Ramblings of a Thirty-Something

 You know, my very first "list" post was from October of last year. It seems only appropriate to do one this October. We're halfway through the month. We've made it through the first quarter of this new way of teaching. I've survived the first eight weeks of my current grad school class {barely, but there's still time...this class might defeat me}. Harvest is finished. The weather has turned crisp.  Yep, a perfect time to craft a new list. My Current Books I am not reading them all at once. Two of them I have checked out from the library and really need to get around to reading them. Our October "Wines & Spines" {aka, my book club} pick was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I'd read it years and years ago, and it was a delight to re-read. If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up. I have November's book in my stack, but I haven't started it yet:  Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I'm just getting enou...

October is the perfect time to read a good ghost story. I don’t mean a horror story, with homicidal maniacs or killer clowns {looking at you, Stephen King}. I’m talking about a ghost story—ancient houses, lonely spirits, unsuspecting guests. Perhaps, to be more accurate, I mean a good Gothic ghost story. I know what you’re thinking, and no, a Gothic tale does not have anything to do with those kids from high school who wore all black {although their look was originally inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s work}. It does have to do with Gothic architecture, as many of the stories from the height of the Gothic fiction period took place in homes built in the Gothic style. There is a very rich history of Gothic fiction, and it came to spawn some of the most prolific “spooky” authors of all time:  Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and of course, Edgar Allen Poe. And my girl, Jane Austen, wrote one of the most famous parodies of Gothic fiction ever:  Northanger Abbey . Her heroine, Catheri...

We are 2/3 of the way through July. That means August is almost here. That means that school will be starting in less than a month. What that looks like for sure is still uncertain, as are most things right now, but hopefully we see some positive changes soon.  Since I did not post a list for June, I have decided to just post one list for the whole summer! It will be longer than usual, of course, because I have watched a lot of shows, read a lot of books, listened to a lot of podcasts...you get the idea. And because this will be a bit long, I'm not going to waste a lot of time on the introduction. My Current Books If you didn't know, I started working at the Onarga Public Library this summer. This has been both a blessing and a curse {don't worry, I have an entire post planned on just that topic}, but suffice it to say, I have been reading a lot more than normal. And I normally  read a whole-stinking-lot, so I'm going to highlight a couple of my favorites and then just ...

I can't believe it's the first Wednesday in May. It feels like I just wrote my April list... Oh well, moving on! Maybe I will be able to write the June entry not from my house. I don't know where I'd go to do it...I'll just go to a random coffee shop simply to do it from somewhere else. My Current Books Right now, I'm rereading Anne of Green Gables . Such a good, wholesome, nostalgic read! And since I got the 1980s mini-series on DVD a few Christmases ago, I am definitely watching that when I'm done! Now I have done a lot of reading during the quarantine time, so while I'm not reading these right now, these are the books I have read in entirety during this time: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell The Reluctant Warrior  by Mary Connealy Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate Sophia's War  by Avi Don't Overthink It  by Anne Bogel The Lost Lieutenant by Erica Vetsch Twisted Twenty-Six by Jan...

I am a creature of habit. Anybody else? Most of us are, for better or for worse. We fall into routines and stick to them without even thinking about it. And that can be good, for sure...unless the routines aren't healthy routines, of course. The longer I teach, the more I see patterns with kids. You can see which kids have consistent bedtimes, which kids have a routine of doing their homework at a certain time, which kids have learned how to function around sports schedules and the hectic-ness of life. And you can tell which kids don't  have those routines...and which kids desperately need those routines! I can't even begin to explain how important consistent bedtimes and waking times and meal times are for kids of all ages. I am most certainly included in this. Perhaps more so than my students sometimes! I need routine, especially at certain points in the day, which is what the meat of this post is going to be. Is this post going to be boring? Quite possibly. Is this...

February. Chapter 2 of 12. I didn't think it was going to come. After all, January was approximately 1,873,252 days long. We didn't see the sun for days...quite literally days here in Illinois. And with Punxsutawney Phil not  seeing his shadow, spring should be arriving in less than six weeks. I'm not holding my breath or anything right now. But let's dive into this month's list before I lose my nerve and start rambling about something else. I'm not sure what it would be, but it probably wouldn't be any fun to read. Or it might, I don't actually know. And I don't know if this list is actually long, but it sounded good in the title, so there's that for you. My Current Book(s) I am still reading The Fiery Cross , as I was in January. I am officially on page 813 of 1443 {as of writing this post}, so over halfway! I also have this month's book club book at the ready, though I did just lend it out to someone. But at some point this month, ...