Monday Things
Monday! Oh, I love a Monday. (Not much has changed.)
1. To keep myself accountable for my only New Year's resolution, I've been keeping a list of the books I read as I finish them, starring the ones I liked. Up until recently, it's mainly served to remind me how much of a book rut I've been in—out of the twelve books I've finished since January, I've only liked two!
I have a feeling that's going to change. After I had my first baby, I found myself extremely sensitized to any suspenseful or upsetting material in all forms of media, but especially books since I read right before bed. While I used to read all kinds of fiction, the books I've read over the past 5.5 years haven't been at all suspenseful, and forget any kind of mystery or thriller.
BUT! Maybe I'm growing up? I just finished The Last Mrs. Parrish, which I would call moderately suspenseful (and moderately trashy), and I loved it! It's certainly no Pulitzer Prize winner, but I'd say it's a great beach read.
As a result of this newfound tolerance for suspense, I've added several new books to my library cue:
2. While we're on the subject of media, what are you watching right now?
Like the rest of the world, we finished watching Game of Thrones last night, and we also just finished both seasons of Patriot, which is a really quirky, funny, suspenseful show. So we have no shows!
I'm sort of okay with that because 1) we recently moved our TV into our basement and I don't love watching TV down there (but it's a great way to not watch a lot of TV, and enjoy peace and quiet aka nap when your kids are watching something!) and 2) I am quite excited about all my summer books! But it would still be nice to have something to watch sometimes. Recommendations welcomed!
3. Now that warm weather is finally here, I've been re-implementing this dinner formula, and Nick and I both loved our meal last night. He grilled some chicken and veggies that I had marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and rosemary, and then I chopped all of that up and served it over cooked orzo that had been tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lots of goat cheese once it had cooled.
For the kids, I served everything deconstructed: cheesy orzo, grilled chicken, veggies.
4. We have had a good run of it with the "OK to wake" clock—I'm sure I've written about this before, but it's been so helpful once the girls transitioned from the crib to the big bed. I'm not into unnecessary gear but this is a must-have, in my book. Theirs has been set for 6:45-7:15 through the years and they've mostly always obeyed it, coming downstairs only once it turns green, which has allowed Nick and I to have our morning coffee together and a couple minutes of peace and quiet before being invaded.
Recently, however, they have decided they're going to come downstairs whenever they please, and no amount of reinforcing it has been working!
This means I need to grow, which I think needs to look like teaching them to make themselves breakfast. Because I still need a minute in the morning!
All of our breakfast supplies are stored up too high for them to reach themselves, so this will take some effort in configuring so they can handle their own breakfasts...and not spill milk all over the floor. Any tips?
Happy Monday!
