Thursday, December 01, 2005

Thursday Thirteen


Thirteen Things about Jessica



1. You all should check out this site. It's the new site for a wonderful author and fabulous person, Lela Nargi. She wrote a book called Knitting Lessons a few years ago. It's a book about women who knit and what knitting means to them. I was one of the women in the book! How cool is that?

2. Her latest book is about food, women and relationships. She's also a travel writer. What's not to love - she writes about travel, knitting and food. My three favorite things after Big D, A Girl and M Girl!

3. I can tell already that I'm going to have trouble getting to thirteen things today. Here's the irony - normally, you can't shut me up. Now that I have a forum to "talk" all I want, I can't think of anything to say.

4. A Girl is back to work already. She had an audition and a voice over job this week and has another audition today. Busy, busy. She's happy because her piano/voice teacher is coming over today to start lessons again. M Girl even wants to take piano from this teacher (even though last year she said she didn't want to - probably because last year she wanted to take guitar). It makes scheduling so easy - the teacher comes over for 1 1/2 hours and teaches both girls piano and A Girl voice. It works well for all of us - especially because there's no driving involved!

5. I'm taking steps to ease my addiction to caffeine! I started drinking half-decaf coffee in the morning. I thought I'd be able to feel the difference but, in all honesty, I don't. I doubt I'll ever give up coffee completely (I really, really like coffee) but this will help me cut down. Unfortunately for our budget, I really, really like Starbucks coffee. Maybe this will help me save a little money too!

6. I haven't been writing lately. My desire to write goes in spurts. Part of the reason I haven't been writing is that I want to spend time with both girls and with my hubby now that we're all together. It's difficult for me to find the time to write. Before, I would stay up late to write but I know that's not healthy. What I should do (and what Big D is trying to help me do) is go to bed earlier but wake up earlier. He's been doing that lately and he gets a lot done before the morning frenzy starts. Just a 1/2 hour might enable me to get something done.

7. I thought about taking another online writing course because it really helped me be more disciplined about my writing. But with the holidays coming up and with everything else going on in our lives, I decided not to do it right now. Besides, I think it would be good for me to practice the things I learned in the last class before I go into another class. I saved all of the lectures and exercises so (if I'm disciplined about it!) I could just do it on my own. Then once I go into another class, I'll have more experience and can maybe stretch myself a bit more.

8. Speaking of discipline, I'm going to Tae Kwon Do tonight. This will be the first week that I take two classes. I'm really looking forward to it in a way that I've never looked forward to exercising. Maybe it's the fact that I really, really want that yellow belt. I almost feel embarrassed to admit that the other thing I like about the class is the discussions about responsibility and discipline. I need a good dose of those things. I'm not irresponsible, I'm just not as responsible as I think I should be. I never really learned those things as a kid - I think my parents just expected us to pick it up by osmosis or something. Big D is great about finding opportunities to teach these things to our kids, though. And he doesn't just give them a new responsibility and expect them to do it - he helps them by giving them ways to think about the task at hand and how to accomplish it. Just one of the many reasons I love that man! My parents (especially my dad) would give us responsibility and then vacate the premises.

9. Gee, it's lunch time. I'm getting hungry. I'll never get to thirteen if I don't get some food!

10. That's better. I had a big plate of carbohydrates (yummy gnocchi) with tomato sauce and I feel much better. Actually, I didn't eat all of it because the serving was enough to feed a family of four (ok, I'm exaggerating, a little). It really is a shame that restaurants give such big portions. I would gladly pay half for a serving half the size and I would get plenty of food. But like a lot of people, if there's food on the plate, I eat it. Even if the portion size is too big to be healthy. Some places do offer 1/2 orders - I just wish more places did. It's hard for me to leave the food on the plate because I feel like I'm wasting food. I could save it for later but some things just aren't good as leftovers.

11. I don't think I've mentioned lately how much I love my iPod. Well, I do. I've realized that I like having a soundtrack for my life! It is rather unsociable, however. It never fails that there's a great song on and I get into the elevator (either at work or home) with someone I know and I have to take it off because it's rude not to have a conversation. I wish I could listen and have a conversation at the same time but that's rude too. And impossible.

12. I think I'd probably be embarrassed if someone filmed me while I walk down the street listening to my iPod. I have a tendency to bop to the beat, sing along (hopefully not out loud, though), bounce my head and other odd tics. In the car I do sing out loud. Very loud at times. Especially to Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer. I know. I'm weird. And old and unhip. But that's ok.

13. Hurray! I'm done. I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving and that you all have a wonderful holiday season.


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. As always, go see Leanne, the founder of Thursday Thirteens for another installment. You can get great Thursday Thirteen codes there. I'm partial to the purple!

2. (leave your link in comments, IÂ’ll add you here when I can!)



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4 comments:

landismom said...

You know what I love even more than my iPod? My transPod! Now I can sing along in my car to all my favorite songs. It's embarassing for my kids, which is great. Plus, when I have to spend six #$*&@ing hours in the car, like I did yesterday, it's nice to have music that I actually like to listen to.

Unknown said...

Trying to Catch Up: Thursday Thirteen - Places I've Lived

That's so cool that you are in a book!

The Scarlett said...

I love my iPod and my iTrip and my Altec Lansing speakers for my iPod. I love iTunes and making Playlists and posting iMixes. In fact, the only thing I dislike about iPods in general is that it feels really icky wanting a cute little Nano when I have a cute little Mini.

SlackerMom said...

My Tae Kwon Do instructor told us last night that he didn't have a radio in his car for FOUR YEARS and that he drove all the way to Oregon with no one in the car (except his two dogs) without a radio! He said he learned to meditate and suggested we try it. There's no way I could live without my constant soundtrack!