It's me, Charity

 The words to describe last week would be Snow & Snot. Sunday I started feeling like I was getting a cold. Monday when I got up it was clear I had one. It had snowed over night, so I got to use my new to me borrowed snowblower for the first time! Despite not feeling well I was pretty jazzed to try it out!  Don't ask me about the weird gloves I'm wearing.  I have no clue. After a slight technical difficulty with the extension cord not fitting the plug in, I got it going, and managed to clear my driveway and sidewalks and my neighbors sidewalk. My cord didn't get me to his driveway. Which I felt bad about until I was teaching later and heard a snowblower. Someone had come to do his driveway!  Wednesday. Oh Wednesday. There were numerous times that day when I wanted to sit down and bawl I was super sick by Weds, and realized I needed to see my Dr. So I made a same day sick apt for later that afternoon. I got ready in the hopes I could ...

Just when you think everything has been wrapped up nice and tidy, Susan May Warren throws something else at you! That is basically the theme of this series of books, for me at least! I'll admit I really do like it when books tie up all loose ends at the end of the book. It drive me a little crazy when they don't, kind of like a TV show that has something crazy in the last minute and you have to wait until the next week to find out what happened. (I'm looking at YOU Shonda Rhimes!) Troubled Waters is the 4'th book in the Montana Rescue Series by Ms. Warren, and it follows the same thread as the other books in this series. The Mystery of what happened to Ian Shaw's niece is FINALLY and I do mean FINALLY revealed (it only took 4 books....) And of course along side the mystery comes rescue missions, because, hello, it's Montana Rescue. I get that they are in the business of saving people, but it's kind of funny to me that whatever can go wrong...

This book draws you in from the first chapter. I had put off reading this book, and then got an email reminder that my review was almost due. So I opened it up Sunday afternoon and was immediately swept into the story. I really didn't expect to love it, yes I said LOVE IT as much as I did! I read half of the book Sunday night, and the rest on Monday! And I will say, for a book dealing with heavy topics, Race and Racism in the 1960's, the divide between rich and poor, this book was surprisingly funny. Now just to be clear, they don't joke about those topics, those topics are met with much respect and not taken lightly. But the characters do have some funny moments and funny thoughts in their heads throughout the book. I was actually laughing out loud at several parts, which again, given the subject matter, not something you expect to be doing. This book was just beautiful. It spoke of the love, affection and friendship between Isaac and Pete and his family, an...

I made it through the first week of teaching!!!!!!! Barely. ha. The struggle was real and I was yawning through, well we'll just not mention how many lessons I yawned through.  But in the end I made it and I was happy to see my students again!  Open for Business!!!  The pink clipboard and I were ready to go! What you can't see in this picture is how terrible I felt. Sunday as I was getting ready for church I started not to feel well. It continued all of Sunday, and all of Monday. My chronic illness was flaring up and I felt miserable. Pain, pain, nausea and more pain. But I made it thru the day, and thankfully by  Wednesday I was feeling a lot better. But it was a rough start to the week!  Tuesday was my day off and boy was I happy for it! After feeling so bad, I still didn't feel well on Tuesday but I was starting to get better. Some rest and laying on the couch watching Sister Wives helped greatly!  Wednesday was a super...

Let's see if I can keep up with a weekly recap for the second year in a row! I rather like this, as it helps me remember what I did, or didn't do. HA! And it's less work than having to blog about single events.   By Tuesday my tree was down and my living room was back to being clean and roomy! I couldn't say the same for the rest of the house, but baby steps! Thankfully before I left for the farm, i.e. before the snow and negative temps, I carried all of my tubs that hold my trees and decorations inside, and put them in the piano studio. That was a really wise decision! Next year I am going to start taking down decorations before I go home. Just because it is a lot of work, and when I came back I wanted to relax, and have a clean and christmas free house.  I revelled in being able to drink a glass of coca cola at 5:30 pm and not have to worry about falling asleep! That week of no alarm was GLORIOUS.  I finally got both trees down, and things packed up....

WHOOO HOOO!!! Made it to the last of 2017 and managed to do a weekly recap each week! I am proud of myself! Never mind that it's 2018 when I'm writing this. I didn't say they were all timely :)  Christmas Day I woke up in my own house. Coffee and foodless. It was a rough start! I packed up my carry on, and hit the road for attempt #2 to go home. But first! I had a special stop to make. The day before I dropped off Christmas Cards my students had decorated and a big batch of my homemade fudge to our Police Dept. I wasn't able to do our other Police Dept (On the West Side) so I stopped there on the way home Christmas morning! I have to say it was really fun to do it on Christmas morning! I met a really nice Officer and he was super sweet and so appreciative of the gift. Made my day! After that I stopped at the gas station for a little gas and got a drink and a mini bag of chips for breakfast.   I finally made it home, carried all my stuff inside and it was FINA...