Leaving and not re-filling...

Two of my dearest friends are moving away.
My bookclub has moved from Tuesday evenings to during the day.  Gone.
My tutoring club also went from Tuesday evenings to during the school day.

Even though the aforementioned favorites in my life are moving or leaving me, I've decided to not re-fill my life with other things on Tuesday nights.  

I have the chance to join the Book Club Tribe at Harvest.  Tribes are kicked-off on Friday, September 28th.  Our first book club will meet the end of October to discuss Elizabeth Prentiss' writing Stepping Heavenward.  

My copy of the book arrived yesterday.  

As far as tutoring, I'm not going to fill that space.

I'm going to get back to going to the gym and scheduling Angie time.  

T-minus 46 hours

I binge-read today.  What does mean?  Well.....

I let my coworker's dogs out at 6 a.m.

I went to church and ran propresenter (Melinda calls it Jumbotron).

Came home and took a never-do-I-take-naps nap for an hour.

Made a dozen or so handstamped cards.

Picked-up up my Tuesday night bookclub book and read from 5 pm to 7:45 when I realized - OH MY LANTA, I NEVER ATE SUPPER. 

Brief pause to scramble some eggs with chicken bacon & cheese.

Mmmmmm....

Washed my face and brushed my teeth.

I have 67 pages left and 46 hours to finish them.

T-minus 70 hours

I HAVE 70 HOURS TO GET THROUGH MY JULY BOOKCLUB BOOK.  July?  Yes, I have had 2 months and now it's t-minus 70 hours and I just finished downloading it.  Here's what happened....

I actually checked it out from the bibliotecca (that's Spanish for library) in June....

...and then I fiddle-farted around and someone had put a hold on it....

...so instead of keeping it at a rate of what?  $0.50 per day, I returned it on time....

...and then I slowly watched day after day tick away and me not reading THIS book.

I did finish 2 good books and read cover-to-cover my Cleaning Eating magazine...but no July bookclub book.

Here's hoping I can get through it.  Perhaps some pages can be read inbetween services tomorrow as I am running the jumbotron.  :)

My wild Saturday night plans

...included finishing my bookclub book while enjoying a mug of decaf green tea.

114 pages

I have given my June bookclub book well-over two hours of my life.  Twoooo hours that I will never be able to get back.  One hundred fourteen pages...and what do I have to show for this?

1. A nightmare or two
2. A twitch when I see the bookcover
3. Several quasi-motivational speeches to me from me (XOXOXOX!!!!)
4. A very big UNdesire to finish this book
5. Why did the Milton-quoter have to receive a blow to the hwad and then stitches...and then his wound kept having issues and it just made me squeamish?

Seriously.  I can't read anymore. 

The book and I started our relationship off on the wrong foot when I was thrown head-first into dialogue without ANY background on the characters.

I still do not know who the "Burglar Vicar" is, nor why is everyone looking for him because on one page he is nice and the victim and the next BAM - there's mystery.

I just can't live my life with this pressure.  I can't be in this relationship anymore.

To the book I say, "We must break-up.  It's not me though, it's all YOU!!!!!  It's O-V-A!!!!!"

I read to get swept away into the land of fiction.  I don't mind a little suspense.  A LITTLE.  MUY LITTLE.

Book 2 arrived!!!!!!

My gym membership includes a reward program.  Said program now includes Fiction / Literature.

Last month we read Book #1 of the Out of Egypt series.  It was great!!!!  It's an Egyptian girl's account of the Plagues. 

Last week I turned in 2,000 points in exchange for Book #2!!!!!

Thanks to my gym diligence, I will now spend the weekend binge-reading ad avoiding cleaning my apartment.  Kidding - I will sort of clean.  Not white glove but clean sort of. 

"Dear Mr. Knightley" by Katherine Reay

I really, really, really, really, really, really want to get back to bookclub.  I stopped in October because of Ireland and I've not yet re-prioritized it back in my life.  It's not been on my Hacienda which is quite tragic.

I've decided that April will be my big return to bookclub.  Hahahahaha.  Since it was not on my Hacienda, the CE committee at church scheduled a meeting and I did not give bookclub a thought.  It's sad too because I actually read and LOVED the April book club book - "The Bronte Plot" by Katherine Reay.  

I read through that book in just a few days.  Yes, it was like a binge-reading because once I started reading, the characters called to me and I became a part of the story.

I noticed on Goodreads that Miss Reay has 2 other books - "Lizzy and Jane" and "Dear Mr. Knightley."  

It took me a couple attempts but I managed to find both books at the North Suburban Library.  

I read the Bronte one first since it was for bookclub and this new I-shall-return-to-bookclub moment was invigorating!!!

Followed by "Lizzy and Jane" - which will totally make you cry.  Weep even.  It's a sisterly bond sort of read and I highly recommend it.

And lastly I'm reading "Dear Mr. Knightley."  I'm about 88% through this book and I just realized today...let me start over...I JUST REALIZED TODAY THAT I WILL MORE THAN LIKELY FINISH THIS BOOK TONIGHT AND THEN HAVE A BOOK-HANGOVER TOMORROW!!!  

I mean, I want to finish the book because I want to know how it ends with Alex.  But at the same time, I don't want it to end...but I know it will end in 40-something pages.

Oh - did I mention that the library only had these books in LARGE print.  No eye strain.  No stress to my little eyeballs.  It's been lovely reading and my eyes are enjoying it too....

I feel the ending of this book coming closer and I want to slow down time.  Infact today on one of my breaks, I purposefully knitted as opposed to read and get closer to the end.  

It's a struggle.  

I love these characters.

I may have to ask Miss Reay to write another book.

There.  That's what I will do.

And perhaps in the meantime, I can dive into Jane Austen's works...

Book club binge reading

I am in a book club.
My reading for book club has 2 extremes.

1. Read the book weeks ahead of schedule and forget most of what happened.

2. Convince myself not too read too early - which means binge-reading 48 hours before club.

Yes, I am THAT girl.

I have 46 hours to read a 324 page book.  Not literally 46 hours because...

I ♡ sleep.  8 hours × 2 = 16 hours
Church - approximately 3 hours
Travel to/from church and work (total) 2 hours

Wow!!!  I have to get reading!!!