Flashback Friday on Monday

There was no way I could participate in Flashback Friday last week since the 3G thingy would not cooperate and connect to the internet. But I could not pass up this particular meme! It's about one of my passions: BOOKS!!!

Did you like to read when you were a child? What were your favorite genres, books or series? Did you read books because of the author or because of the title/plot? Did you own many books? Did your school distribute the Scholastic book orders (or some other type)? Did you visit the library often? Was there a summer reading program when you were young, and did you participate? Do you have any particular memories of your school libraries? What were your favorites and least favorites among the classics (the ones high school English teachers assign!)? If you didn't like reading, do you like it more today than you did then?

My mom taught me to read when I was four because I kept pestering her. She read out loud to me but, being a working mom, she didn't have the time to do it often. She also signed me up for my first book club before I was even in kindergarten. Thus began my collection of books that some might say borders on obsession. One of the saddest things that ever happened to me is that my early collection was destroyed shortly after I left for college; I'd left my multiple boxes of books in a friend's basement that flooded :(

I have a not-so-good reading-related memory from my first month in second grade. Since I'd learned so early and continued advancing, by this point I was reading books at a higher level so for my very first book report I wrote about The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. The teacher called me up front and accused me of (1) not reading the book at all, and (2) having my mother write the report! I was a shy child anyway and that experience was mortifying! I insisted I had read the book and she marched me down to the school library, pulled the book off the shelf, shoved it in my hands and demanded that I read to her. Which I did. She harrumphed and snatched the book away, then marched me back to class without another word. She never apologized and said nothing to the class (who sat in stunned silence) about the fact that I had read the book after all.

A better memory is from the fourth grade when we had a competition to see who could read the most books. I can't recall exactly how the teacher kept track...I have vague memories of getting something cut out from construction paper for each book read that we then "stacked" on the bulletin board and the person with the largest stack was ahead. Several of us went back and forth all year but in the end, I won!  I also remember that some of us read so many books we had to start taping our paper cutouts to the wall above the bulletin board.

I read EVERYTHING I could get my hands on! A trip to the library always resulted in me checking out so many books that I struggled to carry them all home. Both the school and public libraries were staffed by wonderful women who were generous in sharing recommendations.  I went at least once a week to the public library and usually several times a week to the one at school. And I have fond memories of visiting my aunt in southeastern Kentucky and having the Bookmobile come around -- a real novelty for this city girl! One of my older cousins was also an avid bookworm who spent most of his money on books so I could always count on a treasure trove of new ones to read each time I visited them. I found several favorite books there: That Jones Girl (found a discarded library copy years later) and Cluny Brown (which my cousin gave me but someone borrowed and never gave back).

When I found an author I liked, I'd read every single book by them that I could lay hands on. Then I'd move on. My method was to basically work through the stacks and rows of books, shelf by shelf, unless one of the librarians recommended a new book or author for me to try. I am not even going to begin listing some favorite authors or we'd be here all day! Some wrote series, others wrote single, stand-alone books. My criteria was simple: a good plot and interesting characters.

The public schools always had the Scholastic program and I saved my allowance to buy books. I could have cared less about candy and toys -- just give me books! There was something so SATISFYING about counting up my dimes and quarters (that was when most paperbacks were 35¢ to 50¢) and filling out the Scholastic order form...and then the day the books came in! Oh my! It was like Christmas every time :)

I don't remember any summer reading programs when I was growing up, but I did spend a lot of time reading in the summer, either early in the morning before the neighborhood kids got together to play, or at night after we were done. And, of course, whenever I got grounded for misbehaving, I'd make use of that time to read.

We didn't have to read a lot of classics in high school. Shocking, I know. But I don't think my English teachers were big on literature. Another not-so-fun memory is when my freshman English teacher got right in my face and told me, "You think you're so smart 'cause you talk proper." We had just moved back to Kentucky from Michigan and I think my Yankee accent and accurate use of grammar annoyed her. But from junior high in Michigan I remember having to decipher a short piece in Old English and also reading a bit of Chaucer in Middle English.

I actually read more classics while homeschooling my kids! Ivan's cousin teaches at Moody Bible Institute and she mentioned she had a list of books she wishes her students had read BEFORE they arrived at college. We used that as a guide and, while we certainly didn't get all the way through the list, our kids did get a decent start on the classics because of it. It was through that list that I discovered Chaim Potok, one of my all-time favorite authors. Have you read anything by him? YOU SHOULD!! I started with The Chosen but my favorite is Davita's Harp, and both his Asher Lev books are fantastic.

I can say with all honestly that my love for reading has never abated. I love reading today just as much as when my mom taught me how so many years ago. I cannot imagine life without books!

Which is why I caved and we bought a Kindle this year. While I much prefer the feel of a real book in my hands, the expense and time involved in having books sent from the U.S. made the Kindle an attractive alternative. BUT... you can bet I'll continue buying hard copies of favorites :)

Project 365, Week 39

We are finally home after an EXHAUSTING work week in Sta. Rosa so I'm late posting Project 365.

Last Sunday we went to the orchid show in Cordoba. Ivan had several orchids when we lived in the U.S. and he has one here so far but it hasn't bloomed yet (he got the shoot from a friend). Anyway, we took a ton of photos. I'm going to show some restraint and only share three:

I liked the way this one was attached to an old tree limb; it looked so natural and pretty.

Here's just a sampling of the wide variety of orchids at the show.

I loved the frilly edges on this lovely yellow one!

After church Sunday night we headed to Sta. Rosa so we could get a start on the looooooong project list first thing Monday morning. Even doing that we did not get everything finished. *sigh*  The list included (but was not limited to):
~ paint the lower kitchen cupboards
~ tile an area in the kitchen (where we'd removed one cabinet and shortened another to make space for the fridge)
~ re-tile in the bathroom (where he'd had to bust out to fix a leaky pipe)
~ connect to the new city water line 

But before he could do anything, Ivan had to fix the water heater since a part had rusted out (it's an OLD one!). Connecting to the water line took two full days and we're still having problems so for now we're relying on the well system. It rained (and rained) so paint took longer to dry...in the end I finished painting but didn't have time to put things back together. AND the handles I'd gotten didn't fit...we're going to have to get adjustable ones because the existing hole distances vary from door to door to drawer -- we measured and have five (or is it six?) different sizes for 9 doors and 5 drawers! Ivan got the tiling done but still has to apply grout.

Just writing all that makes me tired.

Anyway, here's a few Before-and-After photos to show what progress we DID make:

The under-sink cabinet with the doors already off. In the corner you can also catch a glimpse of the area where we removed a cupboard and Ivan later tiled.

After the previous photo was taken, Ivan removed the drawer framework since it was rotten and falling apart due to a moisture problem (which has been fixed). He has to put together new ones to install next time we go out.

I covered the dining table in newspaper and set up a little assembly line to paint the cupboard doors.

Painting is done! Next time we'll install the doors (and drawers).

Ivan decided to install a new electrical outlet by the counter top so he cut a channel out of the masonary wall in order to slide the conduit into place. [The kitchen only had one outlet (on the right) and it will be covered by the fridge once we move it into this corner.]

After he tiled that area. He'll apply the grout next trip.

On the stove we used spray paint designed for high heat items. All the silver sections were rusty and pretty gross. Amazing how a little paint can transform an object!

Okay, that's it on the Sta. Rosa projects. Whew! It was way more work than we'd anticipated. Never got in a walk (well, the rain didn't help) and didn't play any cards or games. It was work, eat, work, sleep, work...

Twice we went into Belgrano to a cafe with wifi. As you can see in this last photo, the city is gearing up for the annual Octoberfest (it was settled by German immigrants).

I'm so far behind on blog reading it may take me a while to catch up, but I do look forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to this past week!

Going from grouchy to doing the happy dance

Herein lies the story of how this southern girl went from being SERIOUSLY GROUCHY -- as in no-one-wants-to-be-in-the-same-room-grouchy -- to doing the happy dance...

A couple weeks ago Tina and Kyle told us they really, REALLY didn't want to wait nine months to get married and were moving the wedding date up to December. I admit I saw that one coming, and understood completely.

BUT... that meant we would not be able to be there. I had never imagined in my wildest dreams a scenario where I'd miss my daughter's wedding but it was being played out right in front of me. Several mitigating factors, with the biggest one being the finances. We are scheduled to go on furlough next year and had been given permission to move it up a bit so we could be there for the original wedding date in May. But there was no way we could move furlough all the way back to December, nor could we could pay for two sets of tickets in a six month period.

To say I was sad about it would be a gross understatement. A few other things were going on as well, and combined they created "the perfect storm" for a major grouch session. Poor Ivan bore the brunt of my ugly.

Fast forward to this week. We've been in Sta. Rosa doing some home maintenance and repair work which I've talked about in previous posts. The 3G thingy that works off the cell phone never has worked really well out here in the boonies so we know we're lucky to have internet at all, and it's super slow when we do have it. Tuesday we were able to get on long enough to check e-mails, and one from Ivan's younger brother caused me to burst into tears. No, he's a great guy and he wasn't being mean AT ALL. Quite the opposite: he was offering us his frequent flier miles so we can go to the wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course then the computer locked up and the internet shut down.

We've made two trips into town to a cafe with free wifi to try and get seats booked. It's been a nail-biting, forehead-creasing, floor-pacing couple of days! In the end, it was right here at the house that Ivan finally connected with a "super" supervisor who was able to make it happen.

And then the internet shut down again.

But not until it was a DONE DEAL!

We ran into some problems because within the entire two month span of November and December, there was literally only one flight with seats (using the award miles) that we could use going, and one flight returning, and the return flight only had ONE seat available. Ivan called multiple times hoping to find someone with compassion who could magically open another seat, but it just wasn't happening until he asked if there wasn't someone higher up, a supervisor maybe, who could do more.

My husband is perseverance personified! Last night he took the computer outside and sat on the ground in the cold, damp night air in an attempt to get a decent connection. And this morning he made that one final effort, calling yet again, and this time asking for a supervisor -- which finally paid off!

To take advantage of the award miles we have to go a little earlier and stay a little later than planned (isn't that so sad? teehee) but we will be at our daughter's wedding with bells on.

And now you know why I'm doing the happy dance :)

What can go wrong...

My poor husband has spent two days working on the hook-up to city water. Yesterday he worked in the rain. Today the sun is shining but things are not going any smoother. I've lost track of how many trips into town he has had to make, but its directly proportional to the number of problems he's run into...from the water pressure being so strong that it broke one of the underground pipes they installed yesterday, to causing the pipes inside to leak. Yikes! He tried re-routing the water to the tank on top the roof FIRST, and then feeding it into the piping system but that doesn't seem to be helping much.

High humidity and rain has slowed down the painting a little; it's taking so long to dry that I'm not able to apply two coats every day as I had hoped. Should be able to finish before we have to head home, though. Not so sure about the tiling. That depends on how much more aggravation the water hook-up causes.

I'm really happy with how the kitchen is looking, even though everything needs an additional coat (or three) of paint. Already it looks so much cleaner and fresher. I do adore a white kitchen!

Now let's see if the internet will work long enough for me to post this...