Sophie is exhausted from making sure Mommy and Daddy were awake at 6:05. I swear this cat is better than any alarm clock around. The problem is, Steve's alarm doesn't go off until 6:20 so she deprives us of a good 15 minutes of sleep! So now she is fast asleep on the floor by me, spread eagle on her back - such a lady-like cat! We were so tired last night we gave up on watching There's Something About Mary in bed. Yes, the cable guy came yesterday and hot wired the outlet! I have the Today Show on as I type this. Although I was yawning like crazy, I was also laughing as I hadn't seen this movie is years - Cameron Diaz looks like a baby! Wow- lots of Diaz movies I have not seen, including The Invisible Circus, which really looks good. I love movies that are set in various areas in Europe as I have yet to travel to Europe.

As I type this the page proofs for Tantalized Tidbits 2: More Booktalks for the Busy High School Library Media Specialist are printing. :-) I need to add the final page #s in the index and table of contents, check for typo errors and we are good to go! I have until the 5th to get it back to Linworth so will be spending most of today with the manuscript. Once this is done I need to get some articles written based on all the data I have been getting from my students as to how their teens are responding to the different styles of booktalks. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

The weekend is upon us again and we are still in drought-like conditions here in Lexington. No rain in over 2 weeks. It is so darn hot and dry. Hazy and sunny and 68 degrees already and up to 90 this afternoon. No humidity to speak of so it not like Houston was. Maybe some rain on Sunday. I should get out there and water my babies and maybe even feed them. But, can't do that until I get the page-proofing done.

If and when I start on Tantalizing Tidbits for Middle Schoolers 2, Suzanne Crowley's debut novel, The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous, will be included. I absolutely loved this book. Part of it may be because it is set in small town West Texas and I love the down-home feel and the great tidbits of rural speech. The small town of Jumbo, TX helps the Monroe family raise Merilee, who exhibits Asperger Syndrome symptoms. Merilee has a daily schedule of what she does to help her keep her V.O.E. - Very Ordered Existence - intact. Overall her family is supportive, other than a bratty sister and the very sharp tongued Grandma Birdy, who I initially disliked but you can't help but change your mind about her, at least a bit, when you find out what her earlier years were like. Biswick and Veraleen are newcomers to Jumbo and they most certainly mess with Merilee's V.O.E. Biswick bubbles over with bits of trivia and data, but has absolutely no social skills and has the audacity to eat Merilee's purple Tootsie Pops without asking! Biswick and Veraleen, a herbalist/nurse who was fired from a nearby hospital, quickly become a part of the Monroe family, much to Grandma Birdy's dismay when Veraleen outdoes her in the kitchen. Merilee was quoting Shakespeare at age 3, and at age 13 she is into the classics, which her mother buys a new box of books for her each month so that Merilee can curl up in a leather chair in Mama's bookstore and read. I love this young teen and adore this book. A gotta have for every MS/JH library. It will be out from HarperCollins in September.

GRRR!! Been fighting with the printer while working on this. First it jammed, then it ran out of black ink, then it jammed again, and yet again! I am sure it is because I am recycling paper to print on the back, but talk about frustrating. Let's hope the last few pages make it through this print cycle without jamming or something else happening. Listening to Big and Rich as I type this. One of them looks like a throw-back from the 60s (think Bob Dylan but with a better voice!) and the other looks just like a country bubba, but with a dress shirt and tie. They are certainly a weird duo! I do love their Lost in a Moment and their silly Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy! :-) Reminds me - I need to order tickets for Allison Krause - she will be here in Lexington next month.

Printing is done - need to start proofing.