Month: January 2016

I’m having book issues, people.  I have too many books that I’m trying to read.  I need to prioritize.

First priority is Elizabeth Strout’s new book My Name Is Lucy Barton.  Bought this book yesterday because she’s coming to Nashville to do a reading next week, and I want to get it autographed, but I also want to have read at least some of it before going to the reading.  I may have said this already, but Olive Kitteridge was one of my favorite books that I read last year and the mini-series was superb.

Second on the list should be finishing Foundation and Empire which is the second book in the Foundation Trilogy.  I have been slowly making my way through the trilogy for a while now, and I definitely like the books, so I need to buckle down and at least finish this second book before I keep reading more books.

Also on the fiction list is Elizabeth Strout’s The Burgess Boys.

As far as my nonfiction list goes….I need to finish The Witches by Stacy Schiff, which I actually put down a few months ago and find myself missing from time to time.  I’m also making my way through Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich — it’s an absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking book and I love it.  But I like it in moderation because it’s so devastating.

Stephen got me The Story of Alice by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst and that is definitely high on my nonfiction priority list, but I can’t decide if I should finish The Witches first, since I already started it, or what.

I can’t forget Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me either — which I started several months ago but found difficult to read and engage at work so I put it aside to read when I could focus on it.  Which means basically that I need to start over.

NOT TO MENTION all the other damned books that I haven’t even STARTED yet.  OMG I am not allowed to buy ANY NEW BOOKS for like five years.

UGH now I’m feeling overwhelmed again and might just go back to drawing.

Sorry I haven’t blogged in such a long time.  I think my last entry was before Thanksgiving?  I would sum up the holidays….but, eh, I don’t really feel like it.

We DID have a pretty great New Year’s — we went camping at Montgomery Bell State Park, and the temperature both nights got into the 20’s.  We went through a LOT of firewood, believe me.  We made some good meals using the dutch oven, and overall had a great time.  I personally much prefer that kind of NYE over going to parties, but.  Maybe we can take turns and do a party next year.  Maybe.

The leather stuff is going fine, except that I had a lot of commissioned Christmas presents to make (and still have one that I’m not finished with…Vicki, if you’re reading this, I’m omg so sorry it’s taking seriously forever…!!!!).  So I’m feeling sorta burned out.  Also I’m out of leather.  I will make more stuff to list.  And I should go ahead and just make a few really small things, but……..eh.

Although I’m sort of trying to focus on purging instead of buying more stuff lately, because we’ve decided to move into a new place.  (!)  So last night I filled up my big city-allotted trash can with clothes that I don’t wear anymore.  I got rid of all the coats in my hallway closet that smelled of mildew, also.  Today is trash pick-up day so I can technically fill it up again tonight if I want to.  I need to clean out the closet in the library too — it’s mostly full of the craft supplies that don’t have any better place to go.

Probably my biggest priority right now should be cleaning the garage, though………ugh.  Not excited about that.

I’m excited about the final result (moving) but not so much about the process.  However, the lack of excitement about the process usually means that I’m motivated to get it done quickly, which is a good thing.

I’m also rediscovering my love of drawing, after finding this YouTube channel that comes out with a new life drawing video every week.  I’ve wanted to take a life drawing class for like forever, and this isn’t really the same, but it IS free and does have “live” models so is great practice.  Stephen has been practicing with me too, which is also exciting!!  I have gotten friends to draw or paint with me before, but no one ever seems to get excited about it…but Stephen said that he’s enjoying it!  😀  Anyway, I like it.  This is my latest hobby which might be eclipsed by more leather stuff soon, since the leather stuff can actually make money.  But.  We’ll see.