Of Snow Days and Other Stuff

Yesterday was a surprise snow day for the girls and I! Honestly, we could have been on a delay and been fine, but it was nice to be off. We went out and got "You're Turning 40" gifts for my brother (whose birthday is today---Love Ya, Little Brother!) and got lunch. Then I attempted to read a bit. I'm tackling She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb, one of my tbr_challenge books. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but while it's certainly readable, it's not exactly what I thought it would be. I expect I'll be able to knock it out rather quickly and time will tell whether or not it'll be a "good" book.

Before that I finsihed The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell. I ended up liking it quite a bit! Here's the link to my Amazon.com review, found under the name Taminator1:
http://tinyurl.com/2l4fs2

Thanks to my book friend. Beth, I've got Lords of the North awaiting me in Mt. TBR and I do think I'll be reading this one sooner rather than later.

~taminator40

Girls' Day Out

With Jeff and Hannah off skiing, Katherine and I had a quality day of shopping! We hit the mall and made quick work of all our favorite stores, including Bath and Body Works, Macy's, and Waldenbooks. Then we bought her some fabric at Jo Ann's (proving that being a good seamstress does, indeed, skip generations, she's inherited my mother's love of sewing). Next, because you can never have too many books in your life, we hit Barnes and Noble, which included a visit to the Starbuck's within (I have a problem with addiction to white chocolate mochas....). Then it was off to the $100 store, Target, and finally to the grocery for Jeff (I absolutely hate going to the grocery and would probably go hungry or simply only eat whatever's sold at Target if the grocery shopping was left up to me on a weekly basis). We finished out day eating Chinese. What a wonderful time, spending lots of money on things we don't need but just enjoying each other's company. I'm so glad that, at 10 years old, she still feels okay about occasionally holding my hand as we walk....what a good kid she is.

Shamelessly Stealing...

I'm shamelessly stealing Nanci's map idea for my blog. I love the idea that unknown people stop by my blog, even if it's not updated often. Still fun to see!
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Jeff and Hannah have gone snow skiing this weekend. Katherine, in true spoiled child form, has convinced me that tomorrow should be spent at the mall buying her stuff. So looks like we'll be off spending money we don't have on stuff we don't need...but at least I can hit the bookstores once more before Lent hits. I always give up book buying for Lent, though Jeff laughs and says I should give up something that means something. Uh, hello? Has he noticed the size of my TBR mountain lately, LOL?

Alternate Reads for Challenge

anHere's my list of Alternate Reads for the tbr_challenge...I want to read them all NOW!

Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
An Inconvenient Wife by Megan Chance
Dear Heart How Like you This? by Wendy Dunn
Sentimental Journey by Jill Barnett
Fatal Crown by Ellen Jones
The Sisters of Henry the Eighth by Maria Perry
The Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
A Fine and Private Place by Peter Siegel
Proud Conquest by Carol Wensby-Scott
Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl
Under an English Heaven by Robert Redmond


I'm currently reading Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer and I'm loving it! Spencer has now become my go-to author for when I'm in a slump. Her writing never fails to deliver.

~taminator40

Book Reviews on Amazon

Just to share....for approximately two years now, I've been reviewing almost all of the books I read on Amazon.com. I like doing this for several reasons:

• It makes me *think* about what I read
• It gives me practical writing practice
• I like seeing my thoughts posted on a well-known site
• It gives a good book a boost in the ratings, and warns others away from the stinkers
• I can share my opinions....something I'm very, very good at!

While I never profess to be a master writer, I do enjoy the reviewing process. I like forcing myself to come up with new adjectives...I tend to find myself in a rut using the words "engaged" and "characterization" over and over if I don't force myself to think and explore. I also like sharing the reviews with my online friends, who in general are quite supportive and give me lots of "yes" votes to stroke my ego, LOL. But I seriously would rather receive a "no" vote that's honest than a "yes" one just for the sake of seeing it. The only thing that really annoys me is when I review a YA novel and I receive a "no" vote based on what I perceive is my honest review not being appreciated by a rabid fan of the book. For example, any of the Princess Diaries books I've reviewed---invariably someone gives me a "no" and I can't help but believe it's because I didn't gratuitously give the book 5 stars. But then again, maybe they just didn't like it and I need to accept it!

Here's a link to my latest review for Beverly Swerling's City of Glory. Right this minute my review is the only one posted, though I know that will shortly change. Anyway, if you scroll down to the review by Tamela McCann (or taminator1), you'll see a link to "See all my reviews" that will let you look at some of the others I've done.

http://tinyurl.com/yfzowq

I try to be honest in what I write, and I don't faun unnecessarily. If my opinion is drastically different than the others posted, I may reevaluate where I was in my life when I wrote the review, but I never change my rating. It is what it is, and it reflects my taste.

TBR Challenge 2007

Here I am in 2007, ready to tackle Mt. TBR! I've joined a yahoogroup, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tbr_challenge/, that has as its aim for us to whittle down (at least a little bit) our out of control TBR piles (to be read piles for the uninitated!). Heaven knows I need help and encouragement. My father-in-law sheepishly admitted to me recently that he's got over 30 books in his house he hasn't read. Har! I *admitted* to over a 100, and if truth be told, with the YA/children's lit, it's probably closer to 300. I know I've got a problem walking on my side of the bedroom, and I'm having trouble deciding where to put those books that somehow found a home in my home. I've simply got to quit adding to the masses! With that in mind, I figured the challenge would be a good incentive. So, here, without further ado, is my list of TBR Challenge Books for 2007:



Morning Glory by Lavyrle Spencer
Limits of Enchantment by Graham Joyce
September Girls by Maureen Lee
Helen of Troy by Margaret George
The First Princess of Wales by Karen Harper
She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
Fearless by Lucia St. Clair Robson
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
There and Back Again by Sean Astin
City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury by Edith Pargeter

I may add some for extra credit later on, but these will make a nice dent in my pile. And most of them qualify for the chunkster challenge I've joined at:

http://bookfoolery.blogspot.com/2006/12/you-asked-for-it-chunkster-challenge.html

This is the year I promise myself to quit ordering so many books and actually read some of the ones I already own. I'm seriously going to try to not order anything unless it's a sequel or it's by an author I adore. And I mean it. Seriously. :)

I also promise to try to stay more up-to-date on this blog. Four months is too long to go without posting! I will post some thoughts on our recent Hawaii trip soon.

Slainte'! Happy New Year!

Random Thoughts on School....

Well, I'm back at work. I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude but there are lots of little annoying things that are bugging me. We have a new assistant principal, a lady who WAS a principal last year but was demoted. Isn't that scary? We've been that route before at our school and it wasn't a pretty site. I'm hopeful that maybe it was just a bad fit at her other school, but we'll see.

There's also a second assistant principal roaming the halls...he's a former superintendent from Indiana who was hired on by Pedro and is "shadowing" our principal for a few weeks. This makes me nervous. Hopefully he's not here to take over for our principal....better the devil you know, right?

Anyway, I'll update tomorrow on how the first day went. Hopefully things will pass calmly. My friend Lynn says she's adopting MY motto: It'll be okay. When did this become my motto? I wasn't present at that meeting.

Rear-Ended!

So I was driving along yesterday near the airport when suddenly, in front of me, blocking the entire right lane, is a car at a dead stop. People, this is a 50 mph zone! The car in front of me slams to stop, and I, fortunately, make it, too. The idiot behind me, however, didn't, which is something I can actually understand. He didn't pop me hard, but obviously I'd been hit---and then the asshole took off! He was in a white, older Lincoln and I'm assuming he either didn't have insurance or was driving on a suspended license (major surprise, huh?) Who I'd really like to hurt is the white trash woman who was stopped dead in the right lane and actually caused all this. I spoke to her briefly--she tried to get the license # of the car driving off---but she was stopped because she was following her boyfriend and things had flown off the back of his truck and they were stopped to pick them up. I was kinda in shock--not hurt, just pissed. I did drive on down to a safe spot and called the cops but of course there's little to no chance they'll ever catch the idiot. So now I'm left to decide whether or not I should turn the claim in to my insurance and watch my rates go up (thanks, asshole!) or hope the damage is actually less than $500 so I don't have to involve the insurance people at all. You can't really tell there's much damage--just the muffler is bent and there's a small dent in my back door. It's just the principle of the thing. What is wrong with people? You go along minding your own business and then, bam! And we really can't take another financial hit now. I'm just really down about all this.

Adding to the books read list...

And here we have the books I've added to my Read in 2006 list so far this summer, plus ratings (out of 10)..

31. Hidden Honor by Anne Stuart (5/28/06)...7/10
32. Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham (6/3/06)....9/10
33. Sweet Ruin by Cathi Hanauer (6/7/06)...6.5/10
34. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (6/11/06)...10/10
35. A Famine of Horses by P.F. Chisholm (6/14/06)...6.5/10
36. Bad Twin by Gary Troup (6/18/06)....7/10
37. Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot (6/19/06)...7/10
38. 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal (6/20/06)...8/10
39. Plain and Simple by Sue Bender (6/24/06)…5/10
40. A Lady Raised High by Laurien Gardner (6/26/06)….7/10
41. Regency Charade by Margaret Mayhew (6/30/06)…7/10
42. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie (7/2/06)…7.5/10
43. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (7/8/06)….8.5/10
44. Treason by Meredith Whitford (7/14/06)…9.5/10
45. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (7/16/06)….8/10
46. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (7/16/06)…7/10
47. Disobedience by Naomi Alderson (7/20/06)….7/10
48. Twilight by Stephenie Meyers (7/22/06)…9.75/10



I cannot say enough good stuff about The Book Thief. If you haven't read it, do so now! Awesome, awesome. And I kept up my tradition of reading a classic this summer, having finished off Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Every time I read Austen I wonder why it's taken me so long to read another one. Love her writing!

Twilight has turned out to be one of those books I'd like to immerse myself in---interesting storyline and characters that have crawled into my soul to live. The writing itself isn't outstanding (Edward chuckles wayyyy too much) but there is something just so compelling about the story that I've found myself thinking about the book numerous times since I finished it Friday night.

I tried to read Alentejo Blue for review and had to pitch it halfway. If someone tells you this is a good one, ignore that person. There was no one in the story I cared about, and the odd things each character had wrong were just so....yucky. It seemed like an author trying to be pretentious for pretentiousness-sake. I don't do well with those.

I'm currently reading Rebel Angels by Libba Bray (the sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty) and it's okay so far (77 pages in). I like how Bray writes. She knows how to pull you in. I'm also reading The Thirteenth Tale for review and can't decide what I think of this one yet. It's come highly recommended so I'm hanging with it, hoping it picks up a bit. Not bad, just not what I was expecting.

~taminator40

The Dreaded Email....

Oh, no, I just received the dreaded email...my principal has decided it's time for him to start sending out his weekly staff emails. I am so not ready for summer to be over! Not sure why he thinks we're needing to be updated on the latest copy of the schedule (which will probably be updated again so why get upset now?). Why can't I get excited about going back to work? I read emails on teacher-lists about how excited some teachers are, planning a new year and going to workshops and I think, why not me? Maybe it's because I enjoy sleeping late or I have a life outside of school. I am NOT excited about another teacher who is joining the related arts team, I know that for sure. Arrgh. I'm going to have to work hard to maintain my sunny personality with this one, I know that.

My biggest accomplishment for the summer is the band website. I do like it, if I have to say it myself. I worked really hard on it and I hope it's accessible. Here's the url:

www.johnovertonband.org

Hannah's excited about band again this year and Katherine is looking forward to being at my school. I guess I just like the freedom to do what I want when I want. I hate being overscheduled.

On that happy note, I will now upload a picture of my beautiful family to share.
~taminator40