What I'm into (and how my January habit worked out)
It's the first edition of my new end-of-the-month feature! Whee!
So.
What I Read
Better Than Before
Gretchen Rubin talks about four personality tendencies (Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, and Rebel) in this book. I'm pretty sure I'm a mix of Upholder and Obliger, with maybe a little bit more Upholder than Obliger.
Interestingly, this means I should be fairly good at adopting habits. We'll see how this plays out with my 12 months of habits that I'm going to work on this year.
I liked her advice about making it easy to make the right choices (leave the exercise clothes out, put the cookies in a hard to reach place) and I particularly liked her emphasis on figuring out what works for you. I am ALL about that.
(the whole I'll be me and you can be you thing.)
Wonder
This is a sweet story about a kid with a cranio-facial deformation, and while it's kid-friendly, I think it's a book adults can enjoy just as well. I love how the author managed to really make the voicing of the different characters really sound like kids/teens, without turning this into a really elementary book.
I saw there's a companion book out now, so I put that on hold at the library.
(My kids are currently reading Wonder now, and enjoying it.)
Some of you had asked for kid reading recommendations, so I'll try to throw some of those into these monthly posts as well. Sonia and Zoe are currently working their way through the massive Redwall series. And of course, they're reading Wonder (Sonia already finished!).
They're also enjoying re-reading How They Croaked, a delightfully irreverent look at the ends of famous people. And they're reading a bunch of books and stories about ancient Greece, because that's what we're studying in history at the moment.
All of the above are library books.
I love the library.
What I Watched
I actually don't think I watched anything at all in January. No, no, that's not right. A friend came over and watched the BBC miniseries North and South with my girls and me. It's kind of a sad miniseries (at least for 3 out of the 4 episodes!), but I thought it was really thought-provoking, in sort of the same way that the book Below Stairs was.
We streamed it from Netflix, which was lovely.
I didn't watch much TV, but I did spend a fairly large amount of time playing Words with Friends on my phone. A smarty-pants, word-loving, competitive friend heard that I love Scrabble and he couldn't believe I hadn't tried Words with Friends. So, I downloaded the app and proceeded to get completely trounced for the first few games.
Words with Friends has a lot of differences from Scrabble and it takes some getting used to!
I did come back and beat him at two games though, so I feel slightly better, although I am currently getting trounced again.
His wife and Joshua are now in on the fun, so I have 6 active games of Words With Friends happening.
I'm normally not much on games, but when they involve words, I'm all in.
What I'm listening to
The girls gave me the new Adele album for Christmas, and then I decided to buy her other two albums, so that's mostly what I've been listening to music-wise. I got them all through iTunes, and I love that there's no physical clutter this way. Yay!
Fellow Adele/Downton Abbey fans: Have you noticed that the strings on Love in the Dark sound SO much like the Downton Abbey theme??
I'm also working my way through The Fizzle Show, a podcast for entrepreneurs. I'm a little slow, I know, but I didn't realize until relatively recently that I could download podcasts and listen to them while I drive. Duh.
So, I've been using any alone time in the car to catch up on podcast episodes. I must say, this does give me a better attitude about running errands and such. 😉
January Goal Update
My goal for January (and for the rest of the year, as this is a continuing goal) is to cook dinner once with each of my kids each month.
I'm pleased to say this did indeed happen in January! Joshua made French Toast, Sonia made Swiss Mushroom Chicken, Zoe made tacos, and Lisey made Sloppy Joes.
I think this is going to work out pretty well! Once a week feels manageable, and that's key in helping me to be consistent with a habit.
February Goal
I'm going to try to keep on trucking with my January goal, and this month, I want to add in something that's completely not related to frugality: stretching.
In our martial arts class, we do a lot of stretching, and while it's great to do that once a week, if I want to make progress, I really need to stretch more than that.
So. I'd like to start an every-day habit of practicing my three splits (left leg forward, right leg forward, straddle), touching my toes (I can already touch them, but I can't bend completely in half yet), and doing one other stretch that is sort of hard to explain.
(I seriously sat here for several minutes trying to put it into words and I'm failing.)
Ooh! This will work. It's like George Washington praying, and then you lean your torso down and try to touch your inside elbow to the floor, and eventually your shoulder. But I can't even get my elbow down, so, first things first.
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Alrighty! This concludes the inaugural version of the Saturday morning post. Hopefully a stretchier Kristen will report back in a month. 😉
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Add me to completely behind in the times.. Podcasts.. Where do you find them and do they eat your data when you are accesssing them without Wifi? I hear people talk about listening to them working out etc.. but I am lazy so I hardly ever workout.. thus.. have not looked into the Podcasts.. Maybe if I figure it out.. it will make me feel obliged to use them and take a walk! lolThanks
That was my hesitation too...I thought you had to stream them! I have an iPhone, so I use the Apple podcasts app, but I'm sure there's something for Android too.
In the podcasts app, you download the episodes while you're on wifi and then play them when you're out and about. Once the episode is played, it gets automatically deleted, so it doesn't take up space on your phone.
I never knew this -- thank you!
NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have an I phone so I will look into that! Interesting!
I applaud your stretching. As an older woman nearing 72, I began a strength training program recently. It feels so good to be able to lug grocery bags up a flight of stairs again!
Here's to being flexible and strong at any age!
Good for you! It's never too late to start (that's what I tell myself when I see Sonia and Zoe and their super good flexibility.)
When I was a kid my mom assigned us a weeknight to cook. We had to choose what to make, find the recipe and make sure the ingredients were in the house or on the grocery list. As adults, my brother and I both love to cook!
If you enjoy Words with Friends, you should try Wordbrain! I love it. And I only play word-based games too!
Also, check out the "Serial" podcast about the case of Adnan Syed. It's captivating!
I recently started to play WordBrain and I'm hooked. There's a bit more of a challenge than most word games in how you have to get the words in the right order.
I know several people who've loved the Serial podcast! So it's definitely a new one to try if you like podcasts.
Good for you and your kids with the cooking! I started cooking with my niece when she was little - she's 14 now and a pretty good cook. Just last week she said something about the time she and my hubs made pizza when she was in kindergarten, and she felt soooo grownup as she was sprinkling the cheese. 🙂
My kids loved the Redwall books. They read them all and couldn't wait for the next one to come out. They were their go-to books when they wanted a comfort read of something familiar.
WWF is the only phone game I play, and I am completely addicted. I only let myself play once a day (otherwise I could waste the whole day on playing).
In January I started a money diary to keep track of my spending. It has helped me cut down on frivolous spending. I started using the Teacher's Library Card that allows us to "shop" from the catalog and have to books delivered to our school and keep them for an unlimited about of time. Bye bye Amazon for school reading material.
Really enjoyed this new feature! Gotta love kids who love to read -- such a great thing, it just warms a parent's heart. Have never played WWF - Boggle fan -- and not stellar, either! Will have to try it. I think my big takeaway from your post is I could be getting more out of my phone -- podcasts, WWF -- all free.
And the library is so stinking great -- mine is even forgiving all overdue fees from February 1 - February 14 in honor of Valentine's day. I am currently finishing a couple things and can relax a bit. And am amazed you have time to do all you do -- go FG! 🙂
If you like boggle, there's a free game called WordCrack that you can get addicted to like me 🙂
Oooo -- thanks! I will look into it!
Oh, and the picture of GW to show your stretch -- brilliant!
North and South, Adele and a need to work on stretching....have you been looking at my bullet journal? 🙂
I love that your kids are reading Redwall books- I read them when I was young (and I'm 30 now). I have two boys, 2 and 4, who love cooking with me. I use it to teach math and science as well as cooking.
Love this feature! I want to check out that Gretchen Rubin book - it looks very interesting. And I must admit that I am curious about the Google image search that resulted in the painting of George Washington praying! Haha 😉
It actually just occurred to me as I was writing. I guess that painting was stored in my brain somewhere!
Jo (SimplyBeingMum) put me onto North & South last year. I devoured the whole thing in a day (I was at home sick...). Richard Armitage! Be still my heart!
I love word games and numbers games as well, but I mostly play WWF!! I also got the new Adele album for Christmas and it's awesome!!! It's bad when I get to work and can't get Helloooooo out of my head! Lol
Ahhhhh...you love the library! Music to my ears. As a retired Elementary Librarian I spent countless hours reading aloud to my students. Even my 6th graders never tired of listening to a good chapter book. A parent who realizes the value of the written word enables their children to excel, not only in education, but in the exploration of the world around them. Redwall is a wonderful series in the fantasy genre. Bravo!â¤ï¸
For the Wonder book, there is actually a whole series, not just one more. I think there are like 5 more that are currently out?
I liked the idea of Better than Before, but she got WAYYYY too into diet. When she was going on and on and about bacon being better for you then fruit, and her pushing her low-carb diet on everyone, it got SUPER tiring. I was interested to read about changing habits in general, but there was way way too much low-carb zealism in there, especially with all the research that says bacon helps cause cancer and most fruits help prevent it. It was just, ugh. I read "The Power of Habit" by Charles someone, and that was one was a MUCH better habits book, I felt. If you are really trying to change habits, I suggest that one!
Haha. I kind of thought the same thing about the Rubin, although I enjoyed the book overall. And her poor sister! I think my sister would kill me if I made all those "helpful" suggestions for improvement.
What stuck with me from that book, which I find valuable, was "decide not to decide." If I just don't eat candy, period, I don't have to decide that I will or won't take candy from the bowl at work. That flipped a switch in my brain.
It's a good thing her sister isn't a Rebel, or things wouldn't have worked out so well!
Searching for a recipe and surprisingly found a new post! Love podcasts: backstory, Ted radio, radio lab...there even podcasts about sewing or knitting or whatever your hobby is!
I like this post! I'm always looking for ideas on what to read/watch/listen to. Gretchen Rubin and her sister have a great podcast, Happier.
Regarding goals for the year (adopting habits was mentioned), my mom passed from this life last month, and two days later, our third grandson was born. My goal this year (besides the typical "diet" and "save money") is this: redeem the time with my loved ones, and squeeze every joy out of every minute available with them! That will automatically re-prioritize my goals in my senior citizen years.
I'm so sorry about your mom!
Looooved North and South! I watched the entire miniseries in a day, and then watched it all again the next day 🙂 And then I got the book from the library and read it in two days. (Which is perhaps the only upside to being temporarily off work due to an injury, that I have time to do these things.)
Can you really do the splits?? And three ways, no less!! Egads. O_O I'm completely impressed.
Well. I can do them in the sense that I can work on them. But I cannot get all the way to the floor for any of the three yet!
I'm getting fairly close with my right leg in front. But the left leg in front and the straddle (especially the straddle!) have a ways to go.