I'm dreaming...

...of a white Christmas!!! We are getting pounded with snow right now, and it looks like we are going to get snow all next week. I'm so happy I can't stand it!!!
I think Enoch's sharing my joy, but it's hard to tell...

The Friday Night Knitting Club

This was a book that I first was interested in when I saw it popping up on best seller lists a while ago. I almost bought it probably five or six times, and then, one day when I was using one of the two Barnes and Noble gift cards that I got for my birthday, I decided it wasn't my dime, but I was curious enough that it warranted an investigation.

I wasn't disappointed.

Kate Jacobs weaves in all these different lives of women, finding ways to keep each one unique and with their own challenges and their own ways to solve them. I love the determination and gritt of Georgia, the reality of raising a teenage daughter and the amazing complications that arise when James (aka Dakota's dad) suddenly shows up after more than ten years and thinks he can just jump in, included and upsizing her efforts with very expensive gifts.

This book is very well written. I didn't feel like there was anything in it that was just filler, and the whole time I was reading it I thought that I would recognize each character if I was to see them in the street. I think this is a very empowering book, kindof feel like it would lose some of it's appeal among male readers, but I could be wrong. I is for adults as there is some sexuality discussed and language at a few points stronger than I think most teens should read.

I will tell you this, though. There are some passages in there, that I am going to save to a file, word for word, to use for future conversations with all of my teens about discovering who they are, living up to who they can be and how to be the best them. There were many life lessons taught that I wish I would have known sooner, but it was done in such an amazing way that I felt like I could still use them in my life.

I highly recommend this book.

William Joseph

When I was at my mom's house on Sunday, she showed me a new piano book that she had just bought, and I listened to a few tracks of it on her ipod.  The pianist - William Joseph.  I love his music, have downloaded his songs both on my home computer and my school computer and just bought his piano book as well.  

His music is classical, or the new sub-genre, classical pop.  If you like piano music, some with more of an upbeat tempo or the very classic yet somehow new, like songs like Homeward Bound or Ave Maria,  even if you are a fan of Led Zeppelin (he did an arrangement of Kashmir),  I promise you will enjoy this album.

He has a song that is called Butterflies and Hurricanes.  The song is amazing, but the idea of a butterfly in a hurricane I think is a poem or story just waiting to happen (hint, hint, Erin).  

Give yourself a treat, especially if you are feeling half as frazzled as I have been lately, and give William Joseph a listen.  You will be so happy you did.  You can preview some of his tracks here.  

If you were wondering, the one I am working on is Piano Fantasy.

The poor, poor MBA

When I drive to work each morning, I tune in to 590 AM and listen to Glenn Beck. When he takes a short break, there comes a short blurb called the Neil Cavuto, who is a money guy, analyzes the stocks, various markets, talks about trends, etc. I really like it because I get a feel for the economy in 30 seconds or less, which really, is about all that I can stand anymore after having it dominate the news for such a long time. 

Every once in a while they throw in a little story about some real person to make it more relatable, bring it down to the average person, give us a tidbit that may make all the different numbers, percentages, trends, etc. more real.  

The story that they have run two days in a row now is about a guy who has his MBA, and the market is soooo poor that this poor man who is highly qualified with his magnificent MBA can't find a "real job" so he has to drive taxi.  He has posted his resume in the back seat, but so far has not had any calls.

Here is what ticks me off.  We have become such elitists that if a person has a degree and isn't immediately hired in a job that requires him or her to wear Italian power suits with $500 shoes and several assistants at their every beck and call, it is truly an indicator of the traumatic downfall of the economy.

I know the economy isn't great - I'm married to a contractor.  I just had my superintendent send out a message questioning the Utah budget that will continue to be allotted for education, which is kind of important to me, for some strange reason.  But the guy with the MBA?  Guess what.  He still GOT a job.  A job that is the sole income for MANY families.  He is making money, often very decent money, if he can drive well at all.  He isn't collecting unemployment, he isn't standing in soup lines hoping to find something to eat to give him strength through a day of job hunting.  Just because someone has a degree doesn't entitle them to a job, and an MBA just means he went to school longer - doesn't mean he is more qualified, a better worker, more experienced or even has a natural business sense. 

The story should have been, "Yes, the economy is bad, but guess what?  There are still jobs. People can still get work, pay some of their bills, and do something to contribute to society. Look at this MBA - even when he couldn't get the job he wanted, through his determination to be a success, he has found a job 

driving a taxi.  He has even had the ingenuity to post his resume in the back of his cab, where it will be seen by many day after day.  What an excellent example of American determination and desire to succeed."

Geez - you would think that that we expected money to grow on trees.

Thank you Shannon Hale

One of the blogs that I love to follow is Shannon Hale's.  I haven't read all of the back postings, but I have been following some lately where she is discussing what is a good book, bad book, good writing, bad writing, etc.  I have enjoyed reading her comments and then all the comments that are posted in following up her discussion initiation.  

For many years, I tried to only read what I then defined as "good books" meaning mostly classics, very little contemporary and very "high brow" if you will.  If the author wasn't dead, it probably wasn't worth my time.  After all, I have an English degree, therefore if I was ever seen reading something that wasn't "English degree material," I thought people would think that I wasn't smart, didn't really deserve the degree I had, etc.  

I think that one of the best things that happened when I started teaching was that I started reading what I could recommend to my students to read.  Let's be honest, high schoolers, for the most part, aren't interested in Milton's Paradise Lost, most Shakespeare plays, Dickens, Chaucer, Hemingway, etc.  So I decided after I had several students ask me for recommendations of good books, that I needed to spend some time reading what I could recommend to them.  

I have never made a better decision in my life.  

Because of this little self-challenge, I have had the opportunity to experience Stephenie Meyer, Philip Pullman, Laurie Halse Anderson, Ally Condie, Alice Sebold, and just a portion of Shannon Hale.  It is so much fun to sit down and just read a good book, because I want to read a good book.  This is something that Hale elaborates on here which is what really got me thinking, and then she talks more about it here, this one is more from the writer's perspective. 

If you have time, you should read them.  I think you will find the discussion very enlightening.  

In the meantime - thank you Shannon Hale, for hosting such great discussions.

Mothers of Daughters - REJOICE!!!

A federal judge has just ruled that ALL BRATZ DOLLS must be removed from shelves FOREVER in January 2009.  I'm so happy I almost cried a little.  Apparently, Mattel (aka the Barbie makers) sued them for something or other, I don't really care what because the result is that these dolls that came out just before my first daughter was born have been penetrating the doll industry (and clothes, and games, and TV, and books) and that I have hated everyday, will have to come off the shelves.  

           

I, along with most mom's of girls, am all about having my adorable girls in cute clothes, wanting to look nice, etc. But I don't want them, at the ages of 5 and 3, to look like they could make money on any corner in the greater Las Vegas area, which is what I feel these dolls are teaching girls. 

 

Without Bratz on the shelves, maybe the window can be opened for a great selection of cute dolls, whose message is all about sharing, kindness and helping out other friends - Strawberry Shortcake dolls!

Those Who Save Us

I got this book from Danna, a fellow teacher, a week or two before school started, and with everything that has been going on, I just didn't have the time or the emotional and intellectual sense to delve into a book about a mother and daughter in Germany during WWII. I'm very glad that I didn't try to force this book until I was ready to read it.  

This story starts with a young girl whose mother passed away and her irritable and erratic father makes strict and demanding look sweet.  It is also told about 40 years later from the daughter's point of view as she is researching German, non-Jewish people to get their thoughts on what happened in Germany during that time, what they saw but didn't tell, etc. 

This is an amazing book.  It was written for adults, there is a great deal of sex, as was standard during this time that the German soldiers would use their power to manipulate women into doing what they wanted for protection, and often more importantly, food.  I love Anna's whole story, seeing all the events leading up to the discovery of why she is how she is and Trudie's realization that life isn't always how one believes it to be.  

I highly recommend this book to those who aren't offended by sex and some language.  I felt it to be very real, an emotional roller coaster of a book, but in the end, heartwarming and redeeming.   

TIBTW Day

Sooo...today is December 1st.  No, I didn't get my 50,000 words.  I tried really hard, feel like I did a good job, but didn't hit my 50,000 words, which, being a goal oriented person, really, REALLY bugs me.  

Therefore, I dubbed today "Trying is better than wondering" day.  Yes, I took the authority today here in Wecmomland to make an official day.  So, like the dare I gave you, today is the day to try even if you don't think it is really possible to get it done.  

Really, what's the worse thing that can happen?  I think playing among the stars is fabulous!

On a side note, ten years ago today Enoch first kissed me.  Yes, we have been in each other's life romantically for ten years.  I'm thinking this calls for chocolate kisses all over our house, but since I just cleaned, I think I will do it in containers.  I wonder if I can still find some wax lips somewhere.   Hmmm....