Loveseats, Paintings, & Microwaves

I've been spending a bit more time at the school over the past couple of weeks in order to get everything closed down and ready for summer.  This includes scanning ALL (yes, 9500+) of the books in order to do inventory and checking in all of the books that have been returned so far.  I also have a nice surprise for you for next year...a loveseat!  Someone was getting new furniture & was kind enough to donate their old loveseat to us!

I've also been doing some painting.  Yes, me, painting!  I was really struggling to begin with & almost gave up but I'm glad I continued because the end result was well worth it!

Our microwave at home also stopped working, but thanks to a friend who likes to repair random electronic objects, we were able to get it fixed instead of having to buy a new one.  It didn't look pretty during the process of being fixed...

Long Time, No Post!

It's been a crazy few weeks & I completely forgot to post anything!

Amelie tore her tibial plateau (basically the equivalent of a human ACL) in BOTH back legs & had to have surgery about 3.5 weeks ago.  She had to wear the cone of shame & slept A LOT the first couple of weeks.

I even let her use a sweat shirt as pants to help hide the awful haircut.

 

She is very excited about her daily walks now since she couldn't even leave the room for the first couple of weeks but we have to take it VERY slowly so she doesn't undo the repairs.

Virtual Field Trips

Since we can't go anywhere in real life right now, I decided to take a couple of virtual field trips!

I found this pretty cool Google Earth Penguin Colonies tour.  It's very short but does take you to several penguin colonies around the world.

After travelling the world to see penguins, I decided to hike the entire 2193 miles of the Appalachian Trail starting in Georgia & ending in Maine.  Talk about tired!!!!  But it was well worth the amazing views & I even got to see wild ponies in Virginia!

Amelie Loves Swimming

I decided to take Amelie for a swim since it's finally warm enough.  Swimming is one of her favorite things, especially if someone is throwing something for her.  Unfortunately, she usually chews the sticks into tiny pieces as she goes, so it doesn't last long unless I have a large pile of sticks...or rocks, she loves swimming after them even if they sink long before she gets there.

    

Latest reads

For her twelfth birthday in 1947 India, Nisha is given a diary.  Instead of beginning entries with "Dear Diary," Nisha decides that she will write letters to her dead mother, telling her about events in her life.  Only a few short weeks after receiving the diary, her world is turned upside down when Britain grants independence to India after 200 years of occupation.  Because of religious tension between Muslims, Hindus, & other religions, India is split in two, with Nisha's region becoming Pakistan, a country for Muslims.  Nisha & her family are Hindu & must escape to India without being killed in the widespread fighting.  As she & her family run for their lives, Nisha tells her mother about their adventures along the way.






Elizabeth "Pink" Cochran wants to become a journalist in New York City, but in late 1800s America, this is a difficult task to achieve because it is not considered an appropriate job for women.  In order to achieve her goals she creates the pen name Nellie Bly & goes to extremes in order to prove herself.  Her first assignment in New York is to convince doctors that she is crazy so that she will be placed in the asylum on Blackwell's Island, a place that few prisoners ever leave.  There she collects information about the horrific conditions in order to expose the treatment of the inmates to the public.  By doing this "stunt" she is able to make a name for herself & goes on to later travel around the world in a record-breaking 72 days, marry a millionaire, & report on World War 1 from the trenches of Europe.

Spring Break 2020

I hope that everyone cam through the storms last night without too much damage.  It got pretty nasty here in Evans for a couple of hours but we don't seem to have suffered any damages thankfully.  What a way to end spring break!!

Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, my husband Richard & I were unable to take any trips over the break this year.  Instead of sharing pictures of where I went (or didn't go) this year, I'll share some pictures from last year's trip.

2019 - Montreat, NC
Richard & I spent the week at my family's cabin in Montreat, NC, just outside of Asheville.  I grew up going there a few times a year & enjoy spending time there with family & friends now.  Amelie loves playing in the creeks & going for hikes.


I read two books over the past few days as well.

After losing her mother & being badly injured in a car wreck, Jess is sent to live with her father in Alaska.  She has only seen him a couple of times in her life & is not looking forward to living with him now.  Upon arriving in Alaska she learns that although he owns property there, he actually lives far away in the Canadian wilderness.  Several weeks after arriving, her father is killed, leaving Jess stranded hundreds of miles from the nearest neighbor with winter on its way.  Will Jess survive long enough to return to civilization or will she fall prey to the dangers of the Canadian wilderness?
*2020-2021 SC Junior Book Award Nominee*

On Monday, February 18, 1952, two tankers, the Pendleton & the Fort Mercer, both break apart off the coast of New England during a violent nor'easter.  The Fort Mercer is able to send out an SOS message but the Pendleton is not so lucky & is only discovered by happenstance on the Coast Guard radar.  The Coast Guard sends out several rescue ships to brave the stormy 70 foot waves in order to save as many as possible.  Two of the rescue ships are only 36 feet long, half the size of the waves they face in the North Atlantic winter sea. 
*true story*

Just a Few Books

As you might imagine, I've been reading a bit during this time of self-isolation...or maybe more than just a bit... So far I've finished five books and am working on a sixth.

Nailer is a ship breaker along the Gulf Coast, where poverty reigns and work is hard to find. Ship breakers locate and pull apart wrecked ships in order to sell the metal for scrap. Nailer is part of the light crew and his job is crawl into the smallest spaces in order to remove cables and wires that can be stripped and sold. After a storm he and his best friend, Pima, locate a wrecked clipper ship, one of the most luxurious and expensive ships in existence, they encounter a problem while exploring....a problem of the human kind. The wreckage contains a single wounded survivor, the young teenage girl who owns the ship. Nailer and Pima are torn between ridding themselves of the girl so they can get rich from her ship, or help her return to her family. An even bigger problem is that she is being hunted by her father's enemies. Will Nailer decide to help the girl or leave her to her fate, and how far is willing to go?

During World War II many British children were sent to live in other countries just before and during the German attacks.  Thirteen year old Ken is one of the children being sent Canada on the cruise ship City of Benares.  They know that being attacked by a German Uboat is a very real possibility during the first few days of their journey, but surely nothing will happen in the midst of a large military escort.  On the sixth day of their journey, when they are finally out of danger from Uboats, their military escort departs...just hours before the City of Benares is hit with torpedoes from a German Uboat.  The ship sinks in just 35 minutes, leaving survivors scrambling for lifeboats in order to avoid the winter waters of the North Atlantic.  Stranded and alone in Lifeboat 12, Ken and a handful of other survivors must make their way 600 miles to Ireland in order to survive.  Will they make it or will they join the rest of their ship at the bottom of the sea?

*2020-2021 SC Junior Book Award nominee*

*based on the true story*

Being the daughter of the president's head of security, Maddie was best friends with Logan, the president's son.  That ended after her father was shot while saving the First Lady from being kidnapped and her father decided to move to the wilderness of Alaska.  Six years later Logan shows up at their house, but less than 24 hours later Maddie is thrown from a cliff and Logan is kidnapped.  With her father away for a supply run and Logan's security detail nowhere to be found, it's up to an injured Maddie to track Logan through the forest and save him from the men who are looking for revenge against the president.  Will Maddie be able to save Logan before the Russians go too far or will the dangers of an approaching Alaskan winter with no shelter or supplies be too much for her to overcome?

*2020-2021 SC Junior Book Award nominee*

It is the winter of 1945 and four teens, Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred, are on the run from the approaching Soviet army.  They meet while making their way towards Gotenhafen, along the Polish coast of the Baltic Sea, where they hope to catch a ship that will take them far away from the horrors of war.  Being from different backgrounds and countries, and speaking different languages makes it hard to trust one another, but they know that the best way to survive is to stick together.  They all manage to make it to the coast and are allowed to board the ship Wilhelm Gustloff sailing towards Kiel, Germany.  Built to hold under 1,500 people, the teens are crammed onto the Wilhelm Gustloff with over 10,500 other desperate refugees and German military personnel.  Shortly after setting sail the ship is torpedoed by a Russian submarine and sunk.  Will Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred survive the sinking and be saved from the Soviets, be captured by the Soviets, or go down with the ship?

*inspired by the true story*

Fei Ting, or Frances as she's called in San Francisco, is a Chinese-American high school student  whose mother expects nothing less than perfection from the daughter she expects to become a doctor one day.  When Frances is accidentally enrolled into a speech class instead of calculus during her senior year, she discovers that she has a talent, and love, for writing and public speaking.  But what will happen when her mother finds out? Will Frances give up her own newly discovered dreams to follow her mother's or will she risk breaking her mother's heart?