Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Review

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Back in early July, I joined the NovelTea Book Club, run by the fabulous Kristin over at My Life as a Teacup.  For July, we delved into Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.  I'm loving the book club aspect itself, as a diverse group of people from around the world get to chat on or own time about the merits & themes running through the book!

The novel centers around a 20-something man who takes a job working the night shift at a bookstore that is open for, you guessed it, 24 hours.  As the story progresses, you become enveloped in discovering the secrets behind some interesting characters checking out library style some even more interesting books.  

Without giving away too many details, you find a juxtaposition between history and the future, behind analag and digital, and between moving forward while being respectful of the past.

All in all, I found the novel interesting, though not riveting.  The mystery itself is interesting, while the secrecy & historical references were intriguing.  It's an easy read, and if you're headed towards the beach maybe grab it up for a summer read.

The August book is going to be Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  Want to join us?  Find the NovelTea Book Club group on Facebook here!  I'd love for you to join us!

Lazy Weekends

I sure do love weekends like we just had!!! Even better when they follow up a week where I got to see 2 great friends & my mom!

Friday:

after D got home from work, we ordered pizza (with free cheese breadsticks thanks to a quick google search) & grabbed a Free Redbox (no secret to that one: just used the code they emailed me.) Has anyone else seen Ride Along? It's hilarious. We both laughed through the entire thing. Kevin Hart is a genius. We also discovered we had a free HBO weekend, so D set about recording every movie he possibly could. I also had to record Girl Meets World, but more on that later. 

Saturday:

D had to help a friend's parents' who are moving. That led me to a morning of blog reading, Daily Yoga, and dishes. I also started the process of emptying out our water softener. I scooped and scooped, until I could reach no further. The dog seemed to think I was crazy. When D came back, he finished the job, including having me help him clean off a nozzle and reload new salt into the machine. We are really hoping this takes care of our nasty staining brown water problem. Next, we headed down to our friends' new place, which is gorgeous. We helped them move some stuff around, and then S & I scoped out updates to one of their bathrooms while the guys did...well, idk really. We grabbed some BWW with them and called it a night. 

Sunday: 

After a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls, I jumped in the shower & we headed out to scout some hunting land with the same friends from the night before & my FIL. It's a good thing we had plans to see them again too, since I left my cell phone in their kitchen the night before!  We spent some time riding 4 wheelers around in the woods. Idk what we accomplished, but it was fun. After returning home, we watched one of our recorded movies-R.I.P.D. It was okay. I had never heard of it, but it's very similar to the MIB series, but with Ryan Reynolds. We both grabbed quick showers & downed some nachos while settling in for movie number 2: The Wolverine. Loved it. 

All in all: we had a fantastic weekend & we hope you did too!!!

#JambaJuice

As some of you may know, I'm a part of this social media network called Influenster. Through this outlet, I was able to get a FREE Jamba Juice at home smoothie kit. I was first introduced to Jamba Juice while MayTermming in Hawaii. Like all things Hawaiian, I fell in love. Unfortunately, JJ is not really a thing here, so I haven't had one since 2006. (Side note: Target Cafe has 2 flavors, neither of which I have yet tried.) You can imagine how pumped I was to find a free coupon and a coupon for $1 off in my #SurfsUpVoxBox last week. They're super great. Here's how they work:

1.  Go to WalMart. Search through their frozen smoothie section. Come up empty handed. Drive to Kroger and find these bad boys (hopefully in a more organized fashion). Consumers choice: skip the extra WalMart run; you can also find them at Target. Wherever you end up, make sure you grab some apple juice if you don't already have some. 

2. Rush home and gather the goods. Ignore the small child inside you wanting to pick up fast food. It'll be worth it. The goods: Blender. Juice. Smoothie pouch (I grabbed Caribbean Passion like in the pic and Razzmatazz).  

3. Put the fruit & a cup of juice in the blender. Blend. (There's directions on the pouch about speed and time if you're picky and/or a smoothie virgin.)

4. Load into a big cup (like my 24 oz Tervis) and enjoy!!! Your other option is to split it into 2 cups and enjoy the suggested serving size with a friend. I'm not about to share my JJ with anyone. 

And that's it. They're delicious. And healthy. And easy. And did I mention delicious? Maybe a touch pricey, since you're only getting 1 drink out it, but you can always look for coupons, and use your Kroger card for gas points or your Cartwheel app & RedCard at Target. 

Disclaimer: I received the above product for free from Influenster.com for review purposes. However, all opinions are 100% true to my own feelings. Want in on free stuff? Shoot me a message. 

ReVolution Update: June

So I've been way too lazy with the old blog! I haven't posted anything since March! I definitely want to remedy that ASAP. Here's another New Years Revolution update

1. Household Chores: totally fallen by the wayside. I'm going to have to get my act together for the summer!

2. Lose Weight: my target was to be down 15 pounds by May 31. I was doing amazingly well, and then I just quit. I even gained back about half of what I lost. New goal: be down 10 before school starts  on August 11. 

2a. Drink more water: I have been doing better. I bought a Tervis from my alma mater and that really motivates me. I want to be downing 2 a day minimum. Plan: drink 2 Tervis' of water before getting anything else to drink. 

2b. Go to the gym: this majorly slacked off for the semester with weekly meetings and tutoring 2x a week. However, I went 6 times in June before we went on vacation, and I've added a 30 day yoga challenge to my summer routine. 

2c. Take a Vitamin. Fell off that wagon too. Time to get back on it. 

3. Spend less: that didn't go well at  the beginning of the year. We had a TON of unexpected expenses. I did a great job limiting my Starbucks trips this Spring, and I am trying to cook more dinners at home here in the summertime. 

4. Read the Bible. This just isn't happening. Period. I'm probably going to have to restart this goal next year. 

How are you doing with your ReVolutions?

Weekend WrapUp

This will be a boring one folks!

Friday: we got another day off from school because Mother Nature has had it out for us! At my house, we got less than 1" of snow. At my in-laws, which is in the county I teach for? 4". That's right folks. FOUR. We live 45 minutes away. So I spent Friday grabbing some free wi-fi, and a great lunch, at the local Panera. Caught up with a student from last semester, graded a few projects, mostly piddled around. Friday night we, gasp, had dinner at home and caught up on some TV. 

Saturday: IHOP & errands for breakfast!  My hubby & his dad have been working on rebuilding a truck D bought. Not the new one that I told D we would have til he died, but a beater that will, hopefully, cut down on the fuel bill. It also gives us an extra 4 wheel drive, and an extra car so we can stop borrowing D's Nana's. I think we had her car for 2 months this fall. Thanks Nana!

So while they worked, I did the sort of procrastination I'm good at. I cleaned the house & watched reruns of Will & Grace. I also may have taken a nap. I grabbed a pizza & a free RedBox, which gave us our evening plans. By the way, watch Captain Phillips. It's great. Maybe a touch long, but great. I also went to bed before 10:00. I told D it was to prep for Spring Forward. In actuality? I was just sleepy & didn't want to watch whatever he had recorded. 

Sunday: I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast (I have a great recipe: open pop can. Bake. Smother in icing from the can) before grabbing my laptop & heading to the local coffee shop. While there, I finished up grading 1 of the 2 projects I have (42 power points of the same material). I also relearned a valuable lesson about headphones at the coffee shop. Luckily, D was headed into town so he dropped mine off for me! Grabbed some DQ & headed home. Once there, and post ice cream, I spent a while digging these plants out of my flower bed. Idk what they are called, but they are big balls of grass. The previous owner planted them along the side walk, which left them taking over the walkway & they were enormous! I'm exhausted now, but they are gone! And, yes, I was able to spend time outside 2 days after it showed. It snowed Friday & then Saturday & Sunday were over 60 degrees. 

Tonight's plan: popcorn for dinner, bad tv, or maybe a movie, and early bed. That alarm clock will be way too soon, since I'm sure I won't fall asleep at what my body thinks is 9:00. 

How was your weekend?

Midweek Confessions

It's that time again! As always, don't forget to go check out the link ups over at emyselfandi! 

1. I'm not a Downton Abbey watcher. Or a Scandal watcher. Or an Orange is the New Black watcher. What do we watch in my house? Duck Dynasty. Two and a Half Men. Big Bang Theory. The entire CBS Monday lineup. Shows about cars. Shows about gold mining and trucking and I don't even know what. And most recently: Modern Family. High brow stuff? No. Entertaining? Generally. 

2. We haven't had a home cooked meal this week. I haven't been to the gym. Well. I did on Monday, but not to work out. More on that later. I feel disgusting. 

3. I made my test copies for first period at 8:15. Class starts at 8:25. The worksheet they did after their test? A student assistant (not mine, but my classroommate's) made those WHILE my kids took their test. Oops. 

4. I started my day yesterday by waking up, getting in the car, and heading to the gym. Impressive? Not so much when you know that I did so in order to shower. We didn't have any electricity (line down across the road at the elementary school)     I also left my washrag there. 

What fun things have you done recently? 

Winter Wonderland!

So we got some snow. Lots of snow. Be prepared for some pictures folks!

We were out Wednesday all day, for a snowstorm that had covered my driveway by 2:30 PM. To start: 

 I hit the gym. And Kroger. And Panera. And I made it home about 1 hr before this:

Seriously, snowflakes starting falling when I was 10 min from home. 1 hour on & my driveway was invisible. 

So the rest of the evening, after a couple of conversations verifying that folks got home okay, D & I spent the evening just relaxing. And watching a really terrible tv show about people that dig up ginseng in WV. 

We awoke to 

 

And 

And 

We spent a lot of the day digging out,, with a brief bit of time watching Blood Diamond. We borrowed a tractor for some of this

And, because it was a 2 phase storm, I had to redo these

Yes. That would be the car I had completely clean, and the concrete pad D had shoveled. Before we got several more inches of snow today!

 I also found time for 

Crock pot chili and 

Funfetti cupcakes! Calories don't count on snow days right?

All in all, we got about 17" of the fluffy white stuff! How'd you spend your day?

Weekend Wrapup

I thought I'd take a cue from Karla over at Forever Newly Wedded & do a quick Weekend Wrap Up post.  (And omg I might have 3 posts in 3 days yall, big deal!!!)

Friday:

• I got a super exciting mid-afternoon text message from D asking if I wanted to go out to eat with our friends S & S and their hilarious little boy W.  I may have texted back an answer while turning on a timer on my cell phone for my students to study before a quiz.  I don't think anyone noticed, but the minute I did it, I felt guilty.
• So off we headed, after a quick post-gym shower, to Buffalo Wild Wings to enjoy a night.  From there, we ran over to Toys R Us looking for a very specific monster truck W has been wanting.  No truck was found, but I wanted to show S the app on my phone that I use for price checks & price matching.  My phone? Nowhere to be found.
• Back to BWW we went, and the waiter had my phone in his pocket.  He seemed nice enough, like in a, "Oh, as soon as I saw it I knew you'd be back way."  It just seemed strange that he didn't give it to the manager or the hostess.  I probably wouldn't be so cynical if S hadn't had a stolen cell phone at a nearby restaurant.  (The story: she left her phone at a restaurant I'll leave nameless.  She called later that night asking about it.  They identified exactly what it looked like, where it was found, and where it would be, so she could pick it up the next day.  When she arrived, they "looked everywhere" and it was gone.  They suggested she must have left her phone somewhere else.)

Saturday:

• Pretty easy day for me!  I spent the early morning straightening up a little & doing our finances.  I snagged a free box of delivered snacks from Graze.com using a coupon in our mail.  (Try it, use code VALPAK, or check my facebook/twitter feed for a sign up that gives me $1!)  I'll cancel the shipments once our free box arrives.  I don't want to pay for delivered snacks.
• I also ran out to Advance, the bank, & Wendy's.  Again with coupons from the mail, I snagged $10 off at Advance, and 2 free chicken sandwiches.  I also deposited a hefty $1.50 check at the bank.  Woohoo.  Moral of the day: check all those obnoxious coupons you get in the mail & in your newspaper.  They pay off.
• The afternoon consisted of me cleaning & fixing my laptop (thank you Google!), while D & his dad worked on the beater truck we bought a few weeks ago.
• Saturday night we cuddled up and watched Into the White, about a couple of German & English WWII fighter pilots who shoot each other down in Norway and then have to work together to survive.  It was really neat, though not the best movie I've ever seen.  It also has Ron Weasley in it.

Sunday: 

• We started off by heading out to breakfast & to buy some new mechanical something.  A saw of some kind?  All I know is that we saved 50% on it, again with a free coupon in the mail. 
• Breakfast set my stomach on a bender, so I spent most of the rest of the day lesson planning and working on graduate school between bouts of laying down and taking Tums.  Seriously, my stomach is insane.  
• D made me some nice hot chocolate, because I thought I was feeling better.  Turns out, that was not the recoverer's best choice, but I haven't had hot chocolate all year, so oh well!
• D did random garage things most of the day, and he washed the disgusting salt off of our cars!

So there's our weekend in a quick summary!  How was yours?

Wow...That was a lot.  Here are some fun pics I took with my cell phone, in an attempt to not do work.

New Year's ReVolutions Update

What's this?  Two blogs in 1 weekend?  Confession here, and maybe I should be keeping this for a Midweek Confession post: I typed this post & the last one on the same day, I just set this one to publish later.  Sneaky little blogger trick I picked up somewhere!

I wanted to give everyone a first week of February update to my New Year's ReVolutions.  Not because I think you care, but because I want to stay accountable!  You can find my original post here.

1. Stay on top of household chores with daily assignments.  Yeah, umm, I've done that like, once.  I did, however, work on Mop Monday & Finance Friday on Saturday.  Hopefully I'll get to Tub & Toilet Tuesday and Wipe it Down Wednesday today?  I also was supposed to make a post about that.  Hang on to that thought a little longer!

2. Lose weight: Heck to the Yes.  I'm down about 7 pounds!!!

2a. Drink more water: Another Yes! I have even been choosing to drink water when I've been at home for snow days.  I find myself even, gasp, CRAVING water.  Big moment here folks.  Some may be attributed to the 80 degree living room I have thanks to our wood stove, but oh well.

2b. Make the gym a priority: Another, but less enthusiastic Yes.  According to my Nike+ app, I logged 20.9 miles on the treadmill in January!  Less enthusiastic because The week of MLK Jr day, I made it once, on that Monday, and then not again until the next Thursday.

2c. Take a multivitamin.  Hmm... this one needs more work.  I was good for about a week on that one.  Then I took another one on Saturday.  I just need to find a decent time to take it during the day, I'm thinking supper time.

3. Spend less.  This one we have been *doing* with some luck.  We've spend less on dining out.  We've also spent more on Auto related expenses since we needed to do a spray in bed liner and the new truck has a larger fuel tank & takes the more expensive diesel.  We're working on it though!

4.  Read the Bible.  Again, one I should work on.  According to my Bible App, I should be on day 32.  I'm on day 13.  Oops.

Anyone else sharing their New Year's ReVolution updates out there?

Currently: February

I haven't done one of these in a while, but I love when I remember to!

Listening	To Braveheart on AMC.  And an annoying noise saying that my external hard drive, you know, with everything I’ve ever done on it, isn’t working.  I even took it out and it’s still making that noise approximately every 10 seconds.
Loving	The snows that we have had lately!  Not that I’m loving how much work we’ll have to make up, but at least it’s been pretty!
Thinking	That my computer has a virus.  AGAIN.  It cost $100+ last spring to get it fixed, and I think it came back. I also think, despite being told it wasn’t there, that the source is on my external hard drive.  (Again, with my whole world on it)
Wanting	To pig out.
Needing	Not to pig out.  I’ve lost some weight this January, and I want to keep that up.
Favorite Things	1.    The Target Cartwheel app!  I saved about $5 on my last Target trip with it.  Thanks to Katie at See You There for that tip! 2.    The sort of mini commitment I’ve made to saving money lately.  And here’s a tip: Go through that Valpak thing in your mailbox & all those flyers in the middle of the neighborhood newspaper.  I saved $10 at Advance, $8 at Wendy’s, and $6 on a free snack food box.  3.    The game Guess the 90s.  It gives you a picture of something from the 90s & then you have to guess what it is.  Despite spending the majority of my school years in the 90s, I suck at it.  I blame this on having 5 channels growing up & being a country music fan.  Seriously though, it’s still pretty great!

Wanna join in?  You totally should.  Also, I apologize to the blogger who I stole this idea from, I don't remember who that was, but I think in one of my original blogs I gave you credit for it!

Midweek Confessions

Hey everyone! Just a quick check-in with the one thing I seem to be good at: Midweek Confessions!

1. I left home today without my cell phone. I noticed when I was about 7 minutes down the road & wanted to call my mom like I do every day. After a quick mental calculation, I realized that turning back to retrieve my phone would equate to me being late, so a day without my phone was ahead of me. I can't tell you how many times I either looked for it or wanted to add something to my grocery list & couldn't! I did manage to get a message to my mom by emailing her cell, and I asked her to text the hubs. Which brings me to confession 2

2.  I don't know my husband's phone number. Recently, the bank gave me a "new access code" for my financial downloads. I used it 4 times before I realized it was his number. Probably something I need to commit to memory!

3. I've been working really hard on my New Year's ReVolution to not stop at Starbucks more than once per week. (I modified that to mean I also can't stop and get a frappe from McDonalds either.) I've been saving up a free drink star for a day I really thought I would need it (and if you are a Starbucks frequenter & don't know what this means, message me. It's life changing!) Tuesday morning I was dragging around, while also knowing it was my morning for duty (read: my morning to be at work 10 min early & spend the 30 min before the kids arrive monitoring the hall) and also recognizing that I had a set of copies to make for 1st block because the packets I sent off a week earlier hadn't arrived. So Tuesday was an excellent candidate. I ordered a very specific Iced Venti Nonfat No Whip Caramel Flan Latte, got it for free, and reveled in a few small sips on the road. As I walked through my classroom, I set my coffee down, turned to set my back down, and knocked my coffee on the floor. I stood in shock as my entire gorgeous free caffeine spilled out, and then spent the next 10 minutes cleaning it up. Thankfully, my secret pal had given me some glass bottle frappachinos earlier, which I had been using as emergency drinks. I had ONE left. It's now gone. 

3. Today, day 6 with my new students, was the first day I have been able to look at each of my students and know their names. Very sad. To my defense, the first "week" went as follows: 2 hr delay, closed for polar vortex, closed for polar vortex, regular day, 2 hr delay. It was rough. In those 3 school days, we had 3 different bell schedules. 

4. On the first day of the semester, I miscounted the bells and only sent my kids to lunch when my classroom mate came to get hers out of her desk. On the third day, I thought I had been counting correctly, but a hallmate accidentally let hers out a bell early, so I did too. This split class for lunch thing is going to take some getting used to. I've never had that as a teacher!

5. On Monday, I left a new recipe in the crock pot. After arriving home, we went to Mcdonalds because I misread the instructions and cooked it til the cheese burned. On Tuesday, after the sadness of my coffee incident, I ordered curbside takeaway at Outback. Today, I grabbed one of those rotisserie chickens, and fixed Spanish rice & Carrots to go with it. Only problems: I didn't actually turn the burner on for the carrots & the leg/thigh area of one side of the chicken looked like this 

Gross. 

6. E said, "hey do 10 quick things" and I have, now 6, long ones. Why? Idk. Maybe I'm an oversharer with a poor memory. 

Taking a cue from E: on a positive note: I've been to the gym 6 times in 2014 already, including 2 consecutive days this week! I'm also noticing that I am getting more full than I used to despite smaller portions! Also, I feel better physically. I'm still clutzy & forgetful, but hey, I can only hope for so much right?

Also, and this is more to spread a laugh than anything else: I have this desk chair that was D's that he took to college. It has a design flaw that means that if you lean back to rest, you'll find yourself on the floor. To my knowledge, 4 students and myself have all done so this year. I even sent 2 kids to get me a newer, free, and still design flawed desk chair so it wouldn't happen to me, but have kept the other one for, well, I'm not sure why. But the kids sit in it, and some make a game of seeing how far they can lean back without tipping. I should probably get rid of it before someone cracks their head. 

Don't forget to head over to emyselfandi.com to check in on other midweek confessions!

New Year's ReVolutions

So, you know those commercials with the man who sits and talks to the little kids? I think it's a series for a cellular company? Anyways, I love them. A recent one has a little boy who says you need to keep your New Year's revolutions (instead of resolutions). While the man makes fun of him for misspeaking, I think the boy has a point. 

The decisions we make for the new year should be lifestyle changes. Turning some aspect of our lives around. Isn't that exactly what a revolution is? A change? 

So here's my list Revolutions. I'm not usually the resolution kind of girl, particularly since I don't follow through well, but I'm going to try. And I'm recording it here to hopefully hold myself more accountable. I've also added the "biggest hurtle" I see that I need to overcome. 

1. Stay on top of the household chores. I've mentally made a schedule that includes Mop Monday, Tubs & Toilets Tuesday, and Wipe down Wednesday. Stay tuned for a more detailed list. Biggest hurtle: I'm the laziest housekeeper, and I hate it. 

2. Lose weight. Or more specifically, drop 15 pounds before the end of the semester (5/31). I've added 20 pounds since I graduated college in 2007. I would say I've gained 15 of those since January 2012. It's terrible. To combat this:

2a.  Drink more water. Not the ridiculously high recommended 64 oz a day, but at least half of that. (And as of 8:30 tonight, I'm at all of 16. Great start, huh?) Biggest hurtles: I hate water; I have a profession which does not allow me to pee when I want; I live 45 minutes from work. 

2b. Make the gym a priority. Prior to today, I hadn't run since the first week of August. Shameful, and I was feeling pretty crummy. Today I restarted my 5K running plan, and added in some weight work. I'm not saying I'll go to the gym every day, I'm setting an early goal of 2 days a week, and hoping to find time for a third day. Hurtle: I've had the same gym membership all fall, and I drove right by the gym every single day without stopping in the fall. 

2c. Take a multivitamin. If you are asking why, then you should probably be taking one also. We eat terribly (example: tonight's stuffed green peppers via Pinterest were delicious, but we both, separately, at Mexican out for lunch. I got a cheese quesadilla and a cheese Enchilada. And cheese dip). My mom & every doctor I've ever had tells me I should supplement my terrible diet with a multivitamin. And probably make changes to my terrible diet. One year at a time folks. Biggest hurtles: I am the world's worst at remembering to take medicine if I feel fine (like, I never finish a bottle of antibiotics on time). Also, most people take vitamins in the morning. When I take medicine in the morning, vitamins included, I vomit. Every time. I will have to try and remember to take them with supper. Today, day one of vitamin taking, I remembered as I typed this. 

3. Spend less. We just bought a truck, and we've got to be better at budgeting now. Item #1 to go: my Starbucks visits, which were getting all too frequent. I'm officially limiting myself to 1 visit per week, even on weeks like next week when I'll have a free drink! Hopefully, this will serve 2 purposes: limit our spending, and limit my caloric intake thus applying to revolution 2. Biggest hurtles:  spending less means cooking more, which is not my forte. Also, I convieniently pass 2 Starbucks' on my drive into work, and can make a 3rd "on the way" in a pinch. 

4. Read the Bible. Which is probably shocking to many who know me well. I'm not an atheist or anything, but I'm not exactly spiritual. I can't tell you the last time I went to church, but I feel like I haven't been since I have known D, and I met him in 2008. Reading the Bible is something I've always had interest in. I have a Bible App, which has a plethora of daily reading plans. I was fairly diligent in reading an advent devotional throughout December, so yesterday, I started one that tackles the Entire Bible in one year, with a chronological viewpoint. (Honestly, I kinda thought that the Bible was chronological for the most part, so I don't really know how that will work out.) Biggest hurtle: making this a habit. 

So that's it. Just 4. Well, 4+.  And that's 3 more than I've ever had before. 

What have you decided to do for 2014?