Perhaps I've Found my Project

But don't fret Fer and Sissy. I know you love the quirky randomness of The Bowl and the Project won't impact it too terribly much.

See Sissy turned me on to Goodreads, and since I managed to work my way through Julie & Julia fairly easily I thought I might put the two together. It's important for an aspiring writer to expose themselves to different styles of writing, right? So I am going to start reading for myself more.

I know. It sounds like it should be easy. But I'm setting some rules for myself. I only get to have 2 "fluff" books before I dive into a classic. And when I say classic I mean those books that my English teachers always wanted me to read but that I couldn't force myself to wade through.

Now with Julie & Julia past me I am moving on to "fluff" #2 - Marley & Me. I expect it to be a pretty short read since I've already seen the movie. I'm one chapter into the book and is proving to be pretty easy reading. Part of me is delighted about this but the other half of me is dreading it. If Marley & Me goes too quickly I'll be staring down Pygmalion sometime next week. Why do I feel like it's not going to be My Fair Lady at all? Why do I feel like the horse race scene is going to be like wading through mud even though Audrey Hepburn carried it off like lightning? And I have a feeling there will be no Rex Harrison singing in the background.

In any case I'm sure I'm going to need your help. I only have 49 books on my "to read" list and those are almost entirely "fluff." So I need to know what your favorite classics are. I'll let all of you play by the opposite rules. If you can share 2 classics that you think I should read, I'll let you throw a fluff recommendation at me.

My goal? I'm not sure. I want to see how many books I can read by my next blogoversary. I think I can average ABOUT a book a week (depending on how long and dry they are) so that would put me at about 50 books. Anybody else up for the challenge? I might even start a second challenge over at The Zoo to help promote families reading together. But let's see if I can get this one underway first.

So here is your mission: 1) Suggest some great classics that I just HAVE to read. 2)Take the challenge!

Do you accept?!

Call me Cardinal Sinner.

No the next picture will not be me in a big red hat. I'm about to commit the blogger's cardinal sin. I'm about to blog about blogging. Ok, so it's not a sin and a lot of people do it but I don't really like to unless my brain is just shorting out which I'm pretty sure you all recognize that it is doing so right now. But I digress.

I love all these fun little tracker things you can add to your page - most completely unobtrusively. They tell you where people are coming from, what server or browser they are using, the keywords they used to find you, how many people are stopping by, how long they stay, how often (if at all) they come back and probably a ton of stuff that I don't even understand yet. But this is one of those double edged swords that we all encounter.

Now it becomes a pissing contest to see whose blog draws the most traffic. It turns into that evil demon on your shoulder whispering, "You're a failure. Your numbers are lousy. You're wasting your time." And it slowly drives you insane until you are rambling like an old man in his slippers on the baby food aisle. Or like me right now. In my slippers. At my computer. With ketchup on my shirt.

But see I've given up on the numbers. If you find me and you like me (which of course you will because I'm charming like that), you'll come back. And if you don't as long as I don't dwell on the numbers I really won't know, now will I? So the numbers are out for me.

I love to see where people are coming from and of course the keywords are almost always good for a laugh. Now as for where people are coming from...For The Zoo, I have all but 8 states. That's right! I have managed to draw at least one visitor from 42 of the 50 states. Thank you Sissy and Jen for rocking Arkansas's numbers; B for rocking North Carolina, and Nut for kickin' Florida. Hey! I'd give the rest of you shout outs but you haven't made your personal state dark green yet. Oh yeah! And Tena you get credit for Cali.

So now let's take a peek at this particular site shall we. The Bowl...The Bowl...right! We have 40 out of the 50 states. What blows my mind here is for all the crap I gave New Jersey last week, they have yet to phone in. Just one more reason I think we should just chop them off and let them float. Them and their big rat balloon. The only thing saving them is that they know how to make things smell like maple syrup.

What I really want to know is what Montana has against me! Not a single visitor to either of the sites. I have nothing against Big Sky! I prefer the wide open spaces. Maybe that's why they don't come by - is it too crowded here? Estonia! Latvia! But no Montana.

Anyway, the keywords this week were kind of dull so I won't go into those. But I would like to know who Stefanie Wigen is and why I'm supposed to be celebrating her birthday. Well, I would love to stay and share all of the missing states with you but I have to go see what is holding up the robots on the Webmaster tool. Apparently 7 of them have been jailed and I have to go free them. Just call me Cardinal Big Weld.

Journey on a Winding Road: A Week's Revelations

It hasn't been a full week since I started to really assess what is going on in my head and try to sort and cope with the findings. But even in the four days that have passed I have come to a couple of realizations.

The first: Of course Saturday was crazy and I felt out of control and had emotions raging all over the spectrum. It was countdown to the monthly visit. Sorry TMI I know but how can I forget about that one very impacting factor? I really have to talk to my doc about a different Pill or something that stabilizes the hormones a little. I think that might have been the REAL curse of Eden - the wobbly hormones. And have you noticed how stresses no matter how large or small just throw those even further and more extremely out of whack? Sometimes it's not even for the worse either. Sometimes if I'm stressed about accomplishing something and my focus is on that one thing I feel more stable than if I was just drifting along like a goose on the river.

The second: A little fitness goes a VERY long way. Last summer I connected with yoga and pilates and started to do some walking first thing in the morning. Before all the children were awake. Before the washer started running and Mount Washmore started to move from one pile to another. I would take that 45 minutes and I would DO something. There are so many benefits to this I'm not sure where I want to start.

It was something for me and when I was doing it, it was impossible to divide myself to do anything else. What can you do for your child while you are holding a warrior pose? Nothing.

It was something that was quiet and centering. Unless you are doing weight training or extreme cardio there isn't a lot of sound to exercise. Maybe your feet tapping on the pavement. Maybe the sigh of your breath as you glide through your vinyasa. But there isn't noise.

And your mind clears. Things just seem to sort through into their little compartments like coins through a sorter. The chores drop into the To Do folder; the worries fall into the prayer (or meditation) folder; the memories fall into the smile folder. The garbage manages to just fall out.

When you finish there is a sudden rush of energy - those of you who remember biology can tell me what that funny brain chemical is but I can't remember it. But there's just the energy and the feeling of wellness. Combine that with the fact that you may be losing weight or toning up or just sweating out toxins and you suddenly feel just a little better about yourself.

I would never conclude that fitness is the cure for depression but if it can boost the effectiveness of medications or if it can alleviate the tension around you for even a little while, it helps in my book. Just in case you were looking for added motivation for your fitness goal of '09, now you have it. Find that routine or workout that gives you the jump and stick with it. It certainly isn't going to hurt (unless you count muscle soreness)!