Montaigne on Reading

The commerce of book goes side by side with me in my whole course, and everywhere is assisting to me; it comforts me in my age and solitude; it eases me of a troublesome weight of idleness, and it delivers me at all hours from company I dislike; and it blunts the points of griefs if there are not extreme, and have got an entire possession of my soul. To divert myself from a troublesome fancy 'tis but to run to my books; they presently fix me to them, and drive the other out of my thoughts; they always receive me with the same kindness.

Wow, I think I need to commit that to memory!
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New Normal

(I'm shamelessly stealing the title from Jen.)

It's been two weeks since I started working, and we are settling into a routine. Things have been more crazy than they will be in the future (I hope) because AJ is traveling a lot right now, we have several home projects at various stages of completion, and we had family in town for a long weekend. I am hoping that after this next week, we will be at a new normal.

I love my new job, the kids are doing great, the commute has been ok, and all in all, it feels like something we can manage. Yippee! I've been reflecting on the path that got me here, and I feel blessed and grateful. This is a good place for us.

Things that I'm not doing as much of as before:

Sleeping
Reading (sniff, sniff)
Wasting time on the computer
Exercising

And of course, the obvious, I'm not spending as much time with my kids, but, also, very happily, I'm not yelling at my kids as much.

It has been a very good two weeks.

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Baby Z--Not a Baby Anymore

We had a birthday last weekend, and our baby is now an official toddler. The Z-Man. He is throwing tantrums left and right and demanding to do everything on his own. But, he is still so sweet, so cuddly, and will still sit and read books with me--our
favorite activity.












The jack in the box was a big hit.

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