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!

My Resolutions, July Update

Well this has been a hellishly stressful month. We thought we would be out of our house and into an apartment by now. But no.  The management company called us on Wednesday and told us that there was a maintenance issue that would keep us from gaining access to the apartment until July 5. When we called the moving company to reschedule, the next available date will be July 15. So, we will be moving small things over slowly over the next ten days. 

We spent this weekend moving stuff over to the storage unit and the thrift store and to the shred mill.

But, thinking that I was going to be moving out this past weekend, I have been continuing to pack things up as if we were moving this weekend.  I honestly think the biggest challenge was tracking down all of the library books. I consistently have 50 books checked out at any given time. I had to track them all down and make certain that they were returned. I didn't want to accidentally lose one somewhere in the chaos and then end up paying for the book, only to find it a year from now when unpacking some random box.  

In spite of all the chaos here, I did work on my goals for the year!

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

I have posted 6 reviews so far. Most of them were published in June, as that is when I was looking for and reading books to talk about with the schools. 

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

2) Renovate the Master Bedroom & Bathroom. 

This is happening!!!!

3) Find good homes for the books  

They have all been homed outside of my house.

4) Go explore 2 new to me places  

Who doesn't love an adventure? I have a list of places that I want to go see. I'm going to put out a map, and get some darts, and see where we end up.

1) Oregon

2) Turkey Run Park in Virginia

5) 40 Bags in 40 Days Lenten Challenge

These were kitchen size garbage bags full of stuff, along with several BIG boxes.

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

 

7) Another stamp in my National Park Passport

The Mission Trail in San Antonio!

8) Landscape Front Yard 

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

9) Clean out the Garage

If you've read the blog for any length of time, you know that we bought this house 16 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! 16 years later and we have finally cleaned out the house. Finally.

 But the garage is another story. 16 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 in May or June.  We still have time left!

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.

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.

Thrifty Thursday

Leftovers.

I know, when we had teenagers in the house, we didn't have a lot of leftovers. When we did have them, it was because whatever I made was just so bad that nobody wanted to eat it.

But now, we find ourselves with leftovers that we can't finish before they go bad. Even worse, when I make them into something new, the something new isn't getting finished before things go bad.  What to do? What to do? 

Enter my giant freezer. I have been making a roast of some type on Saturday night. Sunday finds me taking the leftovers and making them into other things, and then freezing these things into smaller portion sizes that will feed the two of us.  So, when I would have made a 9"x13" pan full of chicken and dumplings, I am now freezing two 8"x8" size pans.  That's enough for us to have dinner, plus leftovers for lunch for a couple of days.

The huge pot of chili?  (I honestly don't know how to make a small pot of chili.) I'm freezing leftovers in quart size containers that we can take out and easily reheat for dinner on a busy night.

But what about the odds and ends of meat? Meat is getting too expensive and needs to be saved up when you have it. I've been taking those weird odds and ends of meat and then tossing the meat into a food saver bag before I suck all the air out of it and toss it in the freezer. I'm not positive what I'm going to end up doing with that meat, but I do know that I just bought myself some time to figure it out.  Pot of soup? Stir Fry?  I will figure that out on the day when I pull it out of the freezer and need to make something with it. 

Believe it or not, this has actually made a huge dent in our bottom line.

Fruit.

I've gotten absolutely obsessive about fruit lately.  I'm making a point of pulling out what I know we can eat and then freezing the rest. I'll have a lot of frozen fruit for my yogurt, muffins, and oatmeal this fall and winter. 

Veggies.

I've been freezing and dehydrating extra veggies as they come in. I'm putting the dehydrated veggies aside for soups this winter.  My goal is to eventually mix them all into the portions I'll use for soup. But for now, I'm saving the veggies in separate bags until I have enough to put together a bag for one pot of soup.

So, what kinds of things are you doing with your leftovers? How are you stretching out your food budget?

Picture Books

This was harder to put together than I thought it would be. These are the covers of my favorite picture books.  All of them are beautiful stories with amazing images that pull the reader into the book.

 

A young girl harvests sweetgrass to make baskets with her grandmother.

 

 

How do you wear a sari? What happens if you put it on your own way?

 

 

Amira doesn't want to miss school for the Eid ceremony because it's picture day.

 

 

 Find out what it takes to harvest the salmon that you eat.

 

 

A mother sings a love song to her baby.

 

 

 

A little girl discovers how wonderful her family is when she talks about their wonderful eyes.

 

 

Help Mel!

 

Noah makes a seal out of sand on the beach.

All images are from worldcat.org

Chapter

I highlight books for older readers on my blog Books for Teens.  I have a few of the books here that I talked about with the kids in 3rd-5th grade. The great thing about chapter books is that they can be enjoyed by older readers as well as read out loud to younger readers. I'm going to attempt a short summary for each of these titles, or else my post would be forever and a day long.  I'm going to highlight the ones that would easily cross over to older readers on my book blog over the next few month.

image: worldcat.org

Fans of Harry Potter will love this book!

Amari Peters finds herself at the Magical Institute studying to be a magician after her brother mysteriously disappears. Convinced that he is alive, Amari looks for clues to her brother's disappearance while studying to be a magician. Shunned by many of the students because of her tremendous power, Amari struggles to find friends that she can trust to help her in her dual quest.

*This is ones of the books I'm having trouble writing only one or two sentences about because I loved the book so much, and there's just so much that I want to say!

image: worldcat.org

 This winner of the 2021 Newberry Award is based upon Korean Folk Lore.

Lily makes a deal with a magical tiger to save her Halmoni. As Lily works to meet the demands of the Tiger, she discovers more about her family's history. An enchanting tale that shows the power of love across generations. 

I'm having trouble containing myself on this post. I'll have a review of the book up on my book blog soon.

 

image: World Cat

 A first person point of view of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. This compelling story captures the uncertainty that the residents of the areas around Chernobyl felt in the days and weeks surrounding one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.

 Link to my review on my blog is here: The Black Bird Girls

  

Spending the summer on the reservation with his grandmother means no electricity, no running water, and no video games. But Nathan's summer takes an unexpected turn when he finds a sick water monster on his grandmother's farm. Healing the Water Monster involves a journey that has great risks as well as rewards.

Riley Oh is a non-magical person (Saram) who lives with her parents and adopted sister. Her sister hatches a plan to share her magical powers with Riley. But when the plan goes horribly awry, Riley finds that not everything as it seems, and that she, herself is faced with the task of saving her sister.

From Kate DiCamillo comes this wonderful story of a girl named Beatryce who is being sought by an evil king, for she holds the keys to his ability to remain in power forever.

I have a talk about this book on my book blog here.

I reviewed Charlie Hernandez for my book blog a while back. You can find it here.

 

Unless noted otherwise, these images were taken by me, LibraryNut.

Graphic Novels / Graphic Novel Crossover

I love graphic novels so much! These books tell smart, intelligent stories in an appealing visual format. Many parents complain that these books aren't "real" books.  I would put to you that these books draw kids in, teach them to use context clues for new vocabulary, and encourage critical thinking and making predictions.  How?  Because of the white space.  That space in between the picture panels... it forces readers to make predictions and draw conclusions based upon what they read in the previous panel and what is portrayed in the second panel. Bonus points for increasing reading fluency and enhancing vocabulary.

Not every kid is going to love every book. But in the summer, kids get to choose whatever they want to read. And if that book encourages them to read through 10 or more books in a series and it encourages development of the higher order thinking skills that teachers spend all year teaching - what a great, painless way to reinforce what they just spent the last nine+ months working on!

As a parent, I am a fan of anything that my kids willingly pick up to read. The job of the school is literally to teach my kids how to read and understand what they've read.  MY JOB is the best one - I get to teach them to love reading!

And so, I present to you my favorite Graphic Novels and Graphic Novel Crossovers for this summer! If you've never read a graphic novel before, I think these are a great place to start!

image: worldcat.org

This book! I read this book first, and enjoyed it so much I went back and read the entire rest of the series! These crime fighting gators are dueling against the Rock Mobster (a lobster) and his evil crew as they work to find out what is happening to the glowing rocks? In order to efficiently move from location to location the gators travel through toilets. The puns!  Both visual and printed, the puns made this book an absolute gem!

 

 

Maggie keeps a D-20 die in her pocket. She rolls it every time she needs to make a decision. Everything from whether to make new friends to answering questions in class - it is all determined by a roll of the die. As Maggie settles into middle school, she joins the RPG club and makes a wonderful new group of friends from all over the school who love Role Playing Games as much as she does.  But, there’s a monster stalking the grounds of Lilac Middle School. A mysterious monster that is rustling around the school grounds and eating bicycles. 

As the monster draws nearer to the school, will Maggie be able to conquer her fears and track down the monster?

Note: I had this book with me at an outreach event. Kids were so interested in this book that they were asking questions about the book and having their parents taking pictures of the book cover so that they could check it out. There was a hold list on the book when I returned my copy last week after finishing up my book talks.

 

                                                                    Image: worldcat.org

 

Ruth is a young journalist who is determined to uncover a secret that threatens her town. When she discovers a strange black slime in the man-made lake of her suburban neighborhood, She decides that she needs to investigate. Encouraged by her parents and teachers, Ruth investigates everyone,  including the owner of the country club, who she believes is responsible for the pollution. Between the teasing from the friends at school, and a sudden viral spotlight on social media, Ruth discovers how difficult it is for a journalist to take a stand for what's right

                                                                    image: worldcat.org

Ben is your average, ordinary 8 year old who loves eating noodles more than anything else until that fateful day that he opens a fortune cookie that says “live each day as if it were your last.”  Ben is now convinced that he has just one day to do everything he has ever wanted to do. So, he makes a list.  A list that includes things like “Finish putting together my 1,000 piece model of the Taj Mahal.  Make a cake.  Play Clair de Lune all the way through without messing up, and “Jump over Mr. Hoggenwoff’s prize winning hedge.” 

Ben’s quest to finish everything on his list in just one day leads him on a hysterical, slightly terrifying journey that just might end up being the very worst day of his life. 

                                                                        image: worldcat.org

 Portico Reeves is a real life super hero named Stuntboy.  At least, in his head he is.  He works hard to keep his friends and his family safe.  And like every super hero, he has an arch nemesis who is determined to prove to everyone that Stuntboy is not as wonderful as he thinks he is. But, when his parents start fighting, Stuntboy faces his biggest challenge yet: to keep his two biggest heroes (mom and dad) safe.

How can you not love a book written by Jason Reynolds and illustrated by Raul the Third?

Unless otherwise noted, these images were taken by me, Library Nut.

My Favorite Series Books for Transitional Readers

 A transitional reader is a child who is working on moving from learning how to read to reading independently on their own. They are beginning to decode words and recognize more words when reading. They can read for longer periods of time, and they are beginning to make inferences and predictions. 

These are my favorite books for transitional readers for 2022.

This charming series of books is set in Colombia.

I love that the stories are told in English, with lots of Spanish words used liberally throughout the books.

Mindy and her father have moved to Orlando after her mother passed away.

Starting over in a new place is difficult, but Mindy and her Dad make new friends in their quest 

to adapt to life without their Mom and still hold true to their Korean heritage.

Sadiq is originally from Somalia, but his family now lives in Minnesota.

He enjoys STEM activities, and he and his friends are always finding new things to explore together.

Note - I love that the Somali Language is tossed in throughout the book.  There is a glossary/dictionary in the back to help readers understand words that are new to them.

This is not a series book, but it is an awesome book of very silly poetry!

The Bad Guys. I can't say enough good things about this series. 

I've been sharing this book with young readers since the first books came out.

In the series, Mr. Shark, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Piranha and Mr. Snake set out to change their reputation as Bad Guys and set out to do good deeds everywhere.  The book cover I  have here is from Book #11. (The only one on our shelves.)

Mo loves to play sports! He might not always be the fastest or the best, but he always tries to do his best!

Flubby is a stubborn cat who does what independent cats do best --- whatever they want!

Katie Woo and Katie Woo's Universe.  I love the stories of Katie and her friends!

Sydney and Taylor are best friends who try new things together.

When one of them gets scared, the other one helps them conquer their fears.

Dear Beast. OMG. I found the first book in this series days before we shut down in 2020.

(I pulled it off the shelf and checked it out as I was leaving the library from my very last shift.)

I fell in love with Simon the cat who was protesting the arrival of Baxter the dog and kept sending him formal letters of protest via a snail (snail mail, get it?) The writing is smart and funny and the illustrations are warm and wonderful.

I keep checking out new additions to the series as they arrive!

My perennial favorite.

I read this series aloud to my kids when they were in preschool/early elementary.

We still find ourselves quoting these books.

Junie B is a smart and spunky kindergartner who keeps getting into the craziest mishaps... much like every kid ever.

(And me. I related to a LOT of these stories - both as a mother and remembering my own childhood.)

Note: All of these images were taken by me.