I've had the week off and have been able to read so much- honestly, it's all I want to do right now. I think after months of half marathon training, the holidays, and feeling so tightly wound, my body just craves sweatpants, the couch, and books. In a perfect world it would want some spinach and 80 ounces of water a day, but alas, it does not. I haven't been able to quite succumb to total literary slothdom, but I have been able to finish four books in the last nine days, so I'll take it.
Other than reading, this week has been pretty great. Sawyer has been in school most of the time, and my husband was on a business trip for a few days, so I was gifted with a lot more alone time than usual. I think I've had seven or eight appointments this week, some fun, like getting a pedicure, and some not so fun, like the dentist and the passport office (but that leads to fun, I guess). I've been able to have a few different friend dates, Sawyer and I went hiking at a spot we haven't been to for awhile, and on Monday we're going to go walk around the beach for a nice change of scenery (and find something fun to eat). I've gotten some annoying house tasks out of the way (here's looking at you, dusty ceiling fans and unorganized pantry), worked on a for-fun embroidery hoop, gotten in a ton of solid work out sessions, and even a few naps. Going back to work is going back to work Tuesday is going to be tough (I know, everyone feels so bad for me).
One nice thing about going back to work, besides my students, who are at the point where we've really hit our stride as a group, is that we're moving from Sylvia Plath poetry to Shakespeare's Macbeth soon, which is always a fun challenge. I don't have a natural love of The Bard, but I've taught myself how to enjoy and appreciate certain plays and am able to tap in on that sort of literary-manipulation to use with the kids, too. After that we have only one more book for the year! It's Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, which elicits some really great discussions.
My husband got me a gift card to the bookstore for V-Day, and I hustled on over the next day to spend that sucker. I picked up Deepti Kapoor's Age of Vice (just started), Mason Currey's Daily Rituals (also just started... I often have a novel and a nonfiction going on at once), SE Boyd's The Lemon and Fiona McFarlane's The Sun Walks Down. I also ordered four other books last week. Plus alllllllll the ones I bought at Vroman's last month. I don't really believe in book-buying bans (unless it's a financial issue, than I totally get the need to budget), since I think they just result in binging, but I need to tap the breaks. I think I have like... 142 unread books. I KNOW. My goals is to have it down to double digits by the end of the year, which means I basically need to read a little over 4 of the books each month that I currently own, leaving space to buy like 2 a month.
Sometimes I worry about running out of space for my books on the shelves we have, but then I remember all the space in the guest bedroom. I mean, what guest wouldn't want a cozy wall of books next to their bed, right? I joke that someday when Sawyer moves out I'm turning his room into the nonfiction annex.
We met with our wonderful tax-preparer today, which stresses me the eff out for absolutely no reason since she's incredibly knowledgeable and I'm incredibly organized (plus Scott and I both claim single-zero, which means they take a bajillion dollars out of our checks). We were talking about my regular monthly charitable donations (Doctors Without Borders and Planned Parenthood) and how much you can tell about a person from where/who they give to. It's so interesting! Not only their political ideologies, but social concerns, pet projects, interests, etc... I keep meaning to set up another one for The Sierra Club, which I'm sure would surprise NO ONE.
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