Summer Reading Program

Every year, I signed up for the summer reading program. There was always a silly theme. I had a clipboard to hold the list of the books I'd read, and I got a bookmark if I read 25, a certificate for a free balloon for 50 books, and a gift certificate for $5 at McDonalds if I read the top end of 500 books. I was always on track for the 500, with multiple mimeographed copies of the Title-Author-Favorite Part sheets to track my books and my stack of YA books that I had to carry with two straightened arms out to the car. I can't remember if I got the gift certificate or not. I'm the kind of kid to have gotten distracted the week before 475 and not realized that I only needed 25 more to hit the goal.

I signed the kid up for the summer reading program one year, the year that we lived the closest to the library. He was not yet reading himself and it seemed like it was even more obviously for me than for him, since he a) had no idea what a Summer Reading Program was, b) would have been more likely to gnaw on the bookmark than use it, and c) was excited about books, sure, but was also excited about empty boxes and cat food dishes. So. Since then, it's just seemed so arbitrary to start tracking all the reading we do from June to August, when it's not as if we are a family that needs to be prompted to read for the love of pete. There's a whisper of fear, that if I don't sign him up, and we don't meticulously track all the books he's read this summer (and HEY, how come I never got to keep that sheet with my accomplishments for the summer! How come the librarian got that and I got the lousy bookmark! I'd rather have the list!) if I don't, then maybe he'll be the generation that stops reading, that doesn't have books in his house, that becomes an adult who shrugs and says he just doesn't like reading all that much. God, that would be like him growing up to be an ultra conservative police officer.

I did check swimming lessons for him off the list of Things Good Parents Do for Their Children (aka Things that My Parents Did for Me that I Liked and Want to Repeat). Maybe next year will be the summer reading program.

ANYwho, I've been reading my butt off, of course. What else is there to do when you're on the cheaper generic version of Wellbutrin that must be taken twice a day and you can't remember to take it at noon so you take it around 4pm and then can't sleep til 3am, but aren't willing to use the Ambien that your doc also prescribed for you? What else, I ask?!

Leap Into Summer Reading! by That Biggirl

Still in Progress:
(an anomaly. I'm a finish all your peas, then eat your carrots kind of reader usually. Blame my meds.)
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel (good and excellent for falling asleep)
Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts
Kayaking the Full Moon by Steven Chapple (non-fiction and full of T. going back unfinished)
What are You Looking At? The First Fat Fiction Anthology edited by Donna Jarrell and Ira Sukrungruang (which includes one of my favorite short stories of all time, Waltzing the Cat by Pam Houston and is now on my to buy wish list)
The School of Beauty and Charm by Sumner (good, but going back today)
The Lavender Hour by Anne LeClaire (hospice volunteer, Cape Cod, pancreatic cancer. good)

Finished:
Hooked by Matt Richtel (look up the review on NPR. I give it two thumbs up.)
I'm Dying to Take Care of You by Snow and Willard (okay, I didn't finish it, but I couldn't see the word codependent any more)
Clinical Decision Making for Nurse Practitioners: A Case Study Approach by Denise Robinson (I love case studies! Love them!)


Leap into Summer Crafting!

In Progress: (this is normal, and in fact the only way that I craft.)
Prayer shawl begun on spring break with Cascade Quatro in teal and purple (halfway across one shoulder!)
Criss Cross crochet squares for kitchen decoration in Swish Superwash pine green
Stockinette Kitchen Towel in kitchen cotton blue and yellow
Tomato Napkins for my BF (pulled the fabric out of the bag yesterday and found the receipt dated 6-10-06!)

Leap into Summer Responsibilities!
Financial Aid paperwork turned in
Bank Account firmly into the negative from trips to Target and the thrift store for hangers, trashcans, meds, and fall work clothes for psych rotation (I'm up to -$225 by now, with likely more overdraft charges to follow. It's amazing that I can still have electricity, and food and clothes when I am $1600 in debt right this second, including the money I had to borrow against my fall financial aid money to pay July and August's rent! I feel like I should be sitting in a box right now, waiting until next Tuesday when magically money will appear in my bank account.)
Museum visited each afternoon
Tomatoes at mom's harvested (though negative balance will likely preclude another trip before financial aid disbursement)
Boxes unpacked in one corner of living room, another bookshelf and three boxes in kid's room to go.
Ex-Mother-In-Law visited and confirmed surviving an infiltration blood transfusion and a change in chemo.
Credit report pulled and list of letters of dispute made.
List of thank you notes for birthday presents or various small kindnesses over the past month made and stashed beside thank you cards.
Most meals made at home, with dishes washed afterwards.
Lots of movies watched, staying up late, waking up late and jacking around till 11:30 in the morning on the computer looking at stuff like this:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5212255

http://www.purlbee.com/babette-blanket-2/