why wait? things I am doing RIGHT NOW anyway

 I listened to The Lazy Genius podcast a couple weeks ago, and she was talking about how you can make your home feel the way you want it to right now without probably spending any money on decorating because a vibe doesn't usually require any dollars to achieve-- it's more about making sure you can live comfortably. And I was like oh my gosh you are so right. 

For over a year, I have been complaining that we only have 6 chairs at the kitchen table for a family of 7 and shopping half-heartedly for both tables and dining benches to go with our existing table (we really need to buy new couches for the basement before we commit to any other piece of furniture because one of them is actually broken. But every time we go shopping we think that maybe we should be sending the 15 year-old living room couch downstairs and starting fresh up there and it turns into a whole give-a-mouse-a-cookie thing and we leave empty handed). 

But after that episode, I realized I have 4 more chairs that coordinate with our table in our storage room AND ALSO three more counter stools. Like, those things exist IN MY HOUSE ALREADY. Are they exactly what I would choose if I were going to the store? No. Will they work to increase seating from 10 to 14? YES YOU GUYS. THEY WILL. The vibe I am going for is relaxed and comfy and enough room at the table. I CAN MAKE THAT HAPPEN RIGHT NOW.

I actually think the mismatch is cute, and I love the woven bottoms on the extra chairs- they match one of our lamps. I am thinking about putting the other 2 at the head and foot of the table, so we could have 4 and 4, but we'll see (the current head and foot chairs have arms, so they are already slightly different-- I like that). I ended up only using 2 extra bar stools-- they are holding plants right now, but could join the other 4 at the island easily. So, there you go. Seating for all. RIGHT NOW.

On the way to my office the other day, I saw a bunch of happy people working at the coffee shop on the corner by my building and I was like I really need to spend more time writing at coffee shops someday. And then I turned around and went in and got a flat white and spent a lovely 75 minutes before my class working at a crowded coffee shop. I wrote my whole dissertation in coffee shops, you guys. and I miss the vibes.

(unrelated, this gd dance convention/competition website said it would give us schedules on 4/7 and DID NOT and I have 2 kid sports and an 18th bday to plan that weekend)

Also! That random morning was great, but I need MOAR coffee shop time and am going to pencil it in.

I have also started reading 50 pages of whatever I am reading as soon as I wake up. This has been an excellent practice-- I can have a cup of coffee and wake up without getting stuck in the scroll. It takes me about 25 minutes, and then I am ready to exercise.  

To answer Daria's question from comments the other day, I usually do not buy books. But! Lately, I have bought a ton of Audible titles on sale (Judge Stone; More Than Enough; So Old, So Young; Once and Again) and realized I spent about $55 on them **yikes face**.  I have a $15/month Audible subscription, too. I have also started buying or pre-ordering about 2 Kindle books a month ($30), and I have a Book of the Month club membership, meaning I get a book a month for $17. So. Guys. I actually do spend a bunch of money on books. Oops. I do get the majority via Libby (I have 4 cards! For 35 holds at a time! Some of my kids don't ever read, so I took their numbers! And my school ID gives me 5 extras!) or the library. But, most months I spend right around $60 for a couple Kindle reads and my subscriptions.   Not counting my recent Audible sale binge. **another yikes face**

One more thing! That we did  right now anyway: we wore spring clothes on Easter even though we had to cover them up with our parkas. Wisconsin, get it together!

The E.B. booked the boys a tee time, and Harry wore shorts. He is a true Sconnie.

Ben celebrated the slightly warmer afternoon weather by taking Minnie and Cooper to a new barnyard-themed park for kids ages 2-5. Where they played a rowdy game of tag that saw Ben sustaining a major injury dashing to the chicken coop (home base). He fell down and called for Cooper, whom he had just tagged. Cooper thought Ben was trying to trick him into getting tagged again. But no! Ben was really hurt.

Just a sprain! Phew!

 

How I spent my solo spring break

 I watched TV. (Scarpetta and season 1 of Your Friends and Neighbors-- liked them both. Also liked watching TV midday when I was least likely to fall alseep).

Read books. (just a couple-- I was really off my reading game)

Shopped (unsuccessfully) for t-shirts. I need to go to Madewell and Evereve, I guess.

Filled Easter baskets.

Made a weekend's worth of restaurant reservations instead of cooking a single Easter thing (zero regrets).

RESTED in anticipation of a bananas 4 weeks ahead.

A lovely spring break.

Q 2 Reads!

 I had a GREAT time reading a ton of my list of anticipated Q1 books, and I am excited for even more excellent reads in the next few months. Once again, I used the google so you don't have to. Get those holds in, friends-- books are coming!!

APRIL

Most anticipated

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Go Gentle by Maria Semple

American Fantasy by Emma Straub

Favorite Authors

Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell

Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Ghost Town by Tom Perrotta

Romance

The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn

Nonfiction

The Rolling Stones: The Biography by Bob Spitz

Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay by Lisa Gavenas

Famesick by Lena Dunham

May

Most Anticipated

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Favorite Authors

Take Me With You by Steven Rowley

The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff

Our Perfect Storm by Carly Fortune

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Schlocky Thrillers

The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

The One Day You Were my Husband by Rosie Walsh

Nonfiction

Big Time by Laura Vanderkam

Steve Jobs in Exile by Geoffrey Cain

I am Not a Robot: My Year of Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything by Joanna Stern

June

Most Anticipated

Whistler by Ann Patchett

Arrivals and Departures by Amanda Eyre Ward

Land by Maggie O'Farrell

Summer Reads

The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson

Down with the Shipmans by Meg Mitchell Moore

The Guilty Party by Caro Carver

Repeat Authors

The Top of the World by Ethan Joella

It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell

Someone Else's Husband by Kimberly McCreight

Nonfiction

Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register by Ann Larson

Lifeguard: A Love Story by Janet Fash

The Wilder Way by Eva zu Beck

Ok: WHAT DID I MISS?

5 on a Friday: Notes from a quick trip to Iowa

Almost as soon as Dorothy wrapped up her first dance competition of the season, we packed up the car and headed to Iowa for a national qualifier dive meet for Cooper. Specifically, the AAU Red White and Blue national qualifier in Waukee, Iowa. On the line? A trip to nats and a chance (if he won an event) to represent the AAU team at an international dive meet in Italy.

Minnie told everyone she was going to Iowa on spring break, which made us all laugh (ooooh a Marriott Courtyard in a Des Moines suburb!). But! Since it was the kids' break, we made it fun for all.

1. We went to the mall a lot. Jordan Creek mall is a retro delight-- Toys R Us! Cinnabon! And also every trendy teen girl store in the world. (Free People Movement, Garage, Altar'd State, AS Revival, Lulu, Hollister, Abercrombie, Aerie and Aerie Offline-- and more that I am surely forgetting. 

Cooper was not as stoked at Dorothy at some of the offerings.

We aren't Christian, so most of the graphic tees did not land, but this store has THE CUTEST frilly dresses. They are typically between $90-120 but you can find them in the clearance section for LESS THAN THIRTY DOLLARS (and honestly they look the same from season to season IMO)

I wish our Free People store had more athleisure because this stuff was CUTE.

OMGGGGGG

Minnie bought eye shadow, mascara, and blush and wore it every day.

Borrowing the Easter Bunny's set up for a pic

Also coming soon! (Dorothy was excited for a second when she saw the sign and then sad)

We spent a lot of time waiting outside dressing rooms

2. POOL TIME. Cooper competed in synchro (just for fun) the first day, 3-meter the second day, and 1-meter the last day. He qualified to compete in Italy by winning 1meter and qualified to nats in both 3 and 1 (and he can bring platform). He won't actually go to Italy because his USA Diving nat qual series overlaps the trip, but he was excited to qualify, and he plans to compete at AAU Red White and Blue nationals in Orlando over Memorial Day.

For her part, Minnie enjoyed the very underwhelming hotel pool except when it was teeming with volleyball players and closed for filter probs (yuck)

my uncle came to watch both days! My aunt and cousin also watched with us on Saturday

3. Lots of food! We went to a restaurant that's been the exact same since my childhood, and I loved every bite.

We also got our favorite dive bar pizza

4. We saw the Iowa capitol!

And also the best park ever

5. We took the long way home

Other things:

Dorothy said this headband was cute, but I am pretty sure she was trolling me (it was really cute on her).

Minnie loved the hotel (the girls and I had a room, and Ben and Coop had a room)

And! she is old enough to wait for 45 mins at a restaurant with no complaints-- or very few complaints.

Dorothy shattered her iPhone, which was kind of a pain. She's been without a phone all week waiting for a replacement, and she is really annoyed because she can't use her beloved Bauble Bar case anymore (it's not sturdy at all-- she has dropped her phone a million times with no consequence but then she got that case and bam! (literally)). I got her a Casely case because she was horrified at the mere mention of an Otterbox. If you have any durable phone case recs, I am all ears. (she fatally dropped it on the bleachers moments after we took this pic)

March goals revisited/April on tap!

I LOVE planning my whole month in my big old monthly planner and looking at all the days laid out. I realize really important things-- like next week when I have to be on campus every darn day and the fact that we are busy EVERY WEEKEND IN APRIL. Omg. Eau Claire visit this weekend. Dance competition AND a dive meet in Madison next weekend. Dance competition/convention AND a dive meet in Chicago the following weekend. Baseball tournament the last weekend. Gah.

Unforch I realized this too late to schedule 4 weekly house cleanings or to pause Minnie's gymnastics tuition since we cannot make ANY of her classes. But! I was in time to switch her to a weeknight class for April and pause her tuition for the summer starting next month. Yay! (ish). Hoping to get a company in to clean toward the end of the month and winging it the first two weeks.

SO. April. VERY BUSY. Cruel, you might even say. But still! I HAVE GOALS.

First, though, let's review March.

✅Finish watching Oscar movies!: This was super fun, and we had a blast doing our Oscar pool

✅Query blog designers and research DIY options: I have great ideas!

✅Watch the Oscars with the fam and do a betting pool of some kind: Loved this ALSO WON THE POOL

✅Celebrate Dorothy!! And buy her some gifts!: Check and check.

✅Celebrate Ben!! Yep.

🟡Visit Harry at UWEC: Canceled due to spring blizzard and rescheduled.

🟡Shop for Easter: Partly!

❌Plan Jack's bday: Absolutely not.

❌Decide where and when we are hosting Jack's grad party. Big old nope.

❌Consider my writing process and outline it; see where it might fit into my life: NOPE

❌Buy new lamps for the kitchen/living room: I did stain the hell out of a lampshade, so this task seems even more urgent.

✅Do yoga every day this month: Yes! (except that one day)

✅Run at least 2 practice 8K's (slightly longer than my usual morning runs, though I have worked up to at least 3 miles): I did do 2 long runs!

🟡Be a better blog friend and leave comments for 10 minutes every day (I've been doing lots of reading w/o commenting): SORT OF

✅Notice when I rest before all my work is done: YES! I have started sitting down to read when I want to, not wen I feel like I have earned it.

April Goals

PD

1. Work on course prep for fall
2. New prep for spring
3. Read more AI stuff
4. Review new textbook

Hobbies and Home

1. Use IG to promote blog posts
2. Meet up with a blog friend I have never met in IRL before
3. Buddy read Kin
4. InstaKids Chatbook this month and make an April album

Fitness

1. Maintain a calorie deficit every day this month (this is an intentional cut, and I won;t bore you with the deets)
2. Hit fiber and protein macros every day this month (at least 75 grams protein; 30 grams fiber)
3. Yoga every day again!
4. Get new medium weights (I have 8-- need to go up to 10, but maybe not quite ready for 12)

Celebrations

1. Take Jack out for an 18th bday dinner
2. Super fun Easter weekend
3. Plan graduation but like for realz
4. WORK ON THOSE STOCKING STUFFERS for myself. I think I haven't pulled the trigger because my birthday and mother's day is next month, and I have given all my good ideas away. Def want a mini Hydroflask and will get one for my stocking if I don't get one for Mother's Day.

March: What I Read

 I am wrapping up the first quarter with FIFTY BOOKS, which feels like a ton for me, and I wonder if I can keep up thus pace the rest of the year. What has changed? The way I track, actually. I look at books read each week, and this is super motivating to me-- who knew?! Previous years have seen me track only at the monthly level, and I would read a lot in the first and last week but slump a bit in the middle.

Here are my March reads from worst to best:

📕What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena: Literally do not even remember what this book is about.

📕🎉Wildwood by Amy Pease: A forgettable thriller.

🎧 The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins: Another forgettable thriller.

📕🎉Served Him Right by Lisa Unger: The best in this month's string of meh thrillers.

📕First Time Caller by B.K. Barison: Cute romance. Nothing special, though.

📕🎉Get Over It, April Evans by Ashley Herring Blake: Cute!

📕Dream on, Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake: I liked this one better than book 2.

🎧 Awake by Jen Hatmaker: This is a really great audiobook because Hatmaker reads it, and she is so charming.

🎧 🎉Judge Stone by Viola Davis and James Patterson: A predictable but also wildly entertaining courtroom dramZ. Davis reads the audiobook!

📕Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt: Minnie and I have been reading this middle grade book for MONTHS and finally finished-- adored it.

📕Too Old for This by Samantha Downing: This was a gory delight.

📱Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein: THIS IS SO GOOD YOU GUYS. Sister dramZ.

📱These Impossible Things by Salma El-Wardany: I loved this story of three best friends and their families.

📕🎉A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James: Totally terrifying.

📱🎉All the Little Houses by Mae Cobb: SO ENTERTAINING. Gobbled it up. Literature? Well, erm, no.

🎧 🎉Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer: Now that I am done with the book, I am going to catch up on the controversy. It was kind of boring, and he made her sound kind of nuts, so I wonder if either of these facts are part of the dispute? Will report back.

📱🎉The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez: LOVED IT. A companion to Say You'll Remember Me.

🎧 🎉Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney: This is delightful--sad, smart, funny-- the total package.

5 on a Friday: Fun things we crammed around work this week

 1. Hosting ALL OF THE CHILDREN. Well, all of the middle schoolers. WHY NOT, you know? Kid math is often wild. Dorothy had friends over and took a friend on a random adventure with me and Minnie, and Coop had a bunch of bruhs who showed up with duffel bags full of Nerf guns and ammo-- very fun.

2. And! The flip side is SENDING THE CHILDREN OFF WITH THEIR FRIENDS! Dorothy went shopping with a bestie, and Cooper spent 2 whole days with friends wandering around a neighborhood close to shops and restaurants.

3. THE LIBRARY. TWICE. And! We took a bunch of Minnie's learn-to-read books to her old preschool and stocked its Little Free Library.

Enjoying her library spoils

4. Lots of running. I ran a 5K every morning and also got a fabulous new headband that really keeps my hair out of my face (and the best yoga pants ever).

5. Mini golf one afternoon and FIVE parks in one day another (only 4 pictured-- the 4 we WALKED to (about 2 miles in all-- go Minnie!) and yes, Jack picked us up from the last one but only because I had to drive Cooper to diving-- no spring break for that. We hit up park 5 right before dinner).

(I read a whole book at all these parks!)

Mini golf (not my fave but Minnie had fun, and this place has 3 different courses, so Minnie and I could play and be totally separate from Dorothy and her friend)

WE MADE IT YOU GUYS.