Musing Monday - a day late....

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Musing Monday is brought to you by A Daily Rhythm and is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

So...for me, up next I think I'll read...

This is the 3rd in the series...I started with the 1st book, Because of Mr. Terupt, 2 years ago with a fantastic group of 5th graders, who also LOVED the book about 7 students going into 5th grade. It was a great fit for our school book club. Most of the students followed up with the 2nd book, Mr. Terupt Falls Again and many of them were anxiously awaiting the release of Saving Mr. Terupt this past summer. 

I had planned to read it right when it came out so I could talk to students about it, but I never got around to it and now I have a copy that one of my STAR students loaned to me to read. 

I would also like to read next: 

I really cannot wait to read this one, and it is just released today...but I have so many others to read that spending $15 on it seems ridiculous. It will depend on how much control & self-discipline I have. Ha!

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts

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Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they've encountered during the week, etc.). 

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1) Well, finding time for blogging is proving harder than I thought it would be. Total drag. 

2) That shortage of time is also affecting my reading...I remain 9 books behind my yearly Goodreads goal and it certainly looks like this will be a "crash & burn" year in regards to reading. I even finished 2 books recently, but it has hardly helped.

3) And lately if I have the time for reading, it turns out to be a day when I have too much on my mind and cannot clear it enough to enjoy (or focus on) reading, so I end up surfing the internet on my phone, in bed. Completely "unhealthy"...but it's my coping mechanism for now, I suppose. *sigh* #notwinning

4) I love my new running shoes. Turns out I needed them quite badly and had completely worn out the prior pair in only 6 months. 

5) I ran a 5k on Sunday using the Galloway method (the right way, as opposed to the wrong way that I was doing before reading the book)...I was trying to run for too many minutes and the 1 minute walk was not enough recuperation time. I did this race with a 2.5 minute run and 1 minute walk and finished in 35:08, which is 3 minutes faster than the 5k I did in August. Gotta love results like that. I'm super happy!!

6) It's been 8 days now, but I can't stop talking about the great service I received at my local Fleet Feet when buying my new shoes. I will NEVER go anywhere else for running shoes again...unless I move out of TN...which is a goal of mine...but I digress...I was at the store for about 1 hour and was able to tell the saleslady all the craziness that has gone on with my last pair of shoes recently so she could make a good decision on where to go from there. I didn't know if I could still use New Balance or not. She took the time to look at my arch and decided that we should stick with what has worked...New Balance has always worked in the past. She checked out my PowerStep inserts and determined that they were still good and so I tried on the above NB shoes. Loved them. She still had me try on the equivalent in Asics, but it just wasn't the right feel. We were going to try Brooks but she felt like they had more support than I needed...part of my problem was my arch being lifted TOO much. So once everything was in place, we determined that my old NB were broken down on the outer edges, which was causing all the discomfort. It was really neat to try on and look at one new NB shoe and one OLD NB shoe to see the (obvious) difference in the way my foot was supported (or not). Now I need to go back there for a 101 class on my Garmin 220 watch...geesh...I just can't quite figure it all out. 

7) Lucky Charms really needs to come out with JUST a box of the marshmallows. For every bowl of cereal I pour for Ethan, I sneak out a few (20) marshmallows...I just can't help it!! Their marshmallows are way tastier than the "real" (?) white puffy marshmallows in my opinion. 

8) Even if my entire workweek sucked eggs last week, at least I got to see one of my all-time favorite 80s bands...REO Speedwagon came to our good 'ol TN Valley Fair...yeehaw ya'll!! The best part, my neighbor, who is a tv/radio celeb took me with her, so we had 2nd row seats, though I won't deny I was hoping for a backstage meet & greet...but it didn't happen. The best I got was this failed attempt at a selfie w/lead singer, Kevin Cronin...so sad...my friend got one (as you can see), but then Kevin wouldn't stop for one for me....what?!?! Yes, totally bummed!

9) I started a new book last night! I'm already enjoying it...now I just wish I could sit at home alone for 3 days straight and read. Or better yet, sit on a beach somewhere alone for 3 days and read. 

10) So many feelings in my head lately. Lately, as in the past 3 weeks. Too paranoid to put them down here, though I know I'd feel somewhat better. *sigh* Oh well, life goes on...and thank goodness for that because I'd really hate to be stuck in my life of the past 3 weeks. #crypticforareason #itsgottagetbetterright

I'm baaaack....

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As if you even noticed I was missing, right?

I've missed blogging these past couple weeks, but as always, life gets in the way and it certainly did a fine job of that here lately. Understatement of the century.

Fall baseball practices have occurred. First game is tomorrow. Based on E's batting at practice, I'm tempted to say that THIS will be HIS season. Oh My Goodness. Please!! There are NO words for how badly I want to see him crush the ball, he certainly has the strength, if we could only put all the pieces together. *crossing fingers*

I'm still running. Having some shoe issues though - for the first time ever. I've always been a New Balance running shoe girl. I'm on my 5th pair (or so) and I've been wearing them since March with no problems until recently. That seems really weird. On the suggestion of a super runner friend, I'm headed to Fleet Feet tonight for some serious shoe help. Apparently, they will let me run on their treadmill and help me find a pair of shoes that will be a good fit for me. 

On the topic of running again (sorry for you non-runners), I challenged myself to a 6 mile run yesterday at a pretty hilly park here in town. I had never run there before. Six miles ends up being 3 times around the loop. There are 3 awful, I mean, absolutely awful, hills on the loop. No matter which way you go, you get one of them, but frankly, going down is almost as bad as up. Almost. I'm happy to say that I finished all 6 miles upright, but my pace was not where I would like it to be. After pouting a while, I analyzed some of my more recent runs and my pace was slightly (very slight) better than prior runs considering the distance. Hooray me. I only hope that over the next 4 months I can shave some more time off. 

So far we have not had much in the way of 2nd grade homework. Having typed that, I am sure I just jinxed myself and Ethan's backpack is loaded down with a truckload. Ha!

Let's start the countdown to Disney, shall we? 156 days. Let them fly by please. 

Bookish & Not-So-Bookish Thoughts

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Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they've encountered during the week, etc.). 

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1) It's Thursday already and as suspected I have not blogged since going back to school. While I cannot say I am surprised, I am slightly disappointed...already I have NO "free" time....and we haven't even started 2nd grade (and homework) yet. :(

2) I'm currently reading Judy Blume's new book "In the Unlikely Event" and so far, so good. It's been a quick, easy read and if it weren't almost 400 pages, I'd say I'll be done soon.

3) When I finish with the Blume book, I plan to attempt reading "Mindset"...it's THE book on Growth Mindset - which is what everyone and their brother seems to be talking about these days - at least in the education world. I heard the book is somewhat dull, but the information is good. I'm kind of a fan of research, so the book may not seem dull to me...it's based on many years of her research.

4) This may the year I do not reach my Goodreads goal. Just coming out of summer and I'm 8 books behind. It was not a productive reading summer...even with reading 13 books. :(

5) Still working on the big dream...things have been up and down in that arena. It's still insanely challenging to get into the big "D" with mid-level, professional position. That bums me out to no end because it's simply not feasible nor reasonable to relocate to take a job that pays $10/hour, which is what most of their "front line" (entry level) jobs pay. However, with the way things have gone these past few days for me, the Housekeeping positions they are hiring for right now are looking more and more appealing. #jokingnotjoking

6) Did some networking today with a 20+ year Cast Member which is how I gained a lot of that info above. I reached out to him because he just took on a new role and I was hoping that would mean he'd have positions to fill. He's been very kind when I've contacted him (twice now...1st time was a couple years ago) and says he'll keep his eyes & ears out for me. He also said the bilingual piece is valuable there and to market it heavily...I could likely land a job in the Reservation Center tomorrow, but (1) not a fit for me and (2) crummy pay. If I already lived there, this would be so much easier.

7) I really hope my running training pays off in this upcoming 5k race I have later in September. *crossing fingers*

8) I really enjoyed the CrossFit classes I did and felt like they gave me a good workout - I was sore for 3 days after the 2nd class...but I have decided not to join in September...maybe in October. The first time you sign up, they REQUIRE you to sign up for 5 weeks unlimited, so it's quite costly. If I'm going to make that kind of investment, I want to be able to go as much as possible, but in September I wouldn't be able to because Ethan will be playing Fall baseball and if they have any practices, that will also take up some workout time. I'm hoping to be able to join possibly in October. I think it will be great strength training for the running races I'm signed up for. 

9) Another perk to relocating to FL, is that I could run a whole lot more of their races. In addition to that, if you run a race in FL and also CA in the same year, you get an additional medal for completing the Coast to Coast Challenge...as if I needed another reason to live in FL.

10) I'm happy for the upcoming long weekend. We had made an agreement to stay home for Labor Day weekend, but then last Sunday afternoon, O decided we are going to SC for one last look at the beach. I tried talking him out of it, but no luck..so it's off to the beach we go...no complaints from me. HaHa! I was just trying to be responsible so we could direct the funds to pay down some bills. Oh well, I'm looking forward to enjoying that chicken sandwich at Poe's on Saturday afternoon. Woot! And I am planning to RUN across the Ravenel Bridge, if not all the way - at least 3/4 out and then back.

August: In Review

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August In Review: by numbers.

1 concert - Gipsy Kings...loved seeing them again after 15ish years!

1 (minor league) baseball game attended. 

2 successful Craigslist sales (true miracle) - my Silhouette Cameo and my WRMK Cinch Binding Machine. Just couldn't justify keeping either when I haven't used them recently & feel like I just don't have the time for them.

2 crossfire classes attended. great workouts.

3 books read.

5 rollercoasters ridden. so fun!

11 visits to the  YMCA.

26 (out of 31) days I had more than 10k steps. Yay!

124 pictures taken. (approximately, as I could not find an easy way to count them within iPhoto - hating the new version)

*wish I knew how many miles I ran, but the training app I'm using right now doesn't track that. total drag. otherwise it's a great app.