Enough with all the poke-negativity. Here is some good news about Pokemon Go!
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15 Ways Pokemon Go is Making the World a Better Place
Monthly Archives: July 2016
Things I Love Thursday
To avoid sharing my sour mood and violating the orders of Electric Light Orchestra, I’ll spare you the downs of the week and focus on things I’m just enjoying right now. Here are a few of them.
The library. I am always grateful for my palace of books and DVDs! Wood Sprite and I read six books together today and I’ve been catching up on comics in the bathroom here and there.
Goofing off with Wood Sprite. My monthly challenge for July was to “Connect Daily,” and I meant for it to apply to both Indy and Wood Sprite. While I’ve made sure to connect with both of them each day, we still feel pretty disconnected. As a homeschooling family who feels like this, I can only imagine what it’s like to just see each other for a couple of hours each evening, which is what a lot of families get.
Crossing off bucket list items. We went to our first (rock) concert as a family when friends gave us free tickets over the weekend and had SUCH a good time. Another intention for the year was to publish two Changeling books by the end of 2016 and I’ve got three on the schedule.
A full fridge. We used to hate on Aldi, which seemed like a nasty store when we were kids, but these days it’s the perfect place to stock up without spending an arm and a leg.
My washer and dryer. So what if the laundry is piled to the ceiling while I work long hours? Did you know that only 2 billion people in the world have access to washing machines? It makes you feel pretty grateful when you realize you’re in the top percentage of that bunch. Of the 5 billion people washing their clothing by hand every day, how many do you think would love to have all that time freed up with a machine that does it for them?
What are you loving this week?
15 Times Harry Potter Was a Jerk
There are people who absolutely hate Harry Potter and only read the books or watch the films for the rest of the characters in the series. As much as I happen to like Harry himself, you can’t deny that he’s had his jerktastic moments. Most of them are just part of being a teenager, but that didn’t make them less annoying or infuriating.
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15 Times Harry Potter Was Just a Jerk
The Tuesday Currents
Rocking to… Collective Soul. We saw them in concert with the Goo Goo Dolls on Sunday (thanks for the free tickets, T and L!) and my 90s fangirl is still rolling with it.
Laughing About… Making Wood Sprite’s FNAF stuffed animals talk like babies. At first she was SUPER annoyed but then she was laughing as hard as I was.
Drinking… Water.
Reading… Y: The Last Man volumes 3 and 4; Ex Machina volume 2; ; Ultimate X-Men (still loving my Brian K. Vaughan ); Fantastic Four; Deadpool Classic and Trollhunters by Guillermo del Toro.
Writing… Product descriptions (car parts, pillows, art pieces, etc.), an article about marijuana in Seattle, three pieces for Screen Rant, journal entries, Boo to You, Mrs. Robinson.
Watching… Not much this week! Between daytime plans, ripping out the carpet, rearranging the living room and writing, it’s been challenging to find time to do much else. We probably watched a little bit of Parks and Recreation.
Planning… GISHWHES (starts in less than 2 days!), First Friday at the Science Center, Indy’s vacation (also known as The Week of Work on the House), a week of Indy working nights, fall co-op stuff.
Making… Floor levelers, a toad home, planner changes, flavored tea, a full fridge (gotta love Aldi!).
Wanting… Why do I always want coffee? I’ll only get groggy if I don’t maintain a steady stream. I want to meet my niece who’s due this winter and my good friend’s son who was just born (welcome to the world, A!), to get a grip on the clutter here and get rid of a ton of stuff (anyone need picture books and board games because we are SWIMMING in them!), and to sand all of our hardwood floors. Fingers crossed that we’ll be able to pull that off while Indy’s on staycation.
Monday’s Music
Fever Ray is rocking my world lately. Today’s song is a little bit of an obsession lately.
Indy had a lot of overtime last week (and he has some this coming weekend as well), but this week is a full one for us. We have an art class, a couple of Harry Potter events (woot!), a graduation party, the county fair, an orthodontist appointment, a play… It will be great practice for me to manage all of this with my usual chores, workload and Wood Sprite, since the packed calendar of fall is rapidly approaching and I’ve gotten used to staying home to work.
What are you up to this week?
15 Things We Want to See in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
More advanced spell work, Scorpius Malfoy shenanigans, Neville as a ripped teacher… What do you want to see in the book?
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15 Things We Want to See in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
15 Best Dragon Movies of All Time
If you think I missed one, there is a 50% chance that I did… and a 50% chance that I just hate the movie you are thinking about. 😉
Which dragon movie is your favorite of all time? Much as I love these, I am really hoping that my favorite hasn’t been made yet. I want many, many more to see!
That said, it’ll be pretty hard to top #1 and #2.
Screen Rant
15 Best Dragon Movies of All Time
Things I Love Thursday
I’m loving a lot of things this week, but this new desk mat and rug combo is at the tippy top of my list. My mom sent it to me to use at my standing desk and it’s AWESOME. The only problem is that every time I get off of it, I have to fight a critter to wrangle it back. (See Exhibit A, right.)
Some other things I’m loving this week include…
Seeing one of my best friends TWICE! Neither of us have a car while our husbands are at work so it has been a while.
This song. Much as I still love my angsty, tear-inducing music, I sure love a song that makes me feel happy lately.
Fever Ray. OMG. How did I not know about her? I’m in love. I feel like I exist in her songs. Like she’s wandered in my head for years and made art about what she saw. I wonder how many other people feel the same way.
A pretty awesome sleepover. We sang karaoke, played Mario Brothers and Tetris, had pizza, watched movies, pretended to be Ewoks, drew pictures, read books… Oh yeah, it was Wood Sprite’s sleepover, not mine!
The First Lady singing karaoke in the car with James Corden. I love this SO much.
Paper Girls! Such a great comic. Brian K. Vaughan is one of my favorites anyway and I’ve been reading everything of his that I can get my hands on, but this new series is especially fun.
My little niece. She’s not here yet, but I love her already. I can’t wait to meet her. My friend C also just had a beautiful baby boy whom I cannot wait to meet, either.
Visiting my parents. My mom fed us (REAL food! We still need to shop after our power was out for a couple of days!) and my dad gave us a ride to 4-H Conference Judging. Wood Sprite did great (8 project submissions this year). It was really nice to see them both.
Another one of my best friends underwent two surgeries this month and is doing well. I’ve lost sleep worrying about her a lot this year and I am SO glad that she’s on the healing end of the journey right now.
Indy getting a ton of overtime. I miss him SO much this week, but I also really, really appreciate it. We need it this time of year when my work is slow. His is usually the slowest in the summer, too (it was last month, for sure, so we are playing catch-up).
Wood Sprite won Cardinals tickets again through the summer reading program at the library!
We have a new agreement where WS doesn’t get on her computer until dark. She hated the idea but now she agrees that it’s better for her and there’s already so much improvement. She was getting so cranky, tired and short-tempered being on it so much, so we talked about it and agreed to try this out for a while. The animals are much happier (and worn out!) now that she’s back to playing with them more, too.
What are you loving this week?
The Tuesday Currents
Rocking to… Led Zeppelin.
Laughing About… Indy making weird voices while he makes French toast.
Drinking… Water.
Reading… Y: The Last Man volume 2; Ex Machina volume 2; Saga volume 6; Ultimate X-Men (someone is on a Brian K. Vaughan kick); Ultimate Annuals; Rapunzel’s Revenge and Monster Blood with Wood Sprite
Writing… Product descriptions (jewelry, clothing, rugs, etc.), articles for the Klat network, three pieces for Screen Rant, journal entries, my October Changeling release.
Watching… Wood Sprite had a sleepover and although we didn’t finish any of them, we started Brave, Pirates of the Caribbean and Rango. We just had too many fun things to do than sit through a whole movie!
Planning… GISHWHES, county fair plans, house repairs and yard work, sleepovers, co-op classes, field trips, a baby shower, fall stuff…
Making… Stickers, doodles, 2017 planner, work trackers, grocery list.
Wanting… Coffee… I am not sleeping well lately. I keep having terrible dreams or disruptions from animals. This morning, it was a skunk!
Monday’s Music
Every time I hear this song, I feel like I can take on the world. How about you? What’s your power song this week?
Sara J. Schmidt 