April Reading Roundup

April was a productive reading month for me.  I managed to add three fiction books and three nonfiction books to my "read shelf."  Here's what I thought of each book.  

The Book of Cold Cases  ****

by Simone St. James

This is Simone St. James' third book and I have read them all.  St. James writes a mean crime novel with a ghostly twist.  Her plots are tight and her characters are realistic and fully fleshed out - even the characters who are ghosts.  This book deals with a series of unsolved murders dating back to 1977, and a crime blogger (a crime victim herself who narrowly escaped being a murder victim) who is obsessed with the case.  This was an enjoyable page turner, even though her first book, The Broken Girls, remains my favorite.  When St. James writes another book, I will probably read that one as well. I gave this book four stars **** on Goodreads.  (Library book). 

Pride and Prejudice ****

By Jane Austen

Hubby and I went on a road trip and decided to listen to the Amazon Prime Classic audiobook of Pride and Prejudice.  I had read a hard copy of the book about ten years ago, but I much enjoyed listening to the audiobook, read by a voice actor with a lovely Victorian Era British accent.  Of course this book is still one of the great classics of Western Literature, and in addition to being a solid piece of storytelling, it has some important lessons for the reader on family, love, honesty, communication, judgement, and of course pride and prejudice.  I gave this book four stars **** on Goodreads.  (Prime Reading Audio). 

My Friend Anna  ***

by Rachel DeLoache Williams 

This book tells the story of "Fake German Heiress" Anna Sorkin Delvey, who has been convicted of conning several people and organizations of a lot of money.  Her story has been made into a popular Netflix series, Inventing Anna.  This book was written by Rachel, Anna's friend, who put down her personal and company American Express cards to pay for an extravagant hotel on a trip to Morocco in 2018, that Anna was supposed to pay for. Rachel was then instrumental in tracking Anna to the expensive, elite rehab facility, Passages in Malibu, California where she was finally arrested and brought to justice.  The book was interesting, but tedious at times and read like the documentation Rachel compiled for prosecutors of Anna's fraud trial.  There are pages and pages of text messages, which got a bit much at times.  It was largely a repeat of what I had already watched in the Netflix series, and would be more interesting to someone with at least some knowledge of Anna Delvey and her case.  I gave this book three stars *** on Goodreads.  (Library book).

Moms Who Stay and Fight ***

by Kristyn Trimble

This is a Christian nonfiction book addressing many of the challenges and issues that Christian moms face today.  It had lots of scriptures and scripture stories, good quotes, and personal experiences of the author.  The books was inspirational in parts and I did mark quite a few passages, but it fell flat in other parts and seemed too preachy.  It was almost like the author, this woman in her 30s with two kids, was telling other women that SHE knows just what they need to do and how they need to do it, because she is doing it right.  I don't like books where the author almost seems to be talking down to the reader with a "holier than thou" attitude. I am not sure why, but that is how this book came across to me in parts.  Don't get me wrong, I am glad I read it, and there were some positive takeaways, but it wasn't my favorite nonfiction Christian book ever.  It read like a journal or personal blog with personal experiences used to show the reader just how the "mom thing" should be done.  I gave the book three stars *** on Goodreads.  (Paperback, own). 

Northanger Abbey ***

by Jane Austen

This is Jane Austen's first novel, but it wasn't published until after her death. The story is typical for the time period - innocent and naive young girl hoping to be romantically pursued by a suitable and rich young man for so she could fulfill her primary purpose in life - marriage.  Although this book lacks the maturity of Austen's later work, like Pride and Prejudice, the reader can see Austen's emerging humor and literary talent in this book. Because of the Georgian Era  English it is written in, I think I might have enjoyed a good audiobook edition more than plowing through some of Austen's page-long sentences, but the book is still a classic well worth reading.  (Prime Kindle Classic edition, own paperback).

J. Golden Kimball****

by Kathryn Jenkins Gordon

J. Golden Kimball is know as a colorful leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  This book gives an interesting biographical sketch of this man, known as a "Mormon cowboy and humorist,"  who was sometimes compared to Will Rogers.   The story contains lots of entertaining stories and quotes, but also explores the challenges, failures and heart-aches that J. Golden Kimball dealt with during his long life and storied career as a church leader and preacher.  We listened to the audio of the book on a family road trip and thoroughly enjoyed it, and we also learned a bit of history.  I gave this audiobook four stars **** on Goodreads. (Audiobook, own). 

That's all for April reading.  As I go into May, I am reading a fiction library book, Liane Moriarty's Apple Never Fall and Setting Boundaries with Negative Thoughts and Painful Memories by Allison Bottke, a nonfiction book that I own.  More on them next month.  Thanks for visiting and happy reading!

📙💙Deb💛📘

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, 

who has not pleasure in a good novel, 

must be intolerably stupid."

~Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey

 

End of April Gratitude and Favorites

It is nearing the end of another week, and another month!  Time goes so quickly!  As usual, I am joining with Rebecca Jo at Knit by God's Hand, and Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, to acknowledge and give thanks for blessings big and small that came into my life over the past week.   

  

Gift from a student - one day last week, after school, a student I had taught when she was both a sophomore and a junior, came and brought me this beautiful edition of The Great Gatsby. The student told me that now that she is a senior and will be graduating soon, she wanted to thank me for being a good teacher. We had read The Great Gatsby and she said that she loved how I had taught it, so she gifted me this beautifully bound edition of the book.  I was speechless when she gave this to me.  It is always so nice when students are kind. I am grateful that this student was positively impacted by my class, and I am grateful that she expressed her appreciation for my efforts.  

Good doctor visit - Tuesday of last week, Charly and I had back-to-back visits with our doctor. Charly needed to have a skin tag and mole removed and I wanted to ask the doctor about my recent cardiac monitoring. The visit went very well on all accounts.  

This is just one page of the report from my cardiac monitoring.  which was pretty much meaningless to me, until the doctor explained that the result showed that my heart is strong with no significant arrhythmias.  The rapid heart beat is probably caused by anxiety or a sensitivity to caffeine.  (Although I don't drink coffee, I do have the occasional Diet Coke).  Apparently every one's heart beats out of sync once in a while, and this report shows that mine beats out of sync less than is typical in the population.  That's good news. Also, there was no sign of A-Fib at all, which is great news because that is what I was most worried about. I am grateful that the tests show I have a strong and healthy heart. I am also grateful that Charly and I have found a good doctor who helps us with our health concerns.  

Spring Blossoms - After last week's rain and cooler temperatures, the blossoms in our area are gorgeous. This is a tree that Charly and I pass on our evening walks.  

The tulips I planted in my front flower garden are also beautiful and vibrant, and lasting a bit longer because of the cooler temperatures. I am grateful for springtime beauty everywhere!

New window installed - we have been replacing the windows in our home since we moved in over three years ago. The last upstairs window to be replaced is this one in our office.  It looks so much better than the old original aluminum window that was there. I am grateful that the window company we purchased our windows from gave us the same pricing we got when we ordered our first windows three years ago.  

Classes finished -  I have been taking online classes in a number of subjects over the last eleven months, so that I could get a raise, and I finished my final class last week.  I turned in all of my documentation at our school district office on Wednesday afternoon.  As soon as everything is approved by HR, my raise will go into effect on the day I turned the paperwork in.  We also found out today that teachers in our district are getting at 4.25% raise next year.  I am grateful that I will soon be making a little more money.   I'm also grateful for all the interesting class I was able to take, and all the important things I learned. 

Gas leak detected - Wednesday when I got home from school, I noticed a strange smell in the kitchen.  I opened out sliding glass door and the smell dissipated, but when we came back into the house after our walk, it was clear that the smell was natural gas!  I immediately called our local gas company, and they sent a technician right out. He was very thorough and found out that our gas range was incorrectly connected and the connection was leaking.  The new furnace we got just last summer, also had a leaky gas connection.  The gas company tech was able to fix the furnace connection on the spot. I am grateful that we were able to find out about a potentially dangerous situation in our home. 

Gas leak fixed - Thursday morning, Charly called a plumber to come and repair the leaking gas pipe going to our stove.  He was told it would next Tuesday before a tech could come out to our home, and that meant we would not be able to use our stove for almost a week.  Fortunately, one of the plumbers (who has done work for us before) had an opening in his schedule Thursday afternoon, and by dinner time, our gas connection was safe and our stove was operational. 

Here is the new, safe gas connection, which goes up from our basement through a hole in the kitchen floor to attach to the back of our stove.  I am so grateful that we were able to get good, competent technicians to fix our gas connection the same day we called, so we could have used of our stove. 

Busy night pizza - After our stove was fixed, it was almost dinner time, so we decided to get a take-n-bake pizza, which we baked in our newly safely reconnected stove. 

After a busy and stressful day, it was so good to relax over one of my favorite dinners - pizza and salad.  I am grateful for easy and delicious dinners on busy evenings. 

Thanks for visiting to share in the gratitude of my week.  

Have a good weekend. 

🙏💙Deb💛🙏

A Cold and Rainy Weekend

 Our weekend was windy, rainy, cold and busy.  Here's how it went. 

The rain started on Friday after a cloudy and windy Thursday.  

The rain continued throughout all of Friday and into Saturday.  The lawns are really greening up, and the flowering trees didn't seem to mind the cooler temperatures and added moisture.   Most importantly, there was up to two feet of additional snow in the mountains which is great for spring run-off and water in the reservoirs.  

Friday was the ACT Aspire test at school.  This is a standardized test for only 9th and 10th graders, so not 11th or 12th graders were at school.  I proctored the test in this room with a history teacher colleague. Everything went OK and I actually was able to leave school and come home about an hour earlier than normal. 

Saturday morning, I got up to a house that was colder than usual.  The heat wasn't on and our thermostat wasn't registering.  That was distressing because our thermostat is only a couple of years old and we replaced our entire HVAC system last summer.  Fortunately, after a few minutes, I figured out that the AA batteries that keep the thermostat working needed to be replaced. I put a couple of new batteries in, and immediately the temperature registered and shortly after, the heat kicked on warming up our home on a cold, gray and rainy morning. 

Saturday at noon, we met up with our friends Jeff and Sandy at Pat's Barbecue for lunch.  This place was featured on the food network and we were not disappointed.

Charly and I got the meat platter with pulled pork, a sausage, fries and cornbread.  He got baked beans and I got coleslaw. Everything was delicious and we enjoyed a good lunch and a good visit with our friends of over 43 years. 

After we got home from lunch, I took Josh to Scheels to look for a new coat.  He has needed a new coat for a while, and he finally decided to let me buy him a new warm coat that he will need when he is in Idaho going to school next winter.  

Scheels is a huge clothing and sporting good store.  There is even this ferris wheel right in the middle of the store.  Quite a place. 

We did find a nice, warm coat for Josh, and it was marked down to a springtime clearance price. 

Later, Charly and I went to another store and I got a new coat for myself - and again, it was on a great spring mark-down price.  

When we got home from coat shopping, I fixed Spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner.  

After dinner, Charly and I went for a walk.  There was finally some blue skies, even though there were still clouds and it wasn't very warm. 

Sunday morning, Charly and I were among the very first people in our chapel before church. 

After church, I listened to a lecture from the Hillsdale College class I am taking, then took a little nap. 

I also finished reading this book, Moms Who Stay and Fight by Kristyn Trimble.  Watch for my review of this book in my Reading Roundup post at the end of the month. 

Sunday dinner was slow cook shredded Beef Barbacoa tacos.  Josh had requested this.  He loves Mexican food - not surprising since he served his mission in Mexico. 

We had rice and salad with the Beef Barbacoa tacos.  They were very good!

After dinner, Charly and I had our walk.  It was still chili, but the sun was out.  There are so many trees out in blossom in our area.  The cooler temperatures haven't affected them.  They are still gorgeous. 

Watching  an episode of The Chosen was a great way to end our Sunday and our weekend.  

Weekend Gratitude

• rain
• nice walks
• new coats
• lunch with friends
• good food
• church

That's all for now. I hope you all had a great weekend.  See you again soon! Enjoy the week ahead. 

🙏💙Deb💛🙏

"Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present."

~Jim Rohn

Simple April Gratitude

What's on your gratitude list this week?  I am joining with Rebecca Jo at Knit by God's Hand and Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share the positive things that have made my week a good one.  Let's get started. 

Student engagement - As a teacher, I love it when my students really get into an assignment, because that often tells me that they are learning what I am trying to teach them. This past week, we started a poetry unit, and my students loved doing this "found" or "blackout poem" assignment.  If you have never heard of blackout poems, you can read about them here.   

Anxiety relief - If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that anxiety is one of my challenges.  I am making a lot of progress in how I deal with anxiety and I am sleeping a lot better, but every now and then, something triggers a sleepless night. That happened one night last week, so instead of tossing and turning, I got up and went to my office and did some coloring.  After about 15 minutes of coloring a very positive and calming picture, my brain had quieted and I was able to go back to bed and get right to sleep. 

Amazon "Try Before You Buy" - I don't buy a lot of clothing online, but there is one item of women's clothing that I always seem to have hard time with, regarding getting the correct size and style.  If you know the clothing item I am talking about, perhaps you can relate.  As I have tried to find what I need and feels comfortable, Amazon "Try Before You Buy" has been great.  I can go online and pick out an item that looks like it might be OK, then Amazon delivers it (usually in 1-2 days) and then I can wear it for a whole week to see if really fits the way I hoped it would.  If it does, then, I pay for it.  If not, I send the item back, free of charge.   I am becoming a real fan of this service and am grateful I have been able to use it to restock some very necessary female clothing items.  😉

Beautiful white tulips - I wanted to get something for a friend whose father passed this week.  I am grateful I could find the perfect white tulips to take a teacher colleague mourning the passing of her dad. 

Delicious chocolate - occasionally a little dark chocolate does wonders at raising my blood sugar level and my spirits.  Charly found this bar on "manager's special" and it is delicious.  I am grateful that I found something yummy to enjoy. 

Good work ethic - this is the what I see every weekday morning when I get up at 5 a.m.. Josh's light is on and he is getting ready for work.  He leaves the house about 5:20 a.m. for his very physically demanding job.  School is out now, but until he couple of weeks ago, he would leave his job and go straight to school for classes and not get back home until evening.  I do enjoy it when Josh stops into my home office (where I eat breakfast while reading scriptures) to have a short, early morning chat before he heads out the door.  I am grateful that my youngest (like all of my children) is a good person with a strong work ethic and positive goals, who is making progress in his life.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend. See you again soon.

🙏💙Deb💛🙏

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul."

~ Henry Ward Beecher

Currently on a Wednesday Night

 

I always enjoy Currently posts, so I am joining tonight with my blogging friend Stacy over at A Mile in My Shoes for Currently...

The weather - is beautiful here today.  It is 68 degrees and sunny here this afternoon.   Another big rain/snow storm is predicted for Friday and Saturday. 

Listening to/watching - some Youtube channels that I like. Charly and I also watched the Nightly News with Lester Holt.

Reading - two books  - Moms Who Stay Fight (Christian nonfiction) by Kristyn Trimble and Northanger Abbey (classic fiction) by Jane Austen. 

Wearing - jeans, jeans jacket and a cotton plaid shirt. 

Thankful for - an overall good day at school, and a nice walk on a beautiful day with Charly when I got home. 

Thinking about - what I need to get done tonight. I had a short meeting over at the church earlier this evening. I was asked by leadership to serve on a committee to plan activities and events for women in our congregation.  I said I would.  I am generally happy to serve in such a way.  There is a load of laundry in the dryer that will need to be folded and put away and I am working on my Thankful Thursday/Friday Favorite blog post. 

Feeling - more upbeat than I have in a few days.  I love everyone in my family and love always wins.  😊💜

Celebrating - I am not really celebrating, but we have two family birthdays coming up - my sister on April 23 and my grandson on April 25.  We always send cards, gifts, texts and/or Marco Polos.  

That's all for now. See you again soon.

🙏💙Deb💛🙏

"Joy does not simply happen to us.  

We have to choose joy 

and keep choosing it every day."

~ Henri Nouwen