My Resolutions, October Update

It's been a while since I've done this. So much chaos in my life over the past couple of months. Just so much chaos.  But, here we are now!

1) Post 1 book review a month on my YA blog. 

I have posted 6 reviews.  SIX! I seriously need to get in and update this. I read enough Manga this summer, I really do have enough material to update this!

https://librarynut-booksforteens.blogspot.com/

2) Renovate the Master Bedroom & Bathroom. 

This is happening!!!!  Contracts have been signed and the house has been cleaned out! 

17 years after we first said this needed to be done, it is finally going to be done!

3) Find good homes for the books  

They have all been homed outside of my house.

4) Go explore 2 new to me places  

1) Oregon - for a little adventure!

2) Turkey Run Park in Virginia.  It's on the way home from my Mom's house.  Beautiful park on the banks of the Potomac River!

3) Dallas, Texas. I went for a funeral, but stayed an extra day to explore.

5) 40 Bags in 40 Days Lenten Challenge

These were kitchen size garbage bags full of stuff, along with several BIG boxes. I've since gotten rid of much, much more.  But the Lenten Challenge was a HUGE success!

6) Get together with 1 friend each month  

I don't think I should have to write this down, but you know, it's been a weird couple of years. I want to make seeing people we love a priority. Doing this after 2 years of COVID Restrictions is going to make this an extra special challenge.

January - Jim & Kathy! We had a fire outside in the fire pit and got to catch up over a couple of hours!

February -  Joe, James, Dan

March - Crissy, Gloria

April - This was the month we had Covid, so we saw nobody and went nowhere.

May - Vince & Suzanne, Judy

June - Sharon

July - Crissy and her Mom

August - Esther and Tim            

September - All of my cousins.

 

7) Another stamp in my National Park Passport

The Mission Trail in San Antonio!

OK, so that was back in January. I need to get another stamp.

8) Landscape Front Yard 

This has been on the list for several years now. I really want to get this checked off this year!

I don't think this will happen this year. With the renovations going on in the house, I want to wait until they are finished before I begin working on the yard. I don't want the contractors tearing up the new landscaping. 

9) Clean out the Garage

If you've read the blog for any length of time, you know that we bought this house 17 years ago from my in-laws. And you also know that they were borderline hoarders. We've made progress in the house, and while there is still clutter in the basement, I believe that we will have the last of it out by the end of this year. (See the 40 bags in 40 days challenge.) There is no longer any junk in our basement! 17 years later and we have finally cleaned out the house. Finally.

 But the garage is another story. 17 years, and we have not yet been able to park our cars in the garage because of the amount of stuff. Our goal is to be able to park a car in the garage by the end of the year. when we move back into the house next year.

10) Get the kayak out in the water once each month during May, June, July, August, September, and October.

Seriously, we have a kayak.  Why aren't we getting out in the water with the kayak more often? What is our excuse? The kids have moved out. We don't have to worry about finding a sitter or getting an extra kayak for them.

We didn't get it out at all. Something about clearing out tons and tons of stuff out of the house.

11) Get my Bike fixed and get out for some bike rides.

I bought my bike over 30 years ago. I rode it a lot before the kids got busy in high school. Now that everyone is out of the house, it is time to pull out some of the things I really used to love. The top of that list is riding my bike. In order to do that, I need to get the bike fixed. The tires are dry rotted, and I'm sure it's got a host of other issues going on.

12) Visit My Cousins in Texas (a trip postponed from 2020)

Done! We made it down over a long weekend in January! It was so good to see my cousins and my aunts and uncles!  I even posted a few pictures from the River Walk in San Antonio. It's been 10 years since I last got down here. I can't wait another 10 years to get back. Family is too important. And time is fleeting.

Breckinridge Park! We met up with my cousins at the same outdoor pavilion where I had my 5th birthday party! That pavilion is just off to the right from this picture.

Second Trip to Texas in September for a family funeral. I got to spend time with cousins from as far away as Japan. We really need to find a way to get together that does not involve funerals. I think this will be one of my goals for next year.

Other Goals:

I’ve got a couple of other goals I would like to accomplish this year, but I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to get to them. If I do, I’ll be thrilled beyond words. If not? I’ll add them to the list of things I want to get to in 2023.

Goal #1

Get out to Kansas to visit Middle Child. 

Done! We went out earlier this month.

Goal #2

Get the large piles of brush out of the yard.

Done! The tree people are also taking out 3 dead trees!

A little "too much" nature

 Husband was recently out of town for a family wedding. I was looking forward to spending a day doing not much of anything.

And then I got a call from my next door neighbor, letting me know that we had a dead deer in the very back corner of our back yard. Public works will only pick up a dead deer if it's within 50 feet of a county owned highway.

So, the neighbor and I got out there and did the ugly work of getting the deer out to the front of the house by the road where public works was waiting for us. They did the even uglier work of picking it up and getting it into the back of the truck. They told us that they were going to stop it by the nature center. They have several buzzards that are currently being rehabbed for injuries and this way, the buzzards could continue to forage and not lose their "edge" by getting used to human food.

All in all, a pretty cool circle of life thing when you really think about it.

But I was still having some issues wrapping my head around the death of the deer. And the smell.  I could smell it everywhere, no matter how many showers I took.  Honestly, I was beginning to feel a little bit like Lady Macbeth, but instead of saying "out damn spot", I was saying "Out, out damn smell"...

"I'm going to get a dog"

 Last time I saw my Mom, she told me that she was going to get a dog.

And she was going to tie a man's tie on it.

And she was going to name the dog Ty.

Then she told me she was going to get a horse.

And ride it over to the White House.

And pick up Joe.

And then they were going to go riding together.

There was so much more! She was in rare form when I was there! 

Family Funeral

I motioned last week that I had recently been to a funeral. My mother's youngest brother, Roger, passed away in the middle of August. Since he was being buried in the National Cemetery, we had to wait for a spot to open up in THEIR calendar so that he could be interred.

The first available spot for him was Sept.10. 

My sister and I ventured to Texas together to the funeral for the first trip we have EVER taken without mom. 

The funeral was solemn, Taps was beautiful, and the family had the trumpeter play "God Bless America". His children received the flag that had been draped across his casket, and he was interred next to his wife who had passed away 20 years ago.

After the funeral, we all gathered together for a very large and rowdy celebration of life.  We pulled all of the tables together.  What is this business with separate tables that only hold 8 chairs each? We pulled 4 tables together and shoved as many people around the table as were willing to sit together.

Many stories were told. So many stories!  We spent several hours piecing together the individual pieces of stories that each one of us knew to make an entire story from beginning to end! And the laughter!  Oh, so much laughter as we recalled stories from long, long ago.

We decided that we need to stop meeting only at funerals. We are now working on a plan for next spring where we can gather together just for fun. 

Mom's brother was 82. He was an Army Veteran. He was a husband, father, and grandfather. We are all going to miss him and his laughter. 

Manga

 Are you into reading Manga? I wasn't, until this summer. One of the other librarians on staff encouraged me to read a few series.  And then, I go hooked. I love Manga! I love the story lines, I love the format that is so accessible to kids across the board. Whether kids are struggling to read, or accomplished readers way above grade level, manga is an equal opportunity format. The fact that it is a graphic based format makes it easier for struggling readers, and the white spaces between the panels encourage higher order thinking skills painlessly.  (making predictions, drawing inferences).  

Manga is different than Western Graphic Novels in that you read them from right to left, and you start each page on the top right hand side, reading to the left, and then returning to the left side and going down a line. I'm convinced that reading in this format is going to help me stave off dementia!

While I enjoyed most everything I read, I was drawn to "Slice of Life" manga.  Slice of life is based around the life of a person going about their day.  From chores, to school, to preparing meals.  

In no particular order, here are my favorite Manga series that I read this summer:

Yotsuba & !

Yotsuba and her father encounter many adventures when they move into a new house in the big city! Every day brings new adventures!  *Note, in many ways, I felt that this series was a "read-alike" to Junie B Jones or Ramona Quimby. This is the only series that I read that came out of the children's section.

Silver Spoon

Yugo Hachiken chooses to go to an agricultural school instead of the Academic School that his parents had planned for him to attend. Hachiken's life takes an interesting turn as he begins to understand the world that prepares the food that he eats, and applies his business acumen to helping the future farmers i the school grow their business models.

The Ancient Magus' Bride: Wizards Blue

Definitely NOT a slice of life!  The ancient wizard has chosen a bound partner who's job will eventually be to kill her. Wonderfully fun fantasy full of action and adventure, with a touch of magic tossed in for fun.

Spy X Family

Super Spy must acquire a family in order to spy upon a foreign diplomat/businessman who has designs on taking over the world.  Said spy quickly finds a family.  He unknowingly marries an assassin for hire and adopts a telepath. This series is solid gold!  We can't keep it on our shelves. It keeps getting checked out!

Living Room

High School student lives in the big city in her uncle's boarding house with really hot college guy across the hall who might be as interested in her as she is in him.  Or is he?  Very sweet series!

The Way of the House Husband

This delightful series follows the life of an ex-Yakuza gang member who retires from a life of crime and becomes a House Husband.  I love the comic absurdities throughout the series!

Have you read any Manga? What are your favorite series? Inquiring minds want to know!

*If you're curious to find out more about Manga and how it supports reading, you can find out more here: https://www.ncwlibraries.org/the-benefits-of-manga-and-graphic-novels/

Random Pictures

 The last two months has seen a lot of upheaval in our lives.  Among other things, we moved to an apartment in another town so that our house could be renovated. (There are no affordable apartments near where we live.) We are back in the town where we first lived when we got married and started raising our family.  The move-out slowly continues. Here are some random photos from the past couple of months.

Hermie in our new apartment. Not only did she discover the space over the refrigerator, she also discovered how to open the cabinet over the refrigerator! Gotta love cats!

The path around the lake. I find myself walking this a lot.

Sunset from the hilltop at home.  #nofilter.

A floating island of weeds in the middle of the lake!

A pretty sunset! #nofilter

Mushrooms abound after all the rain we've had in the Mid-Atlantic recently. I found this little fairy ring on my Monday morning walk.

The lake is very pretty! Considering we live very close to here, I'm really glad that it's so easy and fun to walk around.

Above and below, pictures from the Rachel Carson Greenway in Montgomery County, MD. You can find more information about these trails here: https://montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/rachel-carson-conservation-park/rachel-carson-conservation-park-trails/

With a Parent in Hospice, life is never certain for the family

 I haven't been on for a while. I was just checking the dates. It's been over 2 months.  

Mom is still hanging in there, and we are treasuring every day that we have. 

Her youngest brother passed away about 2 weeks ago. I just got back from the funeral last night.

I've had many - too many - "get down here right now, this is it" phone calls.  We head down, the crisis passes, and then life slowly limps along. 

But I am still here. I am spending many days with Mom. 

I'll keep blogging as I can. Thank you for checking in, and thank you for thinking of me!