Books

1. Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen

I finally finished! That's what happens when you read multiple books at once, it takes you a little while longer to complete one. If you have been around me in the last month or so I have probably talked to you about this read. How many of us really think about where our food comes from? This book will answer any of your questions and probably give you more information than you ever wanted to know about it. I thought I was fairly conscious of what I was eating, but this book opened my eyes even further. There is an entire section devoted to corn! Believe it or not, it was very fascinating! The world would be a different place if we gave more thought to what we eat and where it comes from. The choices we make have an impact. I won't go on and on in this blog. I don't like to get into the political/philosophical over the internet. I'd rather do that in person. I'd be happy to drink a cup of coffee with you and talk your ear off about it!

2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini

I bought this book on Sunday and finished it Wednesday night. A pretty astonishing feat when you have a toddler running around. I read like a crazy woman during the evenings! I am blessed to have a sweet, sweet hubby who not only took care of the toddler one night when I couldn't stop reading, but also made me a hot cup of tea! It was heavenly! At one point in the novel, I had to call my friend, Diantha and ask her if this ended well. If it didn't, I was going to have to stop reading (yeah right). My heart was pounding while I read through some of these passages. This novel is by the same author who wrote Kite Runner--amazing writing! Although this is fiction, it lends a lot of insight into Afghanistan and its people. Thank goodness I belong to a book club because this is a book that needs to be discussed.

3. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

This book was recommended to me by not one, but two girlfriends. This is what I am currently reading before I go to bed at night. Very interesting subject matter. Am I a nerd or what? I really love to read. Yeah, I'm a nerd.

Playing Catch Up...

Will and his new ride
Mike helps Will out with his stocking
I just threw this picture in here because it was cute. Mike had a week off from work and we all went to the park together one day.
Our family Christmas photo

I know that it is WAY past Christmas, but I never posted these. They are just a few random pictures from the holidays. I'll be posting more pictures soon.

Looks like I've really gotten out of the blogging habit! Right now Mike and Will are with the in-laws watching football. I decided to stay behind and get some work done. First I went to the library and checked out some materials for a presentation I will be giving in February. After that I spent a gift certificate that Jeff gave me for Christmas. Here's what I got: The soundtrack to the movie Once, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and My Sister's Keeper. Books and music, ahhhhh...food for my soul! I recommend the movie Once. It's a musical and so lovely. Go see it. I'm reading A Thousand Splendid Suns for my book club. It is perpetually checked out or on hold at the library, so I just went ahead and bought it. Two good friends of mine have also recommended My Sister's Keeper, so I don't think I'll be disappointed in my purchases. I also looked around for a new journal. I finally finished writing in the last page of my old one the other day. Maybe that's why I haven't been blogging very much. I always pick out a very special journal for myself because it usually takes me years to fill one up and it becomes a sort of confidant to me as I pour myself out onto its pages.

After all of that shopping I had to take a break, so I stopped in at one of my little coffee shops, had a snack and read 70 pages of A Thousand Splendid Suns. It is such a nice treat to sit, read a good book and sip your tea from a mug on a cold day. I feel spoiled now. I can't tell you how strange it feels to walk into the house and have no one here but me! It is such a rare occurence!

Well, that's the update, folks. Nothing too exciting, but hey, at least I'm writing again!

I'm back!

I'm not sure what I am going to be blogging about at this moment, but I do know that I'm sick of looking at my old post from almost a month ago! I've had a lot on my mind, but haven't sat down to capture any of it. The holidays were great and we were able to spend a lot of time with family and friends. I am glad to be getting back into our little routine this week with classes, etc. I've also been busy setting up for Poetry Palooza 2008. I am the president of my local reading council and we are putting on a presentation for teachers so they can learn about creative ways to inspire students to read and write poetry. It might just be my favorite subject to teach. In fact, preparing for my part of the presentation and checking out books made me reminisce about my days teaching poetry in my own classroom. My students and I had so much fun reading and writing together. It is so great to teach a subject that you are so passionate about. I just loved it when something would come up and we weren't able to have Writer's Workshop in my classroom. My kids would moan and groan--music to a teacher's ears!

I also wanted to give a little update on Will, who seems to be doing all sorts of new things lately. He has been talking a lot more and is very enthusiastic about trains. Choo-choo is his favorite word. I made the mistake of checking out some Thomas the Train videos at the library. He saw them and got all excited, exclaiming, "choo-choo, choo-choo". He continued to repeat choo choo through the video. It was pretty cute! He has also started giving kisses and raspberries. Will even gave cookie monster a kiss a couple of days ago (he also knows the word for cookie, it sounds like kiki). What else? Mike and I just seem to fall in love with him a little more each day. He is so sweet and a blessing to our family. What a little cherub. He has his little bedtime routine and seems to like a cd of lullabies we have by Kenny Loggins. One of us will go in there and start the cd. Sometimes I will dance around with him until he lays his head down on my shoulder, other times we can rock him to sleep, and then we put him in his crib. It is just the sweetest thing in the whole wide world. Alright, I'll close for now and try not to go more than a month without blogging.