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Sorry For The Absence
Where do I begin? I can’t even begin to tell you about how hectic our lives have been since July. I regret that I put the log on hold, but there are times that life steps in and you just hang on.
I did go back to Michigan for several weeks to help with my Mother’s care. I am so glad I went. I was happy that my trip gave my brother a couple of weeks without the burden of being the sold care provider to our Mother. I was so very happy to spend time with my brothers and their families. I did miss them so much. I loved being back to small town life. I loved visiting a Farmers Market that actually had home grown produce for reasonable prices. I especially loved all the fresh fruit and veggies & Michigan Fudge! My Mom was glad to see me but she was a difficult patient. My time there was filled with home health nurse visits, hospital tests, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, laundry. When I left she had a kitchen full of food, a freezer at my brother’s house filled with frozen home cooked meals, a cleaning service, she was getting stronger and she also had a nice new ramp that my brother’s built for her to help her get in and out of the house much easier.
Once back from that it was on to 3 days of Jury duty. Let me tell you that the Clark County Court System must absolutely love me because I get summoned for jury duty every 2 years! I don’t really mind it anymore. The first time I was summoned I was chosen for a jury and I actually found it pretty interesting. So now when I get my notice, I show up with a smile on my face and try to be patient because many people aren’t very pleased to be at jury duty.
During the time I spent in Michigan and on jury duty my daughter, Katie, was busy getting ready for her first year of teaching. She is teaching 9th grade Algebra and Pre Algebra at her old high school. I wish I had been here to help her prepare and go shopping for all the classroom items that she needed. But she did a great job preparing. She has been teaching now for about 7 weeks and she absolutely loves it and what is better than that is that her students love her! She is doing a fantastic job and I am so proud of her.
For the past 6 weeks I have been picking up my produce on Saturday mornings and volunteering with my kids, trying to heal my knee (long story short the Dr. thought I had a blod clot in my leg from my Michigan trip and jury duty, turns out it wasn’t a blod clot but rather it is a cyst behind my knee that is pretty painful) I have been taking meds to try to reduce the cyst and inflamation and with the pain. I have also been working more than normal which is more than I would like. It adds to my stress level and that plays havoc with me. I tend to clench my jaw when under stress, and boy is my jaw sore. I have been trying to deal with the stress by doing more reading and relaxing in the evenings and on the weekends. I am also having luck with using some of my essential oils along my jaw and it does help, thankfully.
I had a birthday in September and I turned 51. My husband & I also celebrated our wedding anniversary, 26 years. Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday we were rushing off to the Justice of the Peace here in Las Vegas. We had just moved to Las Vegas where my then boyfriend was stationed with the Air Force. He proposed and we ran off the next day and eloped. It was all so very quick and in my 25 year old mind it was so romantic. We were in our new city starting a new life and we couldn’t wait for the next chapter. Now here we are 26 years later.
That brings us to today… Time to start fresh with the blog. Time to be more active. I look forward to sharing my life…
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Summer Reading List
With the beginning of summer upon us I am looking at it as a great opportunity to catch up on my reading. I am an avid reader and unfortunately lately I have been finding it difficult to find time to devote to reading. I am not sure why, I just can’t seem to pick up a book and become completely engrossed in it like I love to do. I have a list of books that I had been looking forward to reading and maybe if I write them down here it will make me more accountable to devoting the time to do it. I am also looking at a trip to Michigan within the next couple of weeks and while I am there I won’t have internet connection unless I find somewhere that has free wifi, as my elderly Mother doesn’t have internet and has never even owned a computer of any kind. So I will be unplugged for about 2 weeks or so. I am hoping to get a good amount of reading done in between my projects that i have to work on at my Mom’s house.
Summer Reading List
War Storm: Victoria Aveyard
Shelter In Place: Nora Roberts
High Voltage: Karen Marie Moning
The Cast: Danielle Steel
The Fates Divide: Veronica Roth
Off Kilter: Hannah Reed
Hooked on Ewe: Hannah Reed
Blueberry Muffin Murder: Joanne Fluke
Lemon Meringue Pie Murder: Joanne Fluke
I know this is a big list, and I know I haven’t been able to get into reading lately. But I love reading and I really hope that once I am in Michigan and I get my Mother settled my mind will relax a bit and I will be able to finally enjoy a book or 2.
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To Do List This Week
I am feeling pretty overwhelmed right now. I have so much going on that I feel there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. I have started working every other weekend at the request of the owner of the company that I work for. That means one week I will be working 6 days and the next I should be working 4 with a 3 day weekend. Well right now because of the trip I am planning to Michigan next month I have to work the next 3 weekends in a row so that I can have the time off in July. I am not going to lie I am not looking forward to it. So while I am working more hours the next 3 weeks, I still have to find time to get everything done in my life that needs done. Nope not enough time in the day.
I am going to have to make a list of priorities and hopefully I can get to many of them and still find time to rest. My boss is thinking of changing the office hours a little with summer upon us and starting the technicians out a little earlier in the morning and getting them in earlier in the afternoon before the worst heat of the day sets in. I am all for it. Starting an hour earlier at 7 a.m. means I will get out at 3 p.m. I could go to the gym in the afternoon now and start building up my stamina for a Walt Disney World that we are planning for next May. We’ll see. I could use the additional hour a day every afternoon outside of work so I am really hoping that they decide to do it.
This week I really have to get to the following things:
Give both dogs a bath
Make liquid hand soap (I need to make 4 bottles)
Menu plan meals for the week
Chop several of the heads of romaine lettuce that I got in our produce share this weekend
Make several salads for the week for my lunches (using the cleaned romaine)
Cut up the last canteloupe from our produce share
Make chunky cinnamon applesauce (I have alot of apples from my produce co op from the past couple of weeks)
Boil a dozen eggs
Make meatballs and stick in the freezer for later in the week
Pick up milk and dog food later in the week (my Smiths grocery store was out of fat free milk yesterday when I was there)
Make a large pitcher of sun tea
Make a large pitcher of water and slice lemon and cucumber to put into it and store it in the refrigerator
Research freezer meals (prep for whe I got to Michigan I have to make a bunch of meals for my mom’s freezer)
Research containers on amazon that can be used in the freezer and also in the microwave for my Mom
Decide on exact dates for my trip to Michigan
Research plane tickets
Research rental car prices
Figure out which airport I will fly into
Research diets and dietary restrictions for my Mother’s health problems so I can make sure she has healthy meals that are appropriate for her health needs.
Call my brother after he takes my Mom to her heart doctor appt this week then call my other brother and his wife for translation (she is a nurse)
Find time to do some reading (for relaxation)
Catch up on the laundry (towels and blankets, etc)
Start writing down recipes for Michigan
Address Katie’s announcements and get them into the mail
Make several blog posts
Get the oil changed in my car
Place my order for our share of produce on Monday
Start figuring out what home items my Mother still needs so I can get them on order from Amazon and have them start being delivered before I get there.
Figure out why I haven’t received our health insurance bill yet for this quarter
That probably is enough for this week. Hopefully I can cross off a bulk of the items before next Sunday. I hope if you are reading this and have any tips for me, please share them. I would welcome any tips or advice.
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What I Am Reading
Strawberry Shortcake Murder
By
Joanne Fluke
Strawberry Shortcake Murder After finally finishing my last book I am ready for some light reading. Right now I am reading the second book in Joanne Fluke’s Hanna Swensen Mystery Series.
I really struggled to stay focused on my last book choice (read about it here) I decided to keep it simple this time. I enjoyed the first book in this series and really could just sit back and enjoy the book and not really have to think to much about anything but enjoying the story and watching it unfold. I am really hoping for that again.
The main character in this series owns her own little shop called “The Cookie Jar”. Somehow in this small town she always seems to find herself right in the middle of a murder investigation. If this sounds familiar it’s because the Hallmark Murders & Mysteries channel has turned this into a tv movie series which is pretty good.
One fun note about the books in this series is the author also includes several baking recipes throughout the book. Some of them look pretty good.
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I Finally Finished Reading
The Sixth Day
By
Catherine Coulter & J.T. Ellison
The Sixth Day Ok, I have finally finished this book. I usually really love reading books by Catherine Coulter, and I really have enjoyed this particular series that she writes with J.T. Ellison. It’s about a British agent who works with the FBI. There are several books so far in this series and I have loved them all. This one however was a difficult read for me. I really struggled to get through it and with it being over 600 pages it took me what seemed like forever to get to the end.
I didn’t really hate the book, there were parts that I really liked but as a whole I found it hard to become invested in it. There were so many characters, and the story seemed to jump around. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it focused on the 2 main characters more and less on the minor ones.
I know that there will be other books in this series, and I will absolutely buy them. One book out of many doesn’t detour me from enjoying a book series.
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There Is Nothing Like A Good Book
What can I say, I love to read… I am surrounded by books. I have books that I have read, books that I am reading, books that I am going to read and books that I loved so much the first time I am sure I will want to read again.
Growing up in a small town in Michigan I didn’t have alot of options for bookstores. There was one tiny bookstore and it didn’t really carry alot of variety of books, it did carry alot of books on the area of Michigan I grew up in. You could order books there and within a couple of weeks your book would arrive.
All through school I loved when we could go to the library to check out a book. Even back then I was a pretty odd reader. I can remember in middle school having to do a book reports and I would check out the longest books I could find for my reports. The teacher would always ask me “Are you sure you can finish this book in time?” and I would always respond “Absolutely” and I always did.
These days my reading tastes vary greatly. I love to go to Barnes & Noble and just wander and look at all the shelves of books and try to get ideas on what I may want to read next. I love fiction, mysteries, romance, historical romance, young adult, some non fiction, cookbooks and magazines.
When choosing books I tend to find that I really love to read trilogies. Nora Roberts writes alot of trilogies. I love how in the first book you are introduced to generally 3 pairs of characters and each book in the trilogy focus’s on one pair of the characters and you watch their relation develope as well as their relation to the other 2 sets of characters. Then the second book will focus on the next set of characters and the third book focus’s on the last set of characters and the conclusion of their obstacles.
I tend to love to follow the character and never want the author to finish the series. I enjoy getting to know a character in the first book and continue to watch them grow through their entire series. You get hooked and as soon as you finish a book you just cannot wait until the next comes out to see what they will do next. Series author’s that I enjoy are Catherine Coulter’s FBI thriller series, Catherine Coulter & J.T. Ellison’s Brit in the FBI thriller series, J.D. Robb’s In Death series, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone series, Marcia Mueler’s Sharon McCone series, & Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series. There are many more that I enjoy, but those are a few that come to mind.
Nora Roberts 
Various Mysteries 
Catherine Coulter Even though I am no longer a young adult I still find myself drawn to the young adult genre. For me, I find that young adult books are easier reading and even though the characters go through their trials and many times have hardships in the end they generally have a happy ending. I began reading young adult books when my daughter was younger and I thought I should be reading what she was wanting to read just in case she wanted to talk about the books with someone and also to see if the books were age appropriate. I wanted to be prepared for questions that she may have. What I found was that I really enjoyed many of the young adult books that she introduced me to. We read the Harry Potter series (I am not embarrassed to admit, she read them much faster than I did.), The Divergent series and Twilight to name a few. While I enjoyed some much more than others I was hooked. I still buy young adult books and still enjoy reading them. Lately I am drawn to Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series, Sarah J. Maas’s Throne Of Glass series, Veronica Roth’s new series Carve The Mark & The Fates Divide.
The Red Queen Series 
Carve The Mark Duology What may surprise many of you is that I love to read cookbooks. I love cookbooks that have beautiful photography and ones that not only talk about the food but tell a story also. The Pioneer Woman cookbooks are beautiful and Ree Drummond really is extremely funny. One of my newest favorites is Homestead Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Our Hearth to Yours by Eivin and Eve Kilcher. Their book is beautiful and it makes me dream of Alaska. (That is a post for another time).
Pioneer Woman Cooks 
Homestead Kitchen I hope to regularly post what I am reading now and what is on my next to read list. Maybe I can introduce you to some new authors or series from an author you already love. I am always looking for new author’s to try and would love for you all to leave them in the comment area after this post.