Thursday, November 17, 2011

Sick Days

Under the weather this week with a bronchial/cold thang. Spent a lot of the week kickin' back the cough and cold meds and brewing tea.

Continued painting with the help of Gala and KB. Got all of the bedrooms, halls upstairs and down and bathroom upstairs done. Then re-did the master bedroom (my husband thinks off-white is an actual color- he is Neutral Man - however, I did agree with him on the first color- too peach, or something. One pink and one blue bedroom for the notsolittles. That's love, baby. The older kids are laying claim to the basment and the attic rooms. We also did the soon-2-be office room in 2 colors using a 2 part roller. It's very neutral with a lotta omph. I can't wait to get the espresso stained trim up- it's gonna look gorgeous.

Worked on Latin. Watched Plimoth Plantation videos on-line, watched Colonial Children DVD. Did a lot of mazes, dot to dots, number  and word searches. Didn't get a whole lotta other homework done but reading. Cub knocked out another Redwall book, Feeche continues to work on Citadel of God and Flower discovered a new series called Animal Ark about a little girl with a zillion pets. In our world of read-alouds we are  on to The Long Winter. I really, truly, do not like this book. I love Mrs. Ingalls Wilder's writing. I do. I just hate this book. We live an hour from the location of the aforementioned book. It's cold here, that much is for certain. I feel it enough already, I sure as heck don't need to read about it. And secondly, we saw the claim shanty last year, making the story all the more real, all the more cold, all the more traumatic. My take on this reading (6th time through) is that these pioneer type folks just went from trauma to trauma. Did you know that Laura had originally titled the book, "Starvation Winter" but her publisher thought it would scare the children. Um, yeah.
I watched Lincoln Lawyer during one of my sick days. Not our usual genre but great story. Loved the extras with author Connelly and his take on being an author. Loved seeing Matthew McConaughey as a hard hitter with heart.  Loved the shots of L.A. and recognized highways and locations - hey, I used to work in Van Nuys! I could almost feel the balmy ocean air. Loved how the tangled web was resolved. Mysteries used to be one of my fav genres. Poirot or Miss. Marple anyone?

Discovered a church library this week that is open to the public and houses a treasure trove of literary good stuff. Read my first Terri Blackstock book: Vicious Cycle. Not bad but the believability of a couple scenes didn't work for me. I'm working on Joesph by Joyce Landorf. Interesting perspective, beginning with the lives of Rachel, Leah and Jacob and Laban.

Published author Karen Schutte was a guest speaker for my high school writing class this week, talking about writing, getting published and selling books. Next guest speaker will be Publisher Jean Tennant of Shapato Publishing. I'm hoping the kids get inspired by hearing from those involved in the real world of books and publishing.

What did your week look like?
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8 comments:

MissMOE said...

Hope you feel better soon! Your paint colors sound lovely--I love painting once all the prep work is done. Sounds like things are starting to come together for you guys.

Karen said...

Sorry you're under the weather. What is the name of the Colonial Kids dvd you watched? The first time we read The Long Winter here, it was Feb., and we decided to save it for summer reading. It was just too much for us.

My older daughter is discovering the joys of Miss Marple. I remember how much I loved them when I first discovered them too.

Feel better.

G said...

Wow, you sure got a lot done for being sick! Long Winter was never one of my favorites either.

Mary said...

Sorry you aren't feeling well. Looks like a pretty productive week anyway - so congrats :)

Unknown said...

Hope you feel better soon, mama!! I can't wait to see pics of the house. It sounds beautiful!

Sonshine Classical Academy said...

I'm sorry you were sick. I hope you feel better soon. It looks like you still accomplished a lot though.

Sydni said...

I've read the Long Winter twice now. My oldest two begged me not to read it again to my younger two, but my youngers really liked the story. After reading it, I felt like I had lived a long winter right along with them. Interesting that you have seen the claim shanty--I would love to see it.

Tiffany said...

We are sick as well. I am going to brew a cup of tea and see what planning I can get done for two days this week. It appears that you guys are making lots of progress in the house.