I Am...

Still trying to recover from a bad cold that hit me hard and fast last week. I've not been this sick in quite some time and am still lacking energy. Curt has said if I'm not better soon I have to go the doctor-- not my favorite thing to do. I had big plans of posting more last week, but that fell by the wayside as I struggled to get through every day. Curt was gone and so I was a sick single parent, and my middle schooler had two away games last week too. And by away, I mean one was an hour away. No fun. But we made it through and for that I am grateful. Last week was one of those weeks I was just glad to see end.

Planning a read-a-thon this month. Inspired by a book I read last year and still think of quite often-- Tolstoy and the Purple Chair-- I am aiming to read a book every two days. (The author of Tolstoy and the Purple Chair read a book a day for a year, but I'm not that ambitious.) I am already on track to meet my reading goal for this year and I know that reading like this will probably put me over my hoped-for number for 2012. That makes me happy. And nerdy.

Making wreaths. I will post pics this week and links in case you'd like to make wreaths too. This is one of those examples of, "if I can do it, any bozo can." My wreaths are far from perfect, but they're cute and they make me happy. I like making little projects that I can see around the house and think "Hey, I made that." I'm not the craftiest person in the world, so this has been a new venture for me, this wreath-making.

Reading Ann Hood. What a wonderful author. I got to hear her speak at the Charlotte Writers Club a few weeks ago and was so profoundly impacted by what she shared about writing. I bought all her books then and there and have been working my way through them (a la the read-a-thon), marveling over her talent. Her memoir of losing her daughter, Comfort, will stay with me for a long time. It's raw and honest and has made me treasure what I've been given that much more.

Editing my novel that comes out in May. I'm doing line edits, which are (in theory) easier than substantive edits. But this one has been more tedious than I expected. I think part of the problem has been I'm foggy-headed from this cold. I will be glad to finish that project this week and press send.

Processing the reality that we're going to have to give away our incredible jumping dog. We'd worked through the fact that he can clear most any fence in a single bound, and we'd learned to watch him at all times if he was in the yard. But a few weeks ago he discovered something we didn't know: our neighbor two doors down got chickens. He promptly went over there and killed one and-- if another neighbor hadn't stopped him-- would've killed more. He is now a prisoner in his own house because he can't be outside unless on a leash. This is no life for a big dog who stares longingly out the window and paces a lot, twitching to get back outside. We've tried a lead (he tangled himself up hopelessly in it and tried to dig the auger out) and talked to a rescue society and his vet who assured us that, even if we put in an electric fence, he would take the shock to get to those chickens. So we're trying to find a good home for him, but it's hard to make a fence-jumping, chicken-eating mixed breed dog sound appealing. If you live near Charlotte NC and have some land and would love an otherwise perfect dog, let me know. In the meantime, we've promised our kids we will get another dog. I'm thinking this time we need a small dog-- one that couldn't jump a fence if her life depended on it.

So that's all for me. Come to think of it, that's a lot.