Sunday, April 17, 2011

Weekly Wrap-up for April 17, 2011.

I just typed in the date and had a mini-freakout. This month is flying by! I suppose when you are working two jobs and recovering from pneumonia, these things happen. :)

I am feeling much better by the way. After going to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon, he ordered me to stay home in bed on Thursday and Friday. I did that and while I still don't feel 100%, I do feel a lot better than I did early next week. I worked yesterday (the park) and I think I am on the mend.

Going into this week, I need to remind myself to take it easy and not overdo it. Luckily we have a 4 day week (we have Good Friday off), so that will definitely help. I am trying to keep a balance between school and my home life as I continue working through the middle of June. I think that is the only way to keep my head on straight as I continue to work both jobs (if you missed it on Friday, I announced that I would be continuing to teach, as the teacher I am subbing for decided she is not coming back this school year-definitely exciting).

Anyway, I am feeling good about things after having time to digest everything, and I am looking forward to spending the next 9 weeks with my kids. :)

Reading and blogging has suffered a little, but I have made a few changes to keep my head on straight. I have some personal goals I am working on, so hopefully you'll see some of that happening here. :)

One personal goal I don't mind sharing is that I am trying to get back in the gear of going to the gym on a more regular basis (right now, I physically can't do some things because of the pneumonia). I decided to combine that with my desire to read all of the Harry Potter books before the last movie comes out in July. I have all the books on CD, so I am going to be burning them to my IPod so I can listen to them while at the gym. I have to finish them before the movie, so this is a great motivator.

I launched the next two readalongs yesterday. I realized as I was getting ready to put the posts up that I was going to be diving into both The Iliad and The Aeneid at the same time. That didn't sound fun to me so I switched Virgil out for Dostoevsky's The Idiot. If you are interested in signing up for both, or would like to spread the word, here are the links:
I am planning on making some big progress with the books I am currently reading. The first one I need to finish is Lady Chatterley's Lover for the second readalong post (I should finish it today). Next up I need to plow through Atlas Shrugged. I put it aside a little while ago and I suppose that I need to read it...*grumble*.

I also started Their Eyes Were Watching God during the last few hours of the readathon, but haven't touched it since. I also have a big urge to read Silas Marner, so maybe I can squeeze those in before the end of the month.

How has your reading been going? What are your plans for the coming week?

8 comments:

  1. I love the Harry Potter/workout plan. I wonder if that would make me get off my butt and onto the elliptical. :)

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  2. I also love the HP/workout plan! Fantastic that you're getting back into the gym. I'm thinking about seeing if I can start up the blogger 100 mile fitness challenge officially next quarter!

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  3. So glad you're feeling better! Have you read THEIR EYES before? It's one of my all time favorite books, so I do hope you get back to it soon. :)

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  4. Hi Allie,

    Glad you are feeling better!

    I need to finally buckle down and try some audio books again. Last time I tried I failed miserably, but I'm blaming that on the fact that I tried to listen while driving to & from work on I-465 (around Indianapolis) which is too stressful and dangerous during rush hour to continually pay attention to an audio book.

    A readalong for Dostoyevsky, huh? I bought a used copy of that book last year. I may join you again (and try to keep up better than my previous efforts...)

    -Jay

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  5. Enjoy Jim Dale reading Harry Potter. In a lot of ways, I don't think you've truly experienced the books until you've listened to him read them. But be warned: don't drive while listening to the sad parts. I listened to the second half of Deathly Hallows on my way home from Thanksgiving with the family and had to pull off the road because I was crying so har. And I don't cry when I read!

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  6. I'm with you on the date thing--I'm still having trouble with the fact that it's no longer March!

    I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Good luck with the Harry Potter/work out plan! I know the only way I've been able to convince myself to consistently ride the stationary bike is to watch sitcoms while I ride.

    Have a good week!

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  7. Be careful with ripping the CDs to your iPod - they don't come through great. Be sure you rip them in order, and then you want to sort that playlist by date on you iTunes so they come across in order, and then you need to turn shuffle OFF before playing. Also you won't be able to see which track you left on (unlike podcasts there is no dot next to them to show the unplayed ones, and unlike an audible download, it doesn't remember where you left off.) What I do is when I get home I uncheck the played tracks so the 1st track that comes up is the 1st unplayed track - but that means I can't start and stop in one workout without really making an effort to remember the track number. Also see how many tracks you're getting off of a CD - I have one audiobook that when I finished ripping the CDs, I had over a THOUSAND tracks! Insanity. The one I'm listening to now has about 350 which is insane too, but not that insane! Good luck!

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  8. I seriously thought I'd commented on this?

    Anyway, I'm glad your feeling better. I keep having freakouts by the date too. And the fact that my baby is 3 1/2. Time is flying so fast!!!

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