Sunday, December 6, 2009

Sunday Salon: Holiday Harrassment

Happy Sunday, my friends! I decided I'd better write my musings on Saturday and pre-schedule this post, as tonight is my husband's company holiday party. I'm not sure how perky I will be tomorrow morning, after a full evening of drinking wine, eating fattening food and talking until I am hoarse. I really don't know when to call it quits, and my husband usually resorts to dragging me out kicking and screaming. Hey! I am a stay-at-home mom, and I live for these things!

The kids were back to school this Monday, so I was ready to hit the ground running, getting my schedule back to normal. Unfortunately, most of the running involved shopping, not official exercising, so I didn't come anywhere near the number of miles I needed to walk off all that food I ate last week. On the bright side, all of my holiday shopping has been completed. Maybe next week I can hit 20 miles! As it stands, I have walked 130 miles so far in my 100 Mile Fitness Challenge. I would really love to hit 200, but I'm going to have to stay focused!

I've been having a ball reading all of my Shelf Discovery Challenge books. I've knocked out seven of the ten so far, the most recent being Wifey by Judy Blume. Holy moly people! I believe Blume picks her target audience, and then does her best to push them riiiiiight to the very edge. I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard, or read that much smut! I also read The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson, based on a whole load of glowing reviews. Such an amazing book, really. Look for that review in early January. I continue to listen to The Given Day on audio, and should finish it next week. The kids and I are also listening to Catching Fire on audio in the car, and we are all spellbound. (So much that my daughter is up in her room listening to The Hunger Games on audio AGAIN.)

I finally did a tally on the number of books read this year. Based on what I expect to post for the next few weeks, it appears I will have reviewed 113 books. There are a few more that I read, but just don't have room to post the reviews, so they will go in next year's count and I'll call it a day!

I've signed up for a few reading challenges for 2010 this week. I'm starting on my post for next Saturday with some more. I'm still waiting for some kind soul to sponsor a Graphic Novel Challenge. I've got my list ready. When I was browsing through the Novel Challenges website, I noticed one that I thought was entirely clever. It is the We Didn't Start the Fire Challenge. You know the Billy Joel song, where he rattles off like two million historical and pop culture references? So you just have to read about some of the things he sings about in the song. I really don't know if I can take another challenge, but this one is almost too cute to pass up.

Next week is going to be a big pile of insanity. Just to help you appreciate all the fun, I'm looking at track and football practice, band concert, a school event at Barnes & Noble, book club (we read The Hunger Games...hopefully we get a better turnout this month), field trip to Epcot, the middle school Winter Ball, track meet and football game. So if you notice that I'm not socializing as much as normal next week, please don't take it personally. Serenity now.

Hope you all have wonderful, calm Sundays. See you around next week!

21 comments:

Ana S. said...

I'm nowhere neat done with my holiday shopping :S All the presents that had to be mailed are on their own, but I haven't even started shipping for my family and local friends. Aaaaaah!

I hope you had a great time at the party :D

ds said...

How do you do this, Madwoman??? I am exhausted just reading about all of the things you cram into a week. Have a wonderful, wonderful time at the party--hope the wine is delicious and the company (sorry) enjoyable!

caite said...

oh, I want a field trip to Epcot! May I come along...please??

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

You are done with your holiday shopping? Oh - jealous! :) I wish I was and I just have not really been in the mood. :)

Hope you had fun at the party - our big one is next Friday.

Kathleen said...

You are already done with your holiday shopping???? I am so jealous. I am just starting mine and also still need to decorate my house! I am way behind with everything this year but will take a deep breath now! And your reading total is fantastic! You are superwoman! Hope you had a fantastic time at the hubby's office party! Happy Sunday!

bermudaonion said...

I'm sitting here wondering how it got to be Sunday again already. I hope you had a blast last night. It would be so cool to go on a field trip to Epcot!

Lisa said...

You have track practices in December? I used to be a "stay-at-home-mom." What a joke that term is!

rhapsodyinbooks said...

Your upcoming week really does sound insane, but lots of fun too! We'll look forward to hearing any reports you care to give!

Gavin said...

I'm making Holiday treats today..I hope you had a great time at the party!

Alyce said...

Congrats on all of the books that you have read this year! You've don a lot of reading!

Have you thought about hosting a graphic novel challenge yourself? I'm sure if you posted one you'd have a lot of interested people since graphic novels are so much fun to read.

Melody said...

I haven't done all the shopping yet!!! And wow, you read a lot of books! I wish I could read half as many books as you!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Sandy--130 miles is fantastic! And if you can hit 200 that would be outstanding. My mom has about as many miles as you and we were trying to figure out if she can get to 200 this afternoon. If you think about it in terms of hours, it would basically be 17.5 hours of working out for the rest of the month. When you put it in those numbers doesn't it sound more manageable?

Good luck! :)

Ti said...

I'm heading into an insane week as well and although a lot of it is fun stuff, I sure wish I could spread it out a bit instead of cramming it all into one week!

Anonymous said...

So, how were you feeling yesterday after your feasting? ;)

Alice said...

I've not even started on my holiday shopping. Arrgggghhh... You're a superwoman. I think come nearer to holidays, I'd be MIA-ing.

Literary Feline said...

How fun-a Christmas party! I hope the office part was fun. I'm taking my staff out to lunch next week--that's the closest we come to having holiday parties. We do a Secret Santa gift exchange though, which is always fun.

I managed to get all my holiday shopping complete too. Well, most of it. There's still a couple of things I'd like to get for my husband, but then I'll be all done.

You've done a great job with the Fitness Challenge, Sandy! You still have time to put in those last 70 miles. Just keep at it! :-)

Sounds like your reading has been good lately--and all year really! I'll be lucky if I get to 60 books read this year. It just hasn't been my year for reading, I'm afraid. I've still got the average American beat though, so I can't complain.

I hope you are enjoying your week, Sandy.

Unknown said...

Great job finishing your holiday shopping! Your schedule sounds a little hectic this week! I hope you can find some time to rest and rewad!

Darlene said...

I can't believe you're all done your shopping. You are one busy lady. I get exhausted reading about all you manage to accomplish. Hope you had a blast at the party!

Unknown said...

The Hunger Games is an awesome book, and Catching fire is a worthy sequel. I can't wait for the third one which comes out on August 24th 2010

-Eric
http://themockingjay.vndv.com

Jenners said...

I hear you about the "as a stay-at-home mom I live for this stuff." Cracked me up.

Matt said...

I have been posting my Monday Musings post on Sunday because I am lazy and at times I don't have anything in particular to post on Sunday. I enjoy the flexibility that I can pre-schedule posts, which I do more often when I'm traveling.

The near-freezing temperature here suddenly increases the holiday spirit so much. My friend who came into town for a meeting said he saw these snow-capped mountains when the plane approached San Francisco airport and asked himself "where is he?" I need to start writing Christmas cards and send them out--it's a ritual because I don't send generic ones. :)