It's not on the test!

Well, back to the rat race after a week off for Spring Break. My first words to my students? "We have three weeks until TCAP and we have a lot to cover."

Sigh....

Necessary evil. I hate that I have to stress this test so much.

Here is a video that fellow teachers will appreciate

let them eat cake!

I decided to try out a recipe for Ganache. Its something that I heard about on Food Ne twork. I am not sure i did it exactly right because it never thickened up like I thought it would. I took two round cakes and cut them in half then poured the ganache in between the layers and on top, letting it ooze down the sides.
Here is what it looks like




It’s a little messy looking at the bottom and I didn’t have a round cardboard cake holder.

yummy looking, no?

remember the little guy

As many of you know, I am a big book nerd. I’m quite proud of that actually. Over the past few years I’ve been toying with writting something. I’ve said before that there is a story inside me waiting to get written.

When you think of authors, big names usually come to mind and many times people assume that all authors get the treatment that JK Rowling does (though she didn’t start out that way). I have discovered that’s not at all the case.
It’s crazy what goes on behind the scenes, and I don’t know the half of it.

Did you know that many authors, especially those going through independant publishers or those that are self-publishing, get next to nothing for their books? I read where one author gets .25 per book that he sells through Amazon. PER BOOK! This is crazy.

Also, many times authors have to buy their own books. (so if you know someone who has written a book, don’t ask for free copies, buy your own, or see if the author will sell you one).

One of my friends is in the process of publishing his first novel. I was honored to be asked to read through it during the revision stage and talk to him about his plans for the next book.

I say all of this because, dear readers, I want you to keep reading the mainstream, well-promoted books but also don’t forget about the smaller published books.

Keep an eye out for my March reading list at the end of the month. It’ll have at least one book that is being published through a small publishing company.

And be assured that if a book is on my list, it’s a good one (or I’ll make sure I tell you it isn’t) and you need to read the books that I list.
If I had more time I’d start reviewing books again. Maybe this summer......

Vampires!

Being a child of the 80s I was in LOOOVE with "the Coreys" (Haim and Feldman) and I loved The Lost Boys. I think it was my first encounter with Vampires. I Loved the soundtrack to the movie and watched it so much I practically memorized it. and to this day, any time I see the guy who was the "head vampire" I immediately picture him turning into a vampire. The Coreys were cute in this movie and Keifer Sutherland and Jason Patric were sooooo hot.

now I hear they are making another one called Lost Boys: The Tribe

oh gaaaaaaaaawd, please no.

Just watching the trailer makes me want to cry and then beat someone. I just know it’s going to be oversexed, over acted, and poorly written.

The song in the trailer is awesome though. I think it’s a remake of one from the original.

I think I might be skipping this one.



and speaking of Vampires, Stephenie Mayer posted on her site this picture of the guy who is playing James, the evil one in Twilight.



WHAT! He isnt supposed to be hot!

2008 Reads

2008 reads

I’ve decided to keep up with the books I read this year. I’ll update this every couple of months.

January & February:

*The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman
*How to Hook a Hottie by Tina Ferraro
*Lock & Key by Sarah Dessen
*Son of the Stone~ River of Doors by Wesley Stein
*Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen
*Pendragon Book 7: Quillan Games by DJ MacHale
*Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
*The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe by CS Lewis (read with class)
*Screwtape: A Play Based on the book by C.S. Lewis, "The Screwtape Letters" byJames Forsyth
*The Shack by William P Young

Its like a yard sale, but they sell robots

Star Wars according to a 3 year old

best.description.ever

It's now official...

...i've changed my mind.

Have you ever been SO sure of something? Your mind was absolutely, without a doubt made up?

yeah, me too

Things were discussed...changes will be made...
but the biggest mind-changer was talking to 5 teenaged girls and realizing the impact I made in their lives. and realizing just how much they impact mine.

Why do i do this?
one-because I love it
two-because, honestly, I'm good at it
three-because I get the chance to hang out with some of the coolest and funniest girls on the planet.

and that's why I changed my mind....even though I swore to many people this was it. (wonder how many bets were placed against me? )

So, give me a hard time if you will, but the reasons are important and I have not taken this decision lightly.

people are more important than projects.



(Please remind me of this blog when I bitch about things next fall, k?

and if you don't know what I am talking about here, consider yourself lucky)

WHY!!!

Why mess with a good thing?

Being the 80s child that I am, I absolutely adore Micheal Jackson's Thriller album. I have (still!) the cassette and I played the heck out of it back in the day. It turns 25 this year (dating myself here, I know)
They are releasing a 25th anniversary edition, but they have "remixed" 5 of the songs. If you get the chance, go to youtube and listen to some of them.
UGH! AWFUL!
The songs are charming and timeless enough and are way better than some of the crap that passes as music these days. Why mess with it??

Once you've listened to the crappy new versions, find the originals and listen to them. So.much.better.

Thriller, by the way, is in my top albums of all time list.

Just want you all to know-

that I am the poo.

At least that's what I was told. At parent teacher conference one of the parents said her kid thought I "was the poo"(her words)
That means I'm awesome! (mark, however, says it's because I smell... )


OH. I had a kid the other day ask me "Why do you read all the time? you're an adult"

...
Wha-?
I said because it was fun. I love reading.

another kid asked "but, is your tv broken?"

...
Wha-?!? I certainly hope THAT kid was joking.

We live in a scary world........

I gotta get me one o' thems!

file this under what tha....?
and in case you REALLY want to get one- here is their website
Hawaii chair

This can't be comfortable.