You know life is good when...

You feel like you are living life at a pace that is busy but not crazy. Just since last Friday my life seems more normal again. I've cooked two meals in two days for crying out loud. Like from scratch...no heating up. Sadly, this is a major deal in my household. The men in my life can hardly remember the days when I cooked everyday.

While I like a clean house and a home cooked meal myself, I have my days when I think they are overrated. I've certainly learned not to beat myself up if we have pizza or frozen lasagna for dinner.

Another way I got to feel normal was by watching MANSFIELD PARK on Masterpiece Theater on Sunday night. Not the best Jane Austen has to offer but something I was glad I could sit down and enjoy uninterrupted.

Let's see, what else. I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday. Not from scratch. I cheated with the Pillsbury refrigerated dough, but they tasted homemade and were yummy. They also made me feel back to normal. I usually try to bake cookies or brownies or something a couple of times a month, so my boys were feeling the love yesterday.

Most importantly I've been reading. I have to say I really feel NOT normal when I'm NOT reading. I feel like I haven't combed my hair, or like I have a hole in my socks. I'm just not comfortable when I'm not reading. As I mentioned earlier I've got a great stash of books to read right now. I loved MINE TO POSSESS by Nalini Singh and have started (devouring) DEMON NIGHT by Meljean Brook.

Reading in January has been very peculiar. I'm adjusting how I read and finding, I can hardly believe I'm saying this, that I've been buying fewer books. I'm trying to buy and read and slow down on the stock piling. I'm running out of room for one thing. For another, I don't have as much time to read as I have in years past.

When I was a SAHM I had a daily routine of sorts that allowed for large blocks of time to read. Reading was my main escape and hobby for many years. While I can't imagine a day without reading, I've filled my days with so many more things. I swim, I blog, I scrapbook, I research my family tree oh and that other pesky thing I do. Work for money to buy books.

Since I enjoy all these things and don't want to give anything up I find that I have to be realistic and compromise with my time. Can't do everything. So when and how I read has changed. It's good though. I find myself on the threshhold of a turning point in my life. With my sons about grown, working, going to school and making plans for the rest of their lives, GG and I have more time together than we have had in years. It's a process to prepare us for when they leave the nest. It's all good. It's normal.

I like normal.