Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a great day. Two huge things I want to talk about today - Me dropping the ball on some things and be NOT buying any books for a while!Dropping The Ball
Three places I've dropped the ball in my life and I intend to rectify them starting now:
1. Health - My doctor says over the past 2 1/2 years my blood pressure and resting heart rate have steadily increased. And she is concerned. Now, I'm concerned. Even though I'm still down 4 of the 8 lbs. I lost during The Game-On Diet Challenge, my weight is still over where it should be. So, diet and exercise must be more consistent. She gave me one month to make some changes before she put the hammer down...
2. House - over the past 2 1/2 years, I've neglected things around my house while I went back to school and worked my new job. I would show you some pictures of my un-landscaped, weedy, boring outside and inside house but that would require me to make an effort.
3. Giveaway Winners (I know, it doesn't start with an "h") - I have SEVEN packages sitting on my desk that contain books that need to be sent out! I owe so many apologies to these readers. They prolly don't read anymore but I am sorry anyway! I can't afford to mail them all at once, and yes, I have more giveaways going! I will try to send out 1 old package and 1 new package every other week until all packages are sent. That's the only way to do this. Old packages will go first class while all new stuff will go media mail.
So, as you can see, I've got some changes to make and part of that means LESS computer time. My daughter's extremely happy about this. So am I.
Book Buying Ban
My house is overflowing with books. Literally. Also, the newer ones are covering up older ones so that I forget that I bought them and wanted to read those particular ones. I've been reading some posts that have convinced me that my past efforts lacked a plan and that's why they failed. So, the plan is now in place. This current ban will go until year's end, when it will be revisited.
Ban Plan
- Need - book must be needed for something specific where it would be too late by the time I get it from the library.
- Budget - it's within my monthly budget. This includes shipping/handling costs.
- Room - I must get rid of one book for every new book that comes into the house - including blog tours and requested review books.
- Borrow - look for bloggers who want to trade or are hosting a giveaway for the book I want.
- Top 25 - it should be one of the top 25 books I want to read. I don't own 6 of my top 25. Which means I do own 19 of them!
Reading
I had a pretty slow reading week. I'm finding myself reading more newspapers and less books. Here's where I'm at:
Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation - finished this one. Review and ARC giveaway. (blog tour)
Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi - review.
Those are the only two I finished and I'm working on the following:
The Magicians by Lev Grossman - 1/2 done. Took an unexpected turn. I still like it.
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble - 1/4 way through. (blog tour)
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo - 1/4 way through. (Mock Newbery)
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner - 1/4 way through.
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale - 1/2 done.
Will have to put a couple of those aside while I do some blog tour reading for this and next week. I usually give those books away so look for them!
Have a great week!
I just found you through Sunday Salon and am enjoying reading your blog. I couldn't believe it when I read your profile and saw that you want to run "a teen centered bookstore/hang out type place." I've wanted to do the same thing for some time now! I was thinking that teens with special needs, but also teens in general, really need good places to hang out at after school and in the evenings. I hope we both get our dream jobs! :)
ReplyDeleteKB,
ReplyDeleteYou might consider joining Paperbackswap or Bookmooch. Good way to get rid of books. Just be careful about requesting more than you're shipping out or you'll have the same overflow of books.
I hear you on the weight. My blood pressure was up two years ago. Normal now, but my weight is not. Take it a day at time. Congratulate yourself more often than you scold yourself for slip ups. When you slip, correct and move on. If you eat the whole pizza on Sunday, don't use that as an excuse to eat hot dogs on Monday. You can make a healthy choice at the new meal.
I love the idea of the "top 25" TBR picks. :) And thank you for the link!
ReplyDeleteGood luck on everything. I find that my life goes in cycles where every couple years I have to "get my act together", so to speak, y'know? So best wishes!
Hey there,
ReplyDeleteJust remember to do things little by little. You need to give yourselves lots of props for the 4 lbs. you've lost (and your dr. should too!) and then just keep going. If you like dessert & find it's a weakness (like I do), only have a dessert on the weekends (1 on Sat., 1 on Sun., for ex.)
And the post someone made about paperbackswap or bookmooch--sounds good--remember the library can also be a wonderful recipient of donated books for summer reading program or teen program giveaways!
(Big smile here) You're doing great, you know.
Don't let the health situation stress you out too much it only makes it worse! Stress does horrible things to us most notably our health.
ReplyDeleteHow are you liking Dreaming Anastasia? I just finished it and got my review ready to post this week :)
It's a great idea to take stock of where you are and then make reachable goals. I am going through my books today and will organize them better so that I don't miss anything.
ReplyDelete