WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?

I know that I have not tended to my blog for more than a week now. I apologize for my absence. Each time I sat down to write over the last week, I just wasn’t able to come up with anything. It’s not that my mind has been blank; it’s just been on overload. Too many thoughts have been swirling around in my head, and I couldn’t grab hold of one long enough to actually write something coherent.

I’ve been reading quite a bit. I read several books for work as I was attempting to find a new novel to teach next year. I was looking for one which would work in conjunction with Black History Month. I landed on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. It, along with its sequel, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, follows the life of the Logans, a black family in Mississippi in the 1930’s, and I simply couldn’t put down the books until I finished them. I am quite excited about teaching the novel and discussing the various issues the novel deals with.

In addition to my reading for work, I’ve been reading quite a bit on my own as well. I just finished Eldest, which is the sequel to Eragon by Christopher Paolini. My husband Chris is fascinated by dragons and turned me onto this series. By the end of the book I was breathlessly racing ahead to see what would happen next. I also finished a Nicholas Sparks book, Nights in Rodanthe, and I’ve been reading a historical fiction novel, Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. I would be remiss if I did not also include my Bible reading; I’ve been quite inspired by Philippians as of late. That pretty much sums up my reading over the past week and a half. As you can see, my interests are quite varied. I simply love reading; to me it is quite a gift.

Yesterday I went shopping with Mom. She is simply my best friend. I love spending time with her, and I am so grateful for the relationship we have. We skirted around the Bellevue area, taking care of various errands. One of my favorite stops was Michael’s, the craft store. I bought painting materials, scrap booking supplies, and some wood pieces for another project. I have painted the base color on one of my canvasses, but I have not been able to do much else, and I am anxious to work on the painting. Hopefully I will have some time this week to let my creative juices flow. I also picked up some information for the special classes at Michael’s. In June, I plan to take the first course of cake decorating, and in July I will hope to take the second course. I’m hoping that Mom will want to take them with me. I would start the classes in May, but one of them would interfere with my birthday, and I just can’t let that happen, so I will wait.

Chris and I have been seeing a few movies lately. The interesting thing is that most of them have been children’s movies. Most of them have been wonderful stories with plenty to thrill people from all age groups. One of the most important things for Chris and me is that a movie has a strong plot to move the action along. Special effects, good actors, and interesting cinematography are all important, but if the plot is lacking, the movie is just not worth the price of the movie ticket. It’s alright for rental. However, in order to justify spending the money it takes to go to the theater, the movie needs to be high quality. A few of the movies we’ve thoroughly enjoyed lately have been Nanny McPhee, Eight Below, and Ice Age 2. However, we were less than impressed with the movie we saw this afternoon, The Wild; the story line was weak. There hasn’t been anything else at the theaters to grab our attention. I think that we are in the lull that occurs between the feel-good Christmas moves and the summer blockbusters. I’m looking forward to more diverse choices in the near future; perhaps Chris and I will be able to find a movie with a more adult crowd to view. Lately we’ve been the only ones in the theater without children, but I guess that we’re both just a couple of big kids anyway!