Summertime Resolutions August Update

Here's the latest update on the Summertime Resolutions~August style! :)
(I backdated the post, so it would be in the right month!) hehe-I hope that's not cheating!

Read, Read, Read: I read 3 books this past month-yes, school threw quite a wrench into my reading time! The first book I read was Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry. The first 2/3's of the book was really good I thought, but the last 1/3 felt a bit forced like the author was trying to hurry up & tie up any loose ends by skipping ahead several years at a time. He just didn't put as much detail into it as he had in the first parts & in the first book in this series Dead Man's Walk. Overall, though it was okay & I now have the huge Lonesome Dove book awaiting its turn to be read. The second book I read was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban by J.K. Rowling. Finally, this book started feeling a little bit less like I was reading a children's book & the loose ends were not all neatly tied up at the end. It left me in suspense to start reading the next book, but I'll have to wait for my sister to give me the next copy until then I'll just have to keep reading some of my books that have been waiting so patiently... I will say that it was a good story & I still don't really "get" what all the craze was about with these books specifically, but I am glad that it got more kids reading. The third book I read was Loved By Choice: True Stories That Celebrate Adoption by Susan Horner & Kelly Fordyce Martindale. It contained many true life stories that I could identify with as an adoptive mother about many different types of adoption. It also contained stories from birthmothers, grandparents, etc that I like reading because it helps & challenges me to broaden my perspective & to put myself in their shoes for a bit. I am glad that I am able to do this because I think that it will only help me to be a better mother for Luke down the road. The only think I didn't care for much in with this book was that several things did seem to be "sugarcoated" a bit for the reader. I'm not sure that it would give a prospective adoptive parent or birthparent a completely "realistic" viewpoint of what it is really like during that relinquishment period of time & it does contain a lot of "God" language. Personally, I do believe that he does play a huge role in everything, but I don't necessarily like having it 'shoved' in my face as I'm reading about their experiences & I do think it would turn away some potential readers. I would recommend it though if you are thinking about going through the process or if you are close to someone who has dealt with it in some way.

Exercise: I am ashamed to admit that I have completely fallen off of this one this month. :( With trying to get adjusted back to all of my "new" routines with school starting back up again-exercising fell to the wayside. Fortunately, I am going to try to start anew this week. I will be attempting to get up early to get my exercise in before starting my day. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Get my house in order: Luke's bathroom & the 1/2 bath survived their intense cleaning sessions marvelously & then I moved on to the kitchen. Who would have thought that one room could throw such a monkey wrench into things? I have started to get it back on the top of my things to do & only have the stove, frig, & floor left to clean "really well" before I can scratch this room off my list...until next time that is. I think I'm moving on to the Guest Bedroom after this-it should be like taking a cleaning vacation for a little bit! :)

Photos: I did finally get pictures printed out & ordered this month from about the first 4-5 months of Luke's life, but with a new camera in my hands I have a feeling that I better start making a better effort working with my pictures before I'm too far behind. Yikes!

Being back to work now, I am going to 'tweak' my goals just a bit.
1. Read, Read, Read: I'm going to try to read only about 3 books a month, since I will be reading a multitude of children's books for my job.
2. Exercise: I'm going to try to get myself back into some good, healthy routines.
3. House: Keep doing what I've been doing only more diligently.
4. Photos: Get my photos edited, printed, & handed out to people in a more timely fashion & try to get back to scrapbooking more!