Where I’m Going and What I’m Doing

Last week I jumped back into the blogosphere with a post about where I’ve been for the last many months. Missed it? Interested? Check it out right here: Where I’ve Been and What I Did There.

This week, I’m following the lead of the Finish the Sentence Friday gang over at Finding Ninee and talking about the things that I’m doing “currently…” This should perfectly cover the concept of where I’m going and what I’m doing. And maybe let me finish this quickly and get into bed at a reasonable time tonight, too.

Maybe.

Let’s see…

Reading

This is always so hard because I frequently have several things going at once. Here’s the current reading list, straight from Goodreads.

Outline by Rachel Cusk. I grabbed this at the public library because the cover of this and its two sequels caught my eye. Read the blurbs, decided they looked good, so here I am 90 pages in.

Here in the Middle: Stories of Love, Loss and Connection from the Ones Sandwiched in Between, edited by Christine Organ and Julie Jo Severson. This collection of essays covers a variety of topics on what it’s like living in the middle years and being pulled in multiple directions. Definitely worth checking out.

I’m also about to dig into a re-read of the final book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Last Battle. My daughter and I have been reading these together. I love revisiting my favorites and hearing her take on them.

Want to keep up with my reading adventures? Check back here on the blog for book-related posts, or catch me over on Goodreads.

Planning

Right now I’m doing a whole lot of planning. Most of it is related to my writing life and the goals I have in that realm for the year. I’m looking at my daily and weekly work habits, researching places I want to submit my writing this year, figuring out what half-written pieces I want to resurrect and finish, what new things to work on…etc. etc. etc. There is a LOT going on in my head and on my calendar pages right now. So far, the attention to detail and specific on-paper planning is working well.

Stressing

Pfft. Please. I stress about everything. Mostly I suppose I’m stressing about my daughter’s first year in a new school situation. We made the move to do cyber school at home this year. It was absolutely the best choice we could have made. But as with all major life changes, this is a heavy-duty period of transition for all of us. My stress is mostly about making sure she’s settling in well.

Wearing

Right now it’s a Hershey’s sweatshirt, very old sweatpants, warm socks, fuzzy slippers. In general, clothes that are another size smaller. Hooray.

Watching

I’m several episodes into the current season of Grace and Frankie on Netflix. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin head up this hilarious romp of a show. They are joined by the likes of Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen. The two men leave their wives for each other. Drama and hijinks follow. It’s funny and poignant, wildly entertaining, and touches on a pile of current social and relationship-type topics. The Husband and I started Good Omens on Amazon, but kind of dropped it because we’re usually too tired to watch anything after the kid is in bed. The three of us have been slowly watching our way through The Goldbergs on Hulu.

Listening

At the moment, I can hear the sound of the space heater we purchased (FINALLY) to help the temperature here in my very cold office. I can also hear the sound of Zilla finishing up some school work at her desk. And coughing. I hear my child coughing. She has the cough that never goes away, just like everyone else in the immediate world. The upper respiratory crud from the first week of January has passed, but this cough hangs around for weeks. Poor kid.  Music wise? Nothing particular is queued in the playlists. It just depends on the day. The last thing I pulled up on YouTube was an interesting acoustic version of a-ha’s “Take On Me” from an MTV Unplugged session in 2017.

 

Eating

Nothing at the moment, but dinner was leftover lasagna soup – last week’s Soup of the Week. (I should get back to those soup posts…good stuff.) Saturday was a snowy day here and I made this French White Chicken Burgundy. So. Good. And surprisingly simple. Don’t let the French white Burgundy wine thing throw you – any decent white you have on hand will do. I suggest something dry and not oaky. Contrary to what these two rather rich-sounding dishes might suggest, overall we’re all back to eating (mostly) sensible and healthy. The holidays may have been a bit unfocused in the food department. LOL

Loving

A home-based life. In 2014 I left my teaching career to forge a life as a work-from-home freelance writer and mom. It’s been a long and winding road. It’s been damn hard. Oh, and the Husband has been forging a completely new career path for the last several years AND going to school pretty much full time while I’m here doing my thing. But all of that being true, I still hold that while filled with challenges, this is a good life for me. And I love having Zilla at home going to school. That is also a huge challenge in so many ways, but we are finding our way together and it’s mostly great.

Feeling

Overall, I’m feeling positive about most aspects of life. Sure there is A LOT out there right now to weigh down the soul. But I can see the fruits of our labors in so many ways right now. I can see the things (good and bad) that we’ve been through for the last several years behind me, I can see the results of those events and circumstances all around me, and I can see so much potential ahead for all of us. And I feel lighter than I have in a long time. Not just mentally, but actually physically, too. Dropping a bunch of weight feels good.

Hoping

Another tough one to finish up the list. This could open up a very large can of worms. So let me just simply say that I’m hoping and praying for so many things. Mostly, (to throw a nod to my beloved Thoreau) I’m hoping my little family and I continue to advance confidently in the direction of our dreams, to build foundations under the castles we have built in the sky, and to endeavor to live the life we have imagined.

And on that note, my friends, I think it’s time for me to call it a night.

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Joining the group over at Finish the Sentence Friday, hosted by Kristi Campbell of Finding Ninee.

 This week’s sentence starter is “Currently…”

FINISH THE SENTENCE FRIDAY is a weekly prompt that lets bloggers share their ideas based on a particular sentence. To get notice of future sentences and participate, join our FACEBOOK GROUP!