Update in ohhhhh 3 months!

Well everything is VERY hectic right now. School has started and I have so far been keeping up with grading and planning. I only have 16 kids this year (WOW!) and hope that the small numbers will allow me to do more with the kids than ever.


Movies seen:


The Night Listener-Very interesting movie. Makes you think about what people will do to just get someone to pay attention to them. Not a movie to see with younger or elementary age kids. Robin Williams was pretty good and WOW! loved Tony Collette she was so creepy. I am so used to seeing her in other kinds of roles.

Hollywoodland- Excellent movie about the first Superman George Reeves. Ben Afflick plays this actor turned gigilo (in my opinion) and it is pretty wierd seeing him like this. Loved Adrian Brody as the reporter and boy did he get alot of stuff dumped on him. If you don't like movies that leave you hanging or don't have endings this movie isn't for you. They never really tell you if Reeves was murdered or committed suicide. It is left up to you. I personally think he committed suicide.


The Covenant- Basically a teen movie. Pretty good plot and acting but reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Lots of gorgeous young actors never heard of. The blond I thought for a long time was the actor who played Malfoy in Harry Potter but I don't think it is. I like these kind of movies but it basically mindless entertainment.

Books/Books on Cd:

Well I have a lot of books waiting to be read but not alot in progress right now.

I finished A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by Libba Bray on Cd. Excellent teen (there is mature subject matter) fantasy. Takes place in the Victorian times and was interesting to hear some of the comments coming out of the girls mouth's since things were so different back then. I consider this more a historical novel than fantasy since the fantasy is really only the "Realm" which they don't go to very often and is talked about alot. Still a good book with action and mystery. I figured out who Circe was before they told me though.

I am in the process of listening to The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman (a fantasy for children/adults)and so far I love it! Usually the books on CD are read by one person but this one the author narrates and all the different characters are read by a different person. Kind of like Rebel Angels in that it deals with Altered History.

Well that's it for now!

~see ya

Donna

Well i got an email from my friend Donna who's son has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. I have really been feeling guilty because I have not been in contact with her since she told me this. I understand what she is going through because my mom and brother both died from cancer. I am feeling guilty because my way of dealing with difficult things is to avoid them so I have not talked with her at all. I really don't know what to say to her. It makes me think of my mom and brother which brings back the horrible times. I went to the site she set up for her son to communicate with everyone and seeing the pictures of him getting treatment made me soo sad and made me think of the times I went with Shawn to get his treatments at the Cancer Center. It was very difficult to see my brother this way, I can't imagine how it feels for your son who is still a child.

I am going to try my best to send emails at least once a week and maybe do some pictures for her scrapbooking.

~later

Books and Movies

Well I haven't read much lately.

I just finished Twilight by Stephanie Myers which is a teen book. It is about...wait...vampires LOL. Very different take on the vampire though and they don't even bite or kill in this book. Basically a misunderstood teen angsty book. She meets this family of vamps who go to her new school and she falls in love with Edward the one not paired up. There will be another by this author soon and I don't know if it will be a sequel. I think it will due to the ending.

I am currently listening to Lyrael by Garth Nix which is the sequel to Sabrial. I listened to that one too and LOVED IT!!! It was read and Lyrael is read by Tim Curry. Not alot of romance but the action is great and he really knows how to give cliff hangers at the end of each chapter. Lyrael I am having a harder time following because it jumps between two stories, Lyreal and Prince Sam. However it is just as good and action packed. Plus you get to see some more of Sabrial and Touchstone.

I finally was able to pick up the sequel to the Last Dragonlord, The Dragon and the Phoenix by Joanne Bertin. I have read oh about a fifth of it. It is very long and the words are small so it will take me awhile.

I went to see Cars and Click with my nephew Sage. I LOVED Cars! It was reeeaaaalllly long for a cartoon movie though. The story had a message and the characters where great. Click I didn't like at all. I thought it was just slapped together and the jokes where not funny or were juvenile. Like the same joke about the dog doing the stuffed animal which appeared at least 5 times in the movie. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! It was funny the first time (a little) but after that, no way.

Well I have a ton of other books I need to read so I will update my list.
~see ya

WOOHOO!!!

I have been accepted by Digiscrap Central to be on their Element Team and I am soo excited I can hardly stand it. I am in the process of making some kits to sell either there or somewhere else. My career as a designer is off and running! Hopefully I won't stall and will get some kits sold. Stay tuned!

Summer has been kind of boring so far. Just working on my computer making kits and doing scrapbook pages. I have also recommitted to my weight loss goal of getting down to 190 then 175. I usually go somewhere during the summer (two years ago London, last year Alaska) but only my dad went to New Jersey to see my brother. It was for his and my new stepmom Lillie's unofficial honeymoon even though they have been married for 2 years.

~see ya

My elements for my Girly Girl kit. 

These are the papers for my other new kit.  

This is my new kit!! I am sooo stoked by how many people are downloading it!!!!! 

Summer is Here!

Well the last few weeks have been very busy. School ended with a bang. Everyone had to move stuff around last minute due to our portables being moved. I also applied to about 6 jobs for Computer Instructional Technologist at my District. This person is basically the techie on campus to help teacher intergrate technology. I have heard NOTHING about interviews. I am little bummed.

I went to a workshop and a person there from a campus I applied at was there and made some nasty comments about needing a person who is more adept than I was for thier campus after I said I had applied at her campus. Talk about being a tech snob. She didn't know anything about me and said this. I am glad I didn't get an interview there needless to say.


I have a new kit coming out today called Iced Cocoa. I also decided to track how many people were downloading my stuff.

Well that's it for now!

Books and Moview

Been very busy with reading lately.

Wolf who Rules by Wen Spencer. WOW!!!! I can say that this was as good as if not better than the first one. I really like the complex characters in this series. And a male elf? Yummm!

Hammered by Elizabeth Bear. Well I have to say I got half way through this book and gave up on it. It was too techie/science/military for me.

Megan's Mark by Lora Leigh. HOT!!! HOT!!! HOT!! If you like your stories with sizzle and good characters Lora is one of the best. Love the Breed Series and was very worried about transitioning from ebooks to mass market paperback but she has done it well. I have to say that Ellora's Cave has some of the best writers in the romance field writing for them and most people don't even know about this ebook company! Although now they are moving to print. These stories are not for the faint of heart. Very graphic.

Heart Thief by Robin T. Owens. Fantasy Romance. The hero is a theif/outcast because he doesn't have any psi powers so he was ousted from being leader of his house by his uncle. The heroine is a judge that must help decide his fate and has empathy psi that he blocks so she feels at peace. I must say I thought this wasn't bad. I have Heart Choice and Heart Mate on it's way from paperback swap so I will read some more of this series to see if these are as good or better. One thing I was irritated about tho was the names with the first initial and an apostrophe like T'Ash.


A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole. First book by her that I have read. Another werewolf book lol. Different take again with the girl being a Valkie wolf hybrid. She was a little mousey but got more kick butt as the story progress. The hero was great as well. I will definitely read more by this author!

Awaken Me Darkly by Gena Showalter. I had a hard time finding this at discounted price but finally got it!!! I must say I liked it alot even though a lot of reviewers didn't. The character is alot like Anita Blake but I liked that. The twist being about Aliens living in world. Her romance was a little weak but it was fine with me since I knew that about her from the other book I read by her (something about a Dragon). I will definitely keep reading this series but not the one about the dragon (the newest in that one in that series is something with Atlantis in the title)

I saw Flight 93 which I didn't really want to see but my Dad was treating so I went. It was very tense through the whole movie because I knew what was going to happen. I must say it really made me understand better why/how this could have happened. I thought the movie was very good and took into account the survivor's families feelings about this tragedy.

Also saw Ice Age 2 with my nephew. I liked it alot but it wasn't as good as the first I don't think. That's it for now!

Talk to ya later!

An Update?!?!

Well been really busy. TAKS reading is mostly over. My kids did outstanding!!! WOW! and our school's 3rd grade scores were way high with 50% making commended.Still doing Reading with Meaning and continue to see improvements with my students even the low ones now. I really like the discussions that go on between partners and since my students LOVE to talk this really makes them work too.

Books finished:

Dark Lover by JR Ward, a vampire romance (series) was great. I really like the writing.

A Touch of Evil by Ct Adams and Cathy Clamp. Was very good. A unique twist on Vampires being a disease and are like bees with a queen. Loved the heroine was alot like Anita Blake in the early books before all the kinkyness (not that I don't mind that but it just ruined the story for me).

Willing by Lucy Munroe. Love this writer. This series is on secret agents that are on a team (Alpha Males alert!) The first was better (Ready) can't wait for the third one.

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. I kept picking this one up in the store and FINALLY bought it. It was unuasal. It was pretty good I will keep an eye on this author. Another vampire/paranormal romance. LOL. can you see a trend?

The Last Dragonlord by Joanne Bertin. LOVED THIS!!! I have loved dragons since reading Anne McCafferty's Pern books and this reminded me alot of those early books. I fell in love with the hero and the story is very character driven. A big book and it is a series. I have read that the sequel The Dragon and the Phoenix is not as good but I really want to see how these characters progress. The third one should be out soon.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. I have another by her Dragon Bones that I have yet to read but picked this up due to all the buzz on my email group. I was not disappointed. Another take on the familiar vampire/werewolf/other romance but the character was very well done. I can't wait for more!


Thousand Words for a Stranger by Julie Czanerda. WOW! I have wanted to read some of her stories for awhile and finally got it from www.paperbackswap.com and was very surprised. The beginning was a little slow but it picked up and ended good. Very complex story.

Currently Reading:
Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse so far pretty good. Very complex story. I have had few stories that I had a hard time understand (like my students) so I have to really pay attention. It is a techie book about the future and everyone is LINKED to the computer through biological connections in there heads. Well the world is run by the churches! Interesting world so far. The girl is a ex cop whose partner killed the pope and she helped put him away and she became a pariah and celeb over it. Any way the LINK has had angels show up and say the second coming has arrived but there is a lot of political manuveuring. The cop has a real angel (at least that what he says he is) come to her and relink her to the computer so she can help him with something.

talk to ya later!