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 encountered during the week. **************************************************************************************
  
1) Happy to report that I've found a couple podcasts to enjoy during my long drawn-out cubicle days---Happier in Hollywood is pretty funny...it's by Gretchen Rubin's (Happiness books) sister and her co-worker.  I've also listened to a few of the "Happier w/Gretchen Rubin" podcasts, but this will not likely be a regular one. I've jumped back on the wagon with "Elise Gets Crafty"....maybe every other podcast is relevant to me as she talks alot about building a small business...I don't have a small business to build, so I only usually listen to the craft-specific podcasts. Lastly, I am close to obsessed with "Locked Up Abroad" and am anxiously awaiting the next podcast to be published. Check it out, if you haven't already.

2) I need a side hustle...I have no imagination to create or come up with some great business...so I keep reverting to becoming a Lyft driver, but then reality kicks in and I decide that I don't want to get murdered in my car. I'll be poor & unfulfilled forever. *sigh* I would love to know if you would consider being a Lyft driver...I started filling out the application but stopped...I think I would be scared to pick strangers up, even if I stayed in "good" areas, which would be my plan. It's so tempting however, as the money is pretty good. Who couldn't use a few extra hundred dollars, right? 

3) Check out Ethan's 36 second video he made in Apple Camp last week.



4) Ethan has been at sleep away camp this week. As much as I looked forward to the alone-time, I've also found myself wondering what to do or even with nothing (exciting) to do.  I was hoping to take advantage of the time to do things that I cannot do with Ethan, as he and I are together 99% of the time. Instead, I've done the usual: laundry, dishes, recycling, garbage...as much as I love to read, sitting down and reading for hours on end at my house just doesn't work for me. I really need to be removed from my home in order to read at length....strange...maybe. In my defense, Starbucks keeps their AC way to freakin' cold for me and I'm pretty much "over" iced chai and I don't drink coffee. Doesn't leave much of a reason to go there. I've also felt like I need to get my 10k steps every day which means getting on the treadmill everyday after work...so yeah, not really doing much out of the ordinary this week. On Monday, I did go to Kohls to use a $5 certificate and buy some socks for Ethan. Weeee! I was hoping the Apple Store would have some more cool classes this week, but no. Speaking of that though, the Photo class I took on Saturday evening was awesome...I learned A LOT about using Photo on the Mac and additional ways to organize my pics. I had NO idea I could order prints and make books through Apple!! Amazing!!

5) My back continues to give me trouble. A lot of trouble actually. After 2 steroid injections and a lot of "pestering" from my mom, I have returned to the chiropractor to see if he can help me. I provided him with a copy of my MRI and he said he has some adjustments that may help me. Fast forward 6 visits later and no real progress has been made (again!)...it continues to be inconsistent, no matter what I do, treatment or activity-wise. I'm beyond frustrated and just this morning I wanted to just break down in tears about it...and then there's the 10-12 lbs that I've gained as a result. Yesterday, I did 15 minutes of traction at the chiropractor and still no improvement.

6) Because I had just returned to the chiropractor, I postponed my 3rd injection from this past Tuesday to August 24 - the next available date - *sigh*....hindsight, I wish I hadn't but I wasn't in as much pain the day I cancelled as I am today and still wanted to give the chiropractor some time. Of course, they never have cancellations for injection appointments, so the chance of getting in sooner is next to nothing....but then again, the 2 injections I've had have only lasted 6 days each. #fail


7) Why can't all areas of life align in a good way at the same time? Seriously,  it seems that if I'm happy at work, home is a bit of a wreck....or as is my reality right now, when I'm not happy at work, home life is pretty good. Ugh!

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 encountered during the week. **************************************************************************************

1)If I can't have my summer off, at least I can work from home quite a bit. Ethan is attending Apple Camp, the computers, not the fruit and he absolutely loved it after just one day. Day 2 & 3 are Thursday & Friday. It's 90 minutes and the parent (or guardian) has to stay in the store the entire time. Lucky me, I have a book I can take with me tomorrow. My mom took him on Tuesday, the first day. I'm just happy I can take the mornings off to be w/him and then work from home in the afternoons.b vn                     b

2) Happy to report that we got all the childcare situated for the remainder of the summer...phew last week was one of those that definitely goes in the "parenting is hard" book. These last 3 weeks should be Ethan's favorites. Today he was with a friend of mine who has 2 middle school age daughters - it was like "mom/daughter" combo babysitting (mom is a teacher). Ethan had a blast and said he wishes he was going there again tomorrow, but he's stuck at home with me. Ha. I'm just glad he was so happy!

3) Added bonus to #2...I have a new friend-in-the-making. I knew the family already and they recently moved into our subdivision. We ran into one another at the pool recently where I ended up invited to her book club. Hooray!! We will be reading "Swimming in the Moon", I haven't started it but will very soon.

4) This summer will definitely go in the books as one of the LEAST greatest. Even our vacation was (much) less than stellar, primarily because my husband didn't take the whole week off like he was supposed to, which left E and I tagging along to his job site and/or doing things on our own instead of as a family, which is one of the main points of going on a (family) vacation. *sigh*

5) I'm back at the chiropractor for my back. He's become a good friend of my mom's so she has been telling him about my treatment with the orthopedic doc and the really fun injections (ouch!). I gave him a copy of my MRI and he told my mom and also called me to say that he has some adjustment moves that could help...I'm to the point where I am willing to try anything if it means I don't have to get another injection and/or I can get some relief. I've gone 4x now and there is definitely some improvement but as always, it is inconsistent. The past 2 days, however, have been my best in a while. I go again on Friday and then need to decide whether to call and postpone my 3rd injection, which is scheduled for next Tuesday. Getting old stinks.

6) Ethan just fell asleep on the couch watching tv. that almost never happens. he clearly had a blast at our neighbors house today. love that!

7) I've clearly moved into the world of "boring adulthood"...or in other words, I have next week completely to myself as E goes to sleep away camp and of course the husband is always out of town during the week. I cannot find a single thing to do with myself. There are no movies I care to see. I'm not a drinker & don't really have friends who are either, so going out on a "girls night" isn't happening either. I did find 2 yoga classes I may attend and hopefully my back will feel better and I can spend some serious time on the treadmill...but I really want to do things that I don't get to do usually because I have Ethan with me. Last time, I was able to go see "The Zookeeper's Wife" which was good....I had read the book a few years ago.

8) The husband and I are trying to make plans for a "date night" after we drop Ethan off at camp on Sunday. We enjoyed dinner @ a Thai restaurant last time and plan to eat somewhere else that Ethan wouldn't enjoy since we'll be on our own. We are really bad at making time for "date nights" so we are both pretty excited about this opportunity.

9) We really want to cut the cable costs in our house and switch over to something like Amazon Firestick or alternative...but I do not know the first thing about any of them. My husband is the TV watcher but it's mostly news (yawn) or military/history channels. I just don't know which option to choose that would give us what we want...I want HGTV, Food Network and all those lovely channels....I can live without everything else.

Books, Books & More Books

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My book game has really dropped off this year.
Not by choice either.
I'm constantly 4 books behind on my Goodreads challenge, even with finishing 2.5 books on vacation last week. 

Currently Reading:

Same Beach, Next Year by DBF...her's are always a "must-read", though I will say that last year's book was not a great one IMO.

Hamilton - I started this quite a while ago, read for what seemed like hours only to discover I was on page 10. I want to read it, but can't seem to find the motivation.

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness & Start Living an Awesome Life - confession: I don't even think I have "greatness" therefore, I can't really doubt it...but this book was recommended (generally) by a co-worker so I picked it up. It's one of those I read a few pages and set it down to read something else. I'll get back to it eventually but so far there was no "earth shattering" information on how to improve my life - at least that I thought was practical. 

Just Finished:

The Four Seasons by Mary Alice Monroe - 4 sisters, lots of drama, good book. I gave it 4 stars. I went right into this one after finishing her new release, Beach House for Rent, which was fantabulous.

Up Next:

Perfect Little World - It just came through from the library so I've got 3 weeks to get it done. 

The Orphan's Tale - picked this one up when it was $2.99, loved all of Jenoff's other books so I'm looking forward to this one.

So now I just need another vacation so I can knock a couple of these out. :)

Ups & Downs

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This has been a summer full of ups and downs. I wish I could say more Ups than Downs, but I think it's probably pretty even.

Down: Ethan is miserable at the (main) day camp he is enrolled in, so much so, that yesterday I had to pull him out. Just not a good fit for us this year.

Up: He had a great time at a different camp I enrolled him at in June. Wish he could be all year there, but it's way too pricey. Glad he loved it though.

Down: Since pulling him from camp, I'm scrambling to find coverage for him during the day. A lot of days are covered by my mom and I, since I can work from home, but I have ONE remaining day where neither of us can be with him and I'm quickly realizing we have (almost) no friends (who can help).

Up: He made huge strides by going to sleep away camp and having a wonderful time and successfully sleeping away from home for an entire week...something that rarely happens. He loved it SO much in fact, that now that he's out of day camp, he will spend another week at sleep away camp and he's super excited.

Down: I've reached out to a couple friends about helping us out with E next week and I totally understand when it doesn't work out, but sometimes the responses I get make it seem like I never should have asked them in the first place. THIS IS WHY I HATE HATE HATE asking for help! 

Down: This also makes me wish I had never left that stupid school job...even though it was absolutely awful and 17 other people also quit that year and I would have been miserable this last school year, but at least Ethan would be happy and we wouldn't have all these stupid issues over the summer. At this point, I'm totally willing to take the pay cut to get back into a school...too bad there are no opportunities.

I can't think of any more "Ups" so I'm gonna stop here.