April Plans & March Updates!

I'd like to start this post by pointing out that I am not crazy. I have the professional opinion of two psychologists on that. Admittedly both balked when I asked them to put it in writing. . .

That said, here is my plan for April! I joined napowrimo and committed to writing a poem every day in celebration of National Poetry Month. I also joined nablopomo (don't you love these names!) and committed to doing a daily blog post for April. Seriously, they said I wasn't crazy. Really. Anyway be sure and come back in April and read my daily posts & I'll update you on poem status. Or I'll give up and hide my head in the pillow and cry.

March One Small Change: My change for March was to quit drinking diet coke. I did pretty good. I did have a coke a couple of times but I just bought an individual bottle, not a six-pack and I'm still committed to not drinking it any more! It was kind of difficult because I really like the taste and I think I was having diet coke cravings. Anyway I'm proud of myself for doing this and mostly sticking with it!

April One Small Change: I have one small bad habit. I tend to use more water than necessary. When I do dishes I let the water run when I could turn it off, same thing for brushing my teeth and washing up. So for April I'm going to use less water. I feel like this will be easy but I suspect it's going to be hard to remember. I think I'll make a sign to remind myself!

March Libraries & Reading: I went to the library four times. One visit was to a new branch, North Natomas. I read nine books in March.

U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton Latest alphabet mystery series
Call the Dead Again - Ann Granger British country mystery
Nothing Was The Same - Kay Redfield Jamison Jamison's account of her husband's death & the differences between grief and depression
Borderline - Nevada Barr Latest in mystery series
The Places that Scare You - Pema Chodron Accepting what happens, ways to deal with life and not become angry and bitter
The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien Ok if you don't know what this is about there is no hope for you! I've read this, I don't know, maybe 20 times and I never get tired of it.
When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron More on dealing with life . . .
Sometimes in the Open: Poems from California's Poets Laureate - edited by Bob Stanley Poems (bet you wouldn't have figured that one out)
Socialnomics - Erik Qualman Using social media in business

February Reading/Libraries

I didn't read as much in February. For a short month it felt very long and hard and I'm glad it's over. I read five books and went to the library three times. Two library visits were new libraries for me. I visited the Arcade branch and Colonial Heights. I'm not sure how many I have left to go, quite a few though.

In February I read:

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn - Alison Weir Focuses on the last few months of Anne's life and looks at reasons for her fall.

Out of Africa - Isak Dineson In case you wonder, of course I've read this before. Numerous times. It's one of my favorites. If you haven't read it do it now!

Dial Om for Murder - Diana Killian This is the 2nd in her yoga mystery series. Very good as are all her books!

The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown I requested this in October when I first moved to Sacramento. I was something like 450 on the list and it finally came in about a week ago. Good story but I think I liked Da Vinci Code better.

A Restless Evil - Ann Granger English village mystery. Good story and there are a lot in the series to read!

January Reading/Libraries

I decided to keep track this year of all the books I read and how often I go to the library. Pretty exciting isn't it? I got this idea from another blog I read - librarian.net. I thought that at the end of each month I'd share my list. Admittedly this is a couple of days past the end of the month but that's ok. It's my blog and I can do anything I want.

For January I read nine books and visited the library four times. I know, neither one are very impressive statistics. In my defense I should point out that four of the books were over 300 pages. I didn't visit any new libraries in January. The McClatchy branch 2x, Belle Cooledge once and the Central library once. I'll do better in February. I want to visit all the Sacramento libraries this year - there are 28 - so I need to get busy.

Here is my list of books read in January:

Fall of the Templars - Robyn Young
Talking About Detective Fiction - P.D. James
Brethren - Robyn Young
Faithful Unto Death - Caroline Graham
Necessary As Blood - Deborah Crombie
Crusade - Robyn Young - 2nd in the series
Richard & John: Kings at War - Frank McLynn
Library: An Unquiet History - Matthew Battles
Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson