Winter motivation

I've been trying to get motivated to write for a few days now--I actually started last week but decided what I wrote was just whiny so this is take two.

It is officially winter here but supposed to be 60 degrees today, unlike the rest of the country, I guess. I heard that as of today all 50 states have snow on the ground for the first time in 50 years  The radio announcer said that he though Hawaii would be the "hold out", but that it was actually Florida.

I had a birthday last week-We aren't going to mention which one. Mr. IM and the kids took me out to dinner and my much-delayed Christmas jewelry arrived (it is very pretty).  They also picked up a set of books written by a Park County writer (and sold at the Al-Mart in Alma!).  Then they all disappeared for the evening and I got to read my books and talk to Liberty about personal space. ("One hundred ten pound dogs don't get to sit on people's laps.  Fifteen-pound cats do if they behave.  You are a one hundred ten pound dog...back up, back up, back up....")

My greenhouse experiment continues to go well-we had a cold snap earlier this week, but it looks like the beets have survived.  The potatoes (round two) haven't sprouted yet...but I always have sketchy potatoes so I can always plant more. I don't know if I'll ever get anything from these plants, but it is a fun experiment.  I planted cucumbers inside (and celery and basil, but I always have those inside).  My spicy oregano (from two summers ago) finally gave up, so I harvested and froze it--I need to find a fun recipe that uses spicy oregano!

We tried a couple meal service plans during December and decided that we just need to be better at making a menu, shopping, and prepping ahead of time.  Neither of the services we used cut down on prep time, just made sure we had ingredients.  Since Mr. IM and The Boy are in the mountains every weekend, it makes life interesting to plan.  The Girl has had SAT Prep class, so we've been staying at the Suburban Ranch, which I think makes Liberty happy, she is not a fan of car rides these days.

Thanks to all of you who included a note or letter in your Christmas card--we love the pictures, but it is always nice to have a letter as well and not have to remember what was on Facebook!

Spring planting is getting closer...stay tuned!




 

Best books of 2017

I almost wonder if I should make this a top 20, since I'm starting with 18 on this list....
Let's see if I can prioritize though:

Top 9 (in no particular order, series included as singles...yep, that's probably cheating...):

1. Lilac Girls (Martha Hall Kelly)--January
2. Three Allen Eskens books:  (last one was best):  The Life We Bury (Allen Eskens), The Guise of Another, the Heavens May Fall--February
3.  Robert Dugani's books--My Sister's Grave and Her Final Breath (Robert Dugoni)--July, In the Clearing --August, The Trapped Girl--September, Close to Home--October
4.  The Alice Network (Kate Quinn)--October
5.  Dark Places (Gillian Flynn)--July
6.  Henry's Sisters (Cathy Lamb)--July
7.  Back Over There (Richard Rubin)--June
8.  The Chemist (Stephanie Meyer)--October
9. Woman of God (James Patterson)--December

Honorable Mention
1. Four  Mike Mullin books (first one was best)-February
2. Long Way Gone (Charles Martin)--August
3.  Barbara Nickless--Dead Stop--October
4.  Hardcore Twenty-Four (Janet Evanovich)--December
5. The Sleepwalker (Chris Bojalian)--March
6. The Painted Queen (Elizabeth Peters)--August


Links to this year's book blogs:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

What I read in December 2017

Here we go..last list of 2017:

1.  Hardcore Twenty-Four (Janet Evanovich)--Sometimes when you wait a long time for a book it ends up not being worth it...while this one probably isn't top ten material, it certainly was entertaining and worth reading.  There is a running joke about Stephanie pet sitting for a snake, the usual blown up cars...nice, trashy, December read.
2.  Dead Certain (Adam Mitzner)--An Amazon free read (or whatever they are called).  Good mystery, lots of twists and surprises.
3.  Curious Minds (Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton)--same author as the Stephanie Plum books, much shorter serious about a bookkeeper and her boss.  Similar formula, similar characters, still funny and entertaining.
4.  Woman of God (James Patterson)--The summary/description doesn't do the book justice.  Part love story, part mystery, I don't know what to say that won't give it away, but worth the read.  Very though provoking (yes, I know it was a Patterson book!)
5.  Dangerous Minds (Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton)--book two after Curious Minds.  Entertaining, quick read.
6. Before We Were Yours (Lisa Wingate)--there has been a lot of hype about this book.  It is historical fiction about how kids were kidnapped and adopted out to wealthy families in the early 1900's.  The characters were interesting, the story believable (and based on facts).  Interesting book.
7.  The Memory Box (Eva Lesko Natiello)--Some reviewers compared it to Gone Girl and I think that is fair.  It was a good story, lots of twists and turns, not super exciting or shocking.
8.  Pro and cons (Lee Goldberg and Janet Evanovich)--another Evanovich series, this one about an FBI agent and the crook she chases (and loves?)....pure entertainment. 
9.  The Heist (Lee Goldberg and Janet Evanovich)-book 2...
10.  Stalking Jack the Ripper (Kerri Marisraka)--Very entertaining.  A young readers book, but lots of twists and turns and a great story.  There is a book 2 about Dracula that is on my request list at the library!
11.  The Chase (Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg)--book 3
12. The Job (Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg)--book 4
13.  The Scam (Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg)--book 5
14.  The Pursuit (Evanovich and Goldbert)--book 6

That brings the total for the year to 116...so, yay!  Stay tuned for the top ten list in a couple days!

December Garden Update--Really

As you may remember, I'm conducting a complicated, scientific project in my greenhouse this winter. And by complicated I mean I planted stuff and am hoping for the best.

I am nothing if not cheap, so my heating system is water bottles, lots of water bottles, some covered with a black trash bag.  In theory, they hold warmth and since they are on the ground the heat rises.  I also have an automatic watering system made up of watering spikes and old soda bottles.  I go out every few days (in the dark, because I'm never home in the daylight) and switch out the bottles.  I haven't been able to check the temperature well with the flashlight, so I'm hoping to take a look during daylight this weekend. I would really like to have a solar-powered ceramic heater out there, but they are all expensive.  And a watering system, but that requires plumbing.  And maybe a greenhouse made out of something other than plastic sheeting...someday...someday..

Let's see...
Potatoes--fail.  I don't know if they froze or if my terrible potato growing skills just came through again, but, sigh...no potatoes from this round.  (Don't worry...I have a bunch in my pantry that are growing legs...I'll try again).  I put them on the top shelf of the greenhouse, you know, because heat rises, but apparently not so much. 
Although..when I went out today to plant the new ones, I harvested 3 (Three!) baby potatoes, even though the greenery above ground was dead!

Three tiny potatoes and two tiny onions...an exciting winter harvest!

Beets--optimistic--although they are on the middle shelf, I'm thinking this is working to their advantage and they are more protected.

Kale--it was kind of on its last legs when I put it in the greenhouse, and there's not much to harvest, but it's not dead, so I'm counting it as a win so far.

Onions-- ready to harvest

Mint--growing from the ground--dead.  Hmm.  I'm sure it will be back with a vengeance in the spring.

Hurry up and wait...

There was at least one episode of MASH when the main characters talked about how life in a MASH unit was all "Hurry up and wait"--that there were periods of crazy rushing around surrounded by a lot of sitting and waiting. 

This week at school has been kind of like that for me--moments of utter chaos surrounded by time spent sitting and watching my kids write final exam essays.  There is, of course, that never-ending mom and teacher "to do list"...but in many moments this week I have just sat and done, well, nothing.  I have felt guilty several times and invented things to do(and been interrupted by "emergencies" several other times).

I think that is God's way of reminding me to observe Advent--to wait quietly and listen for "what next".  To remember that sometimes we are to just wait.  What a great reminder in this crazy, busy world...

Now if I could just grade all those essays in a speedy manner.....

November 2017...What did I read?

November was a slower reading month--partially because I didn't listen to anything in the car--Mr. IM's car had a long vacation at the auto shop, so we all car-pooled, meaning I don't get to listen to books (which is fine...but means I read fewer books!)

1.  The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer--an interesting premise.  Part mystery, part James Bond...a great story, might be top ten.
2.  Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan--Set in Italy during WWII.  This book is based on true stories.  It kind of started slow but came to me highly recommended, so I powered through until I started getting into it.  Very interesting perspective on the war.
3.  Breaking Wild by Diane Les Bequests-Story starts with a woman lost in the Colorado Wilderness and focuses on her and the Forest Servicewoman who tries to find her.  It was interesting, but there was a lot of "extra" stuff to the story that distracted...just being lost in the woods and/or trying to find her is a big enough story, we don't necessarily need extra detailed backstory on both people's childhood.
4.  What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty--very good--Someone recommended it to me a couple years ago and I didn't read it, finally got around to it and wasn't disappointed.  The main character is a 39-year-old woman who loses all memory of the past ten years. Some mystery as she struggles to figure out her current life, interesting characters, and storyline.
5.  I am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll.  A mystery set in England centers on a woman who sees what she thinks is the prelude to a crime.  Some interesting ideas about what we think should be reported and what we ignore.  Good story.
6.  Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden.  Didn't live up to the hype.  I thought it was a book about Joe Biden's relationship with his son Beau and how he and the family traveled through Beau's illness and death.  That part of the story was there, but it really was buried under Joe's stories about all the things he was doing as Vice President while Beau was ill.  It was interesting, but not great.

Christmas Letter 2017

Dear Friends,

You may notice that the Christmas letter has a new author this year. As many of you know, Tigger the Cat left us for the great catnip farm (or giant litterbox, depending on what you believe) last January.  I, personally, never met the great man, er, cat, however, Liberty, Morrison, Alice and the Hoomans speak very favorably of him.

Perhaps I should stop here and introduce myself...my name is Obsidian Bartholomew The Cat.  I joined the family in February.  The Boy really missed Tigger and convinced the parents to take him to the Dumb Friends Society to acquire a kitten.  After stops at two locations, they realized there were no true kittens, however, I had recently turned one year old and made a compelling argument that I be adopted, rather than some untrained kitten.  When the Hoomans reached the "check-out" they were alerted to the fact that there was a BOGO event, therefore they received not only my fabulous self, but also Coco Puff (also known as Poco and BOGO) and the rest is history.... (Although the hoomans say that it is important to read the biographies of potential cat adoptees...somehow they missed the note of "cat surrendered because it bites...)

The Parents continue at their jobs--Mrs. Ranch at the same high school she has taught at since August 2002 and Mr. IM at his law firm that he opened in 2005.  Mrs. Ranch realized earlier this week that this is her 25th year of being a teacher...a rather astounding number for a young cat like me.  Business at the law firm is going well.  There is a rumor that they have created a video for their website, stay tuned for viewing!

The Girl is a junior in high school.  In exchange for a new phone, she participated in track last spring.  As she states she doesn't like to run, she became a pole vaulter.  She did very well and might have enjoyed the season.  She still enjoys skiing on weekends and hanging out with her friends.  The college quest has started in earnest, with several contenders.  She has a part-time job and is saving money for a lovely classic pre-owned vehicle.

The Boy moved to public junior high after K-6 Catholic School.  Turns out the local Middle School is really a junior high, grades 7-8 only, so he joined his classmates in that new adventure.  Part of the adventure is riding the school bus to and from school as well as choosing lunch in the lunch line (instead of a month ahead).  He continues competitive snowboarding on the weekends, which gives us all lots of adventures.

The other pets are doing well--Morrison and Liberty enjoy trips to the mountains with the family.  Liberty has recently added an anti-arthritis pharmaceutical routine to her life.  Alice continues her reign, now as the oldest pet, including the pet everyone is most afraid of.

We wish you all a blessed holiday season! 

Love,
Sid the Cat (and the rest of the family, too)