seen a couple of the movies. I liked the old TV show but if I had to choose, I’d always choose Batman.

So the fact that I impulse picked up Superman: The Unauthorized Biography is kind of amusing. The fact that I read every word is just plain weird. It took days — days when I’m way behind on what I want/planned/need to read. I couldn’t help it. Even though it was pretty much the same ole thing for every period of time:

– Origin story.
– Fashion changes.
– Lois/Clark/Lana/Superman angst.
– Bad guys.
– Let’s kill him/reboot.

And do it all over again. And again and again and again and again.

Still. There was something oddly compelling about the book. I kept stopping to watch video or surf comic covers for each of the time periods I was reading about. I kind of want to watch a Superman marathon now… in fact, I might do that next week instead of going back to Dawson’s Creek… maybe. It’s a good thing the STUPID Davis St. project is still only 70% (or something) completed because otherwise I might be tempted to stop at the comic book store next week when I pick up the girls from their father’s apartment. Wait, maybe the construction will be done by then… nah.

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Strong Enough

Daily Dose, Personality /

Today’s prompt for 28 Days of Celebrating Thanks is “A Time When You Were Strong” — oh boy. I’m reminded of why I never answered my own community building questions back in the old message board days.

Seriously though, I’m pretty emotionally strong and always have been. I’m good at grinding my way through and keeping a level head when people around me are falling apart and losing their shit. I’m not one to #catastrophize.

I’m thankful for that. Very, very thankful.

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Reading In October

2013, Books in Bed, Reading Lists /

Oops. I almost forgot my monthly tally. Possibly because I’m not super excited by most of what I read, though I did thoroughly enjoy the #readathon early in the month. Let’s see how I did.

39 total (which sounds better than it is, because so many where children’s books, lol)

2 Audiobooks
7 Graphic Novels (they were all for the Cybil Shortlist Challenge)
16 Children’s lit (fiction and nonfiction) (they were all for the Cybil Shortlist Challenge
1 Queer
5 Non-fiction.
8 Fiction

I quit 1 book this month and there was another I should have quit but did not.

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