Friday Five: The Best Things in Life Are Free

Between now and the end of October, this is the only weekend I have completely to myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm way excited to take my best friend to Chicago for the first time, I'm proud of my role in planning the Virgina Day of Service, I can't wait for the National Book Festival followed by Banned Book Week, and I love helping with the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Fall Conference. But sometimes it's nice to spend a quiet weekend at home.

1. Read The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima: I was planning on purchasing this book the day it came out, but I'm still hoping to catch one of Cinda's book signings. Instead, I had to wait until the library processed it and transferred it to my pick-up center. Then there was the rain. Oh, the rain! I was finally able to dash out for a late lunch and pick it up. Then it proceeded to taunt me from the corner of my desk for the remained of the day.


2. Fold laundry: I know there's nothing overly exotic about doing chores, but my cluttered house is driving me nuts! When my clean clothes are all put away and my floor is vacuumed, my house will be home once again. A friend of mine is also heading to her hometown of Bastrop, Texas, next weekend with a Uhaul of donations for her family's community that have been displaced by the wildfires. This will provide me with the opportunity get together some linens I no longer use and give them to a family in need.


3. Sleep, blessed sleep: I'm going to take a nap this weekend. I don't know when or for how long, but I'm going to make it happen. And because I have no other plans, I'm going to bed early. And sleeping in. And totally ignoring any phone calls, emails and text between the hours of 10 p.m. and 10 a.m., so don't even bother.


4. Walk in the rain: I know I just talked about dashing out during a lull in the rain to pick up my book, but it's different when you're in business attire and responsible for the well-being of library property. There's been a ton of rain in this area, and I want to go out and survey the water level of the creek at the end of my block. I want to enjoy the smell of damp earth washed clean by rain. And I want to be outside after sitting at my desk all week long, no matter what the weather conditions.


5. Listen to an audiobook: It's been forever since I've finished a new audiobook! I'm not sure which one I'm going to listen to yet, but whatever it is, I'll enjoy hearing it while I vacuum my living room and fold my laundry and walk in the rain and laze in bed.

Why am I still typing? I have a weekend to get to!

Friday Five Revisted

Here it is, Tuesday, and I've almost finished my Friday Five challenge. I'm about half-way done with Once Was Lost by Sarah Zarr, which I'll finish tonight. I did have to make one slight adjustment: Matched by Ally Condie didn't arrive when I expected it, so I read Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima instead. I'm totally okay with that as I've been meaning to read Cinda's book since it first came out. I'll just have to read Matched when I get it.

I've loved reading all these books, but this experiment reminded me why I hated reading assigned books in school. While it exposed me to great books, I resented having to read them on someone else's terms. I know this was just a self-imposed assignment, but I would have much preferred to read these books at my own pace. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I'm tempted to let my reading list go untouched for too long.

Now on to my Banned Book Week books. What are you reading this week?