Quick catch up!

And we're off!

I finished The Little Prince. WTH? He's so cute. The book is cute. The story is cute. I know I'm not comprehending the whole thing so I'm going to do some looking around online for some discussion about it. In the meantime, I see something about it on Netflix?????? I will watch this if its coming or has come already.

I read something I'll consider professional development. It was called The 80/20 Manager by Richard Koch. It was helpful, thought provoking, and caused me think about my job from a different perspective.

Another nonfiction book was devoured as well called Beasts in my Belfry by Gerald Purrell. I...laughed...so...hard!!!!!!!! Laughing is one of life's great pleasures. :) I'll be looking to see if this guy has other books because I liked his sense of humor.

During grad school I fell in love with graphic novels and read so many that I had a pretty good handle on the classics and popular selections of the time. I've fallen behind a bit there so I picked up a few the other day and started with Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet but am in book 2. I can tell its just getting started but that's infuriating since book 3 hasn't even been released? of how many? when? Bah! For now...its...mmm...its just okay. Keeping my eye on this one.

Now I've started a new book called Descent by Tim Johnston. I think it will be really good but the lady who's doing the audio book....ah...her voice makes me have REALLY violent fantasies of hurting her. I may have to try to find another version because I'm not sure I can handle her voice for that many hours if I'm already feeling this way. The wrong narrator in an audiobook can ruin the entire thing and let's just be honest. Some voices grate on the nerves of some people. I'm sure its different for everyone.

Other than reaaaaaaading, here's a quick list of things...

• learned how to install shelves
• have worked a whole month already at the full time job and haven't drowned yet
• have had a nasty little cold all week so have been forced to set projects aside
• doing lots of research on cruises
• peppers are growing
  
  
  
  
• tomatoes are growing
  
• corn is 6 feet tall now and may be getting ready to have "corn sex" ;)
• blueberries, grapes, and a pineapple are growing
  

I have nothing more to say except...

Quotes on quotes on quotes on quotes! :) I've check the validity of none. Some are well known and some are not. I won't add names to any for now but all have played some part for me lately, are favorites that I've lived by for years, or were oldies that came back around for a good reminder. Do with them what you wish.

"If you don't like where you are, move, you are not a tree."

"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself."

"Always find time for the things that make you feel happy to be alive."

"Love one another as I have loved you."

"At any given moment we have two choices: to step forward into growth or step back into what is comfortable."

"You're not rich until you have something that money can't buy."

"If you were born with the weakness to fall, you were born with the strength to rise."

"I will never regret giving pieces of my heart to someone who ended up hurting me. Because in those moments of bliss my feelings were pure. And you can never tarnish pure intent."

"You weren't placed on this earth to just pay bills and die."

"Courage doesn't mean you don't get afraid. Courage means you don't let fear stop you."

"It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation."

"We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails."

Byyyyyye!!!

Planning plans

My oldest's bed broke (I think I spoke about that awhile back) and has been sleeping with his mattress on the floor. He had fun at first but now has been asking his dear old mom (that's me! lol) to please get him a new bed. I may be crazy to try to tackle this right now but that usually doesn't stop me when I set my mind on something. I'm going to build a damn bed...with a headboard. Rawr! And more, if a twin size bed turns out ok, I'm going to build a new king sized one for the hubs and I, too. This morning I went through the beginner level Ana White plans with him and this is the one he chose. The link to the plan is in the caption.

http://www.ana-white.com/2012/03/plans/kentwood-bed

I already have the slats and found some good brackets online to attach the headboard/footboard so its just a matter of building a couple things, stain, and finish. Soooooo, this will be coming as soon as I muster up my courage. lol

The last few days/weeks I've had that little nagging thing I have sometimes where I want to travel somewhere and see something new. Finally, FINALLY, the time is coming where that may actually become a possibility. It would be insanely less expensive to go by myself but the kids aren't quite old enough for me, or them, to feel comfortable having mom gone for that long. Therefore, the entire family will need to go ($$$$$) and in the end, the kids would hopefully gain some perspective as well. I held a family meeting this morning that went something like this.

Me: Hey, I want to take a trip outside the country and I think it would be good for you guys (kiddos) as well. We've never done this before so we need an easy, starter trip to get our feet wet. (Everyone was down and excited so I continued) To get an idea, if each of you could go anywhere for a trip, where would you pick?
Oldest: The Bahamas! I want to go on a cruise to the Bahamas!!
Youngest: Hmm, Brazil...or Hawaii. Europe? I like Brazil.
Hubs: Oooooh Brazil. I like that! I want to go back to Japan and take you guys (kiddos) so we can all climb Mt. Fuji!

A discussion ensued where we weighed the pros and cons of each as far as an easy, first trip and it was settled upon, at least tentatively, to try a cruise first. After that we could try more intermediate-level spots if desired but the general consensus was that we all had places we wanted to see. The meeting was adjourned and I will now add this to the list of my long-ish, short-ish term goals. Its on my radar baby!!!!

I finished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and that's it for that. It was GREAT!
via GIPHY

Leaving you today with two songs that I've been having major car concerts with the last couple days. When its warm, music loud, windows down, and singing my heart out, I can feel happy at least for then.





BYYYYEEEEEEE!

Things are beginning to settle

Okay! It feels like I'm settling in at the new job a bit now and I can finally relax some and gather my thoughts. Let's see...what's happened...

Obviously, the bigger, better job has been started. It's AMAZEBALLS and I can't really talk about it here. More on that a little later. Suffice to say that tonight I was walking around the building near closing time I wanted to squeeze my boss and tell her how happy I was to be there, doing all the things! I truly love my job.

Speaking of the job, I finally have a desk again which is mega exciting for me for some reason. Today I took in my little lamp and two little pics of my kids. I've been adding little by little, day by day and its starting to feel more like mine. Awww. Something I seem to be in need of every day is a coaster. I realized pretty quickly from searching for one online that I can easily make my own with a piece of square tile, an image, and some Mod Podge which I have in the garage. Crafting time is definitely going to go down for a customized coaster to go on my desk! Yes!! :) Just have to choose an image.

On to reading!

I finished Richard Matheson's, Hell House, which to my understanding was supposed to be a classic as far as haunted house stories go. Mmm, I dug it enough. Some of the characters annoyed the piss out of me and for as much build up as there was about the house in the beginning, more could have went down. More gore! More killing! More haunting! Lol I give it 3.5 stars.

I also finished the 9th volume in Saga by Brian K. Vaughn. It took me a bit to get back into what was happening in the story and then it was kind of slow but then it really took off at the end, threw out something I wasn't expecting, and left me with a cliffhanger!! Ewwwww! I love it. I'm guessing this volume was kind of a building one and that the 10th one is going to flyyy.

Currently, I'm listening to the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The best way I can describe this is that its like a treat every time I'm in the car. The word play literally makes me smile at times and I'm hearing parts of the story I never got from watching the Disney version. I think if I'd actually read this as a kid or teen it would have been a favorite. It's short, too! Love it, love it.

More, you say? Yes! Lol I finally snatched up a copy of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This book is short and has been translated into sooooo many languages so I had to see what was up. So far its insane and I love it. Here's the Wikipedia page for it if you're curious.

The garden is doing awesome! Here's a couple updated pics of that in case it all goes down the drain soon or something. Lol

Oh! The gate in the back yard rotted and was falling off so I gathered myself up (which was not easy, see last post) and built a new one. It seems to have turned out pretty well. Who knew? Gates are pretty easy to build! What's harder than building a gate you ask? Why, attaching the handle/locking mechanism onto it. That's what! So hard...smh

Last but not least, some new baby plants have been added to the house. Still sticking to the "easy" plants for now since I'm unsure about my abilities but they're happy so far and even growing some! Yay! :) There are two types of english ivy, a spider plant, a hoya and two kind of pothos.

No quotes or anything extra to end tonight. I've been mulling over moving this blog somewhere else though. I'd like to be a little freer with what I can say and would like to talk about my job sometimes as well which I wouldn't want to lead back to me in anyway. Its been a thought for a while now so I'm putting it here. Still not sure though and not in any big hurry.

And that's a wrap shitheads! Night!