AN INTERESTING VARIETY

Monday, November 21, 2011 (20 minutes)

Hours before Jane’s aunt dies she reveals to Jane that Jane has an uncle who wanted to take her in and put her in his will.  Jane’s aunt told him she had died and she wanted Jane to tell her uncle that she was alive.  Jane forgave her aunt and asked for her aunt’s forgiveness, and even on her deathbed Jane’s aunt was cold hearted to her.  After her aunt’s death Jane stayed behind for three weeks to help her cousins.  I found it strange that Jane did not write to her uncle right away. 

Monday, November 21 & Tuesday, November 22 (10 minutes daily)

Since my co-worker gives me his newspaper I was only able to read it a couple of days this week.   

Friday, November 25 (1 hour +)

Went to the bookstore on Friday night and I was able to finish the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid that I started a few weeks ago.  I’m still debating my thoughts about the book, which is kind of silly sounding because it was a bit of a surface story.  I think I a holding my thoughts until I can watch the movie.  Then I started The Hunger Games, and I didn’t think it was my kind of story line, but it caught me right away.  Plus the movies are coming out in few months so I need to get going.  It kind of reminded me of the stories I had read about life for Jews during WWII, but with a futuristic storyline. 

Saturday, November 26 (1 hour+)

We were visiting the family and my father-in-law bought a book called Hard Work by Roy Williams.  I’ve been a KU fan as long as I can remember and I have always liked Roy Williams so I picked it up.  I had no idea he had such a rough and tough childhood and he really overcame a lot thanks to his high school coaches and teachers.  I was able to read up through his first coaching job.  Next time we visit I won’t have to worry if I forget to bring a book. 

SUNDAY EVENING POST

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of November 14 (10-15 minutes every day)

This week I read my daily Wichita Eagle and the story that caught my attention this week was about Wichita considering closing five elementary schools, “in favor of larger schools that draw students from areas well beyond their current boundaries” (Tobias, 2011).  The idea is that the smaller schools would close and bigger schools would be “expanded.”  Currently, it is just a proposal that the school board is considering with many parents concerned about their children not being able to attend their neighborhood school. 

Source:

Tobias, S. (2011, November 17). Kids could travel farther. The Wichita Eagle, p. 1A

Friday, November 18 (20 minutes)

A friend gave me her People magazine after she finished reading it.  I really enjoyed the article about Gabrielle Giffords.  She has an inspiring story of persevering and hope and she kind of makes me want to get out and do something. 

Saturday, November 20, 2011 (30 minutes)

Didn’t get to read as much of Jane Eyre as I would have liked, and when I was at the bookstore I saw the movie on the shelf so I have to get on the ball.  Hopefully, with Thanksgiving I can get a bit more reading in.  Jane is still at her aunt’s house with the sisters Eliza and Georgiana and they are awful.  Her aunt has not died yet and I am not sure where things are going to go from here. 

BOOKSTORE DATE

Monday, November 7 – Friday, November 11 (10-15 minutes every day)

I try to read a bit of the Wichita Eagle every day and thus far I’ve been successful, but life is getting very busy so I hope I can stick with it.

Saturday, November 12 (1 hour plus)

Headed to the bookstore with my husband and I had a great time.  We used to go on bookstore dates all the time and now we have to drive a bit to get to a good bookstore, it’s sad.  We usually go into a bookstore and head opposite directions and then meet up and discuss our findings.  Today I headed to the kids section and had a great time being that annoying person who bursts out loud laughing.  Below is a listing of the books I read and now highly recommend:

-          Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

-          You Will Be My Friend by Peter Brown

-          Splat the Cat: Back to School by Rob Scotton

-          Skippyjon Jones: Class Action by Judy Schachner

-          Skippyjon Jones: And the Big Bones

-          Skippyjon Jones: In Mummy Trouble

-          Skippyjon Jones: Lost in Spice

-          Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

I only got half way through Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but my husband thought he had the book in his classroom and said I could borrow his copy to finish the book.  My husband bought a book about K2 and I always love listening to him tell me about books he is reading. 

Reading to Relax

Monday, October 31 – Friday, November 4 (10-15 minutes every day)

I was able to get the Wichita Eagle newspaper from friends and co-workers every day this week which was really nice because I often don’t have time to catch the local news.  The only story that really caught my eye was a story about student loan debt and how many students have major loan debt straight out of college and even for years after college.  On one hand it was nice to know my husband and I aren’t the only couples with lots of student loan debt and on the other hand it was really frustrating and disappointing. 

Saturday, November 5 (45 minutes)

So I was in Oklahoma for a race and right before going to bed there was an earthquake and with all the excitement I could not go to sleep.  Needing to get a good night’s rest for the run I whipped out my kindle to catch up on some Jane Eyre until I got relaxed enough to fall asleep.  Mr. Rochester tells Jane he is going to propose to another woman and meanwhile, Jane’s mean aunt who sent her away is dying and calling out for Jane. 

I'M A JANEITE

Monday, October 24 (45 minutes)

In my Jane Eyre readings this week things took an unexpected turn.  The story got kind of weird and Mr. Rochester dressed up like an old fortune teller lady and made all his female guests and Jane get their fortune told.  By the way no one knew it was Mr. Rochester, but he did reveal himself to Jane.   I guess I didn’t see this coming because Jane is religious and she was excited to see the fortune teller (before she knew it was Mr. Rochester) and I would think a religious person would not want to get mixed up with a fortune teller.  The thing is, even though I don’t really like this part of the story I kind of really want to know what happens next. 

Friday, October 28 (20 minutes)

I had a really stressful day, I had to take a big test and I didn’t feel like reading something where I had to think or pay attention.  I splurged and bought myself a chi tea latte and a People magazine.  The only article I really got into was the one about the daughter-in-law of Bernie Madoff.  She is speaking out because Ruth and Andrew Madoff (Bernie’s wife and his living son) have a book out about their side of the story.  Anyway, she talks about her husband Mark who committed suicide due to shame of his father and how she is coping with her two young children.

Sunday, October 30 (30 minutes)

So my favorite yarn store twitted that they had a limited stash of Interweave Knits – Jane Austin special edition left and thought they’d be out by the end of the weekend.   Let me back up a bit.  Knitting is a big hobby of mine that has gone on the backburner since I started school.  I just can’t do it all.  I usually guilt myself out of knitting, and by that I mean every time I consider knitting I tell myself, if I have time to knit, I have time for homework.  I’m my own mom.  My husband and I had already decided that our cruiser ride would be our workout for the day and we just couldn’t decide where we wanted to ride.  Thankfully I saw that tweet because after we cruised to the yarn store I got one of the last ones.  It had lots of patterns that fit Jane’s time and that would look good on a modern girl like me.  It also has lots of articles about knitting and Jane Austin.  After we picked up my magazine my husband was cold and hungry so we biked over to the coffee shop to get him fed and I got to read my new magazine.  It was a wonderfully guilt free afternoon. 

DONNER LAKE

Thursday, October 20, 2011 (2 hours)

This week I was able to visit Donner Lake in California and the Donner Museum.  I have always been intrigued by the story of the Donner party since my Dad told me about it when I was a little girl.  The museum had a video about the Donner party I think it was from the first year there was color film and told the gist of what happened, but it was hard to connect with.  The Museum had a bookstore and I talked to the Park Ranger about which of the books she recommended.  She said the one I was looking at, Desperate Passage: The Donner Party’s Perilous Journey West by Ethan Rarick was a good read with the latest dig findings.  She was right it had lots of information about the area and what it was like to join a wagon train and why anyone would want to uproot their lives and move across the country.  I decided to give my Dad the book as a souvenir so I read as much of it as I could before I gave it to him (also knowing I could borrow it when he was finished). 

Flying home was a bunch of hurry up and wait so when I was flying I read my books and when I was in more of the hurry up and wait mode I caught up on my magazines.  I still had a People magazine to catch up on from the previous week with the main story being about Amanda Knox. 

HURRY UP AND READ

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 (2 hours)

The title of this week’s post is in relation to a phrase I like to use when flying, and specifically being at the airport consists of having to “hurry up and wait.”  And now that I am back on my 90 minutes of reading I was excited to have the opportunity to be at the airport and on the plane reading.  I do not like to get into a focused reading until I am in the air flying because there are too many distractions for me; number one is looking out the window and seeing the world.  Once we got above the clouds I was able to snuggle up with Jane Eyre and delve into her world.  She is really in love with Mr. Rochester and knows nothing can come of it because he is her boss and she is of a much lower class.  She finds it difficult to not daydream or wish he was not around more.  When he does return it is with many guests and he is busy entertaining them. 

Waiting in the terminal I prefer to read something a bit simpler so I caught up on the last two People magazines my friends gave me.  Not too much exciting stuff, but one little article that did catch my eye was a book for making crafts with your cat.  Key word “with” your cat, not “for” your cat.  Many of the crafts are felting projects.  I know a bit about felting because I knit and felting is taking something knitted or crocheted and putting it into water and agitating it.  The crafts are not exactly knitted because the “fiber” is from your cat’s hair (which would be difficult to spin and knit into yarn).  I didn’t know whether to laugh or buy the book.  The book is Crafting with Cat Hair, by Kaori Tsutaya.