Odds and Ends

I’m feeling the pain!  Yesterday’s workout used bands, steps, balls and a dab of free weights—no machines.  The lunges and squats got me good!  Walking up the stairs at the train station this morning with my backpack, well, I’m glad it was only 1 flight!  

Other news—sons #1 and #2 are both at camp.  So we borrowed a child for a couple of days.  A friend of ours went out of town for a few days and he was going to take his son with him.  The boy child would have had to spend 2 or 3 days doing nothing but hang out in a hotel.  Now while I would jump at the opportunity to watch TV/movies, order room service, read, use the fitness center and can you throw in a massage, more than a day of mindless activities would make me crazy.  Boy child must feel the same way because when I offered to have him stay with DH and I, he was very happy.  So far he has been the perfect house guest! He even brought his own computer and wiggled into the wireless network in 10 seconds flat.  

Sons #1 and #2 both have summer reading lists.  I abhor this practice. If you want to turn a kid off to reading and fill him with resentment on the first day of school, assign summer reading.  Require the honor students to read more than the “regular” students so they feel like they are being punished for being smart.  Son #1 complains bitterly about summer reading because summer should be a time when he can read what he wants to read instead of what someone else wants him to read.  So instead of digging into Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (I kid you not! This is on his Amazon Wishlist), he has to suffer Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.  Son #2 dislikes reading, so when given a choice of books, he selects the shortest, regardless of the content.  He won’t read an extra 100 words even if he would potentially enjoy the book 100 X more.  Luckily, the shorter books on his list are probably better choices for him—Into the Wild by Krakauer and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Haddon.  

While on the topic of books, tonight is my Bookclub meeting.  This month’s selection is The Ha-Ha by Dave King.  I’m having trouble getting through it and for the first time since joining the club, I may not finish it.  I still have the train ride home this evening, but I don’t think I’ll get through 100 pages.

And lastly, I have a new hobby—T-shirt transformation.  I bought this book, Generation T, 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt.  This is perfect for my level of sewing skills.  So far I transformed a tanktop that DH was getting rid of and I added an iPod pocket to a sleeveless V neck.  Nothing extraordinary, but I will try to get some pictures up.  I need to get to work on making digital photography a habit in my everyday life.