my READING CHALLENGE

I made a goal for myself to read 24 books this year.  I search for new books and keep track of my progress using Good Reads.

Do you use Good Reads?  It doesn't seem like a ton of people I know use it.  I love it.  It's the main way I search for books.  I've read a lot of books I probably never would have had it not been for this website.

Anyway, below are the books I have read so far.

Rainbow Rowell is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  Her books are charming, funny and unique.  Of the two I have read so far this year, Attachments was my favorite.  Fair warning, Rowell's books can have a bit of language.

The Life We Bury, Everything We Keep, The House We Grew Up In and The Serpent King were all books I found by browsing through Good Reads.  With the exception of The House We Grew Up In, I would give them all 2 stars.  They weren't anything exceptional and I wouldn't ever recommend them to other people.

The House We Grew Up In was an interesting read.  I'm not exactly sure why I liked this book.  I remember thinking about the characters as if they were real people and looking forward to reading any chance I got.  Simply put, it's a story about how one woman's hoarding habit affects the rest of her family.

The Book Thief and Kite Runner are two books I had heard numerous good things about and figured it was time for me to read them.  Of the two, The Book Thief was by far superior in terms of story, writing, characters, etc.  But, to be honest, both left me feeling a little underwhelmed.

I enjoyed Room.  The fact that the author was able to convey the horror of the situation while still maintaining a level of innocence (due to being written from the perspective of a child) was quite remarkable.  I think having a chapter or two from the perspective of an adult would have added an element of depth to the story that overall was impossible to convey with a 5 year old as the narrator.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, I'll admit, was a fabulous and delightful read.  But, I really only read it so I could keep on track with my reading goal.  It's a short read, but very profound and thought-provoking.

I really like Anna Kendrick.  Her book, Scrappy Little Nobody, was a fun read.  It's interesting to learn more about celebrities and how they came to be these famous people.  I especially enjoyed learning about her experiences as a child working on Broadway.  I will admit, though, that her sense of humor, at times, was vulgar.

And, last but not least, the classics:  Lord of the Flies and The Bell Jar.  I've talked a lot about my experience reading Lord of the Flies.  It was such a slow read for me.  I felt like the words were dripping with symbolism and I was afraid I'd miss something if I wasn't careful.  I referred to Spark Notes a lot during this read.

I loved The Bell Jar.  It is the best book I've read all year.  I can't even explain why I loved it so much.  I just did.  This is not a story for everyone, but if you have an interest in psychology, mental illness and feminism, I think you'd enjoy this book.

My current read is Murder on the Orient Express.  I remember watching the movie from, like the 70s, and really liking it.  When I learned a remake of the movie was coming to theaters soon, I decided it was time to read the book.

Let me know if you've read any of these books and what you thought of them.

Isn't read the bestest thing ever?

FEBRUARY goals

January is over!

Here's a recap of the goals I set for myself:

Read Attachments and Room

Write four blog posts

I easily read Attachments and Room.  Attachments was cute, but a tad cheesy even by my standards.  If you're into RomCom novels, I would recommend it.  It has a unique plot and is entertaining.

Room I was a bit disappointed with.  Let me start by saying it wasn't nearly as difficult to read as I planned.  Yes, the plot is disturbing, but since it is written from the perspective of the little boy, the difficult situations seem to be softened a bit given his innocent point of view.

I would have enjoyed the book more had the author chosen to write from Ma's point of view as well.  I think it would've thickened the book, if that makes any sense, and added a depth to the storyline that I felt was lacking.

As for my blog posts.  I technically wrote three, if you count the one that I wrote about my January goals.  I was hoping to write 4 posts after that, but only go around to writing 3.  One notable thing happened in January (the 20th to be exact) that sort of sucked the life out of me, and, in fact, inspired one of my goals for February.

Speaking of February...

This month promises to be exciting.  And here are the goals I have set for myself:

READ

The Book Thief

Crossing to Safety

WRITE
Four blog posts

AVOID

Facebook
Because Facebook sucks.  Big time.

PREPARE

Dinner 4 times a week

Since I am a little behind, I'm officially starting my goals as of February 6th.  If you have any ideas for me as far as posts go, please send them my way.

Happy February!

create your own {TIME}

I had the thought that my kids should see me doing things besides just cooking and cleaning.  You know, allowing them the opportunity to see that I have a personality and interests that extend beyond being "the little wife."  And since I had previously decided to read more, particularly the classics, I thought I'd enlighten my children by reading in front of them.  We went to the library one day and I checked out a copy of The Grapes of Wrath.

So, that was a month ago and I'm on page 95.

Apparently, casually reading a book while my kids entertain themselves is much more difficult than I anticipated.  No wonder I never read!  And, the guilt of doing something for me doesn't stop at the needs of my children.  It also includes the needs of my house.  Why would I ever read when there is laundry that needs to be folded and put away, dishes that need to be unloaded and loaded into the dishwasher, etc.  The list of things that I could be doing usually always trumps leisurely reading, even if no one is in need of my immediate attention.

The fact is, I don't feel productive if I'm reading.  And if I don't feel productive, I start to think less of myself.  And so I came up with this idea of how to indulge myself ever so slightly all while feeling productive.  I started including things that I wanted to do on my daily To Do list.  Among all the things I need to get done each day are things I want to do.

And guess what?  It works!

Turns out, the euphoria of crossing something off my list allows me to relax long enough to enjoy one chapter of The Grapes of Wrath {I had to extend my due date, by the way} each day.  And, when I'm done, I cross it off my list and can go about the rest of my feeling like I did something good for myself without feeling like I wasted my time.

I suppose the bottom line is this:  if I'm going to do anything for me, I have to plan for it.  That's sort of how adulthood is.  And even though that may sound frustrating, it's really not.  Being an adult blows sometimes, but there are a lot of perks to it as well.  Like, asking for a lemon with your water.  What teenager could get away with that without being ridiculed by her friends?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go cross off "Write blog post" from my To Do list.

{r}: READ

I already have a goal to read all of Jane Austen's books, but I wanted to include another item about reading anyway.  And that is to read one book each month for 12 consecutive months. 

This may seem like a strange goal to some people, but for me it'll be a huge accomplishment.  While I love to read, I tend not to make time for it.  And, I tend to read really, really slow.  When I hear people say, "Man, it took me an entire week to read that book!"  I'm always amazed.  If I finish a book in a week I think I must be way advanced.

Anyway, this goal can go hand-in-hand with my Jane Austen goal, or I may find a different book to read.  Either way, I think this will be a great way for me to teach my children about the importance of reading and making sure I take time out for myself as much as possible.

{a}: jane AUSTEN

I don't read enough.  If a book doesn't capture my attention right away, I get bored and rarely finish it.  I've decided that's not a good enough reason to not read, so I've decided I want to read all of Jane Austen's books. 

Since I usually don't read a book more than once, I decided against buying them and instead checking them out from the library.  One day, curiosity got the better of me and I checked to see how much they were on iTunes.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that they were free!  Score!  However, I'd much rather pay for a Jane Austen book than one "written" by Snooki.

This is a goal I know I can accomplish relatively soon.  I'm a slow reader and I find myself without a lot of "me time," but I'm excited to start reading these novels.  Any suggestions as to which one I should read first?

I hope to cross this one off my list in 1 - 2 years.

something UNEXPECTED

It wasn't that long ago that I was working part-time at a reception center and, for the most part, enjoyed my job and the people I worked with.  The venue did all sorts of events, but for the most part we hosted happy couples on their wedding day.  It was so much fun to watch the bride and groom, to decide if I liked the wedding dress, colors and overall theme of the ocassion.  And, believe it or not, the carnival theme reception was a huge hit with guests.

Like all things, though, there were some major cons to this job.  I made next to nothing, often worked events that were severely understaffed and overall didn't get to work enough.  And, probably the most annoying part of all is that I never knew when my shift would be over which made coordinating with baby-sitters a little tricky.

In the meantime, I spent many hours scheduling and planning for baby-sitters and arranging my life so I could work my butt off only to receive a teeny tiny paycheck that wasn't available to set up on direct deposit and that I couldn't pick up until after 5:00p on payday {which was on a Friday}.  But, at least I was bringing in some money.

Then, things changed for my husband at his job.  His duties and hours changed which almost certainly guaranteed I would have to find a baby-sitter each and every time I worked.  Up until this point, he was home sometimes while I was gone and was able to watch our daughter.

We weighed our options and finally decided that, yes, what little money I did make was helpful, in the long run it was more of a hassle for me to be employed.  So, I quit.  And, let me tell you, I felt such a sense of relief when I did, but it was difficult not to have the extra cash flow, and I often found myself questioning my decision.

Well, a few weeks ago I was reading the book Building Wealth for Building the Kingdom:  A Financial Planning Guide for Latter-day Saint Families by Devin D. Thorpe, and after reading the part about dual incomes I immediately knew I had made the right decision.  In his book, Thorpe explored all the added expenses that can potentially come up when both spouses work, and pointed out that it's important to really understand if a secondary income is actually a benefit.  He touched base on a lot of things that Dustin and I discussed {baby-sitters, spending more money in gas, etc.) before we decided my job, in the long run, wasn't benefiting us to make all extra planning and effort worth the while.

So, after getting a totally unbiased, third-party stance on the matter, I, again felt like I had made the right decision.

Imagine my surprise when I very suddenly and randomly had the thought to look at a major retailer's website to see if they were hiring.  And, after looking at this website many times before {and being completely sure they would not be hiring}, imagine my surprise when I learned they were hiring.  And imagine my surprise when less than 12 hours after completing the online application, I had an interview.

It is times like this, when it's as though the stars all align and things magically fall into place, that I know I'm going in the right direction.  I don't always know why I'm given impressions to do certain things {like suddenly apply for a new job}, but I've had enough experiences like this to know it's not a coincidence.

To be continued.....

P.S. If anyone would like to read Thorpe's book, let me know.  He's giving away free copies to any of my readers that would like to be financially enlightened!  {FYI, it's an e-book for a Kindle.  I don't have a Kindle and was able to read it on my iPad}.

a CLASSIC book

"Mocking birds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

-Miss Maudie Atkinson to Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird

I recently finished reading the book To Kill a Mockingbird.  I had always heard good things about this book, and, looking back, am surprised I didn't have to read it in high school.  Regardless, I knew it was something I needed to read.

I now understand why it is considered a "classic."  It was absolutely amazing and the best book I have ever read.  I dare say it is my favorite book.  I completely loved it.  I am not one to read books more than once, but as soon as I read the last page I was tempted to start reading it all over again.

As I'm sure most people know, this novel is about a young girl living in the South during the 1930s.  I loved that the book was told from her point of view because her attempt to make sense of her world, the social injustices around her, was very enlightening and profound.

The book is written beautifully, the characters are strong and unforgettable.  I will be surprised if another book tops this one.

Read it if you haven't already!