Been up since a little after 5 a.m. thinking about all the things I have to get done in the next 2 weeks before I head out for Greenville on the 17th. A friend our ours who used to live on a sailboat when we all lived in St. Thomas has sold his boat and is back on the Mainland looking for a new one and is spending a few days with us that weekend. Will be fun to catch up on on the news about friends who are still down there. Jeff knows them all as he has lived in the islands for years. I couldn't live on a sailboat like he does, but more power to him if he can live with that little room. Heck, my shoes would fill up his boat just on their own. First thing I look at in the houses we are checking out to buy is the size of the walk in closet in the master bedroom! I need to get the books boxed up in the extra bedroom and things cleaned up in there so Jeff can find the bed!

Am supposed to be going down to a friend's wedding next summer, but haven't made up my mind yet if I will or not. I don't plan on teaching summer school next year so a trip to STT with Janna to attend Roxanne's wedding might just be the break I need. Janna and I will spend hours catching up with each other and I'll get little sleep, but isn't that part of a girls' vacation together? Matter of fact, need to touch base with both of them soon. Seem to have the islands on my mind these days - guess I could use a vacation!

My book for today is not a YA novel, but a NF title that will appeal to older teens. I am working on the syllabus for my YA Lit course and have been focusing on adult titles that will appeal to the teens who are focused on life after HS. I have been laughing out loud over a book of words that came out last month - The DailyCandy Lexicon: Words and Phrases for the New Generation http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-DailyCandy-Lexicon/Editors-of-Dailycandycom/e/9780753513064/?itm=1by the editors of Daily Candy - http://www.dailycandy.com/everywhere/ This is most certainly a chic blog, but it is lots of fun! Here is my favorite definition -
Teenile: adj. Used to describe someone who is way too old for what she is wearing. (“That 45-year-old woman is wearing low-cut jeans. Is she crazy or just teenile?”)
There are just some things I don't want to see and that is some woman my age with her baby belly hanging over those jeans. I wear "gramma jeans" as my daughter calls them, but at least it is all tucked in where it should be!
Older female teens will also love the first book as well: Daily Candy A to Z: An Insider's Guide to the Sweet Life. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Daily-Candy-A-to-Z/Dailycandy-Press/e/9781401302184/?itm=2
Give these to the older teens who have their noses buried in the edgy chic lit and woman's fashion magazines. Oh what fun!

My children's book for the day is a new Holiday House title by Nancy Poydar - Zip, zip... Homework. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Zip-ZipHomework/Nancy-Poydar/e/9780823420902/?itm=1 Poydar was an elementary teacher for many years before she became a full time creator of wonderful picture books and her knowledge of the younger students is very evident in both her style of writing and her humorous illustrations. I thught of this book as I was checking out the Sunday paper sales fliers and saw all the school supplies on sale, including backpacks. Violet is sure that this year she is going to get tons of homework and she is going to need a backpack that can handle the load - a rolling one with lots of pockets, snaps, and zippers. She is so excited about it, she practices filling it with the homework she imagines she will get. The big day comes when the teacher gives a sheet of homework. Violet is sure she put it in her backpack, but "Ziip, no. Riipp, no. Unclick, no. Unsnap, no." (Love the use of repetitive sounds) The homework was no where to be found, but the next day Violet tells her teacher that she couldn't find it in her backpack, but Ms. Patience is holding the offending empty piece of homework in her face. Violet has homework that night and it isn't going to be easy - she has to tell her parents the truth about her homework. A delightful beginning of the year read aloud in any primary level classroom where little ones come in with backpacks almost as big as they are! I miss those days, but not enough to go back to teaching in the primary classroom again! I love my grad students too much to do that.

On to more packing of books and finding the table in my office. I have most the desk exposed at least!