End of the school year...or not?

I read the best blog last week--Jen Hatmaker's "Worst End of School Year Mom Ever" and couldn't stop laughing because it is like she is in my house.  We are also limping to the finish line...not sure exactly where/when it is, or what will happen when we get there...but we're getting there...

Once again, The Ranch is a one car household....about a month ago, on the way home from a late volleyball game with The Girl, Mr. IM's car "threw a rod through the short block".  Now, please don't ask me what all that entails...all I can tell you is that the car shop said 3-6 weeks and we are on week 4.  Thanks to the generosity of friends we have managed to get everywhere we are supposed to (school, work, music lessons....)--I realize again how wonderful our village is--one of my friends not only got me to and from work for almost a month, but loaned me her car often so I could get my kids (and I) from point A to B to Z...

School is fine, busy as always, but I think that all my end of year paperwork is done (or at least mostly done), so I can start working on plans for next year.  Unless things change (which they will) I will be teaching two US History classes  and two Government classes and probably a Freshman Orientation class.  One each of the History and of the Government classes are labeled "foundations", so I'm spending some of my free time surfing Amazon for great deals on the (almost) 20 year old text book that I love (1 cent plus $3.99 shipping?  Used--Very Good?  Done!!). I'm also continuing on the Advisory team--which is technically one more prep (but a fun one!)

The Girl "graduated" from 8th grade last week and we had both sets of grandparents here for the weekend. The Girl is going on a trip with her Grandmother next week, so Grandma is back this week. They've been busily packing and getting ready.  

Another indication of the level of crazy is that my garden is still in plastic crates in the living room--although it hailed again tonight, so I'm celebrating that it is (mostly) inside and not smashed...

I suppose the next post will be "What I read in May"....Stay tuned!

The yard is pretty...

Because we continue to have random hail and snow (not kidding...had a foot of snow last weekend), the plants are still in the house--tomatoes, cucumbers, dragon fruit, peppers....Hopefully I'll get them all in the garden soon.  

 The back yard looks pretty good, all things considered--this is before Mr. IM added some mulch today--notice  the new flower boxes with herbs and flowers in them

I think they turned out very nice!

Hope you are enjoying lovely spring weather!

Monarch Road

There are at least two ways to get home from church to our house--one being the highway (which is always under construction) and the other being Monarch Road.  When The Girl and The Boy were much younger I always took the highway, because Monarch Road seemed so long and so foreign.  The other night, as I drove home on Monarch, enjoying the peace and the dark--we even stopped to let three deer cross the road--I thought how interesting it is how something can become so commonplace that the old way seems silly---going out of my way to take the highway now just seems like a waste of time.  

I think it works that way in the rest of my life too--both good things and not so good--that if I do something enough it just becomes "how things are done".  As I drove,  I thought how good that can be when it is something like reading a daily devotional every morning how it is not good when it is neglecting my nightly walk.  

I think I'll keep taking Monarch Road home to remind myself to reinforce good habits and try to change the not so good (and to see the deer).

Books I read in April 2015

I had a really good schedule going there for a while...maybe no one noticed :)  I was getting pretty good at posting on Wednesdays and Saturdays...today I realized I haven't posted since last Saturday--oops.  In my defense, not only is the end of the school year chaos in full swing, but I seem to have acquired allergies that may actually be a cold or flu...Last Sunday I actually got up long enough to decide that I shouldn't be up...Mr. IM tucked me back into bed, he took the kids to church and I woke up long enough a couple times to eat, read (for about 5 minutes), prep my Monday morning plans and lunch.... and go back to bed until Monday morning...this weekend I managed to complete most of my regular weekend tasks, but ugh, I'll be glad when this clears up...

I feel like I didn't read much in April, but there are a surprising number of books, some actually not "young adult novels" on the list.  I'm going to trust that if you're interested in these books (or want to check my description, or whatever) that you are able to google them or paste them into Amazon or your local library...I'm not sure I'm up to copying and pasting right now...

1.  The Dancing Floor (Barbara Michaels)--An old standby--I think I started it at the end of my spring break because I knew I needed something absolutely mindless. It is about a young woman who stumbles into a mystery and of course meets more than one eligible man.  Completely clean--I'd let my daughter or mother read it :)  Not as good as some of Michael's other books (and certainly not as good as the books she wrote as Elizabeth Peters) but a good bubble gum read.
2.  The Maze Runner (James Dashner)-I've checked this book out a few times before and can't count the number of people (including my friend, T, who has never steered me wrong) that I had to read it.  Ok, I read it (and the sequels--see number 3 and 4).  It was good, entertaining...I liked this book better than the sequels.  No spoilers (I don't think?) but the 2nd and 3rd had some zombie-like characters in them and that freaked me out more than it should have. All three books were good, now I can tell everyone I read them...but they aren't going to make my "favorite books of 2015" (Sorry, T....)
3. The Scorch Trials (James Dashner)
4.  The Death Cure (James Dashner)
5.  The Dark on the Other Side (Barbara Michaels)--We were in Breck for the last weekend of snowboard fun and I wanted a book to read on my phone while I hung out in the sunshine.  This was the cheapest of the Michaels/Peters/Mertz books (it was 99 cents...) and after reading it was clear why.  I think I actually read it years ago...it was good entertainment, but had a coven of witches who weren't very smart and a main character who was even more clueless.  Meh.
6.  Naked Once More (Elizabeth Peters)--One of my favorite Peters' books--I never heard her speak specifically about this book, but it fits with things I've heard her say.  The main character of the book is a former librarian, who finding herself suddenly in need of income, decides to write a "trashy novel"...because certainly she can write a best seller.  Of course the fictional author goes on to write many novels and her publisher suggests she enter a contest to write the sequel to a book (whose author died) with "naked" in the title ("naked" was in the title because that makes books sell better, according to the fictional editor).  There are cute little "she sheds" years before that was a thing (they are actually guest cottages).  Good book...I'm willing to loan it if you're local and promise to bring it back (its hard cover--ooh, ah)
7. Thou Art With Me (Debbie Viguie)--The long awaited 7th (8th? 10th? 5th? I don't know...) book in the series...entertaining, not as exciting as some of the earlier books.  I was describing the series to a friend and told her that I loved the first couple books and now I just want to know what happens to end the whole series so I can move on to something else.  The author is advertising a cross series connection with one of her other series, but her other series doesn't sound all that interesting to me...so I just wait for these books, read them in a couple hours and then sigh.  The good news is that she "promises" to produce a book about every 3 months from now until she finishes the 15 (ish) book series, but she is historically 1-3 months slower than promised...but still...
8. Pioneer Girl (Laura Ingalls Wilder)--Hmm.  I was on the waiting list for months to get this and it was good...but it wasn't what I thought it would be.  I guess I glossed over the "annotated" part when I first saw it.  I think if I read it again I'd enjoy it more--I wanted to read the "unedited" version of Laura's story, but kept getting bogged down in the annotations.  It was interesting to read and included pictures and documents I'd never seen--a history dork's dream!
9.  The Honest Toddler:  A Child's Guide to Parenting (Bunmi Laditan)--Bunmi is one of Mr. IM's clients and I've been "meaning to read her book" for months. It was funny--I think her twitter/facebook posts are funnier, because they are more "one liners"--but I'd also seen a lot of this material already on facebook and on her blog, so she still gets funny points.
10.  The Boston Girl (Anita Diamant)--Really enjoyed this book--I read "The Red Tent" by the same author several years ago and enjoyed it (historical fiction, follows a Biblical family...kept cross referencing it with the Bible...).  The Boston Girl is about a first generation American woman, her sisters and parents immigrated to Boston just before the turn of the last century and the main character was born around 1900.  The Boston Girl is presented as a story she tells her granddaughter in about 1985.  Lots of interesting history and an interesting plot--this one might make the top 10 of 2015...we'll see what else appears in the next few months!

This month I'm starting with Outlander (someone recommended it--who were you so we can discuss it....). So far it is interesting, but I'm having trouble getting into it...(but maybe it is my constantly dripping nose interfering with my ability to think...).  Happy May...some garden posts are coming...later...maybe Wednesday (or Saturday...)