To Do Or Not To Do...

Today I will finish my to do list.

Or at least as much of my to do list as I'll get complete for awhile. This is my last day of "vacation." In fact, my vacation ends today at noon when Little Miss climbs off the bus and our normal schedule resumes. No more both wee ones out of the house and time for me to do what I want and need to be done.

In the next four hours -- after I get Little Miss onto the bus, of course, and Mister Man dropped off at preschool, I have quite an impressive plan.

First, I will stop by the library to get Eclipse. Yep, I may have been number seven on the hold list, but somehow the book came in for me the day after I finished New Moon. I'm thinking this may be the end of my productivity, but ... I've got plans.

I also need to stop by four local businesses that have promised donations for the wee ones' Cinco de Mayo fundraiser at preschool. Of course, one of them is ten minutes south of me and another ten minutes north of me. It's hard to complain when they're donating though, isn't it?

Oh, and I can't forget that I am supposed to be volunteering at our local elementary school's rummage sale. In exchange for volunteer hours, they share the proceeds from the sale with the wee ones' preschool. I've spent ten of my "free" hours there so far this week.

I also need to do some more weeding. I had the entire front landscaping, in addition to most of the north side of the house and half my garden free of weeds. And then it rained. And rained. I'll show pictures of the damage tomorrow. Let's just say that I invested in Preen when I stopped at Costco this week.

Most importantly though, today I will be sure that Little Miss naps. She has to nap today. Her napping is the only way I can read, Eclipse, after all. Well, unless I skip the rest of my obligations and instead hang out at the library to read.

I wouldn't do that though, would I?

And This Is Why I Don't Read....

I have a stack of books that I want to read. And I truly want to read them. I haven't made much of a dent in them, though. It's completely rational. I have a ton of stuff to do, and reading just isn't up there in the priorities. It should be, I know, but reading is dangerous.

Forty-eight hours ago, I knew little about Twilight. I knew that it was about Edward and Bella and that they were vampires. I knew it was based in the Pacific Northwest. And I knew that it was a love story. Oh, and I knew that there were four books, although I couldn't have told you the titles other than the first one.

Then a friend of mine lent me Twilight. She had a copy, and it meant I didn't need to buy the book or wait for the library -- although I wasn't on the wait list, so I wasn't getting it that way anytime soon anyway.

I put it into the mental pile of books I want to read. And the wee ones and I happened to go to the library that same day. I was interested in finding Love and Logic, which Dawn had recommended to me. The wee ones were occupied with their books, my husband had met me at the library and was watching them... and I snuck down into the adult section.

While there, I found Love and Logic. I've read the first three chapters so far and enjoy it. I also put myself on the wait list for the other Twilight books. I now know their names, although not the order in which they were written.

It's possible that I also picked up a Sharon Kay Penman book that I'm three quarters of the way through reading.

I left Twilight in my car, since I know that bringing it into the house would mean I'd read it. Then I got a mani/pedi. Oops. Rather than read the outdated magazines, I brought the book into the shop with me. This was Monday.

At 1:16am Monday evening, I finished Twilight. I then called the friend who lent it to me to see if she was home so I could "return" it to her. She offered to lend me the next one. She wasn't home, so I couldn't do the switch, but she volunteered to stop by my house after she finished running around for the day.

At 5pm, I had no new book. I "happened" to be driving by her house running an errand at 5:30 and decided to bring the book back to her house. She had company though, so I disappointedly just tied the bag containing Twilight to her door.

She saw me though and insisted that I come in, as it was just her MIL. And she lent me the second book. I didn't get home until 9pm from the errands I was running, but I started reading the book then.

At 8:32am, I finished the New Moon. And my friend is still not finished with Eclipse, so I have to wait for that. I just checked at the library, and I'm still eighth on the wait list.

And this, this is why I don't read. A magazine I can put down after an article and go about my day or fall asleep. A good book is always just "one more chapter" although even I know that isn't true when I think it.

Maybe it's a good thing that I don't have access to Eclipse yet. Unless I go buy it somewhere....



** EDITED TO ADD **

PS At about 10am this morning, I got an email from my local library. I have a book now waiting for me. Yep, it's Eclipse. Why not any of the others, I don't know. But tomorrow morning I'll be headed to pick it up. I didn't get it (and finish it) today only because the library closes at 9pm and I didn't check my email until 9:23pm. Apparently today's productivity will be shot tomorrow. Only one more to go after that, at least!