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what i read : may 2015
Before we get into the book reviews, I want to mention that my blog has a brand new Facebook page! I’m pretty excited about it. I plan to use it to share links to all kinds of interesting or awesome things, as well as behind-the-scenes tidbits and discussion questions. I’d be thrilled if you go check it out – I think you’ll (literally) like it!

Now onto the books – my reading has picked up again, hooray! I definitely go through phases with it and right now I’m in a good one. The above photo are some of the books I have on deck. Here’s what I read last month:

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty – I continue to love how Liane Moriarty writes such smart, funny, and insightful books about serious subjects – this one tackles domestic violence and bullying – while keeping them fun. This one has maybe a little too much character introspection for me, but I still thought it was so good. (audio, 4 stars)

Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaska Wilderness by Robert Specht – this was for my postal book club, and it’s an example of why I love book clubs so much. I had never heard of it and probably never would have and I definitely would have missed a gem! It’s the true story of a 19-year-old who goes to teach on the Alaskan frontier in the late 1800’s. It has adventure, conflict over race relations, romance, and a strong, brave, heroine. Loved it. (4 stars)

Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin – I found this study on habits extremely practical and helpful. Her advice to first and foremost “know yourself” is so wise, and she offers a lot of discussion about how to do that. There is tons of practical advice included but at the same time, her writing is engaging and full of anecdotes that make it easy to read and easy to understand. I do want to note that I identify with Gretchen as an “upholder” (although not as extreme as her) in that it is relatively easy for me to form habits and I get more pleasure out of it than most people, so maybe that’s why the book resonated so much with me. But after reading this I feel motivated and capable to tackle some areas of my life that need to get back on track. (5 stars)

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman – this was for book club, and per my new policy I listened to it on audio. I gave it four stars because the writing was beautiful and the story was unforgettable and I felt it deeply. Too deeply! I am not sure if I could say I enjoyed it because it was hard and I felt physical anxiety over it at times. So, I’d recommend it, but not for everyone. (audio, 4 stars)

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting From Birth to Six Years by Jim Fay and Charles Fay – I super love the ideas in this book and I’m tempted to give it five stars except I haven’t fully tested the method out yet. There are a bunch of different ideas to try in different situations and the authors recommend not trying them all at once but focusing on one things at a time. It was hard for me, after reading this, to make changes slowly but I agree that it’s necessary. We have a spirited child and I’m curious to see how it will work on her. I suspect it will work well, but we might meet with more resistance initially. Some cheesy stuff and claims that are perhaps overstated, but I’m on board. (4 stars)

Stepping Up: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent by Beth Moore – this was the Bible study workbook that I just finished. I’ve mentioned before that Beth Moore is my favorite, and I’m currently working through all of her published studies. This one was pretty good, all about getting you to the next level in your worship, definitely a solid study although not my absolute favorite of hers. (4 stars)

Reading challenge:

This year I’m participating in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s reading challenge. I added a couple to the list this month and here’s where I stand:
- a book you’ve been meaning to read – The Magicians by Lev Grossman (January)
- a book published this year – Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
- a book in a genre you don’t typically read –
- a book from your childhood –
- a book your mom loves –
- a book that was originally written in a different language –
- a book “everyone” has read but you – The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
- a book you chose because of the cover –
- a book by a favorite author –
- a book recommended by someone with great taste – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (February)
- a book you should have read in high school –
- a book that’s currently on the best seller list – The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (March)
June 1, 2015
LIGHT : may

The month of May has been so good to me as far as feeling lighter. It started out rough, but once I decided to change my attitude, refocus my priorities, and let some things go, everything turned around. Maybe partially coincidence, but I’m going with it!

spiritual

Recently I’ve benefitted a lot spiritually from my revamped morning routine, which I will be sharing more about next week. I now rarely miss my morning Bible study/prayer time and that makes a big difference. I just finished Beth Moore’s study “Stepping Up” about the Psalms of ascent. I really enjoyed it, and now I’m wondering what my next study will be. I am always working on praying more continually throughout my day and noticing the presence of God.

physical

After not exercising for a couple of months, I ran a 5k with a friend last weekend and I was pleased that at least that distance is still easy for me (although we ran quite slowly). I have a plan in mind for my fitness: run twice a week, yoga once a week, and super-slow strength training once a week. Here’s what I need to do to put that into practice: get some good headphones to run with (otherwise I will just skip the treadmill when the weather isn’t nice, which is often), research how to do super-slow strength training on my own, and find a yoga class to attend or figure out how to make it work for me at home.

emotional

Wow, so much better in this area. As long as I am getting decent sleep, I feel good. Meredith’s tantrums have really reduced lately, so obviously that helps, and I just read Love & Logic which gave me a good framework for discipline. There is still some uncertainty at work but I’ve been cross training and so I feel useful. Mostly, cutting back on my personal projects and saying no to new projects has helped me feel so much more in control and able to give attention to the things that need it (like my family). And actually, I have still been able to be quite productive on my own projects as well! I’ve been reading more, and finishing things, and keeping up with the blog and Project Life and none of it feels like a burden.

My current biggest emotional stressors are finances and getting enough sleep. Liam has been sick a lot lately (we are home sick today) so he doesn’t sleep well, and the kittens also disturb my sleep.

relationships

Our little family is in a good place right now. I’ve felt very connected to David recently, although more date nights are always welcome, and I still look forward to the day when the kids sleep in their own beds and we have some time together every night without them. One thing I want to work on is getting back in touch with my out-of-town best friends. We used to email and call regularly, but I let that go when I was so stressed.

creative

My creative life is going strong, and like I said above, it has actually benefitted from reducing the number of projects on my list. I finished my 2014 December album, am cross stitching for fun, keeping up with Project Life via the app, and I even took a second knitting class.

This month in the One Little Word class we were challenged to create cards with “I am” statements. I skipped the artsy part of the challenge (which was to use paint and mixed media to create the base of the cards) and just used some neutral patterned paper for mine, because I’m going for simple.

Here are my statements:

I am letting go of internal pressures + expectations for my sanity’s sake.

I am reading, knitting, cross-stitching, + blogging in my downtime.

I am still finding my footing with this whole motherhood thing.

I am slowly fitting running back into my life.

I am a work in progress. God’s not through with me yet (thankfully).

I am wondering what my job will look like a year from now.

I am loving: our new kitties, audiobooks, Birkenstocks, an extra cup of coffee each day.

I am realizing just how much I can’t do anything on my own.

I am oh so grateful for the good days, for family nearby, and my marriage.

And now it’s almost June and summer! I can’t say that I’m too excited about the oppressive heat and humidity that comes with it, but I do like the long days and reduced traffic. :)

May 29, 2015
december daily 2014 album

I finally finished our December (not quite daily) 2014 album in the middle of May. It didn’t actually take a lot of work, but I had too many things in front of it to finish. Without further ado, here are photos of all the pages, if you’d like to see, and a little more info at the end.

As you can see, I kept it very simple and repeated the same techniques over and over. My process went like this:

1. Choose and order photos, place them in the pockets.

2. Type up journaling (I did this in Photoshop Elements), cut it out and place in pockets.

3. Place any ephemera or found papers.

4. Go from beginning to end adding patterned paper, labels & handwritten journaling, and embellishments.

I really love storing these December albums with our Christmas decorations and looking through them each holiday season. It’s so special and that’s why I know I will try to keep doing them. This year I hope to be more prepared in advance and possibly work on it as I go.

Happy Christmas in May! ;)

May 28, 2015
on dancing

Recently we went out to eat as a family. (This in itself is worthy of documenting, but that’s not the story for today.)

Anyway, we were out to eat at a casual steakhouse, the kind where the servers wear little American flags sticking out of their back pockets, the floors are covered in crushed peanut shells, and there is country music playing nonstop, loud enough so that if a toddler decides to exercise his vocal chords no one will really notice.

It was a weeknight and the kids were both in good moods. Liam had never been happier, stuffing fistful after fistful of food in his mouth and shrieking with glee from time to time, as one does. Meredith was asking her usual thousand questions about anything and everything around us, when a specific song came on and all the servers began a line dance. It was halfhearted, obviously they were required to do it and it was an interruption to their work, but Meredith suddenly got quiet and just stared.

The song ended, the servers returned to their tables, and we went back to our steak and burgers.

A few minutes later, country music still blaring, I was focused on getting applesauce into Liam fast enough for his liking when I saw out of the corner of my eye that Meredith was standing in her seat and she – was she really? – yes, she was dancing.

I looked up at her and smiled in delighted encouragement, and she was immediately embarrassed. She stopped, crossed her arms, and pouted. And I thought, when did Meredith stop dancing? I haven’t seen her dance in ages. And then, when did she get so self-conscious about it?

When she was a toddler she danced anytime she heard music. Liam does the same thing now. It’s the most adorable bobbing and hand waving. The very definition of joy. But Meredith doesn’t dance anymore, and you know what? Neither do I.

I’ve never been big into dancing, but I do recall long road trips with my best friend as we drove from Texas to Kansas and back for college where car seat dancing played a big part in our staying awake. I think of New Year’s Eve celebrations with friends where dance parties broke out and I’ve never laughed harder or had more fun. I remember so many wedding receptions where I dragged David out on the floor with me, and even when he was on crutches I’d at least make him slow dance.

There’s something about dancing, isn’t there?

And now I realize with sadness that I hardly ever have music playing at home anymore. When I do turn on something to listen to, it’s privately, and usually it’s a book. No wonder we don’t dance.

Sometimes I think about how my kids will describe me later on, what kind of mother I was. It might be (I hope it is) something like this: she always had chocolate in her purse and a craft in progress. She kept the house very neat but let us make our messes. She was almost always up for a walk around the neighborhood or a trip to the park. You can bet she’d bring her book. She left the physical games for Daddy and didn’t tend to get down on the floor to play, but she taught me to cook and to knit and came to every performance and game.

What I want to add to that description is: she laughed a lot. She was carefree and unselfconscious and she loved to turn on music while she cooked and if she felt like dancing right there in the kitchen, she did it.

That night, after we came home from the restaurant, we turned on music. Meredith learned the robot (amazing). We did awkward bobbing and hand waving which was definitely not as cute as when Liam does it. We stayed up too late but man, we haven’t had that much fun on a weeknight in way too long.

Here’s to having more dance parties. To music that makes you want to move. To staying up late sometimes and just having fun.

May 26, 2015
around here // unusual week

Around here it’s been a weird week because Liam was sick for five straight days. On Sunday night he got a fever of 105 which was causing just a little bit of internal panic but we managed to get it down pretty quickly with meds and a cool bath. At urgent care that morning they had claimed it was just a virus so we never did go back to the doctor. Each day his fever was slightly lower until finally yesterday it didn’t come back. In addition to that he has a particularly heinous cough, but nothing overly concerning.

Monday my mom was able to watch Liam, then I was home with him during the day on Tuesday and worked an evening shift in Pre-op, then I was home with him Wednesday and Thursday. David was out of town on a fishing trip (bad timing for my coworkers who probably got the worst end of the deal) but my in-laws were awesome about giving me a break in the evenings.

I’ve really enjoyed the special time with Liam, but it’s been a bit exhausting! There has been a lot of holding him, playing on the floor, running interference between him and the cats, watching Mother Goose Club, and peekaboo.

I did manage to get him to nap in the bed a few times (as opposed to my lap or the car) and I was able to FINISH my December album from 2014 which was a huge accomplishment for me. Now I’m completely caught up with scrapbooking projects, and to celebrate I cleaned up my crafting table and did a little decluttering of supplies. Feels so good! (Also, I pre-ordered Ali Edwards’ Week in the Life kit so hopefully by the time that happens late in the summer I’ll be ready to start a new project!)

I also did some work on my cross stitch sampler this week. I’m actually almost done with the house now, but this is the most recent pic I have. I’m definitely behind on the stitchalong, but I’m still making progress!

I got to do a lot of reading this week – finished two books! The Light Between Oceans for book club, which I am still kind of mad at for messing with my emotions so much, and Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. I think I could dedicate a blog post to each and every chapter of that one (and I was tempted to!) but for now I’ll just say that I found it incredibly motivating and practically helpful. I do intend to make some concrete changes to solidify some healthy habits and I will share my action plan with you when I get it worked out.

This weekend I’m running a 5k, having a delayed family dinner for Mother’s Day, and meeting for book club. I have Monday off work so we are deciding if we should try to go on an adventure, although it is supposed to rain. We shall see!

May 22, 2015