What I Am Into - March 2016

What I Am Into :: March 2016
Oh dear - two "What I Am Into" posts in a row, with nothing at all in February. I do so dearly hope I can find a place in our daily rhythms to get back into the practice of writing in this space!

On My Nightstand:

This is embarrassing, but I have finally, for the first time ever, finished reading L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. I know. What have I even been doing with my life all these years? Anyway, it has now been read, and of course I adored every word in it. It was Jay who got me to read it. He came into my room one night looking for a new book to read (an endless quest, the way that boy consumes books), so I handed him Anne of Green Gables, bookmark still in place from the last time I had picked it up and tried to get through it, many many years ago. He had no such similar troubles, however, and a few days later he handed it back to me and asked if I had liked it when I read it. Upon discovering that I had never actually read the whole thing, he told me that I should. So I did. And he was right. He has since read Anne of Avonlea and is almost finished Anne's House of Dreams, and I will do likewise as soon as he is done with my copy. And then we'll descend upon the library to get the rest of the Anne books that I don't own.

Aside from that, I have been slowly reading through Leahy's The Worry Cure. It was a little unsettling to have the first chapters describe me and my anxiety in such minute detail. This guy knows his stuff.

I finished Landry's Revolution of Mercy: How Kindness Changes Everything. This was such a lovely parenting book. I highly recommend it. If I may share my favourite quote:

"Our ideas of what 'success' is in the middle of the myriad crises of child-rearing should not be whether the child has done what we've asked them to do. True success means that our responses to our children imitate the love of Christ. We are faithful when we 'love our neighbour as ourselves.' Success is faithfulness, not productivity. Success is action, not outcome."

Doesn't that just pare it all down to its perfect basics? (And hey, right now the author is giving away three copies of the book, so go enter before April 4th!)

I've also finished Stephenson's Seveneves and Gaiman's Neverwhere, which were both rather interesting fictions.

During Eastertide, I will be reading N.T. Wright's After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. I doubt I will finish it during the 50 days of this Easter season - I always find Wright's words require time to let them rest, settle in, and turn around in my brain before moving on to the next bit - but hopefully I can get a good start on it.

On the Screen:

The husband and I have finished Star Trek: The Next Generation and moved on to Deep Space Nine. I miss Picard and I'm eager to get to Janeway, but I'm enjoying DS9 in the meantime.

In My Ears:

I'm still mainly just listening to music while I run. During February, I switched from my 165-180 BPM playlist to my 150-164 BPM playlist. I had a good steady stride rate from the faster BPM playlist and hoped the slightly slower one would now help me to stretch out my stride and increase my overall pace. It worked precisely like that, to my pleasant surprise. My running pace has improved from 5:28 min/km at the end of January to 5:09 min/km in March. I am now running 6K each time (3 times per week) instead of 5K, and currently working towards a goal of 5:00 min/km for 6K (6K in 30 minutes). I've also added in yoga on the two weekdays that I don't run, which has been great for stretching out any achiness from run days.

Aside from running playlists, we've added in some music during Lent and Easter. During Lent, we sang through a Psalm each day using this Psalter. Throughout this Easter season, we will be listening to various Easter pieces, including Handel's Messiah, Bach’s Easter Oratorio, and Pachelbel’s Easter Cantatas.

In the Kitchen:

Easter meant some special baking was in order. These hot crossed buns were delicious. This Finnish pulla was my first attempt at the husband's favourite braided cardamom-flavoured sweet bread, and it turned out beautifully. Finally, these custard cream cookies were a nice dessert after Easter dinner.

What I'm Looking Forward to in April:

Outdoors and sunshine and gardens and dirt under my nails and sunshine and warmth and fresh air and sunshine. Basically just give me a patch of sunshine and let me bask in it.

Well, friends, that is What I've Been Into this past month. What about you?

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