Sunday Reading

I have to admit that the only things I read this week were the Girl Scout Junior Badge Book and the Sigh of Relief First Aid handbook (edited by Martin I. Green) with my Girl Scouts, to learn about Hypothermia and Frostbite. Proactively, mind you. We earned our "Frosty Fun" badge on our weekend camping trip.

But... since my TBR pile is getting dangerously high, the Puppy took it upon herself to help me out. She really seems to enjoy chewing on the Game of Thrones series. I guess I'll have to wait and watch in on HBO after all. My middle child has been stacking them on my pile as he finishes them - he's on the fourth book, Feast for Crows. Each is a good thousand pages.

Just added to my TBR pile (to make up for the lost books) will be the Percy Jackson series... yes, I'm probably the only YA enthusiast who hasn't read them yet. We watched the movie last night as a family, and now I really need to read more. Both sons kept saying, "The books are way better."

What are you reading?

Getting Organized...

Being organized has never seemed more challenging to me.

I'm not sure why. I've always been an organized person. Somehow my life has gotten out of my control in the last few months, and here I sit facing a new year - a new decade - feeling like I'm flying down a windy mountain road with a hole in my brake lines and less than the right amount of steering fluid.... so I'm still steering the car, but it takes more than the usual amount of effort.

And to top it off, it's Girl Scout cookie season.

My plan for this week was to clean up Christmas and get the house back in a semblance of every day order. My plan for NEXT week is to sit down and do the same for my writing schedule and my life.

Many bloggers seem to have set schedules for which days to blog about different aspects of their lives/careers/chaos... Medical Mondays on Lydia Kang's blog comes to mind as a great example. On Mondays, I know I can always go check out what cool weird medical mystery she's going to explain to us...

I'm working on it. I'm also working on setting a schedule for finishing my W.I.P.s, since just saying I want to finish it doesn't seem to make it so.

But, as I said, it's Girl Scout cookie time. And I'm taking the troop winter camping this weekend. So my other career (the non-mommy one) will have to wait until next week, because I still need to pack!

It's A Whole New Year!

The tree is gone - the kids are back at school - the holidays are officially OVER!

It's a whole new year - 2011 - and what are we going to do with our shiny new beginning of a shiny new decade?

Do you make new year's resolutions? I try not to. No, really. They never work out and then I end up feeling guilty. I have enough guilt - I'm the mother of teenagers who like to play that card a little too often. Have kids? Then you know, too.

Instead, I like to make wishes. Usually on the Plum Pudding. First when we're stirring it in the fall, then when we light it at Christmas. It's an English thing, apparently, although my English neighbor didn't know she should be wishing on the blue flame at Christmas. I shared the rest of my pudding with her at New Year's, so she could make a New Year's Wish.

Wishes are shiny and hopeful. Not guilt-ridden.

One of my wishes for 2011 is to finish and publish another book. Or two. So I need to write more. Much more. In the last few months, my word output has dwindled to a mere trickle while my screen time has actually increased. Less Facebook, more wordsmithing. My goal is to finish the current W.I.P. by the end of the month, then start editing. Wish me luck!

What are your goals - wishes - resolutions, if you must - for 2011?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We have a New Year's tradition of finding a new beach that we haven't ever been to and going for a family walk to jump start our New Year. This year, we finally went to Cold Storage Beach in Dennis. The parking lot is tiny by Cape standards, and we're not town residents so we've never been in the summer. It lived up to every good thing I've heard about it.

The weather was gorgeous and unseasonable warm, so the parking lot was jammed on New Years Day - but we found a spot just as someone else left. We got to experience low tide at Cold Storage Beach. If you get a chance, go check it out. Really. Beautiful.

I saw some of the biggest starfish I've ever seen, the kids were picking up all kinds of sea sponges, and Puppy played with a giant spider crab, tossing it up out of the tide pool (and has the cut on her snout to prove it!)

The kids loved it. They all stripped down to their t-shirts, and my daughter's boots got soaked up to her ankles from wading in the tide pools - luckily they were the old pair and not the new ones she just got for Christmas!

Puppy was beside herself, running around meeting new people and smiling at everyone!

All three dogs had a grand ol' time, running on the beach and playing in the ocean. We stayed for more than two hours in the sunshine. The Old Dog was the one who finally said "Enough," and turned around back toward the parking lot.

Before we left, I took a few pictures of the kids, to show New Year's Day on Cape Cod. T-shirts and sea life. What a great day.

That night, as we were sitting down to dinner we wondered where the Puppy was hiding. We found her curled up fast asleep under the Christmas tree, dreaming of sunny beaches and spider crabs.

The end of a very long week, and a long holiday season.

Happy New Year to all! Here's hoping for lots of long walks and smiling days in 2011!

What are you hoping for in the New Year?