Master of Wasting Time

Spring edges up, pours rain everywhere, and then makes the grass grow. And the lawn mower won't start. Ugh. Can't I just paint rocks green instead? On the bright side, the high school spring break started, so I can hope that the boy will find time to deal with it. Somehow.

I made both my assigned meals. Wednesday was an easy chicken enchilada thing (easy because mostly what you do is buy a can of sauce). The hardest part was shredding the chicken, which I am terrible at. If any recipes include it (instead of appearing to think it descends magically from the skies -- 2 cups shredded chicken!) I have to make sure I have three times as much time as they expect. Tasty and it made for good leftovers. And then on Friday I made turkey burgers with green chiles, and I improvised wildly by offering to put cheddar cheese on top. Yes, I know I'm a madwoman in the kitchen. I also roasted some asparagus and threw it in a salad bowl with some greens with the goat cheese I had leftover from not cooking last week. Easy and gourmet!

I skipped movies this week. I made one attempt to see Pacific Rim but the timing didn't work out.

I have 15 pages left in the last Cybils book. Well, I think I have to buy a board book but BN.com is currently not talking to my computer. My currently Reading is slowly coming back down.

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called It's Monday! What Are You Reading so I'll join in there. There's also a version that is kidlit focussed at either Teach Mentor Text or UnLeashing Readers. I finished one middle grade, one YA, and a SF book that is great for high schoolers. My kids love Wen Spencer. In fact, one let himself himself learn to read because he thought I was reading her aloud too slowly.

This Week I started:





The Penderwicks in Spring, Jeanne Birdsall. The next one is coming out, so I wanted a refresher. Lydia is two in this one and I guess about ten in the next, so we'll see if she changes much.

Fledgling, Octavia Butler. I can't find my copy, so I bought a new one. Now I must read it to make sure all the pages are there.

Wood Sprites, Wen Spencer. I have fallen deep into Elfhome.

Dark in Death, J.D. Robb. The library tempted me when I went to get extra Elfhome books.

Project Elfhome, Wen Spencer. The first stories come chronologically first of all the books.

Tinker, Wen Spencer. And then we overlap here, so I jump ship to see what Tinker is up to.

I finished:




Game Change, Joseph Manniger. Although I never felt compelled to turn the pages, at the end of the book I had a satisfying sense of understanding what this football game and experience meant to Zeb, and how it grounded and focused his understanding of himself and his values. The whole was more than the sum of the parts, which is a good thing for a book.

The Penderwicks in Spring, Jeanne Birdsall. Batty makes me cry with the intensity of her feelings, which reminds me of my overwrought youth. Although afterwards I read some of the discussion on goodreads and was appalled to find people arguing about who Jeffrey was going to marry, which seems so beside the point. Good golly. Now I hope he comes out as bi and marries a stranger. Or Nick.

Wood Sprites, Wen Spencer. I like the timing of this installment -- starting before Tinker and continuing through the next few books. Of course, now I want to read all the middle bits again.

Dark in Death, J.D. Robb. OK, when I was looking at the books in the library I mentioned to Paulos that I needed a Delaware book, which prompted us to read all the titles morphed into Delaware references. And then the bad guy ended up coming from Delaware! (Spoiler -- Eve figure out who the bad guy is and catches them before the end of the book.) Eve and Roarke continue to be sexually compatible and none of their friends change much.

Bookmarks moved in:





Alliance of Equals, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Episode 40. Parenting is tough.

London Rain, Nicola Upson. RML audio book. I am dragging myself along and it looks like the library will want it back soon.

Weight of Zero, Karen Fortunati. Cybils YA. It now appears that the plot is the protagonist discovering the joys of looking outside herself. She isn't very good at it.

Giant Pumpkin Suite, Melanie Hill. I am not good at kids getting hurt.

Silent in the Sanctuary, Deanna Raybourne. The hapless murderer is hauled off and we look to see what the rest of the chapters are for.

Scythe, Neal Shusterman. This book is making me feel very old.

Wolf Who Rules, Wen Spencer. I got distracted from this into others of the series, but I will come back.

Air Awakens, Elise Kova. Vaginal Fantasy pick. Young people are exhausting!

Harmful to Minors, Judith Levine. More chapters on the damage we do to people by pretending that sexuality doesn't start until 18. Or 21. Or some other age that is older than your kids.

All By Myself, Alone, Mary Higgins Clark. Old ladies making threats at sea may find themselves creating storms.

These I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.



Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott.

A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George.

The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox. The hydrogen atom and how it looks.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, Wendelin Van Draanen.

Change of Heart, Norah McClintock.

Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca.

2018 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2017! 7/104-ish. I read about a hundred pages.
2. Cybils 2016!  104/106. Working incredibly slowly on the last YA, which has about 25 pages left.
3. Reading My Library: Working slowly on London Rain which at least at added a possible mystery. Read a few chapters of  All By Myself, Alone.
4. Where Am I Reading 2018?: 26/51. Added Minnesota. Half way!