For 9 years, Nina and I have done a really good job of keeping bad words out of Niko’s vocabulary. Niko is aware of the bad words (probably from classmates at his old school), but he kept them pretty far back in his brain. He never used them and whenever something appeared audible to him…
Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball – by Susan Shackelford and Pamela Grundy
I have had this book in my want to read list for a while, and I have tried a few times to get into it, and stopped. It’s something that intrigued me, but again, I just couldn’t get into it. Well, a few days ago, I tried again, and this time, I trudged slowly through…
Week 1 – School not High School Football
The first week of school for Niko is in the books, and no complaints. Normally, and just like me, he doesn’t enjoy Physical Education, but on Thursday he said he played soccer and as the goalie, he blocked a lot of balls, and he also scored a goal! The drop-offs in the morning has been…
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive, Untold History – by Craig Inciardi
I got this book from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. As a music fan, when I saw this book, I was definetely intrigued. I did get the opportunity to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame once, but that was many years ago. I also own most of…
Moses Malone: The Life of a Basketball Prophet – by Paul Knepper
I got this from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. Before I dive in, I was a huge basketball fan (mainly San Antonio Spurs, but also the league in general). So, when I saw this biography of Moses, I was all in and extremely intrigued. I knew a little about…
Killer Crossover: My Life from the Chicago Streets to Basketball Royalty – by Tim Hardaway
I got this from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. Before I dive in, I was a huge basketball fan (mainly San Antonio Spurs, but also the league in general) when Tim was in the NBA and this book actually brought back a lot of memories of him, his teammates,…
The Fool’s Run (Kidd & LuEllen, #1) by John Sandford
I just finished reading the Prey series by John Sandford, and Kidd is in some of those books. I thought I would give this series a read before I start the Virgil Flowers series. Well, I didn’t like it as much as I thought I should and am glad I didn’t start with this one…
First Day of 4th Grade
Last Thursday, Niko started his first day as a 4th grader at a new school and in a new city. A week prior, we got to see the school for the first time and on the following Tuesday, we got to meet the teacher. Both got the thumbs up from us and Niko, and he…
Rhymes With Prey: Lincoln Rhyme vs. Lucas Davenport (Lucas Davenport, #24.5) – by John Sandford and Jeffrey Deaver
I just finished reading all the Lucas Davenport series books. I wasn’t sure if I would like this story, as it felt forced by the publishers and editors – just to get something written for these two authors and characters. I am glad it was a quick read for me, as there was hardly any…
Lethal Prey (A Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel, #35) – by John Sandford
I was a little bit sad that this is the last book in the Lucas Davenport series, but am also glad at the same time that I can start the Kidd series and Virgil Flowers series by Sandford. I have already read all the Letty Davenport books by Sandford. I will definitely be in line…
Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton – by Martha Ackmann
I got this book from Netgalley so I can read and review it before it’s published. I just happen to stumble on this book while I was browsing on Netgalley, and I was interested. I mean, I knew a little about her and wanted to learn more. I am not a fan of her music,…
Nerf Gun: a “Real Story” by Niko
Niko’s Story On Thursday, I was looking for water guns on Amazon, and none of them appealed to me. Then I went down the Amazon slide and looked at nerf dart guns. I saw one I wanted, and my parents reluctantly said yes. It was not a nerf brand – it was an X-Shot Insanity…
Rating My Exercise and Diet
On December 5, 2024, I had a heart attack. I didn’t post about it. No announcement, no press release. I kept it to myself—just my family, Nina’s family, and my boss at work. I wasn’t looking for sympathy or the usual “I’m sorry”. I told the world I had emergency surgery (that was the truth),…
Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist – by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner
I got this one from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. I was interested in his background and how he got started, and was satisfied with that aspect. I loved reading about his passion for music, especially hip-hop and how rapping put him on the map to succeed, and succeed…
Ocean Prey (Lucas Davenport, #31) – by John Sandford
Have you ever read a book, and everything is flowing perfectly and then you turn the page, and boom, a main character gets killed? That happened to me in this book, and I won’t spoil it and tell you who it was, but I will tell you, I was very shocked and perplexed by it…
Niko Gets An Upgrade
On Friday, and on our way to Best Buy to get his new iPad, Niko told me he needed an upgrade for a long time, but didn’t ask until last Friday – he thought I would say no. We ended up trading in my iPad Air 5th generation (M1) 256 GB for a new iPad…
iPad. iPad. iPad.
On Friday afternoon, Niko asked me if he could have a new iPad. I didn’t say no, but I also didn’t say yes – I said maybe. Now I will be talking about my iPad because, for the past few weeks, I have actually been thinking about trading in my iPad. I only use my…
The Investigator (Letty Davenport, #1) – by John Sandford
I’ve been reading the Prey series with Lucas Davenport as the main character by John Sandford. I wasn’t planning to read this one yet—I wanted to finish the Prey books first—but I spotted it, along with The Dark Angel (Letty Davenport #2), at the library and couldn’t resist checking them both out. They also had some of the later Prey books, which I…
Television
Before Niko was born in 2016, television was my best friend. I got my first television in 1990, a classic Sony tube television. Up until 2010 when I got married, I always had one in the bedroom. I watched a lot of great stuff. After Niko arrived, though, TV got flushed down the toilet—rarely watched,…
Buried Prey (Lucas Davenport, #21) – by John Sandford
In the present time, the bodies of two young girls are found. Lucas was one of the police officers on the original case, and through flashbacks, the story shines a light on what went down back then. Lucas was a relatively new police officer and was working hard to get noticed by his superiors. Also,…