Isaiah 43.2

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Pinterest! *fist of fury* Oh How I Love Thee!

OK, so remember my post about Christmas gifts for my department found here?

Thanks to one of my former students and dear friends, I am now on Pinterest...I have tried not to be on Pinterest because I knew I would never ever leave.

What is Pinterest you ask?

Pinterest appeals to my...
1. deep down need to be organized and my inability to do that anywhere except for on paper
2. craftiness
3. scrapbookishness
4. need to decorate the house so it actually looks like a girl lives here
5. need to make list and then categorize those list and then categorize those sublist
6. need to devote more time to me and what I enjoy
7. love of food, good food...fooooodddd!
8. love of all things seasonal and holiday
9. collecting spirit
10. my internet obsession

If you are so inclined you can follow me here.

Thanks Chrissy!!! And...

Booking Through Thursday (Mood Reading)

         From Booking Through Thursday:

Do you find that your mood affects the things you read? Like, if you’re in a bad mood, do you tend to indulge in reading that will support it or do you try to read things that will cheer you up? Do you pick different types of books on dreary, rainy days than you do on bright sunny ones?

For that matter, does your mood color what you’re reading, so that a funny book isn’t so funny or a serious one not so deep?

     I have found that my mood affects the things that I read. I have also found the the things that I read affect my mood (might I suggest not reading the world's most depressing book over Christmas Break, might I also suggest not reading the end of a book series in the summer, it will just be all sorts of bittersweet while the sun is shining).
    When I am in a bad mood I tend to read books that are light (either in how easy they are to read or in terms of plot, sometimes both)...I find that at the end of each semester, while traveling and during breaks I like to read the fluffy of the fluffiest, I might even indulge in Romance novels when stressed.
    I purposely assign The Scarlet Letter at the beginning of the year and Ethan Frome during January. I don't think that TSL would be absorbed so readily at the end of the year when the brain is weak and there's just something chilling about being stranded in Starkfield that would be lost if we read it in May.
    I have definite opinions about books and where they belong in the course of my reading, especially nowadays when I have so few precious minutes to spare. I like to take those minutes up reading books that enhance me and, well, enhance my mood.

Feel free to share your answers below, on the original post (above), on FB or on your own blog!

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 08

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Several months ago I found this book challenge (since then I have seen many variations of it, but I like this one best!), and have been intrigued about how I would answer the questions posed. Feel free to comment with your own answer or post the challenge to your own blog.

A Book Everyone Should Read At least Once


Um, I can't just give you one book, so you're getting 15, but, hey, they're in order...mostly...


1. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
2. Love Story by Erich Segal
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. The Stranger by Albert Camus
5. Beloved by Toni Morrison
6. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
7. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
9. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
10. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
11. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
12. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
13. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
14. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
15. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 – The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 – A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever
Day 24 – Best quote from a novel
Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?

Word of the Week: Aglet

"Naked male insecurity really leaves me cold..." or Welcome to Modern Times Cowboys

The other day I watched (as I'm sure many of you did) as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader (Melissa Kellerman) got pummeled by a football player. I thought it was hilarious, handled well and reminded me of being a cheerleader many years ago getting knocked over by basketballs and players alike. 


I sighed, I laughed, I moved on to more stuffing and pumpkin pie...and, then I saw this:

Click on image to be taken to link

My journalism teacher nose smelled a story and did a little research, in fact the Twitter feed that Chase refers to no longer exist, my blogger brain responded...first I posted this onto my Twitter feed, I did the same for my Facebook account and I emailed it to a couple of friends.


I think that Mr. Chase brings up a couple of points that should definitely be addressed, especially when it comes to the use of social media.

1] Timing is everything.

To get a good news story, you really must be in tune to the way the world works, and that means you must be on Twitter and that means you must use social media sites to your advantage. Minneapolis journalist Jason DeRusha (@DeRushaJ) talked about this in a break-out session I attended at the JEA/NSPA Fall Convention in Minneapolis (#hsjMN) last week. His story was about the fact that WCCO got an exclusive interview with family all from a simple question he tweeted about an unidentified hit and run victim. 


In today's world journalist don't have to do much research to find a story, they just have to be plugged in and willing to communicate. I mean look, somebody took a screenshot of Kellerman's tweets and it just took the proper eye and the proper angle to make this into a story. She still gets her 15 minutes and The Cowboys image takes a beating; I hear it's already taken several and could have used the positive spin.

2] In this day and age you can't really silence anyone.

Jerry Jones and others in charge of The Cowboys. "Welcome to modern times." Forcing someone to delete and/or not be allowed to do [fill in the blank] just makes someone else pick up the torch. It takes something small and innocuous and turns it into a rally cry and a cause that can be seen and heard by millions forever. As Chase says, "This should have been a win-win for everyone involved. Witten looked chivalrous when he helped up Kellerman, she became endearing with her laughter and positive attitude. Both the franchise and the cheerleaders looked good after this. Now, only Kellerman does."

And, just look at what the Twitter collective is saying #MelissaRae or @MelissaRae to read all of them. My favorite being "She did nothing wrong...FREE #MelissaRae", 23 more Tweets about this girl, popped up as I typed this.

3] Today's media frowns upon hypocrisy.

I've been looking all over the Dallas Cowboys and Cheerleader sites trying to find where it says that Cheerleaders can't have social media accounts. I found some interesting rules about how they store our information, a rule about drinking in uniform that I still find amusing, and some interesting facts about Melissa Kellerman, but no rules about social media. Chase points out, "Do the Cowboys believe cheerleaders are only to be seen, not heard? Hardly. The team allows cameras to record cheerleader auditions for a reality show on CMT. It's alright when the team controls the message but not when a cheerleader begins to get a following and has the stage to herself?"

OK, so I'm not sure how Darren Rovell got wind of the account being deleted in the first place, and, even if Kellerman leaked the story herself, I'm not sure I care. It's a story that needs to be heard. I just hope that this four year Cowboy cheerleader stills makes the cut if she tries out for a 5th season.


______________________  


Oh, and the quote in the title of this post comes from "The Cutting Edge", one of my favorite movies of all time. It's the New Year's Eve part where Doug and Hale are subtly fighting over Kate by puffing up, trying to prove who's better at what. Watch that scene closely, while it seems the fiance, Hale, wins, as he's the one who leaves with the girl. It's the guy quietly laughing, who gets her in the end. I think there's a lesson there...

Paper Crafts For the Holidays...

In looking for a craft to make for Christmas presents for my department I found these lovely gems...

d.Sharp Journal
*Santa Beard
*Paper Angel
*Snowman Garland
*Paper Bird Ornament

Holiday Paper Star Ornament from It's A Gift

Holiday decorating using left over wrapping paper from Frugal Design Girl

Paper Snowflakes from ellinee

Bird Tree Trimming from Living the Swell Life

Cardboard Star from Sitting At Your Kitchen Table

Framed Ornaments from Country Living

I chose...

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