Saturday 2 August 2014

5 for 30 (August 2014)

Five goals to focus on for the next thirty days:

1: Making my daily habits daily, keeping up my slowly developing good routines about the house
- laying out my clothes and James' each night,
- packing our bags the night before an early planned outing,
- reading through the Bible, going over memory verses and and having a short prayer time with James,
- filling the dishwasher and wiping down the counters immediately after each meal,
- emptying the dishwasher reasonably quickly and leaving out the plasticware etc. to dry,
- putting away dry dishes first thing,
- putting away folded clothes first thing,
- folding clothes and generally dealing with laundry each evening/night etc.

2. Implementing a quiet(ish) independent reading time for James (and Mummy) post-lunch to settle him for nap.
- J will have three books to go through for five/ten/fifteen minutes (his bedtime stories for that night maybe) and I'll hopefully be able to use this time to fit in a short chapter from Jen's autobiography or some whodunnit reading.

3. Picture book reading with James post-nap
- Since I read aloud to him while he nurses before nap and bed, Daddy does the bedtime stories so it'll be nice to pick out a specific time each day to enjoy picture book stories with him, without losing my voice

4. Simple stretching (with James too) first thing
- To start off my morning in an energised manner, improve my flexibility and get me moving.

5. Beginning to limit my chocolate intake
- I'm not saying no chocolate, I'm just saying less :)

I'll also:
- get James' hair and mine cut,
- (finally) finish sorting all my kindle e-books into collections (e.g. by author, non-fiction, historical novels), I've got about a hundred e-books to go),
- download my recent purchase of a "homeschooling mom bundle" of e-books, save them to our PC, then to our external hard drive and finally send them to my kindle account,
- enjoy my reading plans for the month,
- sort through James' library, moving the more babyish books out from amongst the rest (while still accessible to James) and making bedtime options handier for Daddy, and
- look forward to the (deeply) discounted baby gift/future child gift purchases arriving with the much-loved (by James) postmen (Roy, James and the newest recruit, Alan), I love getting post and parcels especially.

Socially James and I have one scheduled playdate with B&T and Maddy (no doubt we'll host one too), our monthly La Leche League meeting, a daytrip with Daddy to the North Coast to enjoy time at the rararans (caravans) with Granny, Granda, Auntie J, Uncle G, LJ and baby ZG (yay cuddles). Besides which I'll have a meet up with friends, the monthly craft group and my monthly coffee date with the girls. Workwise I have a day of childminding (B&T) and three (mostly) weekly (and fairly flexible) tutoring students. Scheduling students once school starts back is more intrusive of family life and relaxing naptimes, though on a more positive note it doesn't impact on our mornings. Not that our mornings are manic :) a fortnightly toddler group, monthly LLL meeting and starting back to free-play gymnastics (hopefully weekly with a vague idea of going to teacher-led classes in January), but I am more hermit than social butterfly after all :)

Spiritually I'll miss another two weeks of church with creche duties (I missed three weeks in July) but I'll enjoy getting some one-on-one time with a few parents/children of the church family.

Anywho, here goes nothing.

Friday 1 August 2014

The Book List - August 2014

Here's my reading list for the month:

Bible
The Book of Romans
- Continuing through Romans, alongside our Bible commentary
The Book of Proverbs
- This will prove "light relief" in amongst the deeper study of Romans

Breastfeeding/Attachment Parenting
Breastfeeding Matters (La Leche League Members Magazine)
- Two articles a day until completed (10)
Beyond the Sling (HB, Mayim Bialik)
- Read up to the end of chapter two at least (4)

Christian Autobiography
Something Other Than God (HB, Jennifer Fulwiler)
- Read up to the end of at least chapter twenty-five (19). This is another Christian/RC perspective book from an author whose blog I've read for six (or more) years

Dystopian
Sycamore: Near Future Dystopia (e-book, Craig A. Falconer)
- One chapter a day until complete (18). I really enjoyed his free e-book Funscreen so I'm hoping this will be equally well-written.

Homeschooling
Homeschooling Day By Day: A Thriving Guide for Mothers (e-book, Kirsty Howard - Editor)
- Chapters 3-6 (4)
Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother (e-book, Joyce Swann)
- Up to the start of "establish..." (location 259) (2)
50 Veteran Homeschoolers Share... Things We Wished We'd Known (PB, Edited by Bill & Diana Waring)
- Catching up then continuing to (re)read through this a chapter at a time in tandem with my hubby - hopefully inciting good discussions

Miscellaneous
Soldier of Aquarius (free e-book, John W. Cassell)
- I'm not quite sure of the genre for this one but I've already been sucked in whilst trying to decide it. I suspect this will be weird and possibly violent, we shall see...

*Updated to add* Just confused writing with no sense coming to it and I have no affinity for the protagonist so I'm removing this from my list and my kindle.

Modern Christian Novel
Here We Come: Aggie's Inheritance Series (Book 3/3, e-book, Chautona Havig)
- One or two chapters a day until complete (22 chapters in all)
Get Cozy, Josey! (PB, Susan May Warren)
- One or two chapters a day until complete (19 chapters in all)

Modern Secular Novel
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (PB, Paul Torday)
- Two chapters a day until complete (17)

Quaint Christian Fiction
Becky Sue Cooper's Photo Album
- About sixty "pages" at a time (8), a quaint tale of what kids hear when you don't realise they're listening and a moral of guarding your tongue

Read-Alouds
In the High Valley (5/5, free e-book, Susan Coolidge) and
Nine Little Goslings (free e-book, Susan Coolidge
- James and I will complete our adventures with Katy and co. before finishing off the previously begun Nine Little Goslings - collection of short stories. If there's a need, we'll follow up with "Fairytales Every Child Should Know" (free e-book, edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie)

Self-improvement
100 LB Loser (purchased e-book, Jessica Heights)
- A chapter or so a week

Travel
The Valley of Heaven and Hell: Cycling in the Shadow of Marie Antoinette (free at the time e-book, Susie Kelly)
- A chapter or so a week

Whodunnit
Dead Running (free e-book, Cami Checketts)
- I'm not entirely certain this is a whodunnit, perhaps a thriller but my look-see to help me decide pulled me in so it's a last minute addition to this month, two or so chapters a day (11)
Short Fuses: Four free short stories (free e-book, Stephen Leather)
- These are very short stories a couple of which I've already read so this will be an easy read

*Updated to add* These are either infantile or filth so yet another to be deleted from this list and my kindle.

Here's to an enjoyable month's reading...