Lots of Read-a-Thon Stuffs

Blergh. Tonight has not gone as planned. But let's be honest, how often does it really go the way I want it to?

Here was how tonight was supposed to go...

• Come home from work.
• Take pictures of finished projects while there is still daylight.
• Make jambalaya for dinner.
• Go to the library to find books for this weekend's read-a-thon(s).
• Go get read-a-thon snacks from the store.
• Write blog post on the two Halloween projects I completed.
• Read.

Here is how it went instead...

• Come home from work in superiorly crappy traffic; get home 30 minutes later than planned.
• Sun is already going down by the time I walk in the door, so photos are not happening.
• Forget to get the meat out of the freezer that I needed for dinner; jambalaya is not happening.
• Go to the library. Find 7 books for Darian and none for myself.
• Nearly run out of gas. Get to go to the gas station.
• Go get read-a-thon snacks from the store. Forget licorice (dammit). Need apples.
• Cook ramen for dinner. Pathetic.
• Watch an episode of New Girl while eating. Finally. Something nice.
• Find out that the kid has been hiding a homework project for a week. It's due tomorrow.
• Nice mood is over.
• Yell at kid. Tell him I'm not helping him; he's on his own for this project.
• Feel crappy about yelling at kid, but stick to my guns.
• Worry that the teacher will think I'm an awful parent for not helping him out. Still not helping.
• Send kid to bed.
• Decide to switch the order of blog posts for the week and write Friday's post today. Why not?
• Maybe I'll get to read...

Good job everyone! Banner day.

Okay...I can breathe now. Moving on. 

Tomorrow, I'll be posting my two Halloween projects. Friday, I'll be sharing the two Fall-themed projects that I finished. They're nothing crazy fancy, but they're fun. Besides, sometimes easier is better, right? What am I saying? Easier is always better in my book. (I don't really have a book. Maybe some day I will, but today is not that day. I may be getting a little off track here...)

Let's talk about other people's books.

This weekend, I have not one, but TWO read-a-thons going on. It's going to be reading pandemonium.

Friday starts the Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon hosted by My Shelf Confessions. (How cute is that logo picture?) It's the sister read-a-thon to the Wicked Wildfire Read-a-Thon hosted in the summer.

This one is a ten-dayer. (Yes, I'm aware that's not a word. Go with it.) I won't likely get much reading in on the 17th since I work during the day and have a football game to go to at night, but I'll be getting some good reading in on Saturday, as well as some decent reading during the following week. I'll most likely be bowing out a little early due to some sweet, sweet pumpkin action that will be beginning to take shape around here beginning the 24th. I'll still be doing some reading, but it will get a little quieter on that front. I'm starting to hit pumpkin panic mode, so it's all about to go off the rails.

How about some goals for this one? Yes?

Total Reading Time Goal : 25 hours (1500 minutes)

Total Pages Goal : 1500 pages

Completed Books Goal : 6

Planned Reading : 

1. Anathema by Megg Jensen

2. The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander  

3. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

4. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
5. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
6. Nest by Esther Ehrlich

Bonus Books :

1. The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister

2. The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

3. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

4. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

You're probably looking at that list and scratching your head. It's a pretty good mix, ya? There are three ARCs, a couple of classics, a loaned book, and a nice handful from various challenges. There is a method to the madness, I promise.

If all goes as planned (which it probably won't, but let's pretend), then I'll have the first four books all wrapped up by the end of the weekend. Why? Well...because of the SECOND read-a-thon I'll be participating in this weekend!

Yup! It's time for Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon again! I'm ready. Darian is going to participate with me on this one (if he doesn't get himself fully grounded before then). We're getting started at 6 a.m. and riding the wave for as long as we can. I'll probably take a short nap in the afternoon and then try for a full evening push. I expect that Darian will pass out somewhere around 11pm. He's not really a night owl like me.

He's already headed to bed, so I'll be posting his goals during zero hour (it will go up just before we start reading) on Saturday morning.

As for me? Here's what I'm thinking...

Total Reading Time Goal : 15 hours (900 minutes)

Total Pages Goal : 900 pages

Completed Books Goal : 4

I managed 11 hours of reading on the last Dewey's read-a-thon when I didn't really know what the crud I was doing. This time I'm getting a little more prepared, so I'm hoping that pans out to a little extra reading. I will be working off of the books list show above for the Wonderfully Wicked RaT. I'll also be participating in some of the mini-challenges, hanging out here and there on Twitter, posting some photos of the day to Instagram, and checking in over at the new Goodreads group.

Are you ready to read? I am!