October Reading List

I only read three books this month. I blame Americanah.

Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse

Many of you may remember when my Call the Midwife obsession began back in the spring. I couldn't get enough of the show and knew I wanted to read the original books. I read the first one over the summer and loved the stories and the way it was written. I didn't love the second book as much as the first, it was less about midwifery and more about general nursing. I still really enjoyed this book, and if you're interested in British history or WWII history I would highly recommend it, you don't necessarily need to read the first book to enjoy the second. I love the characters so much and I'm a little sad there's only one more book, luckily they are filming a fifth season of the show!

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride

I love The Princess Bride. The movie is one of my favourites and the book is one of my favourites I've had Carey Ewels (Westley) book on my list since it came out but only just got a copy from the library to read. I don't necessarily love movies so I didn't really care about all the behind the scenes stuff. My favourite parts were about Andre (Fezzick) I would have loved to read a book written by him because he lived such a fascinating and totally unique life. I think this book is worthy of a read for anyone who loves The Princess Bride, but if you've never seen the movie then I don't think you're like the book. 

Americanah

If I had to choose one word to describe this book it would be 'dense'. I'm a fast reader and typically I can finish a book in 3-4 days. Americanah took me two full weeks. The book was good-ish. I wanted to love it because at first I was really interested in the characters and their narratives. Except as the book went on I found myself liking the main character less and less. There were multiple times when I thought I wouldn't bother to finish and then the next chapter would be really interesting! It has a lot of fabulous reviews on Goodreads but there are also some that are much less enthusiastic. At the end of the day I'm glad I read it but I am jumping for joy that I finished.

Let's move on to what I'm going to read next month....

Next month I'm going to read my shelves! I have a stack multiple stacks of books sitting on my bookshelf that I've picked up at second hand stores or book stores or have been given to me by friends. I'm working on decluttering and reading some books and then passing them along seems like a good step in that process. 

October Currently

Reading... Almost finished As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Carey Elwes  and about to start Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton 

Playing... Can't say I'm playing much of anything!

Watching... Mostly documentaries, I've also been watching YouTube videos about Project Life organizing systems.  

Trying... To get organized and research some possibilities. 

Cooking... I've been doing a lot of experimenting with waffles.

Eating... Thanksgiving. Mostly stuffing and gravy with mashed potatoes because that's the best part. 

Drinking... Perrier! And Pepsi Next. 

Calling... Fellow Guiders trying to coordinate camp for this weekend and organize drives/supplies. 

Texting... The usual suspects. H. & R. and J. and N. 

Pinning... Lots of Spark meeting plans.

Tweeting... Is a very rare occurrence. 

Going... Camping this weekend! And I am super excited about it, it'll be cold but also a lot of fun. 

Loving... That I'm going camping this week. The only thing I love more than being outdoors is being outdoors with a bunch of girls who are essentially learning how to camp and enjoy the outdoors.

Hating... That winter is fast approaching. 

Discovering... I'm accustom to planning camp days and camp weeks and while sometimes it can feel like a lot of time to fill with fun. Sparks is only an hour each week and it goes by so fast! I'm discovering time management in shorter length of time is a challenge. 

Thinking...  Life isn't perfect...but I am pretty content with this season of life.

Feeling... A tiny bit overwhelmed but also thankful that I have so many things in my life that make life full.

Hoping (for)... A successful weekend camping trip. 

Listening (to)... The country radio station when I'm driving. Otherwise, not much of anything. 

Celebrating... I spent this weekend celebrating Thanksgiving and after this weekend I'll be planning some little Halloween festivities. 

Smelling... Fall is in the air! This past week the air has really turned crisp and has a chill to it along with leaves and a hint of fog.  

Ordering... I haven't ordered anything lately. Although I would like to enjoy one last iced coffee before it gets real cold.

Thanking... I love October Thanksgiving so I'm thankful I live in Canada. I'm also very thankful to the more senior Guiders who have been there to answer all my questions as I get my little group of Sparks up and running.

Considering... So many things! 

Starting... A lot of different projects! Some are pretty lofty goals, others are a little more short term and just about everything in between. 

Finishing... I've been starting a lot of project lately but I haven't finished many. I am close to finishing my scrapbook for this past summer. 

The One With Thanksgiving Weekend

For those of you who may have been confused about the title of this post, no I have not time travelled! Here in Canada-land Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October. If you're the history buff type you can read up on Canadian Thanksgiving here. 

On Thursday J.'s Mom had a knee replacement so Friday afternoon I met up with J. to visit her at the hospital. We had a little visit and then J. & I went and had lunch at Boston Pizza afterwards. When we arrived I realized that a contributing factor to choosing Boston Pizza was the Blue Jays game. I'm pretty sure I am the only person in Canada who is not at all interested/entertained by the Blue Jay's winning streak. Regardless of what was happening on the TVs we had a pretty good meal. And by meal I mean we shared the appetizer platter which is really the best. When we finished eating mass quantities of finger foods J. had to head back to work and I headed to Michael's. I was planning on using my 50% off coupon to purchase a Project Life core kit to use in 2016, but when I got there the albums were buy one get one free so I ended up getting those and using my coupon on a stamp. Next week I'll use the coupon for the core kit! I'm not sure what my plan for the two albums will be, I'm thinking that the black one with the cameras all over it will be used as a traditional photo album, a place to store all of the "extra" photos that I take/print but don't fit into Project Life albums or scrapbooks. That leaves the striped one to use as a Project 52 type album. 

Albums via Becky Higgins

Saturday I spent the day at home. I did some research on extra Crests & Challenges for Sparks and ordered activity books and post cards from Veterans' Affairs for Remembrance Day. I decided to go with a "Pumpkin Party" theme instead of a "Halloween Party" so I've been brainstorming and Pinterest-ing some fun pumpkin ideas. 

Sunday is when the real feasting started! My grandmother went all out this year and made five different kids of pies. Which is crazy, but also awesome. Lemon pie is my absolute favourite but I also like a piece of pumpkin since it's Thanksgiving and all. Prior to all the pie eating I ate my fill of stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy and homemade rolls. 

After we ate J. and I went for a walk and I snapped a few photos. Only a few though because it was starting to get chilly outside. We drove the long way home because fall leaves are pretty but the leaves are only just starting to turn. By next weekend they will be full out red, yellow and orange but this weekend there is still a lot of green. J. continued on to his parents to visit with his Mom who, thankfully, was discharged from the hospital and is continuing to recover at home. 

Monday I ventured up to our attic and got my camping gear out in preparation for this weekend. I still need to find a few more things that I am confident I own, just very unsure about where they are in my house. We had a low key turkey dinner with J.'s parents and I was home in plenty of time to crawl into bed by 10:00. 

This week I have a financial training meeting for Girl Guides on Thursday and on Friday I'm going camping for the weekend with a group of Girl Guides and Pathfinders. I'm also way behind on my October Goals so I should probably do something about that too!

Apples to Apples

I am  kind of in love with the apples growing on one of the trees in our yard. The branches seem to catch the afternoon sunlight just so and from a distance they look like the most delicious apples in the world. Of course once you get closer they don't look quite so charming but still pretty enough for a picture (or seventeen). 

Thinking back to summer, I came across this post earlier in the week. A mother's letter to her child's camp counsellor.  It's been awhile since I read something that so purely and genuinely expresses camp from a parent and camper's perspective. And I love coming across these types of things. It's hard for first year counsellors to really wrap their heads around the idea that despite their feelings of self-consciousness and self-doubt in their peer group the campers that they interact with don't see them as anything but amazing. It reminds me that it's the little things in life that our worth our admiration. 

All of this apple tree admiration and new beginnings had me thinking a lot about John 15:5 - "I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who live in me while I live in them will produce a lot of fruit. But you can't produce anything without me." That's been my food for thought (no pun intended) for this week. And it's been a good reminder to stay connected to God and everyone else in my life. And that connected involves a lot of different things - writing, texting, listening, speaking, sharing, forgiving, trusting, hoping. If we're going to make an effort to stay connected to our world and ourselves we need to be willing to put in some serious effort.

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. As usual I'm thankful for all the everyday blessings - food, healthcare, family, shelter, bed, heat, electricity, wifi and a closet full of clothes for all seasons. Sunday we're having Thanksgiving with my family and Monday with J.'s so I've got a full weekend ahead. And I'm pretty thankful for all that fullness. 

Thursday Thoughts

This week has felt eternally overwhelming. I've been plugging away at my to do list all week and now I've reached a stand still, there are still things to do, but before I do anything I need people to reply to e-mails and return phone calls. Which is pretty much my least favourite thing. In 9 out of 10 situations I'm a patient person, except when it comes to other people inhibiting my productivity. Then I just feel annoyed. I'm trying not to feel that way though. So I'm taking a deep breath, putting down my planner and taking a break from hitting the refresh button on my e-mail. 

I have been having the worst nightmares for almost two weeks now. I've been so focused on getting into a really good bedtime routine and the fact it's not working is the worst. I know I need to keep plugging away with it because eventually it will make a difference. 

The fall weather around here has been beautiful, highs are still in the high teens and nights are averaging a low of five. That is pure magic, I'm not even close to ready for below freezing temperatures. Or winter driving or mountains of snow or anything else that typically happens around here from November - April.

I take a little bit of pride in being a really good gift giver. I enjoy the process of shopping for others and finding things that I know the gift receiver will love. That was before J. came along. His birthday is the beginning of November and I have no idea what to get him. He definitely doesn't need any clothes and although he loves sports he also has a lot of memorabilia. For Christmas I did the whole 12 months of dates thing, so that's out. 

Blue skies and white fluffy clouds are kind of amazing. We all know I love a good sunset but I've been missing out on blue skies and cotton candy clouds. 

I've been thinking lately about how I need to do something with my 25x25 list. I'm not sure I want to go with the obvious 30x30 and 101 in 1001 seem like too much of a challenge. I know I want to do the Project Life Project 52 next year (basically just committing to doing a spread each week for the entire year) so I'm thinking maybe coming up with a 52 in 52 list. My SMART Goal loving self loves the idea of knowing that in order to complete the challenge I need to do one thing a week. And doing one thing a week seems totally attainable. 

This week is Thanksgiving here in Canada and I'm mostly excited for stuffing. I don't really like turkey all that much but I am all about the stuffing. And mashed potatoes with gravy. And probably dessert. 

I'm linking up with Stuff & Things  today!

October Goals & September Successes

I accomplished 4/5 of my September Goals! 

When all was said and done I participated in 23/30 Blogtember prompts and I blogged a couple more times during the month that weren't related to Blogtember. I published 26 posts in September meaning I only took 4 days off, October will be a little lighter on the blogging. 

I read five books in September. One was pretty short (The Giver) but I would still consider it a novel of enough substance to make my reading total five.

I printed photos and got to work scrapboking my summer!

I didn't mail any packages. Or even purchase anything to put into packages...this is going to be an October goal. 

I got all my paperwork sorted out and this year I'll be Girl Guide leader for a Sparks group! I've also volunteered to help out at a Girl Guide camp in October and possibly at a couple of other events. 

With September gone it's time to focus on October Goals!

I got through four books last month so I'd like to challenge myself to read 5 this month. Reading for 15-20 minutes before bed instead of scrolling through Buzzfeed and social media is a habit I want to maintain. And knowing that I want to read five books will help keep me motivated to read instead of scroll!

This will be the month I'll get those packages in the mail and en route to their destinations! Or at the very least some 'just because' cards.

This is the loftiest goal on my list but I would love to have Spark meetings planned and prepped up until Christmas. We only meet for an hour each week so planning that many meetings isn't all that over whelming. Especially once I factor in a Thanksgiving Day theme,  Halloween Party, Remembrance Day, regular badge work and some fun activities it should be pretty easy to figure out the rest!

Two dates doesn't sound like a whole lot, but there's going to be a lot going on in October. Including a couple of weekends when I'll be away so two dates seems reasonable. And to clarify by dates I don't mean watching whatever happens to be on TV and eating ice cream on the couch. I'm confident we will see each other more than twice this month, I just want (at least) 2 of those times to be planned dates!

After Blogtember I'm experiencing a little bit of blogger burnout. I don't want to lose momentum though so I think 15 is a good number.

I was feeling pretty anxious in September and I found myself journalling more regularly again. I'd like to make this a daily habit because it really does help me to process things and move things out of my head.