50 Books in a Year: Book #5 An Abundance of Katherines

          OK, so here's the deal...I don't really own a lot of books I haven't read. Really. Either I give away books that I'll never read or I read them. I have a handful of books that I've yet to finish...books I may never finish, truth be told, but I have read them (just not all the way...'technicalities, always technicalities').
          Anyway...I do, however, have a crap ton of books that have been lent to me/recommended to me/given to me that I have not read. Demian may have opened up a dirty can of worms I would've rather have just left closed.
          Let's take this little gem I'm going to tackle this week; An Abundance of Katherines. A student recommended it to me her sophomore year of high school and let me borrow it. If I'm not mistaken, Kailyn may now be a sophomore in college and I believe she wants her book back.
          An Abundance of Katherines is a teen book, so therefore, I'm sure, a fast read. I enjoy teen lit, always have. As a matter of fact when I was doing my praticum my observing teacher (an amazing woman who I hope still teaches at Ozark High School) was overwhelmed by how much I knew about what the kids were reading. I enjoy teen lit because I enjoy remembering what it felt like to be a teenager. I enjoyed my teen years and would live them again--angsty girl drama and all (I'm not sure my mother feels the same way, as she had to live with me during this ka-razy time and probably remembers every eye-roll and pithy comment). I remember spending hours in my peach walled room listening to Rick Astley, reading such delicious books as It's OK If You Don't Love Me, Deenie, Pardon Me You're Stepping My Eyeball and all those other Paul Zindel books, every SE Hinton (my favorite isn't The Outsiders, but Taming the Star Runner), Pinballs, The Girl With the Silver Eyes, Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones and my favorites, The Class of '88 Series by Linda A. Cooney. Even now, I read teen fiction Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Sarah Dessen and those silly vampire books come to mind, but there are others.
          I'm looking forward to reading some John Green (I also have Looking for Alaska on loan--don't worry I only got it last week) even if it's taken me a few years to get here.

Going to Church

Church Attendance Important for Christian Living
        I have a hard time going to church. And, I'm not afraid to say it, it's mostly because of the people. The more you go to church, the more you get involved, the more people want you to do things, the more you go to church, the more people see you, the more you go to church, the more people begin to find fault with you and before you know it it's a vicious cycle of...*insert whine* "I don't want to go to church today, they'll just make me [fill in the blank] when all I want to do is listen to the sermon and leave." Which having been raised right, I know is the wrong thing to think, but I can't help thinking it. It seems to me that churches now-a-days seem to be more concerned with the numbers (what big CRAZY thing can we do this week to get people to come?) that they've forgotten about the people who are already there. The people who bust their humps 5 days a week at a job they may or maynot love and then are being told that if they don't bust their humps at church they aren't fulfilling the destiny that God has designed for them. I feel like I am being judged by what I say or do in church everytime I go to church.
          When I was in college, I loved, loved, loved, loved going to church. In a college town like Springfield, Missouri there's always a place for the college kid and in college I wasn't jaded nor did I ever feel that every church I went to wanted a piece of me or that they were more concerned with the numbers than my spirtuality or that they were gossiping about how my sins were bigger and more wrong than their sins. Part of this has to do with the fact that the church came to me...we met on Thursday or Sunday nights, going to church Sunday morning there was always a college class with donuts and coffee and guitars. What happened?
           Sadly, I believe that part of it is the fact that I 'grew up' and in growing up that spark that is lit by Jesus, Himself, has been covered up by Wordly things and my Wordly attitude. When I don't go to church, I ignore the very reasons why Jesus came to this Earth.
Why are we supposed to go to church?

• 1 John 1:3 says that we are to have fellowship with the Father and with His Son and with other Christians
• 1 Peter 4:10 to share our spiritual gifts with others
• Hebrews 10:25 we must meet together to encourage one another

I also like what John Bechtle has to say about attending church:

The New Testament is full of “one another” commands. We are to comfort one another (I Thessalonians 4:18), build up one another (I Thessalonians 5:11), confess our sins to one another (James 5:16), pray for one another (James 5:16), and many more. How can we obey these directives if we stay away from the gathering of believers?

          To go to church means that we understand that there is a greater power than our own and that power doesn't exist in the numbers or the sermons or the people, but in the Lord who exist within us. All of us fall short in some fashion...the Lord does not.

Look at what the World has to say about going to church:
Survey: Non-attendees find faith outside church
A commentary on the book So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore

I am playing into this kind of mind-set when I do not attend church and I am not changing the mind-set of the Modern believer sitting on my duff on Sunday watching church on TV or on the internet. I am actually proliferating this horrible stereotype that people have of Christians, I am not doing what the Lord would have me do and I am not helping the Christian church grow.

          Instead of complaining about church and not attending I must go to church and work within church to keep God as the main focus...

          These are things that I'm still thinking about, I do know one thing, however, although I feel like poop (still sick from yesterday), I'm going to get the family up and we're going to church to set an example that Christians aren't perfect, Christians do question, but Christians always find the answers in God who is perfect.

Do you go to church regulary? What are your reasons for going? For not going?

Do these reasons glorify God?

The Proust Questionnaire Part I

I just don't think that a book whose first sentence is 20 pages long is for me.

~Lorelai Gilmore Gilmore Girls in the episode "Paris is Burning" (1.11)

My favorite television character and role-model, has said it best. I will not be reading Marcel Proust anytime soon (no, I don't want to borrow your copy of Swann's Way), but I do think this Proust Questionnarie thing is a fun idea for a party!

And, if you want to go all out sign up at Proust.com...enjoy!

Proust Questionnaire at Age 13
Feel free to post your answers below, on your own blog, or both!!! Ideas from Proust.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? 
When I am   sick and I still have to go to work and do things...being sick as a grown-up blows...

Where would you like to live?
London, and one day I will live in London until I am tired of being there...
What is your idea of earthly happiness?
Those days when I have nothing on my plate, the tiny tot wakes up late, Chris is in a good mood and all we do is hang out and chill, we don't even notice that the TV isn't on... 
To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
My need to watch television, movies and play on the computer
Who are your favorite heroes of fiction?
Well, I'm so glad that this question is plural...Mr. Darcy, Romeo, Almasy, Nick Rhoads, Rob Gordon...you know those guys who aren't afraid to be weak when they need to be...and, who, in their own way, love
Who are your favorite characters in history?
Hannibal and the Elephants, JFK, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams...frick, well, all the Founding Fathers, Alexander the Great, Queen Victoria
Who are your favorite heroines in real life?
My mother and my aunts (Nellie, who is still alive, and Nesie who passed away in '02)
Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
Any of those strong female roles, that after reading make me a stronger female :)
Your favorite painter?
Van Gogh
Your favorite musician?
Oh, like you don't know who that is by now...U2
The quality you most admire in a man?
The ability to make someone laugh
The quality you most admire in a woman?
Honesty (it's so hard for us to do that without being catty)
Your favorite virtue?
Love
Your favorite occupation?
I assume that by the way Proust answered this that 'occupation' is meant to be pasttime, so I'm answering it as such...reading, sleeping, playing with the kidlet, more sleeping...
Who would you have liked to be?
Myself, who else is there for me to be

PS. I am too sick to write anything else...I hate being sick and more than that I hate being sick and not being able to sleep...maybe I'll just go into town and buy some Theraflu...

The Friday Five: Super!

I love doing surveys and questionnaires. I love reading peoples answers to surveys and questionnaires. They are a weakness of mine, and in looking for topics for my blog to make it easier for me to post everyday once school started...I found this. So, Fridays we're taking a break from talking about reading and books and words to answer silly surveys and questionnaires. Feel free to post your answers below, on your own blog, or both!!! Ideas from Friday5.org



Super!

1. There are superheroes named Superman, Superfly, and Supergirl. Based on your performance this past week in whatever you do, what would have been your Super_____ name?
2. This week, what has been superterrific and what has been superlame?
3. Which of Superman’s abilities would have been the most useful this week?
4. What do you most expect will be super this weekend?
5. What are your thoughts this week about the coming Super Bowl?

Answers

1.  Super WOMAN!!! (I'm every woman...it's all in me...anything you want done, baby, I do it
     naturally)
2.  Super Terrific:  wearing jeans to work every day, the reason behind it isn't terrific,
                            but the relaxation is    
     Super Lame:  meetings, meetings, meetings...
3.  Super flying, so I could have gotten the Hell out of Dodge for a minute!
4.  All those naps I'm going to take...delicious SUPER naps!
5.  I watch the Super Bowl for the commericals, so I wonder what clever commericals there will be during the Super Bowl

Lila Jane's Lexicon

My friend Kate made me a sheet that details the date and time my tiny tot learns words, I printed it and put it on my fridge. I've been recorded words ever since. The average 18 month old knows between 50-70 words...I think we're well on our way, she's only 15 mos.! Created on Wordle.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day Four

Day Four: A song that makes you sad

           A few days before Thanksgiving 2002 my Aunt Nesie passed away. I have never and I hope to never feel as lost and as sad as I did the month before and months after her death.
           I love my mother and I love my sisters, but in high school and beyond, my aunt and I had a special friendship. At least one weekend a month I went to her house in the back 40 (ie. Smallette, Missouri) and I would do laundry, pet her one million cats, hang out with my Uncle Wayne and get caught up on family and entertainment gossip.

          When the three of us were little, my aunts became our 2nd parent, buying us clothes when we needed them and taking us places when we had events to go to. One time I especially remember was when my mom and Aunt Nesie came to visit me at Missouri Scholars Academy. As my aunt liked to tell it, they had called to say that they couldn't afford to make it to Columbia to visit me, but when she tried to tell me they weren't going to come to visit, she could hear in my voice how I was trying to be strong, but my 15 year-old self was sad that my family wasn't going to visit on Family Day. So, my aunt and mom got that money for gas, brought home-made sandwiches and we went to Peace park and ate our sandwiches, she said that she'd never seen me happier.

           I will not forget the day that my aunt set me straight about my prejudice against people who didn't go to college. She said, "You know that I didn't go to college and I worked in a factory until I was 40, you don't think that I'm inferior because I didn't get a degree from some school." And, the truth was I didn't, she's one of the handful of people who I can proudly say is the foundation of who I am.

           We didn't know how serious her colon cancer was until close to the end. She played it off as such, until one day we saw one of those dumb Cancer Center of America commerical and she pulled out all the information from the one in Texas and said, "Do you think that I should go here?" She was always thinking of others. During her last months she made me make a budget (because she knew I was horrible with money) and made sure that I had all the family pictures on disk and all the music I wanted off of her computer.

           It was during one of these days and I was downloading country songs and in her raspy voice (the cancer had spread everywhere, including her throat) she told me about the Martina McBride song. "I have been blessed with more than I deserve," she said. Looking around the back bedroom of her trailer I didn't see anything that would make her feel that way, but she pointed out in the hall to Wayne in the living room, the cats outside and to me, and continued, "I have the best family in the world." I went to the bathroom to cry. From her, I learned that worldly possessions are just that...worldly.

           My aunt had about 20 too many cats. My aunt couldn't make an omlette, but her egg scramble was too die for...even if the eggs, green peppers, cheese and sausage tried it's hardest to be an omlette. My aunt didn't like to have her picture taken. I own only one video of her, from my nieces kindergarten graduation. She loved the country and would sit on the porch where I house-sat and just look into the field watching the goats and dogs and chickens feeling the sun and the wind. My aunt learned to quilt from her father. She also learned her temper from her father; you didn't mess with the lady. My aunt lived life to the fullest, my aunt never let me get down on myself and how poor we were or about the fact that we came from a single parent home, she knew that we had everything we needed. I miss her. 

           I know that she sees all that Lila Jane is doing and is probably shocked I have a daughter at all--I wasn't really into boys or family when she knew me. She said that us three girls were her daughters and that she couldn't have wished for better daughters. 

           So, I guess this song, "Blessed" by Martina McBride,  makes me sad for a minute and then I remember all of the life and love that came from this strawberry blonde woman and I know that it is because of her and her outlook on life that I have been blessed with more than I deserve.


Easter with the Joseph sisters and Aunt Nesie in good 'ole Mansfield, MO, 1985.



Feel free to join in by commenting below (I really do love comments, on fb or here), or doing this challenge on your own blog.

The 30 Day Song Challenge

Day 01 – Your favorite song
Day 02 -- Your least favorite song

Day 03 -- A song that makes you happy
Day 04 – A song that makes you sad
Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone
Day 06 – A song that reminds of you of somewhere
Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to
Day 09 – A song that you can dance to
Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 11 – A song from your favorite band
Day 12 – A song from a band you hate
Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 15 – A song that describes you
Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate
Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 19 – A song from your favorite album
Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry
Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy
Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad
Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh
Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29 – A song from your childhood
Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year

Word of the Week: Apogee

I find that I enjoy this word because of its opposite nadir...and it's fun to make the students think by using apogee and nadir instead of highest point and lowest point...try it some time...

50 Books in a Year: Book #4 Demian

"Sanity is a madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled."

~George Santayana

          

...if to live than how?

           I found the movie "Waking Life" in the $1 VHS bin at a Blockbuster about a year after it came out. In the early 2000s it was easy and cheap to find VHS movies as the push for DVDs had just started and people wanted to get rid of their videos before DVDs, and now BLUE-RAYs, took over. I grabbed it up because I had, and still have a VHS player (I will never get rid of that thing!).

          After watching it and taking notes and talking about it and making others watch it, I found out that I am a theist existentialist, in short, I believe that we should live our lives with meaning and without regret. I eat up books that proliferate these concepts The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Stranger, The Catcher in the Rye, Metamorphosis, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged...I have yet to read any Sarte, Dostoyevsky and up until yesterday any Hesse.
          I was talking about Waking Life to one of my friends and she recommended, and then bought me a used copy of, Demian by Hesse. She thought, based on what I was talking about and how I was talking about it, that I would like it.
          I never opened the book and, over time, it got shuffled under other books and movies and other aspects of culture and living. After I finished The Stranger, I was talking with this same friend about Camus and she asked if I liked Demian...I said I hadn't read it, she reiterated that I would like it. More time went by...over the last summer I put it in a box of books to take to school for the children. Last week I took the box out of the closet with the intent of finally taking it to school, the tiny tot began playing with the books and Demian fell out of the pile she had created and landed at my feet. I took the hint and put it in my bag.
         On Friday, I told my friend I was going to read Demian, mostly to  keep myself in check, she said it'd been 7 years since she'd recommended it and it was about time.

Trusting God with our kids

"But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile."
~(NIV) Exodus 2.2-3

"Trusting God with Our Kids"
Parenting by Design

          I want to be a good mother when I grow up.
          I want my husband and I to be good parents.
          Teaching at a high school, I am bombarded with stories and, in some cases, blatant evidence of parents not being parents and children having to deal with the consequences of an adult's childish choice. I have also seen what happens when a parent is too involved in the lives of their children, for the sake of 'protection'...one of these helicopter parents even called me at my house after 10pm on my CELL PHONE (I, to this day, have no idea how she got that number) to talk about her kids' grade (her kid was making a hard-earned B-).
          As I think about Miss Lila Jane growing up, I do think about all of the things that she will experience without me and I wonder if she will make good choices. It is so cool and comforting to think about the fact that Moses' mother trusted that God would keep him safe in a basket made of reeds on the Nile River, she knew that whatever happened to him it would be in God's design...wow, what FAITH!
          My own mother has trusted that we would make the right choices, even if that meant no longer forcing me (and, boy she really did have to tackle some bull-headedness) to go to church, and when I wanted to go to church, letting me go to the church of my choosing--a church different than her own. She trusted all three of us girls to make good choices, even when we weren't and even when we don't. Now, I cannot tell a lie my mother hovers a little, still to this day (what good mother doesn't?), but I have no problem telling her to back off and I also listen to her even if I don't always do what she says. She taught me independence and strong-will when she left me in God's hands.



"...I can't handle it,
I just spend every minute running around and working
and thinking and I thought I would have help but
Sookie has Davey and Michel has Celine and I'm...
I can't do it all by myself!"



          I want my daughter to trust me and letting her make poor choices without guidance from me wouldn't build trust anymore than hovering does. I will not just let her walk all over me, I will let her know when she is doing something wrong, I will be a good parent who teaches what it means to be a good child and I will love her no matter what choices she makes.

          What will I do when my daughter wants to go to her first boy/girl party? Stays out past curfew (I didn't really have one, anyway) and doesn't call? Drives on the Interstate? Goes on vacation during college without telling me where she's going? I will take a deep breath, I will force myself not to be judgemental, I will teach her about the right choices, I will pray and I will remember that God saved Moses in the reeds on the Nile, He has her in His extremely capable hands.

          If you try to be the best parent you can be, you will fail (even Lorelai Gilmore--the coolest mom ever--struck out a time or two), but if you leave your kids with God, even when you fail He succeeds...even if that doesn't look like it at the moment.
          So, Lord I give The Tiny Person over to you...of course, when I'm being especially crazy about something she is doing or not doing, please, gently, reminded of the fact that You are way stronger than I and can take and will always take care of her. Amen.

In My Next Life I Will Be a Craft Goddess...

...Of course, in my next life I will also have time to do more than read awesome craft articles!

           My friend is having a baby and I want to make her something because she and her mother made something for my baby (a lovely blanket with jungle animals). And, in looking for something cool (she and her husband are the kind of people who appreciate different and cool), I've come across the most amazing sites and crafts. Eventually, I will stop looking at all the websites and craft ideas and actually go to the store, buy supplies and create masterpieces, but until then I hope that you enjoy these lovely websites as much as I do!

Crafty Blogs

How About Orange

Red Velvet Girls

Design Sponge

3-Eyed Bear

Scrapbook Generation

Bits & Pieces

Memory Keeping for the Modern World

A Storybook Life

Making Baby Stuff.com

Crafty Websites
http://www.craftynest.com/
http://www.readymade.com/

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/

http://www.katiebrown.com/

Crafty Magazines and books

Real Simple

Ready Made

Crafting a Meaningful Home

Current Project Ideas

Magazine Coasters

Sun Shaped Baby Rattle
Baby Bib

Scrap Paper Notebook

Maternity or Not Blouse

Maternity or Not Wrap Skirt

Antique Pattern Baby Afghan

Mod Podge Paper Bowl
Mid Century Clock Magnets
Freezer Stencil Bag Design

Now, just to narrow it down to one idea or perhaps two BEFORE the big day!!!

If you have any ideas feel free to share...

The Friday Five: Expiration



I love doing surveys and questionnaires. I love reading peoples answers to surveys and questionnaires. They are a weakness of mine, and in looking for topics for my blog to make it easier for me to post everyday once school started...I found this. So, Fridays we're taking a break from talking about reading and books and words to answer silly surveys and questionnaires. Feel free to post your answers below, on your own blog, or both!!! Ideas from Friday5.org



screenhog.com



Expiration

1. What was the most recent thing to go past its expiration date in your pantry?
2. When does your excitement about the new year usually expire?
3. What valued possession seems to be on the verge of expiration?
4. When does your current driver’s license expire?
5. What subscription, membership, permit, policy, or other dated document are you most likely to allow to expire next without renewal?

Answers

1. The most 'recent' thing...this question should be, "What HASN'T passed its expression date in your pantry?". Of course, the answer would be nothing. I thing the most recent thing may be a can of tamales...did you know that, in the can, those things last until the end of time...? Scary, but good if we're ever trapped in our house and can get to a can opener. Our pantry is a scary, scary thing from which nothing returns...
2. Um, yeah...before the new year even begins...as I don't get excited about new years...I'm just older and wiser and more experienced...doo-dah doo-dah day...
3. It's always about this time of year that my binder of IMPORTANT information for LIFE and WELL-BEING begins to break down...I make it last (ie. tape, staples, whatever it takes) until summer when I let the whole thing go in anticipation of buying a new one at the beginning of the school year and starting all over...hmm...maybe that's why the new year does nothing for me? I think in terms of the beginning of the school year as being the new year...ha! I just learned an interesting fact about me (gotta love questionnaires!)
4. 5/24/2012...unless, of course, I lose it before then :P
5. Um, yeah let's look at questions #4...I am horrible and need a personal assistant...any takers?

Baby, It's Cold Outside...



Mycutegraphics.com



"When I was five, I had a really bad ear infection and I had been home in bed for a week and I was very sad. So I wished really hard that something wonderful would happen to me, and I woke up the next morning and it had snowed. And I was sure that some fairy godmother had done it just for me. It was my little present." ~ Lorelai Gilmore Gilmore Girls

 

Feeling that winter chill? I know we are, no school today and tons of snow. Why not curl up on the couch or your favorite reading chair, get a deliciously warm cup of cocoa/coffee/tea/Bailey's and read a good book!? Good stories (poems, plays, books and songs) I found with the word "snow" in the title (either I thought they sounded good or heard they were good)...if I know it personally, then the title has a *. Hoorah for Snow Days!

Smilla’s Sense of Snow   Peter Hoeg *

“The Snows of Kilimanjario”    Ernest Hemingway *

Snow Flower and Secret Fan   Lisa See

Snow Falling on Cedars   David Guterson *

The Snow Leopard   Peter Matthiessen

“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”   Robert Frost *

Snow Crash   Neal Stephenson

The Snowman   Raymond Briggs

The Snowy Day   Ezra Jack Keats

A Breath of Snow and Ashes   Diana Gabaldon

Snow   Orhan Pamuk

Snow Country   Yasunari Kawabata

The Snow Queen   Hans Christian Andersen *

Snow Angels   James Thompson
Snow Naomi Shihab Nye *

Snow Melts in Spring   Deborah Vogts

Snow White   The Brothers Grimm *
Snow Queen Joan D. Vinge

The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter’s Wonder   Mark Cassino

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy   Carlos Eire

Snow in August   Peter Hamill

Snowflakes: A Pop Up Book   Jennifer Preston  Chushcoff *

Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do!!!       

Cocoa and a winter song playlist, enjoy!                           

30 Day Song Challenge: Day Three

Day Three: A song that makes you happy

          I've been telling everyone I know about kindie rock. Kindie rock is kid friendly indie rock and encompasses such bands as The Scribble Monsters, They Might Be Giants, The Not-Its and, my favorite, The Jimmies. 

         I found The Jimmies quite by accident at B&N, I was looking for something to entertain the tiny tot. I'd been playing kiddie music and Fisher Price lullabies when I took her to school when I have to do work on the weekends and was actually looking for the lullabies when I stumbled upon their cd and recognized them from some of the videos we'd been watching on youtube. The cover kind of grabs you (their stuff is sold exclusively at Barnes and Noble and on their website) and I bought their cd instead. At Christmas I bought the dvd and introduced my whole family to Ashley and the guys in ties. We especially like Taddy, Spanimals and Bedhead. The latter is the song that makes me happy.

          I loved the song when it was just Lila and I dancing around at school or bopping around in the car on the way home. I love the song even more now that I have Christmas memories of the kidlets bopping around to the song as their older cousin rolls her eyes and laughs and we're entertained by watching kindie videos...sigh...good times!

Side note: One way to make Lila excited or distracted is to pop in the 'ole video of this song, her head starts bopping up and down, she shakes and shimmies about, she raises the roof (still not sure where she learned that one) and she sings.



"It's Cool to be Uncool"

Feel free to join in by commenting below (I really do love comments, on fb or here), or doing this challenge on your own blog.

The 30 Day Song Challenge

Day 01 – Your favorite song
Day 02 -- Your least favorite song
Day 03 – A song that makes you happy
Day 04 – A song that makes you sad
Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone
Day 06 – A song that reminds of you of somewhere
Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to
Day 09 – A song that you can dance to
Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 11 – A song from your favorite band
Day 12 – A song from a band you hate
Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 15 – A song that describes you
Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate
Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 19 – A song from your favorite album
Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry
Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy
Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad
Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh
Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29 – A song from your childhood
Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year

Word of the Week: Zephyr

Only one word this week. The form below is modeled after the vocab sheets we have the students do. Every Tuesday I'll just have one of these forms with a word that I like. The definition will be from http://www.dictionary.com/ and/or Word Wealth, my high school vocabulary book (I stole it!). Enjoy the word, I just love words and this word is in my top 5 favorite words.

50 Books in a Year: Book #3 Alice I Have Been

          There is nothing better in the world, than nonchalantly browsing through a book store.

          My friends and I spent our first Friday back from break bumming around B&N--after a much needed pants excursion (I hate shopping), I needed something relaxing.

          We split up and roamed around, but all ended up converging at the 'new in paperback' section looking at and commenting on the covers--Lord knows a cover can make or break a book. All of us (husband and tiny tot included) stopped at the cover of the book Alice I Have Been.

           Now, you have to remember that, at the time, I was reading another book...but, I couldn't help that I wanted to start this book right away...it's got a recommendation from the lady author who won't stop writing her friggin' book series; it must be good. I mean look at the cover, you can tell it's going to be about the REAL Alice; Alice Liddell and her family, especially sister Lorina (Ina).
            I enjoy when authors take a fiction story and make it real or give it a twist like Wicked, and other books by Gregory Macguire, Beastly, and A Kiss in Time by Alex Finn, The Wide Sargasso Sea,  Beauty, Ella Enchanted, The Stinky Cheese Man, Pemberley and those silly monster books using Jane Austen novels (Pride and Prejuide and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters). And, I enjoy those stories that take something that's real and add, what some believe to be the truth, like Becoming Jane, From Hell, all those books by Phillipa Gregory, especially The Other Boleyn Girl, and The White Queen, Finding Neverland (The Man Who Was Peter Pan) and this book by Melanie Benjamin.

           My friend got the book for her Kindle several days ago and has been talking about it so much that finally we got it on the Nook. I've also recommended that my cousin and I start reading it together, I'm so glad she is (you know who you are!).

           What happens when Alice grows up? That's the question, right?

           So, far I have not been disappointed with how Benjamin is choosing to answer.

Somewhere Else

A friend of mine (Aimee) gave me this blog post before I knew what blog post were and, she gave it to me at just the time I needed it. Every once in awhile I pull it out and read it again…lest I forget. And, I have found that during this week, I've been doing some forgetting.

For I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. ~Philippians 4:11 (NIV)

“Wherever you are, be all there.”  ~Jim Eliot

Somewhere Else               

               Patience and I are not friends. It took me at least 4 years to understand that ‘bloom where you’re planted’ meant learning to be content and that learning to be content meant trusting in God. We can say we trust God, but if we aren’t talking and communicating with Him and understanding that He has a purpose for us outside of what purpose we have for ourselves we aren’t really listening.

                I remember when I accepted the job at Lebanon, I literally thought, I’ll stay for a few years beef up the ‘ole resume and then I’ll go somewhere else, anywhere else and it will be easy because I will have no stake in this town. I spent the first four years of my teaching career with one foot out the door and you can’t communicate on a personal and deep level with students who need you when you’ve got one foot out the door. You can’t do anything successfully when you are looking for the next big thing.

                If I had chosen to live my life the way that I’d planned and not taken a moment to breathe, I would not have a beautiful daughter, a husband that I love (much like Debra loves Ray), a house, awesome friends and a job (not many in this economy can say that) and no matter what this job looks like next year, I will 'bloom where I'm planted'. And, I have such faith in God that I know there’s even more gloriousness to this adventure that is my life.

                I will always want to live overseas (preferable London), but I know that’s not where I supposed to be right now…otherwise, I’d be there.

                I appreciate, every day, the person who gave me this little piece of paper. I’m not sure she knew how big of a deal this little devotional was going to be for me…frankly, I didn’t know either.

               Have you ever been somewhere you didn’t want to be? Asked God for help?