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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Mid-Year Goal Update

I just want to thank everyone for the kind comments on my last post. Thanks for letting me get a little bit personal and spiritual here, and thanks for all the well-wishes on my family's behalf. I am so grateful for your positive support.


goals, goal setting, trees, sky

I know, I know, none of you could possibly care about how I'm doing on my New Year's Resolutions. You probably don't even remember what they are (oh look, here's a friendly link to remind you). Obviously this is all just for my personal benefit, because I always find it useful to give myself some mid-year accountability and motivation to keep up on my goals.

However, I was pretty low-key on the goal setting this year. I anticipated a rough year, so I was trying to be generous with myself and not set the bar too high. At this mid-year reflection point, I actually think I may have set the bar too low. I've already finished nearly every goal I set, so I think I'm going to have set some new goals, because I need something to do for the rest of the year (besides gestate a baby), right?

So here's the update:

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

The Longest Night


I had some grand plans over the weekend to write up my posts in advance for this week. I had several post topics in mind: a Father's Day reflection on masculinity (inspired by a book I read last month), a sweet little tribute to my husband reflecting on our eight years of marriage together (Monday was our anniversary), a half-year update on my New Year's resolutions...

But then this weekend happened, with a Phone Call on Friday night. One of those Phone Calls. The kind you spend your whole life dreading, but never, actually, really believe will happen to you. The kind of Phone Call that turned Friday night into the longest night of my life.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Me and My Body (Part 1 - An Announcement)

Conversations I've had with my husband:

Me: Ugh, I have a headache.
Husband: Go take a pill.
Me: No, it's not that kind of headache.
Husband: What do you mean, it's not that kind of headache? Are there different kinds of headaches?
Me: Yeah. There are dehydration headaches, which mean I just need to drink some water. Then there are sleep deprivation headaches, which mean I need to take a nap. Sometimes there are stress or tension headaches, they usually go away with some stretching and yoga. Then there are headaches when I'm sick, like with a cold. I'll take a pill for those ones. This is a dehydration headache. I just need to drink some more water.
Husband: Well, I just get headaches and they go away with pills.

~~~

Husband: (Grunts and looks uncomfortable.)
Me: What's up?
Husband: I'm not sure. I can't tell if I'm hungry, or if I need to go have a bowel movement.
Me: What? Those are completely different feelings! How can you not tell?
Husband: I don't know! Sometimes they're kind of the same feeling. I mean, it's all down there (gesturing vaguely toward his abdomen).
Me: ??? (Utter disbelief)

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Giveaway! Windstorm Trilogy by Katie Robison

*This Giveaway is closed! A winner has been selected and notified (congratulations, Ann-Marie!). Thanks so much to all of you who participated.*

I mentioned on The Book Blab a few months ago that one of my most anticipated releases for 2016 was a book called Firestorm, the final book in the Windstorm Trilogy written by the incredibly smart and talented (and also my real-life friend) Katie Robison.

Well, yesterday (June 7th) was the big release day, and as part of the festivities Katie asked if I would be willing to be part of the Firestorm release blog tour and host a giveaway of the trilogy here on Such Stuff. Obviously it took me about 0.0 seconds to enthusiastically agree, and so I present, my first ever giveaway!


More details on the giveaway are below, but first, I thought you might like to know a little bit about these books and the awesome author behind them, so I've got a brief mini-review on each book, and then an extra fun little interview with Katie.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Books I Read in May

Well, guys. Let me finish up a Master's degree, and I will dive head first into the pleasure reading! May was an awesome month for reading, what with all the freedom I now have. But yeah, my reading this month skewed heavily toward the lighter, escapist fare. Just what the doctor ordered after finishing up my heavy papers on Shakespeare and Jonson. So, let's begin!

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Not as strong as Goose Girl, which I read last month, but still quite a delightful and fun fantasy/princess story. The setting was a bit different, with some interesting world-building, that I enjoyed, but the characters and story lacked a little bit. I was especially annoyed with Lady Saren's behavior, although I understand she was supposed to be suffering from some sort of depression or PTSD or something, so perhaps I shouldn't have been so annoyed. The ending tied up a little too neatly, but of course that's how I wanted it to end, so I can't complain too much. Just good fun.