Where did this day go, let alone the whole weekend. I am losing time too quickly! Fall semester begins on Monday for me. Actually on Sunday as I will drive over to Greenville the day before. One meeting after another all day Monday and 1/2 of the day on Tuesday and then I will head back home. So, I need to take advantage of this week and have a little fun between the chiropractor visits! I am learning to left hand mouse click to give my right shoulder a bit of a break as I spend so much time on the computer, which isn't helping the pinched nerve much. But, I can't say that is "fun".

Just got back from Kohl's and Old Navy. Our granddaughter Allyson starts K next week and she is excited. Decided she needed some fun clothes so I headed out shopping. Will have to show them to Grampa Steve tonight and then Gramma Ruth (me) will get them UPSed out tomorrow so Monica can bring back what doesn't fit. Wish I could have had Ally with me while I was shopping. That would have been more fun. I remember enjoying school clothes shopping when Mary and Mic were little, but Mic was always more picky than Mary.

I spent most of my weekend in the closet - literally! Now that we have bedroom furniture with drawers I had no excuse but to get things put away. You could barely get into our walk-in closet with all the stuff in there. Had to buy another over the door rack for my shoes. It seems as I get older and heavier I buy more shoes than I do clothes! I guess they are easier to fit. Mostly all summer shoes as I tend to wear boots all Fall and Winter. With as hot as it has been here I am looking forward to Autumn and the cooler temperatures.

Along with cleaning I did get a bit of reading done this weekend and finished Gail Giles' Right Behind You. The story starts out in rural Alaska, with a young boy grieving the death of his mother and boiling with anger over what he can't have because of where they live and his father's harsh treatment toward him since his mother died. They are both too deep in grief to realize something is ready to explode and it is Kip who loses it when the neighbor boy taunts him with his baseball glove. Kip is angry, way too angry to be near gasoline. He wanted to destroy the glove so he threw the gasoline on Bobby's glove, but it also got on his arm, his chest and his face. When the lighter sparked in Kip's hand it was too late to take back his anger. He had killed a 9 year old boy and no one in Alaska is every going to let him forget that, least of all Kip. Kip is now a teenager and his family has grown to add a stepmother and they have left Alaska and he has a new name, but a new name is not enough for Kyle let his inner Kip let go of his self loathing and guilt over what he did. The steps, wrong turns included, this teenager takes to come to terms with what he did and how it will impact his life forever is both raw and touching. As a mother I just wanted to reach out and hug this kid, realizing that he could be any one of our children whose anger got the best of them and a stupid response cost someone else their life. As always, Giles goes for the jugular and doesn't let go until the end. I will most definitely be booktalking this one. It is a Little Brown title and should be out next month, September 07.

Now to go open the two boxes of books that came from Scholastic. :-) I am sure I will add many more to my "gotta read" pile.