Finally Friday Dec. 26

If I were motivated enough to get out of fleece and get into the car and drive all the way into town I would usually at this point have visited B&N to get a new calendar. Always the day AFTER Christmas. In some ways I'm cheap, I guess. Not in enough but in this particular way. But as it's looking I'm not motivated enough. More fun to stay in and listen to the audiobook of The Screaming Staircase. But if I WERE to go ... Michael's would be another trip. For materials for this.



Will I get any new ones made over the rest of the break? Still haven't seen any movies so who knows! The To See list was long. That also requires driving into town.

I also tried making some iPad wallpapers but the site I used to look up the dimensions was incorrect. :P


In SO MANY WAYS.



Although the pic looks more "Beam me up, Scotty" you know this is awesome.



And two pics of cute kids just because I can.

Properly align said pics of cute kids I cannot!

#IMWAYR Dec. 22

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.


I've been reading some picture books from our first order. I need to catch up on my Goodreads goal. :P :/

I think my favorites might be My Blue is Happy, Nugget & Fang, & ... hmmmm. Why is Memoirs of a Goldfish not showing up? I must have mixed up the date.

Though Joshua Dread was fun.

And a new Pendergast is always promise of an adventure.

Some of these I need to buckle down and finish. I also have several e-arcs I should finish. Anyone love any of these and can tell me to get reading? Two nieces/nephews here now, three more coming tomorrow. So we'll see. ;) The Screaming Staircase is an audiobook and I DON'T HAVE THE ROTTEN COMMUTE FOR 13 WHOLE DAYS.

If I'm not back by Thursday MERRY CHRISTMAS. But I might be. We'll see. I have a cutey-patootie Instagram pic I'm saving that is actually book related. Among other things. Like madly fighting off what sort of feels like a cold/flu coming on. THAT CANNOT HAPPEN. Pregnant sis-in-law here plus all those kiddos!

Finally Friday Dec. 19

MADE IT!

Five (hopefully!) little ones next week. Two are already here, we hope three are well and can come next week. So ... I won't be trying many of these SOON. But soon. I have already seen Death Comes to Pemberly, Cranford, Emma, Foyle's War, some of Lark Rise, Mr. Selfridge, Pride and Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion, Sherlock, Upstairs Downstairs (oddly, didn't love that one), When Calls the Heart (cheesy but I enjoy it anyway!), and Weathering Heights.



I actually do love clothes. You'd not know it to look at my current wardrobe but I do. And Disneybounding is just kind of fun.



Another one. Aren't they fun? A book related quote, perhaps?



This color combo makes me happy.



I WANT THIS LEGO WALL. Just got told this AM that I don't "get" to do morning duty as a door stop anymore (I hated it at first cause I'm not a morning person and saying good morning that many times was hard. Actually started to get more used to it and enjoy their smiles but still. 45 minutes every day). I can have the library open instead. WHAT CAN WE DO? ;)



Just like movies not sure how many books I'll be able to read. But I do have e-arcs of the second Thickety and second and third Finishing School titles. Plus three days left on my echeckout of The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill. And with a surprise by our district LS a couple book orders to work on!

Enjoy holiday time!

Finally ... Saturday! Dec. 13

Good week? Great week?
Here are a couple things from the web that inspired me professionally and personally.


Why did I not think of this?



Oh, I wanted to get this so bad. But I'd already ordered myself the SW Ugly Sweater t-shirt. I liked this one better, though. :P



Headphones drove me crazy last week. Need to get one of these.



I would like a book of Hank-isms like this.



For as much as faith plays an important part of my life I'm not usually one for this type of music. I prefer classical as a more worshipful tone ... and then give me some 80s pop or 90s alternative. Or country. This, however, is a lovely, lovely arrangement. I don't recognize most of the YouTubers but who cares. The important part? #sharethegift

#IMWAYR Dec. 8

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.




I just finished the Beyonders World Without Heroes audio. Will be starting a "grown up" Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child Pendergast audio adventure next. Looking forward to Blue Labyrinth.

For the second or third time I have Making Thinking Visible checked out. And again ... I love the ideas. I just have a hard time with the e-format for this one and translating reading into practice. I should just buy it. I have several other PD books I bought and started and haven't ever finished already. Is that bad?

I'm in the middle of Red Rising. And The Infinite Sea. It's been too long since I read The 5th Wave so I'm a little lost.

I must admit ... during my month off of posting any reading (MsOReadsBooks! Really. She does. This year is not the norm) I did share The Book With No Pictures with some kids. They liked it a lot more than I did so that's worth something.

Oh! And the picture book Ivan. What I would give for a terrible late 80s hair photo of myself at the B&I visiting Ivan. I never got to go see him at the Atlanta zoo. I loved sharing that one with the kids!

And I read Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek. I liked that one ... can't wait to hear more from the young author. I actually didn't care for Tana French's The Secret Place. I've enjoyed all her others but not this one.

Upcoming Projects

Well. Since the hands on research project (transportation, recreation, and communication ... comparing with colonial times--we had reproductions of games to play and simple Pebble Go research task cards ... but no one wanted to do it :() I thought we'd be doing didn't fly with that particular grade level's teachers I have more time than I thought I would. Plus no GTA next week. :P So this is what I'm doing instead.

This one just because he's fun and I needed a student work display for out in the hall. Is that terrible? We will be talking about apps first. We just got 25 iPads for the library (not functional yet but they will be!) so the timing is good for app discussion and why we use tech.

HOUR OF CODE! I really had wanted to be doing this all along but new admin this year nixed it. Until it became a district thing. Just a couple 2nd grade and then 3-5. K-the rest of 2 we'll try once the iPad cart is working. And I play more with the apps.
Follow MsOReadsBooks's board Hour of Code Stuff on Pinterest.


Every year I beg classes to make book related ornaments for small trees in the library. Some years I get good responses, others not so much. The "off" years I swear I will just make some to have around ... but that's not quite as fun, is it? Here are some possible adaptations ...


Oliver Jeffers is fun. Not the same kind of tree but the story obviously lends itself. ;)



Must get a new pack of crayons. I probably have the googly eyes.



I need an easy Gerald equivalent. And then maybe a little toy bird in a nest. And a little ball. And another whale?



The trees I'm contemplating at school are MUCH smaller (like 18-24"). But this one has possibilities. I have some of those book cover foam stickers!



Would it be weird to do a "holiday" tree on this?



Or ... a tree with all small pointy red hats. Or red sleds. Both would be fun book references.






A tree in honor of The Most Magnificent Thing would also be fun. Just with ... bits and bobs of things. Popsicle sticks. Yarn. Rubber bands. Small cans. What else?

And if the book order comes in in time ... finally got to order some books! So a book tasting with at least one 3rd grade class may be in order.

Finally Friday Nov. 21

VACATION! JUST IN TIME! Lately getting pulled into a lot of dull things. No one wants to do the fun research things. :P Recharge and start again. So this may not be as hilarious to a non-San Antonian. But every year the Spurs do a series of commercials (in 5 hours!) and they are SPOT ON. This is just one. I won't make you see all three.




OWLS! And Christmas!




Google Funnies.




I don't crochet. But if I did crochet, I'd want to crochet this.




I do love me a good extension.




May you get lots of reading in. And turkey. And pumpkin pie (WW POINTS BE ... GONE!). And family time. Movie time. Sleeping time. Later.