Unwind

Here is another book review!

Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

This was a great book! I had a hard time putting it down in order to go about daily things. I highly recommend this book and I am going to be buying one for my classroom!

Not a Classic

I decided last year that I needed to start reading some of the "classics" that a lot of people read in high school but I never did. Last summer I read To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men I enjoyed both of them and it helped me for school as well because they are both options that I can teach. This summer I decided on Catcher of the Rye. I remember a few? years ago when J.D. Sallinger died and all of the hoopla surrounding the book and how good it was and blah blah blah. Anyways, I decided that it would be this year's "classic." The premise behind the book has all kinds of potential, a boy gets kicked out of his school and doesn't want to go home to tell his family quite yet so he stays on his own in New York City. (Sorta sounds like Home Alone 2) Well I was disappointed. First the language. Yes there was foul language but that isn't what bothered me, the narrator used the same phrases over and over and over again and that was irritating. It seemed like the same story with just a few details being changed for each chapter. There are some good points to it but not one that I will be recommending to my students or friends.

A Glimpse

Eventhough this was made a while ago and it isn't the right subject this is how my class goes sometimes.... but I wouldn't change it for anything!

Power Reading

This past week Pat and I were in Michigan visiting his family at their lake cottage and with that comes hours upon hours of free time to read! My grand total from Sunday to Saturday was 5 books. Here are the summaries and my take on each book.

Sunrise over Fallujah


Robin's parents aspire for him to go to college, but following September 11, he feels compelled to join the Army instead. By early 2003, Robin has completed Basic Training and is deployed to Iraq where he becomes part of a Civil Affairs Unit charged with building the trust of the Iraqi people to minimize fighting. Civil Affairs soldiers are often put into deadly situations to test the waters, and Robin finds that the people in his unit, who nickname him "Birdy," are the only ones he can trust. Robin quickly learns that the situation in Iraq will not be resolved easily and that much of what is happening there will never make the news. Facing the horrors of war, Robin tries to remain hopeful and comforting in his letters to his family, never showing his fear or the danger he actually faces. The story of teenagers going to war today is an important one, and it is not told often enough. Myers writes an important book to have in any collection to recognize that many teens will choose to join the military instead of, or before, going on to college. Robin is only eighteen, and it is difficult to watch his innocence erased as war leaves its mark on him, but it is the reality for many young men and women. This fine book could be included with a unit on current events and is a good choice for boys.

My Take
This was a pretty good book. I picked this one up at the Scholastic Book Fair and the reason I decided to get it was I felt like it was a "boy" book. I tend to only get books for my classroom that the girls will like so I was trying to find some new ones. The beginning was a little slow for me but I think it was because I didn't let myself get excited about it.

Shattering Glass


Fat, clumsy Simon Glass is a textbook geek, and all three of Rob's posse hates him, each for his own reasons. But Rob is driven by the need to prove his power, and so he decrees that they will take on the seemingly impossible task of making Simon popular. They take him shopping for a better look, get his hair styled, teach him how to behave. Rob extracts painful sacrifices and uneasy moral compromises to achieve the goal, but each of his followers has a hidden empty place and a related secret that holds them in bondage to his manipulations. Soon Simon is on his reluctant way to becoming Class Favorite, but then he begins to show a dark, cruel side, and an ability to do what the others can't--defy Rob.

My Take
AMAZING! This book was recommended to me by our Jr. High librarian and it was wonderful. I couldn't put it down once I started. It was interesting for me as well because since I work in a high school the students reminded me of my kids as well. At the beginning of each chapter their is a little excerpt that gives away a little of the ending and I found myself turning the pages back and forth to put all the pieces together.

Jeannie out of the Bottle


Over the past four decades, the landmark NBC hit television series I Dream of Jeannie has delighted generations of audiences and inspired untold numbers of teenage crushes on its beautiful blond star, Barbara Eden. Part pristine Hollywood princess and part classic bombshell, with innocence, strength, and comedic talent to spare, Barbara finally lets Jeannie out of her bottle to tell her whole story.

Jeannie Out of the Bottle takes us behind the scenes of I Dream of Jeannie as well as Barbara’s dozens of other stage, movie, television, and live concert performances. We follow her from the hungry years when she was a struggling studio contract player at 20th Century Fox through difficult weeks trying to survive as a chorus girl at Ciro’s Sunset Strip supper club, from a stint as Johnny Carson’s sidekick on live TV to tangling on-screen and off with some of Hollywood’s most desirable leading men, including Elvis Presley, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Warren Beatty. From the ups and downs of her relationship with her Jeannie co-star Larry Hagman to a touching meeting with an exquisite and vulnerable Marilyn Monroe at the twilight of her career, readers join Barbara on a thrilling journey through her five decades in Hollywood.

But Barbara’s story is also an intimate and honest memoir of personal tragedy: a stillborn child with her first husband, Michael Ansara; a verbally abusive, drug-addicted second husband; the loss of her beloved mother; and the accidental heroin-induced death of her adult son, just months before his wedding. With candor and poignancy, Barbara reflects on the challenges she has faced, as well as the joys she has experienced and how she has maintained her humor, optimism, and inimitable Jeannie magic throughout the roller-coaster ride of a truly memorable life.

My Take
Not a big fan. I used to watch I Dream of Jeannie but not as much as some of the other shows on Nick at Night. The whole reason I got the book was because Barbara Eden was on The Talk promoting her book and I thought it sounded interesting. I felt like it was just her talking about how pure she was and how everyone else in Hollywood was evil or trying to get with her. It was neat to read about her life but I wish she would have talked more about the show that made her famous.

If I Stay


The last normal moment that Mia, a talented cellist, can remember is being in the car with her family. Then she is standing outside her body beside their mangled Buick and her parents' corpses, watching herself and her little brother being tended by paramedics. As she ponders her state (Am I dead? I actually have to ask myself this), Mia is whisked away to a hospital, where, her body in a coma, she reflects on the past and tries to decide whether to fight to live. Via Mia's thoughts and flashbacks, Forman (Sisters in Sanity) expertly explores the teenager's life, her passion for classical music and her strong relationships with her family, friends and boyfriend, Adam. Mia's singular perspective (which will recall Alice Sebold's adult novel, The Lovely Bones) also allows for powerful portraits of her friends and family as they cope: Please don't die. If you die, there's going to be one of those cheesy Princess Diana memorials at school, prays Mia's friend Kim. I know you'd hate that kind of thing. Intensely moving, the novel will force readers to take stock of their lives and the people and things that make them worth living.

My Take
Another pretty good one. This is one for my girls though, not so much the guys. It was an ok book not really one that grabbed me, I was just interested to see what she would decide. It was a quick read though, I read it on the way home from the lake.

The Summer I Turned Pretty


Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer -- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

My Take
Another chick lit book. I was interested in finishing the book just to see who she would end up with. The story was anti-climatic though.

I am now onto Catcher in the Rye I am trying to read some of the "classics" that I have never read but it seems like everyone else has!

We got it!

Well after months of house searching, we finally got one! It truly was God leading us to it with how we found it. We actually went into the bank to talk about getting a loan for another house (Pat really liked it, I was ok with it) and the lender told us about a house that they just foreclosed on. He told us to take the keys and check it out. Pat and I didn't have anything else to do so we thought it wasn't going to hurt anything to check it out, so we did. As soon as we walked through it we both knew we loved it. A few days later we took our parents up and they checked it out and everyone agreed it would be a good purchase.
Fast-forward a few days and we find out someone else is interested in the house as well and have put in an offer. This equals us (ok maybe just me) freaking out a little because we really wanted to house. So we put in an offer and just had to wait. Finally we got an email that said we got the house! So excited!
We still have to do inspections and all that but I am hoping to get in soon. We decided to start packing up some of the stuff we don't use very often and already have quite a bit packed up. I am also starting to price some stuff for a garage sale because honestly you never know who may want some of this stuff and it won't cost me anything.
Now our next step is to find some furniture because we are really spoiled here and only have a couch and tv stand! I will post pictures soon!

P90 Ouch!

For a while now I have realized that I am not in the best shape ever and have constantly said I should do something about it but with all the other things going on in my life, I have always found a way to avoid it. Like our pastor said once "I sometimes get the urge to run, but I just sit down until that passes." Well no more. Pat and I have both decided that we need to get back on track. When Pat and I first met we were both in pretty good shape and he was one of those crazy people that enjoys running ( I really don't understand those people.) Anyways on Monday Pat went to our friends Chad's house and borrowed his P90X videos. If you are not familiar with P90X it is a pretty extreme workout. I feel that you need to be in shape to start it. We are now on our 3rd day and I think it helps that we are doing it together. This morning he didn't want to do it but I convinced him that we need to and I am sure there will be a day that I refuse to do it but he will sway me otherwise. Maybe this will at least tone us up a little. I know we will probably not make it back to our pre-college weight but we can always chip away some pounds!

Where Have I been?

So February 21st huh? That is the last time I wrote anything. Sorry! With softball it is hard to have time to actually sit down and type anything. I will try to cram in the last couple months in just a few paragraphs so you don't sit here and read for hours.

SCHOOL

School is still going well. It is hard to believe that I am almost done with my first year already. I am going to write a book about my first year adventures. Even if no one else ever reads it I am going to be glad to have written all about it and maybe when I retire I will read it and it will make me laugh. I have been keeping a notebook about all of the significant things that have happened but I am sure that I have missed some things so I am going to try to get this accomplished before the summer is over.

SOFTBALL
When we actually get to play it is going quite well. As of right now we haven't played for a week. It makes it difficult because you don't know what the next skill you need to work on is. My girls are great. We have quite a few freshmen this year which is completely opposite of what I had last year. I had juniors on my team last year. This year I have 4 sophomores and the rest are freshmen. They are learning though and I love coaching.

PAT'S JOB
Pat is still at Hertz. Nothing really new there. He is going through fire school to be a firefighter so that is exciting/scary. He loves it and has always wanted to do it so I am really happy he is involved in something here since he moved here for me. Speaking of moving...

NEW HOUSE
Pat and I have started looking for a new house. We have not looked at too many but we do have one that we are serious about now. It took us a while to agree on one and come to some sort of compromise (which wasn't fun) but I think we have come to a settlement and are going to persue it. We still have to do all the inspections/ loan stuff and all of that fun stuff so no moving will be done at least until school is over.

SKUNK
There was a week last month that was an intersting one. First I was extremely stressed because of softball and school and just everything in general. Well Monday I met with our Vice Principal because I was having an observation the next day. I must not have been holding it all together as well as I thought because he asked me if I was ok and I just broke down right there in his office (so embarrassing) and then I got sick to my stomach. I pulled myself together until about 3rd period but then I couldn't take it anymore and came home sick (my first sick day of the year). So I got rested up and felt much better and was getting ready to go to school the next day when I smelled something. I asked Pat if he smelled it and of course he said no. Well I thought it smelled like skunk and smelled Paisely our dog but it wasn't her so I just thought I was crazy. Fast forward to school and my students can smell it. It was on my clothes! I came home to change but it was worse. Somehow a skunk sprayed our house! I think it sprayed outside right when Pat let Paisley out and the smell all came in. Oh and one more thing remember that my meeting the day before was because I had my observation? Yep I had it smelling like a skunk! Thankfully he didn't hold it against me. Well when I got home from practice that night the smell was so bad that my eyes were watering. We decided to leave the windows open and stay at mom and dad's. That lasted all week! We finally went and got powder to put in the carpet and about 4 bottles of frebreeze and that seemed to work. Oh and in the week before our heater broke and our washer went out. I believe that things happen in 3's now!

I think that is about all the excitement that has been going on here!

The Amazing Race

I am sure I have blogged about my love for the TV show The Amazing Race, well the new season started last night. Well I am just now watching the first show (thank you DVR!) because the MYF at our church put on a dinner last night so we missed it. I always like to think if Pat and I were on the show how we would do and which one of us would do the challenges. Here is my break down of the first show.

1st Challenge: Find a paper airplane that had the airline for some country on it. Yeah...we probably would not have done well with that. I had no idea what the answer was so we would have been blindly guessing!

2nd Challenge: Swim with sharks to find a clue. PAT! I am terrified of sharks. It all stems back to my sisters (they weren't very nice to me when I was little.) For some reason Michelle loved the movie Jaws but E.T. sacred her. Well I can't remember if she told me or I thought it, but I thought Jaws could come through the drains in our house. Not only that but I thought he could get in our pool. I still get a little leary being in the deep in by myself!

3rd Challenge: Decode a message that is coded using international flags. I think I would tear it up! I love puzzles and decoding messages and all that stuff. (Remember my post about why I am a dork? This could probably be added to the list!)

4th Challenge: Sail a 16 foot Skiff to a bouy. They get to work together on this but Pat would be awesome at this. He grew up on the water and drove a boat for his summer job so this would be a piece of cake! They also had 2 other people helping them so we would have been fine.

5th Challenge: Go to the beach to the Pit Stop. We do pretty good with directions but have gotten in arguments over it. I think that would be our rough spot if we went on this show. Our TomTom GPS system I think has really saved our relationship!

I make it seem that we would just be amazing at this show and would have no problem but really I am sure we would hit some snags and be eliminated the first round or something but I can wish!

The Talk

I have found a new show that I like and I don't think I have written about it on here yet (if I have just stop reading). This new show is called The Talk. It is very similar to The View. It is hosted by Julie Chen (The Early Show) Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper) Sharon Osbourne (you know who she is), Leah Remini (King of Queens or Stacey off of Saved by the Bell when they worked at the beach club and Sara Gilbert (Rosanne). I used to be a big fan of The View but then I got really annoyed by Joy and since Elizabeth is the only Republican and she isn't the best representation I quit watching. I fell upon The Talk during one of our 6 snow day (Gov. Kasich, could you please hurry up the process to give us our calamity days back?). I like it because they don't talk about the political side of things. They just talk about everyday things. One day they talked about deal breakers and another they talked about pet peeves with significant others and yet another about keeping momentos. They all have different viewpoints but they don't argue with each other which is another thing I really like. Since it is on at 2 in the afternoon I never get to watch them in real-time, so thank goodness for DVR. The episode I am watching today is from Friday and they are all talking about when they were proposed to, so I thought I would share how Pat proposed to me. As you read you will probably be wondering how dumb I could be and not know it was coming but I had no clue!
We were on our way home from college becauase Spring Break was getting ready to start. Pat was going to spend the weekend in Coshocton and then go on to Woodville. He had been telling me for about 2 weeks that he wanted to take me out for a nice dinner Friday night and kept wondering where I wanted to go. Well there aren't really any nice restraunts in Coshocton and we couldn't go out of town because we were going to a play that night. Unbeknownst to me, Pat called my mom and she suggested Raven's Glenn a winery. On our way home it was raining and Pat kept complaining about the weather and I had never heard him complain about the weather but I didn't really think anything of it.
When we got to Raven's Glenn one of my friends was a waitress and she came over and talked to us. She had just broken off her engagement and was telling me how to not get engaged and that boys were stupid and on and on. (Poor Pat!) So we had our dinner and Pat asked me if I was ready to leave. I said yes and started putting my coat on and told me to wait a second. He came over to my side of them table and said "Stephanie we have been dating for about a year and a half and I love you so much..." He starting pulling something out of his pocket and at this point I really thought he just got me a present and had no idea what was going on, then he dropped to his knee. I never thought I would cry but the tears were instant! He swears I never said yes but I am pretty sure I did.
I don't think I stopped smiling for weeks! I had to give my ring back for a little while because it was too big but I got it back before I went back to school thank goodness!
Now you are probably wondering why Pat was so worried about the rain. Well he had planned to go for a walk at Lake Park and have candles surrounding one of the gazebos. My best friends Shyanne and Kristal were behind it all and were going to help and video it any everything. Well first the rain ruined plans and then there was a miscommunication and Shy and Kristal weren't going to be home until the following weekend because their Spring Break was a week later!
Everything turned out great though and I have no pictures but I can still see Pat coming around the table and getting down on one knee!

Sydney White

My current Netflix movie is Sydney White. I decided to stay in bed a little longer this morning and finish watching it since I fell asleep last night half-way through. The basic premise is based around the story of Snow White. Sydney was raised by her dad and goes off to college hoping to join the sorority that her mom was a member of. The president of the sorority is not a big fan of Sydney and makes everything very hard for her, up to the point of getting in and denies Sydney. This of course crushes her and she runs into 7 dorks who take her in.

It was a pretty good movie. The main actress was Amanda Bynes and while she can be a good actress sometimes, she sometimes drives me crazy! It was a little corny at points and it isn't a movie I would suggest Pat to watch but it was alright. The reason I put it on my list is because one of my friends from college just loved it so I thought I would try it out. It has been on my list for a while because I have a bad habit of adding movies when I get bored. I think I currently have about 60 movies waiting for me! I could watch some instantly but apparently my Internet is too slow and it is more irritating the entertaining to watch. The one part that I did love is at the end, Sydney is campaigning and "outs" herself as being a dork. This causes a wave in the audience and soon people are standing up confessing what makes them a dork. I thought that I would share with my few readers of why I am dork (as if you didn't already know!)

1. I read like crazy! Someone asked me the other day how many books I read and then revealed my total number for the year. They looked at me like I was crazy! I honestly can't remember a time I didn't enjoy reading. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time in the car either going to my sisters' games or my own and I just read to make the time go quicker. My parents are both readers so I guess I just learned from them and I am glad that I did!

2. I love old television shows and movies. I mean come on, I Love Lucy is my favorite show! A League of their Own is my favorite movie (I know it isn't that old) and put in any old Disney movie and I will watch it and probably be able to quote it. I am not talking the animated ones either. The live action ones like The Ugly Dachshund, The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit and many others. I was just born in the wrong decade.

3. I would rather play Trivial Pursuit than any other board game. I love trivia! I also credit this to my parents. When I was little we would go to my Aunt Beth and Uncle Steve's quite often and they would play Trivial Pursuit. They would let me read the questions (maybe that is where the love of reading came from as well?) and I think some of it stuck with me. To go along with this one I also DVR Jeopardy. I am taking the contestant quiz next week!

4. I own a Nintendo DS. While this one makes me pretty cool to my nephew I am sure some people think I am a dork. My favorite game at the moment is Professor Layton. First the name and next his assistant is Luke! Yep my nephews. Now that isn't really why I like the game but it helps. The game is based around puzzles, logic puzzles! I love them! Again my mother's fault (it's ok Mom I am happy with it) She also loves puzzles and would always be figuring them out. I love looking at the situation in a certain way to figure it out.

5. I am an English teacher...enough said!

Well I am sure they are many more reasons why I am a dork but that is enough for now!

Snow Day #5

It is a windy day out there! School was cancelled yet again today, which was probably a good thing because our electricity went out at about 1 and didn't come back on until 7:45. Thank goodness for the power company guys that worked all night! We still have one problem, our pipes froze so we have no water! Pat had to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house to take a shower so he could go to work. On his way to work he called me and wanted me to make sure the pilot light was still on in the hot water heater but I couldn't even find where the light was supposed to be! Some help I was. So I cranked the heat and I am hoping they thaw out soon!

I thankfully was able to sleep in a little bit today. I think part of it had to do with not going to bed as early as usual. Pat and I usually go to bed around 10 so after I read for a little bit I am asleep by 10:30. Last night just as I started reading Pat gets a fire call and out the door he flew! I decided that I would put in my Netflix movie (I will write a separate post about it) because it was not one he was interested in watching. Since I hadn't done a whole lot through the day I wasn't that tired either so I got about halfway through the movie before I fell asleep and shortly after Pat came home. It was just about that time that the electricity went out.

I have decided that I could not be a housewife! I was so bored yesterday and while I had plenty of things to do I could not get motivated to do much. I did get some lessons planned but I ran into problems because I left some books at school and couldn't get too far. I did wash the bathtub (how does it get so dirty when you use it to get clean?), cleaned the stove and organized the pile of papers on the desk. I wasn't able to clean the oven because we didn't have any oven cleaner. I started to clean the office but most of it is Pat's tools that he got for Christmas that he hasn't carried down to the basement yet, so I quit. I am thinking today that I may get out the scrapbook supplies and start on some wedding pages. I don't like to scrapbook here though because I always think of everything that my mom has at her house that I could be using! Maybe that is my problem, I always think of a reason NOT to do something! Maybe I will see how the roads are and head to school to at least get the books I need to do some more work!

Snow Day #4

Here I am on Snow Day #4. I got the call at about 5 this morning that school was cancelled and promptly went back to sleep. When Pat's alarm went off though, it was another story. I was in that state of being asleep but being awake enough that you can hear everything going on so I eventually just got up and came out to the couch to watch the news. Thank goodness I Love Lucy is on in the mornings so I actually got to watch it! I also got caught up on some blog reading and found some new recipes for dinner, all before 7:45. I thought that maybe I should do all the things on my list I didn't do on my last snow day, (You can read about that here ) but when I read the list I realized I had done almost everything on it. The only tasks that are left are

Cleaning the Shower
Cleaning the Office
Cleaning the Spare Bedroom
and
Scrapbooking

Now I could add these

Get lessons ready for the rest of the week
Read
Clean off stove
Clean oven
Grocery Shopping
Get tax stuff ready
Finish laundry

That is all I can think of now but I am sure there are more. Now we just have to wait and see how much I actually get done!

I didn't break any records

Well I have been slacking a lot with my blog lately. The sad thing is that I always think of things to write about but then never sit down and write them out. One of the topics I have been thinking about is that nice little list to the right --->
That is a list of books that I have read in the year 2010. Now I can't say that is an accurate list because I am sure there are books that I have forgotten to put and my reading journal will be no help because I have been slacking in writing in that as well (do you see a pattern?)Well as it is I read 34 books this year which is 1 less that last year. If you read this post you will see that I did not meet my goal. Now I think I do need to give myself some credit though because I planned a wedding, went on a honeymoon, moved, started a new job and have coached volleyball, softball and speech and debate in that time. While I wish I had more time to read, I think I do alright. I try to read a little before bed and once I get into the book I usually spend my evenings after dinner reading as well. I am already on book 2 for this year. Book 1 was Jodi Picoult's House Rules, a wonderful book of course, and now I am onto Nicholas Sparks' newest Safe Haven. I don't have a definite pick for the next one but have plenty on my book shelves to choose from!

What I could be doing

Well here I am sitting at home on our 3rd Snow Day. We had an early release yesterday which meant I was done at work at 12:30 and then got the call at about 9:30 last night that I did not need to go down the hill for work today. So I got to sleep in a little (8:00 a.m.) and laid in bed while reading the newest Nicholas Sparks book. I then ventured out into the rest of the house really craving some cinnamon and sugar toast only to find we have no bread. Ok well no breakfast. I watched a little tv and then decided to play some Sims Castaway on the Wii. After getting frustrated because I didn't know how to do what it was telling me to I stopped that and had some leftover Baked Spaghetti. And that brings you up to speed on my oh-so-exciting snow day. I am bored already. The bad thing? There is a list of things I could be doing but I really don't want to do them! Maybe if I write my list down it will encourage me to cross some things off, so here it is!

Clean the bathroom sink
Clean the shower
Sweep
Take out the flowers from Christmas
Dump the grease from last night
Scrapbook
Grade papers
Plan lessons for next week
Laundry
Read
Watch Tooth Fairy (my current Netflix movie)
Clean the office
Clean the spare bedroom

I am sure there is more but that is all I can think of at the moment! Now if I can just get motivated to start on the list!