Once again I’ll be linking this up with the Sunday Post (hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer) and with Stacking the Shelves (hosted by Reading Reality).
Can you believe it is April? Today is a sad day though, because it means my spring break is over and it’s back to the real world this week. Another week alone in the library. But next weekend I’ll be going to the Missouri Association of School Librarians annual conference, which I haven’t been to in probably 10 or more years, so I’m excited for that. Especially since this time I will be an actual librarian and when I went in the past I was still a classroom teacher.
I had a great time on my spring break in Branson. We started off on our journey with a stop at Osceola cheese on the way to pick up some yummy cheese of course. Then we had lunch in Springfield, Missouri at the restaurant of the man who invented Springfield cashew chicken, which is my favorite. Then we drove on down to Branson to the cabin I got through Airbnb.
Here are some pictures of the condo my friend and I stayed in. I did not take pictures of the bedrooms before we started getting situated, so didn’t share those.
Living room area 
Kitchen with our groceries sitting out 
View from little deck 
Cool little writing desk! 
I can see my friend working in her bedroom while I’m working at the dining room table because of a strange mirror placement.
Sunday night when we got there we did a bunch of grocery shopping. My friend is a very healthy eater. All natural, no man-made or what she says isn’t food. And she did the cooking since I paid for the place we were staying. Monday night she made some of the best french fries I’d ever had. With bacon grease and potatoes she cut up herself!
During the day on Monday I got about 11 chapters of my completed YA manuscript edited.
On Tuesday we saw a bunch of turtles sitting on a drain or something in the middle of one of the ponds in the resort we are staying in, so we went over and watched them for a while, and just enjoyed the nice day before the thunderstorms that came that night and led to a much cooler and rainy Wednesday.
Tuesday night my friend that went with me made homemade french fries. They were so good! We also had yummy Mexican food on Tuesday for lunch. I should have taken a picture of the view where we were sitting outside.
Tuesday night, or really early Wednesday morning, there were thunderstorms (which I love sleeping during those!) and the temperature dropped a lot. So Wednesday we just stayed in all day. I worked on blogging, and some reading because my e-reader was about to die. And I got one more chapter edited on my YA manuscript. My friend made spinach pasta with ground bison for dinner.
My rainy morning on the covered balcony. 
Thursday morning I woke up from dreams about having to pack up and get back to work, only one more night on my trip sadly. The morning was hard to really get to work, even though I knew I hadn’t done anywhere near the amount of writing I wanted to do on this trip. We went out and I had Thai food for the first time and then we went to a dinosaur museum, and a fossil store. My favorite dinosaur is a Utahraptor, and so I had to have my picture taken with it, and I got a little goofy and pretended to give it a high five.
Friday was the drive back home from Branson. While I wasn’t ready to go home, I was happy to be home with my dogs. I think I started missing them on Wednesday night, so maybe 5 nights is long enough to be away from them. Then when I got home, I went with my mom and stepdad to take my niece and nephew to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and playtime while my brother and sister-in-law had company over.
Saturday I relaxed, slept in, snuggling with the puppies. I’m supposed to go out of town next weekend too. But Dora seemed a little unhappy about me being gone, so I might have a friend’s daughter come dog-sit while I’m gone next weekend. Saturday night I did movie night with my niece and nephew after we took them out to dinner with my mom and stepdad so my brother and sister-in-law could go out to eat with some of their friends. They really need to find a babysitter. Not that I don’t love spending time with my niece and nephew, it just wasn’t the most relaxing weekend right before going back to work. My 4 year old nephew can be a bit of a handful, and definitely a little dramatic.
Books Finished
My goal this week was to do more writing than reading, but really I just wanted to be relaxed, so any reading was good too!
I did have one DNF this week too.
New Additions to my Library
ARCs:
Publisher reached out to see if I wanted to read this one, and I’m definitely excited for it! I think May is when my review will be for this one.
Audiobooks:
None
Bookish Stuff:
None
E-galleys:
The Meghan Quinn one is for a review this upcoming week. The second and third are new SmartyPants Romance books! Gah, I love those covers so much! The 4th one is for a review I think in August? And the 5th one is for a review in June.
Free E-books:
Started out with only one, and then on Thursday there was a big, one day only, over 750 free ebooks sale and I might have gotten carried away.
Physical Books:
None. Even though I did see the Bookstore at the outlet mall in Branson, my friend was good about making sure I didn’t go down and go in. lol
What I’m Watching
Still watching Outlander every Sunday. Also watched Bridgerton. Although having to watch on my laptop instead of the tv at the condo made me a little slower about watching it. I’m not one who wants to watch on smaller screens if there are bigger tv screens. However the tv at the condo was not a smart tv and I didn’t have any way to connect my laptop to it either. My friend I was staying with had me watch the first episode of Servant of the People, a Ukranian comedy starring the now actual president of Ukraine. We watched some more as well. With English subtitles of course.
Giveaways to Enter
- The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: March 2022 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in April
- Book Blitz with Giveaway: Death Wish (Deception Duet #2) by K. Webster
- Book Blitz Review with Giveaway: Love You Wrong (Love You, Maine #0.5) by Julia Kent
Final Thoughts
How was your week? Did you read or watch anything good? Get any good books? Can you believe it is April? Although March was reallllllly long for me.
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Looks like you had a fun trip. Hopefully the week back after break isn’t miserable. At least you have your conference to look forward to.
I hope not! I have to start packing up books, which I hate doing because it will limit what students can check out, not that we have the highest check out rate I guess.
It sounds like you had a great trip, sometimes just being somewhere different is enough. I loved seeing all your photos! I hope your return to work is smooth, I guess now isn’t the time to tell you I’ve just broken up for two weeks…. 😚
Yeah, it was just nice being away from home and normal responsibilities. And even the dogs for a few days. But I missed them by the 5th night. Oh no! So sorry about the breakup!
Glad you had a nice vacay, great views! I hope you have a great week returning to reality!
Fingers crossed for a not crazy week back! Thanks for stopping by!
Sounds like a great trip. We just don’t want to go without Lulu on our trips. It’s a little harder for us to find hotels which allow dogs and it often has an extra charge but no more than it would be for a sitter / kennel. Plus we get to be with her. She’s really good or it wouldn’t be as easy.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
I need a break from my two and that was nice. I wish they were better at traveling or behaving, lol. But I did miss them about 5 nights away.
It looks like you really enjoyed your time in Branson. I live just outside of St. Louis for 6 years and never went to Branson, now I wish I had gone there.
I watched the first couple of episodes of Servant of the People also. It’s a funny show, but also sad because it’s a before the war show and I just can’t imagine what it must look like now in Ukraine.
Yeah, that was the hard part about watching it. Branson can be a nice relaxing place, and it’s been somewhere I’ve gone about once a year for most of my life with family. Hope you have a good week!
Sounds like a fun trip! I would have a hard time leaving my dogs too. I’m going away for three days next month and I’m already sad about it! Hope your week isn’t too stressful😁
I actually enjoyed a few days without them at first. But then I always miss them for being too long away. So far it’s busy, but not too stressful yet!
Ah! I am so jealous!! Your trip sounds like so much fun and that cabin looks like such a relaxing place. It’s nice to have friends who help you avoid buying more books! I would have had a hard time, personally. Have a great week! 🙂
It was a nice relaxing week. Yeah, I almost went in when I thought she was going into another store, but she saw me and waved me over, so I was good, lol.
Bummer Spring break is over, but it sounds like you had a really great time with your friend and got some writing done. That’s wonderful!!
Lauren
Not a ton of writing, but some. Although I’m once again thinking maybe I don’t want to write, maybe I should just keep enjoying reading. Ugh.
Oh nice! I haven’t been to Branson in a years! I went sometime back to go to SDC one more time. My mom and aunt wanted to go and back when Coke Rewards were actual rewards I was able to get 3 tickets for us! It was fun and I always liked some of the other touristy attractions they have in Branson as well!
Hope you enjoy your new reads! They’re all new to me ones! Happy Reading!
I go to Branson every year on Memorial Day with my family. We all hang out, shop at the outlet mall, play mini-golf, and go out on a pontoon boat one day. I actually haven’t been to SDC in over 10 years or more! Thanks for stopping by!
It would be my DREEAAM JOB to work in a Library. I’m sure I’ll be working with something books some time in my life 🙂
Have a great week!
My last library job was my dream job in every way. Except pay and when I would be able to retire. So I moved to what I thought would be basically the same, and it’s not. Part of it is the whole pandemic I’m sure, but education is just not the same. I might look at a public library once I’m able to retire in 6 more years.
I’m only a 3-hour drive from Springfield and had never heard of Springfield Cashew Chicken! I Googled to find the name of the restaurant and Google mapped it! I hope I can get there some day soon and try it! That brown gravy sounds like what they put on Egg Foo Young at all the Chinese restaurants around here. Or similar to it. Can’t wait to try the Cashew Chicken! Thanks for telling us about it!
You totally should! It is my favorite. I like it because it doesn’t have lots of vegetables in it, I’m still pretty picky. Thanks for stopping by!