Reading and doing

So what does a person who loves to knit and read do to balance. I have just recently discovered a way to do both at the same time. This has been a dream of mine for many years. Yes friends, I have discovered the wonderful world of books on cd!!!! I just listened to the book EAT, PRAY, LOVE on cd and it was a revolution. I can know, knit and crochet to my hearts content, AND stay caught up on my reading. I had to read this book for my book club. I have always said that it would take away from the "reading experience" to listen to someone reading to me. It did not. In fact because it was the author reading it actually added to the experience, and I am more than half way through making a cardigan! I was able to continue reading slowly (a few pages each night in bed) The Queens fool. I am about 2/3s of the way done! I haven't blogged lately because I have been so busy with the knitting and the listening....totally worth it!

The pictures are scenes from family life. It has been really good lately.

Time, or lack there of...

Okay, so a life well lived is one that is full of fun right? Well as I attempt to engage in the activities that I find fun, I realize that I have less and less time to engage in the activities I find fun! Sorry about the circle logic...that is my state of mind at the moment.

I love to knit! I have been indulging this passion with abandon lately! So, I am behind in my reading, gardening, and I haven't been to a yard sale in months! What am I doing wrong?

I have been trying for years to learn how to knit and read at the same time. I remember when I was first knitting, about 16 years ago, and some friends gave me the book "Jitterbug Perfume", by Tom Robbins as a birthday present. They became frustrated with me because I was too busy working on a vest I was knitting it took me too long to finish. I did end up reading the book, and loved it!

I think that a life well lived is full...possibly so full that one feels they have an embarrassment of riches! I am living life as fully as I can!

Ps - I finished The Shop on Blossom Street!! Great book for anyone who likes to knit, or who likes books about female relationships! I am on to the Queens Fool. Will keep you posted!

Life is good

Hello to all in cyberspace who may be reading this...

The random picture, which has nothing what so ever to do with my blog is of a bowl of blackberries, blueberries, rasberries, and strawberries. I like the picture, and it comes from a good memory of the last time I made pancakes for the family ( a couple of weeks ago)

The second half of 2008 was very difficult for me and my family. My husband was very sick, and had to be hospitalized, and I was having great difficulty with someone at work. My husband is now healthy, and the problem person is no longer an issue, I'll leave it at that.





So 2009 is here, and going from good to better. In keeping my resolve to be positive and to nurture friendships, we have had a couple over for dinner, and I am going to spend some "girl" time with the wife. I have made a new friend, had lunch with her, and invited she and her husband and kids over for dinner. We had a great evening with another we have known for several years at their house sitting outside around a bonfire toasting marshmallows and making samores! I have attended a meeting of the currents events groups of the chapter of AAUW to which I belong. I am going to my first Stitch and Bitch meeting on this coming Wednesday! That is a group of people who like to knit, crochet, and talk! And, I have been going to the gym with my a dear friend who I have known since the 9th grade! We live a mile apart, in the same town in which we grew up.





Other things have been going right as well. My DD, you may have read was accepted into her first choice for college, California State University, Chico. She has started to listen to me, and even asks for my advice on things! My CS has begun doing chores with much less argument. He is not happy about the fact that we have decided to attend church more regularly, and that we want him to begin preparation to be confirmed. Being confirmed in the Episcopal Church is not compulsory, but it is, as my dd told cs, "just what we do! Once he has gone through the process, if he does not feel drawn to church, I will allow him make up his own mind. My parents gave me that gift! I give it to my children, after they are confirmed!





My overall feeling of well being has increased a thousand fold. I know we are in tough times, but I am not going to let that make me miserable. Yes, the economy is bad, yes we are at war, but life has to go on. With a prayer in my heart for prosperity sooner rather than later, and peace on earth, I choose happiness!





My you all find peace, love and joy!

Entertaining

As I type, the smell of a roasting chicken is wafting through my house! We are having company for dinner. Nothing fancy, but I set the table to look pretty and have planned a nice meal.

1st course - Potato, Leek, Cheddar Cheese Soup

2nd course - Roasted chicken, linguine with alfredo sauce, sauteed Swiss chard, and steamed carrots

Dessert - Kahlua cheese cake with chocolate shavings!

I am looking forward to a relaxing time of good conversation and yummy food!

Books I want to read in 2009

First tonight's dinner...

Cabbage sauteed in olive olive with scallions (I think, they were big green onions!), buttermilk mashed potatoes (from scratch!!!!) and bbqed porter house steaks (thanks WH!!) He liked the potatoes so much you can see him "sneaking seconds right from the pot!! FYI We split the steak. It just looked nicer having the whole thing on the plate!

Now the books???

This list is meant to serve 2 purposes, keep me reading the ever growing stack of books on my "unread books shelf", and give me incentive to actually complete the list. There will of course be book club books, hopefully a new Diana Gabaldon, Outlander book, and a new Phillipa Gregory book to name only a few...

I want my epitaph to read "So Many Books...No More Time". My kids think this is ridiculous, which makes me sure it is clever and brilliant!

Dreams of My Father and Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

The Burnt House

The Queen's Fool, Phillipa Gregory

The First Hour I believed, Wally Lamb

John Adams, David McCullough

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory McGuire

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Dark Journey, Candice Millard

WEBDubois: Biography of a race, David Levering

Benjamin Franklin, Ronald W. Clark

The Souls of Black Folk, WEBDubois

Wives of the Signers (primary source collection of wives of the signers of the Declaration of Independence)

Peace Like a River, Leif Enger

The Russian Concubine, Kate Turnivall

Portrait in Sepia, Isabel Allende

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi

The Piano Tuner, Daniel Mason

Faulkner: A Biography, Joseph Blotner

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseni

War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

The Shop On Blossom Street, Debbie Malomber

A place of Hiding, Elizabeth George

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Something by Shakespeare

The Guns of the South, Harry Turtledove

This is an ambitious list, but I am committed. I must finish the last 200 pages of "World Without End by Ken Follit first.

Suggestions are welcome!

Yoga!!!!!

I went to a yoga class today at the gym I joined recently! Besides the fact that I am proud of myself for my renewed committment to my health and fitness, the yoga rocked!

Before I left the house, my dd and 2 friends were at the house working on a school project. One of my daughter's friends asked me if I was worried about it being awkward going to yoga for the first time. I explained to her that at 46 I don't really have many awkward moments any more. Those went away somewhere between 39 and now! She then asked if I was worried about people farting. I laughed. I asked her if she was serious, which being 17, of course she was. I told her as a teacher I don't get through the day without a kid farting in class. It accured to me that I would feel awkward if I farted in class. That made the kids crack up!!!

Well anyway, off I went to yoga. The room was dimly lit, there was asian influenced new age music. My heart rate went up, and I sweated off at least a pound! I got the same great feeling you get after any other kind of excercise. I am sorry to say that I am not nearly as flexible or strong as I was say 8 years ago. I am happy to say, that I know I can get there again! Oh, and nobody farted!

Walking through Jello

I have a confession to make. I have depression. I have walked through much of my life feeling like I am walking through jello. I have sought treatment. I take medication, but sometimes I still feel really sad, hopeless, and worthless. When I told my daughter I had titled my blog "notes from the ordinary" she asked me if I really felt ordinary? I don't know if I was feeling depressed, or what, but I said kind of yes. She said that was silly and went back to her life of self absorption. I went on to feel so depressed by this morning that I could barely get myself to go to work.

I went to a new doctor today and he put me on a new medication. (Thanks to my amazing husband, who called and made the appointment for me!) I have my fingers crossed. It always makes me feel better knowing there is a possibility of feeling better... I hope it works.

I do most of the things people with depression are supposed to do most of the time (count my blessings, spend time doing things I like, making myself get out of the house and see people). I don't eat correctly. I have a chocolate addiction that is overwhelming! I am trying to use sugar free chocolate pudding to satisfy my cravings. (It works sometimes). If it does should I say that I am walking with pudding? Stupid joke, sorry!

To whom did I just apologize? Do I really thing someone out in cyberspace is reading this? Actually, I kind of hope there is. Why does that sound so pathetic? I am depressed, and lonely. I have friends, they just seem far away. So, I write this blog for myself, and any other lonely person who may feel less lonely knowing that I am here, well, feeling lonely.

It is time for bed. I must make my way through the jello to take a shower and read a few pages of "World Without End" by Ken Follett, before rebooting for tomorrow's journey.