March Goal Update

 March seemed long, why was March so long? Well that's good for running miles and reading books, could have knit, but I don't feel like it. I tell you it is feast or famine with the knitting..... 

Alex has been lucky enough to be going to school in person five days a week for awhile now. Daryl goes back full time tomorrow. He is struggling with this idea. I asked him why he is having so many feelings about this. I wanted to know if he doesn't like his teachers, if kids are being mean or if something about the school is weird for him. The answer is none of that, he would just rather only go to school for 4 hours a day, it just works better for him. Well son, I also would just like to work for four hours a day but get credit for 8+ hours. That's not how it works. So keep Daryl in your thoughts in April, he i going to Middle School full time for the first time. It is upsetting. LOL! 

Happy April Everyone! 

Read 20 Books: 6/20  

I finished 2 books this month and am over half way done with another. So that will start April off right! PS-Love when my friends talk about books, it helps me pick my next read!  

Five dysfunctions of a Team by Lencioni

 I like it when I'm assigned reading at work. It makes me read some non fiction (good for me) and I do it pretty quickly because there is a deadline. This is a leadership book and I really like the style it was written in. I will definitely be using this model soon!  

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

This was some great fiction about a complicated relationship. Would you stay with your spouse if they were incarcerated? What if they were innocent and you knew that because you were with them when the crime happened? Could you support them and stay with them while they suffered for something they didn't do? Such a good book, read it if you like messy relationship books, and I do! 

Run 800 miles: 211/800

I ran 79 miles this month! Yay! I have a half marathon coming up in April so had some very nice long runs in March. They are getting difficult but that is expected. What makes me feel better about it is runs over 6 miles used to really freak me out. Now I'm not freaked out until they are over 10 miles. That is progress! I'm not really getting faster in 2021 but I'm also not getting slower, so I'll take it! 

Money Goals: Car loan paid off! Two years early! Now Facebook just shows me ads for new Subaru cars and I need them to stop doing that. My car is solid and I need to remodel my bathroom! 

• Pay Off my Car - Done March
• Replace my Car's Windshield-Done Jan. 
• New Fridge
• Fix Stairs
• Install a shower in hall bathroom and fix my sink in my bathroom
• Add $2,000 to savings 
• Replace some windows

Knit four new things: 1/4

Nope, it's too nice out to knit....

Purl would like to know when I will stop blogging and start petting her. 

Unrelated to goals, Daryl recommends the 2 rib plate
at Hog Wild BBQ. And Daryl doesn't let me take his
picture that often anymore! 

Paid For!

 This week I accomplished one of my money goals for the year. 

I paid off my car! My only debt now is my mortgage. Yay! Now I'm emailing some contractors about my bathroom remodel. That is the next money goal for 2021. They are all booked about 3-4 months out but that is good for me, I can squirrel away more money. 

Today was very productive for a Sunday. I started with a long run with friends on the Landon Trail. I have never run on that trail before and it was blocked from the wind and only muddy in a few spots. Running long distances is so much better with other people! They are running 14 miles next week so I will do 10 on my own, the weather right now is perfect for running. 

Daryl has been watching basketball non stop since Friday. So after lunch we went to Ward Meade park to "blow the stink off of him". :-) I love our parks in Topeka, they are little gems. Alex and I picked up some trash that had blown into the flower beds, so we felt pretty good about ourselves. 

Happy Spring Y'all! 

The Suby is all ours! 

News Flash, Christmas if Over

 I think March 6th is officially the latest I have procrastinated taking the Christmas decorations down. When I asked Daryl to help me get the ladder out of the garage he said they could be Easter lights?! I really like that kid! 

The boys are officially on Spring Break, so we got some new books to read. Isn't that what everyone does? Daryl is pausing on his grown up book selection, because according to him, it was dull. No complaints from me! His school is having a book club starting the end of March and they are discussing Trevor Noah's book "Born A Crime." I read that book last year and loved it so I knew he would too. He is fifty pages in and thinks he will be able to finish it during Spring Break with no problem! 

We are now able to go into the library to look at books for one hour. As long as the number of people looking is under a certain amount. So Alex got a new book too. He finished in Goldfish book on Friday. So they are both right on track with their reading. Yay!! 

This weekend was full with reading, doing some work stuff, running and taking Purl on lots of walks. So far March 2021 is behaving. Let's see how long we can keep that going! 

Lights are down. Will be going back up in 9 months. 

Holding back the rose bush so I can climb the ladder. 
Such a good helper! 

When your Garage door won't stay open you have to use a Daryl.

Alex's book he finished and Daryl's new book! 

February Goal Update

Not a lot of blogging happened in Feb. It was cold, and that was about it. So happy it is starting to warm up and I got an outside run in on Sunday! I was sucking wind, but it was nice to be outside anyway. LOL 

 Read 20 Books: 4/20 

I caught up on this goal reading three books in February. Staying bundled up at home is good for one thing, reading! 

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor this was the second book in the series by Hank Green and the conclusion to the Alien Robots story. Sci Fi is not my thing but these two books were good! A lot of commentary on our world that is driven by our phones and our virtual connections over our physical ones. Even if you don't like Sci Fi if you like a good story with a quick pace, you will like this one! 

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng was the final book I read in Feb. I had an amazing book month. This book was also some excellent fiction and followed a large family with typical family problems that got intertwined with a small family with big secrets. This book was a quick read because you always needed to read just a few more pages to find out what was going to happen. Highly recommend, it would be a great vacation read! Many thanks to Lisa for lending me her copy months ago, I'm sure she was happy I finally got it back to her ;-) 

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans was a book of short stories. I don't usually read short stories but this author changed my mind. Everyone of them was moving, thought provoking and of course left me wanting a novel about all of them. Sometimes I don't have the emotional bandwidth to start a new book, short stories might just be what I need to bridge me from full length novel to full length novel! I checked this one out from the library and I encourage you all to find it and read it. 

Run 800 miles: 132/800

I set a goal of running 64 miles in Feb and I hit it on Sunday (the last day of the month), with my first outdoor run of 2021! I was going to get six and be two miles over my goal but I was so out of breath I pushed myself just to get the 3.7 that I needed! If I'm going to be ready for my half in April I'm going to have to put in more road miles in March. Running outside is just different than the treadmill, mostly I'm just terrible at pacing myself! 

Money Goals: I put my entire tax return on my car loan and with any luck I should pay off the Car this month! 

• Pay Off my Car - Paid an extra $4,011, Balance $549.70
• Replace my Car's Windshield-Done Jan. 
• New Fridge
• Fix Stairs
• Install a shower in hall bathroom and fix my sink in my bathroom
• Add $2,000 to savings 
• Replace some windows

Knit four new things: 1/4

Reading won over knitting this month. There is a new baby in my office family, so I've been looking at baby patterns. I know why everyone wants to knit for babies, they are very quick projects and oh so cute! Especially in pink and purple!! 

Hope you all are on track with your goals. It's early so no worries if you are behind lots of time to strategize and hit them! 

Alex did a project talk for club days last week. He is gaining confidence!

Daryl did a Bob Dole speech for his historical speech.

And just for fun, baby Daryl!

Ninjas!

 With the winter weather and COVID the boys have been going stir crazy. Around Christmas Alex found out (I don't know where) that you could take Parkour classes in Topeka. He bugged me non stop to get the information. So I found some Ninja classes at a local gymnastics studio and he and Daryl both wanted to sign up! 

They have being doing it for a month now and Wednesday nights are now Ninja nights. They get to run, climb, dangle and jump. It is good for them! I asked the gym if I could put them in the same class so I wouldn't have to run them there two different nights a week. They agreed and it has been awesome. Every time I catch them being sweet to each other, when no one is looking they do love each other! Yay! 

Alex was struggling to climb the slanted wall, Daryl noticed immediately and came over. 

He showed Alex where to put his foot to help and gave him a little push! 

Going with mom to the office on the weekend is better now that there is a cat! 

This is progress, Cheese usually runs away from Alex. He was
so surprised! 

Truth about Reading Time at Home

 When I try new things and it works, I don't want anyone to think it was easy. We all know when dealing with other people, a battle of the wills is exhausting. 

Last month I made a reading goal for both Daryl and Alex. Mom is going to read 20 books this year and you are both going to read 12. You would have thought I told them I'm cancelling the WiFi. The whining and complaining was full force. 

I also need to note here that they are both fantastic readers. They have good vocabularies and comprehend very well. I don't understand why they act like our 22 minutes of reading at night is painful but they do EVERY NIGHT. Lindsey can testify to this, they get bent out of shape about it even with the bribe of ice cream or a weekend treat. 

I did say this strategy is working and I believe it is. Daryl read two books in January and Alex read one. They have both started their February books and when reading time is over they have to tell me about what they read. They laugh while they are reading and they get caught up in the stories. But the biggest win was when they were packing up for dad's house on Sunday afternoon, they BOTH took their books with them. Alex said he would probably read once or twice and Daryl said he just couldn't wait a week to read more. 

Now, I have to tell you what rebellion is starting to look like with Daryl. Alex's Feb. book is about mutant goldfish and Daryl's book is "One Vote Away" by Ted Cruz. He bought it on Amazon and he smirks at me every time he pulls it out to read. Really Daryl? 12 years old reading a book by Ted Cruz? I know what you are doing young man! (Note to my dad Daryl, I know you think this is funny from heaven, I know you are just laughing so loud!) 

The book Daryl finished for January. 
I think this was a better pick than his Feb. book...
Ghost by Reynolds 

Alex's January book. He really loved it! 
Me, Mop and the Moondance Kid by Myers