Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sunday Salon...the third


Today marks my return to the real world. But oh my, was last week wonderful and relaxing...oh, alright, it was downright luxuriously lazy! I spent maybe ten hours working on homeschool stuff, instead of the 60+ hours I spend during a normal week. Cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming twice was the extent of my housecleaning. I kept up with the laundry for about half the week, then started blowing it off. The kids were with my parents for 3 days. And I totally ignored the computer! Amazing how much free time can be found when one blows off all one's responsibilities. :)

So, what did I do with my week of indulgent laziness? I managed to spend a couple hours scrapbooking. Went antiquing. And watched more TV than I do in a typical month.

And, of course, I read, read, read...two plays, a handful of essays/articles, a handful of short stories, three graphic novels, and five other books. Yes, I do realize that for some that constitutes a pretty average week. But for me, well, we may be talking record-setting here!

But as I said, the real world looms large, so I'm not expecting to add much to the page totals today. (Not that I actually keep track of page totals anyway. Every time I read someone's monthly or yearly wrap-ups that contain page totals, I think I really ought to do that, too...but I just can't get my act together on that one.) No, today's goals include getting everyone ready to head back to school tomorrow (including doing several things for homeschool that I blew off during the previous week), trying to get caught back up on the laundry, and reading as many blog posts as I can before pulling the old "mark all as read" trick.

If I get my act together (yeah, big IF there), this coming week should include lots of book babbling, not to mention oodles of points to award. Oh my. The acquisitions of the previous week are downright shameful. Books from the library, books arriving from PaperbackSwap, books I'd ordered from Amazon, books I bought at various stores, and books I received as gifts. I'm hoping if I spread out the awarding of points throughout the week, no one will notice quite how bad I've been. Or at least maybe you can pretend not to notice, okay?

As for what I'm reading now: I'm still working my way through Mathias B. Freese's short story book (Down to a Sunless Sea). I just started Shakespeare Wrote for Money (which I was absolutely powerless to resist after finishing The Complete Polysyllabic Spree). I'm reading House of Stone (the second book about Zimbabwe this month...and I've got two more waiting for me, as I've decided it's time to go back to allowing myself to following my current whims and stop worrying so much about what I should be reading for challenges). However, having said that, I did just start reading The Strand Prophecy last night, because I realized that while I read a pile of short stories for Carl's Sci-Fi Experience, I'd yet to read a single book (but don't worry, I really did want to dig into this book anyway). Started reading Globalization: Opposing Viewpoints for homeschool last week, though I have no intention of reading the whole book...just picking out particular topics and reading "both sides" of the argument. Also still plugging slowly away in both The Scientists and Africa: A Biography of the Continent for homeschool. I think that's all I have going at the moment, but I'm vastly tempted to pick up The Plain Janes...and I shouldn't be faulted there, after all, I do have to return it to the library soon.

Well, anyway, despite the fact that I now feel completely out of the loop, and despite the fact that my wish list is bound to grow by leaps and bounds today as I bop around trying to catch up with you all, I have to say my break was highly restorative. And I'm actually giving thought to making these blogging breaks a bi-monthly thing.

14 comments:

Dawn said...

It sounds like you have a wonderful break! I don't know how that time always passes so quickly. I had the week off and didn't accomplish all I wanted too. I did get one book in though. I think I am going to save the one I really wanted to read until I have time to savor and enjoy it.

Yes, I also have to prepare for a week's worth of work for school, do laundry etc., etc. It's not easy being us is it? ☺ ☺ ☺

take care,
Dawn

Eva said...

That sounds like a great break! And by bi-monthly, you mean every other month right? Not twice a month? Because I'll miss you too much. :p

I'm so glad you got a ton of relaxation time in, and I can't wait to find out about all of the books you've been reading!!

serendipity_viv said...

Glad to hear you had a rest this week. Everyone deserves it once in awhile.

Ana S. said...

Debi Debi Debi :D I'm so glad you're back! I'm very much looking forward to all your "book babble", as well as to hearing all about the books you got. And I agree with Eva; it'd better be once every two months :P And even then I'll miss you a lot! I'm happy to hear the break did you good, though :)

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

What an amazing week! It's great to step back sometimes and get to the things that you really enjoy without all the chores and obligations. And the reading--whose average week is that? I'd be lucky to get that in a month!! When is the next read-a-thon? I'm itching to do nothing but read for 24 hours.

Glad you're back. :)

Literary Feline said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful week. Sometimes you need to take breaks like that. Have a great week.

Kailana said...

Glad you are back around and your vacation was so relaxing!

Jean said...

Welcome back! I missed your posts. Yeah, I know, I should post more before I start feeling bad that someone else isn't writing. But every time I cross one thing off the "do this before March 4" list, I add another. Today, I hired dog walkers. Tomorrow? Who knows!

maggie moran said...

Welcome back Gurl! :D That darn TV sucks me in, too!

Thoughts of Joy said...

Glad to read you had a wonderful break and I'm looking forward to your upcoming posts. :)

Thoughts of Joy said...

Glad to read you had a wonderful break and I'm looking forward to your upcoming posts. :)

Kim L said...

I'm glad you had a relaxing break! With everything you do, you definitely need some time to refresh and relax! Glad that meant some reading and scrapbooking :-)

I hope things didn't stack up too much when you got back.

Melody said...

Welcome back, Debi! I'm glad you have a wonderful break. Of course you know we all missed ya... ;)

Michelle Fluttering Butterflies said...

Oh it sounds great to have a break from everything. To be able to read that much! I'm jealous.