Sunday, November 30, 2008

Grateful

Well, it's Thanksgiving week here in the states and it has given me much reason to reflect on what I am grateful for in my life. The list is long, so I won't relive it here, but I do appreciate this time to get away from all of the stresses and trivialities of daily life and focus on the simple things I have that many people in the world don't. At any rate, it has been a wonderful week of family, turkey and lots of knitting and reading. :)  So, without further ado... here's the update:

Reading: I finished The Sum of Our Days, by Isabel Allende. As I've said before, simply fantastic. I love her writing, I loved the ending. It wasn't saccharine, or unreal, but simple and fantastic. Her voice is so beautiful that I think she could write about cat puke and I would find it fascinating. :)
I did start reading my free book from Thomas Nelson, where I signed up to be a book reviewer. It's called In the Shadow of the Sun King, by Golden Keyes Parsons. I have to admit, I was a little hesitant at first. It's historical fiction, which isn't usually my style, but so far I am LOVING it. I really can't put it down. It's about a family of Huguenots (French Protestants) in France during the 17th century. The Huguenots  being persecuted for their beliefs and Madeline and Francois Clavell have hidden their two young boys to keep them safe from the dragoons, come to send the boys to be re-educated as Catholics. Madeline was a friend and possible lover (it hasn't been explicitly said yet) to King Louis as a teen and when the dragoons take over her house she travels to Versailles to plead with the King to spare her family. So far I really like it. It is fast paced and hard to put down. When I finally went to bed last night, Madeline had angered the King because she rejected his proposal that she be his mistress in exchange for sparing her family. King Louis had ordered her estate burned to the ground and took her young daughter to the convent and her husband to jail. Madeline returns home to find her house and family gone. She collects her remaining servants, brother-in-law and two boys (who have been hiding) and prepares to travel to Geneva. I'm excited to keep reading and I'll keep you posted. I do think this book would make a lovely movie- the costumes!- it feels rather like  Gone with the Wind

Writing: Well... NaNo just isn't going to happen. It's currently 10pm on Sunday night and I technically have until midnight to write my remaining 20,000 words. Not going to make it. I'm rather disappointed, but I just can't bring myself to write drivel just to write. So, I'm going back to my original plan of trying to have my draft done by the end of the year. We'll see how that goes. I did however complete my article for the January edition of Women's Edition magazine. It's about lypossage and is rather interesting. I'll let you all know when it comes out. 

Knitting: I started and finished a Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket this weekend. I really enjoyed knitting it. So simple and intriguing. It definitely looks like a blob, but folds up into a lovely little sweater. Unfortunately the yarn I used was a little thick and it will likely fit a four year old, not the six month old it was intended for. So, back to the knitting board. I'm going to look for a thinner yarn and make another. Luckily it was very quick, so I believe I can still finish it for Christmas. Otherwise I've been working on a prayer shawl, my angora scarf and Andrew's socks. I desperately want to make a sweater for myself, but I'm trying to restrain myself until I get these other projects done. 

Panic: Oh... definitely some good old fashioned panic. I was supposed to start tutoring at a center in Boulder on Monday, but will not be doing that. After some serious soul-searching, I decided I wasn't comfortable with it, for a variety of reasons. So, I resigned before I even started. Though it was exceptionally difficult, I really felt that I had to trust my gut and not start the position. Anyway, I've also thrown my hat into the ring for the 1/2 time position at Sunset and I have a friend who is trying to get me to take a different 1/2 time position at her middle school. Though that position sounds great, the commute would be 40 minutes each way, which may be too much. I suppose we'll just have to see. I'm panicking less I suppose, since I'm trying to embrace the idea that it will all work out in the end, but it's definitely difficult. We shall see what the weeks to come bring. 

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