I know that summer is not over just yet, but it feels like it to me. We didn’t get to take a vacation this year and I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. It’s made me a bit blue and well…rather crabby but I’m trying to rise above it.
Last week we did the back-to-school clothes shopping and although The Boy is pretty easy, The Girl is anything but! She is very particular with sizing. It has to fit just so and so we tend to get into it while in the dressing room. I don’t think that her jeans need to be painted on but apparently I am un-cool and don’t know. Â Oh and the shoes!! How many shoes do kids need??? BOTH of my kids have really large feet and they just keep growing and now with cross country for The Boy, I have running shoes to invest in as well. I need a second job just to pay for these shoes!
And during all of this, my husband who was walking behind me stepped on the heel of my shoe (flat tire) and broke my shoe while we were shopping. Who does that??? I had to buy shoes for myself while my shoe was just dangling off of my foot. I felt like an idiot. Of course, the shoes I bought have given me nothing but blisters all week. That’s what happens when you buy shoes out of desperation. You get the shaft.
The good note?
All of this fall shopping has made me anxious for fall. I love fall. Warm sweaters, candles, the holiday drink menu at Starbucks. I love it all. So although I sort of skipped over summer, I am looking forward to fall and my son’s first year in high school!
What about reading?
As for reading, my summer list never really looked much like a summer reading list anyway but I’ve read five out of the original nine listed and a bunch of other books in between.
This stack that you see above? This is what happens to be staring me in the face at the moment. Two of those books are for tours and I have checked Divergent out four times and still haven’t gotten to it! It’s due next week, with holds, so if I don’t read it this weekend, I will once again be turning it in.
Right now, I am halfway through Gone Girl and wondering where the WOW is. Well, I might be a little further along than that but I keep waiting for the WOW that everyone talks about. I am also reading Norwegian Wood. I am nearly done with it. It’s definitely one of Murakami’s quieter novels. I am enjoying it for its peaceful simplicity.
Not much going on this weekend. I’d like to just watch a bunch of movies and read and maybe grill something but other than that, I don’t plan on doing much. Sounds just fine to me. Do you think it will happen?
Book Chatter 
We didn’t get a vacation this year either. I’m pretty tied down with our senior dog right now and Carl and Vance have opened a business. Seasons don’t matter much to me right now.
What kind of business did they start?
I think Gone Girl gets better after that point. And while I did think it was, wow, I thought that on different levels, one being a more quiet, reflective level after the end.
I love the holiday menu at Starbucks too, LOL! It’s always in July that I start feeling really nostalgic for Christmastime, actually. LOL
The Christmas in July sales killed me this year! I did take advantage of a few of them but my spending is cut wayyyy down with the family business not doing well.
I hope things start looking up. Sounds like you are having a rough go of it. I really haven’t felt like I’ve had a summer either…since our vacations were earlier in the year and now the summer is so hot and humid here…who the heck wants to be outside…except to take the little one to the pool, which she just loves!
I haven’t read much lately…I’m sort of slowing down on that front with three books going nowhere fast — The Color of Tea (which I really have to finish this weekend), Wayne of Gotham, and When My Brother Was an Aztec…( though I may shelve this until we decide our next book club picks since I’m nominating it).
Aw, no vacay? That’s no fun. Sorry it’s put you in a funk. I can’t stand summer in general because it’s so darn hot in Texas and will continue to be until about October, wherein it will be hot one week and cool the next. Grr. Texas weather…
I am so ready for fall. I always am. Fall and spring are the only decent weather we get around these parts. 🙂
Southern California has been very unpredictable weather wise. We never used to have “fall” weather but for the past two years we have and it’s even snowed for a couple of winters in a row. It’s strange but I love it. This summer has been very mild. We had a hot week of 110 temps and next week is supposed to be hot as well but today it’s 80 and dry. Can’t complain. Since The Girl is now a swimmer and swims all day at camp, there are no more swim lessons for me to go to, no poolside reading… no splashing in the background. That was my summer soundtrack for so many years.
I hope that you have a fun weekend! Back to school shopping can definitely be traumatic to the pocketbook. I’m going to make a trip to the store today to see if the supply lists have been posted yet.
I’ve started Norwegian Wood a couple times on my kindle but paper books eventually call me away. I also have a paperback of the Wind Up Bird Chronicle and would probably get through it faster if the print weren’t so small.
Have a good, better, best rest of summer!
I have three Murakami books in various stages of completeness. I am nearly done with NW. I read about ten pages a night from Wind-Up Bird and I also read a chapter or two each week from Hard Boiled Wonderland. They are all over my house so wherever I am, dictates when and if they get read. Ha! I love them so much I parse them out.
I hope all of us junkies haven’t ruined that book for you. I had WOW moments a few times, maybe more than a few. But I went into it knowing absolutely nothing. We did have a vacation, so I’m thankful for that, but now I am beleaguered with back-to-school, an out of control yard and pool, catching up on Animal Shelter hours, football practice, and kids that REALLY need to go back to school. *grump*
I knew you were not going to love that book…it’s not your kind of book…lol…I strongly disliked with My Body…
I wouldn’t say that I don’t like it.. I just don’t get the shock over it. Unless I am not yet to the shocking stuff.
I’m still waiting for Gone Girl from the library. Going to try it on audio. Still waiting for a vacation, too! I’ve spent most of the summer inside in air conditioning, and all that sunshine is kind of going to waste on me.
I do the same thing. I sit inside with the AC on and then gaze out the window in between pages. I like to feel as if I am outside but actually being outside, unless it’s by a body of water or something is not something I seek out.
Summer always goes so fast, can’t stand it! I hope you end up enjoying Gone Girl. It’s such a wickedly twisted story, and I love me some dark for a good summer read!
My daughter once stepped on the back of my sandals while we were at the mall – total ruin of the shoes! I had to buy another pair before we could continue. Nothing worse than shoe shopping under duress! I LOVED Rules of Civility – working on the post as I type. And what’s not to love about fall? It’s my absolute favorite season… already looking forward to my first pumpkin spice latte!
Shopping under duress is a great way to put it. Those shoes are still giving me blisters and they were so expensive.
I absolutely loved Rules of Civility – hope you do too!
I am a cross country mom as well and yes the shoes are expensive with both trainers and spikes (and there will be track spikes in the spring). Fortunately our local running store gives a 15% discount to high school runners along with their loyalty program. Have fun with the season – youngest has been gone from the team for a year and we still go (husband helps time). In our case it truly is a family.
I must say, the cross country group has been so nice to work with. It’s a good group and I don’t mind spending money on it so much. Basketball was a totally different experience though.
It does indeed sound like you need a vacation, and the lack of one has caused you to be too stressed out. You should book a massage and try to forget about all that shoe madness, because that’s what it sounds like, absolute madness.
We also went out and got my son and daughter school clothes, and they were so disinterested and unhappy that it was like pulling teeth. How can I have raised kids who care not for clothes and shoes? I just don’t get it.
If they were disinterested, then maybe you managed to get away from having to spend too much. I am broke from the shopping!! Seriously! My daughter wants every color, every cute shirt and 20 pairs of shoes to choose from. The boy is no better!! He is a fashion statement for sure.
Soup! (That’s what I’m looking forward to…I love making soup.)
Sorry but I did have to laugh about you getting the shaft with buying the shoes out of desperation…:D
I don’t miss the mall shopping thing at all bu for the most part it’s always been an easy thing with the boys!! I love the fall too and have to say that this summer has been my favorite of all time. Normally, I’m ready to get back to work but I’m not there yet! Probably has much to do with the fact that my youngest will be graduating and that is something I’m trying not to focus on too much!!
I felt like such a goob hobbling around with one shoe at the mall. I swear this one lady thought I was homeless.
I hope you got to the WOW of Gone Girl by now! : )
And I’m sure dressing a girl is much much more challenging than dressing a boy of any age.
My review for Gone Girl posts on Thursday. I can see why some people might be wowed I guess, but I wasn’t.