Hello! How are you all doing this fine Sunday? It’s a little after 10 a.m. here and I am just finishing up my second cup of coffee for the morning. The Hub is VERY excited about the Green Bay game scheduled for later today. The weather is going to be interesting. I seriously do not know how those guys play in such conditions. It’s crazy to me!
Speaking of weather, so many of you are dealing with record snowfall and here in California, we are dry as a bone! So dry, that the news stations are talking about nothing but water rationing which makes me very nervous. My house sits on a quarter acre which is mostly landscaped with grass. This takes a lot of water. If money were not a concern, I’d hardscape half of it but that is not an option for us right now.
A lot of my friends went skiing this past weekend and there was no snow! No REAL snow. Without snow pack, we are gonna be toast comes summer. I sure hope we get some weather soon. I do not want to deal with brush fires so early in the year.
Anyway, enough weather.
Yesterday we took a drive to Santa Barbara. We had delicious pizza for lunch AND I hit one of my favorite bookstores, Chaucer’s. It was incredibly busy and it was really hard to walk around. BUT, I was on a mission to find a copy of A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami and guess what? After teetering on a step stool to reach it, and trying it get it down with this very pushy lady refusing to move over, I got a copy!
I managed to also snag an audio copy from the library, but I am trying to collect print copies of all of Murakami’s books so I was happy to finally place my hands on this one.
After roaming around Santa Barbara all day long, we headed home but stopped for steak and shrimp fajitas. Boy, were they good. I am still thinking about that meal.
Today? We are just hanging around. We’ll watch football of course but my plan this week is to enjoy my  last week off from work. One more week and then it’s back to the grind.
What am I reading?
I have done a lot of reading or at least it feels as if I have. I finished The Rosie Project and loved it. I also finished The Last Days of California by Mary Miller and adored that one. If I can surround myself by books like those, all year-long, I’ll be a happy camper.
What am I cooking?
I haven’t been in a cooking mood. I think the warmer weather has kept me from wanting to cook. That said, it’s been cooler at night so of course it’s then that I am wanting soup or something warm and there’s nothing around to eat!
 What am I watching?
Oh, there has been a lot of watching. With the kids home, we have been watching lots and lots of movies. Mostly old stuff, because that is what we seem to like but we’ve been catching up on recorded shows too. In a little bit, I will be watching Rear Window. That is such a fun movie. The Girl is not into it but I am hoping to pull her away from her Kindle by having it on in the background.
What are you all up to? Did you do anything fun this weekend? Cooking anything good? Any resolutions you want to share? I am HORRIBLE with resolutions so I don’t make any, otherwise I’d share.
I just can’t believe that we are in 2014 now. The holidays flew by and so did my time off. My plan this week is to stretch out my last week home. I want every day to count. The Otter Pup is sure going to miss us when we all head back to school and work. She’s been my little lap dog for well over two weeks now. Who am I kidding? She probably can’t wait to have us out of here so she can return to all day snoozing.
Book Chatter 
I loved this post…you sound content and happy! Good books, family…great food…all things that make us feel content.
It’s cold here and now we have icy rain…so we are under warm throws…occasionally a kitty comes over to check us out but we are really sort of locked in…making pita pizzas again for dinner with a big salad…they were so good the first time!
I thought Den was going to make tacos!
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Right now I’m up to reading Sunday Salon posts. I have about 15 tabs open of posts ready to read. As for the weekend, I’ve finished my first book of the year, The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan, which was good, and I’m not sure what my next book will be. Resolutions? Keeping it pretty simple: lose weight, be on social media less (yeah, good luck with that one, huh?) and no reading challenges. The cooking I leave to the wife: last night it was burgers and they were great. 🙂
I just finished reading Sunday Salon posts. It’s taken me a good hour or more to get through them and some haven’t posted yet.
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I’m not finished yet, but have to run to the store now so after a brief break, I’ll be back to them. At least, I enjoy reading them all. 🙂
I’ve been starting books and putting them aside to start others…I am in a I don’t know what to read mood.
With me being off, I am reading what I am in the mood for right now and it’s working. All the other stuff gets pushed aside.
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I hear you about the holidays- they flew past and of course the whole family was violently ill at some point during that week! I am heading back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off and honestly don’t know how I will drag myself out of bed….. Weather here has been cold, snowy blah. I don’t mind cold but anything under 30 degrees makes it hard to go outside as much as I would like to.
I keep hearing such good things about The Rosie project I need to check it out somehow….
With going back to work, you will need a smile or two and if you can grab a copy of The Rosie Project, your return to work will be a little easier. Especially if you snag bits of reading time at lunch.
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Congrats on A Wild Sheep Chase! Especially getting around the rude woman. 🙂 I just got my 13 and 15 yo kids into Hitchcock this past year and now they talk about him like they have always loved him. And we also all enjoyed the Anthony Hopkins/Helen Mirren Hitchcock biopic. Enjoy the soup and I hope you get some precipitation soon!
I read a sampler from The Rosie Project last week and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it–between that and your recommendation, I may just have to get a copy. Also, glad you had a good outing at Chaucer’s–I’m envious!
I’m watching the Packer game right now huddled under a blanket while wearing sweats, fuzzy socks, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. I’d rather be home though than in Green Bay. I may be born and raised in Wisconsin but you couldn’t pay me to go to that game today.
Yikes! I hope you get some rain soon. I wish I could send you some of our snow just to equalize things.
Enjoy your last week of vacation. I went back on Thursday and it was tough. I can only imagine how rough this full week will be. Oh, well. You play, you pay.
Have a great week!
My daughter ended up going to work with daddy and my son just rolled out of bed so it’s nice and quiet, but I have no food in the house. Hate that. So at some point I have to dress like a grown-up and go shopping for food. I SO hate food shopping.
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One day some genius is going to have to figure out a way to move some of the excess moisture one area is getting to a place that is short on moisture. Doesn’t it always seem like whenever one area is getting hammered with snow or rain, another area is in drought?
I’m thinking our cats can’t wait for us to all get back to regular routines so they can do all of the things they can’t do while we’re home – like sleep on the kitchen table.
Love that a bookstore was so crowded that you had to get pushy to get what you wanted!
That would be great! If we had just 1/10th of what the rest of the country is getting, we’d be good.
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I gave up on resolutions years ago! Our nephew left yesterday and Vance left today so I’ve been washing sheets and towels and making beds. I’ll be working on getting the house back in order all week long.
The only pressing thing that I must do is go food shopping. Boy, do I hate that.
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Yeah it was really warm in Calif. I couldn’t believe it. We are back now but it was 77 quite a few days at the OC. Yikes I hope you get snowpack. You are on a roll with your reading. I’ll be interested to see your reviews of those 2 books. cheers. http://www.thecuecard.com/
Nice find!! Everytime I go to the used bookstore I look for Murakami and I’m usually disappointed. Maybe people just hang on to his books?
I looked up our weather in the Farmer’s almanac today and it said that our summer will be hotter and drier than usual. Honestly I can’t imagine anything hotter or drier than we’ve had. I hope your summer isn’t the same.
Enjoy your last little bit off!
The Girl just told me she wants to go to work with dad tomorrow so I might have some down time!
I absolutely LOVE Rear Window. You need to look into Letterboxd, since you watch so many movies. I thought of you when I signed up. Kids go back to school today, praise Jesus. But as you know, with that comes a whole new set of problems.
My kids are still off but the girl decided to hang out with dad at work today. The teen just rolled out of bed. I have to hit the market in this freakin’ wind. Not -50 here but my skin is so dry I think my face may crack.
I signed up for Letterboxd although I am not sure how often I will get on there. I don’t watch much of the new stuff. When I was a film major I use to pick movies apart but now I watch for pure enjoyment and for the distraction.
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I am envious that you still have a week off. I am sitting at my home desk, drinking my tea, and looking at the clock. Will be leaving for work in a bit and I am already sleepy. I slept way too much during the holidays.
Happy new year! You Westcoasters are super lucky. I don’t do winter. 🙂
I am glad you had a good day in SB and at Chaucer’s! I shopped at Chaucer’s right before Christmas, but also got a gift certificate so get to go back! YAY! Rear Window is a great movie, but I haven’t watched it in so long… now you’ve got me thinking….
I thought Chaucer’s would be picked over after the holidays but the books were piled all over the place. More so than usual. There were soooo many people. The lady said it was because the tide was too high. I could not stand in any one place for more than a second without someone asking me to move. It was crazy. I had the kids and hub with me and they were getting frazzled so after getting what I came for, I booked it outta there.
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I’m not one who does well with resolutions either. But glad to have books to read and good movies to watch at the beginning of a new year. And for some long waited TV series. 😉