Answers!

OK, so answers... (Thanks, Laurie, for humoring me!)

What are you reading now, and would you recommend anything you've read lately?

Right now I am finishing up Bossypants by Tina Fey. Very funny. I also recently read Suite Francaise, which was written by a French woman (Irene Nemirovsky) about the German occupation of France during WWII as these events were occurring, up until she was deported to a concentration camp. She died and her manuscripts were lost for 50 years only to be discovered and recently published. She only completed two parts of what was meant to be a five part story. The background behind the novel (which is really two little novellas) makes it really interesting. The stories themselves are written in an older, classic style that I would liken to that of Russians like Dostoevsky, so they are a bit dense and take some time getting into. But if you like WWII history and/or France, I think you would enjoy it.

Another recent favorite, which it seems like just about everyone has read and loved, was The Help. I think the movie is coming out later this month. It's about relationships between African American maids and the women they served in Mississippi at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement. Pretty fascinating stuff and great characters.

What are some little goals you're working on?

Unfortunately, I'm not really good at "little goals." I tend to go big or not at all. I would like to say that I'm actively working on keeping our home more organized and tidy, which is always a goal, but I tend to approach that one with kind of a binge and purge mentality. I may clean for 4 hours one weekend, resulting in a perfect, spotless house. But then by the next weekend there are piles of unfolded laundry all over the place, dirty dishes in the sink, and overflowing recycling containers in our pantry. So I don't think that really counts.

One of my "big goals" is to find a way to transition my job into something that is more writing oriented. Again, I go through spurts of effort where I do a lot of research and make strides in the right direction, and then suddenly weeks go by where the only writing I do are a few spotty blog postings. So perhaps my goal should be to be more consistent in pursuing my goals, even if it means lots of little baby steps. Maybe I should avoid the big goals (which can easily seem overwhelming) and make more of the little goals you asked about above.

Are you watching The Bachelorette?

Um, is today a day that ends in "y"? Yes, I am watching the train wreck that is Ashley H. looking for love. I can't seem to pull myself away (and let's be honest, I never try very hard anyway!) I hope she finds a great guy, although I realize the odds of that happening are extremely low. The whole Bentley fiasco was hard to watch. That was definitely a low point in Bachelor/Bachelorette history. I'm still shocked Chris Harrison didn't pull her aside and clue her in. Hopefully there are better things in store for our intrepid bachelorette.