Thursday, March 18, 2010

- I gave up reading Little Dorrit. It is a testimony to some super-odd personality issue/trait that I read 300 pages before throwing in the towel. That's like being married 35 years and then getting divorced! Who DOES that? Weirdos, I tell you.

- Laura asked if I'm still off sugar. The answer is yes. Next question: am I still tempted every single day to throw in the towel and scarf down a half-gal of ice cream and a couple spoonfuls of Betty Crocker chocolate frosting? The answer is yes. Some days are easier than others.

- Suzie asked when I have time to read. I almost always read whatever current novel I'm enjoying in the morning, before the kids are up, along with scripture and something else spiritual. I take a full hour. This is a new practice since Lent. Also, we have "quiet" time in the afternoon from roughly 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. During that time, John naps, the older three play in their rooms, and I read/pray/nap. Finally, I frequently read at bedtime. If Kevin is involved in a book, we read together on the couch downstairs even before bedtime. Today when the kids had P.E. class, I brought my book to the park and read about a paragraph before there were friends there to chat with. Current read - Home Before Morning, The True Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam, by Lynda Van Devanter. I already like Ms. Van Devanter FAR more than Charles Dickens. Oodles more. Tons. Buckets. Loads.

- I have to make a confession. I have been watching "19 Kids and Counting". It is fascinating from an anthropological/sociological standpoint, a family standpoint, a media studies standpoint, a psychological standpoint, a housekeeping standpoint, a middle-American cultural standpoint, and a nosy-busybody-gawk-at-someone-else's-life standpoint. I find myself peering at each younger child and wondering which one will write an expose twenty years from now. Call me cynical. It won't be the first time.