No time like the present.

There's no time like the present, especially when you haven't blogged in nine days, and this is only your second post for the month of November.  In years past (except 2013), November has been a good blogging month for me...and since everyone loves a scapegoat, I'll provide one to explain my lack of blogging:

Fyodor Dostoevsky.

About a decade ago I decided I needed to read The Brothers Karamazov (I can't remember why), and my mom even bought me the version (it's originally written in the not-at-all-hard-to-master Russian language) I wanted for Christmas that year.  (This version was published in 1990, and is hailed as the most faithful to the Russian original.)  Anyway, it's been gathering dust on our bookshelf since then, but I decided this was the year I was finally going to read it, thanks to the 2015 reading challenge.

I have to admit, I almost chickened out on reading it since the year was well underway and I hadn't started yet, but I took the bull by the horns instead.  I'm on page 662 of 776, and assuming my brain doesn't break before I finish, my goal is to finish by the end of this month (so that I still have a month to read the last book on my reading challenge list).

PS, this is not a book I will ever recommend for pleasure.  In fact, do yourself a favor and just read the Sparknotes.  (I haven't been reading the Sparknotes, except to help me with one chapter -- a chapter that gives insight into the mind of the smartest of the three Karamazov brothers.  I literally had no idea what I was reading.  I've never felt so inadequate.)

Enough about that.  Here's the rundown of my nearly completed 2015 reading challenge:

41:A Portrait of My Father – a book in a genre you don’t typically read (2/16/15)

Cinder – a book recommended by someone with great taste (2/17/15)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – a book you’ve been meaning to read (2/26/15)

Back When We Were Grownups – a book by a favorite author (3/8/15) 

The Fever – a book you chose because of the cover (3/21/15)

Matilda – a book from your childhood (3/26/15)

The Girl on the Train – a book published this year (4/11/15)

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – a book currently on the best-seller list (8/12/15)

The Help – a book everyone’s read but you (9/6/15)

Little Women – a book your mom loves (10/9/15)

Like I said, if my brain doesn't break I'll have finished The Brothers Karamazov by November 30th, and the last book I need to read for the challenge is one "I should have read in high school."  I was going to choose Jane Eyre, but it's just not going to happen.  I think it's going to be Flowers for Algernon instead (because it's 200 pages shorter and not British literature).

(By the way, I can't get rid of the indentions in the paragraph above.)

If you're still awake, congratulations!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us.  I have Living Christmas Tree rehearsal tomorrow morning, and then Sydney has a playdate at 2:30 with one of the little girls in her class (I'm chuckling at what I just typed -- planned playdates are so northern Virginia in my opinion...thank goodness we're moving to Texas soon, where of course there are zero planned playdates).  Sunday is our day to teach Pre-K Sunday school, and then Sunday afternoon we're all attending a birthday party.  So, whew.

Here are three pictures to tide you over until the next time I blog (January?!?! just kidding...):

Sydney showing off her new fleece turtleneck.  And making an awfully smirky face for the camera.

Lorelei and her friend at dance class.  The theme this week was "The Lion King" (the dance studio provides the costumes -- if you know me at all you'd know that I'd stay far, far away from a dance studio that requires you provide your own costumes on a weekly basis).

Bubby's new thing: "Two mah's!"  (He calls his pacifier a "mah."  I'm not even going to pretend like I know why.)

I hope you had a GREAT week!