October 2017 Books

Last month was kind of a dud with giving anyone suggestions for stuff worth reading, so I hope I did better this month! {grin}

The Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer - 2 people end up renting the same summer cottage by mistake just as their lives are at crisis points - sounds like your typical Hallmark movie, right? It started out that way, and I had a hard time getting into at first. But it got better as it went on, and I found myself really enjoying it by the end. A light, fun read for sure!

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - I think this is my money maker for the month. My mother-in-law gave me this book, and I'm so glad she did. The main character, Victoria, is the product of a broken foster care system and uses flowers to communicate {her one almost successful adoption is where she learned about flowers} and navigate the world after aging out. I couldn't put this book down and loved watching her evolve. Toward the end, something happens that was really uncomfortable for me to read as a mother. It wasn't bad, just hard. I almost couldn't finish it, but I knew my mother-in-law wouldn't have given me something BAD because she knows how sensitive I can be about certain subjects. I put that in there as a disclaimer so I don't blindside anyone {ahem, Emily, with the Oliver storyline in Cancel the Wedding}. With that aside, this book was excellent!

Wool and Shift by Hugh Howey - My most recent dystopian trilogy! The first book, Wool, follows a society that lives in a silo underground and all we know about earth is it is a toxic wasteland that will kill you. People are sent outside to clean the cameras that offer a view of the landscape as a punishment for crimes and their bodies dot the landscape. The silo needs a new sheriff and Juliette uncovers secrets of the silo. In Shift, you find out HOW we got to people living underground in a silo - starting back in 2050 before the disaster - going all the way to where the story left off in Wool. I've really enjoyed this series so far and am looking forward to seeing how it gets tied up. I wouldn't say this one is YA necessarily - it has some plot points I don't think I'd want a pre-teen reading - but it definitely fits that Hunger Games family.

I've got a lot of stuff reserved that I'm really excited about, so here's hoping November turns out great. Happy reading!

November 2017 Goals

I didn't get to go trick-or-treating because Paige has been running fever since Monday. Brent took the bigs with our friends and one of them has pictures to send, so while I not so patiently wait for them, I thought we'd talk about November goals!

To tide you over until I get all our Halloween pics together! {grin}

October goals:

Let's just start with the fact that I didn't do so good with my October goals. Just putting that out there. {grin}

1. Pumpkin Patch Outing/2. Carve Pumpkins/3. Halloween Stroll - Nope. The Halloween Stroll ended up being the day we baptized Paige, so I have a good excuse for that. The rest just didn't happen.
4. Daily Outside Time - We did better with this but not great. The problem is when we get home from school, I am trying to work a little more, then clean out lunch boxes and bags, pack the next day's lunches, make dinner, and before I know it our opportunity is gone.
5. House Cleaning - I got this done! I wanted to do a handful of things in the mid-point of when our cleaning lady comes. I only vacuumed Paige's room out of the kids' rooms, but I did everything else. I plan to keep this up!
6. Kids' Vitamins - I wanted to get better at giving the kids their vitamins (vitamin D, vitamin C, probiotic, Omega-3). I went from pretty much forgetting most days to being about 50-50. I'm happy with that progress and plan to keep it up!

1. Schedule Family Pictures - We took 1 picture during Paige's newborn photo shoot. It's time to update! I don't want to take them until close to Paige turning 1, but I'd like to get them on the calendar.

2. 3 Miles - Thanks to Orange Theory, I am spending a lot more time on the treadmill and have already seen a lot of improvement in my endurance. But that also means I've stalled out on my Couch to 5K training, but I think I could probably run 3 miles. So I want to hit the streets and prove it!

3. Lots of Christmas Shopping - I already bought 1 Christmas present! And I've been working on my list. So I want to get some stuff purchased this month to spread out the expenses.

4. Order Christmas Cards - Hoping to get these ordered before the end of the month so they can be sent out ASAP for maximum holiday enjoyment.

5. Start Oscar Film Watching - Allison and I agreed to wait and see how the prediction sites looked starting in November. Hopefully we can find something that looks like a promising contender!

6. Daily Walks - I'm planning on this to get us our outdoor time - November is usually a pretty nice time of year in Texas...we really need to do a better job of maximizing the good weather.

I also have Paige's birthday party to plan {ohmygodhowisitalreadytimeforhertobe1}, but I didn't put that as a goal since it won't be hard for me to do. I've already been talking to the lady who makes our invitations - now I need the princess to stop being sick so I can take a picture of her for the invitation!

I'm wondering if I put too much on my plate this month when you add in Thanksgiving plans {including some travel}, lots of days off school, party planning, etc. But it'll be fun to try!