8/365

September makes me feel alive all over again.

Some thoughts on rest and the Sabbath from a tired mind.

Do you ever have those weeks when it's just so busy that you don't know how it's Sunday night already? This was one of those weeks for me. I was gone every evening during the week, and then yesterday I spent all day cleaning the house (because I was so busy that it hadn't happened for a while). And then we spent most of the day today either with church or family. This is all good stuff, but I'm tired.

Doesn't it just seem like everyone in our society is just running around, busy all the time? Has life always been like this, or is it just my generation? How do we get out of this, and actually slow down?

God knew what he was talking about when He commanded us to have a Sabbath day and keep it holy. I am not good at that. I think He must have said that with introverts in mind. I think I need to start actually making an effort to have a Sabbath day. Maybe then I wouldn't be so wiped out by Sunday night.

I want to explore this more but I'm tired, so I'm going to go get in bed with my book (Pride & Prejudice, the best before-bed read).

Room || Emma Donoghue

I love audiobooks. I've dabbled in them over the years, but it's just been this last year or so that I've been listening to them consistently. Ever since I started working as a receptionist and doing data entry, they can make my day go by so much faster, and I've read upwards of 20 books in the last year by listening to them at work! I know people who don't think that audiobooks count as reading, but to them I say, baloney. It might not be your cup of tea, but don't discount it altogether. I'm still ingesting a story, and sometimes audio is just as powerful as print.

Yesterday, I finished listening to Room by Emma Donoghue. I read this book back in 2010 or 2011, and I thought it was really good. I'd been wanting to reread it ever since I found out about the movie that came out a year ago, and when a friend of mine on YouTube said that the audiobook of it was really good, I decided to give it a try. I am so glad that I did.

This a story told from the point of view of 5 year-old Jack who lives with his Ma in Room. Jack was born in Room and has never known anything else. He and Ma sleep, eat, exercise, play, and learn in their 11x11 space. Every night Ma puts Jack to bed in Wardrobe, and after Jack goes to bed, that's when Old Nick comes. Jack is perfectly happy with their life, but for 7 years Ma has been captive in Room, and she's desperate to be free.

Room is not a book for the faint of heart. This book ripped my heart into shreds. I finished it yesterday and I cannot stop thinking about it. There are so many interesting things that Donoghue did with the storytelling and themes. It's certainly interesting that she chose to tell the story through the eyes of a child, and I feel that it tells a very different story than if she had chosen to tell it through the eyes of Ma. Seeing things through Jack's eyes puts the situation into such an innocent light, while we as the reader know that Ma was kidnapped and has been held as a prisoner all these years. We know that Jack is a result of rape. We know that Ma is living in every woman's nightmare. But hearing these things in the voice of a child somehow makes it even more horrifying, because a child is in the middle of all of this.

The audiobook of room is narrated really well. It's done in a child's voice, with other voice actors doing the adult characters dialogue. I've heard that the child voice is hard for some people to get into, so it might not be for everyone.

I measured my bedroom yesterday, mostly because I have been wondering for a while what the square footage of our house was (I forgot almost promptly after we bought it). And maybe subconsciously I did it yesterday because I just finished reading this book. My bedroom is 12x13. I cannot imagine being trapped in that room for 7 years, raising a child on top of it. And in that moment, I prayed for every woman and child that is in the same situation as Ma and Jack, everyone held captive by evil men. I think if a book can move you to prayer, than it's done a very good job at telling a story.

I would highly recommend Room to those that want to read a gripping story, or want to read something powerful. There is hope at the end of all of this, so if it feels like it might be too heavy at times, just keep going. I have so many thoughts on this book, I'm planning on filming a spoilery book talk for my YouTube channel this weekend, hopefully I will have that up soon. I also plan to watch the movie soon while the book is fresh in my mind, I'd like to do a book to movie comparison as well. Just today I heard of a new book called Baby Doll which sounds very similar to Room, so I'm kind of curious to see how it compares to this one.

Have you read Room? What did you think? Do you have a hard time reading stories about subject matter like this? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

4 podcasts I think you should listen to.

I have a very on-again/off-again relationship with podcasts. I have been introduced to quite a few over the years, but eventually I stop listening to them (or really, any at all). In the past couple months, however, I have come back to podcasts, and I might be here to stay.

There are a few that I listen to occasionally, one I was introduced to today, and one that I actually listen to every week. Let me share them with you now :) (As a note, I've linked the Google Play page for each podcast. I discovered that you can listen to and subscribe to many podcasts through Google Play, and I find this amazingly convenient. I'm a fan!)

Dear Hank and John - I have been a fan of the Green brothers for a few years now, and every so often I listen to their podcast. I find their relationship so cool, how they just like and appreciate each other so much, and how they can be business partners and do so many cool things together!

Poddy Break with Tim Hawkins - Tim Hawkins is my favourite comedian. I've seen all of his dvds multiple times, and I've even been to a couple of his live shows. He is just hilarious, and I love this weekly look into his weirdo brain, often featuring guests.

Christy Wright's Business Boutique - I was just introduced to this one today, and I think it will quickly become a regular listen. I have many dreams of working from home, running my own creative business, and this might actually inspire me to get my tail into gear! Christy Wright is a successful entrepreneur, and in this podcast she shares what you need to do to actually start your own business in today's age with social media. I love that she is specifically talking to women, and that she brings her faith into it as well.

What Should I Listen to Next? - This is my favourite podcast, can you imagine why? Anne Bogel (aka Modern Mrs Darcy) is what I want to be when I grow up, just talking to people about books all day. Each week in the podcast, Anne has a new guest, and they (the guest) talks about 3 books they loved, one book they hated, and what they're reading lately, and with all that information in hand Anne will recommend them new books to read next. I have to listen to this podcast with Goodreads open in another tab, because I get so many amazing book recommendations. If you are a book lover at all, I highly recommend this podcast.

Those are 4 podcasts that I regularly listen to. Now I just need to find some good podcasts about knitting and I'm set. What are your favourite podcasts?

1/365

I have been very blessed to be married to a very creative man. We have many conversations about our creative dreams and projects we would like to do. For awhile now Christopher has wanted to do a poster-a-day project, where he designs a poster everyday. He works as a graphic designer, but he misses designing just for fun. I decided to start my own project alongside him, partly to support him, and partly because I would like to challenge myself. So I said that I would write everyday that he designed a poster.

However, I didn't realize that he wanted to do it for a whole year! But I already committed, so here we go.

Day one of writing every day.

For a year.

It might not be a blog post everyday, as I'm also counting things like writing letters and doing writing prompts for short stories, maybe even writing poetry. But I will try to post here as much as possible. I'm kind of excited to see what might happen as I grow over this challenge. And I really hope that both Chris and I will stick it out the whole year, that would be pretty big for us. We are very similar and we tend to lose stream on things after awhile. Hopefully this will be the one that sticks, wish us luck!