The Sunday Post [40]

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News: 

I'm baaaack! It feels like I've been gone forever, even though it's been like two weeks. A lot has happened since we left Texas, and not all of it was good. First of all, being in a car with three small children for nearly 24 hours (over the span of five days), was no picnic. They were troopers, but we were all pretty frazzled by the end. They needed to be quiet in the car, quiet in the hotel, and never really had a chance to deenergize themselves. We stopped to stretch our legs, walk the dogs, and play on playgrounds for 15-30 minutes, but most of the time we were buckled in and trying to reach our next stop. We listened to audiobooks, but even I was exhausted by the monotony of our days. 

When we finally arrived in Virginia, we made sure our hotel was by the beach. The kids loved going down to the water, even though it was way too cold to swim. They were happy to just walk around and look for seashells. They did track an obscene amount of sand into the hotel room (seriously, where does that stuff come from?!), and I borrowed a broom so the staff didn't totally hate us when we left. That night we watched Jumanji and Hook on the hotel's television, and I'm happy to report the kids loved both!

Now for some of the bad: We moved into an unfinished house. That's correct! Unfuckingfinished. The landlord said they were just as surprised as we were, and that's saying something, since we were pretty damn surprised. The kitchen and dining rooms had no floor, and someone was in the house working for the first three days that we were here. Having to accommodate for that was exhausting, since we just wanted to be. You know? We wanted to exist in a place that was ours, and something that wasn't a hotel room, car, or restaurant. They were very understanding of our frustrations, but still. It's almost done now, but at least the flooring was finished before the Movers brought all of our stuff. The dishwasher is busted, some curtain rods need to be hung, and a door needs to be installed.

I know it sounds like a nightmare, and for awhile I was pretty upset, but we really like the house and the neighborhood. There are woods to explore, a creek on the property, and a ton of kids in the area. My son wants to be friends with everyone we meet. Luckily, he started school on Friday and loved it! Now he can make new friends that he'll see regularly. His teacher is fantastic, and I'm happy he's happy. We're feeling more settled now, and only have one or two more boxes to unload. Everything essential is good to go! 

This house weirdly doesn't have a pantry, so I made my own! I'll post pictures on Instagram later this week. There are a few finishing touches I want to apply before presenting it to the world. ;)

Jacob and I have both been so busy, it was hard to find time to be together as a family. One night last week, we decided to just stop everything we were doing and go have dinner. On our way to the restaurant we were in a car accident, and our car was pretty banged up. It wasn't drivable and had to be towed, the airbags deployed on impact (hurts more than you'd think and smells terrible), but thankfully no one was injured. The kids were in the car, but their main complaint was the smell (and that they were still hungry).

There was a storm our third or fourth day that destroyed the neighbor's fence and fell onto ours. They've been really nice about it and know we have dogs, so they're trying to fix it as soon as possible. Random thought: there are geese everywhere here.

None of my scheduled posts worked like they were supposed to, so I know I missed a blog tour or two (very, very sorry!), and promise to spend the week trying to get back on track. I don't want to simply post everything now, since it would overload my blog with new content, and I'm worried things will get overlooked (which sort of defeats the purpose of promoting a book). I really thought I would have more time to read while traveling, but the kids never wanted to sleep once we finally go to a hotel, and by the time they did, I was too tired to keep my eyes open. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you guys have been up to and reading while I've been away! <3 

Previous week on the blog:

NA

What I'm currently reading:

What I Carry by Jennifer Longo

Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro 🎧

The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1) by Brandon Sanderson 🎧

• I'm really enjoying What I Carry, and cannot wait to see where the story goes! I have my fingers crossed for a HEA, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I've been burned too many times for that. ;)
• Anger Is a Gift has been wonderful to listen to on audio. It's one of the books we started on our trip, and that I haven't had a chance to finish since getting to our new house. 
• The Way of Kings is a forty-five hour audiobook?? That's insane! I knew the book was long, but geez. There's no way I'll finish listening to it this week, so I'll likely go back on hold and wait another month or two. At this point, it's probably easier if I just buy the book. 

What I plan on reading next:

I honestly don't know at this point. There are a few upcoming books I need to read, other that have been neglected, and those I simply just want to curl up with. Your guess is as good as mine!

What I'm watching:

I decided to start the Shadowhunters television series while I was unpacking boxes in the living room, and the show was... not great. The dialogue was weird, and the show really diverted from the facts and took liberties with content. Both Sam and Mary said the second season was better, and I trust their judgement. I think I'll keep watching it and just enjoy the show for what it is: entertainment. It's something fun to alleviate some of the boredom that inevitably comes with unpacking. Where does this go? I've misplaced my shoe. Does anyone see a cat??

Challenge updates:

• Read the Alphabet Challenge 3 
• Audiobook Challenge 5 / 50+
• Beat the Backlist Challenge 12 / 110
• Discussion Challenge 1 / 1-10
• Goodreads Challenge 38 / 365