Chaos Is A Friend of Mine

Sunday Salon

I've taken a little unintentional break from blogging the past couple of weeks. Last week was the boys' spring break. We drove to Indiana to spend time with Granddad and MaMaw and stopped in St. Louis on the way there to go to The Magic House and The Science Center. I'll have more posts later in the week detailing our adventures.

On Friday I had surgery to have a lipoma (aka fatty tumor) removed. It was deep in my lower back so I had to go under general anesthesia. Travis and the boys have been taking great care of me this weekend. I thought I'd get a ton of reading done while laid up but the Vicodin (ah, sweet Vicodin) is making it hard for me to concentrate. I've gotten all caught up on my reviews though and hope to get caught up on the rest of my blogging. So stay tuned - I have a lot of posts scheduled for the next couple of weeks!

Sunday Salon: January 3-9

The lowlight of the week was Wednesday when Tiny left to live with his grandparents. I still miss him a lot. Yesterday the boys were making a lot of noise and my first thought was, "They need to be quiet or they'll wake Tiny up." Then I remembered Tiny wasn't here. Cash and West are doing really well with it. There were some tears the first couple of days after he left but now they both have told me that we need to get another baby ASAP. I don't have any control over that but I'm hoping we get a call soon.

I read a little on a few different books and finished two. Reviews on both are forthcoming:

My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel for the Shelf Discovery Challenge
Truly, Madly by Heather Webber which was a LibraryThing Early Reviewers win

Sunday Salon: Top Reads of 2009

My five-star books read in 2009:

Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Cane River by Lalita Tademy

I'm in the process of revamping my blog for 2010. Hopefully I'll be done soon - I'm really excited about the changes I'm making.

Sunday Salon: December 6-12

This was another whirlwind week - the first full week that Tiny was with us. I didn't finish reading any books but I did take the family in for our Christmas photos, order the Christmas cards, make the Year In Review Shutterfly books for the grandparents' Christmas presents and take Tiny to his first court date. I did NOT get the ever growing mountain of laundry folded. The other day Cash sighed and exclaimed, "Babies are a lot of work Mommy!" They are but they're worth it. We'll get back into our groove soon enough.

Sunday Salon: November 30-December 5

The highlight of this week was that after 10 weeks of classes, a mountain of paperwork and a lot of waiting Travis and I received our foster parenting license on Tuesday. On Thursday we got a call about a four month old baby boy (who I will refer to as Tiny from now on). We are all just over the moon - Tiny is so mellow and sweet. Today Cash was sitting by himself on the couch smiling. I asked him why he was smiling and he said, "I'm smiling because of Tiny." And the baby wasn't even in the room!

Consequently, I have not gotten much reading done - it's been a whirlwind since Tiny got here! I finished You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore.

Sunday Salon: November 15-21

Overall this was a fun week. Thursday I went to see Wicked at the Music Hall with some friends. I really enjoyed it; it was completely different from the book but I knew that going in so it didn't bother me. Then on Friday I went with some other friends to see New Moon.

I took West to the ENT Tuesday - he's going to need another set of ear tubes and his adenoids removed. Hopefully, he'll hear and sleep better after the procedure and be less grouchy.

Today at Campfire, the boys made their boats for the Rain Gutter Regatta, which will be held in December:

 

This was another light reading week. I need to start peeling myself off the computer earlier at night and start my evening reading sooner. The only book I finished was Twilight by Stephenie Meyer but I did read a little bit on a couple of other books.

Sunday Salon: November 8-14

This week I was finally well enough to get back into running. I was able to join my running group for a Saturday morning run for the first time in weeks. I'm toying with the idea of doing a half-marathon in the spring.

This afternoon we bought a mini-van. I'm so excited - I've wanted one forever. I'll post pictures and details later this week.

This was another slow reading week. The only book I finished was The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith. I also started rereading Twilight. I hope to finish it and then reread New Moon before going to see the New Moon movie on Friday.

Sunday Salon: November 1-7

This week was pretty uneventful because I was laid up with bronchitis for most of it. Luckily, my super-duper friends Sarah and Katie took the boys for me in the mornings so I could get some rest. Thanks girls!

I did manage to get a little reading done:

Plan B by Jonathan Tropper

The Consciousness Revolution by Ervin Lazlo - this is the book that my Sunday school class has been studying for the past few months.

I'm still working on The Audacity of Hope; it took too much brain power to read it while I was sick. Hopefully I'll finish it up next week.

I entered the give-away on Booking Mama for a copy of Shelf Discovery and I won! I'm excited - I love free books and this one should be really good.

Sunday Salon: October 18-October 24

Our 11 year old cat Leo died on Sunday. We planted a tree to remember him by and buried him in the same hole. I'm working on a blog post with a photo retrospective of his life for later in the week.

Travis turned 35 this week. Happy Birthday sweetie!

On Wednesday we had our final meeting with the social worker writing our home study for our foster care license. Things are moving along - we could have our license within the next couple of weeks.

Friday I left for a scrapbooking retreat with my friends and stayed until late Saturday night. I scrapbooked, ran on the hotel treadmill, got a heavenly 30 minute massage and ate a ton of great food.

It's been a busy week so I didn't get much reading or reviewing done. The only book I finished was Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter.

Sunday Salon: October 11-17

Highlights of the week:

We left for Indiana Wednesday and spent Wednesday night at an Embassy Suites in St. Louis. The boys had a blast playing in the hotel pool and hot tub.

We arrived in Seymour Thursday evening. Somehow it took us seven hours to drive there from St. Louis. I've blocked out the drive - it was too traumatic.

Friday was Travis and my 10th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by leaving the boys with Granddad and MaMaw and spending the night at the Conrad hotel in Indianapolis and having a wonderful dinner at the Palamino. The boys loved having Granddad and MaMaw all to themselves. Before we left Friday morning, they kept impatiently asking us, "When are you going bye-bye and letting Granddad and MaMaw take care of us?"

 

Reading completed for the week: 

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
The Skystone by Jack Whyte
One For The Money by Janet Evanovich
Pretty In Plaid by Jen Lancaster

Being sick the first part of the week and on vacation for the second part was a great way to get a lot of reading done.