Life: It Goes On - October 19

A huge thanks to Andi of Estella's Revenge and Heather of Capricious Reader for all their work pulling together another edition of Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon (and all of those people who organized cheerleaders, hosted hours, and donated prizes!). There were nearly 1000 readers, from all corners of the world who participated this fall - I know I commented on blogs in France, Norway, Denmark and Russia. So great that this largely solitary activity has brought so many people together!

As usual, I didn't make it the full 24 hours and was distracted a good chunk of the rest of the time. Once Miss H is all moved, I'm hoping to set up an office/reading room in her room (sshhh - don't tell her!) and I'm hoping to get much more reading done for the spring 2015 edition!

This Week I'm:

Listening To: I'll finish up Josh Bazell's Beat The Reaper. I am really enjoying this one; really original and, boy, has it got me thinking. Film rights have been acquired with an eye toward Leonardo diCaprio as lead actor which would just be wrong. Peter Brown is a very large, Jewish man. Anyone buy Leo as that?

Watching: We have not added one new-this-season show to our rotation. So...football, baseball, Person of Interest, The Voice. You know, the usual.

Reading: According to Goodreads, I've now read 65 books this year. Barring a massive reading slump, my goal of 75 books this year should be met by the end of November. I moved Still Alice off my nightstand and The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler onto it.

Making: Egg casserole inspired by my garden harvest on Thursday, baked potato soup, homemade pizza, and fried apples today after a trip to the apple orchard.

Planning: On spending this week getting Miss H ready to move into her new digs next weekend. Happy for her. Not so much for me - this mama does not like her chicks to leave the nest even though I know that's what they're meant to do. On the plus side...reading room!

Grateful for: My kids who can be wonderfully thoughtful. Mini-him walked in this morning with Dunkin' Donuts for us and Mini-me went to spend the afternoon helping his grandparents. No matter what else my kids do with their lives, I wanted them to grow up to be good people who are happy in their lives. So far, so good!

Enjoying: The wonderful fall weather we've been having. The Big Guy and I took off for Nebraska City today (home of many apple orchards and the birthplace of Arbor Day). We picked up some of our favorite apples (which you can't get any where else), hit up a couple of wine tastings, enjoyed a picnic lunch, collected fall leaves, and checked out the Living History exhibits at Arbor Lodge (home of J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day). We had so much fun!

Feeling: See "Planning."

Looking forward to: Book club this week! I missed last month with a nasty cold and I can't tell you how much I miss these ladies!