I’m connecting up once again with Kimberly at Caffeinated Reviewer.
Sunday was a kind of busy day, it felt really short with the whole Daylight Savings Time switch stealing an hour. I got up and did a few things around the house before I went to see a movie. The movie was a little longer, so then by the time I got home from that, I fed the dogs, and then headed to my mom’s house for dinner. I normally go to bed at 9 pm and read till 10 pm. With DST that meant I was going to bed at 8 really. But I was so tired I felt like it was already 10 pm!
Monday woke up as late as I could allow myself. Got to school, and wow, what a day. First I see an email from the tech department to all the staff about a phishing email. And then it turns out that several students clicked the link, and even some of the staff members did. It looked official of course and had a form they filled out. So we spent the day with all the student email being “off”. The district then changed ALL the students’ passwords. Which they are already assigned by the district and are so random I’m amazed the students can remember them. At the end of the day, when all was supposed to be getting back to normal, one of my tech guys came up to me and said that a middle school student had found the phishing email and now it was probably going to start all over again. On my way home from school I had to stop by the grocery store and get gas. It was beautiful weather! Came home and paid bills since it was payday. Had dinner, then a Zoom meeting for the state library association for all members. After the crazy day, when I was at the grocery store, I had to buy these yummy cookies. They had four different flavors and I got one of each to last me all week!
I was looking forward to Tuesday being a quiet morning in the library with a bilingual poetry event happening. Of course my school couldn’t do that. About 8 am I think, someone came into the library and said we couldn’t go out into the area by the student services offices where the assistant principals’ offices are. They were taking people coming to the front door through the back door of the main office which leads to the library and then through the library to the hallway on the other side of the library and the other side of where they had the hallway blocked off. All while the poetry event put on by people from out of the district was going on. I asked if it was a fight or if someone was hurt, all they would tell me was “it’s bad”. Another teacher texted me that a student said it was a gun, and another teacher said there was the police department outside the building. Turns out there was some info given about a possible drug selling incident and when they went to stop that, the person selling had their things searched and besides the drugs, a gun was found. While emails were sent out to parents later in the day about a weapon being brought to school, that was it. Nothing on the news or anywhere else. The district I’m in somehow keeps this all under wraps, or this happens in other districts too and you just don’t hear about it from any school I guess.
Tuesday was also another beautiful day outside. I had to stop by and let my mom’s dog out on my way home from school. Then I stopped and picked up some dinner from a new fast food kind of Mexican restaurant near my house that I’d been wanting to try for a while. It was really good, but REALLY spicy! I saved half of it for lunch on Wednesday. I had the turtle cookie that I’d bought on Monday for dessert, but didn’t love it as much as the confetti cookie I had first from the box.
Wednesday was a pretty quiet day at school. Weather was beautiful again. It was our early release day too, so we had meetings in the afternoon. Then my friend had asked if I could watch Rolla for her again because she had a dog in heat that she was trying to breed, not to Rolla though, and so I picked him up after school and brought him home. That means I’ll have less time to sit and blog though, as I’ll have to keep an eye on him. But he and Argyle had a lot of fun playing the first night. Dora did her best to stay out of their way and away from Rolla’s licking and trying to play. In the evening my niece had a piece of her art from school on display by her school district at a local shopping center. One of like 75 picks from the whole district. We went to see that and then my mom and I went to dinner. Below is a picture of the little program and the little square is my niece’s painting turned into a sticker! They had a 4×6 print, a large sticker, and two small stickers. My brother of course bought the print and my niece got a small sticker free since she was a featured artist. My mom bought the big sticker and the small one for me. It was a future theme painting because my niece says she’d like to visit Greece some day.
Thursday was kind of busy off and on in the library. I had the person who talks to kids about jobs in the conference room all morning. She’s nice enough, but I have to call over the intercom into classes all morning to get the kids to come down, which I hate doing. The weather was beautiful again, but then on the way home a rock flew up as I was driving and hit right in the middle of my windshield and left a chip. My insurance will pay to completely fix it as long as it is just chip repair and not a replacement. So I called Safelite to look at getting an estimate. Then spent the night hoping to wear the dogs down because the night before I didn’t let them sleep with me because Rolla would not calm down enough to just lay down. I did end up putting them in the cage for the first part of the night. I woke up at 3 am and went ahead and took them out and fed them, then we all went back into my bed and they did pretty good!
Friday was another nice morning, but there was a forecast of windy weather and possibly storms. I had ordered something from Amazon Thursday afternoon to be delivered between 4-8 am, hoping it would be there before I left for work at 6:15. It was! Then I stopped by Duck Donuts and got their St. Patrick’s Day special dozen. Did it today since Monday morning I would have Rolla in the car with me and didn’t want to mess with it and him in the car. The day was kind of busy off and on. There wasn’t anything on my library calendar, but a group came in, and they thought they’d scheduled, but I had a February 14th, but no March 14th. But it worked out okay since I had nothing on the calendar. I got scheduled with SafeLite to do my windshield Friday afternoon. The afternoon got really dark quickly and a tiny bit of thunder with lots of wind. But like the forecast said, the wind was so strong it pushed the tiny bit of rain right through town so we had nothing. I went to my sister’s at 7 pm to watch the newest Cobra Kai episodes since I don’t have Netflix right now.
Saturday since I didn’t get home from my sister’s until almost 11 pm, I ended up once again putting the dogs in their cage for most of the night. I woke up around 5 am and took them out, fed them, and let them come snuggle with me until about 8 am. The guy my mom knows came to take care of the tree stump in my backyard. So I ran to get cash for him first thing in the morning. I had the weekly coffee date with my dad’s side at noon, it was his turn to have it near him, which means the Caribou Coffee in the grocery store gas station. I got some flowers to take to my stepdad’s grave because today would have been him and my mom’s 50th anniversary and it sucks that he passed away less than a year before they could have reached that milestone. It’s been a hard week for my mom. My brother made steak for dinner at his house so we could have our own little celebration/memory type of dinner for my mom. I bought dessert from Nothing Bundt Cakes. It was a nice dinner. Strangely, it started snow/sleeting after we were done. On the news the weather person said it wasn’t what they’d expected, that the weather had moved further west than it originally looked to be.
Books Finished
This was an e-galley for the author’s review team, review was posted on Thursday. I didn’t get the other book I’d planned to finish completed because of my house guest. So it might be postponed due to review books I need done before I go to NOLA a week from today, because I don’t plan to take my laptop with me.
I also had a Top 10 Tuesday post this week in honor of a favorite author, Tara Sivec.
New to My Library
ARCs:
None
Audiobooks:
None
Bookish Stuff:
The March Picklegram from JJ Knight came this week. It was a cute card and a cute magnet that go with her latest book! I was having trouble holding my big paperback copy of Voyager, so I decided to invest in one of these little thumb book holders in the picture on the right. We’ll see how it works!
E-galleys:
I was sent a pdf link for the first one from the publisher, but I probably won’t read that as I don’t like reading pdfs. I asked if they could send a physical ARC. It comes out in June, so we will see! The second one is from Valentine PR for a review coming up next week! The 3rd one I found on Edelweiss when I was scanning through for new books for school like I always do about once a week. It sounded good and doesn’t come out till August, so I went ahead and got it. The 4th one the publishers sent me a Netgalley widget for. It doesn’t come out till July, but I don’t know that I’ll get to it, so won’t download it until I know I am going to read it, so I don’t mess up my NG percentage.
Free E-books:
Free on Amazon.
Physical Books:
I had to order this special hardback edition of Samantha Young’s new visit into an old favorite series. The second picture is the inside front cover. The last picture is the inside back cover with that fun first scene of the book. I tried to show the shiny pink page edges in it, but they don’t show up too well.
What I’m Watching
All the usuals, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Ghosts, and of course rewatching Outlander. Last Sunday I went and saw the movie Mickey 17, and I really enjoyed it!
Finally on Friday night I was able to go to my sister’s and watch the last 5 episodes of Cobra Kai. Although the episodes had some parts my sister and I were laughing at, like how much time did they have in this tournament, what tournament in the world lasts over a week or more for just 3 or 4 fights? And then scenes of running and training montages, etc. Still, it was fun, and I love how they tied it all right back to our original fighter, Miguel, and Cobra Kai, and even Johnny.
What’s Coming Up Next Week
Both are e-galleys. First from the author and I’ve had for a few weeks, but waited till closer to pub date to read and will post review on Monday. Second is from Valentine’s PR for a blog tour on Thursday.
I’ve also got a Tell Me Something Tuesday post planned. And I have an Xpresso Blitz to post as well.
Final Thoughts
We are now halfway through March! Can you believe it? I have one more week from today till I’m going to New Orleans with my mom! This week we have parent conferences on Wednesday night, and Thursday we added back a day of school with students to make up a snow day, and that is instead of all day parent conferences. We have Friday off, not sure why they didn’t go ahead and add that for making up a snow day, but guess we don’t need it?
How has March been going for you so far?
So, one reason I refuse to give up Facebook is for the coolest things like in the picture below. When a favorite author, a big name author, likes or interacts with your post! Like here, Laurie Halse Anderson love reacted to a post I made this week!
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Yes, the time change was a nightmare! I made myself go to bed as early as possible that night and I was still tired! Then I had a signing this week which was still too soon into the time change so Wednesday I was really, really tired and went to bed early again that night! Lol. The email fiasco sounds like a giant headache! Hopefully things are all better now? Never really thought about these people trying it with schools, that’s low! Oooh those cookies look delicious! Oh gosh! Tuesday sounds scary! I’m a little surprised that the school keeps things under wraps! I remember in middle school when three kids were arrested for having drugs in their lockers or something like that and we had a newsletter sent home with us about it to keep our parents aware of what happened. Then we also had a bomb threat in middle school and another newsletter was sent home. Surprisingly, I don’t think we ever had a gun brought to school during my years. I think I only vaguely recall hearing about a school shooting when I was in college, but it was in another state at a different university. I feel like it was the slow start to all this madness we see lately. The Sandy Hook incident was somewhere around 5 years later? Maybe less? Scary times! I knew that confetti cookie would be yummy! I wasn’t sure if the turtle one was turtle or peanut butter chocolate! I had hoped it was the latter, lol! Oh nice! Congrats to your niece! That’s a beautiful painting! I was lucky enough to visit Greece once, but we didn’t go to this city, if memory recalls, we just went to Athens, which was still amazing and worth it! Oh no! That’s awful about your windshield. I still have a pretty big crack in mine that I still need to get replaced. It’s way too big and I know my insurance will replace it. Thankfully, it’s in a spot that doesn’t effect my vision or line of sight at all, it’s way at the top and has a weird right angle thing going on. But it’s nowhere near where I normally look so I tend to forget about it. Lol. Lucky you for missing most of the storms! We got hit pretty bad. Thankfully it was just strong winds and hail and none of my family in the area had any major damage. So that was a relief. But I was stressing out sooo bad Friday, pretty much all day because the news had been preparing us all week for this nightmare. We did lose our power for a good 14 hours or so, but thankfully we aren’t in summer yet and the temps were cool enough to not make it dreadful. Your brother’s dog is so cute! Lol. Sorry again for the loss of your stepdad. I had visited briefly with my mom’s friend earlier this week when she came to see my parents’ house and she had lost her husband 3 years ago this month and it still makes me cry for her as it was a quick and unexpected thing. The bundt cake looks yummy too! How were the rest of the cookies? I was guessing the bottom right one was a cookies and cream, but I couldn’t tell what the one above it was. Lol. Were they yummy?
Ooh nice new reads! These are all new to me ones. Always love special editions that have great end pages! I love character art too! You’ll have to let me know how the book holder device goes. I’ve seen those but I guess I tend to read more with both hands so I never really thought I needed one. Granted I switch to one handed if I need to do something with the other and it’s been awhile since I picked up a paperback! Lol. I just couldn’t figure out if it was a device I needed. They look super cool though. I’ve seen lots of pretty ones but was always hesitant to invest as I didn’t think it would be useful to me.
Hope you have a great week ahead!
Here’s my StS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
So the cookies and cream cookie was good. The other one was a peanut butter one, with jelly in the middle? I didn’t like it that much. But then I’m not a big chocolate icing fan. My school district really needs to just invest in metal detectors with the amount of guns we have come to school. We’re lucky that so far someone always seems to tell someone if they know so that nothing happens. I mean we’ve already got like 3 or 4 security guards with bullet proof vests and I think they have guns? And they walk around the school. I wondered if you got any of those crazy storms Friday since they were headed your way. Glad no big damage to your house. I still have moments that hit me out of nowhere thinking about my stepdad. And times when thinking about my mom dealing with his loss hit me hard too. I have to remind myself that while I’ve been alone and lived alone for most of my life now, she hasn’t really ever lived alone, so it is easy to understand why she calls and wants to do things all the time. I kind of tried the book holder thing, and had a little issue with it at first. But the real test will be when I pick up my Outlander book again at night and try it. I mainly am thinking with a big book like that or when I’m eating and want to be one handed with the book. Have a good week!
Those cookies look yummy. I hope they made the school drama more bearable. 🙂
I mean, they helped, lol.
A busy week for you. I love all the dog photos! My daughter’s college doesn’t have a week break until the end of April since they just started this session. Not that we would go anywhere right now anyway.
They get a longer winter break in college than K-12 I guess. At least that’s how it was when I was in college I think!
All those goodies look delicious! I love those Bundt cakes. How sad for your mom. I hope you two have loads of fun in New Orleans! I’ve never been and want to visit some day. Have a lovely week!
I love New Orleans! The food is so good and there is so much history and culture to see. Hoping to have a good time with my mom.
OMG Lisa! That school drama was awful just reading about. I hope you have a great week ahead.
It’s a four day week, so that is definitely a plus!
Your weather is all over the place, but at least you’re getting some nice warm days. The donuts look so yummy, I forgot tomorrow is Saint Patrick’s Day! Teddy, what a cutie. And congrats to your niece on the art show, so cool. Hope you have a great week!
Thanks! I think it is going to be a crazy busy 4 days of school from how today went!
Crazy week at school!! Hope things are much calmer this week! I saw Mickey 17 as well, and I liked it a lot – my husband thought it was a little too weird. LOL!
It was definitely a weird movie, but I really liked it anyway!
Cookies and a bundt cake..yum. That is so scary about the drugs and gun at school. So glad no one was hurt. Ugh.. those phishing emails are a pain.
I have a bit left of the bundt cake to eat tonight!
Both the cookies and donuts look great. Mid of March.. like how?
Enjoy your trip to Nola!
March went by so fast!
Omg it sounds like you had a pretty crazy and busy week. I’m glad the school situation didn’t get out of hand. I get why they don’t tell people, but they definitely let staff know what the hell is going on. And I am very excited for you and your upcoming vacation! Yay!
I’m ready to go mentally but totally need to do some packing!
Sounds like a pretty decent week. As you know from my post, I was in Florida all last week. The weather was perfect and I got in a lot of relaxation time by the pool and hanging out with my folks and my daughter. (My poor husband spent most of the week working.) Being on vacation for the shift to DLS worked great because it didn’t matter what time I got up or went to bed. Now I’m back and have a busy week. Luckily the weather is starting to get warmer here, so I plan to get outside and walk. I hope you have a great time on your trip!!
I’m sure Florida was so nice! Especially since you didn’t have to work like your husband did!
Congrats to your niece – what an honor and I love her piece. I also think Teddy is too cute. Bet it is a change of pace having Rolla around. I don’t see Apollo or Zekey welcoming an overnight guest so easily. The time change always throws me off as well as them. They feeding schedule was thrown off for a few days. Luckily, they usually eat dinner between 5pm and 6:30 pm and not a set specific time.
That’s scary about the gun. I live several blocks from one of our local high schools and I am always hearing people complain about how well they seem to hide things from the media. Sadly, schools are the safe places I remember when I was a kiddo.
Hope you have a wonderful week. Sorry for touching base so late but it’s been quite a week at work for me. I posted bunches of pics of the boys though on my weekend post if you want to check them out.
I will definitely go check out your weekly post. I brought my personal laptop to school with me today so I could do some commenting while sitting here during conferences since I don’t have parents come see me specifically.