It's Alive!

Photo credit: crazy-frankenstein.com

Helloooo there! Yes, I am alive, despite my overly-long absence of six months. I apologize to the few hangers-on that are still here. But what can I say? Life just got in the way, and each time I thought to come back and update here, some kind of shiny object popped up in front of me and I quickly forgot.

To update you, I still have Job #1 and #2, with the addition of Job #3, still doing #1 but renting a room from an established MT closer to my house. It's going okay, but it's not what I thought it would be, and it's not going to change (the issue is with the owner - nothing hairy, but we just have very different ideas as to how an MT business should be run) so I'm on the lookout for another room to rent in the same area. I have to say, doing this just a few miles from my house has made my life a heck of a lot easier and I look forward to going to work again. There are still one to three days a week that I'm back at my old place, and that's just fine, but my concentration is on my new business. Please cross your fingers that I'll find somewhere else nearby to rent before the snow flies!

In book news, I'm clipping right along. As of this morning I've read 117 books, which is probably the most I've read in one year in my adult life. This is mostly due to the fact that I am not working a ton, and it's also due to my love of audio books. Each time I drive I've got a book playing, it's hardly ever music. That alone ups me at least 2 books a month. The realization that not every book I read will be The Book I Adore also helps. Every time I picked up a new title, I'd think "Okay, here we go, new favorite book", and really? That never happens, especially when you're hoping that it will. Instead, I've given myself permission to skim-read if something isn't really grabbing me. It may sound trivial, but it's helped for sure.

My new reading goal for the year is to complete my LibraryThing 11-11 Challenge before next week Saturday (only 4 more books to go, shouldn't be much of a problem) so that I can read guilt-free for both Dewey's Read-a-Thon next weekend and for the rest of the year. There are a lot of books that I've owned for years and that while I'd still like to read them I know I'm not going to want to keep them. I'm hoping to get through a fair chunk of them before 2012 starts.

Otherwise, to quote Peter Gabriel, "same as it ever was". I'm still working on de-papering my house (an on-going battle to be sure) and letting things go. My sentimental soul wants to keep everything in some kind of a preserved "Laura Museum" which is ridiculous and doesn't let me fully live my life, so culling what goes and what stays has become a new priority. Parents are good, the cats are doing well (and are, unbelievably, 8 years old) and things just keep on rolling here in Wisconsin. I'll do my best to keep up with Ye Olde Blog in the future, and you can certainly expect a flurry of posts next weekend.

Take care until next time!