Ooops.

So, obviously, my semester is in full swing now (just started Week 6) and free time has been in short supply most weeks. In addition to that, I'm preparing to test for my 2nd degree black belt on this weekend, so there have been some extra prep classes for those students who are participating (testing to 1st, 2nd and/or 3rd deg), which has meant traipsing out to PA on weeknights instead of the weekend, like I usually prefer to do, and that cuts more into my study time because even though the drive time is the same, regardless, those prep classes run longer than typical classes. I also had to research and write a short essay (mine happened to be ~1k words) on the history of TKD (the required topic for 2nd degree), so I had to shoehorn that in with my regular schoolwork, too.

In general, however, life has been pretty routine: subbing, library volunteering, visiting my dad, TKD, school, taking Two to/from work, trying to get him set up with the preliminary stuff for his entrance to JWU in the fall (note to child: I am more than happy to sort through emails and figure out what needs doing. I am happy to help you read anything that's confusing. But YOU will do the work. Not me.) talking to MiniPlu every couple of days, etc etc. Jade has, thankfully, mostly recovered from her ACL injury and we're allowed to start building her up to regular walks again. Oh, and last weekend she turned 7!

( Good news with gradesCollapse )

Our weather has been all over the place the past couple of weeks, with days where the windchill is far below freezing, and other days when you can go out in a long-sleeve shirt and no sweater or jacket. Our crocuses (croci?) started blooming early and are, no doubt, very confused. We're in the midst of a couple of those warmer days, peaking on Wed with forecast temps of 65F/18C. But on Sat morning, when I have to go for an outdoor pre-dawn run (only about a mile/1.6km, but still) with the group as part of our belt test? Current forecast is for 18F/-7.7C. Here's hoping there's no wind, or it'll be even worse. FML.

And speaking of FML - ( Will is really stressed at workCollapse )

Movies: I saw Encanto a couple of weeks ago on Disney+ and, as with so many people, immediately fell in love with the music and the visual details. :D

Broadway: Two and I went to see the musical Six on Broadway at the end of Jan - his generous Christmas present to me. We had a fun day, and the musical itself was a BLAST. Go listen to the soundtrack, it's awesome. We're taking MiniPlu to see it in June.

Books: Obviously, all my reading has been for school lately, except for readalouds with Two, and the audiobook of Autoboyography, which magically showed up when I opened my Audible account. I guess at the time it came free with my Kindle edition? I dunno. Not complaining, though!

Read Aloud: "Playing the Palace" (sweet and hilarious m/m), "If This Gets Out" (boyband romance, m/m) and ... I can't think if there's been anything else. Just recently started "Here's To Us".

For school:

Choose Your Own Adventure: 8th Grade Witch (graphic novel) by Andrew E.C. Gaska: ( Creepy graphic novelCollapse )

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee: ( Whiny, shallow writer of fake meet-cute diary agrees to fake relationship to save face. Did I mention whiny?Collapse )

White Smoke by Tiffany D Jackson: ( Black teen in blended family moves to creepy town and creepier house and she whines a lot about needing to get stonedCollapse )

Rolling Warrior by Judith Heumann. ( Disabled activist tells her storyCollapse ) Recommend!

Wake by Rebecca Hall (graphic novel): ( African American researcher discovers slave revolts were lead by womenCollapse )

A Face for Picasso by Ariel Henley. ( Autobiography of a woman with facial differences. Lots of emotional and physical pain here, tough read but important story. Also, Picasso was an a-hole.Collapse )

Words In My Hands by Asphyxia (Australian Title: "Future Girl"). ( Deaf Australian girl learns to garden instead of eating bioengineered foods, and also learns to sign, to her mother's chagrin.Collapse ) Recommend.

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le ( Modern Romeo and Juliet, but make it Vietnamese AmericanCollapse )

I'm almost done with my current audiobook, a nonfiction story called From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry about a Chinese-American 20-something, Victor Chin, being killed with a baseball bat by a white guy a week before his (Victor's) wedding in 1982. While there's never any doubt about who killed him, the white guy gets off super-light at his trial for manslaughter. An appeal to the judge to reconsider fails, but then Victor's friends and family convene a second trial for civil rights abuse, saying the crime was racially motivated. But was it? Or was it just a drunken brawl that got out of hand? Up until this point, there hadn't ever been a civil rights claim against an Asian American, only against Black people, which is what made this whole case so groundbreaking. The author has done a good job of presenting multiple sides. I actually don't know what I think - whether it was racially motivated or not. If you like legal cases, civil rights, true crime - any of that - I recommend this.

And now that an hour and a half have gone by, I need to crash. But now that it's after midnight, let me wish all of you a very happy Twos-Day! (Tuesday 2/22/22 aka 22/2/22)

Today we took MiniPlu back to college. The only bright spot was that there was pretty much zero traffic all the way down or back (about 210 miles/338km each way), including across the GW Bridge in New York, so that was a downright miracle! Unless the fall, when we knew we'd see her in a month for parent's weekend, and then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas (plus she came home mid-late Sept, for a weekend), right now we're not sure when we'll next see her. She doesn't have any long weekends, only spring break in mid-March. The problem is, that's exactly when MY spring break (for grad school) is, and we were thinking of going back to OR then so I wouldn't have to juggle school and house at the same time (like I did in October). But then we wouldn't see her at all.

As with many colleges, MHC has made the decision to hold virtual classes for the first two weeks. But, honestly, the decision is kind of dumb because, unlike last Jan when classes were virtual and everything else was closed (or virtual) as well, so students were basically isolated in their rooms all the time (except when they picked up their takeout food from the dining hall), right now the only thing is that classes are virtual and the dining hall is takeout like before - but the gym is open, the library is open, some of the academic buildings are open, students are allowed to visit each other in their dorms - I mean, what's the point of having virtual classes if students can gather everywhere else?? Masks are required indoors, regardless.

Whatever. At least MiniPlu isn't alone this January - she has her roommate and they get along great. And she can go to the gym to burn off steam, too.

My grad school classes started this past Tues, the day after Two's birthday. It looks like I didn't get the HS job (which I'm honestly ok with) - the middle school librarian told me yesterday that they'd readvertised the job - so I don't have to worry about needing to drop one of the classes in order to make it work with a f/t job. And I honestly wasn't sure I was ready to quit subbing yet, so I can keep doing that for a bit longer.

Oh, and speaking of Two's birthday, here's my review of the movie we saw that day: ( Spiderman: No Way HomeCollapse )

So, yeah, there's my rant. Loved most of the movie. Hated the entire premise of the "solution."

My reading has slowed way down since we came home, a fact that I find concerning given the punishing pace required by the YA Lit class (3 books per week, although each week one of them is either a graphic novel or a novel in verse, so it's a quicker read). Although I missed my kids and pets like crazy, I did really like having just ONE sole task to work on - paint - rather than being pulled in a million directions like I am at home. OR made it much easier to get reading done, either at night, or while I was listening/painting.

I have, at least, managed to read "The Witch Owl Parliament" aka "The Clockwork Cuandera Book 1" - a YA graphic novel that didn't do ANYTHING for me at all. I like the idea of a graphic novel that incorporates Hispanic legends, and I have no objection to alternative versions of the US (rather like Flora Segunda) but I found the plot confusing at first, and the black and red illustrations just didn't remotely appeal to me. It made everything and everyone seem kind of villainous (which is partly why it was hard for me to figure out what was going on, plotwise). So, this was a definite "meh" and my least favorite for that week's reading.

I also finished Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo by a combination of Kindle (I had heard good things about this book so had snapped it up as a Kindle DotD about a month ago) and Audible (half price since I already owned the book) so that I could switch back and forth depending on whether I had time to read, vs driving a car. I admit, it's pretty miraculous the way Kindle and Audible track each other, and automatically send you to the most current point, no matter which version you were last using. As for the book itself - I liked it, and I didn't. ( Thoughts under hereCollapse )

Ugh, I swear it was just 11p a little bit ago. How did it get so late? Again? Argh.

Back at home again, at last.

We were really nervous about how the journey back would go. There is exactly ONE commercial flight in and out of North Bend, OR this time of year, via SFO (in summer there's also one in and out via Denver), and the connection to our cross-country flight was about 40 mins if everything was on time. Every day we were checking flightaware.com to see how the daily equivalent of each flight was faring, given the thousands of Omicron-related cancellations going on. The flight out of OR was cancelled a couple of times, and delayed a couple of times (which would have meant missing our cross-country flight, except for the one time THAT flight was ALSO delayed). The cross-country flight was also cancelled once. So, yeah, we were crossing all fingers and toes. Thankfully, our flight left OR on time - actually a smidge early, and although we had to briefly circle before landing at SFO, and our arrival gate moved a little further away from the next departing gate, we had plenty of time to make it. And - belief it or not, our luggage made it, too. The cross-country flight was unbelievably empty - like ... maybe 20% full? Maybe? I haven't seen a flight that empty since, like, 1988, when my dad and I flew to NL to see my Oma. I am astonished they didn't cancel us, but grateful. As Will pointed out, maybe they just really needed the plane to be at Newark the following morning for its next flight. We landed at 12:30a local time last night/this morning, and were walking in the front door before 2a. Yes, it was a late night, but given jetlag, we weren't really even that wiped. So, huzzah, it all went totally smoothly.

Today, the flight out of OR was cancelled again. Dodged a bullet there!

( Painting updateCollapse )

We fell in love with the little whipsnake in our driveway, which showed up just about every day to hang out on the gravel and ignore us with the fervent hope that we were ignoring it. When one of us would have to move a vehicle, we'd often have the other person stand over Snakey so nobody would drive over it. Is it sad that I miss him/her? S/He was just so cute!

Since arriving back home we've both unpacked, I did laundry, did a TINY bit of putting Christmas decorations away, paid some bills and dealt with some other bureaucracy, took Two to/from work and made dinner.

Books I have finished:

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado (audiobook). ( First love as a plus-sized brown girlCollapse )

Goodbye Paradise by Sabrina Bowen (audiobook). ( Two oppressed and repressed farmboys find happinessCollapse )

A Gentleman's Position by KJ Charles (audiobook). ( Follow-up to A Fashionable IndulgenceCollapse )

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu. Like Starfish and possibly The Last Cuentista, this is more of an upper middle-grade reader, rather than YA. ( Reform finishing schoolCollapse )

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris (audiobook). ( AKA They Don't Both Die at the EndCollapse )

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. I took a break from school-related YA reading to read this book, which I bought as a Kindle DotD awhile back and have been DYING to read. ( Ace guy with anxiety signs up to be on reality dating show for all the wrong reasons, and then connects with totally the wrong person, but it's so, so good!Collapse )

So, now it's the 13th of January and I've read 11 books already, thanks to audiobooks and a lot of painting. I'm trying to read as much as I can NOW, because my semester starts on Tues and ... yikes!

Incidentally, the high school library gig was supposed to start this coming Tues, and when I hadn't heard anything yet, I assumed they must have gone with another candidate. Eh, it's fine. But when I texted the outgoing librarian with my assumption, she said, nope, they still haven't picked anyone yet. This is frustrating because I might have to withdraw from one class if I *do* get hired and, honestly, right now I kind of want to say, "It's fine, hire someone else" but I'm afraid if I say that, they never WILL hire me to be a librarian for the elementary school in a few years. Ermph. I don't know what to do.

Ok, I should probably get to bed and try to get back on Eastern time again. (It's 9p PST right now. Am I sleepy? Of course not!) On the other hand, after two weeks on an air mattress - even a nice air mattress - I am so SO glad to be back in my own bed again!

Tomorrow I'm taking my memory-impaired father to the dentist. Fun times for everyone! :-P

I'm pretty sure there's a paint nite I did over fall break that I never found time to post but I'm just going to forget about that at this point.

The main point of this post is: I introduced my mom to Paint Nite, and she loved it!

On Dec 28, our last day in CA, my mom and I did this painting together:


( Pics under hereCollapse )

She and I were both pleased with how hers had turned out, especially since it was her very first one! More importantly, she discovered it was fun, and do-able. She did another Paint Nite on her own around New Year's, when I did not have time, and managed that one all on her own. It's a bit trickier when she has to do it on her own, as her only mobile device is her phone, and she has the mini iPhone (at her insistence) at that. Pity there isn't an easy way to add a craft table next to the computer table in the spare room (there absolutely is no room) because then she could follow along on a bigger screen.

Then, tonight, we both signed up to do "Cold Starry Night":



( Those pics under hereCollapse )

As a final note, Will discovered a little snake - I think a whipsnake? - in our driveway this afternoon. When he had to move the truck around, I had to stand right over the wee thing so he wouldn't run over it! For those who aren't squeamish, you can see pics of the snake here and here (with my hand - yes, that's paint all over my fingers - for size comparison).

We've been in OR a week now, and while it doesn't SEEM like we've done a lot, I suppose we have? I've washed the walls in the living room, kitchen (except behind appliances that will need to be moved), the hall, both bathrooms, and my dad's bedroom, and the ceilings of the hall and both bathrooms (Will has done or is in the process of doing the other ceilings). After painstakingly putting on Frog Tape around every bit of window trim, door trim, and bottom trim, I've cut in the Kilz (the pre-paint "paint" that we're using to seal in any lingering smoke stains and odors) for two coats in the living room, hallway and my dad's bathroom, and am working on his bedroom now. Will has rolled 2 coats of Kilz on the living room and hall walls and ceilings.

We've also cleaned the gutters of probably at least five years of leaf and apple sludge (in some cases I was literally digging it out with a trowel), found and fixed the roof leak - a vent cap came off - trimmed a bunch of overgrowth that was crowding the long driveway, and dismantled the decaying homemade greenhouse lean-to off the front porch.

So ... progress?

It has rained quite a lot - we've had to make good use of rare opportunities to get outdoors things done. We had a wind/rainstorm a few nights ago, resulting in our being without either internet (which went down first) or power for most of Monday. Thankfully, both were restored in time for me to cook dinner (and to get back online to video-chat with the family). Also, since we're already only using the woodstove for heat, not having any electric heat made absolutely no difference whatsoever, and we were perfectly content with the wood fire. The only real bummer was a lack of hot water, but thankfully that was back by the time we took our nightly shower.

Meanwhile, through the magic of borrowed e-books (Libby app) and audiobooks (I joined Audible for this purpose, so I could listen while I cleaned and painted the walls), I've already finished FIVE books this year, including the three I had listed "in progress" on my year-end book meme. Granted, two were pretty quick reads, but still!

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley: ( Review under here, with spoilers markedCollapse )

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera: ( Summary of premise, and review, but no real spoilersCollapse )

Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy: ( Graphic novel review, ahoy!Collapse )

Starfish by Lisa Fipps: ( In which a girl learns how to handle really hurtful fatphobiaCollapse )

The other book I finished was another audiobook. I'm out of Audible credits right now (you only get one a month) and audiobooks are INSANELY expensive - and also, alas - my public library does not subscribe to m(any) so I can't borrow any. So, in the meantime, I'm listening to books from the "free" section. I might eventually crack and buy another one from the YA class list, but not yet.

A Fashionable Indulgence by KJ Charles: ( Your basic m/m Regency romance.Collapse )

And ... now it's past time for bed. I'm doing a Paint Nite (yes, from here) tomorrow evening so I want to make sure I have a productive day before that point. But I've been averaging at least 8 hours of sleep a night on this trip so far (including the CA part) and it's SO NICE.

I've already watched the ball drop in Times Square at midnight (Eastern Time) - we FaceTimed the family so we could celebrate with them. But it's still 2021 here on the West Coast, so I'm squeezing this in just in time:

1. What did you do in 2021 that you'd never done before?
Handed in assignments mere minutes before the deadlines. :P. Driven the length of the Road to Hana, and also to the top of Haleakala. Worn masks (two masks) on a plane.

( Rest of Year-End Meme under hereCollapse )

I hope we all have a safe, happy, healthy 2022. I mean, we all wished that last year after the hellhole that was 2020 and I'm pretty sure 2021 continued to suck for most people. Ending the year with the death of Betty White did not help at all. But hope springs eternal, right? RIGHT?
♥

Apparently when I posted my 2020 Book List to DW, it didn't cross-post to LJ and I didn't realize it, so I never posted here at LJ.

2018 books
2017 books
2016 books
2015 books
2014 books
2013 books
2012 books
2011 books
2010 books
2009 books
2008 books
2007 books
2006 books
2005 books

1. The Burning Issue of the Day (Lady Hardcastle #5) by T.E. Kinsey
2. A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher
3-4 His Royal Secret by Lilah Pace* (read twice)
5-6 His Royal Favorite by Lilah Pace* (read twice)
7. Finding Home by lanai
8. Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (short)
9. The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer Nielsen
10. The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen*
11. Cemetery Boys by Aidan Thomas
12. The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
13. Dodger by PTerry
14. Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
15. Death Beside the Seaside (Lady Hardcastle #6) by T.E. Kinsey
16. Chain of Iron by Cassie Clare
17. Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian
18. Guardian Spirits by Jordan L. Hawk
19. How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters*
20. The Fatal Flying Affair (Lady Hardcastle #7) by T.E. Kinsey
21. Him by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy
22. Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa
23. Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan
24. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston* (plus partial re-reads)

Middle Grade books read for myself OR for children’s lit class:
25. Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
26. Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
27. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
28. The Curious Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angelberger*
29. George Melissa's Story by Alex Gino*
30. Rick by Alex Gino
31. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
31.5 Princess in Black by Shannon Hale (super short book)

Graphic Novels for children’s lit class:
32. All's Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson
33. When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
34. Class Act by Jerry Craft
35. Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett Krosoczka
37. Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest by John Lechner (super short book) (half from 31.5 and half here = one whole book)

Books in Verse (and therefore quicker reads) read for myself OR for children’s lit class
38. The Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
39. Red, White and Whole by Rajai LaRocca
40. Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
41. The One Thing You'd Save by Linda Sue Park

Read aloud: (many of which I would have read anyway)
42. The Symptoms of Being Human
43. Chainbreaker by Tara Sim*
44. Firestarter by Tara Sim
45. If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
46. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
47. One Little Word by F.N. Manning
48. Running With Lions by Julian Winters
49. Spy School: Revolution by Stuart Gibbs
50. Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli
51. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
52. Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell
53. She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen
54. Dear Evan Hansen (Novel version)
55. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld*


In progress:
Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan (began before I knew YA reading list)
Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy (graphic novel, assigned but I wanted to read it anyway)
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera (audiobook, listening while washing and painting walls)

So, I realize that after posting the drama of getting my meds replaced while I was in Hawaii in AUGUST I never really posted a proper update since. And for that - man, I am so sorry. The fall semester just about killed me. So, now that we're at the end of 2021, I'm going to try to give a brief bullet list update.

( August-December under hereCollapse )

We've been doing our best to be safe during Omicron, going back to double-masking or N95/KN95s during our trip, and will likely continue when we get home again (I was already double-masking again when subbing), and meeting people outside when possible. CA requires masks indoors and proof of vaccination for dining (had to show it for our free breakfast buffet in the hotel) and most people we've seen have been compliant. We are DYING to see Spiderman: No Way Home and (Two and I) want to see the new West Side Story, but we're not ready for movie theaters yet.

Really struggling not to feel completely fatalistic and like giving up and curling up in a ball because of Omicron. I feel like that scene from Princess Bride:
"We'll never survive!"
"Nonsense. You're just saying that because no one ever has."

I'd like to promise I'll do better with posting in the new year, but I'm not hopeful. :P My apologies to all the friends who have not had the attention they deserve.

Because piperki told me to:

1. Where is your cell phone? Near
2. Describe your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/lover Supportive
3. Your hair? Graying
4. Your mother? Frustrating
5. Your father? Oblivious
6. Your favorite item? Kindle
7. Your dream last night? Forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? Water
9. Your dream car? Reliable
10. The room you are in? Crowded
11. Your ex? Gay
12. Your fear? Longcovid
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Librarian
14. Who did you hang out with last night? Macbook
15. What you're not? Rested
19. The last thing you did? Fold
20. What are you wearing? Jammies
21. Your favorite book? Multiple
22. The last thing you ate? Cornbread
23. Your life? Busy
24. Your mood? Stressed
25. Your friends? Far
26. What are you thinking about right now? Bed
27. Your car? Toothless
28. What are you doing at the moment?Meme-ing
29. Your summer? Past
30. Your relationship status? Mawwiage
31. What is on your tv? Dust
32. When is the last time you laughed? Today
33. Last time you cried? Uh....
34. School? AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

Tag: brumeier. *g*

So, we've been here in Hawaii for just over a week, and have 1.5 days left in our vacation. Now, as you would rightly assume, we've had a pretty good time here - nice weather, gorgeous scenery, too much food. Rough life. Yes, a few wrinkles here and there, but overall - not too shabby. ;-)

Except for one thing.

tl;dr - I have spent WAY too much time on hold on the phone during this trip.

( The story of how one well-intentioned mistake screwed things up royallyCollapse )

So, yes, there have been beaches and a luau and gorgeous scenery and, yes, some grumpy travel issues here and there. But also this huge thing that has dominated almost our entire trip. Not fun. At all.

I'm actually on Maui right now, and will do a post about that at some point, but first I want to do a Paint Nite catchup, because I didn't have time before we left.

First up was this painting, which I did back in mid-June as a birthday gift for my mom:


( Pics under hereCollapse )

Then came the crazy month of July - three birthdays (mine, MiniPlu's and my SIL's), and the trip to OR, plus getting my dad settled into his memory care place. And I was still taking my summer course (Children's Lit) until the middle of the month, as well. Oh, and I drove Two out to RI to visit JWU. All this meant I didn't really have time for Paint Nite again until August.

On Aug 9 I did this painting, to put me in the mood for my upcoming trip to HI (although the painting itself claimed to be Florida):


( Beachy pics here!Collapse )

Two days later I did another Paint Nite: a pretty stone castle tower in a thicket of trees, bushes and flowers:


( I thought this one was going to be much more complicated than it was.Collapse )

When we get back, my life will be nuts again and I'll be starting my fall classes almost immediately after, so God only knows when I'll get to paint again, but I'm glad I at least got in a few over the summer. Wish it had been more!

Ok, I realize at this point I owe an update so massive, it's ridiculous.

School: Got out on 22 June, super late. Two took his senior pictures that same day. We got his proofs in early July and sucked it up to order a couple, despite the ridiculous price tag for senior pics, so we could complete the set of school photos we have in one of those all-in-one frames.

Grad school: Summer classes started June 1 and ended mid-July for me. I only took one class this summer, Children's Lit. Class was light on lectures (I honestly would have liked more in this department) but had some interesting and thoughtful discussions, along with some books I never would have thought to read without this class. Enjoyable term.

Blood donation: MiniPlu and I went to donate blood a couple of weeks ago. I'm super proud of MiniPlu for doing this as she's terrified of needles. Only her second donation. Unfortunately, they wouldn't take me - I have a naturally high resting heart rate that was slightly elevated that day but meant that it went just a little over their limit. Grump. Am trying again in 9 days, so here's hoping that one is successful.

Dad: Will and I flew to OR on 5 July and spent 5 days getting my dad TB- and Covid-tested, got several loads of his clothing washed thanks to his neighbor, scrubbed off several months of soot, packed him up, and dealt with some other legal and financial logistics, then flew with him back to NJ on 9 July. It was exhausting having the "You're moving to NJ so you can be closer to me, to an assisted living facility" (it's memory care but I didn't say that to him) multiple times during the week because of course he didn't remember each previous conversation. Thankfully, he got more cooperative the longer it went on and came back with us without issue. He did balk once we actually arrived at the facility, after having lunch with the residents as part of his arrival, because we'd woken him up, cognitively, so to speak, and he didn't want to be with people who were not all there upstairs. But aside from that traumatic first day, he's been fine - totally compliant, no complaints, has no idea he's only been there a few weeks. It's emotionally hard on ME to see him in there, a quiet little sheep, instead of the vibrant man he used to be, but he's safe, well-looked-after, and CLEAN.

Weather: We had a tornado scare a week ago, when a nasty storm spawned at least three twisters, two of which crossed by close enough to us that we spent over an hour in the basement - all 7 humans and 5 pets - Thurs night (29 Jul). Thankfully, the tornadoes missed us.

Pets: And speaking of pets, my SIL adopted a fifth cat two days ago, a 3.5-month-old kitten named Rachel (part of a Friends-themed litter). She's not too sure about the other animals on the limited exposure she's had to them (we're still keeping her mostly sequestered in MiniPlu's bedroom or R&K's bathroom so she can get used to us in less chaotic circumstances) and the other cats aren't too thrilled by her, either. (Jade thinks she's interesting, but tiny kitten is not delighted to have giant dog nose thrust in her direction.)

Two: applied for a job with our local grocery store chain in early summer but nobody told us we'd have to follow up with a direct call to the individual store's HR, so several weeks got wasted without hearing anything. He interviewed for the store closest to us, which was clearly a "I have no intention of hiring you but I'm being polite" 5 min affair, and a more serious interview with the next-closest store, which resulted in his being offered the position of cart-retrieval dude. He starts on Sat. The chain is union, which sucks in that Two's hours are severely dictated: He can only work 4-4.5 hour shifts and must work 20 hours a week, which means going to work 4-5 days a week even during the school year. However, as he pointed out, he deliberately planned for an easy senior year so hopefully this will work out. We bought his uniform pieces last weekend (black pants/jeans although, as cart dude, he's also allowed to wear black shorts in hot weather; white collared shirts - polo shirts for now, and Two hates polos, poor boo :P; black shoes - black sneakers are fine). He'll also be given a store vest or apron, probably a high-viz vest given his job. This is his first-ever paying job. Hopefully it'll turn out to be decent. It's been a struggle for him, as it involved talking to people, and he tends to seize up in a stammer when faced with people he doesn't know. But he's managed, with support.

Two, Part II: We also visited JWU (Johnson & Wales Univ) in Rhode Island last Fri; Two is interested in their associates' degree baking/pastry program. We both liked what we saw. Now to see if he can get in. I admit I'm not super confident about that, but I can hope for the best. The part that really sucked was all the driving. It's 4 hours each way under ideal circumstances, about the same as MiniPlu's school, but in reality it took 4:35 up and 5:15 back, and that's not counting the 30 min dinner break we took on the way home. We were gone 14 hours, ergh. The one thing that WAS awesome about the trip was that I finally got to meet purpleink in person for the very first time, after 19 years of friendship. ♥ Had a delicious lunch with her at a pub-cafe in downtown Providence before our tour of JWU's culinary campus 10 mins away.

MiniPlu: She had two choices for housing this coming year: a) join the regular lottery to pick a room, and either have a roommate in mind already or allow the school to pair her with literally anybody. Or b) allow the school to pick her room, but be matched with someone compatible, like they do for freshmen. In the end, she chose the latter, but MHC royally screwed her over, putting her and her roommate (who, admittedly seems nice - she's from Nepal, which I think is beyond cool) in a dorm that's the square footage of the average single (aka much smaller than the usual double), on the third floor of a dorm with slanted roof so they'll have an angled ceiling, making it feel even smaller, and it's also the dorm usually given to the "nontraditional" students, so it's across the street from the main campus, set back from the road, so it's much more isolated. She is NOT amused.

Movies: Have not yet been in a cinema, but we've seen some movies on Disney+: Black Widow and Jungle Cruise, both of which we liked. Black Widow fills in some canon gaps and Florence Pugh was amazing, while Jungle Cruise was just a fun romp.

TV: Been slowly working our way through Love Victor S2 with Two as time permits (just finished), and am halfway through Young Royals, which I'm watching in Swedish with English subtitles (it also comes dubbed in English, but ick). Apparently I have a thing for cute Hispanic boys falling in love with white boys? (See also: Red, White & Royal Blue. :-P)

Olympics: I have seen absolutely NONE of the TV coverage, and only seen video clips of certain things I've hunted down, like Tom Daley's Gold-medal-winning dive, a few artistic swimming things, a couple of US women's gymnastics routines. The last time I watched so little of the Olympics, it was 1992 and I was staying with Steve in an apartment without a working TV.

Books: SO MANY BOOKS. Many for school, some read aloud to Two, some on planes, or at 1am, or when I'm supposed to be doing something else.

Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell - in progress
Death Beside the Seaside by T.E. Kinsey Lady Hardcastle #6
Chain of Iron by Cassie Clare
Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian
How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters
Beyond by Mercedes Lackey - in progress

Books in Verse for class:
Red, White and Whole by Rajai LaRocca
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
The One Thing You'd Save by Linda Sue Park

Chapter books for class:
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
The Curious Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angelberger*
George Melissa's Story by Alex Gino
Rick by Alex Gino
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Princess in Black by Shannon Hale

Graphic Novels for class:
All's Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Class Act by Jerry Craft
Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett Krosoczka
Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest by John Lechner

( Commentary for all those books under here. No spoilers.Collapse )

So, uh, yeah. I'm a shitty friend and updater and I want to do better but Life keeps getting in the way. Here's trying.

Today (well, July 2) was my 50th birthday.

( Birthday stuff under hereCollapse )

Life has continued to be nuts. I'm behind on weeding, school, getting ready to travel to OR on Monday to fetch my dad and bring him to NJ (flying back with him on Fri). It's why I'm doing this post so late (or is that "early"?) because I wouldn't have time otherwise!!

Again, if I've missed important news or posts, please let me know, and I'll come look straightaway. For now, though, I'm off to bed.

I have been a terrible friend. I have not had time to read my flist in a MONTH. Please PLEASE, leave a comment if you have news I should catch up on, and I will specifically seek out your journal to see what I missed. I'm so so sorry.

I saw this once before, but when it cropped up again, I decided to take the plunge. Getting me in the mood for Hawaii. :D

Here's the model:



( Painty pics hereCollapse )

In a hopefully-soon upcoming post: I found a place for my dad on Wednesday, but getting my ducks in a row so he can come out is proving more complicated. Mask mandates were removed at school this past week for reasons that involved very vague pronouncements from the governor. Am not happy about this. Neighborhood car break-in attempts. Won a scholarship. Tomorrow I'm getting Two his first professional (and not mom-fessional) haircut in about two years, in anticipation of his senior portraits being done in 10 days. New grand-nephew. Rollercoaster day at school a week ago. Weeds are trying to take over my veggies, especially seeing as a lot of my veggies didn't sprout and thus have left a lot more room for the weeds. Finished reading Only Mostly Devastated and will soon finish the next in my Lady Hardcastle mystery series. Also just finished the read-aloud of Becky Albertelli's Kate In Waiting with Two. Oh, and we've started watching Love, Victor (S2) and MCU's Loki.

Right. So - details will be forthcoming. Eventually. Someday.

Three weeks ago, I did a Paint Nite - my semester was just about over, and it was Mother's Day weekend, so I was treating myself. And then Life happened and I never got around to posting the photos. Oops.

This was the model:


My MIL loved lighthouses, so whenever I see one (or a Paint Nite about lighthouses - of which there are many), I think of her.

( Painty pics under hereCollapse )

Paint Nite is starting to bring back in-person events again, sigh, which means some of my favorite teachers no longer seem to be offering online events anymore. Maybe they might if I asked for something specific? I don't know. Right now I hesitate to commit too far in advance, without knowing when I might be flying off to fetch my dad.

And as long as I'm posting photos - the baby birds in our front door wreath-nest finally flew away on Wed, 19 May. Here's the last photo I took of them, the day before they left. As you can see, they're fully fledged and clearly ready to depart:


Still need to clean all the bird poop off our door. :-P Meanwhile, it looks like some other birds have come and pilfered some of the abandoned nest materials - a large portion of the rear of the nest seems to be missing these days. We were worried new residents would move in (or the original parents would deposit a new clutch) but right now it seems more like the nest is serving as a convenient one-stop shop for other birds to find building materials for their own nests!

Belated Friday Five, gacked from thesmallhobbit and spiffikins:

1) What are you doing this spring that you weren't doing 1 year ago?
Substitute teaching/library work. Grad school. TKD in person. (TKD at all!)

( The other fourCollapse )

Very little progress on getting my dad out here. With the help of A Place For Mom, I visited three memory care centers the week of May 17-21. However, then my APFM coordinator suddenly had to leave and I was handed over to someone else who has not been as good about setting me up with appointments, so I didn't see anything last week and I'm v frustrated. I mean, if I had to pick a place from the first week, I could, but none of them felt quite right. I really wanted to place him within a month and now half of that time is gone already. Will started looking for an Elder Law attorney in OR this week since I hadn't had time, and found some potential candidates but we haven't had a chance to talk to anyone yet. Sigh.

Meanwhile, my mother has come down with shingles - on her face. Although it's not IN her eye, it's affected the tissue *around* her eye, making it swollen. Poor lady. It's been about a week, though, so hopefully it will start healing soon.

As for me: I've substituted a lot, dealt with the newly-planted veggie garden (weeds are doing well, thanks for asking - will be spending time this weekend weeding), handled the usual chores and errands, hosted a house guest for the first time in 18 months (college friend of Will and Rob's) last week, and gone to TKD in person twice (last Sat and last night) - SUPER SUPER happy about that.

(I came home from TKD last night and was greeted at the door by Two, who handed me a bowl with a brownie ice cream sundae in it. Everyone should get this sort of homecoming!)

It's a long weekend here - Memorial Day on Mon, which is normally the unofficial start of summer. We've had quite a few summery days already, though! Ironically, this weekend is chilly and wet - although I'm not complaining, honestly, because we desperately need the rain. It's been a very dry year so far.

My summer term (one class: Children's Lit) begins on Tues. We had the first two weeks' readings in advance, since it involved a huge pile of picture books - that way we had plenty of time to track them down at our local libraries. I'm looking forward to this class overall - look up "John Schumacher" or "Mr. Schu" (his usual nickname - even as a professor) in conjunction with children's lit or school libraries, and you'll see he's actually kind of a famous guy. He only teaches in summer (someone else teaches during the academic year) and I specifically waited for summer for this course, as I've heard he's the absolute best to learn from.

I've recently read:

( Four booksCollapse )

Time to go find lunch. And maybe do something other than sitting on my ass all day. :P

This week, I went to visit my dad. I left the house at 5a Wed morning (EDT) to get to the Philly airport, took two flights (connecting through Denver) to Eugene, then drove 2:40 to get to his house, arriving shortly before 5p PDT. (Basically, 12 hours door to door.)

I'm glad I went, but ... oh boy. TL;DR He need to go to memory care, as soon as we can manage it.

( The long version: a tale of smoke and mirrors. No ... just smoke.Collapse )

I had planned to stay until Sat (today), but on Thurs, I rearranged my trip to come home a day early, yesterday, meaning I was in town less than 48 hours. But aside from temporarily cleaning off surfaces and having him evaluated (and vaccinated), there wasn't really anything else I COULD do in the immediate timeframe. I came home to regroup, and have regular internet access that wasn't on my phone while huddled in my car on the side of the road. I'm exhausted and overwhelmed and stressed out of my mind. If anyone has any experience with dealing with any of this, and has advice, please please let me know.

(As for flying: I was definitely ready to put people back at a 6' distance after being stuck on planes all day. One of my flights on the way home had an empty middle seat - the lady on the aisle and I rejoiced at the bonus space between us. I saw a lot of useless neck gaiters, and some masks worn under noses, but at least most people tried to spread out at the gate, especially if they were eating. And United handed out alcohol wipes for your personal seat/area as soon as you got on board, which was a nice touch.)

As far as I can tell, I am DONE. But, man, it's been a grueling few weeks, which is why I basically fell off the face of the earth for, you know, a month. It was all I could do to keep up with weekly obligations, particularly as I was having a hard time focusing for a couple of weeks, and then I had end-of-term projects due, two Sundays in a row. On those weeks, I not only worked all week, but all weekend. I even built a blanket fort (yes, really) so I could better shut out distractions on days when I wasn't in the mood to work at a table. But the last big project was due this past Sun, and I've just finished my final week of wrap-up activities, whee! I still don't know the grade I got for the most recently-handed-in project, but I got an A on the other one (which I was really in doubt over) so I was happy about that. ETA: I just got my grade for the second project: A! :D

This summer I'm only taking 1 class - I decided to take it a little easier, especially since summer term is shorter and thus they cram more in each week. I'm taking Children's Lit, which I'm really looking forward to. I've already borrowed a mound of Caldecott Medal/Honor (illustration awards) winners from the school library, as the teacher gave us the first two weeks' booklists in advance so we could get started. Once I catch up on a little more sleep - I am exhausted - I'll tackle that.

Yes, I decided to go visit my dad next week - thank you to everyone who offered supportive input. No, he's not vaccinated - I haven't been able to find a way to get him to a clinic. I'm not sure if I'll try to get him vaccinated while I'm there. On the one hand, he never goes anywhere, and hardly sees anyone other than the woman who brings him his groceries and, very very rarely, his next-door neighbors. On the other hand, couldn't hurt. But it would be easier to get him J&J so I don't have to worry about how to get him to Jab #2, and that's proving more difficult.

In other health news, I donated blood today, and that always makes me happy.

Been doing more driving practice with Two ( which is always a bit of an adventureCollapse )

Speaking of Two ... well, two things. One is that our district finally went back to a full-day schedule today for the first time since March 13, 2020; we've been on early dismissal since then. But the weather is now generally nice enough that the in-person kids can spread out more - including outside - for lunch, which was one of the main sticking points, since that involves a large chunk of the population taking their masks off all at once. (We've elected to keep Two virtual for the rest of the year - it's actually working surprisingly well, as it's allowing our socially-awkward child who hates to talk to people some physical space, and he's actually communicated - voluntarily - with some of his teachers in this format.) Meanwhile, I'm subbing both Fri (tomorrow) and Mon - we'll see how tired I am after teaching a full day for the first time in forever!

The other thing regarding Two is that, after continuing to amass books (some from us and most from spending his own money), this week he finally sent off four boxes, containing 60 almost-entirely LGBTQ-themed books, to Camp Aranu'tiq to start a library for campers. Thank you again to spiffikins and loupnoir for donating some books to the cause. ♥ We hope this mini library brings future campers (and maybe even the counselors) a lot of pleasure.

In the realm of books, I recently read ( seven booksCollapse )

And yes, for the record, a) sometimes I snuck in reading when I was supposed to be working and b) sometimes I sacrificed sleep. :P

For my read-alouds with Two, we read ( four booksCollapse )

Hopefully I haven't somehow forgotten any books! Gah, this is what I get for going so long between updates. :P

Also starting to gear up for this year's veggie garden. I've gotten a number of seedlings, and seeds, and also some flowers for my front porch planters.

And speaking of the front porch - a little over two weeks ago, as we were bringing the groceries in, we noticed that birdies had built a nest in the new wreath I'd recently hung on our front door. (In fact, in the week preceding, we'd noticed birds stealing from it.) But, yes, a nest, with three eggs - two that matched, and one that didn't.
( Pictures and more info on the nesting birdies under hereCollapse )

Uh. I think that's everything? For now, anyway? Hopefully I can be a better updater (and commenter - I'm SO behind, I'm so sorry) over the summer!

I've been dithering for weeks about trying to visit my dad for a couple of days in mid-May, between the end of my spring semester and beginning of my summer term. I need to find a few outstanding tax documents (from both 2019 and 2020 tax years) I'm sure he has in his house (I have the rest) and get those finally filed. I want to see for myself how much his functionality is eroding, rather than just hearing about it from neighbors.

But this involves planes (here to OR, with one stop in the middle). I'm fully vaccinated (Pfizer) and am 3.5 weeks past my second shot, so I'm as immune as I'm going to get, until the fall booster. Everyone in my household will have had their 2nd shot by the time I would go, although Two (the last one) would only have JUST gotten his 2nd one a few days before my tentative departure. But still. Planes. And it's been my impression that people are not great with proper mask wearing in his tiny hick town, for when I need to get a few things at the grocery store. (I can wear MY masks, of course, but I probably will encounter a lot of people who won't.)

I am DESPERATE to go for the above reasons, but I can't decide if this is a reasonable risk to take, or if I'm just being foolish. Thoughts?

(And yes, I realize I haven't done a proper update in over 3 weeks. I have ONE more big project due on Sun, and then hopefully I can breathe.)