Sunday Blatherings: Maybe It's Time...

It's been awhile, and I finally found myself missing the space here to write and share what I'm reading, so I thought I'd give this another shot and see where it goes.  Who knows?  All I know is that I want to talk about what I'm reading, and thankfully I have my own space to do that!

To be honest, work stole my mojo for awhile, and I felt like I just wanted to shut it down and focus everything I had into getting the things completed that needed completing, and then shutting out everything that needed shutting out.  Books were not on the "shut out" list, but the pressure of finding time to post and separate everything in my life was definitely on that list!

Things are good now.  While I was sad to lose my grandfather this fall,  saying goodbye to the last of my grandparents, I felt better equipped to handle it in comparison to where I was at last year.  In general, I've fallen back on working hard, playing hard, and embracing the positives in life--not the negatives.  That has been a real life-saver for me.  Thankfully, I have great family, friends, and co-workers who also embrace that spirit.  And at the end of the day, I seriously don't let things bother me. 

Having said that, books never went off the radar.  Where would I be without the different perspectives and viewpoints that books afford us?  This last year has been a good one for reading, and I've loved so many of the books I've read or listened to.  Having discovered BBC Radio 4 has turned work time, whether during my prep hour or after school, into something magical!  They have had some amazing books and plays broadcast on there, so much so that I'm always scouring their page for upcoming pieces.

I've also fallen in love with FutureLearn's free online courses, where I have taken a number of amazing literature & history courses.  Seriously, as a teacher I sometimes feel like I need to feed the engine that got me into teaching in the first place--the passion behind the practices--books and history.  I quickly found that after taking these courses, I feel more knowledgeable in my own classroom, as well as inspired to learn more on my own.  What could be better than that?  (Okay, so I have some classes that took me a year to get through, but I'm not paying for them, nor getting any credit.  It's all good!)

Okay, let's get to the real deal now and talk about books!  I've been on a modern/contemporary classic binge this year, and finished a number of great novels and am in the process of reading some great contemporary reads.  Here are a few:

The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton, forced me to read with an attention to detail that I haven't in a very long time.  The number of characters and story lines were so tightly interwoven that you really had to pay attention with this one.  I won't lie, that this book took me well over a year to complete, but so worth it for the richness of the mystery set in New Zealand, and the intriguing characters in that time in history.

This book, Redeployment by Phil Klay, I listened to as I drove to and from work.  Let me not lie here.  It was a tough book to hear.  The pain, sorrow, anger, and emotional pain that came through each soldier's story made it difficult for me to hit play each day, and yet I couldn't silence their stories.  This collection really reshaped some of my thinking about our vets and the psychological toll they suffer by going to war.
**This is a really gritty novel, full of language and graphic experiences.  I'm not sure how you would separate that from their lives or characters and still get the full impact of their stories, and I wouldn't ask anyone to.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is a jewel of a read that I'm currently in the middle of reading.  My school is using this text for honors classes, and I have put it on my AP reading list, even without finishing it!  There are certain books that grab at you from the very first page or chapter, and this is one of those.  I'm eager for Christmas Break to get here so I can binge-read the last half!

What can I say?  Thrity Umirigar has won my heart and spirit.  Both of her novels I received through the Amazon Vine program, and although I'm slow to get through most novels (no thanks to my crazy reading habit of reading about 20 books at once), her novels and characters REALLY speak to me.  I love her characters and her ability to craft a story about women and men that you can grow to understand and care about on such a deep level.  I'm a little over half way through The Story Hour, about an Indian woman in counseling with her female psychiatrist after an attempted suicide, and I really can't say enough about Umrigar's rich narratives that keep giving.  I feel like these women are very real.  What can I say?  Go look this one up!

Finally, I recently started, and immediately binge read a huge chunk of The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan.  Confusing at first, I stuck with the splintered narrative to gather who these characters were and the connection to Tasmania, Australia, and the time period--WWII that we get through the narrative.  Each character is nuanced, so you have to stick with them so that they will reveal what drives them and why they do what they do.  It's an amazing novel so far, and one that sticks with me for days after I read even a short chapter or two.  I can't wait to finish this one!

There's the gist of what I've been up to and what I've been reading, listening, or studying!  I'm excited for the holidays and for this next year.  What about you?  What have you been reading or doing the most of this past year?

Sunday Blatherings: Let the Holidays & Reading Begin!

Yes, I am one happy girl today.  My holidays have officially begun, and I have a STACK of books to read! *Insert Jazz Hands Here*  Yes, a STACK! In fact, I listened to The Passion of the Purple Plumeria by Lauren Willig (#10 in the series) yesterday while I was doing laundry and some massively ignored house work.  Talk about a nice introduction to the weeks ahead.

Okay, so I wish I could say that I don't have grading over the break, but I do.  Not the normal load that I have had in the past, and at least I have two weeks to pick away at it, and not just a millisecond or my bedtime to do it all.  I'm ready for sleep and plenty of reading.  I'm still not sure why this year is kicking my butt, but it is, and I just have to keep at it until I have breaks where I can collapse into a heap of fatigue.  Sounds delightful and cheery of me to share, doesn't it?  There is no Scroogery going on here!  There is only happy, good will!

Now, do I really have a "Top of" list for 2013???  That's the next thing I have to put my brain to this week.  Maybe I'll read something fantastic that I can add to the list.

What about you?  Have you read anything great so far that you know you'll add to the list? And, what will you be reading over this holiday break?

By the way, you really should check out Neil Gaiman reading A Christmas Carol at The New York Public Library in the link below.  It really made my day to get a little of that holiday cheer.  His reading starts at about minute 11:00.  Enjoy!

 

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?

Sunday Blatherings: I'm Free!

Yesterday I spent most of the day grading.  Believe it or not, I actually used cleaning my house as a way of "rewarding" myself in between stacks of grading.  Yep.  That's how desperate things got around here.  My house is pretty clean now!

Today, I finished my end of term grading around 2pm, and immediately felt a bit like Dobby from Harry Potter.   Yes, I am now free!  Okay, so not completely.  I worry about who will come back and ask me about their grades and not be satisfied, but I can't be worried about that for now.  I'm just happy to have them all in!

My best friend "Doc" (as she likes me to call her) is here from Michigan, and we went to my mom's place for a great Sunday dinner.  Why do I share that?  Because I think I'm learning that it's the simplest things in the world that are the most delightful, such as the Sunday dinner around the table.

This week I'm excited to get back to my reading.  I have some book tours coming up, as well as new releases (Allegiant--which I'm hearing mixed responses to, About a Boy--Also, some mixed responses to) that I want to read ASAP.  I've been dying to dive into them, but they all came out when things got really busy for me.  Now I can finally start reading!  Anyway, here's what I have planned for my reading list:

 

I do have to say that Me Before You was my choice for audiobook this month and it has been a killer.  I saw that a lot of readers were talking it up on Goodreads, so I gave it a chance, not really knowing anything about it.  Pretty quickly, I could sense that it was going to be one of those books that was going to SLAY me.  I'm only about 1/3 of the way into it so far, but I'm already afraid that there is going to be a crying jag session at some point, and I'm only praying that it is as I drive HOME from work and not on my way TO work in the morning.  The audiobook version of this one is pretty amazing, so if you're at all hesitant about the performances on these, then this one is a safe bet.  I've really enjoyed listening to it, but can tell that it's going to be a tearjerker at some point soon!

Besides being free from grading, getting some sleep, visiting with my friend who is in town, and reading again, I'm excited to just catch up on life!  What's new in your world? 

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.

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.

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?

Sunday Blatherings: Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  This year is pretty low key.  My mother is flying back from Ohio today, my best friend is in the Dominican Republic, and I went to have dinner and decorate eggs with family yesterday.  It was really nice to catch up with extended family and their kids.   

As a quick catch up, we're now on Spring Break.  I finished up end of term--yes, I magically finished all of those essays that had to be graded.  We're in full state-test-prep mode now, which I'm integrating into the unit I teach.  I try not to completely focus on teaching to the test, but the truth is that even a few focused lessons right before the test can help with test scores. 

Over the coming week, I'll be heading home to Idaho to help my mom wrap up a few things so she can sell and move.  The whole process has been pretty gut-wrenching, since that is where I grew up.  In fact, my family has lived in that part of Idaho for over 150 years, so it's pretty difficult to start to let go of places that have been in my family history for so long.  The truth is that most of our family now live elsewhere--actually within an hour of where I currently live.  This move isn't going to be easy, but it will be nice to have my mom closer, and memories are really about people, right?

Well, that's my little corner of the world.  I hope you have a great Easter and a great 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!

Weekend Cooking: Pasta Sauces

To all of my east coast friends, I hope you are all doing well.  The news has been devastating and we're all  thinking about you (and donating to help where we can).  My thoughts and prayers go out to you as the clean up and recovery begins.

What can I say about this side of things?  End of term about killed me last week and weekend, so this week I think I spent it trying to gather strength and energy again.  I'm not sure what was up with that first term, but I was so burned out that I couldn't get enough sleep or rest enough to feel back to normal.  What's up with that?  Things are looking up though with a nice weekend relaxing and NO grading in sight.  I'm feeling a bit more back to myself.

For Weekend Cooking this week, I decided to do a little product comparison.  Have you ever looked at the expensive bottled spaghetti sauces and wondered if they're really worth all that extra cost?  Sometimes these sauces are over twice as much as the spaghetti sauces we're all familiar with!  Well, I purchased a couple of bottles of sauces I hadn't yet tried:  Mario Batali's Tomato Basil and Rao's Tomato Basil.  In my local grocery store, these sauces run about $7.99 a bottle.

Now, I usually just make my own sauce from my home canned tomatoes because I have a bit of a sensitivity to acidic tomatoes (supposedly, I'm allergic to them?), but I do fine if the product is high quality and canned when it's fully ripe.  Anyway, I thought I'd try out these sauces for those last minute dinners or baked pasta dish I want to whip up.   Here are my results.

Mario Batali's Tomato Basil

• Flavor:  Very light and slightly tangy back taste.
• Color:  Also, very light, which might mean the tomatoes have been thinned out or canned before fully ripe?
• Basil-ness:  That basil flavor is pretty light.  In fact, it seems to be a bit thinned out.
• Toothiness Quotient:  When applied to the pasta, it sticks nicely and has more of a fresh tomato flavor to it that makes the pasta taste a bit like a cheaper brand.

Rao's Tomato Basil

•  Flavor:  Nice a deep, robust flavor.  This literally tastes like it's been cooking on your stove all day, developing a richness that doesn't taste like it could be bottled.
• Color:  Even from the picture above, you can see that it's a beautiful, dark color.  It's a glorious dark red, with bits of basil and parsley leaves (obviously fresh) throughout.
• Basil-ness:  It was a perfect balance.  The sauce was so rich that the basil was more of a compliment than anything.  
• Toothiness Quotient:  When I tried it out on penne, it coated it delightfully, so spaghetti turned out even better.

My favorite sauce then?  As you can guess, it was Rao's by a landslide.  In fact, when I returned to the grocery store, they had it on sale and I bought four bottles to put on my shelves!  I've tried other expensive brands, but nothing has compared yet to Rao's.  If you look, others have also evaluated bottle sauces and agree with me.  Here's Cooking Light's taste test. 

If you're a bit cheap when it comes to sauces, which I've been since college, I have to at least say you should bite the bullet and try Rao's.  I'll be keeping this sauce around for quick dinner emergencies or a nice baked pasta. 

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.

End of Readathon & Sunday Blatherings

I'll just admit that I stand little chance of making it all the way through a readathon.  Especially with a flight home later tonight, I didn't want to make myself sick and nauseous (my go to response when I'm sleep deprived) by staying up too late.  Okay.  Total over-share, but you get my drift!

Here is my End of Readathon Survey response:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?  About 2 am here, which is midnight for me when I'm home.  I had to call it a night.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?  I know it doesn't help you finish a book, but I like bouncing around a bit in what I read.  One thing I really enjoyed was reading a short novella, "Tweet the Police" that gave me that feeling of finishing something.  I also think that finishing books you're midway through is nice.  It gives you some settled time to really finish them up, which I love.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  Not really.  I love them and think they are always well run.  I appreciate that they are set up so we can all jump in when we can!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?  I appreciate the camaraderie that comes from cheerleaders and the visiting bit behind the event.  It really does help keep you moving.
5. How many books did you read?  1 1/4 novels and 1 novella
6. What were the names of the books you read?  Stranger In My Arms by Lisa Kleypas, I started To Marry an English Lord, and read "Tweet the Police" by Ellis Drake.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?  Well, all of them.  Honest.
8. Which did you enjoy least?  None.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?  I wasn't one this year, other than visiting people when I could.  They make a great difference.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  Yes, I'll be participating for sure.  I like hosting challenges, so I'll try to gear up for it.

 Well, that's that.  I'm so glad I got to jump into the readathon here or there, so now I have to gear up for my trip home from Michigan.  It's been a great trip, even though it was way too short.  To finish the day before I fly out, my friend "Doc" and I are watching a bit of Sherlock and I'm going to try to get some more grading wrapped up.

Time to get back to the grading and sorting of the luggage. 

How was your weekend, and if you participated in the readathon, how did you do? 

Sunday Blatherings & Weekend Cooking

Happy fall!  Yes, I think it's really and truly here.  My air conditioning finally has pretty much stopped running and I'm about ready to switch it over to the heating part of central air.  Nice.  October is just a great month.  Other than my hectic life at work, I can't think of a single thing I don't love about this last part of the year. 

Heading into the weekend I noticed that I had picked up a bit of a cold, so I'm taking it easy and catching up on grading I have to finish before I leave for Michigan this next week.  I'm also cooking up a nice pot of turkey and wild rice soup.  Yum! 

Speaking of cooking, I have been playing around with cake recipes after picking up an amazing cake cookbook called Cake Boy by Eric Lanlard and a bit of a gift from my mother, the cookbook Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.  Growing up, we always made our baked good from scratch.  In fact, most of our recipes came from a little community cookbook of my grandmother's from the 1960s (which contained recipes from the early 1930s on).  I cherish that cookbook, but I love looking at other recipes that redo classics or share an updated version. 

Cake Boy is this amazing little cookbook that has a British/French flair.  Most of his cakes are "sponges" and are smothered in frosting.  There are amazing tart recipes, one of which is a wicked looking Bakewell Tart that I'm dying to try my hand at.  There are cheesecakes, cookies, and madeleines, all with detailed recipes and quite a few glorious pictures to go with the recipes.  In fact, last weekend I made a nice, chocolate sponge.  It was very brownie-like in its depth of chocolate flavor, and simply amazing.  Honestly, if I was going to recommend a cookbook, this would be the one.  You really have to check this out. (Here is a link to Cake Boy boutique in London.)

The second cookbook I've tried out is Vintage Cakes, which I got as a gift.  The pictures make "vintage" sound like it equates messy in some way, as some of the pictures feature cakes served on boards with frosting kind of running all over.  In their defense, it was mainly the Texas Sheetcake recipe, but I thought it was a pretty messy looking picture that I didn't think represented "vintage" in the way I pictured.  The recipes in this cookbook though are really nostalgic.  The Honey Bee Cake was one that I remember and I really want to try out, along with the Harvey Wallbanger.  There is a nice variety of cakes here and I really do love it.  Just look at that sweet cover!  Doesn't that speak for itself?

That's my weekend.  Maybe I'll post my turkey soup on another day?  For today, I thought I'd share a bit of cake magic.  Now, I'm off to eat a bowl of soup, although this post is making me wish I had a piece of cake!

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.

Sunday Blatherings: Just Another Week

Excuses, excuses, excuses.  I get so tired of my own excuses, but life is hard sometimes.  Even though I have more papers to grade than I even want to think about, I still thought I'd have time this last week to do a little bit on my blog.  Didn't happen.  This past summer, our department worked on a grant that we were approved for.  It was nice to have that work completed before school started, but I had the paperwork to turn in as proof of what we'd accomplished hanging over me.  I know.  It should have been simple and easy, but it was one more thing to add to the list.  On Wednesday night I stayed at work until 7pm to get things done, including that paperwork.  Next thing I knew--boom--I got sick.  That's just the way it works, right?

Have you ever had vertigo?  Well, I hadn't.  Thursday morning I woke up feeling like the world was spinning off of its axis.  I had never experienced anything like that before.  I had so much work to do that I really couldn't spare a day out of the week, but there you have it.  I was done.  Thanks to some great people at work, my classes were covered, and I had to stay home (on the floor for the first three hours) and recoup from the spinning in my head.  I had a killer headache the next day and have felt pretty nauseous ever since, but at least I'm past that horrible day.  Maybe it was a virus or something?  All I know is that I don't want to experience that one again!

Thankfully, my mom is here for the weekend to celebrate an early birthday; I'll be too busy for my real birthday, so she headed down this week.  She's been 100% okay that I haven't felt good enough to do much, but we did take the time to go see the fall colors.  Talk about gorgeous.  Where I live, I'm about 15 minutes from the base of two major canyons.  We drove up through both canyons along with what seemed like the rest of the state.  Regardless of the traffic, it was a really nice drive and view.  Now we can head into October!  I'm completely ready for the fall now.

Despite being crazy busy and sick, I still finished two books.

I listened to this on audiobook, which helped with my busy week.

Now, time to kick into gear and get some reviews posted!  How was your week?

Sunday Blatherings

All right.  I had a lengthy blog post written that I deleted parts of over and over again.  I decided that it's time to let the post go and give a summary.  Here's what I've been up to, that once again, drove me away from any online presence:

• Online Open House
• Parent-Teacher Conferences, which went really well!  
• Midterms
• 95 4-page essays from my Juniors
• 57 AP Literature Timed Essays

Anyway, that's some of my life in a nutshell.  It was a great week, but so busy that all I did was come home, grade a few papers, and then head to bed.  My students have been so great this year that I keep wondering if I'm in a really great dream.  They are just a really great group of kids which motivate me to work harder for them.  Now, how can I get through all these papers and still sleep?!?

Life has been pretty calm otherwise.  I bought my tickets to head to Michigan next month to visit my best friend who is in residency out there.  After a summer where I stuck close to home, I'm eager to get out of Dodge and spend time with my friend.  Now that I'm trying to really pay everything off, I don't see many other trips in my near future, so this will be a fun get away.  I can't wait!  I guess it will be my own little kick off to the holiday "season." (Speaking of awesome getaways, I so want to head to this awesome cottage in Cornwall, England called "The House in The Sea."  Awesome!)

Other than that, nothing much going on.  Here's what I finished reading this last week.  Talk about my great escape when I couldn't take how busy I was all day!

It's funny that my fiction reads were both vampire books!  These were my escape from my crazy schedule.  How do I end up reading more?  Yea, I turn the TV off early and I read so that I can unwind.  That's just the way I roll. 

Well, there's my exciting life in a nutshell!  I think this week will be a lot better and much slower.  Let's hope I can get back to the treadmill and maybe some healthy cooking?  Hopefully I'll get through some more great reads!

What did you do this weekend?

Sunday Blatherings & Weekend Cooking

What is it about a four-day week being, at times, longer than a normal week?  That's a little bit of how I felt this past week.  Work is work though, right?  I vowed to myself this year that I would try to "let things go" in terms of holding onto stress.  I've only been partially successful at that, as I still tend to let things stay with me after I've left work.  I have, needless to say, let a lot of things go that were especially toxic.  I love that as I've matured, I feel less and less of a desire to please people and more of a desire to just do my job and then let it go.  That doesn't mean I'm okay with the "amount" I have to do, just that I let the nonsense go.  You know?

Do you know what else I've only been partially successful at?  Exercise.  Talk about impossible.  There is this hideous fatigue and let down that hits once I leave work, and the endurance I thought I was building this summer with my 3 mile a day walks--well, it went out the window.  When I do manage to hop on the treadmill, my feet are still so achy from work that I manage to get about 20 minutes in before I'm calling it quits.  I suppose I'll just have to keep at it, because otherwise it's all just a big vicious circle.  Here's to trying and never giving up!

Reading has been especially satisfying lately.  At school we've challenged our students to a 40 Book Challenge, to read 40 books by the end of the school year.  I'll have to share the categories/genres we are challenging them to read, but it's a fun and exciting time to talk about what we're reading.  Some of the kids are doing a great job and TRYING, which is exactly what I wanted them to do.   As for me, I've been reading some great stuff lately.  One in particular has really stayed with me--The Love of Her Life by Harriet Evans.  I can't say much without spoiling the plot, but there is some real emotional turmoil in this novel.  It feels very real and close to my heart.  I know it sounds a bit "chick-lit" like, and I love that stuff so I'm not knocking it, but have to say that this one has hit some pretty emotionally charged situations.  I can hardly put the book down, except when sleep comes a callin' or I have work to do.  My hope is that I can knock out some more pages later tonight. 

All right, to end my post today, I wanted to share a little cooking experiment I tried out.  One of my new favorite shows on TV is The Chew.  I love their banter and the fun things they cook.  Daphne Oz is on the show and recently made her own easy version of a fudgesicle, minus the chemicals, additives, and excess calories.  (Click link for "Daphne Oz's Fudgesicle".)

The recipe is pretty straight forward, which I whipped up in my little smoothie machine.  I then poured it into my cute sailboat popsicle molds and there you go--homemade fudgesicles. 

After letting them set up last night, I finally tried one today.  They are pretty good.  I wouldn't say that mine were especially creamy, and I'm thankful that I cut back on the amount of cocoa that she called for.  You'll notice that I used coconut milk (not the canned stuff), which I think led to them being less creamy--also fewer calories overall.  I also used agave instead of honey, but only because that's all I had in the house. 

My final verdict?  Yes, I'd make them again.  They were easy, fast, and satisfying.  Mine were probably less than the 50 or so calories that she mentioned in the show, so I'm happy with them and think I'll definitely make these again.  Besides, the cost per fudgesicle is a real steal! 

Adjustments in the recipe for next time:  I'll keep the cut back on the cocoa to 2 1/2 TBSP, add a bit more agave, and try adding a TBSP of peanut butter maybe?  I think it would really add great flavor to them.  Overall though, they're still pretty fantastic.

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.

Sunday Blatherings: Three-Day Weekend Edition

As is typical of me, I'm reading way too many books all at once. When is it too much; when do I call it a day and stop adding to the pile?!? I suppose I don't know what a limit is and I keep adding to it with every passing day or week. I've always been an impatient reader and have rotated what I read, but this is a bit much, even for me. Let me share some of what I have in my current pile:

 

 

 

You get the hint.  This is only like half of them.  I had high expectations to spend my weekend reading and ended up watching television, cleaning, and sleeping,  It's not that any of that isn't good, but I wanted to make more time for reading.  I suppose I have ONE MORE DAY to get to it!  Tonight I'll be diving into this beauty and am pretty excited--although, do I need one more book on my pile?!?

 

 So, at work we just finished our second week of school.  My students are so good that I keep waiting for something to happen.  Maybe I need to count myself fortunate and get things on a move on with curriculum right, and stop bracing myself.  It's funny that I still wait for issues to pop up.  

One change I'm trying to make this year in my teaching is the number of informational texts I use.  The common core that our state has adopted has a large focus on these kind of texts so that students can practice comprehending and then synthesizing the information to make certain decisions.  I definitely think it makes them more ready for the real world, but I miss all the literature that I'm used to.  On the flip side, I get to do book talks and encourage them to read more great things for fun!

Well, not much is going on here, and I am perfectly fine with that.  Other than achy feet and losing my voice on most days, things are great.  I have very little to complain about, which is glorious; the bills are paid, I'm happy, and I'm healthy.  What more could you ask for?

I suppose that tomorrow I'll do a little cooking and maybe whip up a batch of banana or lemon poppy-seed bread to help me through the remainder of the week.  Other than that and a batch of response papers to grade, I'll be enjoying my Monday off.  What will you be doing tomorrow?