Unsettled

This word sums up my life right now.  I was trying to sum it up into a word and a friend used it and I thought, yes, that is what I am.  Close to overwhelmed but, I’m not.  I’ve got it barely under control but that’s about it.  Running smooth? I’m lucky to have ‘it’ running at all.  ‘It’ would be life.  Holy, crap.  I thought I was ready to be full-time, take a graduate class, be a mom to a 2 year old, wife to my husband (sad how far down the list this has gotten), do all of my professional development, keep up a house, my blog, my reading ya know, stuff.

 

But man, it’s been rough.  On the work front, a lot is beginning of year stuff and the adjustment to an all day program.  I actually have less paid time during my day than every before.  Technically, 15 minutes before kids and 15 minutes after.  I also have rest time but that time should never be guaranteed and it varies each day.  We implemented a new note taking system which rocks, but I never have time to actually put the notes in the system we use.  Well, I could bring it home but I’m refusing until after I’m done with my graduate class.

 

Because, yeah, that class.  Oh good lord.  It is required by the state for me to take it within 5 years of graduating and you really need your own classroom to take this class because of the fieldwork.  So of course I put it off until like the last possible moment.  And it’s a lot of work.  Maybe if I was a person who could do a little here and a little there it would be better but I’m a person who sits down and busts out the assignment all at once.  And it’s pretty hard to accommodate my 4 year olds to some of the classwork. So I make a lot of shit up.  Yeah, bad example. 

 

So until I’m done with that class I try to really limit the amount of work I bring home because by the time I’m done parenting the child who is PISSED at her dad and I for being gone all day long now I have time to shower and then I have me time.  Sure, I could take some time from there, but NO I CANNOT.  I need me time.  I become very grouchy when this disappears.  Me time has always been catching up with my friends who no longer live near me on facebook, my blog, my internet friends and reading.  I now have to fit this until less than 2 hours a day.  So sadly, the blog has been the thing to suffer the most.  That and reading.   Which I kind of need in my life.

 

My house? Ugh.  I need someone to come clean it.  I’m too freaking tired to do it right and then it just gets worse and worse and the state of my dishes would offend most people.  I’m currently fighting over the hiring of a cleaning lady with my husband which is pissing me off.

 

Anywho, this is a big long whine.  But I have SO much going on that I never feel present ANYWHERE.  I’m not doing all I want to do with my students because I feel like I’m at this meeting or that meeting or planning for this assessment or this evaluation and I hardly get time to JUST DO WHAT I NEED TO DO.  I’m not feeling present with my child because I’m exhausted because I’ve been GO GO GO GO since 7:45 am and then the poor thing gets me at 5;00 and I’m ready to die.  I planned out an awesome 16 week training plan, but I’ve been too tired to actually start it.  I feel like I’m racing to the next step in the day and I just need it all to just stop.  Or I need extra hours in my day.  But that ain’t happening so I need to get a better hold on it.  But the unsettled turns quite quickly to overwhelming and that just sends me back to the couch, but I’m not a quitter and I need to fight out of this funk and get it together.

 

Unsettled is quickly turning me into something I don’t want to be.  Here’s to crawling slowly out and making the most of the next month.

 

Do you ever feel like you just aren’t accomplishing anything anywhere?

November Group Read is..

Liberating Paris by Linda Bloodworth Thomason!

Description: Woodrow McIlmore is leading the perfect life in Paris, Arkansas: married to his high school sweetheart, he has two wonderful children and a warm circle of family and friends. When Wood's daughter announces that she wants to marry a college classmate, Wood is stunned. But that's just the tip of the iceberg -- her intended is the son of the woman who left Wood twenty years earlier, the free-spirited Duff. And so begins a tumultuous year in Paris, as Duff returns and familiar sparks fly with her old flame. Their rekindled passion affects not only Wood and Duff but also their good friends, as they must now all decide what in their lives is worth keeping and what needs to be thrown away

Sounds interesting! This is one of the many I picked up from the library book sale last weekend.

November 29th will be the discussion! Hope to have you join us!

Book Haul

I love a good bargain and I love books.  I love going to my library's used book sales and stocking up on fill a bag day.  Yeah, I may have a picked over selection but the gems I can still load up on makes it worth it.  This time there were a lot more left in the fiction section than last time in June and the mystery section was a bit more picked over but that's fine.  I had a few authors I was on the search for since my love of series makes finding specific books kind of annoying at times.  So I will load up at these sales on books later in the series so I don't have to wait for the library's copy or have to shell out the big books. 

I was a bit irritated at my YA/Children's haul this time.  There were tons more books out there but the people looking at those made me just leave and head for books for myself.  One, people can't read.  It says, "NO STROLLERS."  So yes, that MEANS YOU.  Leave your freaking stroller at home.  Also, I love that kids are into reading and they are at the library book sale, BUT here comes the second thing that irritated me. Two, if your child isn't helping you look/is making a mess, MAKE THEM MOVE or do NOT BRING THEM.  There is an area that has rows of seats.  Hand the older ones a book and have them go look while you are digging.  The rest of us do not appreciate having to dodge around the pre-teen that is JUST TAKING UP SPACE.  And who usually is right next to the stupid person who brought their stroller.

Do not get me wrong.  I love kids.  I have kids.  I teach kids.  Please use common sense and follow SIMPLE rules (NO STROLLER MEANS NO STROLLER).  The aisles are not made for you, me, your two kids and your stroller next to your two kids. 

I was impressed with the amount of YA left.  They must have gone through their selection and it made me sad that I couldn't more easily paw through those books because of the above mentioned pre-teen wastes of spaces in my way. 

Regardless, I walked away with 24 books that I did not have before for a whopping $6.00.

 

I'm excited to have The Red Tent and The Poisonwood Bible in my possession to get around to when I have time! I've checked both of these out from the library multiple times and returned them unread. I'm also glad I got another Karin Slaughter book and Jonathan Kellerman.

 



 

I'm keeping the Animals Should definitely not wearing clothing and My Mama Says.. for my house but the rest are for my classroom. 

 

 

Have you read any of these? Where should I start? Do you go to used book sales?

November Group Read Suggestions

Good Morning! That time of month again. ;) When I think of reading in November I always think dark.  Maybe not necessarily the book content but reading in the dark, under blankets with a hot beverage in my hand.  November is the beginning of the winter blahs. Wahh.

Here is our ever long growing list of what we've read...

Life Sentences
Looking for Me
Ladder of Years
Where'd You Go Bernadette?
Beach Music
The Dinner
The End of Your Life Book Club
Still Alice 
The Song Remains the Same
Those Who Save Us
We Are All Welcome Here
Gone Girl
Prisoner of Tehran
The Wednesday Sisters
Looking for Alaska
Cutting for Stone
One Summer
The Year of Fog
Winter Garden
The Violets of March
Rebecca
State of Wonder
The Invisible Bridge
The Postmistress
The Scent of Rain and Lightning
Still Missing
The Sandalwood Tree
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Something Borrowed
The Blue Orchard
Sammy's Hill
In the Woods
Shanghai Girls
The Weight of Water
Water for Elephants
The Color Purple
The One That I Want
The Secret Garden
House Rules
American Wife
Firefly Lane
Middlesex
The Reader
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Awakening
Pride & Prejudice
I See You Everywhere

What would you like to read in November? Suggestions will be open until October 22nd and I will use random.org to pick the winner!

Insta Month { 3 }

Sadly, I've been slacking on the picture taking front this fall.  I really need to make sure I'm taking pictures because life is going by so fast!

 

Go Bucks! ;)

 

I walked my second 5k. ;)

 

my loves reading ;)

 

 

Are you good at remembering to take photos? When do you seem to take the most photos?

Undone

I don't generally read gross books.  Or books that get gory.  Hence, why I never attempted a Stephen King novel, or watch horror movies.  Gross stuff is not for me.  Undone by Karin Slaughter bordered on almost too gross.  It's another book in the Will Trent series and THE book where Will crosses paths with Sara Linton (from the Grant County series).  And ya ALL know how much I love when my characters continue on ;)

So in Undone a woman naked woman is run over by an elderly couple in the road.  She is rushed to the hospital and it's apparent that she has suffered serious torture and her RIB has been removed.  Will happens to be at the hospital because his partner was in the ER and Sarah is the doc to get the patient.

Now the horrors that were done to this woman and OTHERS is almost on my line of too much.  Eye stabbed so she can't see, a rib removed, ear drum punctured, trash bags shoved into her vagina. Just ugh.  So much ughhh.

I was probably only able to go because there wasn't any torture happening IN the book.  Just done in the past.  I may have had to set it down. 

I can't say too much more without giving away spoilers but after you find out who did it in the end I kind of snickered about having the truth smack you in the face. ;)

Do you like reading gory books or watching horror movies?

Shopping for books

The 6th installment of the book blog series wants us to describe how we shop for books.

Oh boy, how do I NOT shop for books? Eesh.  When I'm ordering from amazon I check out books to see if there's a cheapy I want to add to my order.  When I'm at the grocery store I look through the sale books to see if there's something I'm interested in.  When I'm on local facebook sale groups I check out books people have for sale.  I shop for books at garage sales, used book sales, my mom's book shelves etc.  When I take my child to Barnes & Noble I scour the shelves.

When I get free time I love to just browse and browse Barnes & Noble.  And not always just for me.  I loooove children's books.  I may have a slight book problem.  Basically, if there is a book for sale, I will find it and browse.  Oh and EVERY time I go to Target I stalk their shelves too.  See? Problem.  The good news is that I don't always buy.  I just browse, a lot.

My favorite places to buy them are the local library's used book sale, garage sales, amazon and target.  Barnes & Noble when I have a gift card.

How do you shop for books?

What We Read in Preschool [ 3 ]

This past week we talked about the letter Aa, apples, and circles.  We learned our 5 little apples song, our Cindy Circle rhyme and we learned LOTS about apples.  Our speech pathologist comes in on Thursdays to do a whole group activity and she had a flip book that was made by another speech and language pathologist and it was so awesome to watch my kiddos answer her apple vocabulary questions.  Cuz I mean, it's not like we kill and drill in preschool but we spent a week fitting in keywords (stem, flesh, seeds, core, seedling, fruit, orchard etc..) and it was so awesome to watch our kids answer all the questions correctly.  I don't know if it's just me but I get a thrill knowing I DID teach them! ;)  Also, I am quite impressed with their catching on to the sounds A makes.  Phew.

Here are some of the apple links that helped me..

http://www.kidsparkz.com/apples.html

http://www.pre-kpages.com/dramatic-play-apple-orchard/

http://www.imprintsfromtricia.com/2013/09/5-foam-apple-math-activities.html

And on to the books..

Ten Apples Up on Top - Theo LeSieg (aka DR SEUSS!)

Learning to count has never been more fun than in this crazy tale of a dog, a lion and a tiger all showing off how many apples they can balance on their heads as they skip, walk the tightrope and roller skate their way through the book.

When we read it, we counted apples and talked about what number would be next.  Our speech pathologist had a whiteboard that had the characters on the bottom and drew apples on them as they were added in the book.  The kids liked it.  That would be fun with felt pieces as well.

Apples, Apples, Apples - Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

It's a blue sky autumn day and Minna, Pop, Mom, and Dad have decided to go on an outing to Long Hill Orchard. As the bunnies fill their baskets, Farmer Miller teaches them all about apples. This charming story is filled with fun facts, activities, and an applesauce recipe.

We read this the day we made homemade crockpot applesauce.  The kids loved the book and so did I!

Johnny Appleseed - Jodie Shepherd

The beloved story of the apple man!

This beautifully illustrated retelling shows how Johnny Appleseed bloomed from a young boy who loved the outdoors into the legendary man who spread apple trees all across the United States. Showing small acts of generosity and the love of nature can make a big difference, this book is sure to inspire the budding little Johnny Appleseed in every reader.

We have a lot of books on Johnny Appleseed but this is my favorite.  It's preschool age appropriate and perfect for a read aloud as an intro to Johnny Appleseed. Plus, it's fun to talk about the pot on his head ha.

The Apple Pie Tree - Zoe Hall

The changing seasons bring a tasty surprise in this bright picture book from the author/illustrator team of It's Pumpkin Time!. Two young sisters watch in fascination as their apple tree changes, from bare in winter to bursting with pink blossoms in spring, and as robins build a nest. When autumn comes, the small green apples have grown big enough for picking--and for pie! Full color.

Beautiful illustrations.  I love how it covers the tree throughout the whole year and the kids loved it too. 

Chicka Chicka 123 - Bill Martin, Matthew Sampson & Lois Ehlert

1 told 2
and 2 told 3,
"I'll race you to the top
of the apple tree."
One hundred and one numbers climb the apple tree in this bright, rollicking, joyous book for young children. As the numerals pile up and bumblebees threaten, what's the number that saves the day? (Hint: It rhymes with "hero.") Read and count and play and laugh to learn the surprising answer.

Loved this book.  Most of my kids had not heard this one before but LOVE Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  So they really liked that this had to do with numbers and an apple tree! We also counted to 100 at the end when we were done and they were shocked how long it took to count that high. ;)

A was Once an Apple Pie - Edward Lear and Suse MacDonald

Hand painted cut paper artwork by Caldecott winner Suse MacDonald illustrates this adaptation of Edward Lear's classic ABC rhyme.

Cute alphabet book with silly rhymes that the kids laughed over.  Just another way of sharing letters and rhymes around our apple talk.

Fluffy Goes Apple Picking by Kate McMillan

Fluffy LOVES apples! And in this new adventure, he discovers just how far he'll go to have an apple of his own!

Ms. Day's class is going to an apple orchard, where Fluffy learns there will be hundreds of thousands of delicious apples. He can't wait! But when Kiss sleeps over in his cage the night before the trip, Fluffy has a horrible dream--Kiss is an apple-eating machine! There are no apples left for Fluffy! Luckily, it is just a dream, and the next morning Fluffy arrives at the orchard with a hungry tummy. But he soon realizes apple picking is not as easy as it sounds! Fluffy is not to be outdone, however, and he finds a way to enjoy his favorite fruit.

This is kind of long and not the best read aloud for preschoolers but they liked it.  I would probably not read it again but my assistant loves it and wanted me to read it, so I did. ;) 

We also read a Big Book about apples that I can't seem to find on goodreads (An Apple a Day) and we checked lots of apple books out from the library that we had available to the kids and read a few of them to individual kids.  I love when we study apples.  Oh and making applesauce and apple oatmeal muffins is fun too! ;)

Do you go apple picking? Are there any apple books you like to read? What children's books did you read this week?


 

Tear-jerker

The fifth part of the book blog series is about recommending a tear-jerker.  I feel like there was a time in my life that tear-jerkers were all I read.  In high school there were the many re-reads of Lurlene McDaniels books.  Oh my goodness how I'd re-read them and just sob and sob even though I read them all so many times.

I  think the only real tear-jerkers this year was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green which WAS OMG AMAZING!!! but in the past these books have brought on the Kleenex..

Sarah's Key by Tatiana Rosnay
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Prisoner of Tehnra by Marina Nehmet
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

What books have brought you to tears? What tear-jerker is a must read in your opinion?

Fractured

This was the second book featuring Special Agent Will Trent and I do believe that Slaughter's books get better and better with each one.

Description: With its gracious homes and tree-lined streets, Ansley Park is one of Atlanta’s most desirable neighborhoods. But in one gleaming mansion, in a teenager’s lavish bedroom, a girl has been savagely murdered. And in the hallway, her horrified mother stands amid shattered glass, having killed her daughter’s attacker with her bare hands.

Detective Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is here only to do a political favor; the murder site belongs to the Atlanta police. But Trent soon sees something that the cops are missing, something in the trail of blood, in a matrix of forensic evidence, and in the eyes of the shell-shocked mother. Within minutes, Trent is taking over the case—and adding another one to it. He is sure that another teenage girl is missing, and that a killer is on the loose.

Armed with only fleeting clues, teamed with a female cop who has her own personal reasons for hating him, Trent has enemies all around him—and a gnawing feeling that this case, which started in the best of homes, is cutting quick and deep through the ruins of perfect lives broken wide-open: where human demons emerge with a vengeance.

I swore I was going to pay attention to the little details to figure it out and then I failed and then the whodunit popped up and I was like aw man.  But this is good.  Not creepy, not disgusting but good. 

I do find it incredibly odd that someone in Will's job could be dyslexic and no one but his boss has figured it out.  In this book it was pointed out a few times how dangerous his dyslexia could be for his job.  Like as in reading info about suspects or clues that pop up on the job.  I'm glad Slaughter included his struggles and how he personally feels he is dumb because he can't read.  So many people with learning disabilities feel so down on themselves and they cannot control how their brain works. It doesn't mean they are dumb, they just learn differently.

If you like mystery's I highly recommend Karin Slaughter (I feel like I say this a lot, so you should totally listen to me by now!) and give the Grant County series first!

Do you know anyone who is dyslexic? How does it affect their day to day life?