30 Days of Truth: Someone Who Has Made Your Life Worth Living For

I found this meme here and here.

Seven: Someone Who Has Made Your Life Worth Living For

Six Word Saturday #29

My life in six words
"Newsies" to Broadway; must get tickets!

My sisters and I have probably seen the movie about a million times...no lie. And, yes, that is Christian Bale in the pic on the left and...yes, it's a musical so he sings. :D Sorry for those of you who can't see the videos (stupid country copyright laws!) they are Carrying the Banner, Santa Fe, The World Will Know and Seize the Day from the musical.

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. The full list and linky can be found here. And, here's where I found it.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day Twenty-Nine

Day Twenty-Nine: A Song from your childhood

When I was a kid we used to listen to records a lot. More often than not these records were of music not meant to entertain little people like The Beach Boys, Cliff Richard, ABBA and other music that my aunts and Mom liked.

However, we had a handful of records meant for kids: Disney soundtracks, a Strawberry Shortcake record where she sang "Little Brown Jug", Marcie who was a puppet that sang hymns in a high pitched voice that my sister just loved and a record that we all loved, loved, loved called The Smurfs All Star Show...yes, the Smurfs.

My favorite song from that record, a song we all three still know the words to and a song that is definitely from my childhood is "Silly Shy Smurf" by the Smurfs...feel free to sing along, here are the lyrics.

Song Title: Silly Shy Smurf
From the album: The Smurfs All Star Show Album

Small shy, oh my oh my
won't even try
to make something out of himself
and if you look, smile
he'll run a mile
the poor little, silly shy smurf

Say booh
you know what he'll do
he'll hide in the loo
and probably stay there all day
and if you ask why
he'll never reply the poor little, silly shy smurf

Somebody tell him he musn't be shy
tell him he's lovely and good
Oooh oooh oooh oooh ooh, if somebody only would

Maybe we'll get him to see
he better agree
he's gotta get hold of himself
he really should, must or always be just
the poor, little, silly shy smurf

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 06 -- A song that reminds you of someone

Day 06 -- A song that reminds 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

Six Word Saturday #14

My life in six words
Trips with family are the best!

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. The full list and linky can be found here. And, here's where I found it.

Vacation is a time for yearning...

          OK, so if I remember the story correctly...my sister's husband received a certificate for an iPad, they used that certificate and upgraded to an iPad 2...whatever the story is I want one (I've been playing with Kim's all week long, frankly, I'm not sure I've put it down, as Kim takes the laptop to work), it does almost everything I want it to do (and, I hear that if you buy accessories for it, it can do even more)...Lila wants one too! Hmmm...Christmas wishes!

30 Day Song Challenge: Day Twenty-six

Day Twenty-Six: A Song that you can play on an instrument

          Um, yeah, I'm envious of the people who have the discipline to play a musical instrument past the requisite years in junior high and high school. My husband plays the guitar. One of the best times is listening to him strum the songs, trying to guess what he's playing in just a few notes. My friend Jenn takes guitar lessons as an adult. Now that takes dedication! I tried to take piano lessons (as I've always wanted to play the piano), but quit after the easy stuff, I just didn't have time to practice and learn what I didn't already know.

          You see I used to play the clarinet. It's the perfect instrument progression from the flutophone, and my grandfather played the clarinet when he was in the Army band in the 40s. I loved learning how to play, I loved learning how to read music, I loved making my grandfather proud. He even seasoned the keys for me (as my clarinet was new and the high notes were hard to play). In high school, however, being in Flags was a lot more fun and required less practice than marching...I stopped playing the clarinet.

         The only song I can still play on the clarinet is "Baby Elephant Walk"...WOW! it's so fun to play...I'd play it right now if my mother hadn't sold my clarinet so my sister could have a snare drum...not that I'm still bitter!

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 06 -- A song that reminds you of someone

Day 06 -- A song that reminds 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

It's Sunday and I'm dreaming of food...

So, I've got a list a mile long. I won't be at school tomorrow, so my list includes grocery shopping and making lesson plans...and, all I can think about are these porkchops that my sister made on Sunday for dinner. Maybe we'll have them for lunch...must go get ready for church.



Source



30 Day Song Challenge: Day Eight

Day Eight: A song that you know all the words to         

   

          I have a deep, deep love for old 80s crime shows and will at times watch Magnum PI, Riptide, Moonlighting, Simon and Simon, Heart to Heart and Remington Steele just for nostalgia of feeling 8 years old and remembering when I thought these shows were very grown-up and hard to solve.

         One show that we used to watch, as well, that I'd forgotten about until this song challenge was Hardcastle and McCormick. The premise according to Wikipedia (my favorite site for looking up the trivial) "involves the retirement of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Milton C. "Hardcase" Hardcastle. With file drawers filled with 200 criminals who got off on technicalities, he takes a page from his childhood hero, the Lone Ranger, and makes plans to go after these criminals. Mark McCormick is a smart-mouthed, streetwise car thief who is looking at hard time for his latest theft, a prototype sports car, called the Coyote X, designed by his murdered best friend. Together they strike a deal: Hardcastle helps Mark catch the murderer; Mark agrees to be released as the Judge's right hand man. In addition, Mark is allowed to keep the Coyote, which proves to be an excellent pursuit vehicle for their needs."
         I remember one episode especially called "The Day the Music Died"...not because of the plot, I'm sure it involved a murder followed by a car chase, but because of one scene in it where McCormick is in the Coyote singing "American Pie" by Don McLean and I remember this because both of my sisters were singing along to a song that I'd never even heard...*scouts honor* I'd never heard of "American Pie" until that moment, and there were my younger, not as smart as me sisters singing along...of course they weren't singing all the words, but I vowed then and there that I would learn all the words and when it came time to sing the song again I would wow the world.
         Since then I have been obsessed with that song...I've learned all the words, I've researched the history and the lore. I sing this song without the radio when I'm driving alone. I love, love, love it! :)

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 06 -- A song that reminds you of someone

Day 06 -- A song that reminds 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

You Will Be Assimilated, Resistance is Futile...

For me science fiction is a way of thinking, a way of logic that bypasses a lot of nonsense. It allows people to look directly at important subjects.
~Gene Roddenberry, creator of "Star Trek"

I've always been a bit of a science fiction nut...always. And, I don't care how I get it (in Fantasy, dystopic, apocalyptic, robots, aliens, et cetera), as long as I get it!

          Even the silliest aspects of SF require a certain intelligence and willingness to learn. Science fiction makes you SMART! I remember when I was a kid hanging out with my uncles (SF fiends themselves) reading their comic books (X-Men were my favorite), listening to soundtracks from movies like Superman and Xanadu and reading, oh the delicious reading, Tolkien, Terry Brooks (The Sword of Shanara series, especially), Star Wars books, Star Trek books, and my favorite series The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny.

          On my own I found such authors as Isaac Asimov (The Norby Chronicles are my favorite), The Never-Ending Story and Phillip K. Dick and The Dune books. When I was in 8th grade someone left on our doorstep (still don't know who did, but if you are that person, thank-you!) The Chronicles of Narnia. I had read the first in the series, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, when my friend Dan in 4th grade lent me the copy he got for Christmas. I read the rest of the series, one a day every night for a week several years later while I was babysitting in 8th grade. When my sister Kim stole those copies for her own personal library (she's a SF crazy too, except for her obsession comes in the way of Harry Potter, The Golden Compass and the like), I bought my own. I love young adult and children's classics too. I read all of The Wizard of Oz series by the time I was in 7th grade. I love The Phantom Toll Booth, Alice in Wonderland, William Sleator's Interstellar Pig and Singularity, Madeline L'Engles Time Quintet (this used to be a quartet! now I have to go find that other book, frick and frack!), The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy in four, and all those Pern Dragonrider books (which, thanks to my uncle, I have a complete set of).
          My favorite is dystopic literature. I used to teach The Giver to my remedial sophomores and we'd have such a lovely time talking about what it means to be perfect and to live in a perfect world. I think that teens and kids better understand that we don't want to live in a perfect world and that perfection shouldn't be what is desired. I do a science fiction unit now where we read Anthem, watch Pleasantville and Gattaca, and read the short stories "Harrison Bergeron", "Four O'Clock" and others all with aspects of dystopia. We talk about why people read and write SF, we talk about the lessons that we are supposed to learn.

          When I first met my husband he thought it was cool that I liked two things 1) root beer (no, really, he hadn't met her girl who liked root beer as much as I do) and 2) that I love, love, love SF. For the last few days we have been doing nothing, but playing with the kid and watching the SF of my childhood. He really likes Buck Rogers and The Greatest American Hero; my favorites from way back. We've also been watching The X-Files, my favorite SF show of all time (don't worry! there are books too and I've read them!). I try to get all my friends to watch The X-Files (Season 6 is my favorite), many of them have and love it. I'm watching Season 9, as I type this. I don't just like this show because of David Duchovny, although he is a tasty treat, I like it because every episode challenges you to find its deeper meaning.

          In some way all SF is written as a warning, it takes something that we do in our society, turns this aspect on its head and ask, "What will you do differently now that you know? What will you change about today in order to have a better tomorrow?"

30 Day Song Challenge: Day Five

Day Five: A song that reminds you of someone
            There are many songs that remind me of people. Actually, I have a soundtrack to my life, I have whole entire playlists in my head for people, places, events, whole seasons. These, however, are private and personal playlist that I'm sure would offend some or are too close to the heart to share.
            So, growing up my mother had hundreds of records and we played a lot of records. There were many nights that the TV wouldn't be on and we'd just be listening to our favorite records dancing on this purple and blue afghan she made, like we were Solid Gold dancers (if you don't know what a Solid Gold dancer is and you've got 9 minutes watch this) minus the spandex because we'd be in our nightgowns instead. Our favorite records included Del Shannon, The Beach Boys and this one called Dick Clark's New 20 Years of Rock n Roll and our favorite song on this record (if one can pick a favorite from such an awesome record) was Knock Three Times by Tony Orlando and Dawn. I mean what little kid wouldn't love this song, it has actions "knock three times on the ceiling if you want me (which for us meant the floor), twice on the pipes (banging on something metal) if the answer is no". We'd listen to it over and over and over. I mean there are some of you out there who remember how you used to be able to program records to replay songs, right? It would play the song and then there'd be that long pause as the arm of the needle moved back to the beginning, the bump, bump of the space in between songs and then more Tony Orlando. We'd jump around so much that the record would skip and Mom would worry we'd break the needle...we didn't care.
          And, who'd be doing all this craziness with us...our mother, of course. Banging spoons on metal pots, dancing on the couch, sliding on the afghan on the tiled floor, banging on the walls and the dining room table and stomping in her shoes right along with us. Heck, she's the one who gave us the idea! She taught us all the words...or at least made sure we didn't sing the wrong words and she taught us to love music. This song will always remind me of her and of my sisters and those times we spent listening to records in our apartment.

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

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

My Hometown

"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?—every, every minute?"

~Emily in Our Town by Thorton Wilder

Additional Reading: http://theatreworks.typepad.com/murrayross/2009/09/you-are-here.html

                I don’t know where to begin. I do not love my hometown…my love for my hometown is brimming over? The relationship I have with Mansfield, Missouri is a bittersweet one and I have just as many bad memories as I do good ones.

                 I liken my relationship to Mansfield to the relationship Rose Wilder Lane must have had with the town and maybe this is why I’ve always had an affinity for Rose. I love Rose Wilder Lane. I’m not sure the people of Mansfield do. She said their schools weren’t good enough, she didn't marry and settle down in the town, she was a divorced Libertarian come back to help her parents, but she did not join in with the town…instead she wrote about it. And, in the same manner as Harold Bell Wright in The Calling of Dan Matthews, her book of short stories Old Home Town ruffled the feathers of those in the town who knew the stories were about them. She eventually moved to Connecticut, where she had a barn for a library and staved off stories that she wrote the Little House books by adamantly proclaiming she helped with the editing and that is all. Many of her biographers say otherwise.

vintagepostcards.org

                You see, we’re reading Our Town in my Sophomore English classes. Reading this play always makes me feel nostalgic for a Mansfield, Missouri that I’m not sure has existed during my life time. Growing up, we went to baseball and basketball games. When I was little we went to a place called Susy Qs and got orange soda floats and curly fries after we cheered for Mighty Mights football. My sisters and I would walk to the library, which was just down the road, and the librarian would know exactly what books we wanted to check out. We cruised the “Y”. When our friends passed away in accidents or of illness we went to their funerals. We knew everything about everyone. I remember thinking, “Wow, nothing happens in this town.” And, nothing did? I have learned that everything happened in that town.  I've also learned that it’s those kids who love this play and cherish their home town of Lebanon, Missouri that have something on me, they’ve learned to love their hometown and at an early age they’ve learned to have ‘roots and wings’ too! (Thank you very much “Sweet Home Alabama”!)

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-lebanon.html

It is because of this play, Our Town,  (granted I didn’t make this effort until I was 25) that I listen to and look at my mother when she’s speaking, that I cherish the moments I have with my family and friends and it is because of this play that I try to inculcate in my students a love for a town that many of them don’t really like. And, it’s when we read this play that I begin to think about the town in which I live currently.

My life in Lebanon resembles the same bittersweet love I have for Mansfield. I have just as many good memories as bad, I long for a Lebanon that I’m not sure ever existed (a Lebanon that I see in postcards and books) and I have to take a deep breath and realize that while I consider many days here to be boring and useless...there really is soooooo much going on.  There’s a great documentary called “Jo’s Town”, it encapsulates all that is beautiful about small towns, about America, about Lebanon and the gloriousness of living. It’s about a young lady from Lebanon, who played Rebecca Gibbs in the 1978 LHS production of Our Town, she died in a car accident during her senior year. To honor her memory,  the cast, 20 years later, reproduces the play. It chronicles their lives since the play and shows how some people and things never change. A couple of my friends and I went to watch the documentary at Summer's Auditorium a few years ago, and it made us all cry, not because of the fact that this girl died in real life--we did not know her, but because this girl lived and continues to live in each of her friends. We don’t know how many lives we touch and who we change just because we are born.

According to Wilder, life just comes in three short acts, Daily Life, Love and Marriage, and Death and Eternity and, he says in The Woman of Andros, "Suddenly the hero saw that the living too are dead and that we can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasure". What is your treasure and how are you conscious of it?



Christopher and I in front of Wrink's Market at the beginning of our trip on the Mother Road with our friend (she's taking the picture). Historic Route 66 runs right through Lebanon, on Elm street.

 

Twist Your Noodle...

"In our new knowledge economy, if you haven't learned how to learn, you'll have a hard time."
---Peter Drucker

         So far my kid loves to read...no seriously, she does. If there are toys on the floor and a pile of books, she picks the books. She'll grab one of the books and hand it to me, nodding her head, while quietly and passionately saying, "Yes, yes". We read to her at night and well, frankly anytime she wants. She loves books that have animals, and Seussian sentence structures and princesses...I can't wait until she starts reading the Serendipity books. We watch "Super Why" where you learn that if you have a problem you 'look in a book'. This genius cartoon teaches theme, rhyming patterns, spelling, phonetics and has caused my kidlet to sing, "ABCDEFG" over and over...I know she doesn't know that these are letters, but isn't it a start?
          I don't know how to keep this passion for books going, I don't remember not loving books, nor do I remember ever being told to read, so I don't know how to fan the flames. My mother read to us at night, something from the Bible and then something that we wanted like a chapter from the Laura books, "The Purple Pussycat" (Kim's favorite), "Popcorn" "Sheldon's Lunch" et cetera. On the rare occassion that I got in trouble and was told to go to my room, my mother would say, "No radio, and no reading". For as long as I can remember I have had a book in hand, in brain and/or in head. There was one night, just a couple of weeks ago, that the my whole tiny family was reading. Lila with her books on the floor, Chris with his Nook and me with my book. No television, just books and the occasional grunt of happiness...over books. We do this often.
            The men we have married are readers, sure it's non-fiction, sports books, man magazines or, in the case of my husband, "The Grumpus Under the Stairs"...a book he still wishes he had, by the way...a book that I can't find for sale under $100, but it's still reading. In our different ways, all three of us girls have become avid readers...sure Kim reads boring books like the manual to my car and Marissa reads scary books or VC Andrews, but we are ALL readers.
            Of course, my sisters and I had the same upbringing and, because we grew up in the world's smallest town, we had the same wonderful teachers, all of which did their very best to instill in us a love for reading. One teacher I remember especially, her name is Mrs. Coday, because she had a reading bathtub. It was one of those claw toed tubs that she painted some sort of obnoxious lime green and she had this tub sitting off to the side by the bookshelves. It wasn't attached to water or anything, there was no swimming involved, it was just an empty tub. But, during reading time (if you had been good) you and 2 or perhaps 3, I don't remember exactly, of your classmates got to sit in the tub and read. These times were the best times ever. In 5th grade, I got to be in the 8th grade-level reading class. Even then I understood that splitting kids up by their reading level and challenging them to read, at no matter what level, made them better readers. I understood this because my sister was in her grade-level class and she learned as much and had as much fun with reading as I did.
          We had Book-It goals (free pizza was way cool, Book-It was not tied to our passing our respective grade-level) and SSR, we did not have AR.
          In our own different ways, my sisters and I have figured out that reading is essential to life and understanding. We understand that the power to read and process information is stronger than monetary assets and we do not take this for granted.
          Being a high school teacher has also shown me the pitfalls of people who don't have a love for reading and I have also seen to what lengths students--smarts students--will go to NOT read (I can't even get all of my honors kids to read books in the summer--something I still assume every honors kid should just do by nature)...I do not want my kiddo to be one of these kids.
          How will I be able to make sure that my kiddo has teachers who instill in her a love of reading and how will I make sure that these teachers are more concerned with her learning than they are test scores and AR scores and MAP scores?
          How will I make sure that I teach my tiny person a love of reading without killing, in her, the joy of reading?



Happy Sparkly Halloween



Grandma (Nona) reading to Lila Jane