Life: It Goes On - April 3

I've been "off" all week. I blame having to move to a new home at work. Everything in my new spot is backwards from my last place - I feel like I'm in a cubicle for a left-handed person. Initially I set things up as a mirror image of what I'd had but muscle memory found me tossing staples and crumpled papers to the floor on my right when the trash can was now on my left. So, now my trash can is floating under the center section of my desk which looks odd but works. The trick in the next week or so is just to figure out what works in the new reality. Which is kind of the trick in life, isn't it?

This Week I'm:

Listening To: The Girl Who Played With Fire - a little over a third of the way through it and enjoying it, although I'm so over all of the street names. Also, catching up with podcasts a bit while I'm working out. Got some very helpful hints about what to do when you can't remember someone's name from the Happier podcast which is a problem I struggle with a lot.

McGovern

Watching: A couple of episodes of "Longmire" on Netflix, some basketball, a couple of interesting documentary shows which for the life of me I cannot remember the names of now, and I may have stayed up until 1:30 a.m. Friday night watching the movie "Ragtime," based on the E. L. Doctorow book by the same name. Doctorow may not have loved the movie, but I do. So many big names in it - James Cagney, Mandy Patinkin, Mary Steenburgen, a very young Elizabeth McGovern and a very young Samuel L. Jackson (who I had never recognized in it before). The movie got me interested in reading more about some of the real people Doctorow included in the book, including Evelyn Nesbit (played by McGovern) in American Eve, which I reviewed here. 

Reading: I've gone back and forth this week between Miller's Valley (when I can wrest the iPad from the Big Guy's death grip) and Tampa when I can't. I'm still not sure what to make of Tampa but I loved Miller's Valley. Today I'll start Tracy Chevalier's latest, At The Edge of The Orchard. I've had mixed success with Chevalier but I'll give this one a shot and then decide whether or not to read the other two of her books I have on my shelves.

Making: Does throwing a Costco pizza in the oven count as making my family supper? No? BG actually did most of the cooking this week, including a couple of salads and nachos. I did make a killer baked potato soup yesterday, brown sugar and apple slow cooker oatmeal for breakfast today and I'll be making spicy smoked sausage alfredo bake in a little bit. 

Planning: To unplug for a week soon, maybe even this coming week. I have reviews posted already, my reader is caught up and I'm in need of finding a better balance. 

Thinking About:  Proposing to Costco that they need to have someone in their stores hand selling books. When I looked at the books they had on the table the other day, I so badly wanted to put so many of them in the hands of those browsing the piles. They have ladies pushing cheese spreads, pizza, and nuts; why not have someone singing the praises of City of Women and City of Thieves?

Enjoying: A new cut and color, time with friends, knowing my dad's through his cataract surgeries with flying colors and better vision than he's had in over sixty years. 

Smiling About: Pulling into the parking lot and finding The Brave Little Toaster parked next to me. 

Looking forward to: The Easter decorations are down but I haven't played with spring decorating yet so that's on the agenda this week. Hoping some more things start blooming soon. 

Question of the week: What made you smile this week?