Sunday, April 3, 2016

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?

12 comments:

  1. I loved Miller's Valley, such a great book!
    Hope things feel a little more settled and normal at work this week :)

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  2. We, humans, are so adaptable, yeah? It makes me think about how kids have a different teacher every year or how they have to adjust to a substitute if the teacher goes on maternity or has a family emergency. I also think about how we adapt when we are recovering from an injury. I smashed my right, middle finger last month and had to adjust how I held things or how I washed my hands. You'll find your rhythm in your new cubicle. Glad your dad is doing well after his eye surgeries. That toaster decal was a smile; is that from a book then? The way you mentioned Miller's Valley caught my attention so I added it to my TBR. Yes, I say putting in a pizza into the oven is making supper, after all, it's not going to walk itself to the oven and all right?

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    1. The toaster is from a movie called "The Brave Little Toaster." My son loved the movie when he was little and then when he was a teenager and all of his friends would hang out here, they probably watched that movie about every other month. But it's not a very well known movie and not a new one so I was really surprised to see that decal.

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  3. Longmire!!! Loooooove that show. I'm almost to the last season (that's out so far) and I'm dreading the wait for the last season.

    I'm feeling like I need to unplug for a week as well. Maybe after the readathon.

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    1. I was going to try to unplug this week...and then I completely forgot and let my time be sucked away. Maybe in the coming week!

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  4. A cut and color can do so much to restore yourself, doesn't it? Any move is disruptive. I hope you can find a setup that works best for you! Have a good one and enjoy your unplugging!

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    1. At my age, a cut and color takes ten years off my appearance - damn grey hair! I will not go down to grey without a fight!

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  5. First off, your header looks SO cool! I love the way the photos look. Kind of monochromatic (is that the correct term?). Very nice.

    So, are you watching the most recent season of Longmire? I finished it awhile back. Man, was it a good one. Are you enjoying it?

    I also like the film Ragtime. I still need to read the book. I bet it's really good.

    If/when you unplug, enjoy. I need to some day. Probably when I go on vacation in June. I'm going to Michigan and will probably bring my computer (maybe), but will really try to stay off of it.

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    1. We're about two-thirds done with this last season of Longmire - trying to draw it out so we don't have to watch as long until the next season. The new header kind of just happened one evening when I looked at the blog and decided I was tired of what I had. Because, apparently, I didn't have anything more important to do that evening ;-)

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  6. Hopefully you will settle into your new work home soon. It always confuses me when housekeeping in my office moves my garbage can to the other side of my desk. Luckily they don't do it often. I never read beyond The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I did enjoy. I had planned to read the rest of the series, but lost interest somewhere along the line. This weekend I am definitely taking the Easter decorations this weekend!

    Smile moment of the week: My daughter saying she wanted to have her blood drawn after every doctor's appointment--that it was a piece of cake when she had it done on Monday. I won't hold her to it. :-)

    I hope you hare having a great week!

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    1. Oh that is too funny - I need to take a lesson from Mouse! I hate having my blood drawn!

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