End of Readathon Wrap Up

This year I crashed around 4 am, which was pretty good for me.  I still got up at a normal time though, so I'm not sure how happy I'm going to be about this whole thing today.  We'll see!  I did feel, however, that I got back into my reading mojo.  That was SO worth it!  I've been so out of the loop and down and out in my reading, that this was an excellent way to get back to it.   Let's see where I go from here...

End of Event Meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?  First, at 9pm, which is a normal bedtime for me.  Once I got past that, 4 am--when I noted that I kept blanking out on what I was reading and realized that I kept falling asleep in the middle of my reading.  I would literally have to shake myself back awake and re-read what I had just read.  That got a bit too annoying and I finally just tossed in the towel!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?  I've thought about this from year to year and can now say that you should pick whatever you feel you can finish.  There really is something to be said for feeling like you can finish something (at least it is for me).  I left a couple of books for the readathon that I was within 100-150 pages of finishing.  That helped me feel a bit more successful and left the high point of the novel for the readathon.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  Nope.  I really appreciate all the hard work that goes into it.  I always feel guilty for not taking more of a role in helping out in some way!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?  I really liked the Goodreads page.  That was a nice addition this year.  :)
5. How many books did you read?  4, although I only read one from cover to cover.  The rest were books that I finished up from various stages in reading them. 
6. What were the names of the books you read? 
   Love Life by Rob Lowe, Always Emily by Michaela MacColl, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz, and I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005 by Lauren Tarshis.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?  Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was really amazing.  I knew it was an award winner and so I had high expectations for it, but I was really surprised by the story's direction and the sensitive way it handled the main character's personal growth.
8. Which did you enjoy least?  None of them.  I passed up a book if it didn't interest me.  The readathon is too short to stick with something for too long!  :)
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?  N/A
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  Very likely!  I really enjoy and appreciate the focused time the readathon gives me.  It's a great time to get back into the reading groove.  In the future, I need to get more involved and try out some mini-challenges maybe or even host.

Readathon: Hour 19 Update

This just might be my last update for the night, as I know myself too well!  I took about a five hour break to finish laundry, make my bed, go get dinner, and do a bunch of grading.  Once I felt I had done my duty, I picked up something really short that was one the children's Beehive Award nomination list, I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005 by Lauren Tarshis.  I've been trying to make my way through some of the children's and YA nominees this year, so it was a nice little walk back into the readathon.  Talk about a gripping little tale.  I really hope grade school children and middle schoolers are getting the chance to read this one and others in the series.

To be honest, I hit my "fatigue" point about 9pm, which is when I generally get ready for bed during the week.  I had some caffeine and a huge glass of water, so I'm feeling pretty back to my normal speed.  We'll see how long that lasts.  I doubt I'll be finishing anymore books, but I'd like to make a good dent in a couple more before I call it a wrap for the night.

Here's where things are at for the moment:

Hours Read:  
 Once again, this is tough.  I haven't really kept track very well.  My guess is that I'm somewhere around 8?  It's still not very good though.  I've had a lot of little interruptions all day.

Books Read:
4--Love Life by Rob Lowe, Always Emily by Michaela MacColl, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz, and I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005 by Lauren Tarshis.

Essays Graded:
5--Which isn't so hot.  I would have liked to have done more than that, but I'll take what I can get.  :(

Drinks & Snacks:  Surprisingly, no more snacks, just Wendys for dinner (bad, but so good) and then water, water, water all evening.  I'm honestly going to float away at some point, right?

Number of Readathons I've Participated In:  Just for record keeping sake, I went back to see how many of these I've participated in.  This will make my 10th readathon.  I started participating back in April of 2009, which is amazing and awesome to me.  There were two that I couldn't join in on over the years, but otherwise, I've always been here. 

Well, enough nostalgia.  I don't want my sleepiness to catch up to me.  I have a little energy left and would like to keep it as long as possible.  For now, it will be book rotating time.  Best wishes to everyone who might still be hanging in there!

Readathon: Hour 11 & Mid-Event Survey

What an awesome day so far!  This has been my most productive readathon, no question.  Sometimes I feel like being a social butterfly and zooming around the net to see how everyone is doing, but this time I really wanted to just escape everything and just read!  It's been a bad 6 months for reading, so this has been a great time to dive back in--and boy have I.

Here's what I've been up to!

Books Read:  3--Granted, I was 1/2 way through all of them before the readathon began, so it would be more like 1 1/2.  Still, I'm saying 3.  :)
Pages Read:  390
Hours Read:  This is always hard to calculate, but I've been reading pretty steady today.  I've taken a few breaks here or there to do laundry, get a drink, go outside to read, etc.  I'd say at least 4?  Not great, but still good for the various interruptions, right?
Challenges or Cheering:  Zip.  I know!  It's really bad this time, but I HAD to get myself out of this reading slump.  :(  I keep saying I'll host another challenge down the road.  Maybe I'll join something later tonight???  I did go stop in on some blogs to say hi and see how they were doing, so that might count?!?
Drinks:  1 Diet Pepsi, 1 16 oz lemonade, and 1 huge glass of water.
Snacks:  Well, since I've skipped eating normal meals today, in place of reading (yes, I should go eat something), 1/2 of that bag of Doterra chips & 1/2 an apple.

UPDATE:  I should have realized the Mid-Point Survey was going up right around when I posted this.  I just came back in and attached it below.

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?  I'm going to grade some essays and then I'll dive into a few chapters of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison until I rotate on to something else.
2. How many books have you read so far?  3
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?  I'm still waiting to get back to Landline by Rainbow Rowell.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?  Well, just household interruptions and the pressure to get my grading finished.  That will always be there, so I've been going back and forth between the two.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  How much better I do if I stay away from the internet.  Sometimes I really like to feel connected to everyone, so I stay online a lot more, but I feel bad about how little reading time I get in.  This time, I swore to myself that I would spend as much time as possible reading.  I really needed it, so it has been great.

All right.  I think I'm off to go scrounge for some food, get my bed remade after cleaning my sheets, and grading some papers before I can sit back down and read in earnest.  I'll be back a bit later though!  Good luck to everyone!

Readathon: Opening Post & Hour 6

I've been up for a bit, but as I promised myself, I would spend some time reading as soon as I got up.  This has been such a bad year for reading and such, that I didn't want to give myself ANY excuses to wander off from the reading--so that's what I did.   I also set myself up for success and left two books that I was nearly finished with, so that I could get up and dive back into them.  It's psychologically satisfying to start the day off with a book already finished off, even if it's not a "start to finish" read.  :)


Anyway, here is my opening meme AND my report for hour 6 all wrapped into one!  I don't think I'll be back again until later this evening, unless I go a bit stir crazy (although I have a "book walk" planned in to take care of that), so here we go...

Opening Meme:
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  Salt Lake City
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  Landline by Rainbow Rowell
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?  My Doterra chips.  :)  They are these awesome mixed variety of potato chips that include different sweet potatoes as well.  Yum!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  I turned 40, 10 days ago today, and it was kind of awesome!  (What's with all the 40 angst? It's really pretty cool.)
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?  I started with a couple of books that I was within 100 pages of finishing.  That way, as soon as I woke up, I grabbed one of them and just finished it as I was waking up.  It started my readathon off with a successful book finish!

Here's what I've finished so far:

I really thought that the last 75 pages of this book was a great choice for me to start my day off today.  I've read his previous autobiography, which was interesting and filled with insider information about Hollywood.  More important, I appreciate the details he includes about what he has learned about living his life and maintaining strong ties to his family and friends.  Those stories were interesting to hear and touching.

Well, there's my update and starting point!  I hope to be back in the next 5-6 hours.  Good luck to everyone and happy reading!

 

I'm Back!

Yes, I'm back.  Another readathon pulled me from the dark abyss of my own absence.  It's not that I haven't been reading, but I will admit to a bit of a reading slump and to needing a major time out from everything.  Regardless of the major silence going on here, I have read a few great things and have still been excited about this upcoming readathon!  I was especially excited to see that it fell over Fall Break this year, which meant I could actually push things aside and join in (once I knew I was going to be in town). 

Anyway, enough of the boring talk.  Yes, I'll be joining in the readathon again and will be posting.  I can't wait!  I'm a major book rotater though, so I don't anticipate finishing many books.  That's kind of okay by me.  I might be squirreling myself away this time and not jumping online very often.  In the past, that has taken my attention away from my reading, so I might stay away for large chunks of time.  We'll see though, who knows.  I miss people and I might get really overcome with a need for conversation and jump on!

Here are the books I have on rotation, with a few more on my iPad that I'll be "e-reading" along the way as well.  I'll also be breaking in to grade an essay every couple of hours or so (since that is just the norm around here).

Okay.  I have about six more essays to grade before I can head to bed, so I need to get to it.  I look forward to getting to my reading in the morning, so I'll see everyone bright and early!

Long Weekends & Martin Luther King Day

I'm back to the keyboard today--finally.  Life spun maniacally out of control after Christmas Break with our end of term at school, so I literally got next to no sleep for ten days.  I had 20 hours of sleep over six days, then crashed one day, went right back to four hours of sleep a night for one more week of school to start a new semester.  It wasn't just at school, but in my online job as well.  They had finals, so it was the mania of students who had procrastinated an entire semester and decided to do everything in two weeks.  As you can imagine, I'm happy to now collapse into a heap of fatigue over this three-day weekend and try to finally log back on! 

Today is a monumental holiday in terms of humanitarian work and giving back, as Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing humanitarian, activist, and leader who heralded a change that called for the good in all of us to come forward.  I've thought a lot about his bravery today and ways that I can be brave in my personal and professional life.  I don't want to go off on a long, philosophical post, but I think we can agree that there is much that we can still do to achieve King's dream of equality for so many. 

Well, I hope that over the coming days and weeks I can find some balance and write a bit more.  I'm hoping to do some mini book reviews and even get onto some film reviews before the Oscars in March.  For tonight, I'm off to write a few posts and then escape into some more reading before this long weekend is over!

What have you been up to this weekend?

After Holiday Sunday Blatherings

What a Thanksgiving Break!  I can't believe it has come and gone, and I have so much and so LITTLE to show for it.  *sigh*  (Meaning, I still have an 8" stack of papers that I didn't touch...)

This week was amazing.  Sleep ruled the roost around here, which should always top the list over a holiday break.  I actually started my break a little early by taking my Pop. Lit. students to see Catching Fire on Tuesday, since we read it as a class this semester.  What a fun way to start the break!  I always stress myself out--unnecessarily--about all the little details that come with managing money, students, and lesson plans, but it turned out great and the movie was really good.  I have to say that although the movie left out some of the scenes that I thought were interesting in the story, that the movie was pretty true to the novel and well done.  I'm eager to see how they roll out the last two films in the franchise.

For the break, I had a major list of things I needed to take care of, so I spent much of Wednesday running errands and going to doctor appointments.  I only mention it because it has been something I've shared here before.  I went to see my doctor again about these crazy migraines I fight on a continued basis.  I started taking a new medication called Topomax that has had a pretty negative impact on my memory.  Listen, I don't have brain cells to sacrifice!  As far as headaches and migraines go, it's a miracle drug, but I find myself forgetting basic language, which is NOT okay.  I'm an English teacher, so not having access to basic language can be a huge issue.  It's not really forgetting things, it's having this strange lack of access to certain language.  Ugh.  Not a fun trade off.  I'm going to lower the dose a bit and see if that helps the big "dope" factor (as I call it), but hope that the crippling migraines don't come back.  I know that many of you who blog and are big readers also suffer from migraines.  Have any of you had this issue?

Anyway, the rest of the break has been really nice.  My mother has been under the weather off and on, but other than that, it has been pretty laid back and relaxing.  I've really only managed to get through a couple of novels, which is not great for me, but will work for now.  We also went to see About Time, which was by the creators of Love Actually.  I thought it was SO good and would recommend it to all of my friends, 100%.  If you want a feel-good movie that will have you thinking about what matters, day to day, this was that movie.  It is rated R, which I know matters to some of my readers, so you would want to keep that in mind.  I thought the story between the father and son was really touching and had me crying by the end of the film, which was pretty surprising.  Overall, it was a touching film about taking advantage of each and every day, which carried so much more depth than the romantic comedy that we thought we were walking into. 

Although my list of reading accomplished over the break was pretty small, I'm happy with what I got through.  Here's what I read:

What books or movies did you get through over the Thanksgiving Break?  Or, what are you finishing up that you got started?

Where Do We Go From Here?

You might or might not have been wondering where in the world I've disappeared lately.  Well, I've been thinking a lot lately about the direction I wanted to go with my blog.  As many of you know, I'm a full-time public school teacher, but that really wasn't supposed to be the defining feature of my blog.  I really didn't want that to define me, nor with what I read.  The funny thing is, you find that your job or your state in life sometimes does define you though.  It's an interesting hand in hand, as with anyone I suppose.

Originally, I started this blog as a conversation piece with a couple of girlfriends, so we could gab about books as I attempted to prepare for a possible PhD program in English.  Well, after we all got too busy to keep it up, I kept the blog and just kept on gabbing about books.  I kept this completely separate from class, didn't really ever discuss this at work (meaning with my students), and could keep work and hobby apart from one another.  Well, slowly they have started to collide and I'm now pretty much an open book.  I suppose it had to happen at some point, right?  It's not as thought I didn't think it would happen, but I just didn't plan for it.

I suppose I've just been trying to figure out what I wanted to do--from a work standpoint.  I'm open game now for my students to track down and look at everything I'm doing, saying, reading, etc.  Do I want to be a "teacher reading blog"?  Um, no.  I don't do this for work purposes.  I get that those who do that are going above and beyond the call of teaching duty, but I honestly do this to refuel the battery and have conversations about great books that I "might" use for future Pop Lit. or AP classes. 

Okay, so do I just pare back and not blog as often?  That has pretty much become a much bigger option.  I've gotten used to not stating my opinions and being emphatic about very many things.  That can be difficult at times, as I feel strongly about certain things and want to wrap my arms around causes and political opinions, and yet I can't.  Why?  Because my job is to pose both sides for students and help them to come to conclusions on their own.  If they think that I side solidly with something, then they will come to believe that I'm persuading them to believe that way as well.  It's often immature on their part, but very true.

Anyway, I digress.  Where do I go from here?  I don't really know completely.  I'm still feeling this out.  I'm feeling a lot more exposed than I did before, so I'm revamping at the moment.  Listen, I've read some great books this spring and summer, so I still want to review them and keep sharing.  I want to see what you all are reading!  By the way--now that Google Reader is gone, now what do I do?  I know I need to fix my roll as it is.  It hasn't been fixed in ages!  I missed Paris in July this year, but I know I want to keep joining in fun reading events, and you for sure need a blog for that.  And, you for sure need a blog to keep sharing in great new releases. 

I think what I'm trying to say is, that there is a little revision work going on.  I'll figure it out and then keep it moving!

Sunday Blathering: Breaking Through the Fog & a Yummy Watermelon Sorbet

It's time to see if I can fit sentences together.

Why, look!  I put one.  Two.  Three.  Maybe even a paragraph together?  Voila!  Yes, I've been struggling a bit this summer.  Before, I really could blame fatigue and work for my inability to get things posted, but now I can honestly say it's a simple problem of a brain fog that I can't get to leave me be.

I mentioned that I had to go to the ER for a pretty nasty migraine several weeks ago.  Well, the doctors decided to put me on Topamax, which has put my brain into a type of fog and my extremities into pins and needles.  Listen, I think it will all fade over time--I hope?  I haven't had a migraine in two weeks though, and only the faintest of headaches.  What I wasn't aware of though, was that I've been living with constant headaches around the clock.  I had just grown used to them, and even more used to downing a couple of liver and kidney killing Ibuprofen a day.

Needless to say, I'll be quiet about my mind-numbing health issues and try to put words together!  Thanks to this medication issue, I have literally been writing a blog post for over seven days--not cool.  I'm going to try to finish it today and get it posted for Monday or Tuesday, while I'm feeling a little less foggy.

On the home front, my mother is still sitting patiently on the short sale offer.  In the meantime, we're taking exercise classes, eating really clean and healthy, and getting some good R&R.  I'm taking a couple of professional development classes dealing with technology in the classroom and then teaching an online course, so there is still a little going on outside of the general summer slowdown.  Overall though, it's all very nice.

Well, before I run off for the day, let me share a really delicious recipe we whipped up out of some watermelon we were going to have to throw out if we didn't put to use.  It's a pretty simple  Watermelon Sorbet.

You start with a simple syrup by boiling together 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, and 1/4 c. lime juice.  You then want to let it chill so you can bring it together with your watermelon puree.

Combine your simple syrup with 3 cups of watermelon puree, which we took our cubed watermelon and put through a blender and then through a fine sieve to get out the seeds.  Combine the liquids to create a beautiful liquid like this:

I combined it together in a measuring bowl that I could then use to pour it into the ice cream machine.

It then took about 30 minutes of constant spinning to get it to a nice, hard enough consistency to serve.

As you can see, it's still fairly loose.  You can then freeze it.  If you don't have an ice cream maker, just freeze the liquid in a cake pan and scape it with a fork to fluff it.

Either way, it comes out really beautiful and serves up a gorgeous color in the glass.

And the taste, is like summer in a glass!  :)  If you don't believe me, whip some up today!

If you'd like some more great ideas for recipes check out Weekend Cooking.  It is a great, weekly post run by Beth Fish Reads.  There are some really great food-related posts there.  Stop by to check out other great posts from this weekend.

A Little Catch Up & Pride and Prejudice Fan Documentary

Summer break has finally begun for me.  Talk about a roller-coaster ride getting from the end of May until today.  Although the school year ended, I had to go to a conference for my online job on Monday, and lead a breakout session. That had me a bit keyed up.  Why, I don't know.

Besides getting ready for that breakout session, I had to drive home to help my mother pack up our family home to move down near me (4 hours away).  Saying goodbye to your childhood home is emotional!  I didn't enjoy that process at all.  You start just giving or throwing things away because you can't deal with all the stuff you've hung on to for years.  There is sentimental, and then there is hoarding.  Thankfully, the move is all over and my mom's stuff is now in my garage, waiting for her new place.  She found a nice place that went up for short sale, so we're crossing our fingers it doesn't take a year to get her into it.

Sadly, to top all this madness off, I ended up taking my first trip to the ER for a migraine.  NOT cool.  After moving everything into the garage, with the help of some family who came to help, I came down with a nasty migraine.  Three hours later, we were in the ER.  All I can say is thank goodness my mother was here to take me to the ER, and thank goodness for modern meds!

Well, on a bright note, I had a chance to catch a new BBC documentary coming out of the UK about Pride and Prejudice called "Pride and Prejudice: Having a Ball".  It's about an hour and a half and full of really cool historical information that helps us understand Mr. Darcy's comments about dancing and balls.  You should check it out!

Okay.  I'm off to get some errands checked off the list and then maybe home to do some reading!

Quick Update...

It's the end of the year, and I've had some interruptions lately.  As is normal, my online job had finals at the same time as the school where I teach.  Grades are all finished now (Yay!) and I can refocus on all that is coming up.  As mentioned earlier, my mother is moving soon, and has sold our family home.  It's such a mixture of emotions that I tend to block it all out of my mind.  I'm sad to say goodbye to the home I grew up in, but know that it's the right choice for my mother.  I suppose you have to be practical.

I'm finishing up school with graduation on Thursday and then I head off to my yearly online conference on Monday.  In fact, I was asked to lead a break out session at the conference, so I'm starting to switch gears and start thinking about that one.  Once that conference is finished, we'll finish packing up the house so my mom can move for good.  Lots of craziness!  I hope to be back to my blogging routine soon.

Here's what I'm reading at the moment:

This is Kinsella's newest release that I was sent from the Amazon Vine program.  I really liked her last novel, so I have high expectations for this one as well. Once I'm finished with Kinsella's novel, I have a HUGE stack to sort through.  I love having so many choices.  :)

I'm curious if you all have a large stack of novels waiting for you this summer, and if so, what are you most looking forward to reading?

Sunday Blathering & Weekend Cooking: Mother's Day Edition

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  My own poor mother came down Friday and then got sick today. Thankfully, we got a chance to go to see The Great Gatsby and go out to dinner yesterday with some work friends before she got sick.  Today she has basically been on the couch, drinking tea and Sprite.  Sad! 

As mentioned in my last post, this last week we had our AP Literature test.  I swear I stopped sleeping, and in its place I had frantic dreams that I was teaching Elizabethan sonnets, lecturing on Oscar Wilde, and quizzing them on essay writing.  I'm glad the test is over now and I can look towards the end of the school year!  Can I believe it's almost here?  Yes.  I'm feeling it this year, more than ever before.

I'm starting to think about what I'd like to accomplish over the summer, which includes getting my health back on track and reading some more literary fiction.  I'm excited to tackle a different set of goals and focus on me.  I know that sounds selfish, but it's so necessary!

Well, I thought I'd share a family favorite today, which is a Texas Sheet Cake.  Growing up, I think it was the #1 food that my dad would make on a weekend.  We would eat a big Sunday lunch, and then we would just have cut up fruit, cheese slices, popcorn, and this Texas Sheet Cake.  In hindsight, I'm thinking that dinner wasn't so healthy or light, but for some reason it was our "light" supper.  Anyway, I whipped up a 1/2 recipe of this yummy chocolate cake and baked it in my small bundt pan for my mom for Mother's Day.  I thought I'd share the recipe.  We switched things up and put a chocolate glaze on it, but the frosting we usually put on it is yummy.  Enjoy!

Dad's Texas Sheet Cake
(Modified by my Dad, over 20 years ago...Thanks Dad! This is exactly as he wrote it.)
Yields:  One Large Sheet Cake Pan

Mix in a large bowl:  2 c. sugar and 2 c. flour.  Set aside.

Boil:  1 cube butter, 4 Tbsp cocoa powder, 1 c. water, and 1/2 c. oil.  Boil these together in the microwave for a minute.

Mix the hot cocoa mixture into the flour and sugar.  While still hot, add 1/2 c. buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1 tsp. soda, and 1 tsp. vanilla.  Mix well and pour into a well greased and floured cookie sheet pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. 

Frosting:  Combine 1 cube of softened butter, 4 Tbsp. cocoa, 6 Tbsp. milk, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 2 c. powdered sugar

Weekend Cooking is a great, weekly post run by Beth Fish Reads.  There are some really great food-related posts there.  Stop by to check out other great posts from this weekend.

Quick Great Gatsby Read Along Update

I expected to have our next discussion up and ready to go for the read along, but work is kicking my butt!  This week is midterm, so that should say it all.  I'll try to be back tomorrow or Friday with our chapter 3-4 discussion!

Before I leave, I have to share part of a paragraph in chapter 3 that I read several times because it was so densely packed with goodness.  In describing the celebrations at Gatsby's house:

 "The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher.  Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word." (40)

That language just really jumped out at me.  Anyway, happy reading!  I'll be back ASAP!

Sunday Blatherings

Not much to report here.  I'm still hanging on by a thread and trying to finish the year strong.  We're 2 1/2 weeks from the AP test, so the countdown is on!  Every AP teacher is in full alert, I'm sure.  Test scores are relied on so heavily, that you're always thinking about what else you need to focus on and how best to help students succeed.  Admittedly though, students can have one bad night, a fight with a parent, or a nasty break-up the night before (or moments before) the test, and there goes their test score.  I realize all of this and just want to get these test out of the way so I can chill out a bit!  :)

Outside of work, I've mainly been trying to gather up as much energy as I can when I'm not there.  About a month ago I broke down and went to the doctor for a B12 shot, because I was so desperately fatigued.  It helped a little, but the fatigue has just gone on and on.  Yes, I know I have low vitamin D levels (like most of the population) and a touch of anemia, but I have resigned myself to the fact that this is more about mentally needing time off, and not so much about anything physically being wrong.  Like most of us, I just need a time out, which will come in June--I hope.

Well, I'm off to write and post a review today. I've been dying for the time to write up a quick review of Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill, which I mentioned I was reading last weekend.  It's a cute, fast read, and I'd like to post a review today.  Beyond that and a stack of tests I HAVE to finish grading today, here's what I'm off to read:

The newest Sharon Lathan novel.  I love her creativity in this tale of Mr. Darcy's uncle.

I'm bound & determined to be caught up in the series and ready for the last in the series that's coming out soon!

And, of course, I'm reading the AMAZING Great Gatsby for my own Read Along.  Such a great read!

All right.  There's my Sunday and week in a nutshell.  The sun is shining and calling my name.  I think a short, meandering stroll and then a nap might be in order today.  Thank goodness for weekends and Sunday!  I hope you've had a good one.

Sunday Blatherings: The Reboot Edition

One week back after Spring Break and you quickly feel like you're back to where you were before we were off.  It's craziness!  We're prepping our students for state testing, which I shouldn't fret about, but with as "high stakes" as things have been the last few years, I do fret.  I know we've all worked really HARD, so my hopes are always that the test actually show the hard work going on in the classroom.

Anyway, this weekend has been about  "rebooting" so I can be my best at work.  Dare I admit that I feel more and more like my age lately?  It's scary, and something I'd prefer not to admit.  People say it, but I don't know why I didn't ever think about it.  Well, here it is.  :)  I've had to redouble my efforts to take my vitamins, eat well, sleep well, exercise, and all that stuff that you could get away without completely thinking about when you were in college, staying up all night studying--or talking to a roommate.  Now, I look at the clock around 9 pm and start to get ready for bed, for fear I won't get in enough sleep and wreck my day the next day!  Kind of makes me laugh.  I've always been the night owl.  Not anymore.

Okay, on a less whiny note, one of the thing I love about the weekends is that I get to be the master of my domain.  Yes, I love taking care of my house!  What's not to love about changing your sheets so you have lovely, fresh linens?  Or, how nice is it to do all the laundry and see the linen closets filled with beautiful, clean towels?  I love it.  That's the other reason I know I might be putting myself in the "adult" category, because I find myself shopping for lovely bedding and towels sometimes more than I do anything else.  My own lovely addiction.  I love it.

Well, here's what up in my world...

What I'm Gnoshing:  A couple of years ago at our local farmer's market, there was this awesome food truck there with authentic Mexican tacos.  The food was so simple, but completely D-elish!  They served simple grilled or braised meats in a corn or flour tortilla of your choice, and then you could serve yourself from a variety of toppings like white onion, pickled jalapenos, diced peppers, cilantro, and shaved cabbage or lettuce.  You didn't see a speck of cheese, sour cream, or salsa anywhere (and I love that stuff), so these were a revelation to me. 

Needless to say, I think I finally mastered one version of my own.  These lovely tacos are made from some pork ribs that I cooked in the oven in an apricot & jalapeno jelly I purchased, that I then mixed with a touch of honey and minced garlic.  They came out sticky and caramelized in the most delightful way, so they made the perfect taco filling, topped with just a little white onion and cilantro.  I will definitely be making these again and then sharing them! 

What I'm Watching:  Thankfully, Call the Midwives Season 2 is back on.  The Christmas special was pretty good, but nothing that made me dying to keep watching.  That was until I started in on Season 2.  It's so good!  I really love it.

I also, finally, started watching The Walking Dead and have to say it's pretty freaky!  I can't watch it late at night, but I can see why it has been so addicting.  It's definitely not like anything I've ever seen before. 

What I'm Reading:  What am I not reading?  Obviously, I'm reading The Great Gatsby for my own "The Great Gatsby Read Along," but also rereading Brave New World  and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children for two of the classes I'm teaching at school.  It's good stuff!

Outside of that, here are some of what I'm enjoying at the moment:

Just finished this one today!  Good stuff.

I need another vacation so I can just read this in one sitting!

Always love a Sophie Kinsella novel.

 What have you done to "reboot" this weekend?

End of Term

I've been grading most of the last two days (and last week), so reading has gone to the back burner for the moment.  I am, however, still catching all the March Madness news so I can dive in later this coming week.  Let's just hope that I get these essays and all my grades in with plenty of time to spare so I can enjoy!  I'm at about 20 minutes a paper, with 14 left to go.  That should take me, what, another 4 1/2 to 5 hours? 

I'll be back once the papers (not dust) settle!  Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you.

Late (or Early) Sunday Night Blatherings: Daylight Savings Edition

I thought I'd just skip out today and not bother posting anything, but I thought I'd share a bit about what's up in my world.

Weekend's Biggest Achievement:  Tax receipts added up and off to my accountant!  Woo hoo!  It's not necessarily good to have been raised by a father who did taxes for a living.  As an adult who has kind of crazy taxes, what with my online job that is out of state, and lots of write offs, I miss having my dad around to take a look at them.  Thankfully, I have a great tax man and he really puts my mind at ease.  Yay for that nightmare being wrapped up!

Week's Funny Moment:  As mentioned in an earlier post, I have a student teacher for the first time.  It's a strange, interesting, and fun experience all mixed together.  My student teacher is a great teacher and is going to do a really nice job.  I have had to learn to exit the room though, since my larger than life personality means that my students will look to me for a response if I'm in the room.

Anyway, my students were working on projects the hour that my student teacher was teaching.  I have a HUGE stack of essays I'm trying to get through for the AP classes I'm still teaching, so I decided to just stay in the room, but put on my earphones so I could just concentrate on my grading.  What I didn't expect was for "Killing Me Softly" by Lauryn Hill to pop up and turn me into a beat-driven fiend!  Without even realizing it, there I was nodding my head right along to that strong beat in the background.  Next thing I knew, a group of students waved me down, laughing at my little desk dance.  I was little embarrassed, but even more so when I told them what song was driving me to groove along to the beat and they DIDN'T KNOW IT!  Sad. 

What can I say?  A good beat will just make me feel like I gotta move, somehow!  Speaking of beats, back in November or December, I caught Pink's VH1 Storytellers episode.  There she performed my newest obsession, "Just Give Me a Reason" with Nate Ruess from Fun.  I'm now slightly obsessed with that song and have played it about a million times.  Here--check it out!

Coming Week's Fun: We're about two weeks from end of term, so I'm going to be grading essays like a mad woman!  I honestly had hoped to get through a bunch this weekend, but I only got through a couple.  :(  Tomorrow I'm going to have to really put my head down and work, work, work!

However, I do have something fun to look forward to.  On Tuesday night I'm really excited to go to the state competition of Poetry Out Loud.  One of my AP students actually won our district competition and will be going to recite, "Cartoon Physics" by Nick Flynn, "The Canonization" by John Donne, and "Vixen" by W. S. Merwin.  I'm pretty excited to see her compete and am crossing my fingers for her to win!  She is amazing at her recitations and has worked really hard on her poems.

Well, that's my crazy life in a very wordy, yet short, nutshell.  I'm off to bed to TRY to sleep, despite the time change.  I'm not one to sleep well when it's earlier than I'm used to, but I have to get used to it soon, right?  I don't like to take sleep aids, but this might be a good night to take a little something so I'm not dead tired at work tomorrow. 

If all else fails, I have some really great reads waiting for me!  I'm going to go read a bit of  The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar and maybe a bit of Thomas Hardy.  I've been in a mood to read "pen to paper" reads, so these sound like great choices tonight. 

Whatever you're doing this weekend or coming week, I hope it's the best!

6th Blogiversary!

 

Happy 6th blogiversary to One Literature Nut!  I can't believe I've been blogging here for that long.  What started out as a place to discuss books with my friends, as I prepared (once upon a time) to take the GRE subject test in literature, turned into a book blog once that aspiration for the PhD went away.  I don't regret my decision at all--even though I grumble a lot about the essay grading I do NON-STOP around here.  (Yes, I have 45 essays staring at me this weekend, as we speak.)

Thank you to all of the great readers and friends I've met or reconnected with here!  In a crazy world and time when work seems to take front and center, it's nice to have a place to go to talk about books and life all at the same time. 

So, once again, let me say a great big THANK YOU to all of you for sticking around or dropping by as I prattle on about life and literature!

Oscar Madness Pulls Me Back

It's been too long, and I'm feeling the mojo coming back again.  Honestly, as mentioned before, I've just been beyond burned out this school year and found myself hanging by a thread.  In January I got a student teacher, who took 1/2 of my classes.  Although I still find myself using every moment at work to grade, lesson plan, or deal with day to day stuff, having a student teacher has let me go home at night to rest and go to bed at a decent hour without stressing out over all I left undone.  In short, I'm doing better.

Sorry to vent, but how else do you explain a nearly two month absence?  You complain and then explain yourself.  I'm not 100%, but I'm better, and can say that I've been reading like a fiend!  What makes you feel better than reading a ton and sleeping a bit?  Not much, in my estimation.

Well, tomorrow night are the Oscars.  As most years, I've only seen about half of the Best Picture nominees, but I'm still pretty excited to watch.  This year I had the chance to catch:  Les Miserables, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, and Lincoln.  From the other categories, I've seen:  Anna Karenina, Brave, and Prometheus. It doesn't feel like much at all to me, but you still couldn't keep me away!  My apologies for those who follow me on Twitter, as I'm sure I'll be chattering away all evening.  I can't wait.

Okay.  Until I get back into the book-review swing of things, I'll see you around.  For now, I'll leave you with a couple of my favorites.  Where would I be this year without Les Miserables?

I also really liked Silver Linings Playbook.  I have to say that this scene where the lead actor, played by Bradley Cooper, flips out over the tragic ending of A Farewell to Arms had me laughing a little too loudly in the theater.  I might be an English teacher who is supposed to love classics, but who hasn't felt this way about a book a time or two?

 

Until after the Oscars, I'll be hoping for the best for all of my favorites this year!  

New Day--New Start--New RSS Feeds

Happy Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Day!  Thankfully, we were given today off and I've been able to watch a bit of the Inauguration while I work on switching things around a bit on my blog.  It's been too long!  I'm hoping that I'm getting the mojo back again, because I hate that my blog took the fall for all of my burn out.  When you have a demanding job/life, it seems that the things you enjoy end up taking the hit so that you can keep on plugging!

Things are good now and I hope to chill out a bit over the coming five months.  I have just burned out almost beyond repair!  Last summer I not only taught a large online class, but I started the summer off helping teach the teachers about our new common core that we've adopted, going to an online conference in Idaho for my online job, attending an online conference from home for two days, and teaching the first session of summer school.  I've learned my lesson.  I can't do all of that during my break and be okay to head back to school full-time in the fall.  Emotionally, physically, psychologically, and spiritually, I have to take a time out and breathe!  This year I vowed to myself that I won't be doing half of those things during my break.

Today I'm working on getting some things cleared up, like old feeds, etc.  Yes, I was still using Feedburner.  I've now switched back though, so those of you who have subscribed to the feed should be fine.  If you have subscribed by email, I no longer have that service, so I apologize.  I hope you'll still follow me here!  If you see any issues with it posting, let me know and I'll dig around a bit to see what I've missed.

Thanks to all of my friends, family, followers, and faithful readers!  Here's to a great 2013!