Over the weekend I finished Ninth House. I’m so glad it was a book club pick, because I just don’t think I would have chosen it on my own. It’s fantasy/dark academia, and I honestly don’t think I’ve read a book with this much magic in it since . . . the Harry Potter series. But you know what? It worked for me! I’m super intrigued and plan on continuing the series (2 books are out and #3 is on the way).
I have hard copies of BOTH Katabasis and The Academy so trying to decide what to read next but I might go with The Academy just for a sort of palate cleanser. (I did read the first 10 pages of Katabasis though last night and it was promising! Also, R.F. Kuang just writes so well).
In other news . . . we get a print newspaper now. I saw a deal for $5/week at NYT that comes with 2 digital subscriptions and was like . . . ehh, why not!? So it was excellent timing that Sunday we lost internet for like, 60% of the day.
(We didn’t have data OR wireless except on one of the kids’ phones since they are on a different plan, so it was really like 1993 in our house! You’d connect to the hotspot like it was dial-up and had to ration the megabytes.)
We . . .did not do that much else. Well, other than the Taylor Swift movie (FUN! Went with G). I probably need to start putting more effort into weekends. Laura and I are planning a BOBW episode about this, and so I was just reminiscing about how when A was G’s age, I was always bringing all 3 to ‘kid activities’. Now it is much more challenging to find something that everyone wants to do, and it’s a little bit sad for G — I mean, just because the teens/tweens aren’t into something doesn’t meant she wouldn’t be! A is busy with gymnastics on Saturday and often has homework to catch up with on Sunday. We just don’t DO as much as a family these days on a ‘regular’ weekend and I worry I am going to look back and regret that.
(It doesn’t help that often one of us is on call.)
One thing that differs this year: I do miss having soccer games and tournaments. I mean, I also sort of don’t miss them (sometimes it felt like too much, or the weather was bad, or it was depressing to watch the team lose – and they lost A LOT). But it was a nice family activity and got all (or most) of us outside.
Well! I did not plan that diatribe but there you go.
Yesterday I spent 3 hours in a (real!) studio recording my audiobook! I got through about 1/3 of it, so we are ahead of schedule. Hooray! (This is where I guess I should mention the book – it’s available for preorder. Though not the audiobook just yet!)
Hard to read but I am holding an award for the band ‘Til Tuesday, for “Voices Carry”!!! Apparently this studio recorded the band in 1985 (the studio used to be in NYC). (Aimee Mann was the frontwoman for this band and you all know how much I love her, so I kind of died when I saw it on the well. Also apparently early DMB, but whatever. AIMEE MANN!!!!!)
And finally, I survived my first 1.5 level pilates class. (It was not that hard but I need to work on my Teaser positioning).
PS: My Hobonichi order remains stuck in Memphis, where clearance has been “in progress” since 10/1.
9 Comments
Congrats on the audiobook progress! When I was a tween and teen I had much younger half-siblings (like 11-13 years younger). My parents mostly let me do what I wanted on the weekends, but every once in a while would force me into some sort of family activity with my younger siblings like going on a hike. I always ended up enjoying it and in retrospect I wish they would have made me do it more. Just a perspective that the older ones might not hate it all that much, even if there’s a lot of complaining (or at least 20 years from now would likely recognize it as a good thing lol).
This is so cool, Sarah!!!!! I have already pre-ordered so I am twiddling my thumbs until the release which feels like forever away, but I bet the time will zoom for you. SO EXCITING!!!!
I had this exact same family feeling over the weekend. We went on a short family hike and it felt…weird. Which was sad because we used to do things like this together ALL THE TIME. But now the kids often have plans with friends or our teen just wants some time alone. If you had told me our talks-every-minute-of-the-day preschooler would one day grow up and WANT to be left alone I don’t know if I would have believed it. Sometimes it’s awesome, but then sometimes I realize these moments of being all together as a family are dwindling.
It can be very challenging to find something that three kids of different ages and genders all want to do. I can see how having some “enforced” activity i.e. a soccer game kind of solved that problem. Since my kids are six years apart, one boy and one girl, and have VERY different personalities, I had to give up on family activities at some point (for the most part.) So I guess I’m saying I have no answers for you, but I can commiserate.
That’s so cool and exciting you’re recording your book! Is it hard? Since you say you’re ahead of schedule I guess it’s going well.
I’ve never read any Leigh Bardugo but those books are on my radar. They sound good!
I think this is one of the reasons I value travel so much as my kids get into the teen/tween years (currently 11+12)–it’s family togetherness time that we don’t get as much in our regular lives these days! Our kids have very different interests and don’t often want to do the same things. For us, the main activity we still do all together with regularity throughout the year are weekend family dog walks–that is, go on a longer walk in the woods with our dogs. Would the kids still want to do this if we didn’t have dogs? Maybe not haha. It’s a good excuse for nature and family togetherness though!
With 2 teens, boy and girl, I find that one thing we can agree on is restaurants, so I look at that expense as an investment in family time and relationships. Also from New England so agree on…Dunkin’ Donuts too lol
We do weekend dinner out as a fam a lot (one reason fewer date nights)! Good point that it still counts as an activity!
Oh! You also had internet free weekend, how funny we coincided 😂
forced unplugged time!!!
So glad to hear you enjoyed Ninth House! I just started reading more fantasy/magic books and find them to be the perfect escape from everyday worries and troubles. I’ve even purchased the dramatic audiobooks of the ones I especially enjoy. Happy reading!