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Family Time and Changes Galore | Weekly Snapshot

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There has been so much going on over here and so much changing soon. I wish I could say I was reading a lot, but it's feeling like a luxury at the moment. 

Family visitLast week, we had my husband's brother and his wife drive down from Boston and stay with us for the week. It had been months since we enjoyed anyone's close companionship for that long so we all enjoyed the time together. We were very sad to say our goodbyes. I hope we can all return to the pre-March era soon. 
While they were here, we celebrated the girl's birthday. (I feel like I have been talking about birthdays on this blog for the past many weeks but we are done for the year! Next birthday is in March.) My daughter had wanted a unicorn cake, and that's exactly what we got, so that made her day. For her birthday present, we wanted to take her to a store and get her a bike but stock is incredibly low. Last week, she had just mastered riding a bike (no training wheels, she went straight from balance …
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The Sunday Salon (World Party and Orange Prize challenges) -- May 02, 2010

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The Sunday Salon.com

Am I glad this week is over? It had been too hectic and I didn't get much sleep either. End of Masters course, please come soon!! I'm glad though that I do have this weekend free. I didn't get much reading yet, but I've been cleaning up my reader and browsing through all the fun bookish sites.

Two days ago, I went to get my state taxes done, and can you believe that the tax official carelessly filled out my form, wrote some wrong numbers and had me pay them 27 bucks? Ok, that's not much, but I should have got 120 bucks instead of having to pay the state! That infuriated me! I noticed the costly error only after reaching home, so I'm thinking of filing an amended return. Sloppy, really!

Last weekend, I went through my challenge lists and decided to drop out of some of them. I'm sure I will get a good many done by the end of the year, but there are a few that I have lost interest in or don't think will catch up with soon. So these are what I ditched:
  • Audio Book Challenge: I joined this challenge because I was not a great fan of audio books and wanted to "get used" to them. No such luck! I still prefer the book!
  • What's in a name? 3 Challenge: Some of the books I chose for this were challenged books for me. No wonder I am not making any headway here!
So, shouldn't I now just sit back and try to catch up on the remaining challenges? Hah! Instead I signed up for 2 challenges:


World Party Reading Challenge: I've realized that my reading choices are not geographic enough, so this would be a fun way to discover more books from various countries and try to read as many as possible! I missed exploring France in April, but will be globe-trotting starting this month. This challenge focuses on reading more international literature, but using US holidays and observances as the inspiration. It ends on March 2011.


The Orange Prize Project: This was the easiest prize project that I could join, mainly because I read more books by female authors than male authors? Isn't that so with many of us? Besides this is a perpetual challenge! You can almost see the thoughts running through my mind now, right, what with no deadlines? This challenge focuses on reading all the winners and shortlisted books honored by the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction and the Orange Broadband Award for New Writers. The list has quite a good bunch of books that should be in my TBR.

So how has everyone's challenges been going? Some of you have posted your incredible progress recently and that got me all green. Right now I remember two such bloggers - Kathy and Helen. I wish I was that diligent.

Did you sign-up for the Glorious giveaway?

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Comments

Cat said…
Oh - those challenges! :( I started my blog back last November and with newbie enthusiasm signed up for far too many. Six months on I'm realising I like a challenge that is a challenge which some of them aren't .....why did I bother. However, I refuse to let them dictate what I read and if I don't complete them no one is going to care.
:-) Glad you decided on the Party.I like the going global concept.
May 2, 2010 at 12:23 AM
bermudaonion said…
That is so irritating about your taxes. Of course, I think taxes are irritating in general.

I hope you have lots of reasons to celebrate at the end of the semester. My son said he's super busy right now.
May 2, 2010 at 9:13 AM
Wendy said…
I'm glad you've decided to join the Orange Prize Project - I love those lists!!!
May 2, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Helen's Book Blog said…
I love that you tried to make things easier on yourself by bowing out of 2 challenges, but then added 2 more! Have fun!
May 2, 2010 at 2:27 PM
Athira said…
Cat, My situation was the same as yours. I jumped on a bunch of challenges with all the 'newbie' enthusiasm. 4 months later, I don't see why I thought some of them were challenges. At least, we have learnt. LOL! Next year, I'll be more careful!

Kathy, taxes are definitely irritating. And on top of that, when they make a mistake, it's even more irritating!

Wendy, I'm so glad to be joining the challenge too! :)

Helen, I know ... I'm so good at making my life easier.. LOL!
May 2, 2010 at 3:08 PM
Ash said…
I have finished one challenge this year. Woohoo! I'm doing fairly well on my challenges, I quit one because the site wasn't managed very well and I wasn't interested in a few of the books.

I still prefer books to audio books, I don't think I'll ever "get used" to them.
May 2, 2010 at 5:22 PM
(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said…
Sorry the audio books did not work for you. I really enjoy them.
May 2, 2010 at 7:36 PM
Lisa said…
My challenges are creeping along. I've definitely taken on too many books for review this spring but now I'm turning down almost everything so I can devote the summer to challenges.

Definitely file an amended return! $147 error might not seem like a big amount of money to some people but it certainly isn't chicken feed!
May 2, 2010 at 9:01 PM
Athira said…
Ash, Congrats on doing so well in your challenges. I wish I were doing half as well!

Diane, I'm sorry too! I really really want to like audio books! Then I could listen to them all the time. :(

Lisa, I filed the amended return. Phew! I just hope the money comes to my account. I might have to stop accepting review books for some time too just to move my challenges along. Bummer!
May 9, 2010 at 7:15 PM
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