Can you feel me "vibrating" through the Internet? I am functioning on high octane flavored coffee and diet coke to keep myself going today. What a night! The neighbors across the way - it is barely two car widths between the garages - involved the whole complex in their garage party. The sound just echoes up between the tall building - it's like an echo chamber. They started at about 7:30 and ended at about 4:30 a.m. Don't know if that is because they passed out or if someone finally complained. They had grills outside and a pool table in the garage! Not only could you hear their shouts of elation or agony with each shot, you could even hear the pool balls hitting each other. At one point a couple got into an argument and the volume went ballistic. I had a pillow over my head and that didn't even work. Steve finally fell asleep when they quit but then he began to snore like a freight train coming through the bedroom. I figured I would get some sleep when he left, but our downstairs neighbor decided to open and close his garage door repeatedly. Gave up on sleep at that point.

I emailed Steve to see how he was doing and told him maybe he could crawl under his desk at lunch time for a nap! He said his boss accidentally kicked someone once who had been burning the midnight oil and had not woke up from his nap under the desk! The important thing to remember - nap under your own desk, not someone else's, especially the bosses!

After last night Steve is trying to push the closing on the house up to the end of March! I told him I was seriously not considering coming back from Greenville again until we were in the house! No one wants to be around me when I am sleep deprived. I am not a nice person!

Was reading an Associated Press blurb about a book challenge in Ramallah, West Bank. The Hamas-run Education Ministry rescinded their decision to "pull an anthology of Palestinian folk tales from school libraries and destroy copies, reportedly over mild sexual innuendo". Before the public outcry stopped them, over 1,500 copies of Speak Bird, Speak Again: Palestinian Arab Folktales by Ibrahim Muhawi and Sharif Kanaana had been destroyed. The blurb states that "dozen of writers, academics and other intellectuals marched to protest the decision to pull the anthology." So clearly book bannings are not just a U.S. phenomena these days. I knew I recognized the name of this book and sure enough, I found it on Barnes and Noble online and recognized the cover. It was published in the U.S. back in 1989 by the U of California Press. I know I had it in at least a couple of the school libraries I worked in. Wonderful translations with great footnotes to help older students gain cultural knowledge. The authors were a bit like the Grimm Brothers in their wanderings to gather oral tales. Hopefully the Associated Press blurb will cause U.S. public and HS librarians to check to make sure it is in their collections. Nothing like a book banning to add to book sales! :-)

For the elementary age reader/storytime, go with a picture retelling of a tale from Speak Bird, Speak Again. Margaret Read McDonald has brought it to life for the primary age child. The little pot in Tunjur Tunjur Tunjur! is just like a sassy little kid. Boy does she learn her lesson when the king fills her with goat dung after she steals the queen's jewels. All Little Pot can do is call for her Mama! :-) The art is delightful in this 2006 Marshall Cavendish title. A must have for elementary school libraries. :-)

Now to less fun work than writing about books.

Happy Monday afternoon from Kentucky. What a gorgeous day! I have the patio door open and the birds are chirping. I get to hear them between moving trucks and cars bouncing over the speed bumps in front of the apartment. We discovered, much to our dismay, that our neighbor with the garage below us is a night owl. The garage door woke us up, along with him revving his engine, as he came home at 2 a.m. Saturday night.

But, our apartment living should be short term, I hope, as we found a house! Granted, it is not the one I was sure we were going to buy, but we accepted the builder's counter-offer this morning so it looks like we are set to go. And I like this house much better! It has a turret shaped dining area that is so cool! On Saturday we drove up to Georgetown to see the house I fell in love with and another one that had just come on the market. We were about to go back up and look at the other house again yesterday to make a offer, but we decided we wanted to look at a couple more in Lexington before we bought a house out of town. So before the realtor picked us up yesterday afternoon I spent the morning online looking at the Multiple Listings site and found a house in Lexington I hadn't found before. I would have remembered the street name - Flying Ebony. There was an open house so we walked right in and fell in love with it. Steve will be a 10 minute drive from Lexmark and the house is less than a 5 minute drive from the grocery store. Heck, I could walk to the store if I were ambitious. And, the area across the street cannot be developed - it is a city park area and will have a walking trail in soon. The house is a year old so the sod has settled and some landscaping has been done. I can't wait to sit outside on the covered porch and watch Sophie playing outside again. She is going to have a ball in the green space area in the back yard. She'll be queen of the cats in a matter of days. :-)

Read the Lexington Sunday paper finally this a.m. and was intrigued by the Boston Globe article they included on Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. You may recognize this author's name from My Sister's Keeper, which is extremely popular with teens due to the issue addressed - a girl conceived in vitro, specifically so her blood, blood marrow, and potentially her kidney can keep her older sister alive. Is this a form of child abuse? This book certainly raises many issues, as will Nineteen Minutes, which is about a school shooting. Picoult donated advance copies of the book to 3 high schools, including the one her son attends in Hanover, NH. Administrators pulled it from a mandatory reading list due to the controversial nature of the book and the fact that some of the students thought the school in the book might be their's. Timing is everything, as is what is happening locally. A student in a nearby high school had fatally stabbed another student to death in the bathroom. I have not read Nineteen Minutes as I do not have a copy of it yet, but I have read a number of other school shooting books and feel there is no such thing as too many books that address this very serious issue. Bullying in schools and the potential outcome of such bullying should not be hidden from our teens. They are living it every day. Just off the top of my head I can think of four school shooting YA novels. The most recent one I read, Nancy Garden's Endgame, is about a new freshman in HS who becomes the target of the older school jock's. Being harassed in school is nothing new for Gray, but the HS athletes are more vicious with their bullying techniques than the MS bullies had been. Walter Dean Myers' Shooter addresses slightly older teens who have been the target of bullying for years and open fire in the school. This is a raw realistic cautionary tale of what can happen when the victims break under the pressure of harassment and abuse that the adults are not stopping. Todd Strasser's Give a Boy a Gun gets your attention immediately with the title. Two teens, bent on revenge, take the attendees of a high school dance hostage. It isn't a pretty book either. Francine Prose's After addresses the paranoia that can occur after a school shooting, resulting in the school becoming prison-like in relation to security and dress code. None of the books about school violence are happy reads, but the issue is not going to go away. Violence in our schools is something our teens need to be able to read about. A basic keyword search on B&N online for school violence resulted in 1,413 hits, with Nineteen Minutes as the # 1 title under "top match". I am going to read Picoult's newest and take another look again at her other books - she does have a way of tackling social issues that appeals to teens.

That's it for today. :-)

I can't believe our first week in Lexington had come to an end. It certainly has been more than a bit busy. We moved into the corporate apartment on Thursday, but I wasn't much help getting the luggage in. There is a wickedly steep set of stairs into the apartment. We are above the neighbor's garage so when their garage door opens and closes it sounds like the floor in the living room is groaning! My hip and stairs don't like each other so I am sitting on a heating pad as I type this. Trying to get it to loosen up a bit before we go look at houses. As far as I am concerned I found my house, but Steve hasn't seen it yet. The realtor has a few others for us to see as well.

The local TV stations have a strong emphasis on horse racing. :-) I love to read/hear the names of the horses - King of the Roxy just won a race. Steve is in the living room shouting at a horse race on right now. Nobiz Like Showbiz was my horse, but Steve's Scat Daddy just won. A very different emphasis here - basketball and horse racing. We are football people so we will just have to become Bengals fans, but lately they are being called the Bungles. But, these horse races are addictive - love to listen to the British sounding announcer call the races. Lava Man in the lead - think British accent! :-)

Big controversy about three junior girls who chose to say vagina at a school event. Interesting article about it : http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/nyregion/08vagina.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. I saw the girls on the early NBC news yesterday along with the author of the Vagina Monologues. Thank goodness for girls like these - they will be our female leaders of tomorrow.

No time for much reading. I did read a couple of books, but can't discuss what I am reading for the Margaret A. Edwards Award - sorry!

BRRRR!!! It is cold here in Lexington, KY! Not by Midwest standards, but certainly by Virgin Islands and North Carolina standards. It is still a beautiful area, even if a bit chilly at this time of the year. Have seen lots of foals out in the fields. They are so cute! Spent from 10-5 yesterday doing either drive-by looks at houses or actually going into the ones I wanted to see. Several houses later I found one that I would like Steve to look at. Sure feels weird to be opening up people's closets, etc. One of the houses had a shiny silver, very large trash can very prominent in the master bedroom. Not my choice for a clothes hamper! Nor was the house one I'd want to buy - the driveway was practically a cliff in pitch and height. But, the fun is the hunt and the realtor is picking me up at 10 again today.

Was looking the comments on Barnes and Noble about So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780688131159&itm=1 Apparently there is controversy brewing over the way the Japanese author portrays Koreans during WWII. This book was published back in the late 80s and was, and still is, used by many 6-8 grade teachers. In 1988 the 6th graders in the Alaskan school I was librarian for used it and loved it. McDougal even has a Literature Connections copy available. One has to keep in mind that the prejudices of the time period in which a book is set as well as those of the time period in which it was written, and those of the author, are evident in any book we read. Rather than banning a book because we don't agree with the author's impression of the situation - and most certainly Watkins has deep feelings about the Koreans as she was a Japanese child living in Korea - we should consider the fact that this is a fictional autobiography. Most certainly Koreans would have a different impression of what happened in their country during WWII than a young Japanese girl who was terrified as her family escaped Korea. Would I choose to use this book as required reading in a school with a large Korean population - probably not. Just as I would not use any of the Little House on the Prairie books in a school with a large Native American population.

Haven't had a free moment to read any new titles, but I can still wallow in discussions of books and there is always some book being challenged by someone. :-)

Figured I had better get a blog in while I can. Steve is off to bring the keys to the realtor so the condo can be shown while I am in Lexington house hunting. Oh what fun! It has to be more fun than cleaning and putting personal things away so the condo looks un-lived in! Poor Sophie was very upset as she knows Mom only cleans like that if a move is eminent or I am really upset about something. Steve pauses at the door when he sees me with windex or 409 in hand! :-/ She was even more upset when Steve put her in her carrier and we took her to the kennel. This is the first time for her so we got her a double cat condo and they will let her out to play with the house cats if she can handle it, or by herself if she can't. She was queen of the island cats in the neighborhood on St. Thomas so she will do fine. At least that is what I keep telling myself. I was all teary eyed when we left and Steve was teasing me that Sophie was saying, "Time to party!" I sure hope so.

I had to destress a bit during all of this and read Shannon Hale's Austenland. I am not a big Jane Austen fan so it was not the title that got my attention. It was the fact that Shannon Hale wrote it. She is one heck of a writer and I devoured Hale's Goose Girl and Princess Academy. Both are upper elementary/middle school titles, but this one is adult with YA appeal. Bloomsbury is cross marketing it for teens and adults. Smart move! For those who want to listen to a bit of the book, there is a sampler CD. More and more books include supplemental materials or abridgements on CD. I didn't listen to the sampler, as I do not like to listen to abridged books, so I can't tell you about it, but I loved the book. The protagonist is a 30 something woman who has had nothing but bad luck with guys. Well, no darn wonder - she expects them to act like Mr. Darcy and look like Colin Firth! A lunch with an ailing great-aunt who told her to get on with life instead of day dreaming about Austen character's in tight pants results in the very same aunt bequeathing Jane a trip to Austenland, where the imagination is supposed to take over and you become a character in a Regency-era environment. Feeling more than a bit of a fool, Jane goes along with it but is having great difficulty staying in character and invites herself into the gardener's home to watch a basketball game on his forbidden TV and one thing leads to another, but not that far as this is the Regency-era! I'd ruin the story if I said more, but I can say this is one fun romance. I found myself thinking in a silly British accent as I was reading it and laughing out loud at the antics of the other visitors. Offer this one to teenage girls and I don't think they will mind Jane's age, especially when they read her modern impression of boyfriends, of which she had had many starting very young, but kept none. Well, maybe one.... :-)

Steve just promised me a glass of wine so I am going to call it a day as I ache from one end to the other from boxing stuff, stooping, climbing, etc. The story of how I almost lost the tip of my finger will have to wait for another blog entry!

A dreary Monday here in Greenville. Yesterday was really gray and rainy. I decided my trip to Office Depot could wait - I may decide the same thing today! I really didn't mind spending the whole day working on annual report "stuff" for ECU. There are days I wish we went for shorter is better like the business world. No such luck - I am working to fill a 3" three-ring binder of examples of what I have done professionally in the last year. I didn't even take time off, totally, to watch the Oscars. I was flipping through copies of Library Media Connection to make sure I didn't miss any reviews while I watched. My Reader Advisory columns are easy to find as they are in the table of contents, but not the reviews. Ellen Degeneres was quite funny and the actors were on their best behavior, except for Jack Nicholson - he always looks deranged to me! I was disappointed that Peter O'Toole didn't win, but that may have been because I was listening to Lawrence of Arabia on Saturday while I went through files. Now I want to rent Pan's Labyrinth after seeing clips from it. Wonderful special effects in what looks like a deliciously creepy movie from a Mexican director. A very international flavor last night with one of the most touching speeches given in Italian, with Clint Eastwood doing a bit of translation for the audience. It was worth Sophie glaring at me as she knows Mom's normal bedtime and it isn't 12:30!

While I was looking through files and boxes I came across the updated copy of A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Devereaux that I picked up from the bargain table at Barnes and Noble. Mary has my first edition and I knew I wasn't going to get it back from her. Once upon a time when I was still a stay at home mom I read romances - anything to vicariously take me away from the harsh winters in Alaska. Devereaux was one of my favorite romance authors and this time travel love story is my favorite romance of all time. I was just looking through the 95 reader reviews on B&N and their comments are similar to Mary's - they read it again every couple of years. How can you not love a story of a modern woman and a knight from the 16th century? One of my favorite scenes from the movie version with Meg Ryan is when he is learning how to brush his teeth and toothpaste is quite an oddity to him. Compared to many of the bodice-ripper romance writers, Devereaux is mild and many of her books are read and loved by teenage girls. That's when Mary borrowed my copy and I never got it back. So, when this darn annual review is turned in, my treat is to curl up with Dougless (yes, that's her name) and Nicholas and let them sweep me away to the past! :-)

I sent Monica, Steve's daughter, the picture of Allyson in her President mode and she sent me this one of her and Kady, our newest granddaughter who was born in October. I named this pic file Kady Bear as Kady looks adorable in the bear bunting. Baby clothes are so much fun to shop for. Mary lives near one of the big outlet malls and I went crazy in the baby clothing stores - they had them all. :-)

I am so excited about being closer to the girls and the grandkids. I told Steve I want a house with our bedroom downstairs and we can set up a couple of rooms upstairs for the girls and the grandkids. His response was - "So they can wake us up with the sound of them running around?" :-) That's fine with me - I just will love having them with us.

A good night's sleep and I am still traumatized over my time in the dressing room yesterday with way too many different swimsuits, all of which looked awful. JC Penney's was having a big sale so I thought I would go for it while they still had a large selection. Well, it wasn't a large enough selection for me to find one I would be willing to wear in public! I was so traumatized I had to come home and "heal" with dark chocolate and a Pierce Brosnan movie. The Thomas Crowne Affair is my favorite, but I went with what was on TV. I may have chosen unwisely as I had to put up with Salma Hayek running around in a very skimpy bikini while I was enjoying Brosnan's escapades as a diamond thief in After the Sunset. Woody Harrelson is not one of my favorite actors but he plays a charming, but bumbling, FBI agent after Brosnan. Next attempt at swimsuits, I am finding a cover-up I like first!

After the Sunset is set in the Caribbean, but not in Cuba, which, in my opinion, has some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, with few people on them. Lots of Canadians and most Cubans assumed I was Canadian when I spoke English. They were very surprised when I said I was an American taking a 3-week Spanish class at the University of Havana. We won't even go into how badly I did in Cuban Spanish! So, when I see children's books with a Cuba flavor I have to pick them up. Oye, Celia!: A Song for Celia Cruz by Katie Sciurba is a vibrant book - both text and illustrations. This book is a loving tribute to the Cuban born Queen of Salsa - Celia Cruz. Edel Rodriguez, the illustrator, was born in Havana so he adds an authentic Cuba flavor to the bold illustrations. He uses an interesting technique of combining spray paint with pastels and acrylics, while using clean black ink to outline. My favorite double-page spread shows a Havana street scene, with a well kept old car as a central feature. The engines may be a mixture of old and new, but the bodies are kept authentic and you feel like you have walked into the 50s when you walk down some of the streets in Havana. While I was in Havana, many of the other people with my group were there taking dancing lessons. I went to see their show at the end of the 3 weeks and we were dancing in our seats along with the students. The music of Cuba is alive with movement and smiles. No one can be unhappy while dancing in Cuba. :-) Oye! Listen!! One Spanish word I know well!

Time to do some picking up around here so Steve can actually get into bed when he gets home. Friday was his last day at the Court in the Virgin Islands and I pick him up in Charlotte on Wednesday. I can't wait! Sophie is good company but Steve is my best friend, along with being a way cool husband, and I have missed him something terrible.

Thought I would add a picture of our other granddaughter who has yet to beautify my blog. This is President Allyson, who is incredibly good at imaginative play. She saw that big desk and made herself right at home! I think she makes a better president than... Okay, I said no politics on the blog! I am getting excited about being closer to the grandchild and buying a house so they can come spend time with us. I really do love this Gramma thing! :-)

Sophie is totally miffed at me because I was awake before her this a.m. and she didn't get to wake me up and listen to tell her to go away and leave me alone! I got quite the dirty look and the tail shake. Cats are such funny creatures, but as much as they are a pain in the butt you can't help but love them. At least I can't help it. I know there are lots of supposed cat haters out there, but they just haven't found the right cat! Or, more appropriately, the right cat hasn't found them. :-)

Looks like we are in the last stretch here as we wait for all the paperwork to finalize on Steve's new job at Lexmark in Lexington, KY. When he told me we were going to over to Lexington so he could interview I had to chuckle as we had driven through that area in October on our way back from Kansas City and we talked about how gorgeous the area is with the rolling hills and horse farms. At that time of the year it was exceptionally beautiful as the trees were ablaze in Autumn colors. I commented then that I had loved the area for years as I drove through many times going north to visit family when I lived in Texas. And, now we will be hanging our hats in Lexington. Well, for me, part of the time as I am keeping my teaching position with ECU and driving back and forth for meetings. I love my job and the people I work with, as well as my students. They are well worth the several hour drive, and just think of all the books I will get to listen to during the trips!

I will be so glad to have Steve back on the Mainland. He emailed me this a.m. to say that the Virgin Island Daily News has a picture of semi truck that "rolled off" of the ferry at the dock in Red Hook. I just shook my head as nothing surprises me about what happens over there anymore. When you live there about the only thing that helps you realize you are living in the United States is the postage stamps! And even then, every package we mail from the USVI to the Mainland needs a customs form. It feels like a foreign country. Poor Steve - he has been filling customs forms out by the droves as he is sending all his stuff to NC via the mail. He sold all of our furniture, etc. that we bought down there as well as our RAV4. I am glad - it had a bit of island damage. No car is immune to being backed into, run into, scratched, etc. on that island. Parking is impossible and when you do find a spot it is the size of a postage stamp and everyone drives SUVs! The government buys them for all the upper level government employees and the legislature. Why anyone would want to drive a full size SUV on that island is beyond me - there are even a couple Hummers on the island. Next time we go to the Caribbean, as I am sure we will as we both love the islands, I want to go to Aruba, or one of the other ABC islands, but I want to go as a tourist!

Speaking of traveling - I got to do a bit of vicarious time/realm travel while reading Kate Thompson's The New Policeman. What a "way cool" book! Make this your weekend reading and block out some time as you won't want to put it down once you start. I very much relate to the theme of there not being enough time in the day and that the days are getting shorter. For J.J. and the rest of his music loving Irish family, the days literally are getting shorter. Time is somehow seeping into Tir na n'Og - the Land of Eternal Youth where the figures of Irish tales reside, such as Aengus Og - the Celtic god of love, youth and beauty. A place where time is supposed to stand still, where the sun is supposed to stay at high noon, but is no longer. No one from either side seems to be able to find the portal through which time is leaking. When J.J. promises his mother he will give her time for her birthday, he doesn't realize that he will journey to the other side of time where goats turn into drums and the music he sometimes hears in the woods is actually seeping through from Tir na n'Og. He will play with legends and help humans discover why their socks go missing from the dryer! :-) For those of you who read my blog I am sure you have picked up on my preference for fantasy, but I would recommend this title to non-fantasy readers as well, especially those who love music as the sheet music for the tunes preface each chapter. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but loved this book for the wonderful merging of current day Ireland with the Celtic legends and myths I have loved to read since I was a child. If you go to www.katethompson.info you can actually listen to some of the music from this book. The cover shown on her web site is different than the Greenwillow U.S. cover. I think the Greenwillow cover is more attractive - it is a gorgeous dark blue, with what looks like the internal workings of a clock. For me, time is blue, not green as the other cover shows. Also check out Thompson's other titles, such as Only Human, Origins, etc. She has written several children's/YA titles.

All for now.

I think my brain is coming out of the peanut butter muck after several days of being miserable. I thought I had the nasty stomach flu that is tearing its way through North Carolina, even closing down schools. There I was curled up in quilts, sitting on a heating pad to stay warm due to the chills, while I watched the eveing news. I then heard my beloved Peter Pan is the culprit that has made me sicker than a dog. Of course I have the tainted lot starting with 2111 and the jar is 2/3s empty. Peanut butter toast had been my comfort food and it was making me sicker!

Sick or not, I have been entertained by the discussion on the listservs about the use of the word scrotum on the first page of the Newbery winner - The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. I have to admit I added a posting or two with my opinion - loud and clear. Anyway, a New York Times article suggested authors sneak in controversial terms - causing librarians in turn to decide to not purchase it for their collections. Referring to a dog being bitten by a snake on the scrotum is a reason to ban a book. Excuse me, it isn't the incident, just the use of the term scrotum. GEESH!!

I did have the opportunity to read an upcoming June 2007 HarperCollins historical novel - Billy Creekmore by Tracey Porter. Her afterward addresses the depth of her research on coal mining towns and circuses in the early 1900s, which is seamlessly intertwined with the well developed settings and characters she creates. Billy is an enduring young rascal who has a gift for storytelling. He uses it to his advantage to keep the bullies at bay at the orphanage where the boys are kept scrawny and scared. He tells them about all the ghosts he talks to as everyone knows he started talking to them at birth. Billy is bound for the glass factory when his maternal uncle shows up to claim him. Billy loves his stern aunt and his miner uncle but still misses his father who sends him post cards from all over the country. An involvement in the union has Billy running from Baldwin Felts agents after they kill his uncle and the other miners planning a strike. Coming out of the woods hungry and eager for human interaction, Billy is welcomed into the Sparks Circus family but his short time with them is interrupted by none other than his wayward father. Billy is the mature one of the two and their relationship does not come to a happy end, but the reader will applaud Billy's skill at surviving during the worst of times and smile at his delightful stories. A superb addition to upper elementary and middle school collections. Even the most reluctant male reader will be drawn in by Billy and his escapes.

All for tonight. Am going to go curl up with the latest Strega-Borgia title by Debi Gliori.

Just had to share this picture of Michael and Kegan. Michael is a bit impatient for his little brother to grow up a bit so they can play with his trains together. :-) And, I have to amend the previous birth weight I announced. I can thank my "he thinks he is so funny" son-in-law for the error. He told me 8 lbs. 11 oz. as Kegan lost an ounce when he peed! Mary has since corrected me - Kegan was 8 lbs. 12 oz. at birth. The peeing part doesn't count!

I have to chuckle as most of the pics Mary has sent me are taken on their king size bed. She has followed in my footsteps with making their bed a major living area in the house. Mine at the moment has 8 books on it (in a variation of having been read to wishing to read) along with a cat curled up in my stuffed animals and the folded playbill from the Vagina Monologues, which I saw last Friday night. I can usually relive the last week from what ends up on the other side of the bed.

I had not seen The Vagina Monologues before so I really didn't know what to expect. I would have been all wrong anyway. The various subjects covered made me laugh, cry, and even blush. And with all the edgy YA novels I read, I didn't think much could make me blush these days! At one point I was sitting there thinking - "I am watching this on a college campus in the South!" I don't remember ever reading about the comfort women who were held in prison-like conditions for the Japanese soldiers to rape and abuse during WWII. This act brought me to tears. I am glad I went to see it and will go again next year if the opportunity arises. Guess it has been done for several years at ECU with local actors, who were quite good.

One of my have-reads on the bed next to me is Liz Rettig's My Desperate Love Diary - a new 2007 Holiday House title coming out soon. It is desperately funny! Stand aside Rennison's Georgia Nicolson. You have been bested by a new clueless British teenage girl who shares her inner most thoughts and down right ridiculous actions and reactions in her laugh-out-loud funny diary. Kelly Ann is totally blinded by the hunkiness (in her not so humble opinion) of G, whose name she cannot even divulge in her diary for fear someone might read it and know who she is madly in love with. Like everyone in England doesn't already know from her actions! She is oblivious to the fact that G is the biggest slimeball in the school, taking advantage of her very obvious crush on him to the point of allowing her to buy his lunch when he is short on cash. G is quite willing to help her lose her virginity, but those who truly care about her keep inconveniently interrupting them, including her pregnant sister whose water just broke! It takes some time for Kelly Ann to lose her very distorted view of who does and doesn't deserve her attention and affection, but there is hope for her. The British slang is delightful and I found myself using a British accent in my head as I read and thought about this book. Hmmm - reminder to self - keep the British accent for internal conversations with self only!

Sorry it has been a week since I blogged. Been a busy one with meetings and phone calls with Mary as she impatiently waited for their son to be born.
Steve and I now have five grandbabies! Kegan Allan was born on Thursday, February 8th and weighed 6 lbs, 11 oz. Isn't he a cutie? He looks just like his daddy, Scott. Wish I could have been there for the birth, but mother and baby are back home and doing well. Big brother Michael, who's three, doesn't understand why Kegan can't come upstairs and play with him. Mary is going to have her hands full with two little boys, but they certainly have a backyard big enough for them to play in and they live next to the elementary school, with a big playground.

Been busy cleaning today - told myself I had to get all the old Christmas catalogs thrown out. Now my hips are sore from 4 trips up and down the stairs to the dumpster. Didn't realize I had accumulated so much junk mail. But, since I was home all of 13 days in January and not that many more in December, it is not surprising.

The Grammys are on tonight and I want to watch them as the Dixie Chicks are nominated for 5 awards. I would love to see them win as many as possible after the raw deal they got from country stations who boycotted their music for disagreeing with Bush. But, I am not getting into politics in this blog!

I have never been a big manga fan, but I love Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. It is set in modern day Tokyo, but keeps the family names, Capulet and Montague. Romeo's father is Japanese and his mother looks like a blonde bimbo. Romeo is drawn blonde, thin and handsome and is, of course, a rock idol! :-) Juliet is a Shibuya girl. Now, I had to go look that up as I had no idea what a Shibuya girl was. Basically, a teenage girl who is very into fashion and hangs out in the commercial entertainment district of Shibuya in Tokyo. Juliet's clothes are certainly ... interesting! The dialogue is straight out of Shakespeare's play and it actually works with the modern day illustrations. I think teens of all ages will love this new Abrams/Amulet graphic novel series illustrated by Sonia Leong. I can't wait to read the others. Hamlet is already available, but I don't have a copy yet. Will sure help all those Juniors to have to read Hamlet in English classes as the Manga Shakespeare titles also include a short plot summary at the end.

All for now, I need to make sure I have all the books I need for my presentation tomorrow at home and not in the office.

Since Steve can't be here to hear me screaming when the Bears got a touch down on the first kickoff of the SuperBowl - first time in history that has happened - I thought I'd put him on the blog. This pic is the background on my laptop! :-) Doesn't he look cute? This was at my favorite Cuban restaurant in Key West. There is even a cigar roller there, but not as much fun as visiting the real thing in Cuba.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Somehow Cirque de Solei isn't working real well for me on a football field. Weird pre-game show and then some! Not as weird as the pre-concert show at Paul McCartney's concerts, but close. Since none of my favorite teams are playing I will go with the team closest to where I grew up - GO BEARS!!! Now that I think about it - I am sipping a glass of Fat Bastard white wine rather than guzzling Bud, so I shouldn't be complaining about this unusual pre-game show. This is the one football game where I run to the bathroom during the game so I can see the commercials. Can't wait to see the full Chevy commercial the Freshman at the U of WI-Milwaukee designed. Wish Steve were here watching it with me. He keeps my shouting down to a dull roar! :-)

Hey - I just heard that the Police are going to play on the Grammys! Sting is the one guy I'd think about leaving Steve for - well, Cary Grant too, but he's dead.

I went to the Public Library Annual Fund Raising Book Sale. What a waste of time on the last day. If I wanted books clearly I should have went on Friday afternoon. There wasn't a single book I wanted left - mainly because there wasn't a single book on the Children's Books table and only some really old stuff on the Fantasy/SF table. But there were tons of people there with bags and boxes to fill up with books. I even checked the Biographies for old movie stars and nothing. Oh well, it did get me out of the house for a little while - man it is cold out there with the wind. But nothing like what Mary was just telling me. Minus 9 degrees in Green Bay without the wind chill factor. BRRRR!!

I just finished the coolest MS fantasy - Elissa's Quest by Erica Verrillo. It is the first title in Phoenix Rising Trilogy and I can't wait to read the next two. It's a new Random House title that will be out in June. I am a big Tamora Pierce fan because of her strong female characters. Elissa would hold her own with Alanna and others. Elissa is the assistant to the midwife who delivered her when her mother died in childbirth. She has the ability to talk to animals and lives a quiet life gathering herbs with her friend Gertrude, a donkey with an attitude. Life changes when her father, Lord Falk, arrives and informs her that she is the key to him receiving help from the Khan in the form of soldiers to help save Falk's kingdom. Elissa is to spend a year in the Khan's household, which doesn't sound that terrible until her father leaves and she learns the lecherous Khan plans to add her to his group of wives. Way cool book! My favorite non-human character is Gertrude the donkey - she has such a personality and when Ralph the camel falls for her, I was laughing out loud. Adventure and humor - what more could you want?

Okay - the game has started - gotta go!

Can you believe I woke up to snow this morning? It was beautiful, but didn't last long. It warmed up and turned to rain and melted the snow on the grass and roofs. It rained pretty much all day so we would have had quite a few inches of snow if it hadn't warmed up. It was the second time in a few days I have seen snow. Steve and I were in Lexington, KY from Monday through yesterday afternoon and it snowed big fluffy snowflakes and made the city look like a Norman Rockwell painting. I had to reach out and catch the dime size flakes on my black gloves. But, now I am happy - I have seen snow and that's enough for this winter! I guess our weather is going to be quite cold, but no snow. I have been using the fireplace since I got home - makes the livingroom more toasty. And thank goodness for heated mattress pads.

I had time to read during the flights and airport waits and finished Ysabeau S. Wilce's Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog. First of all I have to say this is a very long fantasy romp - 431 pages of chaotic adventures to help the waning magical butler of the family home, Crackpot Hall, where if you aren't careful you can arrive someplace totally different than you expected. Flora Segunda is about to reach her 14th birthday - the age when she will start her military training. She doesn't want to become a soldier, but her mother is one of the commanding army leaders and isn't about to listen to her daughter's nonsense about wanting to be a ranger. Actually, she is not home long enough to listen to anyone's nonsense - her daughter's or that of her alcoholic and quite out of it husband who comes down from his tower room long enough to help the bevy of dogs trash the kitchen. Flora makes the mistake of sharing some of her anima (magickal essence) with the house butler who has been exiled by her mother and the story becomes even more convoluted. Off she and her best friend Udo go in search of a cure before she disappears completely. The story line is delightful but the overly expressive writing, filled with made up words, drags it down to an almost halt a number of times. The characters are delightful as well, but it is just to cutesy at times. But, then again I am not a Lemony Snickett fan and I do believe they would love this book. Will be popular in MS and JH collections

Time to call it a night.

Sundays are such lovely days, even though this one was rainy and gray. Spent the morning in bed with the newspaper and the afternoon catching up on grading and emails along with the wash. Sure is a lot less of it when it is just me. It warmed up enough to go out on the balcony with Sophie for a bit. I made the mistake of leaving her out there alone and she almost fell off because she jumped up between the railings. It's a good thing she caught herself as I was too far away to grab her. She is not happy being an inside cat.

There have been a number of teenage authors published lately. One of the latest is Thu-Houng Ha, the 16-year-old female author of Hail Caesar, a first person novel from a 17-year-old male's perspective. Not sure what I think of this novel. Like The Outsiders, the male characters don't always ring true. Ha knows 17-year-old guys think with the wrong head and sex is their focus, especially for this main character. John, called Caesar since he was a kid, has has had sex with most of the girls in the HS, but has yet to be in a true relationship. He is quite happy with his shallow life of parties, drinking, and sex until the new girl in school piques his interest. Too bad she isn't willing to jump into bed with him, nor is she impressed by his popularity or false impression that he is the center of the universe. They do become friends and spend time at a secluded spot by the lake, where she plays mind games with him. She is none too stable herself! Perhaps because his mother died when he was young and his father is a workaholic are part of why he has no respect for girls. He doesn't think about how girls reacts to guys' hunt for sexual conquests until his little sister shows up at a party and gets drunk with one of his friends. No guy like him better get near her! If more teenage girls read books like this, they might think twice before drinking with the guys at the local parties. Ha knows teen dialogue, which dominates this book. An interesting look into the teen preppy crowd.

Now back to savoring my Diet Vernor's Ginger Ale and a Lifetime movie! It is so nice to be back on the Mainland where I can buy Vernors. I grew up with this spicier ginger ale than Canadian Dry, which is a "watered down" version of the real thing. They have Ginger Beer in the islands but it is way too sweet - no diet version of it either. So now I always have Vernors in the fridge. I'm a happy girl!

Not the greatest picture of our latest grandbaby as you cannot see her adorable face, but I certainly loved sitting with Kady in my arms. Have babies on the mind since Kegan should be entering the world any time now. I'm still hoping for the blue eyed grandbaby - no luck yet, and Kegan will be # 5!

A relaxing Saturday afternoon. I pampered myself with a pedicure and a set of nails. I have Valentine's Day red finger and toe nails. :-) Now to get used to having fingernails again - my own break off so using the keyboard with longer nails is interesting. But, the cool part is you can't even tell the tip of my index finger was cut off and my natural nail curls. I hated my ugly nail as a kid and it embarrassed me as a school librarian when kids would ask me what happened to my finger. I wasn't about to tell them that my dad drilled the tip off because I had my finger in the doorknob hole of the door he was making for the kitchen and was afraid to tell him my finger was stuck.

While I type this I am watching Timeline on the SciFi channel. I like watching movies on this channel as they take all the gory stuff out! I didn't read Timeline, but I have a copy of Crichton's The 13th Warrior, which is out of print. I have my own copy the movie of the same name with Antonio Banderas and a group of Scandinavians as the Vikings who are very realistic in their garb and speech pattern. Most are Swedes or Norwegians. A very cool movie, but do be careful when viewing with little ones around - the scene where they find the butchered family is pretty gory. It is supposed to be based on Beowulf. I think it stands on its own, with no prior knowledge of Beowulf.

Read Cameron Dokey's Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella". I have never been a big Cinderella fan because I dislike the Disney version of it with the dumb singing birds and the mice. Basically, I dislike all of Disney's remakes of the folk/fairy tales of the past. It is so sad to think that many children know no other versions of the stories. Anyway, Dokey's YA novelization, a part of Simon & Schuster's Once Upon a Time series, is wonderful. I love this retelling because it is the father who is wicked, not the stepmother. She is just an unhappy woman who is married off to Cendrillon's father by the King and sent into exile at his country estate by her new husband. She does not know that the young woman who meets her at the door is her new stepdaughter as no one at court knows about Cendrillon. When her mother died in childbirth he abandoned his daughter and swore to have nothing to do with her. Cendrillon isn't alone in her exile prior to the arrival of her new stepmother and sister. Raised at her side is the infant boy her father delivered the same night Cendrillon was born, Raoul. Old Mathilde raises them both. They will play a role in the future of the kingdom. Such a fun retelling, set on an isolated ocean side estate with magic all of its own and wishes that sometimes come true in the strangest ways, including Cendrillon's wish for two stepsisters, so one will like her. I might just have to read the rest of the series now.

All for today.

Hi y'all! Just now working my way to the top of the pile of e- and snail mail that was waiting for me after several days in Seattle for Midwinter. What a beautiful city, but I am glad to be back home in sunny Greenville. It is a gorgeous day with bright blue skies. Sophie was laying right in the middle of a sunbeam coming in through the sliding doors and when I petted her, her fur was hot. Guess she misses the heat of the islands. Speaking of heat - I am typing this on one of my cool Christmas presents from Steve - a heated keyboard. I am not kidding - the keys stay warm to the touch. Wonderful for those of us who always have cold hands. Now, what to do about my always cold feet - oh yeah, my yeti looking mid calf slippers from Macy's are taking care of that problem.

Just gotta tell you about the creepy but cool book I read on the way home from Seattle. I was going to go for a light read, but the cover and Holiday House's Terry Borzumato's quick booktalk of Nicky Singer's The Innocent's Story hooked me and I set aside the romance for later. I am so glad I did. This is one of those read in one gulp books because you have to know what is going to happen. Imagine you have a parasite in your brain - doing so gives me the major creeps! He/she knows your inner most thoughts, experiences your dreams, and can see the world through your eyes. Cassina can do just that. She is a para-spirit, a parasitic spirit that needs the moisture of the brain to stay "alive". Composed of a mist like substance she enters and exists through your nose. Makes my nostrils tickle just thinking about it! But, Cassina isn't just any para-spirit, she is the para-spirit of a young teen whose was blown up in a London subway bombing, along with her little sister. Cassina enters the minds of a number of human hosts, including the mortician who prepares her little sister's body for viewing, her father's, the family dog's, that witnesses the suicide bomber's brutal beating. As he didn't die from the bombing, Akim also does not die from the beating - he is an aeternal, one who cannot die by "normal" methods such as bombs, bullets, or beatings. Cassina enters his mind and must come to terms with the manner in which people of his religion are treated and how they view the world. The most unsettling scene for me was when she enters the mind of the religious zealot who masterminded the bombing and sees what he sees when he walks down the streets of London - only the other T'lannis have form and facial features. The "non-believers" are just blurs of color. This is one of those books that teens of all ages, from MS through HS will eat up and be talking about and sharing with friends, insisting they read it too so they can talk about it! Singer has written one heck of a page-turner, a view of another culture/religion that has you wanting to go back and read it again, immediately after you read the last word on page 217.

Okay - on to catching up on grading and other "stuff".

Good morning from Seattle. This city is very hilly and none of the hotels I have meetings at are very close together. But, walking uphill to the IBBY session last night was well worth it. Terry Trueman was hilarious. Terry had done a number of online chats with my students when I taught at UHCL and they loved him, and his books. His Stuck in Neutral is a Printz Honor book and opened the eyes of many teens in relation to cerebral palsy. The sequel to it Cruise Control is from Paul's perspective. Shawn, the disabled 14-year-old's older brother, Paul, is angry about his father leaving. Paul feels like the weight of caring for Shawn is on his shoulders and he cannot accept a basketball scholarship to go away to college. In his latest YA novel, No Right Turn, Trueman takes on the topic of parental suicide and how 16-year-old Jordan has been not dealing with it well for the last three years. Will the 1976 Corvette and a girl bring him out of his depression? Trueman told us last night that the Vette on the cover is his. He also told a hilarious story about being out on the road with it and having a car of girls pull up next to him. They were all interested in him until he rolled down the tinted windows and they saw he was an old bald guy! He had us snort laughing!

I was supposed to go to a breakfast this a.m. but my knee had a different idea when I got up. It decided Tylenol and some elevated time is what it wanted. Lots of walking yesterday, and sitting for hours in one spot, aggravated it big time. I won't be climbing stepladders while talking on the phone any time in the future. Or, I should say falling off of stepladders while talking on the phone! It has been over two weeks and the knee is getting worse, not better.

Was listening to the trash truck outside the hotel this a.m. and had to chuckle as I thought of the scare I had while on island. We stopped to drop off trash and all of a sudden a guy came hopping out of the dumpster, with a curtain rod in his hand. We didn't realize anyone was there so he really startled me. Dumpster diving is a common event on St. Thomas, but that is the first time I have actually seen someone come over the top of the huge dumpsters. These dumpsters are the size of a semi trailer and deep so how he came hopping out of there is beyond me. I was proud of myself. I was able to keep myself from screaming when he hopped down next to my side of the car. But, I did lose a cat life for sure.

For the first time in the almost 20 years I have been attending ALA I went to the exhibit opening. I even stood in line to get a Chaucer bobble head doll. Not sure why, but the two fellow NC librarians I was with wanted one. It will look cute on my desk. Had a chance to stop and chat with publishing people. Many fun freebies and lots of food too. Tried to win something by throwing a stuffed fish through a hole at the Amazon booth, but no suck luck. I blamed it on my new bifocals! :-) There were so many bags of free books, posters and other goodies on people's shoulders that I am surprised we weren't knocking each other over. But, what fun. Not sure I want to do this every time, but it was certainly interesting.

Had the absolute pleasure of talking to Arthur Dorros and met his very sweet son, Alex, who co-authored Numero Uno with his father. This new Abrams title is a very entertaining tale of two villagers, Hercules and Socrates, who are continuously arguing about who is number one - numero uno. Hercules insists he is because of his strength. Socrates is as confidant he is numero uno because of his intellect. It isn't until the villagers send them away for three days so they try to figure out how to build the bridge without Hercules' strength or Socrates' intellect that the villagers decide what they didn't miss was the arguing! And, the bridge is built without them, well sort of! The illustrations make it clear that the huge boulder that the arguers dislodged from the hillside cave entrance (it took both brawn and intellect) rolled into the river and became the center support beam for the village bridge. This is a must have book in elementary collections and will be a wonderful read aloud title, which will result in very interesting conversations, I am sure. Can't wait to read this autographed copy to Michael on my next visit to Green Bay. Which, should be soon as Kegan is getting himself ready to enter this world. Can't wait to hold my newest grandbaby.

Okay, time to check for student emails and get myself going for the another long day.

I finally got my pictures transferred from the camera. Took this pic from the balcony of the apartment in St. Thomas, above Frenchman's Bay. That is the Queen Mary. She is so large she has to anchor at the entrance to the Charlotte Amalie harbor. The tourists take these pod things in to the wharf and then wait forever to get back out to the ship. Not my cup of tea, but the ship is pretty from a distance. The cruise ships look like huge sideways Christmas trees when they leave at night.

As I type this I am watching The Golden Globes and realize how few of the movies I have seen that they are highlighting. Haven't seen Dream Girls or Babel, but I have seen Cars! Can't you tell I teach children's and YA literature and am a gramma - I know kids' movies. And because of reading children's books I know who Georges Melies is - his name and his first first animated movie of a rocket hitting the moon were mentioned as the animated movie nominations were to be introduced. I knew this from reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selsnick, a very intriguing combination of narrative and line drawings, which really do tell their own part of the story, not just as a supplement to the text. Because the full page drawings tell so much of the story the book appears huge, Harry Potter size, but it really is a quick read and is quite fascinating. The concept of a young boy living in the walls of the train station and keeping all of the clocks going is quirky, but add the fact that he is working on an automaton and it becomes a true guy book. My brother the engineer would have loved this book - as a kid he took everything apart to see how it worked, but rarely put it back together again!

I was lazy this a.m. and finished Cameron Dokey's Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella". What an interesting retelling, with a father who is the wicked one for a change. The stepmother who arrives is his arranged bride, sent into "exile" with her two daughters to his home on the coast. A castle that he has not returned to since the night his wife died in childbirth, leaving after cursing the very spot his wife is buried and denying the child he leaves behind to be raised by the servants. Cendrillon is thought a servant by her new stepmother as she was not told her new husband has a daughter and Cendrillon does not change that misperception until much later in the tale. Cendrillon grows up with the baby boy Raoul who her father left with Old Mathilde, the healer who raises both children. Every year on their birthday they each wish for the same thing. Cendrillon wishes that what she plants on her mother's grave will not wither and die. Raoul wishes to know where he comes from and who his parents are. As we know, in fairy tales wishes do have a tendency to come true in the end, but not the way one expects. For those girls who love fairy tale retellings, this one will be swallowed in one gulp. :-) They will also love all the other titles in the Simon Pulse Once Upon a Time series.

Feels weird to sit here and not have Santas all about and Christmas lights sparking on the balcony. I took it all down today. The livingroom looks empty. Maybe I need to buy some heart lights to put out on the balcony for Valentines Day. Perhaps I will do just that when I get back from ALA Midwinter in Seattle.

All for tonight. Now to find the next book I am reviewing for Library Media Connection!

It's late Sunday afternoon and I am in the office. I came in to find my missing Midwinter file, but no such luck. Hopefully it is somewhere in my mess at home. I still don't feel settled in because each time I go to the islands I bring home two big suitcases full of stuff and have to reposition everything I had unpacked and put away the last time. And, I need more bookcases as I have more boxes of books coming and I haven't opened several that already came I need a bigger home office!

I started opening boxes of new books and got so excited about the cool board books that came in. I had to stop and "play" with Katie Davis' Who Hops?: Quien salta? The full page simple and bold illustrations of different animals are wonderful for little ones. The book is not a tiny board book so it is best explored sitting down. It first goes through the things that hop: frogs, rabbits, kangaroos, cows. Wait a minute! Cows? The page where it says no they don't is a hoot as it shows a bluish purple cow imagining what she would look like hopping - quite funny. Also goes through flying, slithering, and swimming. Since it is English/Spanish I am learning a few new words as I interact with this book. Can't wait to share this one with my grandkids. Harcourt is coming out with some really cool early childhood titles in board book format, including my beloved Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh. How can you not love a group of mice out witting a hungry snake? I have these little critters stuffed. Well, I should say had as I have lost a few to grandbabies who got a hold of them and wouldn't let go. Also have a board book copy of I Went Walking:Sali de paseo by Sue Williams. The "I went walking. What did you see?" text works beautifully for parents and little ones to read together. The use of "I saw a .... looking at me" each time makes this perfect for little ones to "read" alone as they can readily memorize it.

Can't you tell I am teaching a Materials for Early Childhood course this semester?

On the YA side, I am holding a copy of Psyche in a Dress by Francesca Lia Block, one of my all time favorite YA authors. The cover is absolutely gorgeous with a woman's form topped by a butterfly, with a skull where the feet should be. It is a short 116 pages, but I know it will be intense - all of Block's books are. My favorite, Baby Bebop is out of print. :-(

All for today. They just announced the library closes in 30 minutes so I want to get out of here before then. I was in here Friday night after it closed - kinda creepy.

No, I didn't fall off of the edge of the earth, but I may as well have as deep as I was wrapped up in the final manuscript. Y'All should have heard my YAHOO across the world when I electronically submitted it last evening. I came home, read my mail, "window shopped" a few catalogs, watched my new favorite show, The Ghost Whisperer and then crashed. I was too brain dead to do anything else. I would have been a very happy camper to have gotten my first full night of sleep not worrying that I wasn't going to make my deadline. But no - darn Sophie got bored at 4:40 this morning and decided it was time to talk and play. She was up and down off the bed, playing with my pillow, and telling me she was bored with her loudest meows. Now I understand what Steve told me he like to do while he had her and she woke him up - she almost became a cat-apult!

Just submitted a review for Classic Teenplots: A Booktalk Guide to Use with Readers Ages 12-18 to VOYA. Gillespie is well knows for his professional titles, especially Juniorplots and Seniorplots that went out of print awhile back. This is an interesting group of 100 books because they are in print titles from his earlier professional titles. My only complaint is the subtitle - the book has only slightly over 4 pages on booktalking and no booktalks. So it is a bit deceptive in nature. As a summary of plots and suggested passages, it is superb. Am delighted to have my own copy. :-)

Also sent in my presenter information for a booktalking workshop I will be doing for school librarians in Kentucky in June. Can't wait to visit Lexington. I have been through that area many times on my trips between Texas and Michigan and Steve and I drove through on our way to Greenville from Missouri. The leaves were in their Autumn glory so it was a beautiful trip. Never had a chance to actually spend some time in the city though. Should be fun.

The students in my two literature classes at ECU have been wonderful with putting up with my quick emails to let them know the status of the manuscript and why I was not my talkative self on the first discussion board. They don't know what they are in for! :-) I am as talkative on the keyboard as in person, but you can't see my facial expressions, which is too bad. Steve says my face tells it all! So don't ask me for my opinion of something if you don't want my face to tell you the truth even if my mouth is trying very hard to be "delicate" about my impression. :-)

Now that my writing is caught up a bit, I am about to dive into Cameron Dokey's Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella". It will be out early in 2007 from Simon & Schuster. I'll let you know what I think - of course. But, now I really do need to get to those discussion boards and "meet" my new group of students.

Happy New Year's Eve! Don't think Steve and I will be partying tonight as we are both sick. I'm sitting at the desktop computer and looking out on Frenchman's Bay - a day sail charter boat is making its way back from Buck Island - a favorite snorkeling site for tourists. I call it the Johnny Depp boat as it looks a bit like a pirate ship with its red sails, etc. Speaking of Johnny Depp - we watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest yesterday. No where near as good as the first one - felt like a segue into the third one. Just didn't have the snort laugh factor that the first one had. And, talk about long - over 2 hours. We watched it in two sittings as I had to take a nap - this cold/flu is taking it out of me. We went into town for lunch at Shipwreck to share a hamburger and fries, which were delicious, and picked up the mail. That wore me out.

We also opened Christmas presents - Steve had to wrap a couple of mine as we picked them up at the mail place. Mail service down here is sloooow and then some. He introduced me to Lawrence Sander's McNally books awhile back, with the playboy amateur detective Archy McNally. They are just fun to read mysteries. My Christmas present is McNally's Files with includes the first three McNally books: McNally's Secret, McNally's Luck, and McNally's Risk. So I will have my mystery reading set for awhile. I think teen age guys would like these as they are fairly mild in the risque factor and it is a guy detective instead of the female ones I so often read about.

Speaking of Christmas books, Mary gave me Kristin Hannah's Christmas romance, Comfort & Joy. Reading this was a joy! I love a sappy romance, especially when I am sick and this has been wonderful reading, with Sophie curled up in my lap purring. And yes, teenage girls would love this novel, even though the characters are middle aged - it is just a fun sappy romance with a touch of "magic". Joy is in a plane accident and while she is in a coma she finds a lodge in Washington State where she spends several days and falls in love with the widowed owner, but she really is the "imaginary" friend of his little boy Bobby. If you believe in magic - you will love the ending. Finished it in bed with Sophie this morning - after breakfast in bed - French toast. Steve is sick too but he is still spoiling me with breakfast in bed. :-) The book is set in the rainy Pacific Northwest - very appropriate as I will be in Seattle for ALA Midwinter later in January. The setting reminded me a lot of Juneau, Alaska with the huge trees and the moss covered rocks, roofs, etc. Walking the trails by the Mendenhall Glacier felt like being in to a primeval forest. I expected Sasquatch to step out from behind a tree, or perhaps a dinosaur. I loved the quiet of that forest and though I fussed about the continuous rain when I lived there, it was a beautiful place.

All for today. I am working on the course documents for the Materials for Early Childhood course I am designing and teaching for the first time at ECU. Found a great new text to use with lots of storytime activities - Saroj Nadharni Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz' Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library. It came out in 2006 and should be a staple in every Public Library Children's Room professional collection. The finger plays and rhymes brought back great memories of when I taught Head Start in Galena, an Athabascan Indian village on the banks of the Yukon. What a time that was!

My one day home between trips and I just got back from picking up my new glasses. I am officially old - I now wear bifocals! I am too vain to wear the ones with the lines though. I am adjusting to where I need to have my head so I am looking through the part of the lens that works the best. I probably look like a dork, but that's fine. I was so frustrated with reaching for the reading glasses all the time and then leaving them somewhere. I wore glasses for most of my life before the lasik surgery 5 years ago so I am not having trouble adjusting to the glasses, just were to look through the lens.

The trip to Green Bay was wonderful. Christmas is more fun around little ones. We bundled up and walked through the Holiday light display at the Botanical Garden. I took lots of pictures. We also stopped by a house that has more lights than most neighborhoods. I wonder what the neighbors think of all the cars driving by and stopping. Michael loves the Thomas the Train set he received from his grandparents. Had to let him sleep with Emily, the green engine we gave him, and a piece of track. He liked his Santa gifts, but was so enamored with the train that the trucks and bulldozer were secondary. They won't be as soon as it warms up enough for him to play in the sandbox in their backyard. The chocolate in his stocking was a big hit. For Gramma too - I pigged out on dark chocolate covered almonds that were in my stocking!

I was given one Christmas "present" I am not too keen on - a very bad head cold. Even lost my voice for a couple of days. Three different planes yesterday and the take-offs and landings weren't much fun - ears didn't like it at all. By the time I got home last night and called Mary and Steve to tell them I was home I had only a squeak of a voice. Today I loaded up on cold medicine and cough drops at the drug store as they are so expensive in the islands. I fly out tomorrow, but no 15 minutes drive to the airport this time. I am flying out of RDU so I have to drive over to Raleigh - about an hour and 1/2 away. Good thing the flight doesn't go out until 11:00. But, while at Mary's I woke each morning to "Where's Gramma?" or "Is Gramma up yet?" at 6:00 a.m. so I sort of got used to getting up early. Groan!! I plan on sleeping in while in the islands.

We gave Michael a copy of The Polar Express movie and he loves it. Thought I had already given him the book by Van Allsburg, but we couldn't find it in his bookshelves. Hard to believe that book is over 20 years old now - came out in 1985. He also received Cars and we had fun watching that - I hadn't seen it. Very cute movie. Loved Doc's voice and had to look to see who it was - Paul Newman! Michael's favorite book for me to read to him while I was there is I Stink! by Kate McMullen. I had given it to him quite some time ago so he knew the fun parts. We had a great time using Austin Powers sounding voices to say, "Mount Trash-a-rama, Baby!" Mary and Scott just sat and watched us - Michael brings out my inner child and then some! :-) We also had fun with Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton, which was published in 1939. Don't think he understood that Mary Anne is powered by coal. He did love the sound of the names of the town's people, especial Mrs. McGillicuddy. My reading so far this Holiday Season has been limited to picture books and that is fine with me for now. I had a delightful Christmas snuggling and reading books with Michael.

Off to St. Thomas tomorrow. Headed out with manuscript pages with tons of corrections and notes on them. I have my work cut out for me!

Thought I would put in this picture of the evening cruise we watching go out and come back while we are Mallory Square in Key West. With Steve saying he is going sailing this weekend I am missing the ocean!

We are getting a pouring rain. It started when I left campus at 5:30 and by the time I got settled in at home it was coming down in buckets and hasn't stopped since. Mary said it had been doing the same thing in Green Bay. All I can think about is that we'd be like Denver is this were snow. I am so glad it isn't as I leave for Green Bay on the 7:10 jet out of here tomorrow morning. We barely get in the air before we land in Charlotte. I like flying the jet better than the prop planes. Will get into Green Bay around 2:00 and we are going to see the lights at the botanical gardens in the evening, if the rain stops. Can't wait to see Michael - he has been reminding his mom that the chair next to his at the dining room table is Gramma's. :-)

Talked to Steve tonight and he and his buddy Jeff, who lives on a sailboat, are headed out to the BVI Sunday to spend a couple of days wandering. He doesn't seem the least bit upset that I am not there for Christmas! But, I did get an early Christmas present from him yesterday - a heated keyboard! I haven't set it up yet, but it sounds neat. I am out of plug in spots in my surge protector so I need to get a bigger one so I can plug in the keyboard.

Been working on the manuscript every waking hour I can and am reminding myself of all the great books I have read and want to read. Was looking for a historical fiction title with a witchcraft theme and came across Sherryl Jordan's Raging Quiet, which is one of my all time favorite YA historical fiction titles. A young woman falls in love with the "village idiot" who is actually a deaf young man who is trying to speak. She teaches him a form of sign language to communicate and the villagers think she is a witch because of it. The scene where she must hold red hot iron bars in her hands to prove her innocence is also burned into my memory. So many books, so little time!

All for tonight. Will probably be a bit before I have a chance to write again as I am home for one day next week before leaving for St. Thomas on Friday. Just enough time to get repacked and go through my mail. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Finally - a morning I got to sleep in! I didn't even mind being woke up by the painters' ladder noises outside - just fell back to sleep. So now I am listening to the 24 hour Christmas music station and planning on a quiet work day at home.

Sorry about the heads in the pic - some of the lights at the Kansas City Plaza Christmas lighting ceremony

Enjoyed a bit of magazine reading when I first woke up - Hallmark Magazine, a new publication that I really like. Short articles and lots of cool photographs. Love the January issue full page picture of snow laden trees with the quote" "Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together. " Vesta M. Kelly.
Going to put this one on the wall in my office. I like looking at snow - not being in it! Talked to Mary last night and she said it had been in the 40s in Green Bay and rain was predicted so I doubt I am going to get a snowy White Christmas with them like I did a couple of years ago.

Haven't had much time to curl up with a novel, but while sitting in traffic while doing Christmas shopping I've been listening to New Spring by Robert Jordan. I have not read any of his other books, but I was given this audiobook at a conference. It sat for the longest time with the plastic still on it and I finally decided to go for it. And, I am so glad I did. Granted, I was not crazy about the beginning as I do not care for the male narrator's voice - his sighs and breathing drive me nuts. But, the woman narrator is very good and I find myself in the world of Moiraine and Siuan as they go through the 100 weaves to become Aes Sedai and search for the newborn who is the rebirth of the Dragon. This is one of those situations where an audiobook is a wonderful introduction to a new author as I would have had no idea how to pronounce some of the names. Siuan is Swan - easy enough! So, my time sitting in traffic on Greenville Blvd - the "center of the world" in Greenville - where all the stores are, has not been so bad - I have been in Jordan's fantasy world.

All for today. Need to get back to the manuscript.

A late morning with the newspaper as I was up until 1 a.m. last night. Couldn't sleep so I worked on the manuscript until midnight and then started a new Christmas book - A Covington Christmas by Joan Medlicott. I was surprised to find out she was born and raised on St. Thomas in the VI before moving to Western NC. She started writing the Covington titles at age 64. Covington, of course, is set in Western NC, outside of Asheville, which I am looking forward to visiting someday. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about this mountain town. Anyway, the premise of the novel is that the new pastor finds old documents in the church attic to indicate 5 of the long term couples in the area are not married legally or in the eyes of the church. Where it goes from there I am not sure as that is as far as I got before the Sandman finally had time to come visit me. Thank goodness!

So I am most certainly getting a late start on the day and plan on getting a few hours of writing in before I head out to ToysRUs to find Emily - one of the Thomas the Train items that Michael wants. He is carrying the pamphlet with her picture around and says she is pretty, so I am more than happy to buy my macho grandson something he thinks is pretty!

I have the 808 page This Is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers next to me as I write. My next YA read, though many of the YA book lovers I interact with via listservs are not as willing to call this a YA novel due to the content, etc. I cannot say as I have not begun reading it yet. Some people read children's and YA novels as their "unconscious delight" leisure reading - it requires nothing more out of them than to enjoy the book. I don't read a children's or YA title that way - I am analyzing it as I read. Will I recommend it? Will I use it in a booktalk? What many read for just pleasure, I read professionally. Now my "unconscious delight" reading is wallowing in an adult novel that I know will have no YA or child appeal due to the age of the character and/or the theme/subject. Thank heavens for those - I need a break once in awhile. :-)

All for now.

Well, Fall semester 2006 has officially come to an end. The College of Education graduation ceremony was fairly painless as it was a small group this semester. It will be huge in May. Not one pair of flip-flops on the girls. Mostly black dress shoes, some with spike heels so high I have no idea how they even walked in them. A quiet audience compared to the graduations at SHSU years ago. There were a few, "That's my baby!" and one really cute, "That's my baby sister!" from a very proud older brother with a camera. :-)

Several of us went to lunch at Moe's Southwestern Grill and chatted to close out the semester. Already talking about changes we want to make for Spring semester and what classes will be on the schedule for the Fall. Most people live on a January through December calendar. Academics live on an August through May calendar with a gasp before the summer school run of two months with the joy of ALA Annual in June to break it up. And then the regular school year starts again. Holiday break plans of the group included skiing with their kids, visits to family in Ohio, spending the Holidays with friends in Arizona, etc. and for some of us a marathon writing time. I have a whole week, minus a couple of appointments, to get as much of the book done as I can before heading to Mary's on the 23rd.

Carol, Jami, Karen and I found our inner child and went to the Charlotte's Web matinee yesterday. What a cute movie. I detest spiders and was a bit grossed out by Charlotte's initial descent, but had to laugh at the horse fainting when he saw her. I felt itchy when her 514 babies hatched from the egg sack. Julia Roberts did a beautiful job of giving voice and character to Charlotte. I loved Templeton in the animated version and was as taken with the rat in this one. Nasty lovable creature! I had to chuckle over Jami and Karen crying when Charlotte dies, but I had tears in my eyes too - and of all things, over a spider! All in all, it was a delightful movie. We saw the previews for Bridge to Terabitha, very loosely based on Katherine Paterson's beloved children's book. Terabithia is brought to life as a creature inhabited fairyland with trees that have huge human like feet, etc. I will want to see this one for sure. As well as Miss Potter, with Renee Zelweiger playing Beatrix Potter. Lots of children's books and authors being brought to the screen. Let's just hope children watching these movies will ask for the books and/or parents will buy them. I can't wait to read Charlotte's Web to the grandkids. :-)

I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak last night. Oh my - what a beautifully written book. This is one that cries to be read aloud, but I have second thoughts about categorizing this as a YA novel as I am afraid it will not get the readership it deserves. To me this is an adult novel with teen appeal. It will not appeal to all teens as the narrator is death and the main character, Liesel, is a child for a majority of the book, but it certainly is not a book I would give to children to read. It has a dark but nostalgic feel of remembering the horrors of Nazi Germany. Liesel's book thievery and the connection these books give her to both her foster Papa and eventually to the very woman she steals books from is beautifully done. Zusak portrays, through Liesel's love of books and the connections she makes becaue of her stolen books, the power of words in a time when most people felt powerless and without a voice. Add this to the YA collections, but in the PL include a copy in the adult fiction area as well. I wish my mom were still alive so I could give a copy of this book for her - she, like Liesel, loved words.

On a less somber note, I am reading my birthday book from Steve - Get Your Own Damn Beer, I'm Watching the Game!: A Woman's Guide to Loving Pro Football by Holly Robinson Peete, wife of a retired football player and an actress. It is hilarious and very informative. Give this one as a Christmas present to the woman out there who have football crazed husbands and/or are football crazy themselves. I love her "10 All-Time Annoying Things We Should Never Say to Our Men During the Game" My favorites:

2. "Remember when your butt used to look like that?"
9. "You've already watched three quarters. Why can't we spend the last one talking about us?"

Peete has a wonderful sense of humor and a superb knowledge of the game as well.

All for this chilly Saturday a.m. Can't believe I have been up since 7 a.m., except for that fact that I crashed last night not too long after watching The Ghost Whisperer, my favorite Friday night show.

I keep waiting to hear the prancing and pawing of painter's boots on the balcony like I did Tuesday morning, but no such luck. They are painting the trim on the condos and early Tuesday a.m. I knew it wasn't Santa's reindeer I heard on the roof. By the time I got out into the livingroom they had already taken down the lights Steve put up. They reassured me they would put them back up when the paint dried. No such luck. So I guess I will be restringing lights when I get back from campus today.

We had our Dept. Holiday Luncheon yesterday and what fun. We gave our secret pals the books we had chosen for them to donate to the Homeless Shelter here in Greenville. I had Barbara's name and she loves her Golden Retriever so I found a really cool book, The Right Dog for the Job: Ira's Path from Service Dog to Guide Dog by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent. Beautiful color photographs of Ira as a puppy to him as a trained guide dog. The text and the illustrations also showed his trainer brought him to her classroom so he could acclimate to noise and children. A gotta have Nonfiction title for elementary school libraries. I received a copy of Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends and we shared memories of particular poems from this book. Along with the secret pal donations, we collected two Zerox paper boxes full of books, from board books to adult novels, for the Homeless Shelter. This is part of our ALA Student Chapter activities so two of our students came to collection and deliver the books. Such a feel good event!

Lots of talk about the new Charlotte's Web movie. Jami and I had made plans to go on Friday, since that is opening day, but it is also our College of Education graduation ceremony day. So a bunch of us from the Dept. are getting together for lunch and then headed to the movies afterward. I have heard both good and bad reviews of the movie, but if it will bring kids to the library asking for E.B. White's wonderful book, which was one of our donations, then I am all for it.

As far as reading goes I finished Fannie Flagg's Redbird Christmas. What a delightful Christmas story of how a small Alabama town can bring an ailing man back to health. Oswald T. Campbell, an orphan with no family and doctor's order to spend what is supposed to be his last year of life in a warmer climate, ends up as a boarder in a private home intiny Lost River, Alabama. The women in town are delighted to have their second available male to pamper and before he knows it Oswald is feeling a lot better and has become fast friends with Patsy, a little abandoned girl, and Jack the Redbird who has free reign of the town's only store. I found myself smiling and sighing at the slow lifestyle of this little town. It is as much Patsy and Jack's story as it is Oswald's as the community adopts Patsy as she finds her voice while playing with Jack. The ending will bring tears to even the most grinchy reader's eyes. No bah humbugs here! :-)

I am also working my way through Zusak's The Book Thief. Although an absolutely stunning book, it is not exactly one to make you feel good. A little girl in Nazi Germany who steals books and finds herself reading them to the Jew they have hidden in the basement as well as in the neighbor's basement (designated the bomb shelter) during raids. Add the narrator, Death, to this scenario and you see why I have to put other "feel good" books into my reading schedule.

All for today.

Happy Monday to one and all. It was a very productive weekend for me - many hours working on the booktalks, with fun Christmas movies playing in the background. I even listened to the Best of the Andy Williams Christmas Specials on PBS. Did look up long enough to see, remember, and grimace over those awful red or green, right down to the shoes, outfits the Williams brothers used to wear. PBS is having their annual fund raiser and also aired the Tribute to James Taylor special. Now that was worth looking up for. The Dixie Chicks and Allison Krause were wonderful, as was Carole King. I enjoyed every moment of that special.

Being in the Christmas spirit, Karen and I went to the matinee yesterday to see Holiday, with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. I am not a big Jude Law fan but he did a wonderful job of playing a single dad in this delightful Holiday movie. Diaz and Winslet's characters swap houses for the Holidays, both running from relationship break-ups. Winslet's character certainly gets the better setting - a California mansion for her rustic cottage in rural England, where Diaz's character is freezing her bippy off until she gets warmed up by Winslet's brother, played by Jude Law. I laughed and even got a bit teary eyed and overall, it was a wonderful couple hour break from writing.

As far as reading goes, I am currently into Zusak's The Book Thief, which I will wait and write about when I finish it. Not sure this was a good one to pick to read during the Holiday season as it is narrated by Death and set in Germany during WWII.

I did finish Mary Higgins Clark's Santa Cruise. As always, the bad guys are caught, just in the nick of time. You gotta love the two little bratty girls in this novel - the daughters of the mother who won their way on the cruise with her lengthy annual Christmas letter. She loves her daughters so much she hasn't a clue that the other adults on the cruise are not of like mind. You know the kind - the mother that writes about all the glorious things the family did the prior year. I'll keep that in mind as I write the Christmas letter in relation to the grandbabies! But the brats do pull the chair out from under, literally and figuratively, one of the bad guys on board. I liked Deck the Halls better - same set of characters, but they rescue private investigator Regan Reilly's kidnapped father.

Off to campus here in a bit. I have a new faculty gathering to share how our first semester at ECU went. As many years as I have been at this and with 4 different universities, I have to say, even though I have been as busy as a squirrel hiding nuts for the winter, it has been one of the best semesters I have had. What a wonderful group of students I have had in my courses.

Just got off the phone with Steve - our weekly Saturday a.m. call to catch up on what we didn't take care of via email. It appears my darling cat must really miss her Mommy. She is now grabbing Steve's hand and biting him when he works on his crossword puzzle in the morning. She normally only does that to me when I am petting her while reading and stop to turn the page. So I will be bringing her back with me in January. Going to be a busy Holiday for me. I leave for Mary's on the 23rd so I can join in the pleasure of a Christmas with a little one in the house. Then back home on the 27th, with time to wash and switch out winter clothes for island clothes and head to St. Thomas on the 29th. I was going to stay in NC and work on the book manuscript, but Steve suggested I might enjoy it more in the warm weather. I can take the laptop out on the deck and watch the boats go by as I do the final editing.

Attended the College of Education Christmas luncheon yesterday. Good food - bad music! It was karoke and a really bad rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas. You'd think we educators could remember all the words to it, but no. Nor could I get the moves right for YMCA. No one has ever disputed my claim that I am clumsy and uncoordinated after they see me trying to do that!

Well, I finally finished listening to the many, many CDs in the audio book version of Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend by Stephen Davis. I have been fascinated with Morrison ever since overhearing my brother's girlfriend talk about how disgusted she was by his performance at a concert. They saw him while in Chicago on the Senior class trip. I wondered what was so disgusting about him and in later years found out about his borderline pornographic acts on stage. And found out a lot more about his really weird personal life in this tell all biography. Davis pulls no punches about Morrison's sex life, even when the listener wishes he would. I wonder what would have happened if he hadn't overdosed and died in a bathtub in Paris. Would he have gotten the distance from The Doors he wanted and become a true poet? His poetry is good enough to be studied in university courses - it certainly is dark and anguished. The Door music - I love some of it and detest a lot of it. Let's just say listening to this biography has closed the door on my fascination with Jim Morrison, but I do understand the fascination with the Lizard King, even with teens today. How he survived his lifestyle as long as he did amazes me!

That's it for today. It is a cold and sunny day out and I plan on spending it with the laptop, writing booktalks.

I think I am finally finished with grading for this semester. What a long process it has been, but the booktalking sessions my students presented in the high schools were so well received. Many of them were asked to return to present more books. I always find it interesting that so many of my students are elementary teachers or school librarians and they panic over the idea of having to present booktalks to teens. But, once they have done so they love it and want to do more.

I was in my office yesterday when a beautiful vase of roses arrived. The florist had called to find out if I would be in the office and said she had a delivery. I couldn't figure out why I would be getting flowers as my birthday was last Friday. They are from Annika and Niclas in Finland. Such a thoughtful gesture - and there was no snow on them either!

One of the other faculty members I work with at ECU, Jami Jones, has her first YA nonfiction title out with Scholastic. It is part of the Scholastic Choices series and is entitled Dealing With the Stuff Life Throws at You and Bouncing Back. A very visually appealing book with lots of photographs of teens and quizzes for young teen readers to fill out as they read about how to become resilient individuals in the face of stressful situations. Good lists of Web site resources. I especially like the coping strategies Jami suggests. A super addition to any MS/JH collection as well as public library collections.

All for now - I need to do some online shopping for my granddaughter - the important things in life - little girls who love Little Mermaids. :-)

I am missing Steve already! My wonderful husband gave me the most fantastic 50th birthday present - him! I received an email on Thursday telling me he was on the way to the airport and would I pick him up at 8:00 that evening. He said he couldn't have me celebrating my 50th alone. It was a heavenly couple of days of sleeping in, checking out all the Christmas stuff in the stores, afternoon naps, evening movies, and dinners out. I brought him to the airport here in Greenville early this a.m. and then came home and wrote a final exam for my YA literature course so I wouldn't feel sorry for myself.

Along with us just spending time together (the best present), Steve did a few things on my "honey do" list - he put the gorgeous shell plaques he gave me up above the jacuzzi in the master bathroom. They look great and give it a bit of an islandy feel. And, he put up icicle lights on the balcony top and wrapped color lighted garland around the rail. It looks so Christmasy! And, I now have a porch rocker out there so I can sit and enjoy the lights at night - that is if it warms up enough. It was in the 70s when he got here but it cooled off yesterday and was down right chilly at 6:00 a.m. when we headed out to the airport.

He only brought his carry on for clothes so he could bring two of my big Christmas boxes instead of luggage. So now I can put up my Nativity scene and start setting up my Christmas village in the nook in the dining room. I'll listen to/watch the Trans-Siberian Orchestra: The Ghosts of Christmas Eve DVD that Steve gave me for my birthday while I decorate. They played in Green Bay last year and Mary was able to go see them - I am so jealous!

Poor Steve - he ended up watching Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas with me for my birthday. Really poor guy - I was "singing" along to some of the songs - not a pretty sound at all! He got me back last night with Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Majorly weird movie set on the Texas/Mexico border with a young hot-shot border guard shooting Tommy Lee Jones' character's Mexican friend and ranch hand. Pete, Jones' character, goes off the deep end in his grief and promise to return Mel to his small hometown in Mexico. He kidnaps the border patrol guy and makes him dig up Mel's body and forces him to join his horseback journey to take the body back home, into desolate Mexico. I thought for sure I was going to have nightmares about corpses - each night Pete props Me'l's corpse up next to the border guard. Steve does have a tendency to pick really strange movies. I don't even want to go into the weirdness of Bubba Ho-tep, other than to say Elvis is alive in a nursing home and Pres. Johnson is really black (played by Ozzie Davis). Oh yeah - the Egyptian mummy wears cowboy boots!

Didn't have much time to read the last few days. Still reading Santa Cruise by Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter Carol. A light Christmas mystery about a corrupt nephew taking advantage of his cruise ship owning uncle by smuggling aboard two fugitives who are dressed in Santa suits to disguise themselves. Let's just say his plan isn't working too well! :-) I had a few minutes to read in the mornings as Steve brought me breakfast in bed both mornings he was here. I love how he spoils me. Back to Luna bars now that he is gone back to the islands. :-) And back to grading for me right now.