Happy Memorial Day! I have a big ol' bandage all around my middle finger so typing is a fun challenge today. Last night Jared and I taught the lesson for our stake mission prep class. On our way out the door I was slicing up some apples to snack on in the car and the very sharp chef knife I was using (first mistake) slipped. I was certain it was a stitches type of situation, but the cut was clean and Jared ended up just binding it up really tightly to hold it together on our way out the door. Maybe a little too tightly because I woke up every half hour all night long in agony with my finger throbbing, despite taking pain killers. Finally around 5 a.m. I had Jared unwrap it to add some lidocaine and take a look at the cut. As soon as it was unwrapped it started feeling much better. He wrapped it back up more loosely and it hasn't hurt since.
The mission prep lesson went well too. I'm feeling happy it's a holiday Monday, and grateful that Jared is home with us and able to come to the ward lunch and other festivities. We're still fresh enough out of residency that I'm not taking for granted having Jared home for weekends and holidays (small and major). Jared and Jack went to the trampoline park with his flag football team this morning while Alice napped. Jack's personal version of heaven. Then we went to a ward bbq at the beautiful Cascade church park, where Jack got to run and play even more. I am hoping to finish putting together the smoker/grill I got for my birthday (thanks to mine and Jared's parents each contributing!) and grill some inaugural chicken skewers tonight.
Ok, book club time! Jared and I read two books recently that I wanted to give quick reviews of. First, we read "I Will Teach You to be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. Mostly it's a finance book teaching you exactly what to do with your money and teaching you how to define and prioritize a "rich life" for yourself, whether that means prioritizing travel, or family outings, or personal growth, or convenience . . . I like the part where you ponder on what's important to you and then he guides you through cutting costs in areas you don't care about so you can spend guilt-free on the areas that are important to you. Jared has always been passionate about finance so 90% of the book is stuff we're already doing, but even he learned a few helpful tips, and I love that I now feel capable of managing our family finances if I ever needed/wanted to.
The next book we read is "Essentialism" by Greg McKeown. I checked out the audiobook on my Libby app and listened to it while I painted the bookshelves. Jared happened to already own the book, and I think he's read the first half so far. It was EXCELLENT. It's about "achieving more by doing less." He applies this theory to businesses and personal life, and gives practical tips for prioritizing what is most essential and saying no to the rest. I've chosen it as my "book of the year" for my 31st year of life. I took notes and will be reviewing them monthly to try and hone the skills outlined. I feel like some of the skills he highlights come naturally to me, and some others come naturally to Jared, but we both have areas we'd like to practice and get better at to be living our most intentional, happiest lives. It was a pretty quick listen as an audiobook--would recommend. It was a NYT bestseller for a long time, and I believe the author went to BYU for his undergrad.
On the note of books, I have a pretty lengthy list of books I want to read. The problem is, the majority of them fall in the "life-improvement" category (a book for raising unentitled kids, a book for dividing workload in the home, a book for improving relationships, one for setting habits, etc.). With these types of books I've found that if I don't make the time to take notes and check back in with them and practice the concepts over the course of a few months, nothing really changes. And I really only have the capacity and desire to "work on" one thing at a time. But I do want to read more! Maybe I'll try doing one "improvement" book every 2-3 months, and try and fill in with fiction books for fun. I'll keep you posted.
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