Daybook

I'm (delightfully) in between writing projects, and I want to take advantage of this little bit of breathing space to work on some better writing habits. As in, writing more. Any more, really. I love writing, but I've come to the point where I nearly always find it torturous to fill word counts and meet deadlines. I feel like I need to rediscover joy in writing, and this is a good place to do it :)

reading
I've decided that 2017 is going to be the year that I actually put into practice something I've heard many times (and truly believe to be true): if I want to be a better writer, then I need to be intentional about reading good writing.

Duh.

So rather than spending all of my available reading time on the quick-fix entertainment of whatever fantasy and science fiction I can get my hands on, I want to read truly good writing. Fortunately for me there's a fair bit of fantasy and science fiction that is very well-written (you had better believe I'll be rereading the Lord of the Rings for--ahem--professional development this year). But I'm also expanding out of my comfort zone and trying to read a wider variety of genres.

I (finally) signed up on Goodreads to keep a record of what I've read and what I want to read. Come find me and be my friend and give me recommendations!

Here's what I've accomplished so far (full disclosure: several of these I started a long, long time ago and I was finally motivated to finish them so I could check them off a list. I love lists.):

The Blue Castle was amazing. I can't believe I've never read any L.M. Montgomery beyond the Anne books. I can't wait to read more of her novels now!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was the January assignment for a book club I sorta/kinda joined (hey, yeah, I want to be in a book club! Wait, I'm busy... oh, was that tonight? Oops, was I supposed to read a specific book this month?). I had no expectations, but I wanted to be able to make the January meeting--and I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to discuss it with my book club ladies tomorrow night.

The Velvet Room was a recommendation from a friend with impeccable taste in books (thanks Megan!). I wish I would have found this book years ago--it would certainly have been a childhood favorite. Better late than never--it's on my long, long list for Colette some day.

I credit Not God's Type for inspiring me to want to work hard to become a better writer. Ordway's prose was elegant and lovely, and her story is simply amazing as well. 

And here's what I'm currently working on:

I'm reading The Green Ember to Michael for our school read-aloud, and we both love it. Unfortunately for me, he's often ready to be done after one chapter--and it takes all the self-control I can muster to not read ahead.

praying
For the intercession of Blessed Angela of Foligno, our family's patron saint for 2017. If you haven't already, check out Jen Fulwiler's patron saint generator--it's our favorite New Year's tradition.

listening

To Zoe Keating. I love cello as background music for reading or writing.

watching

Last Man Standing (on Netflix). Alex and thought the first season was hilarious, but so far we're not impressed with the second season.

family happenings

Alex and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. We had a delightful dinner & movie date. We're also trying to plan a weekend getaway up to Estes (where we honeymooned those many moons ago), but at this rate it's looking like it might be a 7 1/2 year anniversary present to ourselves this summer (all together now: better late than never!).

Colette is walking. She's not quite steady, but she's getting pretty good at it. She's 14 1/2 months now... the latest walker of the four of them, but the most adventurous. She also climbs everything. It's terrifying.

Michael turned 6 two weeks ago. I still can't believe it.

enjoying

Having a little space between writing projects. Long walks. Colette walking and starting to talk. Michael retelling Bible stories. Liam learning to read. John Paul sing songs. Reading as much as I can. Tea.

photo dump

merry Christmas from the Cranes!

cedar waxwing at my in-laws on Christmas day

danger girl

big boys (not pictured: Liam's helmet--but I promise he does have one!)

so big!

Daybook

Just popping in to say a quick hi and breaking all the blogger rules--no explanations, no promises, no pictures. Are there blogger rules? Like, you have to explain if you come back after a long/unexpected absence, and you have to set goals and tell the whole internet about them to keep you accountable (then offer more explanations when you fail to meet those goals anyway), and always post pictures because posts without pictures are boring and un-pinnable. Is "pinnable" a word? "Pinable"? There's another rule to break...

Whatevs. (And that IS apparently a word because "the computer guys" didn't put a squiggly red line under it, as Michael would say...)

I've missed blogging, but I didn't feel like I had much to say. Especially not after pushing through a rough couple of weeks to meet a deadline at the end of August, recovering for a month, then surviving (mostly, I'm not quite done) another crazy two weeks for the next project. Maybe I'll do a post about all those projects... next year...

But I was inspired and motivated by Bobby's  Weekly Writing in October link-up, especially when she suggested that if we needed something to get us started we could just go with a daybook kind of post. I can do that! I think I can I think I can I think I can... Chug chug chug, puff puff puff puff...

What, you don't randomly start reciting children's books in the middle of conversation?

So, with no further ado, currently I am:

reading
The Anne books, for the zillionth time. I'm on Anne of the Island and almost cried last night when Anne refused Gilbert's proposal. These are books that truly get better every single time, and I just have to read them in autumn. (Michael would tell me I don't "have to," I just really want to. He told me that the other day when I needed coffee. Good gracious.)

Also trying to read Augustine's Confessions. Because I'm ashamed I've never read the whole thing, and every time I read a passage from it for something else it is so beautiful and moving. I'm thinking this is one area where it's not really the thought that counts...

praying
This prayer from St. Augustine:

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. 

Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. 

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. 

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. 

Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. 

Amen.

And Psalm 131:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,

my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things

too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

like a child quieted at its mother's breast;

like a child that is quieted is my soul.

O Israel, hope in the Lord

from this time forth and for evermore.

I just "discovered" this psalm and I am totally taken with it. Maybe because I feel like I'm almost never quieted and I am usually occupied with things too great (or at least too much!) for me.

listening

For Colette to wake up. Because teething. Ugh.

around the house

My parents moved in last week! Yes, moved in to stay. No, they're not in poor health (thanks be to God). Yes, we actually just all wanted to live in the same house. There's more to it than that--but it deserves its own post. You know, next year.

We put a lot of (pretty minor but very time consuming) work into the house and yard this summer getting ready for a refinance. And it totally paid off (hahaha, I'm so exhausted look how funny I am). But there's a lot more to do, starting with redoing the retaining wall along the garden/weed bed in front of the house--because the current wall is not doing a particularly good job at retaining and consequently the porch is sinking and starting to pull away from the house. No bueno. So that's next on the list, along with finishing (because planning totally means we've started, right?) the necessary remodeling to turn the basement into a bedroom and living room instead of one giant toy room.

watching

NCIS with Alex. We're almost caught up on Netflix (we took a semi-unintentional hiatus a couple years ago and fell off the wagon). This is some serious relationship-building stuff for us, because if it weren't for NCIS we would probably never have gotten married. Also deserving of its own post--I don't think I've ever told the story here. Man, these daybook things are fantastic for generating post ideas! But remember, no promises.

enjoying

October. It's my favorite. 

Watching Colette's personality and sense of humor continue to emerge. When she's really tired but happy she does this thing where she just shakes here back and forth until she starts leaning and wobbling all over the place. It's hilarious--until she smacks you in the nose with the back of her head.

Watching Michael learn and grow this past month of homeschooling. I love his curiosity (mostly), and watching his mind work is just a delight (mostly).

Listening to John Paul talk--he sounds so much older than 2 1/2. Last Thursday was a really rough morning, and at one point I had gathered all of the kids around me to try to hug all of them at once after having yelled at all of them for--I can't even remember. So rough. But I was crying and apologizing for yelling, and JP just looked at me and said "Is okay Mama. No woozles." Because apparently he thought I was crying because I was scared of the woozles.

Seeing Liam transition from toddler to big boy. He's almost four, so I guess he hasn't really been a toddler for almost a year. But suddenly he's seeming so old. He can be so sweet and so thoughtful, and also so mischievous and so creative. And his delight when he answers a question or sounds out a phonics exercise is the sweetest.

Dabbling in genealogy. So far I've traced ancestors back to Scotland in the early 1700s, Cape May, NJ in the early 1700s, and France and Switzerland in the early 1800s. And I'm pretty sure there's a direct line to William the Conqueror, because I remember reading some of the documents one of my uncles put together when I was in high school and then trying to impress some history-nerd friends with it. If I remember correctly they failed to be properly awed by my distinguished lineage.

And with that, I should probably do the dishes and fold some laundry* before bed. I mean, before Colette needs her 9pm snack, to be followed by her 10pm snack, to be followed by her 3am snack, to be followed by her 5am rise-and-shine routine. Or at least that's how it went last night...

*In the interest of full disclosure, I refused Alex's offer to clean the kitchen and won't let him help me fold the laundry, because those chores are my chance to watch Netflix and as long as there isn't an imminent deadline I would generally rather do them myself. They're almost as much of a luxury as a chore, however bizarre that may be.

Check out the other weekly writings at Revolution of Love, and I'll try to be back here before next Saturday--maybe even with pictures! (Oh wait, no promises!)

2015 Reading Accomplishments and Goals for 2016

Well, I didn't come any where close to completing my list from last January. I knew it was overly ambitious when I made it, but I didn't realize I would fall so spectacularly short. I read plenty of other books that weren't on the list to begin with, but mostly I slacked on all the nonfiction I had planned to read and (quite predictably) subbed in various kinds of fiction instead.

So here's what I read in 2015.

Nonfiction 
The Shadow of His Wings--Fr. Gereon Goldmann
This may win the award for best book I read all year. Talk about life not going according to your own plans. This is an incredible autobiographical account of a young German seminarian who was drafted into the SS at the beginning of WWII. I think I teared up at least once per chapter at the beautiful story of faith and sacrifice. Even beyond the amazing events of Fr. Goldmann’s experience in the war, it was fascinating to read about the war from the point of view of a German soldier who was utterly opposed to the Nazis. And then what he does with his life after the war left me even more amazed (but no spoilers…).  I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church--Benedict XVI
Compiled from homilies, so it is very accessible and short (for BXVI... put another way, it is only the second book of his I've ever actually finished, although I've started at least half a dozen).

Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children--Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman
Great summaries of new/recent research in various areas including self-esteem, memory, sleep, etc. It wins so far for best child psychology/parenting self-help type book I've read.

Whole Body Barefoot--Katy Bowman
Humorous, accessible info about body mechanics and how to safely transition to minimal footwear. This book and all the amazing info on Katy's blog helped me through pregnancy with minimal back pain and fewer postpartum issues this time around than the last two!


Mysteries
(I accidentally went off on a serious British mystery kick last year... and it is most certainly continuing into 2016.)

Two For Sorrow--Nicola Upson
I was looking for Josephine Tey mysteries and found this. The ebook was available for checkout from our library so I read it while I was waiting for my hold on Daughter of Time to come up. It was an interesting mystery, but it seemed to be almost as much about same-sex relationships in London's 1920s/30s theatre scene as it was about a murder.

Daughter of Time--Josephine Tey
A unique take on a mystery novel--the detective is laid up in bed (broken leg? I don't remember) and passes his convalescence by attempting to investigate the alleged crimes of King Richard III. I found it very interesting and informative, but unfortunately I have forgotten all the history I gleaned from it.

Whose Body, Clouds of Witness, Gaudy Night--Dorothy Sayers
I read some of Sayers' essays in grad school, but I had no idea she wrote mysteries until Haley and Christy recommended Gaudy Night on the Fountains of Carrots podcast. I may have become slightly obsessed with reading every single Lord Peter Wimsey novel...

The Moonstone--Wilkie Collins
You know, just the usual book you decide you absolutely need to read because a character on one of your favorite TV shows mentioned in passing that one of your new favorite authors thought highly of it... or is that just me? Alex and I have been re-watching NCIS on Netflix, and in one episode McGee mentioned that Dorothy Sayers considered The Moonstone to be the finest detective story every written, and as I had recently fallen in love with her mysteries, well, obviously I had to read this one. It is conveniently old enough to be in the public domain, so thank you Project Gutenberg for providing instant gratification.


Fantasy
Lilith--George MacDonald
I thoroughly enjoyed Lilith. I'd never read anything from MacDonald before and definitely intend to read more. I'm not quite sure how to describe it... "Narnia for adults" certainly doesn't do it justice. If you want a book that tells you exactly what to think of it and explains everything as it goes along, stay away. I finished this one up late one night when I didn't particularly want to do any thinking for myself, and that was a mistake (I have since forgiven it).

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell--Susanna Clarke
I generally prefer my fantasy to take place somewhere else--but this book does a clever job of mixing fantasy and history; a “historical fantasy” rather than your usual historical fiction, if you will. Think Jane Austen meets Harry Potter… sort of. The story was a little slow to get moving, but it was so well-written and humorous that I didn’t mind. For the second half I could hardly put it down (much to my family’s dismay).  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and apparently there's a BBC miniseries in the works?

The Silmarillion--JRR Tolkien
It gets better every time--trust me!

The Elenium Trilogy--David Eddings
A favorite of my brother-in-law. I was excited for some new fantasy, but as I read I got this strange sense of deja vu. I finally realized I had read it before--probably five or six years ago--but it was almost as good as reading something for the first time because I didn't remember anything until it happened.

 Ascendance Trilogy--Jennifer A. Nielsen
Quick, easy, enjoyable.

Other Fiction

Little Women--Louisa May Alcott,  Caddie Woodlawn--Carol Ryrie Brink
We got these classics for our niece for her 9th birthday and that put me in the mood to reread them. I enjoyed both of them almost as much as I did in elementary school :)

The Rainmaker, The Client, The Broker, The Partner--John Grisham
I didn't read them all in a row. I enjoyed The Partner most and The Broker least.

What Alice Forgot--Liane Moriarty
I went into this one with zero expectations and I really, really liked it. I think I read this in fewer than 24 hours (and sacrificed half a night's worth of sleep in order to do so--I just had to know how it ended).

The Martian--Andy Weir
This barely beats out What Alice Forgot for my favorite fiction read of the year. Looking forward to seeing the movie... eventually...


And now that it's already February (how?!), here are my somewhat humbler reading goals for 2016. I'm taking the hint from 2015 and not trying to plan out my reading for the whole year--but these are the books I want to make sure I read. In no particular order:

Started in 2015 but not finished
Introduction to the Devout Life--St. Francis de Sales
Life of Christ--Fulton Sheen
Angels (and Demons)--Peter Kreeft

Fiction
More of Dorothy Sayers' mysteries
The Midwife's Revolt--Jody Daynard
Ready Player One--Earnest Cline
Father Elijah, Elijah in Jerusalem, and The Father's Tale--Michael O'Brien
The Divine Comedy--Dante

Non-Fiction
Diastasis Recti: The Whole Body Solution to Abdominal Weakness and Separation--Katy Bowman
The Temperament God Gave Your Kids--Art & Laraine Bennett
The Second Greatest Story Every Told--Fr. Michael Gaitley
Jesus and the Last Supper--Brant Pitre
Beyond the Birds and the Bees--Gregory Popcak
The Treasure of Homestake Gold--Mildred Fielder

Well... what else should I read? I'm ready and waiting for your recommendations to derail my goals for this year :)

Just in time...

So, my boys love books. I love that my boys love books. I love reading to my boys... mostly. I mean, I love the idea of reading to them, and I love a lot of children's books, and I love that they want me to read to them... but I don't love all the books all the time. When Michael was about Liam's age I started hiding "Going On a Bear Hunt" from him because I was tired of reading it. If only we could go back to that... now I just find myself wishing that Liam would irreparably destroy some of the longer Thomas stories (which we bought! why did we think that was a good idea?!). But I digress...

For Christmas, Liam received four Llama Llama board books. 

I'm a fan of Llama Llama--short, nice rhythm, short, etc. But in the last few weeks Liam has grown so attached to these books that he will throw an outright tantrum if I so much as hesitate to start reading one as soon as he brings it over to me.  

I thought it would be an excellent teaching moment to work on his signs for "please" and "more," but apparently we need to find a less emotionally volatile situation to work on using our words.

And in case you were wondering, the tantrums apply equally to the first and twentieth readings. In a row. He will demand the book again as soon as I finish. And again. You get the picture.

Cue the big brother. Michael has long been in the habit of reciting books along with us while we read them. Some he knows really well--and I think it's fun to just stop in the middle of sentences and let him finish them (lazy mom, or early homeschooling? You decide). Some he doesn't know at all, but he'll still kind of mumble something along as I'm reading... maybe out of habit? Who knows.

The other day I got creative in avoiding zippity-zooming my way through Llama Llama for the umpteenth time, and asked Michael to read it to Liam. He happily obliged, and then kept looking for other books to "read" to Liam. 

Eldest child can read favorite books to middle child just in time for birth of youngest child? Yes please! Oh I am SO thrilled with this. Please don't let the novelty wear off too quickly for either Michael or Liam...

Off the Shelf: Michael's Favorites

Michael loves books, and I'm trying hard not to take it for granted.  I know that just because Alex and I both love to read there's no guarantee that our children will as well.  But Michael certainly does.  He loves to look at books himself, and he loves for anyone and everyone to read books to him.

When we can tear him away from his Thomas & Friends books (or hide them, I'll admit), these are his current favorites (and his pronunciation of the titles are my current favorites).

Tat, White Shoes  "Pete the Cat: I love my white shoes"
'Struction Site  "Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site"  (What? There is a matching game too?!  Don't tell Michael...)
CBs "Dr. Seuss' ABC"
Tidden Yiddle "Chicken Little"
Mutney, Lellow Hat  "Curious George"

I absolutely love when he asks for books by name (especially when it is anything other than Percy Tochlate Trunch "Percy's Chocolate Crunch").  And I love that he is starting to read along with me.  He does particularly well with Dr. Seuss' ABC (and you should hear him say "fiffer-feffer-feff," it's pretty impressive) and he announces the colors and says "Goodness no!" at all the right points for Pete the Cat (I'm in love--I think Pete the Cat has replaced Mo Willem's Pigeon as my favorite children's book character... maybe).

We're always looking for new books to fall in love with--what do you suggest?

"Cheese!"  (Yes, it's an old video game controller)
Because my camera is being dumb and I don't have a "stock photo" of
M reading that I haven't already posted.