A glorious weekend...

I proudly announce that I did very little of substance

all weekend, and I loved every minute of it!

Ever know when you just needed one of those lazy weekends? Dh & I have both felt as if we have been doing far too much, and a rainy weekend was the perfect excuse to wind down. There is nothing like cooler temps and pouring rain to convince me that a good book or two is the way to go.

I did an awful lot of glorious reading. I read through both books on math tips,and then finish A Year in the Maine Woods. Still fully focused in recumbent pleasures of the literary kind, I decided to read through some teen fiction that the librarian suggested for HoneyGirl , The Protector of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce.

Always on the lookout for books with powerful and confident female protagonists, The First Test, book one of the series, doesn't disappoint.

The Amazon review:

Ten years after the proclamation that girls are eligible for a page's training at the court of King Jonathan of Tortall, 10-year-old Keladry applies and is accepted, but on probation, a condition never forced on male applicants. Resolutely accepting the challenge, the hostility of the royal training master, and harassment by fellow pages, Kel makes her way through this difficult year.

Trained from early childhood by stoic Yamani warriors, she is capable of hiding her feelings, fearless in a fight, and willing to work hard to develop the necessary physical capacity. Her sympathy and support for the underdog and her sense of chivalry earn her the admiration of a group of fellow pages. She also befriends the sparrows that live outside her window and wins over a difficult horse. Kel performs well in her first real battle and is grudgingly allowed to stay for another year of training. The scrappy Kel is an appealing and believable girl whose struggles to integrate a formerly all-male world are both familiar and freshly told. This is smooth storytelling and a satisfying read.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so that when I attempted to sit in the living room and found my hubby watching football, baseball, and car racing simultaneously, I decided to read the second in the series, Page. Equally good, and thus spurring an unplanned trip to the library for the rest.

I am thrilled ot know that this is in fact the third quartet of books from this author about this same world. It is so hard to find appropriate fiction for teens that is not full of sex , emo teen angst, and self-mutilation. I am far from a prude, but I just do not see the purpose of teen fiction with such negative and dark tones. Certain themes are just not pleasant to read, and hormonal teenagers certainly do not need unsettling habits and images to wreck havoc on their moods!

It wasn't all lazing about with books. HoneyGirl had a birthday sleepover, and BuzzBoy was away for the weekend. We managed to pick up our meat order from Farmer Steve's processor and get that packed snuggly in the big freezer. I graded papers and did a little lesson planning for this week.

We even made use of a Home Depot gift card we won in a drawing. As $50 doesn't go far, we knew we didn't want to get into any sort of bigger projects. We decided to purchase a curved shower curtain. Have you ever seen one of those? I'll tell you, I'm not one who goes all ga-ga about new and improved, but I think every one should have one of these! You end up with at least a foot more elbow room in the shower, totally getting away from ever getting stuck on that plastic liner again. (Yeah, I know it doesn't take much to thrill me!)

My best friend and her family stopped over to introduce us to my god daughter's boyfriend. After years of living thousands of miles apart and only hearing about their friends , it was so nice to finally meet someone in person! It was so great to see her so happy as well, with such a nice young man.

Feeling refreshed, I am eager to start the new week. Hope you are as well!