challenge: 50 books in 52 weeks

Some of you already know that I keep track of the books I read. I keep lists of the books by seasons and I've done this for the past... 2 years? I think it's been 2 years. I got tired of forgetting all the books I've read, so I started recording it. This year, I decided to see if I could read 50 books.

Starting with the first book I read in 2007, ending with the last.
1.Days of War, Nights of Love: Crimethink
2. Birthday Letters: Ted Hughes
3. She Had Some Horses: Joy Harjo
4. Fight Club: Chuck Palahniuk
5. My Antonia: Willa Cather
6. The Sound and the Fury: William Faulkner
7. Into Thin Air: John Krakauer
8. The Mother Tongue: English & How it got that way: Bill Bryson
9. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: James Joyce
10. Little Children: Tom Perrotta
11. The Painted Drum: Louise Erdrich
12. Shalimar the Clown: Salman Rushdie
13. Seeing: Jose Saramago
14. Memories of My Melancholy Whores: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
15. A Walk in the Woods: Bill Bryson
16. A Lesson Before Dying: Ernest J. Gaines
17. Lord of the Flies: William Golding
18. Snow Falling on Cedars: David Guterson
19. Lamb: The Gospel According to Bif, Christ's Childhood Pal: Christopher Moore
20. The Namesake: Jhumpa Lahiri
21. Haunted: Chuck Palaniuk
22. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Ken Kesey
23. The Golden Compass: Philip Pullman
24. Jesus Land: Julia Scheeres
25. A Prayer for Owen Meany: John Irving
26. The Subtle Knife: Philip Pullman
27. Fahrenheit 451: Ray Bradbury
28. The Amber Spyglass: Philip Pullman
29. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: J. K. Rowling
30. Geek Love: Katherine Dunn
31. Birds of America: Lorrie Moore
32. Sula: Toni Morrison
33. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Mark Twain
34. Plainsong: Ken Haruf
35. Book of Ruth: Jane Hamilton
36. Going After Cacciato: Tim O'Brien
37. Slaughter-House Five: Kurt Vonnegut
38. Sense and Sensibility: Jane Austen
39. 1984: George Orwell
40. Under the Banner of Heaven: John Krakauer
41. Love in the Time of Cholera: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
42. Death By Chick Lit: Lynn Harris
43. The Wedding: Dorothy West
44. Rant: Chuck Palahniuk
45. Blankets: Craig Thompson
46. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha: Roddy Doyle
47. The Scarlet Letter: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Only 3 short! Well, considering there were a few books that I started and never finished that I don't count on the list, I sort of got my challenge completed. And, now, there's 2008.

surprisingly productive.

Whew! What a few days!
Yesterday, we had a 12 hour drive from Warren to Williamsburg. It went smoothly, the weather was perfect and we made really good time. Our cats had survived the days without anyone, since I gave Megan K. (aka "Megan Senior") the wrong key. There were cracker packages chewed through and left all over the floor and an empty cat treat can. Poor kitties! They drank water for about 10 minutes, took a break, then drank some more. Last night, both the cats slept with us, cuddled nice and close. Gabriel has been purring and near us all day long.
We spent last night with Megan and Corey, watching a SNL special and making fun of all the other NYE specials. David and I were exhausted from the drive, the clean up of the house and then staying up past midnight, so we didn't stay too long after the ball dropped.

Today has been very productive. I got up earlier than I have all break (mostly because it'll help with getting up tomorrow, ugh.) and made a to do list. I unpacked my bag, washed the trip off of me, and reorganized stuff in my bathroom to accomodate all the new bath/beauty products (and cute cosmetics bag from mike). We headed to former Food Lion, now Bloom (think Farm Fresh or D&W with a Harding's past, for those of you outside of this area) and as we were heading in, we saw a few people leaving with those reusable grocery bags from Ukrop's and Trader Joe's. We started discussing how we should've gone to Meijer when we were there and picked a few up. When we walked in, though, bam! 3 Bloom reusable bags were sitting right there, for $1 each. Awesome. The good day continued when we went to New Town to use up some gift cards and find a weekly planner I saw at B&N with Frida Kahlo artwork (it was still there and 50% off- yesss!!). We got home, rearranged the computer room so it works a lot better, put the Christmas decorations into storage as well as suitcases and other random stuff, cleaned up and whew! Most of my to do list is done and it's only 4. Thank goodness, cause I'm tired and need to figure out what I'm going to do with those students Wednesday-Friday. I don't know how many kids (or teachers, for that matter) are going to show up for a 3 day week--a lot of them don't show up for Thanksgiving week.
Right now, though, we're watching the hockey game between Pittsburg and Buffalo, played outside in the snow. Later today or tomorrow, I'll share pictures and a run down of the holidays. I still have a few things on that to do list to finish.

attn: women

Did you know that your body is like a lollipop and if you have sex you're just a "poorly wrapped, saliva-fouled sucker." Please, click the link for some more LOLz like how HIV/AIDS is contracted through skin contact (that one's for you, mom) and condoms cause cancer. Good luck, everybody, you're all gonna die. It was nice knowing you.

In other news, I'm freaking cold. Today was crazy windy and the coldest temps we've had so far. Also, I'm counting down the hours until Friday at 2:05. As the week goes on, sugar levels and anxious jumping up and down in the seats increases, meaning this week is going to be the best EVER. I already had some fun students that pushed my buttons today. One was jacked up on all sorts of sugar and caffeine and one tugged on my shirt like a 5 year old for a good 5 minutes before I told her to leave me alone.
But, next time you see me, give me a high five because I finished grading the first wave of research papers before break. WTG, me!

stupid buttons

If you got a random email from me about StumbleUpon, ignore it. I thought I hit the "do not send to friends" button, but apparently, the choices weren't "do not send" and "do send", but instead "send!" and "SEND!!". I don't know how it happened, but it did. Ridiculous.

two more weeks.

Yes, only two more weeks of school, then I get my break. It's only a week and a day, but I'm looking forward to it and will try to enjoy every second of it.
I'm trying very hard to not let it get in the way of my teaching, though. That's easy to do. The kids are thinking of it, we're thinking of it... it's easy to get lazy. I'm not going to get lazy, though. Mostly because I don't want to clean up the mess after lazy teaching and I don't want to be left with a lot to do during vacation and after. I think we have to submit grades before the break anyway, which will help motivate me.
This past Friday after school, Tye and I went out browsing in one of the Norfolk malls, contributed to Toys for Tots "Stuff the Bus" (upped our good karma!), went out to dinner and went to see Granby's production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". It was so good! The kids did great, of course. The set was fantastic, it was hilarious and I didn't have one negative thing to say (besides something they couldn't control: how incredibly tired I was). I had a great time with Tye and I think we agreed we should do it again. Now I understand why so many teachers go out on Fridays--it's definitely better than going home and thinking about how tired you are and everything that could've gone better during the week!
I think getting closer to going back to Michigan has brought up a lot of things I don't want to think about. We're still transitioning between these two worlds of our past and our present, and going back brings up all this... stuff (yes, I know- very articulate, but there's really no other way of categorizing it). I find myself slightly nervous and anxious about going back, and that bleeds over when I think of everything here compared to there. Ugh. It's hard to explain. I think maybe it's a feeling that my nostalgia will always leave me feeling disappointed when I go back. Things will never be the same when I'm there and part of me won't accept that, which leads to a small spot of sadness and disappointment. Most of it is way too silly, over-dramatic and personal to bring up on this blog. It'll pass once the holiday season is over.
One thing I do like about this holiday season is that we're driving and not flying. Driving is cheaper, more environmentally friendly (surprisingly), and a whole lot less stressful! Plus, I've already gotten a lot of holiday shopping done. I have to just wait for it to show up on my doorstep, wrap it and/or put everything together. I keep thinking I have to do all that now, now, now! because I'm so used to doing everything closer to Christmas. This year, there's really no rush! Amazing. Why didn't I do this before?

he's that... thing.

A: "He's not the smartest crayon in the box."
D: "Don't you mean... sharpest crayon?"
A: "No, it's supposed to be brightest."

Drrrrr. Yes, this actually happened. We laughed like mad after we realized how incredibly silly it all was. With David's brain fried from school and mine fried from the A day (the day where I get 4 classes!), not only was it a ridiculous exchange, but also made it even more funny than normal.


BTW, it's cold. It was in the 30s this morning when I went to school. I know that near the end of summer I really wanted to be able to wear long sleeves and fall clothes. Now, I've been so used to being comfortable without having to put on a scarf and a jacket. I don't mind the cold too much, but I really hate the same thing I've always hated about winter: getting up in the morning (I don't want to leave the warm bed!), having to change clothes (but it's cold and these clothes are already warm!), and having to get out of the shower (it's freezing! and my wet hair will make me even colder!!).


Today, my 11th graders picked their independent novel. A lot of them jumped at the chance to read 1984 after I described the storyline, called it one of the few books I really enjoyed reading in high school, and one of the kids that's well respected in the class said "I'm reading it right now and it's AWESOME". Hopefully they enjoy it as much as I did.

gigantic snowflakes are the new black

We went to our first holiday party last night. The theme was ugly/tacky holiday sweaters. I found this gem:

I know, I know. Please try to hold back your feelings of jealousy and envy.
That thing was about 5 extra pounds of stretched out fabric and shoulder pads.
The get together was lots of fun. We exchanged white elephant gifts, feasted on delicious cookies and other treats, and enjoyed cranberry slush and hot apple cider. We managed to give away our "For Him Only" and "For Her Only" books. Hopefully Danielle and Geoff can find another couple to pass along those brilliant books to help save their marriage from the crazy, insecure women that always ruin relationships. Thank goodness for getting rid of those two books. We ended up getting a Christmas tree coat hanger? Stocking hanger? Whatever it is, I think we accidentally left it at the Kaufman's.

Today I finished up reading some research paper rough drafts, graded letters to the editor, put in grades, and had a brilliant idea of what to do with my 11th graders to help them finish off their sources and body paragraphs. It was very productive.
Then, I turned on some Christmas/Holiday music and dragged out all our Christmas decorations. Here is our mini-tree, filled to the brim with ornaments.

I also put up a garland across the entrance to the kitchen and some lights (the only strand left that works! How did that happen?) across the sliding door. Way to go, me! I am patting myself on the back as I type this.

Of course, once the tree is out, the cats have to investigate. Jackie was hiding behind the tree trying to act like she wasn't going to attack an ornament once my back was turned.

She was laying in the back, eyeing that moose. She never attacked it, but she did attack many of the smaller, rounder, easier to remove ornaments.

Silly kitty.