A Week in Review (March 17-23)

A Week in Review (March 17-23)

Watched: Just a lot of basketball.  I love March Madness!

Read:  Me Before You.  This is a gripping story that leaves you thinking about your convictions and just what you might do if you were in a similar situation.  However, there is a story that goes along with this book. My book club had this for February read and, by the synopsis, I didn't think that I would enjoy it.  However, all the ladies just raved about it and so I put it on my hold list at the library.  There were a 100 holds ahead of me.  It was so hard to read how the ladies all just loved the book and I knew I couldn't be reading it with them.  I almost broke down and bought a copy, but just couldn't justify spend $16 on an ebook.  So, I waited.  When we were in at the library in my hometown, I checked to see if they had a copy.  And what do you know, it said one out of one was available.  But when I went to look for it on the shelf, it wasn't there.  I asked the librarian and he couldn't find it either.  Turns out it was still being processed for shelving, but since they could see that I wanted it so bad, they bumped it to the top of her pile and I was able to pick it up later that afternoon.  Now that is something that would never happen it a big city!  I was so excited!!
I also started reading The Host (The Host, #1), but haven't gotten very far.  My goal was to have it read by when the movie comes out which is March 29th, but that could be hard.

Listened:  I started a new audio book Think of a Number (Dave Gurney, #1).  I chose this book because I need an author whose first or last name started with a V for one of my reading challenges.  I just grabbed it off the shelf and thought it looked okay.  I am really enjoying it.  I had to leave it a climax which totally stinks, but should make for interesting listening when I am back in the car!

Made: A 600 mile road trip with a 5 year old in one day with only stop!  Yep, you read that right.  We started out on the road at 7am after he'd only had about 8 hours sleep.  He didn't go back to sleep, but contentedly watched his movies or chatted with me.  I was able to make it clear to Seward (which is just about 5.5 hours) without stopping.  When we did stop, he made it clear why he hadn't asked before.  He didn't want to go out in the snow.  haha.  I made him get out and use the restroom and grab some food.  We got back in the car and got rolling again. We made it into Iowa, which is about about another 2 hours or so before he fell asleep for the remainder of the drive.  I was chagrin to miss getting gas in Missouri, but thought that the sleeping child wasn't worth waking for a couple dollar savings.  He woke up just as we hit the traffic signal a minute from our house.  When he awoke, I asked him where we were and he answered "In a snowstorm."  Pretty funny, but totally accurate.  I was so glad that we got out when we didn't and hadn't taken any extra stops.

Felt: Loved.  I always have a good time going to see my mom.  She takes such good care of me and my boy. This time, we celebrated my birthday and Easter.  She got only a couple hours of sleep so that I could go get my hair colored and she and the boy made me a very springy pudding poke cake.  I tried to take a picture, but was so focused on them, that my cake was cut out.  Ooops!  She also did an early Easter Egg hunt for Jack.  We went into town so that she could hide them.  When we got home, she acted like the Easter bunny had trapped her in her room and hidden the eggs.  It was so fun to see the excitement in his face as he found and opened the eggs.

Planned: The lodging arrangements for my brother's graduation in May.  And it makes me share a little tip with you--plan more than 6 weeks ahead.  All the decent 2 or 3 star hotels were fully sold out and one shared that he was probably overbooked.  I am not sure how early we should have been, but I am sure it was more than 6 weeks.  We splurged and are staying at a nice hotel.  I sure hope it is as beautiful as the pictures make it look.

Loved: Spending time at the zoo with my brother and his wife. Jess is a huge fan of zoos and so I know that we needed to get a trip in with her at the Omaha Zoo.  Jack and I had never been so we had no idea what to expect.  It was a bit cooler, so there were fewer people which was nice.  However it meant that some of the fun attractions like the Skyfari and Train were closed.  Jess got some great pictures and I took a few okay ones.  They are featured in my pictures of the week below. Jack loved the burro at the petting zoo.  Funnily enough, his name was also Jack and he was 4.5.