My brain has not wrapped itself around the reality that I basically "lost" a day. Last night I was contentedly working on a cross-stitch Christmas ornament and watching a show on Lincoln on the History Channel with Steve. I was thinking about how I would enjoy today (which I thought was Monday - even though I should have realized it couldn't be as we wouldn't have gone to the dentist on Sunday) catching up on grading and going through my warmer clothes in preparation for my trip to San Antonio. Crawling into bed I realized today was Tuesday and it is my Montessori day. I have been "out of sorts" ever since. I hate losing a day in my mind!

To top that off my impression of Lincoln is not what it used to be. I could have done without knowing that he frequented ladies of the night and that he slept with soldiers, even lending them his nightshirts.

I was also coming down from the adrenalin shock of having a cavity filled without novacaine. I thought I was going in to get my teeth cleaned and the dentist was under the impression I was in for a bad tooth. Unbeknownst to me I had a cavity on a back molar and before I knew it he was drilling and filling. I think I still have the fingernail marks on my arm from digging my nails into it to keep from coming out of the chair while he drilled away without numbing it. I walked out of there on shaky legs. Took a buffalo burger and a Corona to calm me down! In other words - a lot happened on my "lost" day - most of it either quite weird, or downright painful!

Most people think of the Shadow Children series when Margaret Peterson Haddix comes up. I am not a big fan of that series, but I just read The House on the Gulf, again a book where the title isn't quite right. The house isn't on the gulf - Britt and her family have to lug their stuff about 4 blocks to get to the Florida beach. Britt may be only 12 and her 16 year old brother Bran basically her dad since her own father left when she was 5, but Britt knows that he isn't his usual self. It all started when he said they had a housesitting job for the summer for the elderly couple whose lawn he had been cutting. They were going north for the summer and they were to housesit for them. When Bran removes all of the Marquis' belonging, pictures, etc. out of the house Britt knows things aren't right. He has a lock on the closet door he has their stuff stored in and he keeps checking the electricity meter. Britt is also bored so she starts running errands for the old people in the neighborhood and becomes friends with the lonely woman next door. Britt wants nothing more than loving grandparents and she figured out that Bran has found her mother's parents and they are in their home. But, things don't turn out quite the way Bran had expected. And Britt learns that families can be created by more than blood bonds. A very touching Middle School read.

For fun browsing and quick tidbits to amazing friends with, check out Scholastic's Book of Firsts: More than 1,000 of the Coolest, Biggest, and Most Exciting First Facts You'll Ever Read by James Buckley, Jr. Did you know that the first American supermarket chain was the Piggly Wiggly? It opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee. I remember the first time I went to one with my older brother when he moved to Lower Michigan. I giggled every time I said it! What doesn't entertain a little girl who grew up in the backwoods of Upper Michigan!

Off to Montessori!