Good Books

Lots has been happening around here and I feel as though I'm composing a blog post daily...but somehow they haven't been making their way from my head into cyberspace very well lately.  I am happy to report that I have a very good excuse for my negligence: good books.

I have been on "summer vacation" from my Montessori classes (still have some things to be doing but no classes and a more flexible timetable, for sure) since coming back from the States and so I've treated myself to some fun reading.  Remember last year when so many of you sent books with my mom for a literary birthday surprise?  A little over a year later and I still haven't read half of them.  Well since coming home from the U.S. I've read three books, two of which were part of my birthday collection. 

What a pleasure!

It is so fantastic to lose yourself in a book!  With class reading, I rarely take time to pick up a novel or something non-class related to read.  It's been nearly a year since I've let myself sink into and get lost in some good fiction.  My two latest reads were The Pilot's Wife, Annita Shreve and The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach.  Both were great, but especially the second was one of those books that catches you from the first sentence and then lingers with you beyond the last page.

Now, unfortunately, I do have to get back to class reading because we have quite a large paper due in September and getting it (mostly) taken care of in August would really be ideal. 

Other than reading, the biggest thing going on around here has been preparations for the exchange student we'll be hosting from the end of August through November.  A sophomore student from my home town will be coming to live with us and study at the local high school this first semester.  We're very excited for the opportunity and have been busily cleaning, painting and furnishing the upstairs bedroom where she'll be staying. 

Inevitably, this has meant organizing all of the upstairs--my old classroom, and our "junk" room--not just the spare bedroom.  It feels great to get things up there squared away.  We've been thowing away a lot, donating other things and I have several posts up on an equivalent to "Craig's List" in hopes of selling a few items we  no longer use/need.  Suddenly the second story is becoming a part of the rest of the house: a place I like to be!  We have one more trip to Ikea planned and there are still some windows to be scrubbed, but it's starting to look nice up there. :)  Nothing like guests to galvanize a cleaning frenzy!