Anne, again

 I have had the most lovely first quarter listening to all of the Anne books on Audible. I always knew that Anne's House of Dreams was just killer sad (the baby who dies! the death of sweet old Captain Jim! the move away from the little house on the shore!), but I forgot how devastating and wonderful Rilla of Ingleside is. And how absolutely TERRIFYING to look back on a WWI novel as the US picks a foreign war that is already having worldwide consequences.

Then.

I stuck my toe into the waters of LM Montgomery scholarship and WOW. I listened to Montgomery scholar and University of Prince Edward Island professor Kate Scarth's Great Courses lectures The Life and Works of L.M. Montgomery and The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables by Catherine Reid on Audible, and I found out that there's a posthumously published 9th book, The Blythes Are Quoted (published in the abridged form as The Road to Yesterday). Cannot even WAIT to dive into these. There's also a journal for Montgomery scholarship that looks so interesting, and I really want to read her memoir and journals.

A few years ago, I reread the Anne series and ranked the books like this:

1. Anne’s House of Dreams

2. Anne of Green Gables

3. Anne of Ingleside

4. Anne of Avonlea

5. Anne of Windy Poplars

6. Rilla of Ingleside

7. Anne of the Island

8. Rainbow Valley

After listening to them, I have revised my ranking:

1. Anne of Green Gables

2. Rilla of Ingleside

3. Anne's House of Dreams

4. Anne of Ingleside

5. Anne of the Island

6. Rainbow Valley

7. Anne of Avonlea

8. Anne of Windy Poplars

I loved reading about Anne and her friends setting up housekeeping, and I found myself just fascinated by the idea of making house the whole series through. I think I will dive into some hardcore Montgomery research and then revisit these texts again and see how my rankings hold up.

Anne influenced my ideas of wifehood and motherhood so much (and I really didn't realize how much until I listened to the whole series.) Thinking about LM Montgomery's real life and Anne's life together is so sad, you guys, and so intriguing. I am going to think more about all of this and write something more coherent. For now, let me just say that the existence of this scholarship is so exciting.

Also, I have been carried away, Anne-like, by the beauty of the morning just about every morning I am out running. Look at this pastel dawn with a full (I think) moon

Also! Apropos of nothing, THESE ICE CREAM BARS. YOU GUYS. 

What are your thoughts on the Anne books? What's YOUR definitive ranking?

5 on a Friday

 1. A hack from Instagram that is going to revolutionize my dance mom life: type up your kid's schedule and screen-shot it and then make the screenshot your phone's lock screen. SO SMART. I am debuting this hack at Dorothy's dance team dress rehearsal this weekend.

2. A pure junk Costco run (some of the junk is for Jack's speech team- a donation to the concession stand for their home tourney this weekend).

Also, YOU GUYS. The Tru Fru frozen chocolate covered strawberries are SO SO SO SO good. We are on our 15th bag.

3. The CUTEST morning spent at the kindergarten book fair, where Minnie helped me out with my 2.5-hour volunteer shift and very seriously merchandised the tables. Then she read some of her new haul and tagged along to her conference. (I was SO BAD at the registers you guys. It has been a hot second since any sort of job I am performing has required any practical skills.)

4. A lighter coat! Shoes that aren't Uggs! Things are looking up here in the tundra.

5. The park across the street from the kids' middle school! Is not covered in snow OR mud right now, and Minnie can play there for a few minutes while we wait for kids-- it as been a long winter, and these little lamb days of March are wonderful.

BTW, I am so happy my algo is feeding me dance mom content right now because this is usually what I see 24/7-- health scare headlines **yikes face**

March Ins an Outs and February Goal Post Mortem

 

I mean, as long as there's snow on the ground, Uggs are probably going to be a person in, but a girl can dream, right??

March Goals:

 Finish watching Oscar movies! (I have 2 best pictures and 2 best actress flicks to go)

Query blog designers and research DIY options

Watch the Oscars with the fam and do a betting pool of some kind

Celebrate Dorothy!! And buy her some gifts!

Celebrate Ben!!

Visit Harry at UWEC

Shop for Easter

Plan Jack's bday

Decide where and when we are hosting Jack's grad party

Consider my writing process and outline it; see where it might fit into my life

Buy new lamps for the kitchen/living room

Do yoga every day this month

Run at least 2 practice 8K's (slightly longer than my usual morning runs, though I have worked up to at least 3 miles)

Be a better blog friend and leave comments for 10 minutes every day (I've been doing lots of reading w/o commenting)

Notice when I rest before all my work is done, something The Lazy Genius was talking about this week and that I want to do more often (I usually do it NEVER right now, so anything is more often than that)

February Goal Check-in:

✅Schedule at least one fun thing every week.

✅Get my hair trimmed, and get Dorothy and Minnie's hair trimmed, too. 

✅Finish prepping CA260 for the semester. 

🟡See all of the Best Picture Oscar movies, plus the Kate Hudson and Rose Byrne movies so I can see everything in all the major categories before the Oscars. 

❌Buy Dorothy's bday presents

❌Start buying Easter basket stuff. 

✅Make sure every kid hosts at least one hang at our house.  (Technically Jack did not but he tried-- everyone is so busy and they do stuff other places)

✅Sign up for Crazylegs and start an 8K training plan. 

✅Buy pillows before they are gone from Costco's seasonal offerings!! 

❌Decide when and where we are celebrating Jack's high school graduation

I have moved all of the x's and the Oscar movies to March-- gotta lock in!

Week 4 FIGs

 Listen, I am really happy that I don't have endometrial cancer because I was really really really worried. And! You would think that would make me just, like, insanely grateful for every single thing. And it did! And I am! But also. The news of the world. Woof. It's hard to just, like, stumble through my days.

Still. Some things:

Waking up to watch Kid's Baking Championship in bed

Starbs runs

My kindergarten dolly with her dolly all packed up for a day of play (a treat her class earned for excellent behavior)

Morning runs

Afternoon scooter rides

Cozy clothes to give and exam

Weather to match the Santa we forgot about

February: What I Read

Fourteen pretty good reads this month, you guys, listed from least favorite to the BOOK! OF! THE! MOOOOOOONTH!!!

 📱The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: Love NG's book club and all the work she does to make our discussions happen. Hated this book. And! I am GLAD that I have a big bare sport where my knowledge of writers from this time should be because I do not like.

📗Other People's Fun by Harriet Lane: Liked but did not love this weird, spare little book. Lovely flawed characters, but it did not engage me fully. I would have DNF'd but it was very slim, so I stuck it out.

🥳📱Her Beautiful Life by Brianna Labuskes: This trad wife influencer thriller was an Amazon first read, and I loved the plot and only sort of liked the execution.

📗The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Study on Happiness by Marc Shultz and Robert Waldniger: I had no idea that Harvard has been running a happiness study for decades (generations, even), and this book was totally fascinating.

📗 The Intruder by Freida McFadden: SO FUN YOU GUYS-- her twists are so silly. Also I say so fun, but it was actually a really harrowing story, so...

📗I'm That Girl: Living the Power of my Dreams by Jordan Stiles: This was a Lisa pick and a perfect one to read during Olympics month.

🎧The Widow by John Grisham: I was just sucked all the way in and hated the ending a bit but was still wildly entertained. I haven't gone down the Grisham road in decades, and this was fun.

📗I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue: I LOVED THIS-- very sweet and funny. I knew from Enige and Nicole's bad reviews that this one would land for me.

📗The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke: I tore through this Lisa pick and SOBBED. Then Cooper (who is toying with wanting to be a pediatric cardiologist) tore through it right after me-- so good!

🎧The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Harnett: Oh boy did I love this book! So funny and sweet-- I definitely cried at the end.

🎧The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Motley: THIS BOOK! Was beautiful and heartbreaking and triumphant-- loved it.

🥳📗 The Storm by Rachel Hawkins: I got this from the library the same week it came out. MAJOR OLD LADY COUPE. It started slow, but then I loved it, like I love all of her books.

🥳📱 Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden: If you loved Serial Mom (my fave 90s movie), then you will also love this.

🥳📱This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman: LOVED this one-- character driven, everyone is flawed, funny and also touching-- all the boxes I need to have checked. 

I wanted to read 20, and I only actually read 14. But still! Some really good ones, and, thank to setting a goal of reading a book a week on my Kindle, I am actually DOING IT!! Yay!

5 on a Friday: What's Saving My Life Right Now After a Stresful Health Week

YOU GUYS. I have been waiting on biposy results all week and freaking OUT under the surface. ALL IS WELL, though, and I am SO GRATEFUL,  I didn't tell the kids (obvi), and I have been trying to be col, but you all know THAT IS NOT MY STRONG SUIT. So. Anyway. A few things that help lately:

 1. This lavender balm for my cuticles and hands. My mom buys me this stuff, and I love it. It smells amazing, and I try to remember to put it on several times day-- sitting in the car waiting for kids, before class when I'm in my office, at night when I am watching TV. I keep tins everywhere.

2. Tiny schedule tweaks to make life easier. Sometimes these are things I am subbing in: takeout on Tuesday nights, for example. Door dashing food to Dorothy at dance on Mondays. Sometimes, these are things I am adding like 15 minutes mentally blocked off to set up my work bag or morning running gear. I have also added a ittle spot to my daily planner page for sketching out the next morning in minute detail so I know when I need to wake up, what order I need to exercise in, if I have time to have coffee first, etc. I am OK with a variety of ways to schedule my early morning routine, as long as I wake up with a plan-- otherwise I will just bed rot. In other instances, these tiny tweaks are things I am subtracting. This week, I decided I would not do couch to 10K because I am supposed to run for 67 minutes, and I don't know if I have time because Ben is in GA with Cooper for a dive meet W-S. So! 30-minute runs it is. 

3. The entire Anne collection on Audible. I finally had the courage to listen to Rainbow Valley and Rilla, even though I know WWI is coming, and, as a mom of war-aged boys, current foreign policy news is so terrifying. Listening while I grade is **chef's kiss**

4.  Pre-ordering the books I want to read. It is such a delight when I finish a Kindle read and see another brand new book in my library. And! Since my memory these days is hazy at best, I often don't remember when these new books are set to appear, so it very much feels like a gift to me from me.

5. Date nights. I have been scheduling fun into every week (lol lol lol scheduling fun), and a date night is SO EASY when we live with 2 (soon to be 3!!!) teens. All I have to do is open up Open Table and click. (Yes, I have gained 7 pounds and outgrown my Target junior barrel jeans-- why do you ask?) (Booked one as I was writing this post, in fact, to celebrate Ben's birthday a few days early because Dorothy is hosting a party at our house for her 13th on his actual birthday-- is there any better way to ring in 47 than with eight 13 y/o girls screaming in your basement? No way.)

Life Lately

 Are you even a parent if you don't stop for donuts on your way home from a date night?

This was a spicy charred poblano marg, and it was PERFECT

Ladies who lunch!

Fresh cuts!

Minnie did some home renovation projects

And leveled up at gymnastics

That's all I have today, guys. This semester! It is (already) feeling looooooong, and we are balanced on the precipice of our very busiest season, so if you need me, I will be in my office buried under thousands of pages.