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A July To-Do List

At my age, I’m pretty good at juggling. I have personal and professional goals and a bunch of errands and projects that I need to tackle. There are a lot of balls in the air, and I like to make lists so that nothing drops. And once I make that list, there is nothing better than checking things off it!

So, I thought I’d kick off the Ultimate Blog Challenge with my July to-do list. As you will see, it is chock-full of big-ticket items and things I’ve been putting off but need to deal with soon. So, without further adieu, here is what I’ve got so far:

  • Support my daughter, Jenna, as she begins her senior year of college and thinks about her post-graduation life. As a history major, I’ve been there before. A liberal arts degree is a wonderful thing, but it doesn’t always provide a straight path to success. There are lots of twists and turns and still so much “finding herself” that she has to do. But, there are plenty of options out there, and I know she will find them.
  • Shop and pack up my youngest child and recent high school grad, Andrew, for move-in day at Drexel University
    • Follow-up item: Emotionally prepare for his move-in day and begin to envision my life as an empty nester. Playlist suggestions and helpful mantras are welcome!
  • Plan our upcoming vacation. That’s right, I am about launch two healthy, kind, and intelligent children into the world, and become an empty nester. What am I going to do next? I’m going to Disney World!
    • That reminds me…find a podiatrist and make an appointment to see them about my most recent medical development – plantar fasciitis. Ouch! Also, schedule my 3rd COVID-19 booster and first shingles shot.
  • Catch up on my Goodreads goal. Currently, I am three books behind schedule. Also, make a solemn pledge not to buy any more books until I read through the ones I already have on my bookshelf, Kindle, and Audible account. Then, let out a maniacal laugh, and pick a day to visit my local indie bookseller.
  • Interview candidates to be my new associate at work. Say a little prayer every night that I hire an amazingly qualified person who is a perfect fit for our organization.
  • Research and purchase a new ring light for my home office – preferably one with a built-in filter that makes me look ten years younger.
  • Order a tube of “Fresh Breasts” – a revolutionary product that alleviates sweat and stickiness in the under boob area. Ladies, you know what I’m talking about, right?! It even comes in a fragrance-free, quick-drying formula. It received excellent reviews, but G-d only knows what subsequent recommendations I will receive after I place my order. Oh, and do I want to sign up for their company newsletter? I do not.
  • Reorder supplies for my CPAP machine so the sleep apnea police stop stalking me with endless reminders via email and text. They are annoying and relentless.
  • Finish the list of questions I want to ask my parents for the memoir I’m writing (more on that later). Note to self: Remind mom to book a hotel room for our family trip to Boston next month.
  • Write my daily blog post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge!

For those who don’t know, the Ultimate Blog Challenge is an online community of bloggers participating in a month-long writing challenge. I am not a first-timer, but I’m also not a regular. I’ve only completed this challenge twice in my tenure. Writing 31 consecutive posts in 31 days is definitely a challenge, but I am up to the task! I’ve decided that this month’s theme will focus on the pros and cons of middle age. I’ll also drop in some summer book reviews and random off-topic posts when the mood strikes me.

Anyway, I have plenty of stories to share, and I hope you enjoy them. Also, I LOVE it when people comment on my posts. It lets me know that I’m not just writing for myself or into the endless pit of cyberspace.

Let’s do this!

XO,

Elisa

Don’t Do the Math

counting on fingersGraduation is an interesting milestone. While I sat in the bleachers, so many memories returned to me like old flashcards. (Remember flashcards?)

I remember the early days when I had to get both kids and myself out of the house for school and work. Like a complicated math problem, there was never a good solution. And since I’m terrible at math, it was always a stressful situation. I did my homework the night before by making lunches, laying out clothes, and checking school schedules for whatever letter day it was so I could put gym clothes (or whatever else they needed) in their backpacks. But no matter how hard I tried, there was always something to throw me off, like a PTO check I didn’t write or a permission slip I forgot to sign. When we left the house, I felt frazzled and exhausted, and I’d often ask myself this question.

“How long until they graduate high school, and how old will I be when they do?

And then, I’d do the math and realize how brief this time with my kids is in the grand scheme of things. It’s a blip. A fraction of our lives. A moment in time. And as Ferris Bueller so brilliantly said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” This statement is so true when it comes to raising kids.

Before I knew it, I stopped driving the kids to school and let them ride their bikes instead. Soon enough, Jenna graduated from elementary school, and we sat dumbfounded at middle school orientation, learning a new concept – block scheduling. Andrew followed in her footsteps soon enough. I was disappointed when I discovered sixth grade was the last year for parent/teacher conferences. Maybe the kids outgrew them, but I never did. And not to go off on a tangent, but why can’t they continue into their teenage years when we all need parental validation?

High school moved even faster. It is hard to comprehend that one minute, I’m the 4th-grade room mom organizing the class Halloween party, and the next, I’m shopping for prom gowns. Grades and extracurriculars amounted to more than a busy family calendar. SAT tutoring (even more math!) and driving lessons became our new reality. We were preparing them for their future away from home – away from us.

I can crunch the numbers in various ways, but they will never add up right in my mind. I always subtract the fights over homework, teenage angst, and messy bedrooms and multiply in all of the special moments. And then, I divide it by two. I can’t help but factor in the times I doubted myself as a mother and could easily plot them out on a line graph. If I were a better math student, I’d attempt to figure out the algorithm that aligned everything perfectly, bringing me to this conclusion: don’t do the math. Enjoy those qualitative moments before class is dismissed.

Happy graduation to the Class of 2022, and congratulations to the parents and loved ones who made sure the Chrome books were returned in one piece, all of the late fees were paid, and the caps and gowns and yearbooks were ordered. We did it!

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Summer Reading Plans

Summer is an excellent time to dive into reading (see what I did there?). Debut authors have published fantastic books, and more well-known authors typically pick this time of year to release their latest novels. You can download a summer reading guide from just about anywhere. And there are tons of podcasts with episodes dedicated to the hottest summer titles. I should know. I’ve listened to most of them!

When it comes to my summer reading list, I only have one rule: it has to be a page-turner. It doesn’t matter what genre the book fits into – like historical fiction, memoir, chick-lit, or political thriller. As long as I’m engrossed in a good story, I’m all in. Here are some of the books I’ve been reading lately, and I highly recommend them to you.

Debut Novels

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus – Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant yet unappreciated chemist. Set in the 1950s and 1960s, Elizabeth is a feminist before her time. She wants a career but is sidelined by ridiculous stereotypes and unthinkable misogyny. After being fired from her research lab, she reluctantly agrees to star in her own cooking show – Supper at Six. Determined to bring science into the kitchen, she makes her way to the top of the tv ratings inspiring women along the way. I rooted for Elizabeth from the very start of the book, and she did not disappoint. I listened to it on Audible and enjoyed the narration immensely. This story is perfect for those who have faced career obstacles and are determined to have it all.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson – Family matriarch Eleanor Bennett has died. She left behind an eight-hour recording for her children to listen to that reveals secrets she kept from them her entire life. Her story is a doozy, and her children – estranged from each other – are initially reluctant to hear it. But they soon realize they never knew who their mother really was, what she went through as a child from the Caribbean, and how Eleanor’s past will impact them for the rest of their lives. I listened to this on Audible, but I think I would have preferred to read the actual book or on my Kindle. There are so many characters, and their accents are hard to distinguish when read by the narrator. I loved the story, but I had to rewind a lot to remind myself who each character was and their connection to everyone else.

Two more things I will say about this book. First, I’ve been looking for books written by authors who have different life experiences. This American author is Black and has lived in the Caribbean and Italy. Her story, which incorporates a lot of cultures, food, and traditions, opened up a whole new world that was a joy to visit.

The other thing is that I’ve seen this book compared to Jonathan Tropper’s book, This is Where I Leave You. His book is also about a dysfunctional family who sits shiva after their father dies. Secrets are revealed, and family drama is abundant. But, the stories differ because, in Tropper’s book, the humor is a connecting thread throughout the story. Black Cake is a much more somber read. Both are equally compelling but with entirely different writing styles.

Other debut novels I’ve enjoyed include:

  • Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
  • The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers

Memoir

Out of the Corner by Jennifer Grey – Celebrity memoirs are my guilty pleasure. Many of the ones I enjoy bring me back to the 1980s when their faces covered my bedroom walls, and their lives seemed full of glitz and glamour. But as these juicy books reveal, there is more to the story. Jennifer Grey starts her book by addressing the elephant in the room – her infamous nose job that left her utterly unrecognizable as the star of Dirty Dancing. She talks about how her parents made her feel that she could be a more successful actress if she looked the part – meaning to fix her nose. She fought that idea for the longest time and then decided to do it. She talks about how this decision impacted her life and career for the last decade or so and what she learned from the experience. And then, she tells all about her career and relationship with Matthew Broderick and their tragic car accident in Ireland. She also does a deep dive into her professional and often caustic partnership with Patrick Swayze during the filming of Dirty Dancing and what she wishes she could say to him today. This memoir is the perfect beach/pool read. I finished it in less than two days.

Other memoirs I loved include:

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
Going There by Katie Couric
Lucky Man and No Time Like the Future by Michael J. Fox
Becoming by Michelle Obama

Random Reads

Book Lovers by Emily Henry – No offense to those who love this genre, but I’m not a huge fan of romance novels. When I was young and single, I devoured everything from teen trysts to forbidden love stories to Jackie Collins and Fifty Shades. To me, the storylines don’t vary all that much, and happy endings are practically a sure thing. The exception to this is when there is another story surrounding the romance, and in this regard, Book Lovers delivers.

Book Lovers is about an editor and an agent who start as rivals and wind up as friends and then, well… I won’t ruin it for you. I liked this book’s parallel storyline about two sisters who take a girls’ trip to a small town to get away from the big city. The sisters’ dynamic is extremely familiar to me. Nora is the big sister, and Libby is the baby of the family. There are themes of being overprotective and underestimating the true gifts that each sister brings to the table. Something that I have been guilty of in the past. While the main story, banter, and sexual tension between Nora and Charlie kept me interested, the sisters were why I stayed to the end. The author captures their relationship beautifully, and the end does not disappoint.

There is one part of this book that did infuriate me. One main character has a medical emergency that I know is not treated properly by her doctors. I almost DNF’d the book right then and there; however, I was already so far into it that I had to see it through. If I ever met the author, I’d tell her that I enjoyed the book but wished she did a little more homework.

Organizing for the Rest of Us: 100 Realistic Strategies to Keep Any Home Under Control, by Dana K. White – Besides reading books, organizing my closets and decluttering has become a big part of my weekends. This author hosts the podcast “A Slob Comes Clean.” (Great title, right?) She is the anti-Marie Kondo and breaks the rules of many organization books I’ve read over the years, and I love her for it! This book gives many helpful hints that also account for people’s time, energy levels, and overall desire to keep a neat (but not perfect) house.

Currently Reading

As you can see, April and May have been productive months for me in terms of reading. At the moment, I’m in the middle of a few books:

Inheritance by Danni Shapiro (actual book)
Front Row of the Trump Show by Jonathan Karl (on Kindle)
Write for Your Life by Anna Quindlen (actual book)
The Lazy Genius Kitchen by Kendra Adachi (on Kindle)

Reviews to come!

Indie Bookstore Plug

I know you have heard me say this a million times, but to me, I don’t say it enough. Please support your local independent bookstore! Last month was Independent Bookstore Day, and of course, I celebrated it by going to Doylestown Bookshop – my go-to indie. I limited myself to buying three books, but when I went to the counter, I spent enough to earn a free book from the Advanced Reader Copies cart. This is a cart of books that may or may not already be published in galley form. So basically, I acquired a fourth book that I had on my wish list for nothing.

This is the kind of magic that happens at an indie bookstore. If you support them long enough, you might get a free book or a coupon off your next purchase, or a cool bookmark. I know these bookstores are not the place to get bestsellers at bargain prices, but you will find yourself in a community that loves books as much as you do. Even if you go in there and buy one book, I guarantee you will feel better knowing you did your part to support a local business.

Thanks for reading this to the end! There will be more blog posts to come this summer – I promise! Until then, let me know what you are reading and enjoy!

XO,
Elisa

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