Spring Break Fever

Since we don't operate on a school schedule yet, Spring Break doesn't affect us too much, except that others were off school and could visit. D's sister-in-law and family came over for the first part of the week, so R had her only girl cousin for a few days. I believe R woke up in the 6 o'clock hour both mornings, woke at least one cousin up and promptly began talking. Her cousin loves books as much as R and read to her constantly. My sis-in-law and I took them to Kohl's where they ran crazy through the girls' section finding matching outfits and trying them on for us. We settled on matching pajamas for them to wear that night. The next day we took the girls (and the baby boy) to IKEA. What hilarity! The Goldilocks girls sat in every chair, sofa, and bed in the store but were generally well-behaved. I love girls who can shop!

I had to catch up on laundry and cleaning once our company left and I'm making my way around the house doing some spring cleaning as well. I started in March and I'm still going, bit by bit, curtains, closets, and corners. We reorganized R's closet this weeks, moving her shelves a bit and getting her clothes to where she can hang up things herself. Then D had the grand idea to dismantle her bed frame and move her bed to make a big space to play in. Which is nice, but....doesn't work aesthetically for me. I'm leaving the things that were his idea for the week and then we'll see what works and what doesn't. (See, I'm growing.)

Book wise, I finished The Painted Veil last week. I haven't seen the movie and I didn't expect to enjoy a book about adultery and cholera so much but I was captivated by the characters. I kept playing out the various ways the book could end, wondering would I be left with tragedy or redemption. I also couldn't help thinking of the parallels to The Awakening. Makes me want to teach them together.

I also sped through Thursday Next, the latest in the series by Jasper Fforde and the last one published. There will be another though as there is a definite cliff hanger. The plot can get a bit tiresome, at times repetitive, but it is what it is and is still enjoyable and funny in a literary, English-teacher/nerd way. There was more family in this one which I found very sweet.

Next in line, with my new book light as to not disturb D's semi-dark baseball watching, is True Fires by Susan McCarthy who wrote Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands, a previous book club read. This one is also set in central Florida and deals with race issues. I'll let you know. And I'm trying to get the first No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book so I can jump on that bandwagon and have another go-to series.

I think that's everything. D has just three more weeks of class! We can see the light at the end! Evenings just run so much smoother when there are two to tag-team. And it meant this week that I could sneak off the dollar movie theater and watch 27 Dresses with a friend!