More catching up.
How did I miss the news that Harper Lee died? And right after the release of her new book! (Which I haven't yet read; has anyone here read it? It's been so long since I read TKaM, I figured I should wait to read the sequel until I'd refreshed my memory.)
My niece officially announced her engagement (on Facebook, natch) on Friday. MiniPlu literally ran up to her room and screamed her distress when I broke the news to her. Sigh. And all we can do is support our niece the best we can, trying to balance not-lying-about-how-enthusiastic-we-are(n't) with still letting her know we love her and want her to be happy.
Subbed for one of the 7th-grade learning support teachers on Friday. It's a fairly easy post, just following the kids around to various classes, keeping them on task, making sure they're writing down necessary info, walking them through concepts if they're struggling - but I don't have to be the one to plan the lesson. I knew a bunch of the kids from our elementary school - why so many of the ones from there ended up in learning support, I have no idea. But they're actually really great kids; very few behavioral issues in this bunch, which is surprising since the lower academic kids often have huge attitude issues. So, it was great to see some favorite students again, and help them out as best I could.
But I feel like I'm drowning. I need about 50 hours in a day, and it's just not happening. I need to get back into strength training my arms now that my back is healed, and stretching both shoulders and my foot. Daily. I run three times a week and try to get to TKD 2-3x/week. I have three quilts that need working on, and a knitting project to finish. We have multiple rooms to paint and everything to sort and pack to at least get it to the point where we can stage the house for sale. I still have books I want to read, which is my treat, and have a couple of magazines piled up, waiting as well. I want to finish this damn fic. I help kids with homework and read chapter books aloud to Two. I'm trying to keep up with LJ and email (email is failing badly at the moment), which is difficult as I'm really trying to make an effort to get more sleep. I volunteer in two libraries and work as a sub a couple of days per week. It still doesn't add up to a full-time job so I have no idea how people who DO have FT jobs manage.
And now I'm coming down with the kids' cold, too. Or, at least, it's threatening - my pharynx is all irritated.
Erk.
Tomorrow we're driving out about half an hour to see a loft bed and dresser that's being offered on Craigslist for what seems like a reasonable price; Two's new bedroom will be smaller than his current one, so he wants a loft bed to make better use of space. Taking the trailer with us so if we like it, we can haul it home immediately.
Tonight I made this bundt cake, which, given the amount of butter in it, isn't remotely healthful, although I did try to soften that a teensy bit by using half butter/half coconut oil in the cake itself. Two claims he can still taste the coconut in the finished cake, but I can't - and I don't LIKE coconut, so you'd definitely think I would notice it. Anyway, the cake is definitely decadent and it was somewhat involved, preparation-wise, but very tasty. I made it with GF flour so I could enjoy it, too. :)
I forgot to mention that I had a follow-up with my dermatologist last week, the day school was cancelled due to early-morning ice. She did a more thorough skin check, given how the quickie check turned out last time, and decided to do scrape-test biopsies on two more moles; they're along my ribs and hurt if I lean on them, ow. If they come back as merely "abnormal" and not "melanoma" then she can remove them, herself; the only reason the official surgeon was involved last time was due to the initial melanoma diagnosis (which was later rescinded by the surgeon's diagnostics team). As for my face - the rash around my face itself is much better, but now I've got a small patch up by my eye, grrr. Putting the prescription ointment on there is more difficult, because I'm trying not to get it IN my eye. Other than that, I guess all is well; I don't have to go back for 6 months unless moles need removing, although by then we may have moved to NJ so the appointment might be moot.
I finished reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik (of Temeraire fame) two nights ago. Overall, I liked it. The world was obviously fictional, and yet a clear reference to Poland and Russia. There were references to the legend of Baba Yaga (and her house on legs), although I did not initially recognize this, as she was first just mentioned as "Jaga" (which I was pronouncing in my head as "YAY-ga, similar to the German word Jager (hunter), not ya-GAH"). It wasn't until Agniezska specifically said "Baba Jaga" that it clicked. And it wasn't until Kasia was taken by the walkers that I really began to understand how menacing the wood really was, how it was almost a conscious and transformative thing, not just that weird and creepy things lived in there.
It was obvious to me that Agniezska and Sarkan/Dragon would end up in some kind of romantic relationship, especially given the trope of "being at odds" that they had at first. I'm not sure I understand how Sarkan knew Agniezska was the appropriate person to take - how did he sense her magic? I found her magic interesting, though, that it was far more intuitive, rather the way you'd treat a treasured recipe - you just sort of add a bit of this and that until it seems right, not that you're following a rigid set of instructions with specific measurements.
Once Agniezska and Sarkan separated, with her going alone (well, with Kasia and the queen) to the capital while he stayed behind to fight the Wood, though, I found the book less compelling somehow. I didn't have to force myself to finish it or anything, but I found the whole capital section of the book to be just ... alien or something. I wanted to go back to the tower, wanted to see more of Agniezska and Sarkan interacting and working their magic, separately and together. The thing with the Beastiary was creepy and weird - was the sender, themselves, corrupted? Or did the person who sent it just want to stir up trouble, because that was the sort of person they were? And the whole thing with getting a trial for Kasia and the queen was incredibly frustrating, as I'm sure it was meant to be. I still don't understand why the Queen didn't show ANY sign of corruption; I get that her soul, her "self" was essentially gone, making her an empty vessel, but why didn't the Wood show up in all those spells if that's pretty much all that was left? Why did Agniezska's illusion of the Wood get her (or her inner Wood, anyway) to wake up?
That the Falcon could be so easily swayed without being corrupted himself, was really unpleasant. Clearly, he was kind of smarmy anyway, but that he could be so easily turned, to completely violent ends, was a little unbelievable. What drove him, besides the need to be right?
I'm glad Sarkan and Agniezska had their moment together, before the big battle, and the way it was handled was graceful and nicely done. But I won't lie - I was disappointed that Sarkan felt compelled to run away once the confrontation in the Wood was over, and that a reconciliation was only hinted at, in the final page. Will they really be good for each other, in the long run?
The whole final confrontation in the Wood, speaking of that, was ... interesting. Let me see if I fully understand it. The original people in the area were tree-people, that they could turn to trees at will, but once they did that, they stayed trees? The Queen had chosen to marry a human, which distressed her tree-sister, and once the king died, all the other men in the castle turned against her, and then came to destroy the tree-people's grove. Why? Why did they see these people as a threat? What did they not like? But this eternal bitterness was what drove the corruption in the Wood, a corruption that was no longer perpetuated once Agniezska convinced the Wood-Queen to let her bitterness go and be at peace, so then she could go about healing small sections, one at a time, without the Wood actively fighting her so much. This last part I understand fine, even though her work of burning trees with people enmeshed in them - that was kind of depressing. It's more the idea of who the original tree-people were, what their abilities were, and why the local humans hated them so much - that seemed like it could have been explained better.
I did like the story overall, though, and I liked making associations with the elements on the book cover as I came to them. Is the blonde on the cover (left side) meant to be Kasia or the Queen, do you think?
Thank you again to hamsterwoman, who gave this to me as a Christmas gift. :) I've borrowed the next in a cozy mystery series I like from the library as my current book, but I'm having trouble finding time to read. (See above: drowning!) I also started Prudence on my Kindle, for those times when the Kindle is more practical or I can't find whatever hardcopy book I'm reading. Too many lovely books out there! (And I still can't stand that my kids don't like reading. How can you not love being whisked away into a story?? At least Two appreciates a good story - he still loves being read to - he just doesn't want to read it himself because it's difficult. Meanwhile, everyone assumes that because MiniPlu is an honors student, she loves books. Totally untrue. She has a few favorites, but that's about it, and even with them, reading still isn't her default relaxation activity.)
And speaking of fannish things: Two has been really into Glee on Netflix for well over a month now, and has gotten me kind of hooked into it, too. He's seen all the way through all the seasons, but I don't think he's seen EVERY ep; he seems to skip around a lot. So, I end up watching whatever he happens to be watching in the moment, but he knows his way around the series enough that he can look for specific eps, especially if he wants to show me a particular song or plot point. I had tried watching Glee when it first aired on TV, but the first couple of eps really did nothing for me. I'm kind of glad I've had a chance to watch later eps, when relationships and camaraderie are better established, and I've seen that Sue can be actually a positive influence, in her own weird way, and not just a bitchy roadblock. So, sorta becoming a Gleek by association or something like that. My only complaint: there are WAY too many cases of the same people getting together and breaking up again. (Klaine, Rachael/Finn (while he was alive, anyway), Britt/Santana - I'm looking at you here.) Make up your minds!! But I also admit, all the showtunes are fun, and it's a weirdly addictive show, melodrama and all.
And finally, before I collapse into bed WAY WAY too late: Harry Potter manicures. (Click on the various links to see images.)
Btw, has anyone here seen Deadpool? Is it good? Is it still good if you haven't seen the X-men movies?
My niece officially announced her engagement (on Facebook, natch) on Friday. MiniPlu literally ran up to her room and screamed her distress when I broke the news to her. Sigh. And all we can do is support our niece the best we can, trying to balance not-lying-about-how-enthusiastic-we-are(n't) with still letting her know we love her and want her to be happy.
Subbed for one of the 7th-grade learning support teachers on Friday. It's a fairly easy post, just following the kids around to various classes, keeping them on task, making sure they're writing down necessary info, walking them through concepts if they're struggling - but I don't have to be the one to plan the lesson. I knew a bunch of the kids from our elementary school - why so many of the ones from there ended up in learning support, I have no idea. But they're actually really great kids; very few behavioral issues in this bunch, which is surprising since the lower academic kids often have huge attitude issues. So, it was great to see some favorite students again, and help them out as best I could.
But I feel like I'm drowning. I need about 50 hours in a day, and it's just not happening. I need to get back into strength training my arms now that my back is healed, and stretching both shoulders and my foot. Daily. I run three times a week and try to get to TKD 2-3x/week. I have three quilts that need working on, and a knitting project to finish. We have multiple rooms to paint and everything to sort and pack to at least get it to the point where we can stage the house for sale. I still have books I want to read, which is my treat, and have a couple of magazines piled up, waiting as well. I want to finish this damn fic. I help kids with homework and read chapter books aloud to Two. I'm trying to keep up with LJ and email (email is failing badly at the moment), which is difficult as I'm really trying to make an effort to get more sleep. I volunteer in two libraries and work as a sub a couple of days per week. It still doesn't add up to a full-time job so I have no idea how people who DO have FT jobs manage.
And now I'm coming down with the kids' cold, too. Or, at least, it's threatening - my pharynx is all irritated.
Erk.
Tomorrow we're driving out about half an hour to see a loft bed and dresser that's being offered on Craigslist for what seems like a reasonable price; Two's new bedroom will be smaller than his current one, so he wants a loft bed to make better use of space. Taking the trailer with us so if we like it, we can haul it home immediately.
Tonight I made this bundt cake, which, given the amount of butter in it, isn't remotely healthful, although I did try to soften that a teensy bit by using half butter/half coconut oil in the cake itself. Two claims he can still taste the coconut in the finished cake, but I can't - and I don't LIKE coconut, so you'd definitely think I would notice it. Anyway, the cake is definitely decadent and it was somewhat involved, preparation-wise, but very tasty. I made it with GF flour so I could enjoy it, too. :)
I forgot to mention that I had a follow-up with my dermatologist last week, the day school was cancelled due to early-morning ice. She did a more thorough skin check, given how the quickie check turned out last time, and decided to do scrape-test biopsies on two more moles; they're along my ribs and hurt if I lean on them, ow. If they come back as merely "abnormal" and not "melanoma" then she can remove them, herself; the only reason the official surgeon was involved last time was due to the initial melanoma diagnosis (which was later rescinded by the surgeon's diagnostics team). As for my face - the rash around my face itself is much better, but now I've got a small patch up by my eye, grrr. Putting the prescription ointment on there is more difficult, because I'm trying not to get it IN my eye. Other than that, I guess all is well; I don't have to go back for 6 months unless moles need removing, although by then we may have moved to NJ so the appointment might be moot.
I finished reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik (of Temeraire fame) two nights ago. Overall, I liked it. The world was obviously fictional, and yet a clear reference to Poland and Russia. There were references to the legend of Baba Yaga (and her house on legs), although I did not initially recognize this, as she was first just mentioned as "Jaga" (which I was pronouncing in my head as "YAY-ga, similar to the German word Jager (hunter), not ya-GAH"). It wasn't until Agniezska specifically said "Baba Jaga" that it clicked. And it wasn't until Kasia was taken by the walkers that I really began to understand how menacing the wood really was, how it was almost a conscious and transformative thing, not just that weird and creepy things lived in there.
It was obvious to me that Agniezska and Sarkan/Dragon would end up in some kind of romantic relationship, especially given the trope of "being at odds" that they had at first. I'm not sure I understand how Sarkan knew Agniezska was the appropriate person to take - how did he sense her magic? I found her magic interesting, though, that it was far more intuitive, rather the way you'd treat a treasured recipe - you just sort of add a bit of this and that until it seems right, not that you're following a rigid set of instructions with specific measurements.
Once Agniezska and Sarkan separated, with her going alone (well, with Kasia and the queen) to the capital while he stayed behind to fight the Wood, though, I found the book less compelling somehow. I didn't have to force myself to finish it or anything, but I found the whole capital section of the book to be just ... alien or something. I wanted to go back to the tower, wanted to see more of Agniezska and Sarkan interacting and working their magic, separately and together. The thing with the Beastiary was creepy and weird - was the sender, themselves, corrupted? Or did the person who sent it just want to stir up trouble, because that was the sort of person they were? And the whole thing with getting a trial for Kasia and the queen was incredibly frustrating, as I'm sure it was meant to be. I still don't understand why the Queen didn't show ANY sign of corruption; I get that her soul, her "self" was essentially gone, making her an empty vessel, but why didn't the Wood show up in all those spells if that's pretty much all that was left? Why did Agniezska's illusion of the Wood get her (or her inner Wood, anyway) to wake up?
That the Falcon could be so easily swayed without being corrupted himself, was really unpleasant. Clearly, he was kind of smarmy anyway, but that he could be so easily turned, to completely violent ends, was a little unbelievable. What drove him, besides the need to be right?
I'm glad Sarkan and Agniezska had their moment together, before the big battle, and the way it was handled was graceful and nicely done. But I won't lie - I was disappointed that Sarkan felt compelled to run away once the confrontation in the Wood was over, and that a reconciliation was only hinted at, in the final page. Will they really be good for each other, in the long run?
The whole final confrontation in the Wood, speaking of that, was ... interesting. Let me see if I fully understand it. The original people in the area were tree-people, that they could turn to trees at will, but once they did that, they stayed trees? The Queen had chosen to marry a human, which distressed her tree-sister, and once the king died, all the other men in the castle turned against her, and then came to destroy the tree-people's grove. Why? Why did they see these people as a threat? What did they not like? But this eternal bitterness was what drove the corruption in the Wood, a corruption that was no longer perpetuated once Agniezska convinced the Wood-Queen to let her bitterness go and be at peace, so then she could go about healing small sections, one at a time, without the Wood actively fighting her so much. This last part I understand fine, even though her work of burning trees with people enmeshed in them - that was kind of depressing. It's more the idea of who the original tree-people were, what their abilities were, and why the local humans hated them so much - that seemed like it could have been explained better.
I did like the story overall, though, and I liked making associations with the elements on the book cover as I came to them. Is the blonde on the cover (left side) meant to be Kasia or the Queen, do you think?
Thank you again to hamsterwoman, who gave this to me as a Christmas gift. :) I've borrowed the next in a cozy mystery series I like from the library as my current book, but I'm having trouble finding time to read. (See above: drowning!) I also started Prudence on my Kindle, for those times when the Kindle is more practical or I can't find whatever hardcopy book I'm reading. Too many lovely books out there! (And I still can't stand that my kids don't like reading. How can you not love being whisked away into a story?? At least Two appreciates a good story - he still loves being read to - he just doesn't want to read it himself because it's difficult. Meanwhile, everyone assumes that because MiniPlu is an honors student, she loves books. Totally untrue. She has a few favorites, but that's about it, and even with them, reading still isn't her default relaxation activity.)
And speaking of fannish things: Two has been really into Glee on Netflix for well over a month now, and has gotten me kind of hooked into it, too. He's seen all the way through all the seasons, but I don't think he's seen EVERY ep; he seems to skip around a lot. So, I end up watching whatever he happens to be watching in the moment, but he knows his way around the series enough that he can look for specific eps, especially if he wants to show me a particular song or plot point. I had tried watching Glee when it first aired on TV, but the first couple of eps really did nothing for me. I'm kind of glad I've had a chance to watch later eps, when relationships and camaraderie are better established, and I've seen that Sue can be actually a positive influence, in her own weird way, and not just a bitchy roadblock. So, sorta becoming a Gleek by association or something like that. My only complaint: there are WAY too many cases of the same people getting together and breaking up again. (Klaine, Rachael/Finn (while he was alive, anyway), Britt/Santana - I'm looking at you here.) Make up your minds!! But I also admit, all the showtunes are fun, and it's a weirdly addictive show, melodrama and all.
And finally, before I collapse into bed WAY WAY too late: Harry Potter manicures. (Click on the various links to see images.)
Btw, has anyone here seen Deadpool? Is it good? Is it still good if you haven't seen the X-men movies?