35 Things: August Update

Happy September, peeps.

This month, I stayed on track with my monthly goals - including my "at least 4 blog posts every month" goal. Can you say 8? I bet you can. Holla! That means I don't have to blog this month at all.

I kid, I kid. I know you'd be lost without me.

So what else did I do this month? Unfortunately, not much. I attempted a lot of things, but I can't quite call them "finished" yet. For example, my playroom redecoration project is almost done. I also tried to make August my "completely punctual" month, and it didn't quite work out. Most of the time, I just forgot that I was supposed to be making the effort to be completely punctual, so I automatically reverted to my 5-10 minutes late ways. I think I'm going to have to try that one again. AND I started learning all the rules of football. During this process, I realized how much (a) I already know, and (b) I really don't need to know (e.g. the appropriate dimensions of the ball itself. Riiiiiight).

I did get some good reading in, though!

30. Read 32 books. This month, I read:

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. This non-fiction book was very interesting, if not a little overwhelming at times. When will I learn that I reeeeeally don't do well with books where people are stuck on rafts in the ocean and have to eat raw fish and battle sharks? It's not healthy for an ichthyophobic, I tell you. ***Side note: coincidentally, did you know that they are making a Life of Pi movie? That was one of those books that, while I was reading it, I thought to myself, "I'm very glad I'm reading this...and not watching it." Side note over.*** Anyway, I liked Unbroken a lot. I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads; 4.5 would probably be more realistic.

The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson #5), by Rick Riordan. Last book of the series! I really enjoyed the series as a whole. Lots of fun. 4 stars.

Strengths Finder 2.0, by Tom Rath. So, I feel a little weird counting this as a book, since it was probably about 30 pages total of reading. But wow, I really liked it. I'm actually planning on writing a separate post about this book, so I'll just leave you in suspense for now. 5 stars.

Strangling Your Husband is Not an Option, by Merrilee Boyack. I did like this book a lot. I feel like it would be especially useful for someone who has been married a long time, has older kids, has a pretty busy life, etc. But it was still really good for me to read so I can try to be aware and proactive about some things that might go on with me and my husband in the future, no matter how good things are right now. 4 stars.

Edenbrooke, by Julianne Donaldson. I'm not a huge fan of LDS romance (I got tired of Anita Stansfield after I read what felt like the same book 5 times), but this one was pretty good. The main character has obsessions with twirling and flirting, and you'll be sick of hearing about both by the end of the book. But hey, it was a nice, clean romance that turns out just how you expect it to. Not terrible.
3.5 stars.

And there you have it.

In September, these things NEED to happen for me to stay on track:

-finish the playroom
-finish reading all the football rules
-be completely punctual
-prepare a week's worth of freezer meals
-finish (or at least make more progress on) our 3 month supply
-month long spending freeze
-organize family folder

Whew. It's going to be quite the month!

How are you doing on your goals? If you've fallen behind, no worries. No one is judging you but yourself. Start again!