Books I am Reading, September 2015

I read multiple books at a time, all the time. I always have at least 3 books going at any given time. I am including links to Amazon for each of the books. Amazon does not pay me to do this. I just like buying from Amazon. Some books I did buy at Barnes & Noble, because I cannot go there without buying something. They don't pay me either. I must say that someone should pay me to read. That would be my dream job.

Right now this is what I am reading:

On Writing by Stephen King

In the first half of this book, Stephen King writes about his early history with writing. He includes his childhood as well as his break into the world of a novelist. The second half of the book he talks about the rules of the road; what to do, what not to do, how to write this way and that. So far I have found this book to be very interesting and have found it enjoyable. I am a little over halfway through this book. I typically only get to read it on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I am in Warba, however it seems that lately I have not had time to read and Reading Time because I am off doing other tasks. This is a huge bummer to me, as I LOVE reading.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I usually have a rule that I do not watch a movie until I have read the book. I am pretty firm o this rule and usually make it apply to my children as well. However, I broke the rule with this book. I watched the movie first. I enjoyed the movie so much that I started the book. The book is MUCH different than the movie. I completely see why they changed the movie to be the way that it is. I am really enjoying the book. The premise of the book is a group of boys who are one by one placed into the center of a maze. They do not know why there are there, or how they got there. Thomas comes along and everything seems to change. I am also a little over halfway through this book. I typically read about a chapter each night. Though I would love to read more, I have learned through the years that I need my sleep to function. A couple of nights have found me up too late and I paid dearly for it when my alarm went off at 6 AM.

The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery

Oh The Story Girl! How I love this book. I have read this book many times. L.M. Montgomery is one of my favorite authors. She is the author who wrote Anne of Green Gables. This book takes place on Prince Edward’s Island in Canada. It starts with 2 brothers traveling to stay with their relatives on their farm, located on the Island. They meet relatives they have never met before, have adventures and learn life lessons. I completely recommend ANY L.M. Montgomery books you can find, though I did find the later part of the Ann series to be tougher reads that dragged a bit. It is free for Kindle on Amazon!

Bait and Swtich: Life with a Two-Faced Narcissist by Lisa Carlson

This book is the true story of Lisa. She is an adventure-loving gal who finds what seems to be a loving man. She marries him and finds herself in a controlled and abusive relationship. She basically finds herself in a cult. This is a very hard book for me to get through. I am usually a fast reader and if I have down time I can read a book in a day. I have to read this in very small doses though. Lisa’s story mirrors mine so much that it is very tough for me to read. I know Lisa through a friend so I know somewhat how the story ends, but the road to get there is full of hurt and at times despair.

Firewall by DiAnn Mills

I started this book and became distracted by other books. It is still by my bed, waiting for me to pick it up again. The premise of this book is a gal who marries the man of her dreams. They are headed to their honeymoon and are in the airport, she has just headed to the woman’s bathroom when a bomb goes off. She wakes up in the hospital and finds herself the center of the investigation. The FBI and Homeland Security think that she may have planted the bomb. Her husband is missing and they suspect him as well. That is as far as I have gotten! I really need to pick it up again! It is free on Amazon right now!

It Takes a Witch by Heather Blake

This is one of my “light reading” books. If I am feeling down and blue, I pick up humorous books. This is the one I have actually been reading since May. I guess that is good because it means I have not been down or blue much at all since May, seeing as I have not finished it. Darcy recently found out that she is a type of witch who can grant wishes; a Wishcrafter. She has some funny adventures but there is also a mystery: the murder of a gal no one in town seems to like at all. Her aunt’s new boyfriend is accused but her aunt insists that he is innocent.

The Sinking Boat Story

I did a poll on what I should post about this week. This is the top choice by the people who voted (only 4 voted...Chad's Advisory, I expected more around 11 votes if you include Chad and Lori). More of you should vote next time. No, really, you should.

This school year has been short so far but I have had some pretty memorable adventures.

One is the day I was on a sinking boat.

You see, I was with a student I had never worked with before because another para was on vacation. Yeah. You read that right.

The other para got to take a camping trip and left all the rest of us behind!

I was pretty disappointed too, just like you are. Anyway, back to my story...

I was a slave driver. I mean, man did I work my student HARD. I made them set up projects and work on them and I cracked the whip like I was driving a stubborn mule...and maybe I was.

You never will know.

So back to my story...The student was a wonderful slave. They did everything I expected from them and worked extremely hard. Part of this is because they are a wonderful student and the other part is my awesome set of skilz, yo. You got that right.

I have SKILZ!

This student had asked me multiple times the week before if I would be willing to go in the row boat with them and the other para, who as I mentioned before had left us all behind while they went camping. I decided that since this para abandoned me, why not go in the row boat without them? You see my logic there? Actually, I decided that since the student did some really great work, that was very hard for them and very taxing, we should burn off some energy. I asked the student to take me out in the row boat.

The lake was GORGEOUS!

The day was beautiful and even though I am TERRIFIED of the water...wait! Did I forget to mention that?! I did! I am scared of the water. I really do not know how to swim. I grew up in the desert. Drought, no water and all that. So I have had a couple of what I feel were near death experiences (ok, so actually they were traumatizing experiences but hey let me hold on to this fear, ok?) So going out on a lake in a boat is a HUGE thing for me. 

(Emergent vegetation)

Now, please forgive me for not having pictures of this next part. We are going along and the student tells me that I should row some. Hey, I have a life jacket on, things are going good, why not? We trade spots, very dangerously I might add (at least in my eyes). I start attempting to row. It was TOUGH. I think I need more muscles in my arms, but I digress.

The student, bless their heart, laughed at my attempts, but I need to tell you that I really think I was doing a great job for the first time ever rowing a boat. All of a sudden I notice that there is

WATER

in the bottom of the boat! Yes! Water! I mentioned it and the student turned and said, "Oh no! There is a hole in the boat! I need to tell my dad so he can fix it! This is bad, it is very bad!"

The water is rising, rising, rising.

I am feeling a little, well, to be honest, I am feeling rather panicky. This is not good!

Pretty soon the water was about 3 inches deep. All of a sudden I realize that the student has a PLUG in their hand.

A PLUG! THE FREAKING BOAT HAS A PLUG!!!!!

WHAT THE CRACK!?!

Not only does this boat have a plug, but the student had pulled it and was now laughing at me. I told them to put the plug back in and they bent over to put it back in. Please note that they were tricking me here. I made the student trade paces with me and row us back to shore. How did I do this, you ask? I told you. I have skilz, yo. Mad skilz.

I realized after we traded places that the plug was still in their hand so I took it from them and put it in the drain hole (because that is the only thing that I can think a boat with a hole and plug would need it for). 

Note to self: Do not let the student sit by the plug ever again.

We made it back safely to shore. That is how I am able to tell you the story today.

I survived.

I AM A SURVIVOR!

I learned a lesson that day. Go camping on your days off and you will not drown.

Blogger Practice

Today the students and I have been working on their blogs.

We looked at layout and templates.

We watched the tutorial video that Chad had posted about on his Advisory blog.

Now we are practicing posting. Now how is that for an easy and fun day of school?

Busy Week

Last week was a busy week for me.

I helped in the garden, which is more like a small farm.

I picked beans; yellow beans, green beans, purple beans, large beans, small beans,

beans, beans, and more

Beans!

We filled that laundry basked and 2 LARGE silver bowls.

We snapped them.

We french cut them.

We blanched them.

We put them on cookie sheets to pre-freeze them before we put them in bags.

This process took all day long but was enjoyable.

Instructables.com

One of the students I work with is doing a Harvest project. PowerPoint is a popular way to do projects but I know that Chad and other Advisors have wanted to get away from that. So I told my student about Instructables.com. Today we spent a few hours working on the student's first Instructable. We really enjoyed it. This is what the student came up with. AND we were able to enter it into 2 contests!

Instructables.com has some really cool contests in which you can you can enter your Instructables. Sometimes there are prizes and sometimes you get recognition. It is a very cool website where you can learn how to do projects in a step-by-step process. Check it out! Sign up and start Instructing others on how to do things!

Blogging Assignment

When I am in the NLCS building I work in Chad's Advisory. He has asked that the students in his advisory each make a blog.

What an awesome idea!

I decided that if the students had to do this assignment, I should as well. Besides, it will be fun and this will be an excuse to blog...it's homework for work, right? Right!

So Let's Go!