Library mornings

I love my library. I love arriving early in the morning and turning on the lamps and twinkle lights, the diffuser (Autumn Crisp today), making a cup of coffee and walking around the shelves righting books that have been displaced. It's quiet and peaceful and a happy place.
I love the conversations that take place in the library. What someone is reading now, a book they've heard of and want to know if I've read, a book cover that looks intriguing but have I read it? would I recommend it?

It saddens me that so many schools decide this isn't an essential place. That professional librarians are easily replaced with someone who checks books in and out and puts them back on the shelves. 

Shift

Sometimes I panic and think, we forgot to talk about....
the drugs at college.
And then there are the things I didn't think we'd need to cover...
joining a fraternity.
I didn't realize my voice would change. I can listen, I can discuss, but it is no longer my decision. I can't judge. My judgement will cease the next discussion. I can't throw out all those opinions whilly, nilly. I only get to have good talks with him once a week or so. What I say needs to be more measured.
The relationship has shifted.

the Parents are OK

I am usually the one organizing, planning, sending out the invites. This year I'm taking it easy. Making less commitments, planning less events. I still get invited to dinners but I'm not doing the inviting. It is weird. I really don't like leaving people out. I don't like when anyone feels on the outside.

I think I'll start a blog called, "The Parents are OK". You know, instead of The Kids are OK, the movie about how the kids are coping with the parents getting a divorce.  The hubs and I will document our adventures post sending the only child off to college, six hours away. We'll go places we've been meaning to go. We'll eat at restaurants that the kid always grumbled about. We'll do nothing and everything. 

hand selling

A bookseller's job description is to express--or withhold--judgment depending upon the situation. Sometimes you walk a conversational high wire. Nodding and smiling help; saying "a lot of people liked that one" or "he's very popular" or "it's been getting good reviews" will get you through as well. A personal favorite, which I leaned on more than a few times, was that a particular author "knows his (or her) audience well and writes with them in mind."

The boy is leaving and we are struggling

So this past weekend I was reminded why John and I are having such a hard time thinking of our boy leaving. There was a mom there who was one minute talking about how great her kid was and then, bam, arguing with her daughter for hours, ridiculously. That's why we are having such a hard time. He was a joy to raise, a pleasure to be around, and fun. We don't fight often, he hates it. 

Paducah and Facebook

Found my Lent 

At least basketball games started at 7:30PM .... welcome to fishing 🎣season! Hello 4am!

Coffee shop stop #61 weigh in for the FLW isn't until 3 so relaxing for a bit~

Paducah's kinda awesome. I know I've been here before in college but didn't pay attention. Feeling a little low maintenance here listening to people's coffee orders... just a cup of drip with some space for half and half please... maybe I should try some of these other drink orders- half sweet yerba vanilla latte anyone?

small iced caramel latte with extra shot

caramel latte
iced irish creme
chi latte
Spanish latte- milk espresso steamed milk
earl gray
salted caramel dulce frappe
frozen chi
Rocket Fuel
frozen latte banana
Marley
mint cocoa breve with salt

Another good read about 2 things I am deeply interested and engaged in, lent and politics. Here the way they intersect is insightful... "In recent years, more of my friends have taken something distracting out of their life to add a practice that is more life-giving...this kind of choice balances us, putting us back in touch with slower, more intentional ways of life. We only have so much time in a 24-hour day. Lent offers the opportunity of considering how and on what we spend that precious resource. Politics is about finding new connections between people and working for the common good. If I stop fretting over a single individual, I can be more engaged in creating a community where love of neighbor matters. That is the purpose of Lent: giving up distraction and finding space for what gives life."

A good read, take it easy on your teachers and recognize we want to do more but resources and time are limited. It really, really helps when you work with friends and goofballs and great kids who make the job so much more enjoyable thus relieving the stress. "A significant proportion also take medication because of their job. And the convener of a national mental health helpline has said that the demands of teaching are so exceptional that a counsellor should be stationed in every school. “We just want the best for our pupils and sometimes we feel more could be done for them,” she said. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day or resources that we need.”"

Anyone interested in how classic works relate today..."The themes of Plato and Sophocles remain universal; we continue to ponder questions of power and the unjust suffering of individuals." The article also ties in the National Book Award winner Coates.

If that wasn't worth staying up for I don't know what was?!?!?! #oscars2017

these #oscar commercials are better than Super Bowl commercials... great Google photo, Rolex, NYTimes

thank you #oscarwinner for the public school shoutout!

allrighty, everyone I've asked said they won't watch the Oscars tonight because of politics... come on people! Put it aside and watch with me!

Senior year

Making an effort to get those OOTD's in and document.

As the parent of a senior I'm learning...

There's a lot I can not do. I can not fill out all the scholarships. I can not study for his 4 AP classes. I can not decide what school is best for him. 

So I found little things I could do to make him and made me feel better. 

I could make lunch items available for everyday, mandarin oranges, bananas, mac and cheese. 

I could serve comfort food, mac and cheese, fresh baked cookies, mashed potatoes for dinner.

I could be at every game and have 2 bottles of water ready for after the game. 

I could keep all the deadlines on my calendar and make sure to give him a heads up and offer up my services. 

When he walks in the door I could sit down and listen and hang out. 

I could assure him that we would find a way to get him to college and help him pay for it.  

I could give him more free reign than ever before and talk through how I hoped he would be careful but have fun. So much fun his senior year. And make good choices. He should be on top of the world. 

I could turn down more of my social offers and stay home.

I could watch mindless tv sitting on the couch next to him for hours. 

I could provide a safe place for him to retreat to and be himself.

I could give him a little leeway on his room, his laundry, the state of his hair and beard. 

I could not overreact every time he says, I can't wait until next year, when I get out of here, move out, go away...

I could let him still be a kid this last year.... 

and there were things that made me feel better

cooking, cleaning, nesting, I drank many cups of tea and coffee and let's be honest wine. 

I'm working on catching up on his scrapbooks, since birth, and dragging out all his childhood memories. Yeah that's been helpful. 

Monday blues

Rough days at school make for rough Mondays but we'll meet it when it comes.... looking forward to the weekend scrap retreat. 

2016 Reads

I usually post my top ten reads of the year but 2016 begs a little annotation. This past year especially each read was not an 'everybody should read this book' book. 

A Stolen Life is not the most literary memoir but it is poignant and heartbreaking and in the end hopeful that one human being can be so cruel to another and yet that abused soul can survive and regain her life. 

Several YA books are in my top reads of the year of course. Books like Cinder, Red Queen, Maus, and Challenger Deep. Cinder, a play on Cinderella but with cyborgs, and Red Queen are both dystopian fantasies. Good starts to series that make me want to continue reading. Maus is a graphic novel about the holocaust told by a man whose father suffered terribly. It is a refreshingly simple take on a topic that sometimes feels like we've heard all there is to tell. Speigelman reminds us that every story is unique and I love his honesty. Challenger Deep surprised me because I thought I knew what the book was going to be and it turned out to be something completely different. Its a story about mental illness told from the point of view of a young boy who isn't sure who he can trust, including himself. 

Be Frank is one of those mainstream books that everybody reads but then surprised me by being really good. I enjoyed getting to know Frank. It's funny and heartbreaking and entertaining and insightful. Sweet story.

Prodigal Summer is beautifully written. Barbara Kingsolver is one of my top five authors of all time and this one does not disappoint. I would recommend reading it in the summer. It intertwines people and wildlife and farming and family dynamics in a unique and entertaining way.  

Beautiful Disaster is a racy, edgy, gripping younger novel but not quite what I group as young adult. Recommended to me by an older student reader, this series feeds those of us who liked Twilight and other books with characters who make ridiculous choices. Apparently there is something that appeals to us about these characters!

The Farm is a self published book by the grandfather of one of my students. I loved it. It is based in my home town and so the stories of the places and people I know just spoke to me. It's funny, honest, and just a good, good book. 

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is this year's classic that took me by surprise. Incredibly easy to read and get into, this one was entertaining and suspenseful. I loved it!

Hygee

THING TO KNOW

Hygge: Pronounced hoo-guh. Feels like a hug. Means “to be cozy.” Think: candles everywhere, coffee by the fire, fuzzy socks. Ask your Danish friends about it. My One Little Word for 2017

A NEW YEAR!

Outfit of the Day

Going to try to get more of these in this year, be more consistent. We traveled to Kentucky for the Lovin Family Christmas last Friday and came home today. It's been a good weekend.