All in a Day's Work?

My kids were back to school today after a four-day weekend, and I was left to bask in golden silence. Ahh… I had big plans for the day, but it's amazing how quickly six uninterrupted hours of peace and quiet fly by -- and funny how little I managed to get done in that time.

Nevertheless, this morning I learned about the Book Awards Reading Challenge -- just the thing to get me going on that “someday I’ll read it” list. I’ve made a tentative list of my twelve book picks for the challenge (listed below right), and I tried to select recipients of a variety of awards, including a few Pulitzers. But I have to admit, the books I most look forward to reading are the Newberys – awarded annually “to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” More than half of my choices are Newbery winners. Call it research for my children’s writing (besides, I really like reading children’s books!)

My other accomplishment today was listing a few items for sale on ebay. Is it just me, or is the ebay listing procedure a whole lot more complicated than it used to be? My last sales on ebay were in 2004, and I know I didn’t struggle with the web forms like I did today. Ugh. Maybe it's just a sign of age? After all, I AM three years older. Hopefully it’ll get easier as I go along. I plan to list a few items each day and try to save up some money for the kids’ Christmas gifts. At any rate, this ebay-wrangling burned up a good three hours of my afternoon.

And then... the family came home, dinner called, homework, dishes, tales of what-happened-at-school, tucking-in... and now my day is done.

Except to read a few more chapters in "The Tale of Despereaux." ;o)