Monday, January 13, 2014

Un-Multitask-Able

What really set the mood for last week was the death of my espresso machine.  We got back from Christmas break and found that someone had turned it on (possibly my eldest son but most probably the lady who came to clean house) and left it that way without any water in the boiler.  And now the boiler won't boil.  Hopefully it will be able to be repaired, but in the meantime, I need coffee.  I pulled a small coffeemaker out of my garage (I come with multiple back-up plans as far as coffee is concerned) and have proceeded to attempt to perfect drip coffee.  I think I've finally arrived, but it took me until the weekend.  It was a rough week!

I had a plan for the weekend, and it was a simple plan: finish reading my book on Saturday, blog about it on Sunday, and finish knitting a baby sweater in-between.  What actually happened was more like this: start catching up on blog posts about the renovation on Saturday, have a three-hour meeting about the electrical in the house on Sunday, and work on design decisions in-between.  Sigh.  I'm definitely ready to have the house done so I can have time to do other things.  While we have most of the decisions made, there is still a lot to do.  And I'm a slow decision maker (although I'm getting so much faster with all this practice) because I like to know all my options and really think things through.  Anyhow, the house absorbed all my lovely, cozy plans for the weekend.  The house will not be multi-tasked.

So I'm not done with The Lighthouse Road like I had hoped I would be.  It feels just as wonderful as his first (Safe From the Sea) which adds an element of I Don't Want It To Be Over Yet.  If you like historical fiction, but find that much of it feels contrived; if you like books with evocative settings, but don't want it to be overly poetic; if you don't mind a book that is happy/sad or a bit bleak; if you have connections to the Great Lakes or Norwegian immigrants; if any of these, then you may want to look into this book.  I love how simple and straightforward Geye's writing is—he is an author that simultaneously inspires me to write and makes me feel I'll never come close to good enough.  (As a sideline, if you are wondering how to pronounce his name, I found this entertaining interview that's well worth spending half a minute reading!)

Other Book-ish things this week?  I saw Catching Fire, which almost made me wish I'd read past the first book in the trilogy (sooo hard for me to do, generally speaking) since I enjoyed the movie so much.  And I saw the preview for Divergent, which I haven't read but do own.  I've been trying to convince my kiddos to read it with no luck.  (Oh! Last week I finally watched The Great Gatsby which I thought well done but for the fact that I was really hoping that the music would play a larger role in it than it did.)

There was something else I was going to mention but it completely slipped my mind.  :/  Maybe it'll pop back in by next weekend.  Until then, have a great reading week!

3 comments:

  1. I'd love to read the blog posts on the renovation. Could you check your link? Do you ever wonder how those TV reno shows do all that stuff in one month? Do they have unlimited money to hire people or what?

    I had already put Lighthouse Road on my TBR list, so I just need a kick in the pants to get started! Currently I'm reading a nonfiction book that is top notch called By the Rivers of Water. Finally some nonfiction!

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    1. I fixed the link - thanks for the heads-up! I can't imagine how crazy it would be to complete a renovation in a month. It has got to be a combination of things - all decisions much be made beforehand (from choosing fixtures to deciding exact installation techniques of windows and railings etc.) and having workers just be working all on top of each other...and not being to nit-picky about details, which we absolutely are! The pace of work has picked up, (since we fired our contractor - don't know if I'd mentioned that detail) which is a huge relief.

      Yay for nonfiction! That inspired me to pull some off my shelf and put it on my nightstand...I finished The Lighthouse Road today (very good) and need to read my next book club book (which should go quickly) and then I think I'll start in on Sense & Sensibility or The Big Burn (my next nonfiction pick).

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    2. Wow. The pictures on the reno are incredible. I'm speechless. I can't believe you had to fire your contractor!!!!!

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