list – Peaceful Reader

Two days in…

and this is what I’ve accomplished:

1. Watched my Netflix movie, The Holiday, which has been sitting around my DVD player for about 2 weeks. The movie was okay but the highlight was Jude Law-he is seriously handsome albeit a bit of a cad. Now I can send it back. Our turnaround on Netflix movies is slow!

2. Took my son for a short summer haircut. He will be fishing and camping from late June through July and needed one good cut to get him through. He’ll still come back with his long curly locks framing his face.

3. Got up early to do the mom thing with my daughter. Generally, she is still sleeping when I leave for my school and her and dad struggle through breakfast, hair brushing, etc. on their own. I feel extra special when I get to help. This morning my husband and I biked her to school. She still fits on the tandem bike so it takes only about 4 minutes to get to her school by bike! (it’s mostly downhill) Today is her last day of school so I’m also going to have lunch with her for the last time as a second grader. (tears dripping just a little)

4. I’ve done tons of loads of laundry and after daughter left for school I putzed in her room, putting laundry away, making her bed, picking up a few toys-doing all the gentle things I imagine most stay-at-home moms do (but I’m sure they don’t really as I know they have full agendas as well).

5. Here’s the grossiest thing I did so far on my quest for a cleaner house-I cleaned out the bottom drawer of our freezer, which has had a fozen blueberry melty stuff all over it for quite a while-I don’t want to get into specifics but it has been a year ago that the big storm knocked out our electrictity for 3 days and I’m just saying maybe…) I know it makes me shudder to think I did not take the 10 minutes to get it up months ago but it wasn’t hurting anyone:)

6. My plan is also to write every day, not necessarily blogging but actually writing. I did that yesterday and plan to do it today also.

7. I have two books to finish and three posts to write and I’m participating this weekend in Mawbooks Bloggiesta festival to do some clean-up blog stuff! I’m thrilled to participate in this event for the very first time.

8. I made brownies for son’s soccer banquet this evening. The recipe is from my King Arthur cookbook.

Hurrah to summer for giving me the time to catch-up on my own life!!!
Now if I could manage to get up just a little earlier so I could start my early morning yoga routine again I would be completely happy!

and you…how’s your day shaping up?

Which one should I read first??

This challenge hosted by Bibliophile By the Sea struck a chord with me today because after dinner (eggplant lasagna) I started sorting through my tbr piles-you know the real piles…not the long-ass list I keep on Good Reads. I’ve now compiled “The List” and I have to say it felt good just picking out the ones that really need to be read! Like it is a crime I haven’t read a few of these in a more timely manner! Each book I held reminded me of the story behind why I have the book in the first place making it a little book trip down memory lane. Here is “The List” then I’ll explain some of my memories!

1. ~~The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson~~
2. The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
3. The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
4. I don’t want to be crazy by Samantha Schutz
5. Home to Italy by Peter Pezzelli
6. Every Sunday by Peter Pezzelli
7. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
8. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
9. One year to an organized life by Regina Leeds
10. Never Change by Elizabeth Berg
11. The Omnivore’s Dilemma; A natural history of four meals by Michael Pollan
12. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
13. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
14. Inheritance by Natalie Danford
15. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing; Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson
16. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
17. The Reluctant Tuscan; How I Discovered my Inner Italian by Phil Doran
18. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
19. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
20. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson
21. The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins
22. The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by e.l. konigsburg
23. I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson
24. Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska
25. Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
26. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
27. The Toughest Indian in the World by Sherman Alexie
28. ~~Dreamland by Sarah Dessen~~
29. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
30. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
31. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
32. A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
33. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
34. Austenland by Shannon Hale
35. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
36. ~~The Life and Times of Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson~~
37. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (gasp!!)
38. We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg
39. Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang
40. The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
41. The Sorceress; The secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott
42. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
43. ~~Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix~~
44. A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
45. Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes
46. Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix
47. Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
48. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
49. Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
50. The Snipesville Chronicles; Don’t Know Where, Don’t Know When by Annette Laing (gift from author)

A few of these were passed on to me (#’s 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11), quite a few are from my school library and should be back at school instead of on my reading table (#2, #43-47) and a few like the Picoult and Berg books were purchased second hand and shuffled aside for newer choices. The Sarah Dessen choices are all my step-daughter, Kaylee’s and will be passed pack to her as I finish. A few of the books, like The Shadow Catcher, I bought because I enjoyed something else the author had written (Evidence of things unseen).#24 and #39 were both purchased at the Holocaust Museum two years ago when we visited D.C.-why didn’t I read them on the car ride home??

I feel giddy with the idea of making some much needed room on my book cases-the key will be not to just add books back in. I could have added a few more but I like a nice round number like 50-and when I get these read I’ll be closer to the +100 plus challenge. Please leave a comment as to which one you think I should begin with come January 1st!!