APRIL 2012 RECAP

BOOKS I READ

• Catching Fire and Mockingjay, (Books 2 and 3 in the Hunger Games series)

I think that was it, not a lot of reading got done in April.  It's not that I wasn't reading, I just had a really hard time getting into anything enough to finish it.  I started several books, but nothing grabbed me enough to keep reading.  I think this was probably a problem with me and my own apparent restlessness and nothing to do with the skill, or lack thereof, of the authors.

I was less than impressed with Mockingjay, to be honest.  I liked the 2nd book, but the 3rd one lacked zip and action, which is one of the things that made the first two books fun to read.  More than that, I felt like the author lost the ability to make me feel anything about the characters.  I spent most of the book, waiting impatiently for Katniss to snap the freak out of it, which she never did, even into the climax and ending of the book.

MOVIES AND TV I WATCHED

• Once Upon a Time-- SO glad it's back!  Oh, I like that August guy.  I like him like him like him.  His increasingly larger role makes me a happy girl.
• New Girl-- I'm behind, but dang that show cracks me up.  Jake Johnson is hilarious!
• GCB- When this show first aired, all I heard about it was controversy and how horrible it was.  Having not seen it, my response was "Well, it's too bad... but if you don't like it, don't watch it."  After a bit, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to watch at least one episode to see what was so awful about it.  I loved it.  Does it make fun of church facades?  Sure....  but it's light-hearted and not off-base, either.  I laugh nearly every episode...
• Chimpanzee-- This looked cute.  One of those documentary-type movies that I figured my kids would like, and they did.  I, however, sort of snoozed through it.  The baby monkey was cute, but it got pretty dull and just seemed to drag on and on and on and on.  And on.  Okay for Netflix, not okay for movie prices.
• The Lizzie Bennet Diaries-- Technically, this is neither TV nor movies, but YouTube.  But I love this. They've basically taken Pride and Prejudice, and rewritten the story as it might happen in modern-times through Elizabeth Bennett's vlog.  Brilliant.  I've been watching it with my daughter, McKenzie.  After a few episodes, we were talking about it and I mentioned, "It's based on a book that you'll probably read in high school."  To which, she replied, "YOU MEAN IT'S NOT REAL??"

MUSIC I ADDED

• Taylor Swift-- Just the song "Ours."  I'm not a huge Taylor Swift fan, but sometimes she puts out songs that I like.
• Chris Young's "Neon" album--  I've liked two of his last singles quite a lot, so I decided to pick up his whole album
• Christina Perri's "lovestrong" album-- A friend of mine loves Christina, so I finally decided to check her out.  I like her.  A lot of very heartfelt songs...  My favorites (right now) are "jar of hearts" and "sad song."
• Mickey Coleman's "A Mother's Lullaby" album-- Mickey's an Irish artist that I was introduced to awhile back by another friend.  She kept telling me I'd like him, and I kept putting her off, but she ended up being very right.  Mickey's a solid musician and songwriter and his songs from his first album consistently rank in my favorites.  This album skews a little differently in tone, but a lot of good songs on it.  I'm particularly taken with "Judgement Day" and "Can always count on you" at the moment.
• I also cleared off my main playlist and started over, which is great!  I maintain several genre'd playlists, but I also keep one that I call "Right Now." It's basically everything I'm into at the moment and I just play it on Shuffle.  I love not knowing what's going to come next...  It spans multiple genres and I love the relative spontaneity of it all.  But I clear it off every 3 months or so and start over... so every 3 months, it feels like I've gotten a brand new collection of music! lol

THINGS THAT HAPPENED

• Participated in the A to Z blogging challenge-- PHEW, I'm beat!!!  But it was great and I'm really glad I did it.  I was starting to poop out there at the end, though!
• Easter-- My children dressed me and insisted that the sweater I was wearing needed leggings, not jeans, as accompaniment.  I was... hesitant. Big girls don't wear leggings as a public service, but the fashionistas were adamant, and so I relented, but worried the whole way to the Saturday evening service.  I stopped worrying when I walked in and observed the woman in her pajamas and bunny slippers. Saturday evening is apparently very lowkey.
• The sun came out-- Often.  I live in Washington.  After months of gray, this is noteworthy.
• Kids' science fair- After a weekend of school dance and Easter, it is unfair to make science projects due the next day, Mr School. Especially when I have three children required to have science projects.  You will be consulting me next year on scheduling.
• Flu- We had the flu. A lot.  
• Spring break was spent painting the kids' room-- The original plan was actually to stay home for spring break and spend it doing fun things with my best friend and her daughter.  But, sadly, our districts didn't have spring break scheduled for the same week, so we had to scrap that.  Instead, we painted and painted and painted, and oh my gosh, painted some more.  Also, spent an afternoon at Fort Flagler on the other side of the Puget Sound.  Gotta chase the sun.
• Twins went to camp-- So we were left with just Alicia for a couple days.  It is REALLY QUIET when you only have one child.  It was eerily weird.
• I joined a reading challenge- Which starts today. I should probably acquire a book or two.
• Stephen King's Wind Through the Keyhole (Book 4.5 of Dark Tower) was ordered- Not delivered, mind you. I'm STILL waiting.  But ordered.  I'm not preordering anymore!!!!
• Had dinner with a friend-- There are people that are part of your life that just drip wisdom into your life like they're a wisdom percolator.  This is one of those friends.  I am always so glad to spend time with her; I just want to soak soak soak up the things she has to say.
• Attended a non-football game-- It's absolutely silly to drive 600 miles round-trip to go to a football game that isn't even a real football game.  But we did it, and I was so happy!  The weather was beautiful, the game was fun, we introduced the youngest to the awesomeness of live football and Autzen Stadium.  BRILLIANT weekend and totally worth the crazy.