Life It Goes On - July 7

When this four-day weekend stretched out before me I had all kinds of glorious plans...and now it's Sunday and I can't figure out how it went by so quickly without me getting a fraction done of what I wanted to do. Of course, I never seem to remember, when I'm planning, that there will be other people with ideas about what we'll do. Or that you can't really do a readathon effectively while at the same time tackling a major home project.


We had a very nice Fourth of July, celebrating with my family at our house and enjoying the amazing fireworks show that one of my neighbors puts on. It's just this side of professional grade and we don't have to fight any traffic. Mini-me and his grandpa enjoyed their annual chance to blow things up, my mom brought homemade ice cream and my sister and I laughed until we cried...it was a good evening.

I never could capture a good shot!

Here's What I'm:

Listening To: The Talking Heads station on Pandora. Loving this one! On books, I'm still listening to Henning Mankell's The Man From Beijing and really enjoying it. Already I'm thinking I'll be picking up more by Mankell.

Watching: Catching up with A&E's Longmire and also watching CBS's Under The Dome. I'm trying to make myself get over all of the changes they've made. Since those changes are okay with Stephen King, I suppose they should be okay with me but I'm not sure it's giving me the same sense of connection to the characters and tension of the book.

Reading: I used the Summer Lovin' Read-a-thon as my excuse to spend a lot of time with my Nook this week. I devoted myself to getting through Under The Dome and spent nearly all day Friday reading, finishing it up on Saturday. Today I'm starting Allison Lynn's The Exiles for a TLC Book Tour.

Making: Red Velvet cake for the Fourth (because of course we need ice cream and cake!) and we also grilled portabello mushrooms for the first, but not the last, time. We've been eating a lot of salads this past week - The Big Guy came home with a giant bag of lettuce from the farmer's market last weekend.

Planning: On tackling the paper monster on my desk today. My basket seems to be the dumping ground for everyone.

Grateful for: The chance to be home to eat breakfast on the patio the past few days. The mornings have been beautiful and the guys and I have enjoyed spending an hour or so out there every day.

Loving: The new slipcover that The Big Guy got for our family room sofa. But don't tell him that. I really didn't think I liked the color or style when it arrived but once it was on, it really works. Except that now I need new throw pillows. Oh darn, I'll have to go shopping.

Thinking: This parenting thing never gets any easier, only different.

Looking forward to: Hearing all about the climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro my friend Mari and her husband just made. I've been enjoying watching their progress on Track My Tour but can't wait to talk to her about it when she returns to the States!

What are you looking forward to this week?