Found some old photos

Posted: January 8, 2010 by Cop's Wife in holidays & celebrations, peanut
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Here’s a few pictures I stumbled upon when moving over a bunch of stuff from my old, dying desktop computer.

(Prepare yourselves for LOTS of random older photos for a while.)

These are from Christmas 2004. Bubba was growing in my belly. And I cannot believe how little Peanut was here. She was 5. Not yet in school. Still an only child. And it looks like she received a new hat for Christmas.

Look at her sheepish grin. She was by far my easiest baby. Maybe it had to do with being the first and only for so long.

And also a little surprising is that I received this book 5 years ago for Christmas.

And I JUST chose it for our book club pic. 5 years. I have a problem.

What I’m Reading - January 7, 2010

Posted: January 7, 2010 by Cop's Wife in books
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I’d heard a story on NPR about this book a couple of months ago. It was intriguing enough for me to look it up and put it on hold at the library. I was not the only one to do that of course so I was pretty far down the list. It finally showed up for me last week.

It takes place in the indeterminate future. The country is divided into 12 districts with a Big Brother like feel to the authorities and central government. It centers on Katniss, a girl in her early teens that is forced to take care of her mother and sister after her father is killed in a mining accident. She learns to hunt and trade and scavenge. Then the reaping arrives. Each year the districts draw the name of one boy and one girl to participate in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death. The winner is the last child alive in the arena and gets prizes for life. A house, money, fame, etc. The children unfortunate enough to be chosen are called tributes. Katniss and a boy named Peeta become the tributes from District 12.

The bulk of the book is about the Games. It is a very quick read, well written, interesting, intriguing. It did remind me of the Grounding of Group Six (which I’m getting ready to reread) in the sense that it involves children in very dire circumstances.

I really enjoyed this book. Read it in about 2 days with a bunch of previous commitments in my way. I don’t recommend this for very young readers. The death and general depressive tones of the book may be a little much.
But I did enjoy it and have placed the second one on hold at the library. Can’t wait to get to the top of the list. And I just read that the third one will be out this summer.

As for books from the library, not too many changes:
Shelf discovery : teen classics we never stopped reading Skurnick, Lizzie
Summer of my German soldier Greene, Bette
The secret garden Burnett, Frances Hodgson
Harriet, the spy Fitzhugh, Louise
The grounding of Group 6 Thompson, Julian F
Janet Evanovich’s how I write : secrets of a bestselling author Evanovich, Janet.
A single eye Dunlap, Susan
The lost city of Z : a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon Grann, David.
The girl who played with fire Larsson, Stieg
Hollywood Station : a novel Wambaugh, Joseph.
Guilty pleasures Hamilton, Laurell K.

2009 in hindsight

Posted: January 6, 2010 by Cop's Wife in cop's wife, deep thoughts
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My intentions from last year are here.
How did I do, you ask? Eh.
I did not take very many yoga classes. I did get to take 2 workshops that were amazing, Max Strom and Kim Schwartz. I really enjoyed them a lot.
I did not use my gym membership very much at all, though at the very last minute started to pull this one off as I am not training for a 5k. I was averaging every other day, though I’ve taken a week off to rest my knee.
I did see 7 movies: Gran Turino, Angels & Demons, The Hangover, New Moon, Enlighten Up, The Proposal, and The Princess and the Frog.
I did keep up well with book club. It was down to the wire a time or two and there were a couple that I had previously read, but I still made it. We read Twilight, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Buddha, Water for Elephants, The Thirteenth Tale, Eat, Pray, Love, Wicked, The Khaarijee, The Historian, This is Where I Leave You, Bloodsucking Fiends, and Holidays on Ice. Several of these spawned other reads if there were more in the series or written by the same author, or along the same subject matter.
Bubba’s potty training, hmmmm. I’m calling it a success. He still has accidents, but they are rare. He still sleeps in a pull up, but mostly because his bed is sort of a loft and a pain to change the sheets.
Start Slim on his training – maybe if I get him going early he’ll be trained before kindergarten.
De-cluttering - that would have to be a fail. Though I’ve sorted through some toys and clothes, we’ve also taken in more toys and clothes so this may just be something that I constantly strive for, yet never achieve.
The basement is still a mess. And so is the garage, though we can fit two vehicles in it now. Thankfully one of ours is a little Saturn or it wouldn’t fit in at all.
Didn’t do much with my photography this year. I did buy a nice little prime lens, but haven’t truly played with it just yet.
I did get out more often, but not enough:
Once a month for book club (and usually CPA and I met up for dinner or a yoga class beforehand, and some of the other ladies joined us on occasion)
those workshops I spoke of
a few happy hours with my Scout moms
took a little day trip to Columbia, MO with Bubba to meet my mom and uncle
went to Tablerock Lake for Labor Day weekend
saw Phantom of the Opera, Wicked (twice), Cirque Dreams, The Color Purple, Into the Woods, Maul of the Dead, and A Christmas Story
went to the Glore Psychiatric Museum with my mom (pretty depressing place)
saw Chris Isaak and Wilco in concert
went to St Louis over the Fourth of July weekend and did LOTS of things, including meeting up with my 3 best friends from childhood
took my Scouts rappelling, traverse wall climbing, zip-lining, letterboxing, geocaching, and camping for a total of three nights.

Here’s hoping I will be as successful (if not more so) with this year’s list of intentions.

Reading Challenge - Clear your shelves

Posted: January 5, 2010 by Cop's Wife in books
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New year, new beginnings.

One of my intentions this year is to read more and another is to declutter. And still another is to decrease spending. I’m combining them and starting a reading challenge.

All it consists of is reading books your already own. There are no maximums. Feel free to read all 329 books you have. (Or is that just me?) Or just read 1. The point is to get those sadly neglected books read and then pass them on. Consider bookcrossing. Or feel free to swap around. I’m really am trying to decrease my spending and one way is to cut down on book buying. I have way too many books already that I haven’t read. And I’m really pretty good about using the library, but there is something so enjoyable to me about walking around a bookstore and discovering a stack of treasures to purchase.

So feel free to sign up in the comments section. Maybe listing how many you’d like to read or what book you’ll be starting with. Then come back and post links to your blog posts about them or if not blogging, then just what you read and what you thought about it.

Who knows, maybe I’ll come up with an actual prize!

New Year Intentions

Posted: January 4, 2010 by Cop's Wife in cop's wife, deep thoughts
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Even though I’ve only taken a few days off from blogging, I feel so far behind. But really since I’ve posted everyday in November and December, 3 days off shouldn’t make me feel guilty.

I intended on doing my list of intentions for the new year. I intended to get them done on 1/1, but instead I didn’t. Now I’m following on the coattails of Goldilocks and Cue the Banjo. Sorry, ladies.

I call my list intentions as I am not going to beat myself up if some of them don’t happen. There are some big things and some little things. They are things I’d like to do/accomplish this year. Not all necessarily things that I must start or stop doing on Day One.

The List:

1. Run 3 5ks - I am already registered for the Groundhog Run on 1/31 with Peanut though my knee may have something else to say about it.
2. Use my Maya Yoga and New Day Yoga passes (CPA - we need to get on this)
3. Take at least 2 yoga classes a month (not just teach)
4. Stop drinking soda at home and increase the amount of water I drink.
5. Go to the gym 3 days a week (or workout at home with Wii Active or a DVD)
6. Get down to 1 credit card with a manageable balance (this may be a pipe dream)
7. Say yes to my kids more on things that don’t really matter (Example - instead of automatically saying no when they ask to blow bubbles in the house, I could stick them in the tub and let them have at it.)
8. Say no more. (If there is something I really don’t want to do, I should say no instead of feeling obligated to say yes and then complaining about it until it’s over.)
9. Read 20 books that I currently own and then bookcross them.
10. Diversify my reading a little more - classics, biographies, recommendations, international authors, etc.
11. Try to limit my book purchases to 12 or less.
12. Stop snacking/eating after 8
13. Family game night 1/month
14. Start a book club with Peanut
15. Make sure I’m taking advantage of my memberships: the zoo, Paradise Park, 24 hour Fitness - as well as other free attractions like Deanna Rose and the Nelson-Atkins.
16. Take a trip. Maybe just a little one. Maybe with a girlfriend. Maybe alone. Maybe to DC. Maybe to a yoga retreat in Colorado. Maybe to meet some new friends. Maybe to a blogging convention.
17. Get better about reloaning my money on Kiva. LOVE Kiva.
18. Declutter - get rid of at least one bag or box of items each month. More if I can swing it. I’d love to lead a minimalist life but I am beginning to accept that is not who I am. Or my kids. Or the Detective. But I can decrease the sheer volume of clothes and toys and stuff we have in this house.
19. Go see 6 movies in the theater. I did this one last year and barely squeaked by.
20. Try to be more patient and less critical. I’ve been working on this one for a while. Baby steps. I’ve mostly been a glass half empty kind of gal, but am trying to be a glass half full.
21. Meet Runningredsoxgal and Cue the Banjo. In person.
22. Decrease impulse purchases. I am REALLY bad about buying things without thinking it through all the way. I need to decrease spending overall, but impulse purchases are a great place to start.
23. Write one actual handwritten letter a month.
24. Hopefully build my blog up a bit. The 4 of you that actually read it might want a little more company.
25. Be better. Just all around.

I’m sure all 25 won’t get done right away, but by having the list to work on throughout the year, I’m hoping to accomplish as many as I can.

Do you have intentions? Opinions on mine? Suggestions? Advice? Let me know.

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