After working really hard all summer, guess who now is able to tie their own shoe laces?
Monday, September 22, 2025
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Promotion & New(er) wheels
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Sunday, December 29, 2024
More books
I accomplished my goal of reading 24 books this year and read a 25th one just to celebrate the accomplishment. Bun and I read 8 (*) together, some were for school and others with the ARC, Include Me's Disability Acceptance Through Literature book studies. After signing up for the book study, ARC sends us the book and, we all meet virtually once a week to talk about it. It's been fun.
My favorite books on this list have been authored by Black women: Angela Tucker, Uche Blackstock, Sharon Draper, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Their discussions on racial disparities in America are really eye-opening.
Bun Bun's required reading for school have WWII themes - Echo and Code Talker. I've been reading some other fictions and non-fictions works and watching war movies and TV shows set in those time periods.
American Prometheus, Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin
*Song for a Whale, Lynne Kelly
How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu
Democracy Awakening, Heather Cox Richardson
Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann
Lessons from Plants, Beronda Montgomery (corn, beans, squash)
The Worlds I See, Fei Fei Li
*Good Different, Meg Eden Kuyatt
*Unfriended, Rachel Vail
You Should Be Grateful, Angela Tucker
Legacy, Uche Blackstock
Class, Stephanie Land
*A Blind Guide to Stinkville, Beth Vrabel
Tell Me When It’s Over, Paul Offit
Uncommon Types: Some Stories, Tom Hanks
*Echo, Pam Munoz Ryan
The Boy with the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne
*Code Talker, Joseph Bruchac
*Blended, Sharon Draper
On Call, Anthony Fauci
All the Broken Places, John Boyne
*Better with Butter, Victoria Piontek
Lovely One, Ketanji Brown Jackson
The Sirens of Mars, Sarah Stewart Johnson
Making a Scene, Constance Wu
Happy New Year, Readers!
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Books
Last year, I was able to read 21 books.
How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims
Spare, Prince Harry
All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot
If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery
All Things Bright and Beautiful, James Herriot
All Things Wise and Wonderful, James Herriot
Out of My Heart*, Sharon Draper
Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond
American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang
Sink, Joseph Earl Thomas
Song of the Cell, Siddhartha Mukherjee
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon*, Grace Lin
Year off the Tiger, Alice Wong
It Wasn’t Me*, Dana Alison Levy
Chasing My Cure, David Fajgenbaum
Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
I Know Who You Are, Barbara Rae-Venter
Ghost*, Jason Reynolds
Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen*, Sarah Kapit
The Conversation, Robert Livingston
Eve, Cat Bohannon
Bun Bun and I read a few of them together either for school or for her virtual book club (*). I really like reading the James Herriot series and think I would have became a vet if I had read them when I was in high school. The memoirs by Prince Harry, Joseph Earl Thomas, David Fajgenbaum, and Trevor Noah were really fascinating. I think my favorite was "I Know Who You Are" about using genetic ancestry tests to solve crimes.
Goal this year is to read at least one more than last.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
It's been a while
Quick updates:
Bun Bun is in the 7th grade, in the middle school. She still loves to read and obsesses over really cute babies.
We had our first snow (~5 inches) in over 2 years. The backyard has enough of a slope for some sledding. We had to take down a bunch of large trees which opens up the yard a lot more. If you're wondering, those trees were infested by emerald green borers. These beetles lay eggs into the tree bark which the larvae eat as they crawl their way out. Over time, the tree slowly dies. As those sick trees were removed, we started planting new one, hence the wiring cage you see.
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Summer
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Winter 2021
Friday, January 15, 2021
Finger People
When Bun Bun was a toddler, she was shown how to pretend and use her little fingers as legs of a person. I'd call them her finger people. She walked them up and down hand rails or when she wanted to stall time. She'd use them in doll houses or any tiny architecture structures fit for finger people. When we doubted her imaginary play, we would remember her finger people.
Today, her finger person got a pair of shoes. These shoes belonged to Ken of Ken and Barbie. Bun Bun inherited a set of Bride Barbie and Groom Ken dolls recently. Ken's shoes were lost and recovered a couple of days ago. So, there you have it...
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Books
Adding these to my book list since April:
- Educated, Tara Westover (Memoir of a scholar, homeschooled in rural Idaho with her survivalist family, bullied by her brother, but determined to seek higher education)
- Yellow House, Sarah M Broom (Memoir of a writer growing up in urban New Orleans)
- Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson (Excellent account of the justice system favoring those who are guilty and rich over those who are poor and innocent)
- Maid, Stephanie Land (Single mom making ends meet as a maid to support herself and her daughter)
- Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama
- A Promised Land, Barack Obama (Account of the former president's first term)
- Endurance, Scott Kelly (Astronaut's year-long expedition aboard the ISS)
- Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake (The wood wide web of fungi connecting root systems of trees and plants)