After not getting any reading in yesterday for this extended weekend’s Thankfully Reading Weekend, today I did get a little in toward the end of the day. I continued reading The Lord God Made Them All, the fourth book in the All Creatures Great and Small series (at least in the order here in the U.S.), which I started a couple of months ago but haven’t finished yet. I slowly am making my way through the series (the first couple a reread, the rest new to me) that I started last year.
Most of the day, though, was spent with my my wife celebrating Thanksgiving here at home since she is going back to work tonight (midnight shift into Friday morning) after being off from work since last week. We had turkey and all the fixings. Well, I did anyway. Since she is a vegan, she didn’t have turkey but a “Tofurkey” ham, but all our fixings were the same: sweet potato and green bean casseroles, and pumpkin pie.
As planned, we watched our traditional Thanksgiving movies Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Pieces of April. We also watched Home for the Holidays, one of my wife’s favorite Thanksgiving movies.
After she went to sleep for a few hours, I finally was able to settle down and read:
Tomorrow, I still plan to start a reread of Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. However, I might not get to reading Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography by Eric Idle as I initially had planned this weekend. For now, I just plan to go back and forth between The Lord God Made Them All and Good Omens. We’ll see how that goes.
Stay tuned. I’ll be back to report on my progress tomorrow night, Saturday and Sunday nights too.
November didn’t begin with a long weekend, unlike the last few months. However, it did end with a long weekend as I was off extra from Nov. 21 to Nov. 25, including our 22nd wedding anniversary on Nov. 23.
Before that long weekend, we did get a short weekend away on Nov. 10 and 11, as we went to Maryland for a baby shower for one of Kim’s sisters, then the next weekend, I worked on my one Saturday of the month and then watched the NASCAR championship race with neighbors that Sunday.
The shower itself went well, but we had to leave the hotel we were staying at (the in-laws’ house was full) because of roaches. In our case, it was dead roaches. In the case of some other family members who were staying at the hotel, we learned the next morning, there were live roaches. We ended up back at the in-laws anyway and, though it was overcrowded, we made it work.
Thanksgiving Week, we participated in a “hate watch” of all the Twilight movies, inspired by a friend on Instagram. We were assisted by copious amounts of alcohol and Rifftrax. Thanksgiving Day, we had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. On our anniversary, we didn’t go out to dinner, but instead stayed in, ate leftovers, and watched Crazy Rich Asians, which was amazing. Then over the last three days of my long weekend, I reread The River Why by David James Duncan for Thankfully Reading Weekend 2018.
Other than that, the primary focus (obviously) the rest of the month was on getting good, restful sleep. And on that front, I succeeded, as with my CPAP, my numbers stayed below four incidents per hour. Before the CPAP, the number was 87 (!!!!), thus necessitating the CPAP in the first place.
Forward to December
December comes in like a lion and hopefully will go out like a lamb. Tomorrow is an annual Christmas event in our town, Dickens of a Christmas, and I am working at the library, where we have a book sale (today and tomorrow). We won’t see a lot of patrons, as they are trying to avoid town and most of the visitors aren’t buying books but are partaking of cookies and cider provided by our library’s Friends group and using our facilities. All in all, it is a hellish day, especially for an introvert like myself who loathes crowds.
The following three weeks are (should be) uneventful with the only thing of note on the agenda a staff Christmas luncheon next Friday, with the library closing early, meaning that next weekend begins early.
The month ends with a long series of days where I’m on vacation (starting on Friday, Dec. 21) and the library is closed (Saturday through Tuesday, the day after Christmas) interrupted by two days of work on Thursday, Dec. 27 and Friday, Dec. 28. Those two days could be as atrocious as (the?) Dickens, as we could have lots of books (and movies) to shelve and most patrons coming in for movies. But it will be OK, since we will have spent time with my parents and sister and her family Christmas Day (the worst is really over *just kidding, for sister who will be reading this*) and I have a holiday weekend to look forward to (the best is yet to come *2019*). I say “I” because my wife, who is a 911 dispatcher, will be working all weekend. However, unlike years past where we haven’t been together New Year’s Eve, we should be able to be together this year, because Tuesday is one of her regular days off. Fingers crossed.
So how was your month of November? Read any good books, seen any good movies and/or TV shows, listened to any good music? What was the highlight of your month? What are you looking forward to in December? Share in the comments.
…our Thanksgiving Week went exactly as I outlined last post:
I watched the Monster Energy NASCAR Championship with neighbors. My driver, Martin Truex Jr., did not win the title, but he was “in the mix” at the end.
Kim and I did a “hate watch” of the Twilight movies from Sunday night through Wednesday, with the help of Rifftrax and alcohol.
It was just the two of us for Thanksgiving dinner as Kim worked the midnight shift that night and we were unable to go to my parents because she still needed to sleep before going in.
Friday, Kim and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary by staying in and eating leftovers.
Friday, Saturday, and today, I participated, and still am participating, in the 2018 edition of Thankfully Reading Weekend (click on the link on image above for more information).
Since Friday, I reread most of this book and plan to finish it. I will admit that I skimmed parts of it in the beginning, because Duncan can be long-winded. I had forgotten about that since I read probably more than 20 years ago, when I was still in college. That said, I am enjoying it, especially my favorite part in the book, which still is my favorite part in the book, and am not rushing the rest of it. I am letting it flowover me over three days, including today, cleanse my soul, and hopefully refresh my reading mojo.
Over the weekend, we also watched this movie:
…and it was great. Neither of us have read the book, so we can’t speak to it, but the movie was amazing. It’s one from this year that you need to see.
How was your week/weekend/holiday? Was reading included? If so, read anything good? Watch anything good?
In October, Kim and I went to dinner and a movie, I read three and a quarter books, I chilled with cheese, crackers, and wine, and Seamus chilled in a new chair.
The month began as planned with a three-day weekend, ending with Kim and I having our neighbor over for a Drunk History binge-watch/drinkalong. The month continued on track as I participated in Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon on Saturday, Oct. 20. I finished three and a quarter books in about eight hours:
She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
Normandy Gold by Megan Abbott, Alison Gaylin and Steve Scott (illustrator)
Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint (maybe I’ll finish before the end of the month)
But then after the month had been on track…
…although not quite that bad, as I believe, in the long run as a result, I’ll be back on track, but a different track.
The short(ened) version is this:
This past Monday night I did a home sleep study.
Tuesday morning I learned I have severe sleep apnea. I was set up for a hospital sleep study Wednesday night.
Tuesday afternoon I was called by the sleep lab at the hospital that they wanted me to get a CPAP machine the next day even before my sleep study. The medical supply store in our town only has a person from a neighboring town come to our town’s store once a week for CPAP fittings. That day is Wednesday, and the sleep lab didn’t want me to wait until this coming Wednesday for a machine since my sleep apnea was so severe.
Wednesday afternoon I got a machine and a mask.
Wednesday night I had the sleep study.
Thursday I came home with the machine and started using it that night.
My wife was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation last August and as part of her treatment, she was put on a CPAP machine which has helped her immensely. Since then, she has kept telling me that I have sleep apnea and that I should be on a CPAP. Obviously she was right. I now look forward to getting the help I need. Or perhaps I am being rerouted, as Deb mentioned in the comments (after I posted this initially):
“Actually, you were on the way to a train crash and now, with your new machine, you have been rerouted.”
Speaking of forward…
Forward to November
Unlike the last few months, my month doesn’t begin with a long weekend. However, it does end with a long weekend as I have off extra for Thanksgiving from Wednesday, Nov. 21, to Sunday, Nov. 25. Friday, Nov. 23 also happens to be our 22nd wedding anniversary. While my wife Kim isn’t off that day, she does work midnight shift so later in the day we will be able to go to dinner (of course, it also happens to fall on Black Friday, but we live in a small town so I don’t know how much that will really affect our plans).
Other than that, the focus (obviously) will be getting good, restful sleep. The long-term plan is also to lose weight, which I have gained considerably within the last couple of years. But to do that, I need the energy to be able to exercise. As for my diet, well…that’s a whole other thing, but I’ll also be working on that too. I will say, though, it’s not my wife’s home-cooked food that is the problem. It’s food (and drink) that I get on my own otherwise.
I’ll leave you with the song that has been in my head for the last few months and now it can be in yours too:
So how was your month of October? Read any good books, seen any good movies and/or TV shows, listened to any good music? What was the highlight of your month? What are you looking forward to in November? Share in the comments.
Still an unfinished person... 