Almost Starting Over

Just when I thought I was done and going to celebrate, I realize I’m not:(

Teaching:

Today started off neat with a high school teacher coming to tell us about the differences between teaching high school and elementary. Smart woman, she brought pictures of a locker for the kids to decorate and they loved it!!!

We had another math drill, Library time, silent reading and science. We introduced our last element of the animals in winter unit- adaptations. The students listened to a story and then we brainstormed all the adaptations and the animals that do them. No amazing lesson, but the best thing was that the boy with behaviour issues in the other class nailed it!! He was giving one right answer after another:) I taught his sister last year and know that the family is very into science (Dad is a geologist). It was just so neat to see him shine and then to be able to give Mom this happy news after school was super too! It was a good reminder of why I struggle through teaching seven different subjects every day!

At lunch we had another meeting about report cards which I wasn’t super happy about. Then this afternoon I sent my reports to my mom to have her read them ( I know she just loves it when I do this!)🤣 and she called me on them:( Said they read like first drafts. If anyone ever wonders where I get my bluntness from….🤣. I sat down and gave myself forty minutes to try to improve them. I only got through five and felt like crying several times, but I did get a “great job” on those five. I guess I know what I will be doing for all my spare moments over the next few days as they are due Friday. It is report card time that I really notice that I always took speech therapy instead of English:(. I should probably just apologize now for the writing in this blog! I will try to fix them though as the choppiness is what I have noticed in other reports too and as my mom said when I complained it was taking forever, is that they’ll be around forever too!

Exercise:

I did leave pretty close to when I planned to and got out for a run. I’m hoping the snow will clear up completely soon so I will have other running routes available to me as doing the same loop every day is not exciting. I was not as fast as yesterday, but I noticed that my splits were within seconds of each other which seems like a good thing! It’s another run done. I won’t make my mileage goal for February but it’s a short month and we’ve had snow so I’m okay with that. I’ll try again for March:)

Home:

I really wanted to be reading and knitting but I needed to clean my place up first for knit night tomorrow night.

Knitting:

I have to admit I did the bare minimum for someone to come over and sat down with my needles. I got the second sock casted on and the cuff done. It’s going much faster than the first one, thankfully!

Have fun!

AJ

Better Than Nothing

Sorry I had to delay my post a bit, but I wanted to be able to show off a finished sock, however, I had to do my homework first 🤣

Teaching:

I was principal today so I didn’t get to enjoy running club with the children as much as I usually do as I was busy scheduling TTOCs and preps and checking on everything. We got everything settled in the end and the children did pretty good. We had them run the beep test. They only made it to level 5 so we’ll definitely have to practice this. I’d really like the snow and ice to melt so that we could get a baseline run for them. Hopefully by Monday!

Today was the 100th day of school and I usually make such a fuss and we get to do so many fun activities, but unfortunately we just didn’t seem to have a lot of time today. We read three books about 100 day, we made a mini book about what people brought in the class, we made a class book about what we’ve been told 100 times, and we had a sharing circle so we could show what we brought. In addition, we had gym where we did 100 exercises, we had music and we had a parent who is a welder come in and talk about his job. It was a very busy day, but kind of a letdown as it wasn’t as exciting as I wanted it to be:(. I’ll just have to do better next year!

Exercise:

I ate some dairy after school by mistake:( That is definitely my most vulnerable time. I seem to eat anything without thinking:(. I decided that this wasn’t going to change my plan to go home and go for a run!! It wasn’t a pleasant experience and my phone also died, but I ran and had a decent average pace:)

I was reading some blog posts tonight and was thinking that perhaps I should just start a training plan and then when I’ve completed it, I’ll look around for a race. Has anyone done this backwards approach with success? I should also ask if anyone has a suggestion for a training plan?

Reading:

I started a new book for NetGalley on my lunch hour (the heroine is already bugging me), but my reading otherwise was my friend Lyndsay’s report cards. We traded today so I read hers and she read mine. Not quite as exciting as my usual fare!

Knitting:

I have completed a sock:). I love it and it fits really well. I however am not loving the yarn, which came as a surprise. It is Madeline Tosh: Toah Merino Light and I am finding that it splits way too easily. As well, there was a break in it:( Ugh I have to persevere though as I’d like a second sock!

Well that’s it for me tonight! I’m off to bed.

Have fun!

AJ

Sunshine!

A beautiful, sunny day after all the snow:)

Exercise:

I got out this morning for a short run. The sidewalk had been cleared from my place to the park so I did a loop of it. I had thought to do two loops, but I struggled today, so one was enough!

Eating:

Last week in the lunchroom, L had been saying she eats cheese and peanut butter sandwiches. I got the details from her and tried it out. On a side note, the Kinnikick bread tastes awesome!!! I did it as an open face sandwich with just a layer of peanut butter and then a layer of cheddar on top. It was so good! I think this would be an awesome answer to those days when I am just hungry and can’t seem to get full!

Baking:

I made muffins and cookies to take to my friend’s place today for tea. It’s a small price for baby snuggles:). I had looked last night and couldn’t decide on a blueberry muffin recipe and then reading Maureen’s blog this morning, she talked about blueberry muffins. Perfect timing! I used her recipe from Hereand it turned out great. I made three blueberry, three raspberry, three craisin, two raisin and one coconut. I had the coconut one and it was good!

The cookies I made were using steel cut oats and I still didn’t care for them. I’ll take them, but I’m glad to be almost done that package of oats! The recipe is from Here, though I made them peanut butter jam instead of peanut butter chocolate chip.

Reading:

I finished the school book club book, Ms. Bixby’s Last Day this morning.

This book has some excellent truths in it, though I found it difficult to always keep the characters straight! There were just too many similarities between them so halfway through a chapter I’d forget which one was speaking. And why do so many kids books have to be sad now?

Socializing:

This afternoon I had the opportunity to meet the newest son of one of my oldest friends. It’s always so awesome to see her and she’s doing amazing! She’s just one of those friends who is easy to be with. I stayed for about 2.5 hours as her husband had to go into work. It was an awesome afternoon!

Baby snuggles and kid playing is always awesome! I so love being Auntie Ali❤️

It started to snow so I left quick and got off the mountain they live on.

I don’t know how she does it though as I had to come home and take a nap, or maybe that’s just because it was Sunday afternoon and I could:)

Knitting:

I wanted to bake some more, but told myself I needed to work on my socks more! I am on the gusset decreases so hopefully I’ll have a finished sock to show off tomorrow and then I’ll have to do the other in just two days! I guess this is one instance where I can be happy that I have tiny feet!

Have fun!

AJ

A Pretty Good Day

A pretty good day:) It started with a beautiful view this morning!

All the snow is gone from the trees now as we’ve had beautiful sunshine all day:)

Reading:

I stayed in bed for an extra hour this morning reading the chick lit book I started last night.

This book, The Perfect Present contains three short novellas in one. Each is about 100 pages. The first story is A Christmas Layover by Rochelle Aleta, the second is The Christmas Lesson by Cheri’s Hodges and the third was Christmas With You by Pamela Yaye. I really enjoyed the first two stories, but didn’t really care for the third one. The first story has a teacher meeting a serviceman on the flight from LA, home to Chicago for Christmas. Yes it is quite amazing how easily it is accepted that she has brought a man home by a household of alpha military men, but at least the two main characters had a connection and were likeable. I also loved the large family atmosphere and the perfect family Christmas events:).

The second story has Kayla returning home to North Carolina after a nasty divorce. She immediately meets up with her best friend from high school. It turns out they both wanted it to be more than friends so the relationship moves fast, but still seems realistic. The story also features a sideline of a problematic sisterly relationship which gets ironed out. The main character of this story reminds me of a blogger I read:)

The third story, I found annoying and I found myself skipping paragraphs just to be done it. It has the magic moment across the dance floor, not once, but twice. Instantaneous attraction, a one night stand, and the obnoxious overbearing brother. I just felt like if the heroine was staying true to her character she wouldn’t have let her brother dictate her life. There were way too many baby’s and darlings and the main character didn’t seem genuine.

All in all, three quick Christmas reads to help anyone get into the Christmas mood.

I also got some more of my school book club book read. I just wish it wasn’t so sad! That’s why I had to read a chick lit at the same time! I’ll get it done by Monday though!

Socializing:

I had a date this afternoon for coffee with a guy I met online. It was okay, but I felt like I could have been talking to anyone and didn’t really feel a connection or like we had much in common. I had decided to try an older guy as everyone says I’m old, but I think ten years might be too much for me, but I suppose it really depends on the personality. Oh well, at least I finally went on another date, my friends will be happy. I just really shouldn’t have let my vanity get the better of me! I always wear heels the first time I meet someone as my height does come as a bit of a shock, but I didn’t take into account the puddles from the snow and I think I ruined my black boots:(. The date was not worth that!🤣

Cooking:

With the rule of having only soft, non sticky food until May I figured I’d better plan out some food! I was wanting to do meal prep for the week as I had gotten out of the habit and had noticed the scale reflected this. I now have six bags of cantaloupe for recess snack this week, seven servings of roasted veggies (I had to do something to make all the veggies I had just bought to eat raw with hummus work), and I put my granola into my yogurt so hopefully it will soften up by the time I eat it.

I have a plan to make blueberry muffins, but know I will want to eat one so I’ll try to do that for tomorrow at recess time.

Friendship:

I helped out my friend Sarah by going and letting her dog out this evening. Wilson is a very easy dog to take care of, but I almost lost him in the snow tonight! I had to wade in and get him and bring him back to the pavement!

Exercise:

I went on an awesome evening walk in the snow with Lyndsay and her son this evening. It was so quiet and peaceful as there were very few people out. We stopped at the ice cream store in the park and I managed to not buy ice cream. We were planning to hit up one of the brew pubs for a drink, but there was a line up at all of them:(. Neither of us were desperate for a beer, just for something to do, so we just walked back home.

The walk was good reconnaissance for the fact that the sidewalk is cleared all the way to the park, so I should be able to get a run in tomorrow morning:)

Knitting:

Wondering if I can get both of these socks done in four days, by the end of the month so I can enter them into a HPKCHC class?? I finished the heel flap of one today and will try to do a bit more tonight.

Well, not a super exciting day, but quite nicely full of fun things:)

Have fun!

AJ

Not Again!

It’s been quite the day! Yesterday I said to a parent that my life was nice and calm, I guess I jinxed myself.

I got to sleep in this morning as it was a Professional Development Day (and before everyone complains that teachers get too many of these, let me say, I’d rather have less and be in the classroom with my students!), and I knew we were going later as Lyndsay was driving and had to drop her son off first. It felt great to sleep until I naturally woke up! I was also happy I had arranged to go with Lyndsay as it started snowing around 8am and hasn’t quit yet!

I had quite the surprise when I was flossing and suddenly my tooth was in the sink. Talk about disconcerting! I scooped it up, popped it in a snack bag and called the dentist. I had five dental surgeries last year and one thing that’s good for is that I heard back from the dentist almost immediately. They fit me in for 12:45.

Before that however I had to go to my workshops. I do not sit still and listen well! I went to a workshop on dyslexia because it runs in my family and I often suspect some of my students of having it, not that we’ll ever get confirmation of that in grade one where I live:(. I had high hopes for the workshop, but it ended up just being a movie about dyslexia that featured a whole ton of people who are wealthy and can pay for every resource. I didn’t come away with any new knowledge or any new strategies to help my students:(. Definitely one of the reasons I’d like less of these days as this is unfortunately, quite normal:(

The good part of ProD days is seeing all the teachers I’ve worked with. After sixteen years in the district, even a shy teacher knows a lot of people. Every five steps you stop to catch up:)

I then headed to the dentist. My regular dentist left a couple of years ago to have babies, so I’ve been seeing whoever is available. The dentist on call very kindly cemented my tooth back in, but not without setting me up to come in for a consultation with the dentist who arranged all my surgeries last year. My Marilyn bridge had failed and she warned that it will probably fail again. I’ve been told no hard food or sticky food until my appointment in May and she didn’t say it out loud, but after all my experience at the dentist in my life (I have my mother’s teeth), I can hear a conversation about implants coming:(. I’m trying my best not to think or worry about this until May! I’ll just look at the bright side that no hard or sticky foods along with my dairy and gluten allergies has put me on quite the diet for the next three months!

Exercise:

I ran home, well actually trudged through snow a third of the way up my leg, after the dentist, changed, stopped and paid my utility bill and then met up with Lyndsay for a workout. It turned out to be very short as she got called in to her second job to cover for someone so I also did this kickboxing Rabat’s routine tonight.

http://www.afitcado.com/cardio-kickboxing-tabata/

A few things about this workout. First it calls to do each two times so I reversed the exercises the second time so that what I did to one leg/arm, I did to the other. Secondly, I changed the final tabato jabs, crosses, hooks and upper cuts with ducks as I didn’t really see the point of all her multidirectional jabs.

Knitting:

I’m on the heel flap of my first sock. This is a top down sock which I have never done before.

Reading:

Late last night I finished A Rogue of Her Own by Grace Burrowes which I had gotten through NetGalley.

I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.

This book tells the story of the last Wyndham cousin, Charlotte and the upstart she marries, Lucas Sherbourne. The marriage comes quickly and the novel explores the beginning of their marriage.

The start of this novel reminded me in a very positive manner of Julia Quinn’s writing. I was laughing out loud at the heroine’s antics and at the interaction between Charlotte and Lucas. I also enjoyed the storylines surrounding the peripheral friendships and family. Lucas is a loner, so these developing friendships are super important to his success in marriage. Most of the interactions were quite humorous and contributed to the HEA. The characters were easy to like and want to see succeed. I was super invested in them quite quickly. Finally, I liked the realism that a new marriage is portrayed with. It’s not all roses and rainbows, living with someone takes compromise and a lot of learning about that person and yourself and Grace Burrowes does a great job of portraying this.

The only complaint I had with this book is that I would have liked the Julia Quinn lightness and humor to have continued a bit more through the book.

Anyone who enjoys historical fiction would enjoy this book. It’s an excellent addition to the Wyndham series and I am going to miss that family.

I have now started on my next school book club book which I need to be done by Monday!

Cooking:

As much as I enjoy trying new restaurants and cafes, I also firmly believe that better can usually be made at home. Tonight I indulged in one of my favourite pastimes- sitting by the fire with my knitting, a book and a homemade chai latte. I love chai lattes but so dislike how expensive they are at a coffee shop! I’ve found an easy recipe that I enjoy every time!

I put two cups of water with a tea bag in a pot and bring it to a boil. I then add about a teaspoon each of cardamom, ginger and cinnamon. I also add a cup of almond milk at this point. Bring it back to a boil. Remove the tea bag and the spice ball, add sugar to taste and enjoy!

The recipe, I based this on, can be found here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Chai-Latte/

The only change I make is to use 2 tbsp of sugar only.

And let me know if you try it:). I have to admit I don’t even have to look at it anymore!

I, of course had just bought apples, carrots and celery which I will now be roasting to make them soft. I need to eat my food all ready this weekend so I get back on the eating right track, but if anyone has suggestions of soft food, please let me know:)

I guess I had better go back to reading!

Have fun!

AJ

Long But Cute

It was definitely another very long day, but it started with a beautiful walk to school this morning:)

Teaching:

Today was all about getting ready for student led conferences this evening. This is where the students show their parents their work and around the classroom and school. We compiled all of our materials this morning- school survey, journal, mini book bag, addition drill booklet, printing book, writer’s workshop folder, art portfolio along with cards for playing addition war and our class books.

I role played the conference for the children, using two of them as my parents which they all love and then paired them up. They all took it so seriously, even my goofball boys were on task. After recess we cleaned our desks, and then after computers we cleaned the classroom. ( Magic spot is so motivating🤣)! We had some fun with the aging booth app and I’ve sent the pictures off to be printed.

The conferences started at 2pm and went until 6pm. The children were so cute!! It was just so neat to hear their thoughts on what we do every day, and also to see their personalities. One little girl did not want to go out of order and waited at my desk until I got back so she could introduce me to her mom. Another little boy, who is usually an angel, was in a horrid mood because they had gone to his brother’s classroom first. Math war got him back to his normal cheery self:). Overall, I was very proud of my students!

I also made it a point to check in with parents and let them know what their child is doing well at and what we’ll be working on in third term. This isn’t supposed to be a parent teacher meeting but it only takes two minutes and ensures there are no surprises on the report cards. Oh ya, I also finished writing those today! Yay🎊🎉🎊🎉

Overall, a very successful night of watching my cute students.

Exercise:

Unfortunately the conferences went long so I didn’t get to athletic yoga tonight:( There was just no way I was going to make it down the hill, change, pick up my colleague and make it back up the hill:(. So I did a Lyndsay workout at home:)

It was enough of a challenge! I’m just hoping my Polar Loop recorded it!

I am now going to laze around in front of the fireplace reading and knitting, so I’ll leave you!

Have fun!

AJ

Eeeeeek!

I woke up twenty five minutes later than normal today. I guess I forgot to set an alarm last night. I made it to work on time, but it was rushed:(

Today has been so cold! It only got to -2 for a high:(. It started snowing at 11:30 and hadn’t quit when I came home at 6pm.

Teaching:

Today we had workout Wednesday as a school and it was an arm workout. The legs didn’t do much but the arms had to stay above the head- punching, etc for an entire song. My arms were screaming!

We then introduced a whole school project that centres around building something “magnificent” from a box. It sounds like it could be fun!

I also taught a new math game to my class, the old classic addition war. I love the war card game as it can be adapted to almost any concept and it goes on forever. The children will be playing this with their parents tomorrow night during student led conferences.

During silent reading I got asked:

Miss B is 4600 million years ago a long time ago? Were you alive then??

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Only sometimes does it feel like it:)

We wrote about the lion dance we saw yesterday and then bundled up to go out in the snow and play.

Exercise:

After school I got one of my students set up to do her student led conference and then went off for bootcamp. None of us were feeling particularly energetic but we did the whole Rabat’s circuit. It included:

Corkscrew sliders

Leg curls on the sliders

Kneeling an rollouts

Agility ladder fast feet

Bicep curls and lateral raises with the band

Plank tricep kickbacks

Narrow lunges

Star jumps

Suicides

Dips

Swing lunges

Donkey kicks

Wall balls

ISO squat with shoulder press

Enough to get me sweaty and tired! I think that might be it for exercise today with this weather:(

I also managed to write four report cards before walking home in the snow. It was quite the mental challenge as none of us felt like it! We did take a short break to play with the aging booth app that we will use Monday for 100 Day. It’s super fun if you want to take a look at it:)

Reading:

I’m still working on my Grace Burrowes book, A Rogue of Her Own. I’m still enjoying it and may just finish it up tonight. I’m thinking I can’t be on Net Galley and go to the library:( I think I’m going to have to pick which one to go with:(

Knitting:

I am keeping up to date with the temperature scarf and may get a bit more of my sock done while my phone charges.

Well, I’m cosy in front of the fire and not moving so that’s it for my day:)

Have fun!

AJ

Three Layers and Counting

The ladies at work are laughing at me as I wore three layers top and bottom today to try and stay warm!

Teaching:

I would love to say it was calmer, but it really wasn’t!

We had a parent who is an animator come on and speak to the grade one children this morning. It was neat and I learned a lot. I love having so many different occupations speak so students get a broad knowledge of what’s out there. I often wonder if I would have been a teacher if I had known about more jobs?

We also had a code red lockdown drill. Trying to keep 20 grade ones silent and in the corner for ten minutes is a bit of a challenge, but they did really well. I used this to read Matilda by Roland Dahl to them.

We also had our second math drill, made kindness hearts to put on the school tree and we had library. This afternoon we started practicing for our student led conferences by learning how to perform introductions. The children had a blast introducing their invisible parents to me:)

We ended the day with a Lion Dance to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The students love it and try to get hit by the lettuce as it’s supposed to be good luck. I haven’t been hit in the four years we’ve had it:(

I was pretty productive today myself as I used my prep time to call the bank and deal with all my tax items. Hopefully I’ve done them all and haven’t missed anything!

I also wrote four more report cards after school with my colleagues. I only have seven left to do over the next two days. I know my mom is waiting with bated breath to proofread them for me as they’re such riveting reading🤣🤣🤣

Exercise:

I came home as quickly as possible and once again wanted to use the -2 degree weather as an excuse not to run, but it’s calling for more snow later in the week, so I went! Yet again my Runkeeper list the GPS signal twice so it says I had a super fast first two miles, but I really didn’t:(. It did feel good to get out and my new leggings and down jacket are definitely paying for themselves. Now I just need something to keep my face warm!

Cooking:

I finally got around to throwing my pork loin roast in the oven with some garlic tonight. Hopefully it will turn out as I’m planning to eat that for the next couple of days!

Reading:

I’m reading A Rogue if Her Own by Grace Burrowes right now and am really enjoying it. It’s a NetGalley book so hopefully I’ll be done quick! This author reminds me of Julia Quinn, who I also love reading:)

Knitting:

I casted on the Rose City Rollers last night and might do a few more rows on a sock tonight:)

The good thing about this cold weather is that it’s adding a new colour to my temperature scarf:)

Well I’m off to knit and read:)

Have fun!

AJ

Busy but Better

I never seemed to sit down!

Teaching:

My day started early with our first running club practice. In years past there has only been two teachers running this, but thankfully this year there are five so hopefully it will be slightly less work. We have also limited it to grade 4 and 5 students. Running club happens three times a week and is to get the children prepared for the Como Lake Relays where teams of 4 compete. Each child will run 1.2km. It is quite the commitment for the children, but we’ll see how many stick it out. Today we had to do it all in the gym as it was too snowy and slippery outside:(. I hope they stick with it as I really wish I had started running much earlier than I did.

Today we had writing today about the Rocks and Rings program. I seemed to spend the whole time reminding the children of capitals and periods; figure I’ll be saying that in my sleep tonight!

On my prep we wrote the weekly email, and I got one report card written.

For math we started the addition drill booklet. The children took it so seriously and only three of them did the wrong page. I haven’t quite figured out what I’m going to do about that yet.

This afternoon we read with our buddies and then did the last lesson on migration. Most of the children can now name four to six animals that migrate, but I’ll have to test that for sure tomorrow. Their pictures of geese, whales, seals, fish, butterflies and reindeer were really quite cute!

I teamed up with two other teachers after school to write more report cards. We can’t write them for each other, but we can keep each other company, commiserate and provide the odd synonym when you can’t say what you really want to. It does ease the pain of report card writing slightly.

Eating:

We had a staff luncheon at work today. It was Greek. My co teacher very kindly made potatoes and chicken that I could eat so I stuck to that. I really wanted Greek salad!!!!

I know every workplace has that one person, but ours was a real doofus today. He was asked to bring drinks and six skewers. What did he show up with, nothing! Then, after two emails were sent out last week, he tried to ask if this was a sign up and pay luncheon. Ugh I so dislike having to deal with him- one of the reasons I moved to primary!

Friendship:

I picked my knitting buddy up at the bus station this evening. It will be nice to have her home!

Exercise:

I was about to let the weather get to me like I did yesterday. The high was only one degree and it was already back in negative numbers by the time I got home, but I did get out for a run. It was just a quick half hour, but it was at least something and it felt good to be active!

Knitting:

I’m thinking I’m going to put my sweater aside for a few days and work on a pair of socks for myself with my New Hampshire wool. My goal was to make a sweater a month, but this may not happen in February, we’ll see how the socks go. I’m going to try a new pattern for short socks as I prefer to wear those, but never make them. Obviously a situation that needs to be ameliorated!

I’m off to cast on it maybe read another chapter🤣

Have fun!

AJ

A Nice Day with Pointless Emotions

Another quiet day.

Exercise:

I was planning a ten kilometre run for today but we woke up to more snow. It wasn’t tons, but I wasn’t sure how the trails would be and not all the sidewalks were cleared so I guess I’ll just have to hope to get at least three runs in on other days this week!

It does feel weird not to have done any exercise today though.

Socializing:

I went for a walk with my friend from work. It was a gorgeous day out and we spent about two hours walking around the lake in a nearby park. There were tons of people out as well! We saw a hummingbird, mergansers and a cormorant:)

Reading:

I finished Longbourn by Jo Baker today.

This tells the story of the servants in the classic story Pride and Prejudice. It centres upon Sarah, a young maid, but also features Mr. & Mrs. Hill, young Polly and James Smith.

It was very cool to see the characters from Pride and Prejudice from a different perspective. I think most were like how I would have expected them to be portrayed, except for Mr. Bennett. He was different than I was expecting, but I do wonder if this would have been a more accurate description of him. The reader also gets to see the major events of Pride and Prejudice from this new angle too:). There was a rather large plot twist that I didn’t see coming.

In all, I really enjoyed the book. It had me hooked from page one right through to the end, with many surprises throughout. I would recommend it for anyone who likes Pride and Prejudice or who enjoys historical fiction in general.

BookClub:

I also had book club this evening. We were discussing Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It wasn’t the best discussion because we all liked it, though two of us had difficulty getting into it. Our discussions are always much better when there are people who liked the book and people who didn’t. The food, however, was as good as ever! I got seven layer dip and corn chips, deviled eggs, butternut squash soup and then the sweets I took, plus pineapple upside down cake:)

I got lots of compliments on the goodies:)

Overall, the good outweighed the bad today, though I did spend some time being angry and upset with people who aren’t going to care or change just because I’m angry and upset. 😖😫😞. My mom told me they aren’t coming home for at least another month and it just made me feel like I’m the only one in my family who cares about family, which is nothing new! It’s been like that since we lost my amazing grandma. I hear from one brother if he happens to be coming over to visit friends and I hear from the other if he needs a babysitter and my parents are off enjoying their retirement. I don’t even know why I was so upset when they are all perfectly happy and I’m happy for them. I guess it’s just a down day:(. I think I may be most upset that my nieces and nephews aren’t getting the grandparent experience I had, but it doesn’t seem to bother anyone who is involved so I shouldn’t be upset about that either. Ugh, sometimes emotions suck!

I’m going to go curl up and read a trashy romance novel and hopefully I’ll emerge as my usual self tomorrow!

Have fun!

AJ