And here is what I read last month - January, 2012

Overall, a good reading month.  Six books completed, several in progress, a few started and tossed aside.  No 5 stars, but a few 4s.  And heeerrrrreee they are:

1.  I Am Half-Sick of Shadows: A Flavia De Luce Novel by Alan Bradley.  I only gave this a 3 (Liked it).  These usually earn a 4+.  It started slow and never seemed to pick up.  The only really interesting parts were the clues about Dogger's past, and some light being shed on the feelings of Ophelia for her sister Flavia.  I will certainly read the next one.



2.  True Christian Motherhood an ebook by June Fuentes.  Another 3.  I guess I have read so many of these sort of books that it would have to be really outstanding for me to take notice.  This book is really a series of blog posts.  Would be good reading for a new Christian or new mother, just discovering these things.

3.  The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis - 4 stars (really liked it alot).

 I was surprised how much of the book WASN'T about Michael Oher - it really is about the evolution in game strategies in the NFL, and how that trickled down to college and high school teams and recruiting.  I was also surprised at how different the chronology of the lives of the Tooheys and Michael were from that portrayed in the movie.

The books really ARE always better, aren't they?

4.  The Importance of Being Seven (44 Scotland Street #6) by Alexander McCall Smith - 2 stars (it was okay).  Not as good as some of the others.  The continuing saga of Bertie is getting to be more than I can bear.  Can I admit that when his mother Irene disappeared I was really hoping she wouldn't be back??  I can't stand the sadness in his life, yet Bertie keeps trying, keeps hoping for things the rest of us take for granted - like a friend.  Maybe in book #7 his new friendship will bloom and his father Stuart will grow a backbone.  If I don't see some improvement, Mr. Smith, the next installment will be my last!
5.  Free Land by Rose Wilder Lane - 4 stars.  In case there is a bibliovore out there who doesn't know, Rose is Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter.  She is also strongly rumored to be the true "author" of the Little House books.  Laura wrote out her memories, and the Rose edited and assembled them into book form.  If you compare "The First Four Years" to any of the previous Little House books, you can see the difference (Rose did not edit TFFY).



Free Land contains many elements from the LH books and Laura's experience as a pioneer, but it is told from  an adult perspective, so it is considerably darker.  David and Mary are a young couple, earning their "free land" in the Dakotas in the 1880s.  David especially is based on Almanzo Wilder - same names for his siblings, growing up in the same places (NewYork and Minnesota) and even raising Morgans.  Many other elements of the LH books, such as the Hard Winter, play key roles in this story.

6.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, 4 stars.  This should probably be 5 stars, but I have read it so many times that some of the wonder has faded I guess.  This was one of my favorite books as a child, and I read it to my older boys a few years ago.  This month I read it to my 7 and 8 year old sons, and they loved it.  After we read the book we compared it to the movie (1971 version with Gene Wilder).  One of the best parts of my day is when I get to share some of my favorite books with my sons.  Even the older boys, who are turning 12 and 14 in the next few weeks still enjoy that time each night to soak up a good book together.

And that is it for me- what did YOU read?

The Unplanned Day

Every so often, the unplanned happens in my well-planned life.

I really don't care for it.

Not that I can't be all happy-go-lucky, and a free spirit.  I can.  I do.  It's just......I like to plan ahead, pencil in my happy-go-lucky days on the calendar.

I guess I could say that I LIKE it when the unplanned pleasant things happen - unexpected friends coming by, a last-minute invite, a toss everything and go to the park day.

I don't like the unpleasant.  Sudden car malfunctions are the worst, in my opinion, but they are pretty infrequent.  Illness, on the other hand..........

With four kids, even with the relative shelter from germs that homeschooling provides, there is going to be illness.  Usually when you are trying to go out of town, or have something planned that you really need to attend.

Today we are fortunate that all I had planned was science co-op, guitar lessons and family fellowship tonight. This is the first science I have had to cancel, and we are over halfway through the year, so I guess that isn't too bad. Next week will be a lot of catch-up. There are six other moms who could be writing posts just like this, since they all got texts and emails early this morning that their entire morning was cancelled.

So, what to do today?  It was a very busy day, now it is a suddenly....not busy day.  I don't know yet who if any of our family is going to fellowship, so I don't know if I need to be cooking food to send with my husband.  I can certainly do school with the well people.  I have many "paperwork" projects that have been waiting for my attention.  Show me a homeschool mom that DOESN'T have some paperwork or record-keeping calling out to them.  Always a lot of housework that I could be getting done, too.  If all else fails, I can always read a book.

But for now, my husband is working in the shop, one kid (sick) is on the couch, one kid (not sick) is complaining about how our usual Wednesday plans got cancelled (his mother's son, I am telling you) and two more are still in bed.  Usually the house is getting really noisy about this time of day, but right now the loudest thing is the washing machine.  I think I am going to try to absorb some of this peace, for just a few minutes.

A Five Thousand Year Leap

At least it seems that way to me.  Last night I got a laptop.  I was up until after 1 a.m. setting it up (okay, playing with it).  Wow.  I now have my Quikbooks for the business installed on it, and it is connected via wi-fi to the printer, so I can sit at the kitchen table and work, instead of having to be in the office/schoolroom all by myself.  While I was figuring that out, I figured out how to hook that printer via wi-fi to the desktop in the office/schoolroom.  Now I can put the OTHER printer in storage and re-claim about 2' of desk area.

This is all so exciting.

I am going to put the boys' math (Teaching Textbooks) on the laptop as well....at some point, so they can use it for their schoolwork, instead of the computer in my bedroom.  I may actually get to clean all their stuff out of my bedroom!

I know this may sound crazy, but this has been a really big day for me. Next I am going to go smoke some meat for dinner in my big electric smoker.

Life is all good.

It's Monday - What Are You Reading This Week?

Two books I started in the last week and then put back down:  Confessions of a Prairie B*, by Alison Arngrim, which I almost couldn't start because of the title.  Once I started it though, I decided that it probably wasn't worth my time.  I had read Melissa Gilbert's tell-all a few years ago, and I regret the loss of the hours of my life spent on that book.  This one is shorter, but still......

My bookmark is still moving slowly through Don't Waste Your Life, by John Piper.  It is something I usually read in the morning, along with my Bible and devotional reading.  So, it may take a while. 

This weekend I started the newest Flavia De Luce mystery I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, by Alan Bradley.  And today I received a lovely box from Amazon which contained Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider (why doesn't her first name have any vowels????).


I also put back Death At Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn.



It reminded me slightly of Her Royal Spyness mysteries, but just not as fun.  So back into the bag it went.  I also read a few pages of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I tossed that back into the library bag as well.

Hmmm, that was three books, not two.  Getting picky I guess.  But really, you need to be.  There is only so much time available for reading, and I refuse to waste that time on a bad book.  And that is that!

I will post some reviews on my monthly round up.

And what is YOUR bookmark moving through this week?

It's Monday! What are you reading this week?

I finished The Importance of Being Seven last week, and also read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis.  I will give complete reviews in my monthly round-up, but one got two stars and the other got four.

This week I continue with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as a read aloud with the older boys, and the younger boys and I finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (four stars) and started Stuart Little.  I am also reading a short ebook, True Christian Motherhood by June Fuentes and I started Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper last night.  Don't Waste Your Life is one of my "goal" books for this year.

A lot of variety there - and what are YOU reading???

The Story of Esther

 A great big, really hairy, really friendly cat showed up at our home last fall.  She wandered over to our house in mid-November, while we were processing deer.  This is a wonderful time for all the outside cats, as they are tossed pieces of fresh venison to eat.  They also like to sniff around the skins, fight and wrestle and pretend they are themselves great hunters.

Hunter the Kitten, going after a fresh venison skin

Anyway, so we have this really big, really hairy cat hanging around our house now.  Living out in the forest we do get a lot of stray animals wandering by.  And usually, that is all they do - wander by.  They generally won't let you near them, but will sneak up and eat food when they think you aren't looking.

Not so with this girl, who we promptly named, "Big and Hairy" (our family is not particularly clever with words).  She came right up to you, wanted to be held, and purred, my goodness.

Please note that the injured left paw is now completely healed

So, she hung around, and we began to get used to her.  Then, on November 17, Nevin called me from the road.  I've gotten these calls before.  We live out in the country, but our driveway comes off a state road that seems to get it's fair share of fast drivers.  He just wanted to let me know that, "Big and Hairy is up on the road."

Well, shoot.  So, I get dressed, get a bag and an old towel to wrap the body in, and head up.  I see her lying in the road, right between my driveway and the neighbors.  I am thinking about how I really don't feel like digging a cat grave this morning, and pondering different means of disposal. 

And she turns her head and looks at me.

So I run over and check her out - one paw all bent over, blood on the eyes, nose and mouth.  I assume she has some internal injuries and is probably getting ready to die, so I wrap her in the towel and take her home.  I clean her up and wipe her face.  No more blood.  Hmmmm, odd.  So, I sit with her in my lap for a while, just rocking and waiting to see what happens.

Now, some of you may think I am cold and callous because I didn't get the kids up and dressed and drive into town to a vet to do immediate exploratory surgery.  I am going on the record as saying that I am, truly, a cat lover.  However, if I rescued every stray cat that wandered past the homestead, I would need to take a second job to pay for it.  In the country, cats come and go with a fair regularity, and that is just the way it is.

Back to the story.  Nothing is happening with the cat, but she smells really bad, and I do have other things to do.  So I wrap her in the towel on a rug by the back door and let her sleep in the sun.  Meanwhile, Vivien, my Princess indoor cat, is losing her mind.  I am not sure that Vivien understands that she is a cat, just like the ones outside, but whoever she thinks she is, she was NOT happy.

Big and Hairy slept for approximately 15 hours.  That night I moved all Vivien's food and litterbox out of the schoolroom into the laundry room, and put Big and Hairy in there for the night.

And she is still with us.  She looks sort of Persian, so I named her Esther.  She has completely recovered, with only a very slight limp when she runs.  She has made her home under our shed.  I tried to set her up in a nicer place, put blankets and food in a doghouse, but she wanted nothing to do with it.  She lives under the shed.  Every morning she is out on the front porch with the other cats, waiting for breakfast.  When she hears me outside during the day she comes running to be picked up.  She loves to be held and petted.  She has managed to acclimate herself to the other cats as well.

We have since learned that in her previous life, her name was Ashley, and she is 13 years old.  I cannot imagine a cat living out by us that long - between the road, coyotes and stray dogs.  But there she is. 


And now she is Esther.  Nevin says she looks like an Ashley.  She might look like an Ashley, but she is my Esther.  So our family has expanded to four cats - Daisy and her son Hunter on the front porch, Vivien (Daisy's daughter) inside the house, and Esther the queen, under the shed.

Vivien, the Princess inside the house.  She does not mingle with the riff-raff on the front porch.

Esther, always ready to eat.  Notice the left paw.

Esther and Hunter have learned to live together in harmony. 

Daisy looks on in disdain.  She is really the one who thinks she is royalty around here!

Mice and vermin, beware!

Homeschool Snow Days

Snow throws the schedule into disarray.  It always does.  I have often noted that it ONLY snowed on days that I had to be at work (back in my employment-for-money days).  Then it ONLY snowed on days I really needed to get to the shop (back in the days when I worked-for-free at my husband's cabinet shop). 

Now I suppose it will only snow on the days when I have fun things planned to do, since my husband works from a shop at home and I can work from the desk in the school room. 

We got our first snowfall of the season early Thursday morning.  There was maybe an inch in some of the drifts.  Enough to make the back roads where I live hazardous, so I chose not to leave the house at all. 

But this little bit was enough to throw my school plans into disarray.  I got the boys up with the promise that if they hurried up and ate and fed the animals they could play outside BEFORE school.  Usually, I would at least attempt to make them do some bookwork first, but it is a losing battle.  And besides, the sun was shining and I was afraid it would melt.  Would YOU want to be the mom who made them do school while the only snow all winter melted?  No, I didn't want that on my tombstone, either. 

And so, here they are.  This is the slope off our driveway, which ends in the woods.  I am always waiting for it it end with someone slamming into a tree, but in nine years they haven't broken any bones.

Getting ready to go again.  The figure on the right is my husband, getting ready to videotape.

Henry is ready for the snowboard.

Joe makes everything look easy.

They look so young.  These guys are 11 and 13, 5'3" and 5'11", respectively.  But everyone is a little kid when they are out in the snow.

Afterwards, hot chocolate, lunch, some book work.  The local school district also had a snow day, so the boys next door came over and sledded down our hill, then they all went inside for a wii tournament, followed by xbox at the neighbors' house.

We got the really important stuff done, anyway!