Seven Quick Takes Friday

Click on the post-it to read quick takes from other participants!

--1--

Z and I have been invited to Atlanta to have dinner with his old boss and colleagues.  Atlanta in early December sounds like fun, so we'll make a weekend of it and see some old friends.  By then, my brother and his family will be in town so Michael can bunk in with them for a couple of night, I'm sure.

--2--

Michael's custom-sized gig-bag for his tuba has arrived.  Now he can get to his lessons on public transit.  What started as a 30 minute drive each way has become 40 minutes, and for an hour lesson, it was writing off my whole evening. I can drop him at a subway stop and then he can make his way there and back on his own.

--3--

I finished a second book by Lori Lansens, The Wife's Tale

.  It's set in the same fictional Ontario town as her previous novel, The Girls

, and just as compelling reading.  I highly recommend both of these books for their gorgeous prose and excellent story-telling.  Lansens is a Canadian now living in Los Angeles.

--4--

Our US tax issues from 2007 are finally resolved.  We had to file and amended return because  I forgot about the sale of some securities.  The IRS received the amendment from our accountants and wanted to tax us on the full value of the sale, and not just the capital gains.  It's been four months of communications between us and our accountants and the IRS, and it's finally settled. No money owing for complicated cross-border reasons.  Now I'm worried about the ripple effect through our 2008 return, but whatever.  We don't owe anything more at this moment!

--5--

I recently signed up to become a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson.  You choose from a small selection of books, they send you the one you choose, and you review it on your blog and on one of the popular e-commerce sites (amazon.ca

, barnes and noble, whatever).  Once you've posted the review, you can choose another book.  My first book is Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership

by Tim Irwin.  If you'd like to find out more about this opportunity, click on the box to the left (I don't get a commission or anything!)

--6--
The Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond) Cookbook is available!  Her recipes are my go-to ones for parties, family dinners, potlucks, and are full of fat, sugar, and all the good things in life.  Her backstory is hilarious and her recipes are dee-lish.  I've preordered one and it should be winging it's way to me shortly.  It's called The Pioneer Woman Cooks

 and you need it!  In stock now!

--7--
Z has started taking Wilson, our hyperactive terrier, on 3km walks once or twice a day.  It's fabulous, as he's calming right down and seems much better behaved with less barking.  He's also had a chance to meet some new dogs and is leaning to be less anxious (read, aggressive) in the process.  We were already walking him three times a day, so this has added a fourth walk and probably doubled his total exercise distance.  I hope Z can keep it up through the winter.