Sunday Salon - January 27

Happy Sunday! We've had a lovely break from the cold the past couple of days here and it's done wonders for my continued efforts to try to keep a more positive attitude. This is how well I'm doing - woohoo! we're half way done with winter already (never mind that we still have half of it left)!

I'm shooting to read (and listen to) 80 books this year and so far, I'm on track. Les Miserables is going to slow me down, though. I just cannot read more than about 25-30 pages at a time. If I'm every going to get caught up for the readalong (let alone finish it), I have a feeling skimming will be involved.

Here's What I'm:

Listening To:
In books I'm still listening to, and loving, David Gillham's City of Women. Gillham has managed to find a new angle to tell the story of World War II from which is no easy feat. In music, I'm feeling all of the emotions; I swear I've listened to half of the stations I have on Pandora this week. Yesterday alone I went from Violent Femmes to the Avett Brothers to South Pacific and Beethoven. My new find this week was Ray LaMontagne.

Watching:
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships being held in Omaha this week. I'm disappointed by the size of the crowds, but then I'm not there either. Usually we turn out big for sporting events. Still it's fun to watch.

Charlie Neibergall/AP - Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir

Reading: 
As I mentioned, I'm still chugging along on Les Mis and I need to finish Persuasion. That'll be my week. Next week I think I want to throw something in with Les Mis that's completely different. Maybe time to read Gone Girl?

Making:
Potato soup for my mother-in-law. She is in rehab right now and so, so tired of hospital food. It's time for some comfort food. I wish I lived closer so I could bring her food more often.

Planning:
This week I'm ready to get back to the purging and organizing and I'm getting everyone on board. I don't know how I can keep getting rid of so much and we still have so much. I want to make my life easier.

Grateful for:
All of the quiet time I've had lately. Miss H has been working a lot this past week and The Big Guy has been out of town quite a bit. Much as I love being with my family and my friends, I adore having time to myself. No t.v., lots of music, lots of reading.

Loving:
My new faux uggs. The Big Guy bought me a pair a week ago and goodness, gracious it's nice to have really warm feet during the winter. I'm not sure I would ever need to own the real thing, though - at half the price these are working quite nicely.

Thinking:
Employers are weird. The other night at Miss H's restaurant a customer punched a waiter in the face. The waiter used an expletive (okay, THE expletive) and was fired. Seriously? The guy just got punched in the face! It's a wonder he didn't punch the customer back. I know you can't have your employees using that kind of language in front of customers but I think an exception should have been made in this case. What do you think?

Looking forward to: Miss H finally getting her driver's license. I'm getting really tired of having to pick her up from work now that she's working longer hours. She's almost ready but we've had so little time to get her out driving recently; when we're home, she's at work. But I'm bound and determined to have her behind the wheel on her own before she turns 18!

What are you reading this week? Do you have any music recommendations for me?