What's New?

Why is it so hard to jump back into blogging after just a few short months of poor blogging stride? It seems the longer you go without regular blogging, the harder it is to just get going again. Well, to get going again, I've thrown together a set of lists. One is a list of things that are bugging me right now--mostly relating to blogging or my lack thereof, and the other is a list of things I'm pretty excited about lately. Nothing Earth shattering on any front.. just.. well, life. It happens. Oh and I also threw in two of my favorite photos from last week (taken with my iphone 4S). I think they're super adorable and I hope they make you smile as they did for me. :)

I took this photo last Friday morning while out on an early weekday morning bike ride. It was the cutest, coolest blimp I've ever seen in my life! Just darling. It made my day. ;)

It's a Despicable Me Minion blimp!

Things that are bugging me right now: 

• Not blogging regularly OR keeping up with your blogs. 
• Admitting that I'm not very good at read-alongs. Anna Karenina, The Winter Sea, Stardust and now The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I've not kept up on a single one of them, although I at least eventually finished The Winter Sea and Stardust, even if not on schedule. Currently working on Wind-Up, which I am determined to finish this month. It's long. And weird. And of course the read-along is over already.
• I haven't written reviews for some really good books I've read lately. Unless you happen to visit me regularly on goodreads, you probably have no idea of what I've even been reading! 
• I've barely participated in weekend cooking at all this year. I miss it! 
• I've stopped chiming in with Joy's Reader's Workouts. I haven't even been logging my workouts on my little fitness journal blog, See How She Runs very well lately, either. 
• I still haven't written a post on my fabulous little trip to Iceland back in March. 
• It looks like I'm not going to get around to re-establishing my backyard vegetable garden AGAIN this year. And the deer are already munching the perennials that are barely a foot tall. Do I even want to battle them for a few handfuls of tomatoes? I don't know if it's even worth it. 
• Finally, I'm not happy with my body image lately. I exercise all the time and eat healthy foods. Unfortunately I also love sinful foods such as baked treats and ice cream. Even homemade and made with natural ingredients, these foods do not promote weight loss. Duh. I know this. I even know what to do. I just need to find the discipline to put my money where my mouth is and practice what I preach. I'm really tired of being in this place. 

My girls had haircut appointments one evening last week. By the time we got out of the salon, a few of the streets downtown were closed to traffic for a car show. As we walked to our car, we spotted this darling little girl walking her dogs. So incredibly cute! (Her mom is just outside the frame of the photo.)

Just out walking her dogs
at the car show downtown. 

Things that I'm psyched about lately: 

• Numerous exciting milestones for my girls this season--some have taken place already, but most are upcoming over the next several weeks. For Anna, my 14 year old: being awarded her Girl Scout Silver Award--the highest award a middle school aged scout can earn; her first semi formal dance; an overnight school field trip; her dance recital; and 8th grade graduation. For Maria, my 18 year old: her last school orchestra concert ever (she's been playing the violin since 4th grade!), senior prom, high school graduation and then off to college in September! 
• Our upcoming summer vacation to some very faraway places. Excited but also a little nervous. More about our destinations soon. 
• My Bingo card is filling up nicely (one of my 2013 Reading Challenges). I don't know why this makes me so happy, but it feels really good to check off those squares. I've checked off a few more since my update in April and the next update will be around July 1, but I'm making progress! Such a fun challenge. You guys should join in.. if not now, definitely next year. 
• Speaking of reading, I've decided to re-read a favorite series of mine. Well, re-read the first couple of books in the series that I already read several years ago and then catch up with all the other books before the final book in the series comes out in August. Any idea what this series is?
• I started using Feedly for following blogs. So easy to use, organized AND best of all? Everything is synced between my laptop and phone so I always know where I left off reading blog posts. I don't accidentally read stuff twice or miss anything! I mostly use it on my laptop, but it's the most fun to swipe and read on the iphone. What reader are you using these days? 
• Instagram love. I'm having so much fun documenting my days with daily photos and it's also become another social community through which I've met so many fun and interesting people from all over the world. You know how blogging has connected you with people with whom you have stuff in common but you would have never met otherwise? I'm finding the same thing through instagram. It's been great.      
• Spring has finally sprung around here! I love the warmer and longer days this time of year brings. More time to play outside.. for me this is primarily in the form of biking but also in yard work. I wish I could say I've been playing in the dirt planting and growing things, but at this point, it's mostly been more of the work variety--mowing the lawn and doing some residual clean up from last fall and winter.

So what's new with you? 

Go ahead and share something that's bugging you lately AND one thing that's got you excited too. 

I want to know!

Random Bits

This should have been the November round up post for the In Death Reading Challenge, but I haven't finished my book yet, so I'll post that tomorrow. Instead, I have some random bits to share, although since they are all Thanksgiving and Christmas related, I guess they're not so random. Alas.

• If you haven't already eaten all of Thanksgiving leftovers by now, this is your last chance! The recommended limit for left over roast turkey is about four days if you've handled it properly, i.e., refrigerated left overs promptly after the meal was over and your refrigerator is set to 40 F or below. I roasted a turkey breast for our Thanksgiving dinner and used the whole left over carcass with some meat still on it to make a big pot of homemade turkey broth today. As soon as I post this, I'll be using that broth to make Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice soup.
• Do you make homemade stock or soup from scratch? Would you like to learn how?
• No worries about any leftover pie. That always gets gobbled up first! We have one slice each of apple and pumpkin pie left over. And five people in our family... hmm...
• I shelve my cooking magazines on a shelf with my cookbooks and actually do revisit past issues for recipe ideas. Today I pulled a few December issues off the shelf so I can start to get inspired for some holiday cooking. Hooray for CHRISTMAS COOKIES!
• Do you bake cookies or other treats for the holidays? What is your favorite to bake or eat?
• Right now I'm reading Origin In Death by J.D. Robb, Book #22 in the In Death series and it's Thanksgiving in this book! How cool is that?
• Does anyone know if that means it's Christmas in Memory In Death? I need to know if I need to put the pressure on myself to read it on time.
• I've read 89 books so far in this year and my goal is to read 100+ books. Am I cutting it close or what? I'm starting to get a little nervous about this... 
• Did you make a book count goal for 2011? If so, have you met it or are you still working on it? 

Random Bits

My friend Lisa who blogs at Book Lists Life does a Random Friday post most weeks, which I love to read so I thought I'd give it a try, too. Lisa loves to read and craft--she's very talented with the sewing needle! Best of all, Lisa has three adorable little kids who bring all sorts of adventures to her days. Stop by her blog and say hello.

• My 16 year old (11th grade) now has her driver's learning permit and is asking to drive all the time. It's a little terrifying. Please send me calmness or strength or ... something!  
• She is also in the very early stages of the whole college process. She recently took the PSATs and is starting to think about college options. She went to her guidance counselor this week to find out her GPA and it's a 3.94! (wow!) She's an honors student, does sports and is involved with a club or two and actively pursues photography recreationally and for the school. We are so proud of her!
• My 12 year old (7th grade) is driving us crazy half the time with her tween attitude. Thank goodness she's so cute and sweet and fun the other half of the time. ;o) 
• Right now, I'm in the middle of reading four different books, something I rarely do. I find it extremely distracting and I make no progress reading any of the books. I'm going to focus on just ONE book at a time starting today with the one due back to the library the soonest and that would be The Girl Who Circumvented Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. It's a charming middle grade novel about a girl who does all fun stuff in the title, meeting all sorts of fascinating beings along the way. The writing is whimsical and pretty insightful to this journey of life we're all on. 
• After much deliberation on my part, I agreed on a 2 hour bike ride with my cycling partner last Saturday morning at 7:30am when it was barely light out [the morning before the time change] and only 34 F (1 C)! Brrr! I don't have all the proper technical clothing for this sort of riding, but I made do with some layers, wool ski socks and a borrowed bacaclava [like this one] from my husband, which helped a lot. I actually wasn't as cold as I thought I'd be on the bike, especially since we climbed three tough hills during the ride to keep warm. ; ) My toes were pretty much cold the entire time, though, so I don't know if I'd want to ride more than 2 hrs. in cold weather and probably only when there's no wind. The wind chill on the bike is cold enough!
• Yesterday we cleaned up the branches and tree limbs in the yard that fell in last weekend's freak snow storm and I used a chain saw for the first time ever! It was actually kind of fun. Now we have a decent sized wood pile in our backyard. Would be nice if we had a fireplace to go with it... 
• Halloween was a week ago today and I still haven't had a single piece of Halloween candy, BUT I have had some cookies and ice cream and a piece of coconut layer cake in the past week, though, so I I've essentially lost my bragging rights on this one... : /   
• Normally I try to pretend not to notice all the Christmas stuff in stores until at least Thanksgiving weekend, but Trader Joe's has put out their holiday cookies and candies and other holiday treats and I admit I investigated. Everything is so tempting... maybe I'll buy something on my next visit. You know... for taste testing purposes so I know what would make a good hostess gift or something like that during the holiday season. 
• Now that I mentioned Christmas, I may as well ask if anyone started their Christmas [or Hanukkah] shopping yet?  I have a few gift ideas for my family, but that's about as far as I've gotten. 

Your turn. What random bits do you have to share?